When the Yugoslavs were at last in a position, late in 1920, to hold the
elections for the Constituent Assembly the Radicals and the Democrats
were the most successful, but even if they made a Coalition they would
still have no majority. [Now and then the Democrats asserted themselves
against the Radicals, but when the Opposition thought they could
perceive a rift the Democratic Press would write that the two parties
were most intimately joined to one another, and especially the
Democrats.] The small parties were very numerous, the smallest being
that of M. Ribarac, the old Liberal leader, who found himself in the
Skup[vs]tina with nobody to lead; the clericals of Slovenia came to
grief, a fact which appeared to give general satisfaction, and a similar
mishap befell the decentralizing parties of Croatia. On the other hand
the Croat Peasants' party, whose decentralization ideas were more
extreme, had a very considerable success, and the Communist party, whose
fall we have already described, had come to the Skup[vs]tina with some
fifty members.
(_a_) MARKOVI['C] THE COMMUNIST
The temporary triumph of the Communists was admittedly due to the
exceptional position in which the country found itself. They had in Sima
Markovi['c] an enthusiastic leader who has abandoned the teaching of
mathematics in order to expound the gospel of Moscow, and in the
Skup[vs]tina the shrill, voice of this kindly, bald-headed little man
had to be raised to its uttermost capacity, for most of his
fellow-members were unwilling to be taught. It so happens that he is
Pa[vs]i['c]'s godson, and on one occasion when the little Communist was
talking with great vehemence the old gentleman, who was turning over the
pages of some document, was heard by an appreciative House to murmur:
"Oh, be still, my child, be still!" But the most unfortunate episode in
Markovi['c]'s oratory was when he expressed the hope that Communism
would rage through the country like an epidemic, forgetting for the
moment that those municipalities which had gone over to Communism had
won general praise for their improvements in the sanitary sphere.
Largely on account of this infelicitous simile he was replaced in the
leadership by another, a less vigorous and less entertaining person. And
this party stood in particular need of attractive champions.
The Croat Peasants' party, or the Radi['c] party, as it came to be
called, gave to its beloved chief more than half the seats in Croatia,
forty-nine out of ninety-three; and the whole party refused to go to
Belgrade.
"Would it not have been better," I asked him, "if you had gone? The
Constitution will be settled without you."
(_b_) RADI['C], THE MUCH-DISCUSSED
"We had various reasons," said he, "for not going. One of them was that
the Assembly which laid down the Constitution was not sovereign. For
example, it was not permitted to discuss whether Yugoslavia should be a
monarchy or a republic. I admit that three-quarters of the members would
very likely have voted for a monarchy, and in that case we should have
accepted the situation very much as do the royalist deputies in the
French Parliament."
"What are your own views on this subject?"
"Well," said he, "for this period of transition I believe--mark you,
this only applies to myself--that a monarchy is not merely acceptable
but preferable. On the other hand the Croat peasant was so badly treated
by the Habsburgs that he will now hear of nothing but a republic."
I ventured to say that this sudden conversion to republican ideas in one
who for centuries had lived in a monarchy was peculiar, and Radi['c]
acknowledged that when the first republican cries were raised at a
meeting of the Peasants' party on July 25, 1918 they came to him as a
revelation, one which he accepted.
"You don't accept everything that your peasants shout for?"
"I do not," said he. "There was a gentleman who asked them at a meeting
whether they would kill him if he, elected as their representative, were
to go to Belgrade. They shouted back that they would do so. And when the
prospective candidate came to tell me this story, thinking that I would
be delighted, I told him that a ship's captain cannot have his hands
bound before undertaking a voyage and he must therefore withdraw his
candidature.... When the time comes we will go to Belgrade."
"And those who say that you are longing for the return of the
Habsburgs?"
He gripped my arm. "They are fools," said he. "We are looking forward as
eagerly as the great Bishop Strossmayer to the union of the Southern
Slavs. According to the spirit of his time he began at the top, with
academies, picture galleries and so forth. We prefer to begin with
elementary schools." And bubbling with enthusiasm he told me of the
efforts his party was making. It was plain to see that what lies nearest
to his heart is to improve their social and economic status. And those
observers are probably in the right, who believe that he merely uses
this republican cry as a weapon which he will conveniently drop when it
has served its purpose.
"If only Yugoslavia had a great statesman," said I, "who would weld the
new State together, so that the Croats remain with the Serbs not alone
for the reasons that they are both Southern Slavs and that they are
surrounded by not over-friendly neighbours. The great statesman--perhaps
it will be Pa[vs]i['c]--will make you all happy to come together."
"From the bottom of my heart I hope he will succeed," said Radi['c],
"and he will be remembered as our second and more fortunate
Strossmayer."
We generally imagine that the statesmen of South-Eastern Europe are a
collection of rather swarthy, frock-coated personages who, when not
engaged in decrying each other, are very busily occupied in feathering
their own nests. If any one of them, at the outset of his career, had a
sense of humour we suppose that in this heated atmosphere it must have
long ago evaporated. But strangely enough, the two most prominent
politicians in Yugoslavia, the venerable Pa[vs]i['c], the Prime Minister
of this new State of Serbs and Croats and Slovenes, even as he used for
years to be the autocrat of Serbia, and his opponent Stephen Radi['c]
are, both of them, by the grace of God, of a humorous disposition.
Outwardly, there is not much resemblance between them: Pa[vs]i['c], the
picture of a benevolent patriarch, letting fall in his deep voice a few
casual words which bring down his critics' case, hopelessly down like a
wounded aeroplane, and Radi['c] the fervid little orator, the learned
man, whose life has been devoted to the Croat peasants and who is said
to find it difficult to make a speech that is under eight hours in
length. Last year when the vigorous Pribi[vc]evi['c], then Minister of
the Interior, who is determined to compel the Serbs and the Croats
straightway to live in the closest companionship, whereas Radi['c],
supported by most of the Croat _intelligentsia_, argues that in view of
their very different culture, the Serbs having enjoyed a Byzantine and
the Croats an Austrian education, it would be advisable for these two
branches of the South Slav nation to come gradually and not violently
together,--last year when Radi['c] was lying in prison on account of his
subversive ideas Pribi[vc]evi['c] sent a message to say that he was
prepared to adopt half his programme. And Radi['c] sent back word
regretting that the Minister could not adopt the whole of it and thus
obtain for himself the Peasants' party. It is wrong to assert that this
party is unpatriotic; the enemies of Yugoslavia, who welcome in Radi['c]
a disruptive element, are totally in error. Years ago he was working for
the eventual union of Serbs and Croats--the Austrians imprisoned him
because in 1903 he went to Belgrade at the accession of King Peter and
made an admirable speech to this effect--and his present attitude is due
to the impatient manner in which Mr. Pribi[vc]evi['c] and his friends
are endeavouring to bring the union about. His peasants are a
conservative people; they cannot instantly dispel the anti-Serb ideas
which the Austrians for ever inculcated, nor the negative anti-Serb
frame of mind which they learned from their own _intelligentsia_. It
will take a little time before the Catholic peasant realizes that the
Orthodox Serb is his brother and that now his military service will not
be in an alien army, but in his own. "Let us go slowly," says Radi['c],
"with our peasants"; and he knows them very well.... One is told that he
changes his opinions from hour to hour; he is certainly very impetuous,
very much under the influence of his emotions; but in one thing he has
never varied--he has always struggled for the Croat peasant, and he has
been rewarded by the unbounded devotion of that faithful, rather
incoherent, creature.
Now the Serbs are a democratic people; they are by their nature in
opposition to any force, civil or military, which might attempt to make
the monarchy more absolute. The wisest Serbs do not forget that in the
peasant lies their principal wealth, and although as yet the Serbian
Peasants' party does not hold many constituencies in the old kingdom,
nevertheless it appears to have a brighter prospect than any other
Serbian party, for in that country the revolt against the
lawyer-politician is likely to be more efficacious than in France or
England. One may look forward to an understanding between Radi['c] and
this Serbian party, which is only two or three years old, although its
founder, the excellent Avramovi['c]--an elderly gentleman who sits
behind vast barricades of books in various languages--has devoted
himself for many years to agrarian co-operative societies, of which in
Serbia there are more than 1500.
The most uncertain factors seem to be the moderating hold of Radi['c]
over his peasants and over himself. No one doubts but that he has the
interests of the peasant very much at heart, and if he succeeds in
improving the peasant's lot then that grateful giant will presumably not
sink again into the sleep which he enjoyed when he was under the
Habsburgs. The circulation of Radi['c]'s weekly paper _Dom_[62] ("The
Home") has risen from 2000 before the elections and 9000 during the
elections to 30,000. One enterprising vendor, a Serb from the Banat,
takes 500 copies a week and tramps over the countryside, disposing of
his wares either for cash or for eggs, the latter of which he sells at
the end of the week to a Zagreb hotel. The peasant is making great
efforts to raise himself--a case has recently been brought to light of a
farmer in Zagorija who, as a hobby, has taught more than 700 persons to
read and write. The peasant perceives that he has been assisted far less
by the Catholic Church than by the work of Radi['c]. It is not unfair to
say that the Church desired, above all things, to keep the peasant
under her control. If a parish priest was disliked by his flock, so a
prominent Croatian priest tells me, that was all the more reason why the
Bishop refused to remove him. And the clergy, except for an enlightened
minority, have been very much opposed to Radi['c]'s policy of
democratizing the Church.... In return for his unceasing labours he has
now secured the peasant's love and confidence. He will retain them if he
satisfies his client, and it seems to be within his power--gaining for
him a better position and dissuading him from fantastic demands. He can
be of immense assistance in the task of building up the State. But will
the brilliant flame within him burn with steadiness? Has he got
sufficient strength of will? With all his qualities of heart and brain
he has not managed to discard his zig-zag impetuosity. The peasants, who
recognize his talents, ask him to captain the ship; but he runs down too
often into his cabin and leaves the unskilled sailors on the bridge.
Down in the cabin he is feverishly and with great skill writing a
contradiction of a pronouncement he made yesterday.
Those who are openly sailing in Radi['c]'s boat are for the most part
the hard-headed peasants. Yet a number of the _intelligentsia_ are
coming on board--some of them, no doubt, with a view to their own
advancement, but others on account of their convictions. And a still
greater number of the Croat _intelligentsia_ look on him with
sympathy--municipal officials, barristers, doctors, merchants,
schoolmasters and military officers. It is most foolish to pretend that
all these people are thinking regretfully of the old Habsburg days--they
are, in the vast majority, sincere and loyal Yugoslavs who have certain
grievances. They do not believe that Croatia has fared very well since
the institution of the new State and it would seem wise to give them as
much autonomy as is consonant with the interests of the whole country,
for then they will only have themselves to blame if there is no
improvement. Maybe they are unduly sensitive, but they were for many
years in political warfare with the Magyars and this should be taken
into consideration. Even if all the grievances are based on
misconceptions, on the difficulties of the moment, on the circumstances
of the fading past--the new generation of Croats, say their teachers,
are growing up to be excellent Yugoslavs--yet an effort should be made
to sweep them away.
When Belgrade makes a statesmanlike gesture then Radi['c] will probably
be able to persuade the peasants to abandon their republican
slogan--both they and the _intelligentsia_ will abandon their reserved
attitude towards the Government which they were far from entertaining
when the State was first established. It seems as if the role of
conciliator may well be filled by that wise old man, Nicholas
Pa[vs]i['c], who is now no longer a mere Balkan Premier. When he was
that he very properly used Balkan methods, despite the stern remarks of
a few Western critics.