THE MAGYAR MINORITIES IN THE NEW STATES
It is one of the principal complaints of the Magyars that since the
division of Hungary the Magyar minorities in the surrounding States
have been oppressed and unfairly treated. That such a complaint should
be made by a nation, the whole of whose recent history has been one of
coercion of racial minorities, is astonishing; but the very fact of the
accusation having been put forward makes it necessary that it should be
investigated.
Magyar minorities exist at the present day in Czechoslovakia, Rumania
and Yugo-Slavia, each of which States includes some part of the former
dominions of the Crown of St. Stephen. According to recent figures,
Czechoslovakia contains a Magyar population of about 636,000, mostly
in Slovakia; Rumania a Magyar population of about 800,000 (if the
Szeklers are included among the Magyars), mostly in Transylvania; and
Yugo-Slavia a Magyar population of about 100,000, mostly in Croatia. It
will be seen, therefore, that the Magyar minorities in Czechoslovakia
and Rumania are the most important.
We may deal first with the position of the Magyars in Slovakia under
the rule of the Czechoslovak Republic, upon which we have been able
to obtain indisputable evidence, and which may help us in estimating
the value of the Magyar charges in other cases. Enough has been said
of the condition of Slovakia under Magyar rule in earlier chapters of
this book to make further reference to the subject unnecessary. It is
sufficient to say that the Magyar minority in Slovakia comprises 21·2
per cent. of the population of the province, and about 5·5 per cent. of
the total population of the Republic.
Articles 8 and 9 of the Treaty of St. Germain (September 10, 1919)
between the Allied and Associated Powers and Czechoslovakia, stipulate
that Czechoslovak subjects belonging to racial minorities are to
be granted the liberty of founding, managing and governing schools
and other institutions established specially for them, and that the
Czechoslovak Government is to grant all its subjects, whatever may be
their mother-tongues, adequate educational facilities. The children
of such subjects are to be granted the right of instruction in their
native languages when they form a considerable fraction of the total
number of the inhabitants of a town or district.[43]
So much for the theory of nationalities in the Czecho-Slovak Republic.
We will now turn to the practical manner in which this theory has been
carried out. It will be remembered that in Slovakia under Magyar rule
there were no schools in which the Slovak population could secure
general instruction in the Slovak language. It is interesting to see
how the Magyars fare in their turn. The tables which follow give the
educational figures for Slovakia alone for the year 1921. In examining
them it must be borne in mind that the proportion of Magyars in the
population of Slovakia, contemporaneous with these figures, was 20·6
per cent.
-----------------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------
Language of Instruction. | No. of |Per Cent.| No. of |Per Cent.
|Schools.| |Classes.|
-----------------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------
_Elementary Schools_: | | | |
Slovak | 2,613 | 70·7 | 4,207 | 68·2
Magyar | 762 | 20·6 | 1,373 | 22
Magyar-Slovak-German | 3 | -- | 20 | 0·3
Magyar-Slovak | 26 | 0·7 | 53 | 0·8
Magyar-German | 2 | -- | 48 | 0·7
| | | |
_Higher Elementary Schools_: | | | |
Slovak | 85 | 77·3 | 434 | 77·9
Magyar | 15 | 13·7 | 94 | 17·2
Slovak-Magyar | 2 | 1·8 | -- | --
Magyar-German | 2 | 1·8 | -- | --
| | | |
_Secondary Schools_: | | | |
Slovak | 28 | 70 | 267 | 69·5
Magyar | 4 | 10 | -- | --
Slovak-Magyar | 3 | 7·5 | 31 | 8
Slovak-German-Magyar | 1 | 2·5 | -- | --
Magyar-Slovak | 1 | 2·5 | -- | --
Magyar-German-Slovak | 1 | 2·5 | -- | --
-----------------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------
From the above it will be seen that as regards elementary education
the Magyar minority in Czechoslovakia obtains better terms as
regards education than are provided for in the Treaty. The latter
only provides for facilities for elementary education for the racial
minorities, whereas the Magyar minority not only gets this in greater
proportion than its strength warrants, but also gets the advantages
of higher elementary and secondary education in its own language. As
for the Slovak majority, their lot is so different now that Slovakia
is released from the Magyar yoke, that it is almost unrecognisable.
The population now has complete freedom in educational matters, and
facilities for their enjoyment. Instead of being compelled to imbibe
what knowledge it could through the medium of a foreign tongue, it has
at its hand a modern and extensive system of schools of all grades. As
a consequence the percentage of illiterates is decreasing by leaps and
bounds, and the backward state of the remoter parts of the country,
such as Ruthenia, which under Magyar rule were left in mediæval
darkness, is rapidly giving place to intellectual consciousness.
Nor does the Czechoslovak Government spare expense in equipping Magyar
schools. The outlay on education in Slovakia for the year 1921-22 was:--
Czechoslovak Crowns.
For State Elementary Schools 41,661,957
For Private Schools 90,808,142
-----------
Total 132,470,099
-----------
Out of this total expenditure, the following grants were made for
non-Slovak schools:--
State Schools. Private Schools.
Magyar 5,770,173 24,245,763
German 1,587,318 4,267,981
Ruthenian 141,650 4,177,172
--------- ----------
Total 7,499,141 32,690,916
--------- ----------
Thus the Magyar schools receive 22·5 per cent. of the whole sum spent
on elementary education in Slovakia. The outlay on secondary schools in
Slovakia amounted to 9,712,526 crowns for 1921-1922. Out of this sum
the Magyar schools received 2,048,006 crowns, or 21 per cent. of the
total.
As regards the admission of Magyars into the public services, the
Czechoslovak Government adopts an entirely unprejudiced attitude. The
following figures show the distribution of the nationalities in various
branches of the public services of Slovakia for the year 1921. They are
worth comparing with the similar statistics for the same province under
Magyar rule in 1910, which will be found on page 78.
Political Administration: Czechoslovaks 1,763, Magyars 397.
Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones: Czechoslovaks 1,631, Magyars 1,423.
Elementary School Teachers: Czechoslovaks 4,676, Magyars 1,685.
Higher Elementary School Teachers: Czechoslovaks 413, Magyars 137.
Secondary School Teachers: Czechoslovaks 431, Magyars 138.
Doctors and employees in State Hospitals: Czechoslovaks 248, Magyars
88.
Judges and Lawyers: Czechoslovaks 198, Magyars 160.
Public Works: Czechoslovaks 869, Magyars 144.
Agricultural Services: Czechoslovaks 993, Magyars 576.
From the above it will be seen that the proportion of Magyars in the
public services of the Czechoslovak Republic is far greater than the
actual strength of the Magyar minority would warrant.
In the Czechoslovak Parliament, including both the Senate and the
Chamber of Deputies, the representatives of racial minorities can use
their own language, both in speeches and written communications.
Racially the present Chamber of Deputies has 199 Czechoslovak members,
72 Germans, and 7 Magyars. The Senate has 103 Czechoslovaks, 37
Germans, and 3 Magyars.
The manner in which the Czechoslovak Courts carry out their
proceedings, even against Magyars who have committed acts of sedition,
has received no higher justification than the tribute which was paid to
it in the Parliament of Budapest by the deputy Rassay, who commended
it to the notice of the Magyar Courts as a model of justice and
impartiality. In any degree of court in the Republic racial minorities
are permitted to plead in their own tongues.[44]
In carrying out agrarian reforms in Slovakia, the Government is showing
the fullest consideration for the demands of the Magyar peasantry. It
is natural that the owners of the large estates in this district, the
majority of whom are of Hungarian nationality, should endeavour to
delay the process of agrarian reform as much as possible, but the small
farmers, whether Magyar or Czechoslovak, are opposed to their attitude.
Wherever land has been distributed, it has been allotted to the workers
irrespective of their nationality, according to the locality in which
it was situated. Thus the whole of the Coburg estate, which is situated
in a Magyar locality, and the area of which was about 2,500 acres, was
divided exclusively among Magyar workmen.
The Czechoslovak law of languages does not restrict itself to the
conditions imposed by the Treaty of St. Germain, but accords to the
minorities far greater advantages than that Treaty contemplates. Where
the Treaty mentions a racial minority, Czechoslovak law does not limit
this expression to a given nationality, represented by a sufficient
proportion of members, but extends the rights of minorities to all
groups of citizens speaking other languages, who form a fifth of the
population of any district. Thus, in a district of 20,000 inhabitants
it is sufficient that there exist 4,000 citizens speaking other
languages, not necessarily the same, to endow that minority with the
rights appertaining to minorities in general. It is not only in this
sense, but in a number of others, that Czechoslovak practice outstrips
the letter of the obligation. For instance, the Treaty provides that:
“Notwithstanding the establishment of an official language by the
Czechoslovak Government, appropriate facilities shall be given to
Czechoslovak subjects speaking languages other than Czech, for the
oral or written use of their language before the courts.” The Supreme
Administrative Tribunal published an order on October 5, 1921, to the
effect that all members of racial minorities were to be given the
advantage of this provision, whether they were Czechoslovak subjects or
not.
Again, the Government is not obliged, under the Treaty, to give the
lingual advantages defined above except before the courts. But the law
of languages extends the right of usage of a minority language beyond
the courts to “all other services, branches of administration and
agencies of the Republic”; in other words, to the postal, educational,
financial, political and other services.
The Treaty speaks of “appropriate facilities,” which must be given the
minorities for the use of their languages.
In Yugo-Slavia, also, the Magyar minority has been afforded every
facility for the continuance of its national existence. It is confined
almost exclusively to Croatia and Slavonia, which were formerly in
Hungarian territory, and where, even then, the Magyars formed a
very small fraction of the population. The Slavs of those districts
have shown no tendency to retaliate upon their former masters the
indignities they once suffered; the Magyars are permitted free use
of their language and are subject to no restrictive legislation,
notwithstanding the intrigues which exist between them and the
irredentist societies of Hungary.
In Transylvania the problem which confronts the Rumanians is more
complicated. The conditions which existed in this district before the
War have already been touched upon, and the injustices of Magyar rule
exposed. In Transylvania, and the same remark applies with equal force
to the other transferred regions, the Magyar population was to a large
extent made up of the official classes, who had been appointed by
the Hungarian Government for the purposes of Magyarisation. Upon the
transfer of the regions, these officials were offered terms, in many
cases extremely favourable, upon which to continue in their posts,
as long as they showed their intention of keeping faith with the new
authority and refrained from supporting Magyar irredentist policies.
In many cases these officials showed themselves unworthy of the trust
displayed in them. In Transylvania especially was this the case. Many
of the leading Magyar families owned large estates in the agricultural
districts of Transylvania, and were able to exert a pernicious
influence upon those officials and others who, originally appointed
under Magyar rule through the influence of the landowning families,
preserved their appointments by the transfer of their allegiance.
In many cases this transfer was only nominal, and was effected
deliberately in order that they might be in the position to further
the schemes of the Government of Budapest. As a result, the Rumanians
have been faced with grave difficulties in assimilating their Magyar
subjects, who have remained closely in touch with the sources of
sedition. The defection of the official classes has been seconded by
the efforts of the Magyar propagandists, and Magyar subjects of Rumania
have been encouraged to offer a policy of passive resistance to the
efforts of the administration to form a homogeneous Kingdom of Rumania,
combined with an unceasing stream of complaints as to the injustice
with which they assert they are treated under the new regime.
In many cases the Rumanians have been compelled at short notice to
replace disaffected officials by men of Rumanian birth whose loyalty
is unquestioned. Naturally the supply of men trained for such posts is
limited, and in some cases men may have been appointed whose ideas of
local administration have been modelled upon the methods of the Magyars
when Transylvania was under their rule. The Magyar propagandists,
always keenly on the watch for any incident upon which to base their
protestations, have seized with avidity upon the acts of their Rumanian
pupils to demonstrate the tyranny with which they are treated under
Rumanian rule.
As a matter of fact, in Transylvania the Magyars under Rumanian rule
are far better off than the Rumanians ever were under Magyar rule,
even in the most extreme cases, which the Magyars themselves have been
able to quote. But such a state of affairs is not sufficient to ensure
the peaceful settlement of Transylvania, and of this the Rumanian
Government is well aware. The oppressive acts of local officials,
which are in fact limited to misinterpretation of the provisions of
the law-giving freedom of language, education and religion to the
Magyar minority, are entirely contrary to the express instructions of
the Government of Bucharest, which is deeply concerned to enforce the
provisions of the Treaties which ensure the protection of minorities.
But the Government is in an extremely difficult position. The Rumanian
population of Transylvania, from the highest to the lowest, is deeply
incensed at the Magyar efforts, overt and covert, to stir up strife
and to secure by hook or by crook the return of the province to
Hungarian rule. The Magyar irredentists regard Transylvania as the
Sinn Fein irredentists regard Ulster; both alike proclaim the iniquity
of “partition,” regardless of the presence in Transylvania and Ulster
respectively of large majorities in favour of such partition. In both
the irredentist minority have committed acts of aggression against the
majority; in both the servants of the Government have been guilty of
hasty and ill-advised actions in restoring order and administering the
law. But no reasonable person accuses the Ulster Government of a policy
of repression of the Sinn Fein minority in Fermanagh and Tyrone. It
would be equally unreasonable to accuse the Rumanian Government of a
policy of repression of the Magyar minority in Transylvania.
That local officials and members of the civil population of
Transylvania have been guilty of foolish and arbitrary actions is
undeniable, and not to be wondered at. It is indeed extraordinary that,
overrun as the country is with Magyar _agents provacateurs_, these
actions have not been of greater violence and frequency. Exasperated
by the overbearing demeanour of their late tyrants, their political
dishonesty and their perpetual efforts to stir up discord, the Rumanian
inhabitants have at times retaliated by furtive efforts at petty
persecution, not one of which has been allowed to pass unnoticed by the
delighted Magyar propagandists. It is regrettable that the Rumanians
have thus played into the hands of these men, as it affords them a
ground upon which to base their futile cry for the restitution of
Transylvania to Hungary, and so to delay the peaceful settlement of
that province.
A distinguished Englishman,[45] as the result of investigations on
the spot, sums up the situation as follows. “The Rumanian character is
extraordinarily easy-going. They are not hustlers (perhaps it would
be better for them if they _could_ hustle a trifle), and no one would
suggest that in all sections of their country their administration is
perfect. It must not be forgotten, however, that the country has been
roughly doubled in area and that in the newly annexed territories it
was impracticable to retain a large number of civil servants who had
been brought up in the machinery of another State--at any rate, as far
as the leading officials were concerned; but it may here be mentioned
that the majority of the minor personnel on the Transylvanian railways,
as well as postal officials, etc., who worked under the old regime,
have been retained by the Rumanian Government. Every Englishman knows
how long it has taken us to build up an efficient Civil Service.
Rumania is a country which has not behind her the traditions of
organisation which Great Britain enjoys, and in the selection of the
various administrative officials during the short period which has
succeeded the War, there have undoubtedly been appointed some men
who have proved themselves unfitted to carry out the work. Humanly
speaking, this was bound to happen, and in my humble opinion the
Rumanian Government is doing all that is possible to make good when
failure in this respect is discovered.”
Despite the exaggerated claims of the Magyars, there is no question
that the Magyar minority in Transylvania is in every respect far better
off than ever was the Rumanian majority under Hungarian rule. Such
minor injustices as have been perpetrated towards the Magyars have
been due to the misplaced zeal of isolated local officials, and are
in no way representative of official Rumanian policy. Beyond these,
Rumanian demonstrations of triumph inspired by the acquisition of an
essentially Rumanian province, are naturally distasteful to a proud
people. But of grievances such as would justify a reconsideration of
the Treaties, even the Magyar propagandists can adduce no trace.
FOOTNOTES:
[43] These terms of the Treaty are embodied in the Czechoslovak
Constitution, which contains the following provisions:--
128.
1. All Czechoslovak citizens are fully equal before the law and enjoy
the same civil and political rights, without distinction of race,
language or religion.
2. Differences of religion, confession, opinion or language can be no
bar to a Czechoslovak citizen, within the limits fixed by the general
laws, particularly to admission to the public service, offices or
honours, or in the exercise of the various professions or industries.
3. Czechoslovak citizens may, within the limits fixed by the general
laws, employ freely any language, in private or commercial matters,
in the exercise of their religion, in the Press or in any form of
publication, or at public meetings.
4. The rights in these respects belonging to State agencies according
to the laws at present in force or those which may be passed in the
future, in the interests of public order, the safety of the State or
of efficient supervision, are not prejudiced by the foregoing.
129.
The principles of the right of language in the Czechoslovak Republic
are fixed by a definite law forming part of the Constitution.
130.
The general laws according to citizens the right to establish, direct
and control at their own expense charitable, religious or social
institutions, schools and other educational establishments--all
citizens, without distinction of nationality, language, religion or
race, are equal and enjoy the right to use freely their own tongue
and practise freely their religion in these establishments.
131.
In towns and districts containing a reasonable proportion of
Czechoslovak subjects speaking a language other than Czechoslovak,
the children of these Czechoslovak subjects are guaranteed the
possibility, within the limits fixed by the general educational laws,
of receiving instruction in their own tongues, but Czechoslovak may
be declared an obligatory subject.
132.
In cases where in towns and districts inhabited by a reasonable
proportion of Czechoslovak subjects belonging to racial, religious
or linguistic minorities, certain portions of the public revenue
are earmarked for educational, religious or charitable purposes by
State, communal or other budgets, part of the amount so earmarked,
corresponding to the appropriation and the objects, shall be applied
to these minorities, within the limits of the general regulations
concerning the public administration.
133.
The putting into force of the principles of 131 and 132, and
particularly the definition of the expression “Reasonable
proportion,” will be provided for by special legislation.
134.
Any measures of forced denationalisation whatever are forbidden.
Violation of this principle may be declared by law a criminal act.
[44] See also below for an amplification of this statement.
[45] Sir Harry Brittain, in _Eastern Europe_, October-November, 1921.