PERSONALITIES

Southland Times, Issue 18969, 16 June 1923, Page 9 (Supplement)

PERSONALITIES

THE PEASANT DICTATOR

(By

"AEdile.")

Stambouliski has been a captive in the hands of his political enemies before this, but on the previous occasions he was not

in arms against the party in power, so that the position of the peasant dictator of Bulgaria to-day is very different from what it was in 1915 when he was put into prison as a result of his opposition to his country’s plunge into the Great War as an' ally of the Central Powers. Stambouliski in those days was the strongest man in opposition to the government under Radoslavoff, and he made no secret of his antipathy to Germany and her friends. He knew what was going on, and it was therefore necessary to put him in a place where he could do no mischief to the gentlemen who were busily engaged in putting Bulgaria’s money on the wrong horse. Fardin and and his ministers were deceiving the Allies into negotiations so as to increase the effect of their descent on the unfortunate Serbs, because while these negotia--1 tions were in progress, the Bulgarian leaders in Sofia were tied hand and foot to the Central Powers and were only waiting for the signal from the German Headquarters for the advance against their old enemies who had given the Austrians two unmerciful drubbings. Stambouliski was hustled into gaol and remained there for the duration of the war. The Allied advance in Macedonia smashed the Bulgars and Stambouliski was released to make peace with the victorious enemy. This he did promptly and then he turned on his political foes who had handled him so roughly.

This rough peasant leader had behind him the peasantry and disillusioned Bulgars who were ready to rend the people who had put them into the conflict on the wrong side, so that he was able to proceed to the balancing of his accounts with his opponents. He proceeded to throw as many of these as he could apprehend into prison and then he went gleefully to the people with a request that the offending generals and ministers should be tried for their lives. The peasantry who constitute nine-tenths of Bulgaria’s population eagerly voted for the proposal and the next step was the setting up of a court with a “fine convicting bench.” The trial lasted a long time and “suspecting- the honesty of the judge” Stambouliski arrested him. Then he rushed a Bill through the Sobranje to improve the chances of the decision being according to plan. The reinforcements did not fail him, and six of the War ministers were sentenced to. hard labour for life in addition to being asked to pay fines of comid opera magnificence. Their crimes were (1) that they declared war without the sanction of Parliament; (2) that they committed their country to war on the side of Germany without considering the country’s welfare; (3) that they had seized enemy property without Parliamentary approval. Of these offences the second was the most serious, because it had burdened Bulgaria with reparations. Stambouliski was jyjxio.ua all the- while to evade any payments to the Allies and he coaxed and at times threatened in his. efforts to induce the Allies to relieve the country of the consequences of its treachery and its cruelty in the war. At one time Stamboulis’ki politely informed the Allies that if they did not remit reparations and give Bulgaria an outlet on the Aegean, he would deliver to them the dead bodies of the “bourgeois ministers,” then in gaol! In that quoted phrase there is a mine of information concerning Stambouliski. He has -leaned to the Allies more than to the Central and for that reason his methods have not received the publicity they deserved. Stambouliski was a dictator backed by the Land Party, just as Mussolini is a dictator backed by the Fascisti, and his doctrines are those of agrarian socialism. His rule was called YellovT Bolshevism, but while he had no more'thought of the democracy than have the Bolsheviks, his interests were entirely those of the peasant former and his foes were everyone else. Stambouliski recognised only the Council of the Land Party and used his Parliament as a rubber stamp. By successive laws which the Dictator has practically imposed upon the intimidated Parliament, he began the overthrowing of the entire economic structure of Bulgaria for the benefit of the peasants; replacing the obligatory military service by a civil service compulsory for both sexes which sent the middle-class burgher’s daughter to repair the high roads; enforcing a partition of the land destined to enrich the small holders at the expense of the great proprietors and the lesser gentry, and imposing restrictions of all kinds on commerce and industry. While he was carrying these changes into effect, however, he let fall his heavy hand on the Communists who talked glibly of pooling the land in the interests of The proletariat, which in this case did not include the peasants. A month ago a cabinet crisis occurred which showed that his hold on the Sobranje was not as strong as formerly, but he weathered the storm and proceeded gaily on his way, attacking the extremists on both sides of his own group and imposing his ideas on the State by means of his absolutism. The military upheaval was expected, but it is evident that the support obtained by the military partg among the radicals surprised the peasant leader. His absence from the capital gavt his enemies their chance, but also enabled him to escape their clutches and ope® «i civil war with them. The outcome of the contest will be interesting. Victory for Stambouliski will mean the return of • dictatorship worse than that which he imposed on the coutnry after his ascent to power, and if the militarists obtain control they will probably hobnob with the ministers who were convicted of having behaved as dictators. The explanation of the rising, however, is the disinclination of the country to accept a dictatorship oven if it is clothed in attractive garments. Mussolini has found this out for himself in Italy, and the Bolsheviks also know a lifttlo about the subject. Stambouliski’s career has been interesting. He is the son of a peasant and he Uses that fact in his political campaigning. He worked on the land under hard conditions until he made a rich marriage, which enabled him to carry on his extremely elementary education. Money freed him from the toil of the soil and he entered journalism, but soon sought the easier and more profitable field of politics, as one of the founders of the Land Party. He was the sturdy champion of the peasants against the absolutism of Ferdinand and later he became an absolute ruler himself, though he continued to live on his farm outside Sofia, an excellent means of convincing the peasantry thB* he still had his feet on the soil. It was on that farm that Jacques Chastenet of the Paris Opinion met him. Chastenet came away from that meeeting with some definite opinions aboute Stambouliski, whom he pictured mercilessly in the following passage: ;

A ruddy-faced, bull-necked person of tall, heavy build, with a heavy, furrowed jaw. a forehead protruding from a tangle of coarse, dark hair; small, dark, shiny eyes, and thick lips under the drooping moustache —Stambouliski has a sullen air

which is sometimes lit up by a spark of jovial energy. Physically he is a butcher, with an intelligent eye; morally, he hss an iron will at the beck of simple ideas which are sometimes vague; much sullen conceit, more pride; a good dose of cour age; no more scruples than absolutely required; the art of flattering men’s pas-

sions and of gaining their consent; a rustic, sardonic: eloquence which persuade# and reaches the inmost fibers of his listeners—a Danton with less fire, Slav and peasant. The French journalist, judging by the photographs one sees of the subject, did not do the Bulgarian any injustice.