THE BALKANS AS SEEN BY BRITISH M.P.

Grey River Argus, 19 April 1948, Page 2

THE BALKANS AS SEEN BY BRITISH M.P.

Major- T-. 'Beamish, M.P., with Mr G. H. Keeling, M.P.. recently toured the Balkans, and the former writes: It was a question of ‘force majeure' with a tommy gun at the door and six gesticulating Communist frontiei’ officials in the room. - Either -I- remained .under- _• arrest, or *1 paid xl sterling for a Bulgarian visa, which the Bulgarians, as ah occupied exencmy country, had no right to issue. The fact that my entry permit was in order was apparently of unimport-ance.-The engine was puffing urgently. and.another armed man stood’outside my., carriage;. .TJie.. next, train went in 48 hours. In the end I paid-10s for ten different coloured stamps (surprisingly,. 1 had King Coris’s head-on it) which an offensive young man stuck in my passport with a great .flourish. It was a few days before the great peasant leader, Petkov, . the most popular .man in Bulgaria, went to the gallows ,in Sofia. “They won’t kill . Betkov; he’s our Leader.” Over and over again peasants and villagers said this when I asked them about him.

Ten days before he was flanged Petkov confided to a ' friend , in gaol that he expected to die in freedom’s cause, as his. father and his elder brother had died before him. One of the chief prosecution witnesses was M. ■ Peter Koev, a deputy of Fetkov’s party, who was himself serving a long term of imprisonment for “conspiracy.” Koev had said, in his own defence in the ' Grand National Assembly earlier in the year when being deprived of his seat:' * “I’ consider it to be my duty to declare that nine-tenths of my confessions were suggested to me and were not- the product, of my own will,” and he went on to warn the countiw that any. new confessions should be ignored. Any other comment on. this “judicial murder” is superfluous. Others expressed surprise, that in spite of the use by the Comunists of every known device, including the murder of 16 Opposition deputies Fetkov’s Agrarians had still obtained 1,250,000 votes. I had long talks with Communists in the Government and came away impressed with their confidence and obvious ability. They know what they’ want and nothing will be allowed to interfere.

Their supreme handicap is that their own-efficiency is, frequently matched by corruption and lack of ability among subordinates whose sole qualification is allegiance to the Fatherland Front.

As in most Communist-dominated countries, there are men at all levels who have found nothing inconsistent between Communism and Fascism.

Much to' my disappointment Opposition supporters whom I wished to contact were too frightened to see me. People have ’ disappeared for lesser crimes than consorting with “reactionary’ foreigners. During the last year the stamping out of democracy has gone according to the Russian plan. There have been no serious hitches in the building up of this model totalitarian . State.

Everybody reads a Communist paper or no paper at all. One’s job and what one eats and drinks and wears depend on the slogan one shouts.

Children between the ages of seven and 13 who join the “Septemberists” get cheap milk and biscuits without coupons, while they listen to Communist propaganda. University vacancies are reserved for those who have been passed. as ‘anti-Fascist’ by the local Fatherland Front committees.

The judiciary has been purged and good party men given the jobs. Private accounts haye been blocked and a capital levy, based on a grossly unfair valuation of property has been imposed. Communists run the tradeunions.

Communist “block agents” cover every block in every town and every cottage in every village, noting everyone’s activities, and on their word shoes, clothes, extra food, etc., all unobtainable at reasonable ■ cost outside the black market, are issued or withheld.

These agents denounce people as “idlers,” and the victims have no appeal. I met several "idlers” who had been employed in heavy manual work on the roads on a diet .of beans and water, with few crusts of bread thrown in.

The crime of these "idlers” was not. that they were “idle” (one man was working a 60-hour week), but that they were not Communists. Only Fatherland Front members gan get paper to publish books. “One has’ to live,” said a lifelong supporter of Petkov now employed in a Government office as he showed me his Fatherland Front ticket. Over all this there looms the great f ear ,— T he miljtia, accurately modelled on the N.K.V.D., or, if you prefer it, the Gestano. , . ‘ j I spent some time taikmg to the peasants, factory workers, lawyers, students, soldiers--a good cross-sec-tion of people in every walk of life. Most people to whom I spoke had thought 1 was a militiaman and refused information. I asked one priest with a long white beard, wliut was the position of the Orthodox Church. With a trembling’ lower lip and an ashen face, he said, “I know nothing about the Church.” J P I watched the parade m Sofia commemorating the third anniversary of the foundation of the Fatheia Foi’ Fl five hours 200,000 people marched past a saluting base singand yelling slogans about -Lilo- - songs about Georgi Dimitrov Stalin—Dimitrov.” , . Loud-speakers blared, bands played leaflets were showered, clenched fists were raised in salute, flags were flown from every bunding. There were huge portraits and banners of Lenin, Stalin,' Tito Dimitrov, and many others. , n "Long live ‘.'e Slav peopie, roared the procession, ‘and our Imnrat..r.s, the Tursians, came the All 11 is was spontaneous, I been told, but the sponhanity was rather spoiled for me by the rcrather spoiled for me my the rehearsals for several days before the show, and every Bulgarian knew only too well that any factory employee, Government employee, or peasant, who refused orders to- parade would lose his or* flei 300 and run other risks, without more ado. Everyone in Sofia knew, too, thac anv household not flying a Bulgarian or Soviet flag by 6.30 a.m. was rudlv awakened .by militiamen and ordered to rectify the error without, delay. , , „„„ The stage management, at any rate, was excellent. , ~r . , Bulgarians are a thrifty, industrious, hospitable people, who wish for nothing better than to be left alone to work out their own destiny. They are, not for the first time and through no fault of their own. the victims of others’ greed. They deserve a better fate. Viewed from a distance, the Police State structure that is Bulgaria appearance. It is in the foundations to-day, has a solid, .even a lasting that the weakness lies. One day the tide of European democracy which has never run strong in the Balkans, will flow back with full force, cracks will appear, and the whole structure will fall. . Then will begin the formidable task of rebuilding, the country, on solid Christian foundations.