The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 4/Šrobar Describes Situation in Slovakia

by Vavro Šrobár

Šrobar Describes Situation in Slovakia

At a conference of Slovak members of the National Assembly with the district prefects, held at Košice in Eastern Slovakia on November 15, Dr. Vavro Šrobár, minister with full power for Slovakia, addressed the conference as follows:

I desire to speak to you briefly on the general political, cultural and economic situation. Recently three significant events took place in our state. It is first of all the ratification of the treaty of Versailles, next the enthusiastic celebration of October 28, first anniversary of our republic, marred by no untoward happenings anywhere in our territory. And finally there is the important message of our beloved president Masaryk to the National Assembly and to the entire Czechoslovak nation. These three events stirred up the people and inspired it with confidence.

Since our last meeting at Turcianský St. Martin two disturbing elements interfered our labors for the country. One is the plebiscite in Spiš and Orava, the other is the agitation of Hlinka and his colleagues abroad.

As far as the first point is concerned, I can asure you that the people of Orava and Spiš did not for a single moment ask to be attached to Poland; they are faithful to our own country. We are preparing for the plebiscite in a calm and honorable manner, conscious of our right and confident of success. We can affirm today that not a single village in Orava or Spiš asks to be detached from their brothers and from their country. The entire Polish agitation, often carried on almost brutally, had as its only effect to demonstrate to our brothers what their fate would be in a state which suffers from dire want and disordered internal conditions. The Polish government lacked good information about Orava and Spiš, when it asked for plebiscite there, and it will be totally disappointed in its expectations that the people of the two districts would turn unfaithful to their own country. And I believe that this failure of the Poles will have a benefical effect also on our neighbors to the south, the Magyars.

Slovak public opinion was lately disturbed by the agitation of Hlinka and his companions who imagined that they only need to get out of the country, appeal to foreign countries insufficiently informed about us, fill them with bunk about the oppresion of the Slovaks and their hatred for their Czech brothers, and that as a result of their lying Slovakia would be at once separated from its sisters, Bohemia and Moravia. But the work of these traitorous sons of Slovakia ended with complete fiasco. One of them faces the court, where he will have to account for his traitorous activities. The others, realizing their crime, fled to countries hostile to us and there labor for the realization of their fantastic ideas, maintained by foreign money and enjoying protection of our adversaries.

The noisiest of them is Dr. Francis Jehlička. It would seem that this man lost conscience, honor and shame. He began his career with an oath which he violated. As student of divinity he swore love to the Slovak people and instead he betrayed it. As deputy he swore loyalty to the Slovak people, but sold his trust for a professorship at the Budapest University; now for the third time he broke the oath solemnly made in the National Assembly and placed himself in the service of the Friedrich government. Of Hlinka I will say no more, for the actions of this erring and misled man whose ambition exceeds all bounds are now being investigated judicially. As to Jehlička, he is now working openly for the secession of Slovakia from the Czechoslovak Republic and its annexation to the Magyar state. He submitted a memorandum to this effect to the English representative in Pest, to the Friedrich cabinet, and finally in an interview with a Magyar journalist he uncovered his plans, his past activities and future projects and openly proclaimed that he would work for the restoration of monarchy in Slovakia and the union of Slovakia with Magyaria. This interview with Jehlička was published in pamphlet form and we learn from it that in Paris Hlinka and his confederates divided the work in a well-planned manner and that they entered the service of states hostile to us. Hlinka was to work in this sense at home, Jehlička in Budapest and the others in Poland, Switzerland and America. It is the height of cynicism and moral depravity, when a man betrays the plans regardless of the fate of his fellow-traitors of whom one is under arrest.

That enmity between Czechs and Slovaks was artificially excited is evident from this that the Slovak people, after the timely removal of the offending officials, now live in brotherly harmony with Czech officials located in Slovakia, and that the entire Slovak nation celebrated October 28, first anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic, with great solemnity and enthusiasm and without the slightest disturbance.

The relation of the Magyar population to the Czechoslovak Republic is friendly. Both city workers and country people are working peacefully and enjoy order and security which prevail here since the defeat of the bolshevik invasion. But it seems that the Magyar aristocracy and the former ruling class again indulge in political dreams that Slovakia will once more fall a prey to their irresponsible domination. We are well acquainted with their plans and we know well all those men who scatter rumors of the coming invasion of white guards. I assure you that when the time comes, these conspirators will not catch us by surprise, but rather will themselves be surprised and unpleasantly awakened from their dreams. The Magyar noblemen do not seem to realize that domination over enslaved nations in Central Europe is gone for good. We shall see to it that their reliance on chance and possible foreign complications shall be proved vain.

The internal situation in Slovakia has been very good in the last few months. It has been demonstrated that reasons for whatever dissatisfaction existed were economic and not political. Better regulation of requisitions and food distribution removed the motives which disturbed the minds of the people. In the military administration, too, an improvement was brought about by the assignment of officers from our legions to Slovak regiments; these officers conduct themselves as brothers toward the men under their command and pay attention to their just complaints. In order to liberate the soldiers from the hostile atmosphere of Magyar culture in which they were brought up, lectures are given in all the larger garrisons on Slovak history, literature, our fight for freedom; our soldiers are made acquainted with the cultural life of our Czech brothers to bridge the gulf which the separation of a thousand years made between us and the Czech nation.

Officials scattered in Slovakia as a result of the campaign in press and of instructions from their superiors pay more attention to the political, social and religious circumstances of the Slovak people, try to understand them and to act in harmony with the local environment. Here also we reach the conclusion that the principal reason for dissatisfaction with Czech officials was their ignorance of the Slovak soul ,Slovak mentality and life. The better we get acquainted, the less there will be of misunderstanding and disharmony between Slovaks and Czechs. Therefore I ask with great earnestness that Czechs coming to Slovakia should first try to acquire all possible information, about the people they will have to deal with, then establish personal contact with both the educated people and the masses in the particular city or village in which they may be stationed.” It is especially desirable that all Czech officials and state employees should employ the Slovak form of speech as much as possible, for then the most obvious barrier between brothers is broken down and better co-operation will result.

As a result of foreign agitation a few newspapers published on Slovak soil began in spite of censorship a campaign aimed against the Czechoslovak Republic and against our Czech brothers. The editors received first an admonition, and where that was not effective the newspapers were suppressed. But on the whole Magyar and German press pays constantly more attention to the internal affairs of our state, its political, economic and cultural interests. Thus their readers are brought in closer touch with the interests of the republic; the tension ds relaxing, and our citizens of foreign speech bring their aims within the limit of the existing order and become a useful element of the state.

Municipal and national elections are approaching; they will be held on the basis of universal franchise with representation for minorities, and political parties are showing more activity. A serious problem for Slovakia is the formation of a block of parties with positive program which would paralyze the work of subversive elements supported from beyond our boundaries. I hope that the statesmanship of Slovak leaders will shortly solve this problem to the benefit of the parties concerned and for the good of our nation and the republic. It is evident, of course, that we count on Magyar and German citizens who are willing to co-operate in the upbuilding of our republic and securing peaceful development of all the races living in Slovakia. Our Magyar and German fellow-citizens must see that all of us in Slovakia have common interests and that an uderstanding is necessary for the sake of economic welfare, good administration and cultural growth. On this basis we are willing to extend our hand to all who wish to work honorably with us.

The Jews in Slovakia are now seeking close relations with the Slovak circles. We welcome this in the interest both of the Jews and of the state; we want the Jewry to abandon its isolation and thus overcome distrust and suspicion. The Jews must change the role which they formerly played among the Slovaks; they should demonstrate by deeds their loyalty to the country and our nation. They can either join such parties as seem nearest to them, or they can form their own party which must, however, so conduct itself as to exclude all suspicion of hostility to the state. Jewish intellect, Jewish enterprise and capital cannot easily be spared by any state, and least of all by our state which is building its institutions from the foundation and welcomes every sincere co-worker.

Big capital, whether industrial or agricultural or banking, needs to be told emphatically that it must use its advantages in a democratic spirit. It will be very foolish, if it waits for something to happen, for foreign complications. Let it rather get busy to create new values, so that willingness to work should be encouraged and unemployment decrease.

The excitement over the so-called religious question has in the recent months cooled down. There has been lately no report of religious sentiments wantonly hurt. It seems to me that even in the past a very few occurrences were artificially given undue publicity, magnified hysterically so as to stir up the people. From the time the “Slovák” and “Ludové Noviny” were suppressed, the minds of the people quieted down, and only here and there a few immature young priests tried to excite the people against the laws and against our Czech brothers. These disturbers were properly dealt with by church authorities.

I am convinced that when bishops are appointed to the vacant sees in Slovakia, discipline will be restored among Catholic priests, and in place of the present anarchy there will be peace and order in the Catholic Church.—There are good hopes that the question of new bishops will be settled soon and that the Holy See will fully meet the desires of the Czechoslovak Republic.

For the last few weeks certain mewspapers wrote much of the ministry for the administration of Slovakia, and other newspapers in Slovakia demanded reconstruction of this ministry. I wish to avoid a discussion of this topic, but I must say that some of the papers went beyond what wes fair, that they described conditions in Slovakia as if Slovakia was going to pieces or as if it was about to separate from the Bohemian lands. This alarm was due to ignorance and was perfectly unnecessary; neither had it any other effect than to furnish foreign states with false news from our own sources which tended to injure the republic.

Slovak politicians, especially from the social democratic side, submitted a plan for the reconstruction of the department for the administration of Slovakia. I welcome the plan, just as I would welcome any plan that would tend to improve our administrative efficiency. The suggestion to form an advisory committee may be worked out so as to have in the department a committee of professional councillors, representing various parties; here would be taken up all questions of administration and political life. I shall prepare soon a detailed plan on this line.

As far as Carpathian Russia is concerned, a commission has been sent out to determine the language boundary between Slovakia and the autonomous province of Carpatho-Russia.

The enumeration of the population of Slovakia was carried out without any incidents. The completed figures brought no surprise to the Slovaks. What we knew of Magyar statistics long before this was now openly proved. The present census proved that the natural increase of Slovaks was kept up steadily. The total population as ascertained at the recent census is 2,940,374; Slovaks number 1,940,980 (66.3%), Magyars 665,703 (22.7%), Germans 143,322 (4.7%), Rusins 134,762 (4.5%), all others 55,308 (1.8%). Thus Slovakia is by an overwhelming majority Slovak and it belongs primarily to the Slovak people. Now let our people realize this numerical superiority and resolve that in the future they will lead in their own territory not merely in numbers, but also in wealth and power. Let the Slovaks take possession of the heritage which just fate awarded to them, and let them make up in the twentieth century for what they lost in the last thousand years through adverse circumstances and the enmity of foreigners.

 

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