Page - 872 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

872 The Inner Front representatives of non-German nationalities at the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk. On 6 January 1918, all Czech Reichsrat (Imperial Assembly) and Landtag (regional diet) deputies from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia were summoned to Prague for a ‘general regional diet’ in order to formulate a protest against the stance of Austria-Hun- gary at the peace negotiations. The document adopted by them was named after the day on which the gathering took place : the ‘Epiphany Declaration’. The declaration, which was well thought out and addressed in equal measures historical and current concerns, stated : ‘We Czech members of the Reichsrat, which has been deprived by the judgements of incompetent military courts of a whole series of its Slav members, and likewise we Czech deputies of the dissolved and not yet re-convened Regional Diet of Bohemia […] affirm most emphatically as elected representatives of the Czech people and its downtrodden and politically muzzled Slovak branch in Hungary our standpoint on the new settlement of international relations. […] We submit a bitter complaint […] and protest […] solemnly against the rejection of the right of nations to self-de- termination at the peace negotiations and demand that in accordance with this right all nations, including ours, are assured the participation and complete freedom to assert their rights at the peace congress.’2072 The ‘Epiphany Declaration’ was not only in the eyes of the Czech government in exile the first public revolutionary proclamation. Due to its subversive character, it was not to be published to begin with. Its temporary confiscation only contributed, how- ever, to increasing its impact within the lands of the Bohemian Crown. In view of its confiscation, foreign states could again fall back on their earlier accusations against the autocratic regime in Austria, which was trampling liberties under foot. Due to the confiscation, the Czech deputies introduced a vote of no confidence against the govern- ment. In the meantime, however, Seidler had released the Declaration and the recorded vote resulted in a vote of confidence in his favour. Southern Slavs, Social Democrats, Poles and Ukrainians had voted with the Germans in favour of the Prime Minister.2073 The ‘Epiphany Declaration’ and worker unrest appeared to be unrelated incidents, isolated acts whose identical connections were merely coincidental. The crucial point would not turn out to be the reference to the peace negotiations, however, or even the supply crisis. The significant factor was the commotion itself, which was expressed in different ways. On the morning of 14 January 1918, the workers of the Daimler Works gathered in Wiener Neustadt in their factory courtyard in order to protest against the renewed cuts in flour rations. It was the aforementioned reduction from 200 to 165 grams of flour per day for a normal consumer. The workers moved to the town hall. Workers in other factories joined them. The city council telephoned with the Food Ministry. Minister Höfer wanted to speak with a delegation of the workers. This did not happen for the time being, however. On the next day, the strikes spread to other industrial enterprises