Sokol - World War I To Communism: Continued Struggle of Czech Nationalism

World War I To Communism: Continued Struggle of Czech Nationalism

With the onset of World War I, in 1915 the Sokols were officially disbanded. Many members were active in persuading the Czechs to defect from the Austro-Hungarian army to the Russian side. Sokol members also helped create the Czechoslovak Legions and local patrols that kept order after the disintegration of Habsburg authority, and during the creation of Czechoslovakia in October 1918. They also fulfilled their title as the "Czech national army", helping to defend Slovakia against the invasion of Béla Kun and the Hungarians.

The Sokol flourished in the early interwar period, and by 1930 had 630,000 members. The Sokols held one last Slet (350,000 Sokols) on the eve before the Munich Agreement of 1938 and were later brutally suppressed and banned during the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia. After World War II they held one more Slet in 1948 before they were once again suppressed, this time by the Communists. The Communist Party tried to replace tradition of Slets with mass exercises employed for propaganda purposes: Spartakiad (spartakiády).

The Sokols reappeared briefly during the Prague Spring of 1968. After years of hibernation, Sokol was revived for the fourth time in 1990; a Slet was in 1994 (23,000 Sokols participating), after the fall of Communism.

Presently, the organization focuses on physical training in gymnastics and other athletics. Its popularity is, however, well below pre-war levels and a large percentage of members are older people with memories of the pre-1948 Sokol movement. A further Slet was held in 2000 (25,000 Sokols); another was held in July 2006. In July 2012 there was celebration of 150 years of Sokol movement, Slet's are expected to be held every six years.