The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 23, 1924, Page 11

The Situation in Bulgaria #<omor N the course of its forty-five years existence as a politically indepen- dent state, Bulgaria has experienced not a few reactionary regimes, but when compared with the present reac- tion which is raging, all these reac- tionary regimes of the past. seem the merest child’s play. - The working ‘class and the peasant’ masses are robbed of all rights and rendered_the prey of the bankers and speculators. All workers’ parties are dissolved, Their press is annihilated. Their best representatives are killed, flung into prison, or driven into exile. In the background of this political reaction, the gangs of bankers and speculators are busily engaged in puti- lessly exploiting the working masses of the country. Up to the coup d'etat the dollar cost-92 leva; its present price is 140 leva. Thus the Bulgarian currency has suffered a depreciation of over 40 per cent. Whilst the state budget for 1922-23 amounted altogether to five milliard leva, the budget of the Zankov govern- ment for 1923-24 amounted to 6.2 mil- liard. leva and that for 1924-25 to 7 milliard leva. The outgoings for one year for the army, the police and prisons amounted alone to one and a half milliards. Before the coup d‘etat the expenditure for the _ police amounted to 1,476,777 leva annually; it now amounts to to 15,388,520 leva. The indirect taxes have been in- creased by 2 to 3 milliard leva. The tobacco tax has been increased by 365 million leva. The land taxes, which fall upon the peasants, have also been increased by 340 million leva while the tax upon limited labolity companies has only yielded 3 million leva. Foreign trade for the year 1923 showed an unfavorable . balance of 2,257 million leva. There is a very Dig decline in agri- culture. The area given to Autumn Heads Balkan Federation G. Dimitrov, Secretary of the Com- munist Balkan Federation. sowing in the year 1923 was 11 million hectars, as compared with 13 million hectars in 1922. Prices have increasea from June, 1924, by 30 to 50 per cent. The price of bread has increased from 5 to 7 leva per kilogram, meat from 24 to 30 leva, salt from 4 to 6 leva etc, The wages of the workers have fal- len by 40 per cent as compared with (capital 3 million leva) has a net profit of 1,020,000 leva (30 per cent); the international joint stock com- pany, “Maritima” (capital 5 million) has a profit of 1,700,000 leva (34 per cent). In the sphere of foreign politics the Zankov . government is driving, the country into conflicts, with Yugo- Slavia on account of Macedonia, with Greece on account of Thrace, with the Soviet Union on account of the Wran- gel troops, whom it welcomes with open arms, In order under these cir- cumstances to retain the support of France, England and Italy, it is pre- pared.to concede to them valuable re- sourees of the country, as for example the state-owned ‘“Pernik” stone quarry. But the hate of the working masses of the people against the bankers and speculators found expression during the recent elections for the provincial and municipal councils, which were earried out under a fearful reign of terror. In all the important parts of the country, especially in the towns, the elections resulted in the repulse of the offensive of the Zankov govern- ment. At the municipal. elections in the towns the government received 72,000 votes as against 90,579 polled by the opposition, and many thousands of votes were cast for the Communists, but which were declared to be invalid. The Zankoy government feels that it is losing foothold before the sweep of the rising wave of indignation of the people and of the growing move- 1922, At the same time 80 per cent| ment of the working masses. It is of the factories and works have abol- ished the eight hour day. On the other hand, the profits of the banks and joint stock companies of- fer quite another picture. The profits are enormous. For example, the Commercial and Industrial Bank with a capital of 6 million leva had a net profit of 1,900,000 leva (35 per cent); the Bank for Export and Import therefore carrying on a still more fur- ious and reactionary policy and has recourse to a series of political mur- ders of popular leaders, among them recently being the leader of the peas- ants union, the member of parliament Petkoyv. The organ of the national liberal party (the party of industrial capital) ‘Nesavissimost” (Independence) gives the following estimation of the pres- ent position in the country: “The results of the provincial and municipal elections prove only one thing, that no security and peace prevails in our country, because, objectively considered,the influence of the destructive elements is not only not weakened, but has become stronger. We are now experienc- ing, in Bulgaria a war, because the fronts are set up for fresh bloody struggles. The destructive elements, which are welded together in the united front, have already gone over to the offensive . And if in spite of everything (exceptional laws against the Communists and the peasant population) we see their Magnificent successes in the elec- tions, it means that their strength and their influences Is by no means broken, At the present time our country is exepriencing, not a strug- gle between political groupings, but , a fight for victory between sharply distinguished tendencies, for the victory of different methods of state administration. . . The tenden- cies which appear as the represen- tatives of bolshevik ideas, have ac- tually realized the united front. Actuated by similar motives to seize power, they have sunk their minor differences of opinion and are proceeding determinedly , to one end—the annihilation of the ruling powers. ..” The bourgeois paper has, in a sud- den fit of candor, let out the truth. The facts are as stated. In Bulgaria the fight is proceeding over “different methods of state administration:” Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie by the fascist government, or dictatorship of the proletariat by the workers and peasants. # The fronts are sharply drawn. The forces are being mobilized, the decis- ive struggle is no longer distant, The days of the fascist reaction in Bulgaria are numbered. COLOGNE-~-EISENACH—-LONDON By ARTHUR ROSENBERG. On the 22nd June last the represen- tatives of the Communist parliamen- tary fractions of Germany and France met together in Cologne, in order to initiate common action against the Experts’ Report. On the 29th June, 400 delegates from all parts of Ger- many assembled in Eisenach, in order to issue the protest of the whole working class against the policy of the German government. The Cologne conference was allowed to proceed without interference. At Eisenach the delegates to the conference were arrested by Herr Ebert’s police. It is true that all those arrested were liberated on the same evening, as there are limits even to the absurdity of the actions of the German republi- can government. On the 16th of July there commenced in London the Con- ference of the Allies, which will once again “decide” upon the fate of Ger- many. The dictates of the entente are this time to be rendered more palat- able by the presence of a few statis- ticans of the German government. The official German state apparatus is working feverishly in order to hin- der the struggle of the C. P. of Ger- many against the Experts’ For this purpose the most ridiculous means are adopted. The chief maneu- ver consists of the prosecution of the central of the C. P. Germany, the so-called Tchekatrial, with its 80 vol- umes of evidence in the hands of that to comment upon pending legal pro- ceedings. But with the will and. knowledge of Herr.Severing, the So- cial-Democratic Police Minister, the police are supplying the Bensation- mongering newspapers with informa- tion as to the proceedings at the pre- liminary examination. The greatest eagerness in this connection is of course being shown by the Social- Democratic press. The Tcheka-Process is gradually de- veloping into the greatest swindle of the 20th century. The alleged mur- ders, on account of which the Com- munist Party is being prosecuted, ex- ist only in the evidence of Herr Voigt. But the bogus trial has provided the pretext to search the whole of the apartments of the Communist frac- tions in the German Reichstag and in the Prussian Diet: a _ proceeding which is absolutely unprecedented in the history of parliament. This ac- tion, which 6f course, brought nothing to light, was, as one might have ex- pected, instigated by the Social-Demo- cratic president of the Landtag, Lei- nert and by the Social-Democratic vice-president of the Reichstag, Ditt- mann. Another heroic act of the So- cial-Democratic party was the sup- pression of the “Rote Fahne” for 14 days at the commanding of Herr Se- vering, and this on account of an ar- ticle warning against acts of individ- ual terror! hay at All these shabby maneuvers can, however, not prevent the action of the C. P. of Germany against the Experts’ Report and its supporters. The So- cial-Democratic and the bourgeois parties were able to produce a certain degree of approval of the Experts’ Re- port only because the masses had no notion of what was contained in this report. The more the details of the of the Experts’ Report among its functionaries and in the work shops. if the party succeeds in having only one Communist in every workshop who possesses the text of the Experts’ Re- port, and who is in a position to read the chief paragraphs to his work mates, it will, settle all the propagan- da of the Social-Democratic Party. The entry of the Herriot govern: ment into office gave the Social-Demo- cratic Party and the bourgeois center parties the opportunity to proclaim the most exaggerated promises and hopes. One only had to hear the en- thusiastic speech with which Loebe, the former Social-Democratic presi- dent of the Reichstag, greeted those twin stars, MacDonald and Herriot, in order to measure the extent of these hopes. But the young blossoms quickly withered. The attempt was made to render the Experts’ Report more attractive to the masses in Ger- many by persuading them that the ac- ceptance of the Dawes’ report would lead to the evacuation of the Ruhr area by the French. Meanwhile, the Herriot-Nollet government have plain- ly declared that the occupation of the Ruhr district is solely the affair of France and Belgium and of no one else. The evacuation of the Ruhr dis- trict is out of the quesfion at present. Besides this, one has been able to perceive in the last few days that the Anglo-French antagonism has not in the least been abolished by the overthrow of Poincare, and that a furious storm of opposition has been raised against the Herriot ministry because it does not in all respects suf- ciently exhibit the Poincare spirit, while Herriot himself is endeavoring to avert this attack by showing the requisite energy against Germany and England. Since the development of this state of affairs the “Vorwarts” has begun to sing very small. It only ‘class itself.—Marx. ments in order to persuade the mass- es to accept the Experts’ Report. The Communist fraction in the Reichstag recently invited the fac- tory councils of the large factories in Berlin to a conference in order to discuss the present political situa- tion. This conference was attended by representatives from 55 big fac- tories, among them being several So- cial Democratic and non-party fac- tory. councils. The conference de- clared unanimously against the Ex- perts’ Report and elected an advisory committee of factory councils which shall collaborate with the Commun- ist Reichstag fraction. Preparations are being made for enlarging this committee by factory councils from the provinces, The working class had set the high- est hopes in the labor conference in Hisenach, which Herr Jarres, with the help of the Social Democratic po- lice officers, caused to be broken up. All the greater therefore were the ef- forts of the government and its spy apparatus to wreck this conference. In spite of all this it was possible for the conference to meet together and pronounce its approval to the resolution against the Experts’ Re- port. By breaking up the conference, Herr Jarres and the Social Demo- cratic party have only rendered a ser- vice to the revolutionary cause in Germany. The delegates have return- ed from EHisenach with the firm will to organize straightaway the fight against the Experts’ plan and against the treacherous reformist leaders, The London conference will ren- der apparent the complete futility of the pacifist illusions. It will further drive home the trath that the work- ing class have nothing to hope for from capital. The emancipation of the workers must be achieved by the working d Impossible! Never name me that blockhead of a word.-—Mirabeau. a. a aS Nl a at ln Nii. et le. aan tata # 3 he ne i at