The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 23, 1927, Page 10

The Change of Government in Roumania King Ferdinand of Ru- this ar The 3 king was never more than u figurehead, the real rulers being the Bratiano ‘Ferdinand’s mania died since ticle was written. brothers. wife, Marie, who was in this pan- handling last year has been at logger- heads with the king over family matters. Ferdi- nand’s death does not change things in Rumania as far as the workers and are concerned. country on a excursion peasants By K. (Bukharest) HE Avarescu government, which was supported by one party, has been supplanted in an unexpectedly short time by a new government—a coalition gov- ernment. The head of the new government is Prince Stirbey, the administrator of the crown lands, who “belongs to no party.” The following parties are represented in the government: the Liberals (Bra- tianu’s party), the National Peasant Party (“‘Zara- nists”), the Independent Peasant Party with Dr. Lupu at its head, and Argetojanu, a member of the former Avarescu cabinet. The change of cabinet was not preceded by any obvious conflict in parlia- ment or in the senate. It was due to acute differ- ences of opinion between Bratianu and the court clique on the one hand and Avarescu on the other hand, dissensions in questions of economics and home and foreign policy. The Liberal Party of Bratinau represents the in- terests of large financial capital in Roumania. The largest undertakings and the largest banks in the “eountry, including the National Bank, are in their hands. They have the soundest financial organiza- tion at their disposal and represent the most influ- ential bourgeois political factor in the country. General Avareseu and his circle entered the arena of political life as creatures of the Liberals. The Liberals made use of General Avarescu as the most pliable and convenient tool in the most difficult .,political moments. In 1907 they made use of him to suppress the peasant revolt. At that time, Avar- eseu, at their dictate, had 11,000 poor insurgent peasants shot who were demanding bread, work and “Jand. The Liberals then made use of Avarescu at “the time of the war. The defeated army of Roumania was in course of being dispersed. Desertion became -@ mass phenomenon. In order to arrest the disin- tegration of the army and reorganize it, the Liberals crowned General Avarescu with the halo of a vic- torious general. After the war, the Liberals again aimed a blow at the proletarian mass movement with the help of Avareseu. In 1920, Avarescu, as prime minister, dispersed the socialist party numbering 200,000 members, and the trade union organizations in which 300,000 workers were united. It was a daily occurrence for persons to be arrested, tortured and “shot for “attempted flight.” The Liberals regarded Avarescu as an indispen- sable reserve to whom they have handed over the power when they considered it desirable and from whom they took it again at their own sweet will. The last Avarescu government was also thrust to the fore by the Liberals. Its government pro- _gram came into being on the basis of a pact with the Liberals. Although Avarescu was always dependent on the Liberals, he was ever on the search for an oppor- tunity of freeing himself from the Liberal leading strings. He had pursued qthis aim with special energy since last year. Supported at home by a section of the circle of officers in high position, by a section of Transylvanian capital (the Goldisch- Goga group), by a section of the village bourgeoisie and, in his foreign policy, by Chamberlain and espe- cially by Mussolini, Avarescu tried to steer a course in direct opposition to Bratianu’s policy. Whereas the Liberals are endeavoring to restrict foreign capital which dominates large fields of Roumanian life and to get possession of the wealth of the coun- try itself, Avarescu was perfectly willing to attract foreign capital. From Mussolini he received a loan of 200 million Italian lire in return for large pe- troleum concessions. The queen was sent to America to tout for money. Negotiations were carried on with Germany with regard to a loan to the amount of 200 million marks. Avarescu was prepared to accept extremely un- favorable conditions, i.e., one hundred million marks were to be paid to Rouihania in the form of credit in kind (railway material), forty millions were to remain in Germany for the stabilization of the lei; nevertheless Roumania would have had to pay in- terests at the rate of 8 per cent per annum on the whole sum. Avarescu granted a concession in respect of an area of 500,000 hectars at the mouth of the Danube for fifty years to German capitalist companies, the foreign capitalists being given the right to exploit this district unrestrictedly in any way they chose. The differences of opinion with regard to home policy between Avarescu and the Liberals found ex- pression in the question of their attitude towards the peasant movement. The great agrarian reform which was carried out after the war, did not solve the peasant question. A total area of 5,800,000 hectars of land was taken from the landed pro- prietors, but only a part of it was distributed amongst the peasants. The peasants were given l1,- 800,000 hectars of it under extremely hard condi- tions. After the reform, there were still more than two million peasant families left without land. This " gave rise to the development of a vast mass move- ment amongst the peasants, which developed rapidly and inspired the bourgeois rulers of the country with terror. As long as this movement exists, the Rou- manian bourgeoisie cannot set itself any great aims in its foreign policy. Having destroyed the labor movement through the White Terror, with the help of the reformists and centrists, the ruling class now regards the destruction of the peasants movement as the chief task before it. : Avarescu and Bratianu are trying to realize this aim by two different methods; Avarescu with the help of the fascist terror and of a open military dic- tatorship, the Liberals by splitting up the peasant movement through corruption and through infect- ing a section of it with bourgeois ideas and also by isolating the other section of the movement. The military fascist dictatorship would, for the time A FUNERAL The dead man comes, then beat the drums, Unfurl the tinseled banner. The bells toll mass, the mourners pass In slow and stately mammer. He met his death in the hot breath Of liquid steel near burning— It swallowed him, his eyes grew dim, Into an ingot turning. The foreman said: “This wop is dead, We can’t waste so much steel— We'll fix this thing, you needn’t wring Your hands that way and squeal. Pour on the ground two hundred pounds Of steel to form a cross That’s six feet tall to wear the pall— The company takes its loss!” Now, Tony slaved, and he had saved Enough for prayers and masses, For hearse of black and flowers no lack— Then look, the cortege passes! As black as night the casket bright And crucifixes gleaming, With dark festoons and sacred tunes And tinseled banner streaming. The church bells peal, the cross of steel Is jolting as they go. And now they bear it with great care And now they lay it low. ' “Tt’s pretty tough, this sudden stuff,” The foreman said that night. “We did our best, and Tony’s blessed With every holy rite!” HENRY REICH, JR. 2.1 aid a dal as sine being, arrive at the desired end more rapidly, but it would have a bad effect on the economic situation of the country and would damage the interests of the Liberals, -and—the chief point—a’ military dic- tatorship in Avarescu’s hands can be used against the Liberals. The first step towards putting the Liberal plans against the peasant movement into effect, was the amalgamation of the Peasant Party and the Trans- sylvanian National Party which was carried out a year ago. The second step was the split in this united party, Dr. Lupu, the well-known “left” peas- ant leader, seceded from the party and founded a “right” Peasant Party of its own. The third step was the formation of the present Coalition govern- ment under the leadexship of the Liberals. The crucial point in the anti-peasant strategy of the Liberals is their attempt to put up combined lists with all the government parties at the coming elec- _tion. But this is also where they meet with the greatest difficulties. The peasant masses are openly opposed to this capitulation to financial capital on the part of their leaders. In its foreign policy, the Avarescu government was linked with Mussolini. The fact that Avarescu directed his policy along the lines laid down by Mussolini, won for Roumania Italy’s recognition of the Bessarabian protocol. At that time, Bratianu approved of the course steered by Avarescu in for- eign policy. Serious differences of opinion between Avarescu and the Liberals have only cropped up sinee the conflict between Italy and Yugoslavia, and especially since the Treaty of Friendship between Italy and Hungary was concluded. Italy’s advance in the Balkans cannot but lead to disturbances, to armed conflicts and finally to war. A war in the Balkans, however, is by no means in accordance with the intentions of the Liberals. The agreement between Mussolini and Bethlen strengthens the political pre- dominance of Hungary and increases the lust for re- venge of the Hungarian irredentists. Next to their fear of the Soviet Union, the Liberals are most in terror of Hungary; they are concerned about Trans- sylvania, where Budapest capital is still firmly rooted and where three millions Hungarian still live under the Roumanian rule. It was not without good reason that Bratianu demanded after the treaty of friend- ship between Hungary and Italy, that: “in the name of the king and in the inteerst of the nation, the helm of foreign policy should be steered towards the old allies, Paris, and espe- cially London.” Avarescu agreed nominally, but as a matter of fact he id not carry out this instruction._ Prompted by Mussolini, he offered obstinate resistance until the last moment. For a whole week, he kept secret the commission he had received from the king to form a government of the “National Coalition” con- sisting of all parties; he established a censorship over all newspapers and began to take measures for introducing a military dictatorship. Nevertheless, the powerful Bratianu clique literally drove him out of power. For the time being, Bratianu is car- rying on his policy through his brother-in-law, Prnce Stirbey, and may take it over personally at any time—a policy which aims at gagging the worker and peasant movement and the movement of the oppressed nationalities more slowly but more sys- tematically and thoroughly than the dictatorship planned by Avarescu could have done, and which is driving Roumania more and more into Chamberlain's wake. (According to the latest telegrams, Prince Stirbey has resigned, and Bratianu has been en- trusted by the king with the task of forming a cabinet of his own.-—Ed.). , A recent visitor to the United States, at which time demonstrations of thousands of workers in the cities she visited reminded her of “Cotzofanesti”—debauchery made pos- sible out of the monstrous exploitation of Roumanian workers. A sensation-publicity seeker, she is also in the ruling clique with the infamous Bratiano brothers.