COMMUNIST PLAN
TAKING OVER BALKANS
INDICATED BY EVENTS
(By Telegraphy—Press Association—Cop>right.> Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, May 22. While it is undesirable to draw general conclusions, developments in the Balkans point to the existence of a carefully preconceived plan to establish a Communist regime of a similar kind in every country in the peninsula, states the Istanbul correspondent of "The Times."
The first step is to secure such key positions as Ministries of Justice and of the Interior, with control of the police and gendarmerie. Secondly, the effort is to exterminate political opponents and break up kindred parties which might become rivals. The strength of the party seizing power is then increased by the adhesion of people who are prompted to join from fear or opportunism. The correspondent declares that this process has been carried out in Bulgaria where public life today is under complete Communist sway. The real ruler of Bulgaria is not the head of the Government, Georghiev, but a woman, Tsola Dragoitcheva, secretary of the Communist Party, whose orders are final and undisputed. The first consequence of Communist ascendancy has been the extermination of political opponents through trials by people's courts and other means. At least two persons in each of 8000 villages have also been murdered. . .. . The method used in Rumania is almost the same, except that the pace is slower here. As in Bulgaria, the Communists hold the Ministries of Justice and of the Interior and control of the police. The general prospect in the Balkans is disquieting. It was hoped that the resistance movements against the Axis would result in co-operation between the progressive parties continuing after the war. That hope has been disappointed by Communist extremists, with a result that as m Greece, the people of the other Balkan countries are obsessed by fear of Communism and are almost instinctively moving towards the Right, although they do not dare to show their feelings openly.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 120, 23 May 1945, Page 8
Word Count
320COMMUNIST PLAN Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 120, 23 May 1945, Page 8
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