Evening star., 1949-12-15
The Evil We Face

In the world behind the Iron Curtain,
as in George Orwell's spine chilling 1884,"
all the abstract norms and ancient mean
ings of truth and justice are values that
have been transvalued into indecent carl
catures of themselves. A thing is right,
a thing Is fair, thing Is good and honor
able only If it serves the ends Of the
tyrannical state, meaning specifically the
dominance-seekingo objectives of the Soviet
Union. Failing that, then 1t is twisted,
turned upside down, or otherwise distorted
and mutilated until 1t no longer is part Of
reality but merely kind Of wild dream
in the night OF Red totalitarianism.
The latest example OF this frightening
political phenomenon of our time is the
trial" and condemnation of Traicho Kos
tov, former Vice Premier Of Bulgaria and
once that countrys second most important
Communist Mr.. Kostov-whose defense"
attorney was in fact his most implacable
prosecutor (another illustration of how
things are made the opposites OF them
selves behind the Iron Curtain)-has Just
been sentenced to hang by his neck until
thoroughly dead. That is what he de-
serves, according to his accusers, because
of having plotted with Marshal Tito Of
Yugoslavia, spied for Britain and the
United States, and committed sabotage in
an effort to overthrow the Kremlin's pres
ent puppet regime at Sofia.
But Mr.. Kostov-z-despite the Kisses and
boos of the picked courtroom audience that
sought to drown him out-has succeeded
in entering a firm and resonant not-guilty
plea in the historical record of the free
world, If not of his own country. Unlike
his co-defendants, unlike practically every
body else who has gone through similar
trials" in the satellite lands of the Red
empire, he has refused to grovel before his
Judges" or ask their mercy. He has re-
fused to confess" and beat his breast in
elf-abasement He has refused, in short,
to go through the propaganda rigamarole
that is characteristic Of the accused In all
such Communist travesties of Justice.
Instead steadfastly denying the charges
against him, he has insisted upon his inno-
cence without wavering.
In doing this, of course, Mr.. Kostov has
done the unexpected, thus infuriating his
Judges" and sealing his own doom. At
certain courage, a certain human dignity,
certain grandeur Of character that is
rare in the dark world he himself once
helped to establish. Accordingly, when
he walks to the gallows, he may be COM
forted bit by an awareness of that. He
may be comforted, too, by the thought
that free mankind has taken note of his
act, that it believes in the honesty of
that act, and that it not only condemns
his condemners but looks upon them, with
the greatest contempt and revulsion, as
creatures who must surely be brought to
book some day, somehow for their crimes.
How else can free men react to trials"
Of this type? Mr.. Kostov has been singled
out for death not because Of having COM
mitted any real crime but because Of being
convenient scapegoat whose fate will
help the Kremlin in its campaign to strike
terror, in the heart Of any satellite group
tempted to emulate Marshal Tito In seek
ing to throw of the chains Of the Soviet
Union. Sooner or later, II truth and Justice
are not to be swept away in ever widening
areas Of the world, this fearsome evil must
either die of its own inherent poisons or
be smashed by humanity determined to
remain human.