Evening star., 1946-06-02
Small , Weak Motions
Tie to Big Ones

| lie 10 Big OneS
Writer Believes Opportunism
Prompts Pro-Soviet Votes
By Raymond Moley.
A trend in the political thinking of
nations which, as a rule, is overlooked.
appears in the results OF the elections in
Europe and in far-reaching decisions in
Asia. When small countries like Czecho-
slovakia. Hungary or Bulgaria follow
leftist trend, especially when there is a
heavy Communist vote, we are too much
inclined to analyze it as the expression
Of pressure from Russia or OF a will to-
ward Soviet system. But the Czecho-
slavak elections, for instance, clearly
show that the real motive is quite diff
ferent.
Accounts of naturalization in Czecho-
slovakia seem to have been misunder.
stood abroad. President Edouard Benes,
in the last issue of Foreign Affairs, ex-
plains that the question of restoring
banks and some industries to the vari-
GUS former and Intermediary owners,
some Of whom are now enemy nationals,
caused so much difficulty that the sim.
plest thing to do was to turn the con-
Germs over to the state and let the state
define the indemnity. But the Czechs
have no basic will toward Sovietization,
and the Sovaks have even less.
The economic and social setup Of
Czechoslovakia is almost half agricul-
tural, with Independent peasants form.
ing the majority. In the cities, small
and medium-sized industries and shops
are prevalent. Labor has Socialist ten.
dencies, as it has everywhere else. Never.
theless, Of the newly elected Czech dep
uties, 40 per cent are Communist and II
per cent are Socialist, 50 that as q re-
suit these two parties together form q
slight majority.
What could have made a great num-
Der of the independent peasants and
shopkeepers vote Communist and So
cialist? Undoubtedly, it. was the desire
to secure the protection of Russia
against Czechoslovakia's dreaded neigh
bors. Czechoslovakia still fears Ger
many, as do all adjacent countries, even
after her crushing defeat. And the Czech
nation, when attacked by the Germans
in 1898, saw Poland fall at her back and
tear piece of land out of her body.
The only power to protect it under SIM
liar circumstances would be Russia.
Without any acs. n by the Russians, the
Czechs moved toward them.
The same force motivated the unusu-
ally large French vote for the Commu-
nists and Socialists. However, after the
French people saw that Russia did not
back their ardent desire to have the
Ruhr detached from Germany and that
the Anglo-Saxon nations took 4 arm
stand toward Russia with some success,
the majority moved back from the
Communist Socialist line. A constitu-
ton much more along the lines Of vest
ern democracy will evolve. Similar de-
velopment has taken place in the non-
Soviet occupied areas in Germany. The
attraction OF the western powers Is
growing.
On the other hand, whatever elections
may be held In Romania and Bulgaria.
large pro-Soviet votes will be cast for .
generation or so. These countries are
in the orbit of the great protector. They
want to stay there and they will.
Perhaps the most surprising attitude
has been displayed by Mohandas K.
Gandhi, the Indian leader. The new
plan Of the British Empire. rejecting
the partition OF India into Pakistan and
Hindustan, proposes an alliance Of inde-
pendent India with the British Empire.
Nobody has been more resentful to-
ward England than Gandhi and his
party. When the japanese were at the
gates Of India, they refused to make
any effort to oppose them, saying that
for them 1t made no difference who was
boss-the white man or the yellow.
Now Gandhi faces the chance of hav-
ing 4 united India, whose foreign policy
would be tied to the great power of
the British Empire. He could have the
choice Of complete independence, If he
would fight for it. But then, by sep
arating Pakistan, he would be endan-
gered by 4 possible Arab-Moslem empire
from Casablanca and Dakar to the
banks of the Indus and Ganges Rivers.
The attraction of the more cultured
and more reliable power has moved
Gandhi to lean toward accepting the
British solution, to the surprise of the
whole world. But he might have chosen
the solution OF orientation toward Rus
sia. In that case, the power of attrac-
tion OF the British Empire, following the
incessant declamations of the Indian
politicians and Of the great poet Rabin-
dranath Tagore against England would
not have held. g.,
These trends in small states and
among weaker peoples resemble the
movement Of celestial bodies. The great
power Of attraction of the large nations
causes small ones to come into their
orbits. Political choices are dominated
by the overshadowing desire for physical
security and the maintenance of that
security.
tanned at the Columbia establishment
for relatively next to nothing" in the
lire of expense. The Star for May 33.