Page - 706 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

706 The Consequences of the Russian February Revolution of the world, unite !’ had a gradual effect. The appeal, which was brought across the fronts as a leaflet and smuggled by the soldiers into the hinterland of the fronts of the Central Powers, contained passages that held an almost suggestive impact : ‘We address ourselves to our brothers from the proletariat of the Austro-German coalition. […] From the first days of the war, the attempt was made to convince you that your weap- ons, which you raise against Russia’s arbitrary monarchy, protect Europe’s culture from Asiatic despotism. Many of you saw therein the excuse for the support that you ren- dered the war. From now on, this excuse no longer applies : democratic Russia cannot be a threat to liberty and civilisation. […] We challenge you : cast off the yoke of your semi-despotic state order, just as the Russian people have cast off the despotism of the Tsar ; refuse to be a tool of annexation and violence […] and with harmoniously united efforts we will put an end to the terrible carnage. […] Workers of all countries ! We give you our fraternal hand across mountains of brothers’ corpses, across rivers of innocent blood and tears, across smoking ruins of cities and villages, across destroyed cultural treasures. We challenge you to the restoration and consolidation of international unity. It is the guarantee of our coming victories and [the] lasting liberation of humanity. […] Workers of the world, unite !’ The signals that came from the Russian Revolution were still uneven, and they were varied. Their addressees were just as diverse, however. Thus, for the Poles, the revolution set signals that extended beyond the Two Emperors’ Manifesto of 5 November 1916. On the same 27 March 1917 on which the appeal to the ‘Comrades of the Proletar- iat and the Workers of all Countries’ was issued, the Petrograd Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council directed a manifesto towards the Polish people, in which they were promised complete independence. The Soviets wished the Polish people success ‘in the imminent struggle for the introduction of a democratic, republican system in independent Po- land’.1609 This concession was admittedly then retracted by the Provisional Government, but the signal had already been sent and received. And it was not limited to Poland. In Hungary, the radical opposition forces around Oszkár Jászi and Mihály Károlyi voiced their views in March 1917 on the nationalities problem and condemned any oppression of nationalities. Jászi was also certain that the nationalities would orientate themselves on the Russian model.1610 Some of the Czech émigrés who were active in Russia were directly affected by the revolution. But the far more important Czech emigration movement in Great Britain also involved itself immediately. Masaryk had been pledged the support of a Czecho-Slovakian committee by the Tsarist government. Now Masaryk saw that the moment had come to achieve much more. He hoped to exert a stronger influence on the Czechs in Russian prisoner of war captivity. This should be seen not least in the context that Masaryk, like any other, had to ask himself what would happen if the Central Powers concluded a separate peace with Russia. Would the prisoners of war