FREEDOM'S FALL

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 154, 28 December 1936, Page 4

FREEDOM'S FALL

POSITION IN BALKANS

TEMPORARY MATTER

I A play called "Before the Dawn," now being given in the National Theatre at Sofia, is the most impressive historical picture that the Bulgarianshave had a chance to see for a long time, wrote R. H. Markham to the "Christian Science Monitor" recently. It consists of twelve scenes and portrays the struggle which the common people here carried on for ecclesiastical freedom a century ago. The large audiences it draws are deeply moved, and show their enthusiasm by heartily cheering. It is a striking fact that they applaud the winning\pf freedom at the very moment when they are deprived of freedom. It is as though the inmates in a prison should cheer a movie showing men escaping from prison. Bulgaria has no Parliament, and no Constitution. Government^ by the people has been abolished. 'The Press is subjected to rigid censorship, no political meetings can be held, ■ no political parties can exist. Informed persons assert that there are 3000 political prisoners in confinement. All open criticism of the acts or policies [of the Government are strictly forbidden. There is no labour movement; there is no peasant movement—except "underground." The teachers cannot organise, except as the State dictates. A FEW DECADES AGO. That is the situation in 1936. But a few decades ago the Bulgarians enjoyed freedom. Their plays show how the "brave people" overthrew foreign oppressors and liberated the land. Greek and Turkish masters were chased away, Bulgaria was proclaimed independent and a liberal Constitution, the Tirnova Constitution, was adopted. It came into force in 1880. The people elected a Parliament and were selfgoverning.! Now they have no elections and are governed by a small group of self-imposed masters. All the property of the political parties is being auctioned off. When the Bulgarians freed themselves from the Turks, some six de* cades ago, they were disorganised, illiterate, and inexperienced. Now almost all of them can read and write. They have won great experience. But they have lost their freedom. Much the same might be said of Yugoslavia and-Greece. Serbia, which is a vital.part of Yugoslavia, was the first Balkan land to win freedom from the Turks. The sturdy peasants, inhabiting isolated, little houses in the Serbian woods, and living from, their flocks and herds, dared revolt against foreign oppressors. And with the help of Russia, the friend of all the j Slavs, they won liberty. They worked out a liberal Constitution, formed parties, which represented popular opinion, and governed themselves fairly well through a Parliament. THE GREEKS NEXT. Greece followed the Serbs* in revolt, and after a long, heroic struggle won freedom from foreign, as well as from native, oppressors. It would be a mistake to assert that these three peoples had solved all their social and political problems, or that they were well-governed, but they felt free, were advancing steadily, and had much self-confidence. Each new generation was inspired' by the thought that it had a mission to perform and all youth dreamed of making an ideal society. Now, however, instead of all that, we have an \ aggressive dictatorship in Greece, a reluctant dictatorship in Bulgaria, and, a disguised one in Yugoslavia. In the first two countries there is neither Parliament nor Constitution, and laws are the edicts of a single man or of his agents. In Yugoslavia there is a pseudo-Parliament, a dictatorial Constitution, and . - by edicts. In none of these lands is there a free Press, or freedom of speech. It looks as though these peoples are going backward. Educated men and women, deprived of freedom, go to the theatre to applaud the struggles of their illiterate grandfathers who -yon freedom. This regress, however, is temporary, and not real. There is without doubt a certain reaction. Civil liberties have been lost. A tragic and painful situation does exist. To deny that would.be foolish. Yet, all that is a part of the march towards selfgovernment. Freedom is not a gift, but a dearly-purchased acquisition. Few people know how to exercis' it. The Balkan people are daily learnings AHEAD A CENTURY AGO. The Bulgarians are far ahead of where they were a century, or a halfcentury, or a quarter-century ago. They produce more, live better, wear, better clothes, have very much better houses, roads, stock, and crops, know vastly more about the world, and ■ what is more important, have made cultural and educational advances. It is true that more of them are in prison now than normally under the Turks; more are beaten by Bulgarian policemen than were normally beaten by Turkish policemen, and these are very sad facts. These are signs of failure. But it is a failure amid successes. Freedom was abused; democracy was misapplied. Now the price is being paid. And it is a very heavy price. But this temporary damming of Bulgaria's stream of progress shows me how far that stream has advanced. The Balkans, in spite of their frustration, confusion, and bad Governments, are far ahead of what they were forty years ago. Even as I stand before empty Parliaments and filled gaols, I see forces building a better civilisation than the Balkans have seen since the time of Emperor Trajan—better, probably, than they have ever seen.