Abstract
Some will recognize the metaphor in the title as that of Machiavelli who argued that the prince should learn from the lion and the fox and combine the virtues of both to survive.1 Others will recall that Tomáš G. Masaryk, in his controversial book, Česká otázka (The Czech Question), written in 1895, used the same figures of speech in condemning ‘the mendicancy and weakness of will of our public life’ and the ‘intriguery’ of contemporary politicians. ‘Because they do not know how to be lions, they become foxes; because they do not know how to be heroes, they become lackeys and promote themselves by lackey-like cunning.’ The ‘oppressed, small and weak’ nation, however, was not forced to rely on ‘Machiavellianism and lackeyism’, according to Masaryk, but could attain its aims honourably through ‘work’ and ‘struggle’. The rules for this struggle could be found in the parable of Jesus: ‘Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore as wary as serpents and artless as doves.’ We Slavs must ‘take care that the serpent in us does not strangle the dove.’2
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Dubček, L’Unita, 10 January 1988. For a severe critique of the policies of Dubček and his associates in 1968, see the samizdat booklet by Miroslav Synek (pseudo.), Naděje a zklamání Pražske jaro 1968 (Scheinfeld-Schwarzenberg, 1988), espec. 104–5, 110–11; also Prečan, ‘Lid, veřejnost, občanská společnost jako aktér Pražského jara’, Svědectví, vol. XXII, no. 85 (1988), 63–82.
Gottwald, Spisy (Prague, 1951), vol. I, 311–23.
Skilling, Gottwald and the Bolshevization of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1929–1939), Slavic Review, vol. XX, no. 4 (December 1981), 641–55.
Prokop Drtina, Československo, můj osud (Toronto, 1982), vol. I, Book 1, 172–244.
Ferdinand Peroutka, Byl Eduard Beneš vinen? (Masarykův demokratický svaz, Paris, 1950), pp. 15–16.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1991 H. Gordon Skilling
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Skilling, H.G. (1991). Lions or Foxes: Heroes or Lackeys?. In: Skilling, H.G. (eds) Czechoslovakia 1918–88. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21453-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21453-2_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-21455-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-21453-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)