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| 8. - . WORLD COMMUNISM The Troubled Balkana. Holy Mother Russia has always had Pan-Slav aspirations. But it remained the lot of her unanointed ruler, Stalin, to realize this dream. In Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria, and Greece, Communist power is felt in varying degrees. Not much has trickled out concerning the Communist regime of Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu in Albania, but Hoxha has the reputation of being the cruellest of the European Communist leaders. Czechoslovakia has escaped forcible im- position of Soviet rule only by voluntarily accepting Communists in practical- ly all the key positions of her cabinet. The Soviet-sponsored government of Austria formerly included Ernst Fischer as Minister of Education and Franz Honner as Minister of the Interior, both strategic posts. Hungary, although more free than other Balkan states, is being prossured to accept a trade treaty which will give the Soviet Union complete economic control over the nation. Yet conditions elsewhere are worse. In Bulgaria, the Soviet Union imported George Dimitroff, former head of the Comintern, to preside over a rule of terror, aided by Tzola Dragoytchova, a fanatical Communist trained in Moscow. The initial steps followed the pattern adopted elsewhere, the formation of a fatherland front of all leftist parties, with Communists in control. In a short time there was a bloody purge of the democratic elements, many of whom had been in concentration camps for resisting Hitler. Most notorious was the trial of Nicola Mustanoff, Athanas Buroff, and Dimitri Gitcheff. These democratic leaders were arrested as "war criminals.11 Dr. George M. Dimitroff, known as Doktor Gehmeh, was actually sentenced to death by the Nazis. But to save his life from the Soviets, he has taken refuge in the American Legation. Aiding in this new trend is the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, formerly schismatic from the Eastern Orthodox groups, but now induced to rejoin the federation ; fostered by Russia. In Rumania a National Democratic Front followed a similar program to that of Bulgaria. Real democratic leaders were deposed, and puppets or even Iron Guardists were installed in power. Such anti-fascists as M. Maniu and General Radescu have been proscribed by Anna Pauker (the "Passionaria" of Rumania), M. Patrascanu, and M. Constantinescu-Iasi. In the meantime, the country is being stripped of its industrial equipment and burdened with an economic pact which cements its ties to the Soviet Union. The regime of Marshal Tito (Joseph Broz) is one of the most thoroughly Communist in Europe. Tito gained power largely through Soviet aid, after a thorough job of slandering Mihailovitch and King Peter. He is now engaged in a bloody purge of the Chetniks, who are believed to constitute a majority in Yugoslavia, but a majority which is poorly armed and which has lost all out- side support. The executions are confined, of course, to "fascists* and "German collaborators," in spite of the fact that many of the victims were previously released from German concentration and prisoner of war camps. Sixteen of the most prominent democratic Serbs were being tried for their life on the very day that Tito announced a general amnesty for persons who had "aided the Germans." This, and bombing- by American planes (our fliers were told by the British and Tito that they were bombing Germans) was their reward for rescuing; six hundred American fliers shot down over Yugoslavia. The Osna (secret police) are hampering the practice of Catholicism in Croatia. When Dr. Ivan Subasitch, Yugoslav foreign minister retained as a concession |