 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sokol movement" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
| Formation | 16 February 1862; 163 years ago (1862-02-16) |
|---|---|
| Founders | Miroslav Tyrš Jindřich Fügner |
| Type | Sports and cultural federation |
| Headquarters | Prague,Bohemia |
Mayor | Martin Chlumský |
| Website | sokol |
TheSokol movement (Czech:[ˈsokol],lit. 'falcon') is an all-agegymnastics organization founded inPrague in theCzech lands ofAustria-Hungary in 1862 byMiroslav Tyrš andJindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of "a strong mind in a sound body". Sokol, through lectures, discussions, and group outings, provided what Tyrš viewed as physical, moral, and intellectual training for the nation. This training extended to men of all ages and classes, and eventually to women.
The movement spread across all the regions populated bySlavic cultures, most of them part of either Austria-Hungary or theRussian Empire: present-daySlovakia, theSlovene Lands,Croatia,Serbia,Bulgaria,Poland (Polish Sokół movement),Ukraine, andBelarus. In many of these nations, the organization also served as an early precursor to theScouting movements. Though officially an institution "above politics", Sokol played an important part in the development ofCzech nationalism and patriotism, which found expression in articles published in the Sokol journal, lectures held in Sokol libraries, and theatrical performances at thegymnastic mass festivals calledslets.
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sokol movement" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The idea for physical training centers was not a new one. The Sokol movement consciously traced its roots in physical education to the athletes and warriors ofAncient Greece. More directly, the nature of Sokol was influenced by the GermanTurnverein, mass-based, nationalist-minded gymnastics societies founded byFriedrich Ludwig Jahn in 1811.[1]
Miroslav Tyrš, the founder of the first Sokol inPrague in 1862, was the most influential figure in the movement until his death in 1884. Born Friedrich Emanuel Tirsch into a German-speaking family in 1834, Tyrš grew up under the influence of theRomantic nationalism that gave rise to the uprisings that swept across Europe in 1848. He received a thorough education at theUniversity of Prague, where he majored in philosophy. It was not until the early 1860s that he became involved in theCzech nationalist cause and changed his name to the Slavic form. After he failed to find a position in academia, Tyrš combined his experience working as a therapeutic gymnastics trainer with the nationalist ideologies he had been exposed to in Prague: Sokol meaning "falcon", was born.
The first Sokol club worked to develop new Czech terminology for the training exercises, which centred onmarching drills,fencing, andweightlifting. They designed a uniform that was a mix of Slavic and revolutionary influences: brown Russian trousers, a Polish revolutionary jacket, aMontenegrin cap, and aGaribaldired shirt. A Sokol flag, red with a white falcon, was designed by the writerKarolína Světlá and painted by the artistJosef Mánes.
The Prague Sokol initially drew its leaders from the ranks of politicians and its members from thepetite bourgeoisie andworking classes. The first president was Jindřich Fügner, an ethnic German who was a member of the Czech cause. Most founders were also members of theYoung Czechs party, the most influential including Prince Rudolf von Thurn-Taxis, Josef Barák, andJulius andEduard Grégr. The authorities ofAustria-Hungary kept a close eye on the movement, but Sokol's reputation and prestige continued to grow. Soon, its members were known as the "Czech national army".
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Within the first year, Sokols expanded beyond Prague, first into theMoravian and theSlovenian regions of the Habsburg empire. Initially, the majority of members were students and professionals, but over time, there was a trend towards increasingly working-class members.
Sokol training became increasingly militarized during theAustro-Prussian War in 1866, when members were hired as guards for public events. This militaristic side of the movement continued to resurface throughout its history.
The internal issues that were to plague the Sokol movement over the years emerged almost immediately. They reached fruition during the 1870s, with a leadership power struggle between theOld Czechs andYoung Czechs. Theoretically, Sokol was a society "above politics". Openly nationalistic, the more conservative members of the movement argued that the organization should maintain its distance from politics, while the Young Czechs advocated more direct political participation. Theoretically, Sokol was also open equally to members of all classes. The informal "thou" (ty) was used by all members, but there were constant arguments over whether this was necessary or not. Some leaders believed that Sokol was a mass-based institution defined by its working-class members, while others viewed it more as a middle-class apparatus by which to educate and raise the national consciousness of the working classes.
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sokol movement" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In 1882, the firstslet was held.[2]Slet came from the Czech word for "a flocking of birds" (Czech plural:slety), since the organization's name referred to a falcon. The same word, "slet", exists or can be synthesized from common Slavic roots in otherSlavic languages. The event became a grand tradition within the Sokol movement that spread across Central Europe, together with other Slavic movements, such as the politicalPan-Slavism. The events included an elaborate opening ceremony, mass demonstrations, gymnastics competitions, speeches, and theatrical events, open to members of all Sokols.
In 1887, theHabsburg authorities finally allowed, after over twenty years worth of proposals, the formation of a union of Sokol clubs—Česká obec sokolská (Czech Sokol community), or ČOS. This centralized all the Sokols in theCzech lands and sent Sokol trainers to the rest of the Slavic world to found similar institutions inKraków,Ljubljana,Zagreb,Sarajevo, and even theRussian Empire (FC Spartak Moscow).
In 1889, though officially forbidden by the authorities, members of the Prague Sokol went to theWorld's Fair in Paris. There, they won several medals and established strong connections with French gymnasts.[3]
The 1890s were a progressive era for the Sokols. In order to encourage wider participation, the clubs reformed their programs, offering training sessions of varying intensities, extending their libraries, emphasizing the educational aspect of training, and starting programs for adolescents, youth, and women. There was an increasing focus onmass-based ideology and working-classegalitarianism under the leadership of the Young Czechs, namely Jan Podlipný, who was also themayor of Prague from 1897 until 1900.[4]
The second slet was held in 1891, and the third one in 1895. At this juncture, the congress of the Sokol union laid out its new, progressive trajectory, electing to continue to provide accessible forms of training, with less focus on competition and more on an egalitarian idea of people's gymnastics, balancing mental as well as physical education.[citation needed]
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sokol movement" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The rise of theCzech Social Democratic Party and agrarian parties in the political arena played out in Sokol politics as well as national ones. The Social Democrats formed a rival gymnastics society, theWorkers' Gymnastic Union [cs] (Dělnická tělovýchovná jednota, DTJ). Václav Kukař, a powerful ČOS figure, developed the policy of "cleansing" (očištění) and sought to limit membership to those who he believed demonstrated commitment to purely Czech causes. Most of the progressive members of the Sokols were purged or left voluntarily to join the DTJ. Another rival gymnast society was founded by theChristian Social Party under the nameOrel ("eagle"). In the face of such competition, the Sokols set about reaffirming their traditional mission under the leadership of Josef Scheiner.
The fourth slet, held in 1901, boasted a large international participation, includingGalician Poles, Ukrainians,Slovenes,Croats, Russians, Bulgarians,Serbs, as well as Frenchmen and Americans. This slet also marked the first participation of women.
The fifth slet, held in 1907, had an increasingly Slavic focus and moved away from the more egalitarian idea of people's gymnastics, with increased competition aspects. It marked the creation of the Federation of Slavic Sokols under theneo-Slavic idea of the Czechs as the strongest Slavic nation, second only to Russia.
At the 1910 meeting of the ČOS congress, the Sokols reaffirmed their intentions to remain "above politics" and loosened their strict membership rules to admit Social Democrats.
In 1912, the first "All-Slavic Slet" (Všeslovanský slet) was held, with a largely military atmosphere, causing Augustin Očenášek (a Sokol member) to remark, "When the thunder comes and the nations rise up to defend their existence, let it be the Sokol clubs from which the cry to battle will sound...".[5]
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sokol movement" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
With the onset ofWorld War I, in 1915, the Sokols were officially disbanded. Many members were active in persuading Czechs to defect from the Austro-Hungarian army to the Russian side. Sokol members also helped create theCzechoslovak Legions and local patrols that kept order after the disintegration of Habsburg authority, and during the creation of Czechoslovakia in October 1918.[6] They also fulfilled their title as the "Czech national army", helping to defendSlovakia against the invasion ofBéla Kun and the Hungarians.
Sokol flourished in the earlyinterwar period, and by 1930, it had 630,000 members. The organization held one last slet on the eve of theMunich Agreement of 1938 and were later brutally suppressed and banned during theNazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia.
The Slovenes organized their own gymnastic society on 1 October 1863 and named it Južni Sokol ("south falcon").[7] In 1903, an all-Sokol rally was held inLjubljana.[8]
In Croatia, the Sokol movement had full support fromJosip Juraj Strossmayer, thenBishop of Đakovo.[citation needed] After thedissolution of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918, Croatian Sokols united with their Serbian and Slovenian counterparts in 1919.[citation needed]
The Croatian clergy forced Croatian Sokols to leave the Yugoslav Sokol alliance in 1919–20, fueling internal conflicts within the alliance on political grounds. At the same time, seniorCatholic clergy established the Orlovi ("eagles") clerical organization, with the aim of leading youths away from the alliance. The Croatian Catholic Church rejected the pan-Slavic idea of bringing together Catholic,Orthodox, andMuslim believers under the motto that "a brother is dear regardless of his faith". The two Catholic organizations, Orlovi and Katolička Akcija (Catholic Action), were a major base of this resistance to the idea of Yugoslavism, brotherhood, and religious tolerance. The Catholic Church's resistance to this idea of pan-Slavism led the Polish Sokols to abstain from the international all-Sokol rally, held in Prague in 1926.[9]
In theKingdom of Yugoslavia, all Sokol societies were merged into the Union of Sokols of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as of December 1929. The Orlovi were ordered to disband, but they instead rebranded themselves as religious fraternities.[10]
The Belgrade-basedFK BASK football club traces its origins to Serbian Sokol clubs.
Sokol members who emigrated fromCzechoslovakia set up small groups abroad. This Sokol migration, for a variety of reasons, began even before the formation of Czechoslovakia, in 1918, and it intensified as a result of the World Wars andcommunist suppression.Bohemian,Moravian, andSlovak immigrants and Czech-American citizens started the American Sokol Organization inSt. Louis, Missouri, in 1865,[11] only three years after the first Prague Sokol. By 1878, the United States had 13 Sokol chapters.[citation needed]
By 1937, American Sokol membership rolls counted nearly 20,000 adults in areas as far-flung asBaltimore,[12]New York City,Pittsburgh,Chicago,Detroit,Cleveland, andOakland, as well as in parts ofCanada.[citation needed]
AfterWorld War II, Sokols held one more slet, in 1948, before they were once again suppressed, this time by the Communists, who tried to replace slets with mass exercises, calledSpartakiads (spartakiády), for propaganda purposes. Many Sokol members were imprisoned or exiled.[13]
The Sokols reappeared briefly during thePrague Spring of 1968.[citation needed] After years of hibernation, the movement was revived for the fourth time, in 1990;[citation needed] A slet was held in 1994, after thefall of Communism.[citation needed]
Presently, the organization focuses on physical training in gymnastics and other athletics. Its popularity is, however, well below pre-war levels.[citation needed] A slet was held in 2000, and another in 2006.[citation needed] In 2012, a celebration of 150 years of the Sokol movement took place, and in 2018, for the 100th anniversary of the creation of Czechoslovakia, 13,000 Sokol members gathered in Prague for the 116th slet.[14]
In the United States, Czech (American Sokol Organization) and Slovak (Sokol USA and Slovak Catholic Sokol) organizations alternate in hosting slets at four-year intervals.[15][16][17][18] Regional districts of the American Sokol Organization and Sokol USA also host smaller regional slets on an annual basis.[15]
.svg)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
