" CZECH CHOICE "
Stn,—Margot Wood, in her article " Czech Choice," would have one believe that the recent withdrawal of Czechoslovakia from the discussion of the Marshall Plan was not due to Moscow influence. She states that Gottwald " happened to be in Moscow at the time." Gottwald and Masaryk left for Moscow on July 7th, after the Czechoslovak acceptance of the Anglo-French invitation. To the majority of people, his journey appeared very like an answer to a summons to Berchtesgaden.
Miss Wood entirely omits all mention of the Slovaks, a people with a different language, customs and history to the Czechs, although, like the latter (with due regard to Miss Wood), members of the Slav race. Slovakia has twice as many Right-wing members of Parliament as Left- wing, 46 to 23. Bohemia and Moravia returned 109 Left-wing members and 102 Right-wing. The Communists and their allies have thus a majority of four seats only in the National Parliament.
That, to a casual observer, Czechoslovakia should seem overwhelmingly Communist is not surprising, as the Right-wing adherents are somewhat intimidated in both countries. The shadow of war falls across the land, and in that event Czechoslovakia, almost completely surrounded by countries dominated by the Soviet Union, would be immediately occupied by Russian troops, and there is a natural fear of reprisals for having been on the wrong side.—Yours faithfully, ENGLISHWOMAN.
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