Evening star., 1949-07-04
0fferinq
Concessions 10
S|ovak Rebels
Peasants Organized
To Protect Priests,
Prague Now Admits
By the Associated Press

by The Associated rfesS
PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia, July
4.-Violent defiance from devou1
Catholic Slovakians apparently
has forced Czechoslovakia's Com.
munist government to change it!
tactics in the church-state war
While Premier Antonin Zapo.
tocky urged citizens to maintain
peace and calm" Education Min.
lister Zdenek Nejedly told listener:
in a radio speech the government
was ready to make concessions.
For the first time the govern.
ment and its controlled-press ad-
mitted that peasants in Slovakis
were organized as minute men.
armed with clubs and scythes
to guard their priests.
Ten Get Prison Terms.
The newspaper Pravda, organ Of
the Slovak Communist Party, sale
10 persons, including three women
were sentenced to prison for terms
ranging up to 10 years for "in-
surrection" following riots in the
town of Levoca.
The inhabitants in this farm.
ing village beat up members OF
the Communist-controlled loca
executive council when the latter
tried to force the parish priest tc
appear before it. according tc
Pravda.
Despite the Jail sentences, re-
liable reports from strongly
Catholic Slovakia said the peas
ants were still prepared to rise
any time their priests were
threatened.
These clashes climaxed the gov
ernment's campaign which church
leaders said was aimed at state
control of the Roman Catholic
Church and undermining the
authority of Archbishop Josef
Beran, primate of Czechoslovakia
Premier Goes to Bratislava.
Premier Zapotocky made a trip
to Bratislava. Slovakia's capital
to participate in that provinces
annual three day religious festi-
val. This trip was regarded here
as an indication of how important
the government considered peace
in volatile and frequently in
dependent Slovakia.
1t was also considered signifi-
can't that he was accompanied by
four other cabinet ministers
three of them Slovakians.
An Associated Press reporter in
Bratislava said Communist police
lined the streets of the city solidly
all the way from the suburbs to
the center of town where Zapo-
tocky spoke.
In his speech at Bratislava the
premier. while appealing for peace
and calm" in the religious conflict.
made it clear the government in
tended to go ahead with its eco
nomic socialization policy.
Forward and not one step
back" he said.
Meanwhile, the trade union
newspaper. Prace, which usually
echoes the Premier's views, said
the government had no intention
of arresting Archbishop Beran. 1t
said the government would not
make q martyr" Of the prelate,
who is reported a semicaptive in
his police-controlled palace in
Prague.
Another Priest Disappears.
Church circles buzzed about the
disappearance of another promi-
nent churchman, the Rev. Fran
tisek Fiala.
Formerly a priest at st. James
Cathedral, he had earlier been
one of the chief supporters OF
the government In the church
state strife.
His disappearance became pub
lie when he failed to show up fol
government-Sponsored meeting
at which he was to have been as.
signed leadership in the new gov
ernment-backed separatist Cath.
olic Action Society.
Churchmen said they suspected
Fiala deserted the government
campaign and vanished becaus.
he was warned in advance that
the Vatican would excommunicat,
any Catholic actively promoting
the separatist group.
Today a French broadcas
beamed to. Czechoslovakia report
ed Fiala's disappearance. Som,
church people here took this as
hint he had ESCAPED to France,