Proč jsme nechtěli rakouskou monarchii? - Vzpomínky právníka a politika z cesty k 28. říjnu 1918 – Soukup František (2022)

The "Dictatorship of Crimes Without Limits and Barriers" – with these words, in his memoir, one of the "Men of October 28," lawyer, journalist, and Social Democratic politician František Soukup (1871–1940), characterizes the last years of the Habsburg dynasty's rule in the Czech lands and in other parts of the Austrian monarchy, where, after the outbreak of the First World War, the parliament was stripped of real power, civil rights were limited, and a military-bureaucratic dictatorship was established, attempting by all means to intimidate and manipulate citizens. František Soukup, a member of parliament without a parliament, tried to help during this era of injustice at least through his legal practice – for example, by defending the accused before military courts and through various other interventions. He also maintained contacts with the underground resistance organization, the Mafia. The author in his text shows not only the legal constructs on which the then actions of state authorities were based (primarily the suspension of several key fundamental rights of citizens) but also describes numerous specific examples of various types of persecution, abuse of state power, and intimidation of citizens that occurred in the Czech lands. At the same time, he also notes, particularly based on later reports, the repressions in Galicia, in the conquered and occupied territories of Serbia and…