Evening star., 1943-11-21
Ny Native Land
Ru y.On;s Adn,y,ic

~ AlS~so @UAHssSs VIZ" PCf
Since for years Louis Adamic
has maintained high position in
our literary world by writing about
his experiences: and emotions as a
European-born American, the Amer
ican public is pretty we'll aware that
his native land is Yugoslavia. This
present book, however, has more
than a personal justification for its
composition. In it Mr.. Adamic
views his country in relation to the
military situation.
He considers it crucially impor-
tant that the United Nations give
ofncial backing to the Yugoslavian
group known as the Liberation
Front, of which the Russian-spon-
sored Partisans are the military
arm. This group opposes the gov
ernment-in-exile headed by King
Peter. What Mr.. Adamic calls for,
consequently, is that our country
stand behind Yugoslavian revolu-
ton.
AS he describes it, there is already
a raging civil war in Yugoslavia be-
tween the Partisans and the groups
who are loyal to King Peter. The
Partisans, he says, represent the
sentiment Of the people, the loyal
lists only that of the politicians. He
further charges that the govern
ment-in-exile is pro-Axis. Every
consideration, therefore, he says,
indicates that the Partisans, or Lib
Grafton Front. be given United
Nations recognition. The present
government should be thrown out,
and King Peter should abdicate.
1t Is open and shut, as Mr.. Adamic
editorializes it. The book, however,
is not limited to editorializing; it
also contains facts, and some of
those facts cannot but impress a
reader as weakening the case. For
one thing, Mr. Adamic makes it
clear that the civil war is by no
means one-sided. There Is a healthy
opposition by certain sections of the
people to a RuSsian-sponSored re-
gime. This being so, 1t is hard to
see how such a regime can be con-
sidered representative.
Beyond this contradiction between
fact and conclusion, moreover, there
is a perceptible delicacy in Mr..
Adamic's handling of the question
Of communistic Yugoslavia. OBJ
viously believing that there may
be some opposition to a postwar
extension of Communism to the Bal
kans, he assures his readers that
the Liberation Front is for all anti
Axis elements, regardless of their
politics. But he offers his own
opinion that the only solution for
his country is on the Russian model.
Draga Mikhailovich, who orig
inally took up the gauntlet against
the Axis when the government fed,
Mr. Adamic considers a traitor
this because Mikhailovich remained
loyal to his King and when called
on by the newer Partisan unit to
give up his command, refused. A
reader will find the book peculiarly
unconvincing on this subject. The
facts, as Mr. Adamic himself reports
them. : are that Mikhailovich did
what any faithful officer would do
in holding alleeiance to his king,
and that the Kings government,
though in exile, was the govern
ment which the United Nations
recognized. When Britain, to ap-
pease Russia, changed her line to-
ward the Partisans, Mikhailovich
was simply left holding the bag.
No amount Of editorializing or
name-calNng can alter these facts.
AS for Mikhailovich' attacks on
the Partisans, it appears in the book
that the Partisans also attacked
him. Americans are now asked to
take sides
The book contains. In addition to
it's analysis of the politico-military
situation. some assorted atrocity
stories designed to show that the
Serbs have killed about as many
Croats as the Croats have Serbs,
and a resume of the last thousand
years history of the Slavic peoples,
which. the native son admits, is all
pretty bad"