Another Dictatorship
TO all believerS in a Parliamentary system it is a 1 disagreeable spectacle when a nation makes a failure of the system, abolishes its Constitution, and rushes violently back . to autocracy. The name of Jugo- slavia is .the last on a relatively long list of those who have resorted to a Dictatorship since the War. King Alexander, in announcing last. Saturday the end -of the Vidovdan- Constitution, which -has signally failed to compose the differences of Serbs, Croats and- Slovenes in the Triune Kingdom, certainly chose his occasion well. Three days lay ahead of him during which there would be the public Christmas holiday of the Orthodox Calendar, and during which all the public departments, the shops and the newspaper offices would be closed. Public excitement, therefore, had an opportunity to wear itself a little thin before the newspapers could get to work again. TO all believerS in a Parliamentary system it is a 1 disagreeable spectacle when a nation makes a failure of the system, abolishes its Constitution, and rushes violently back . to autocracy. The name of Jugo- slavia is .the last on a relatively long list of those who have resorted to a Dictatorship since the War. King Alexander, in announcing last. Saturday the end -of the Vidovdan- Constitution, which -has signally failed to compose the differences of Serbs, Croats and- Slovenes in the Triune Kingdom, certainly chose his occasion well. Three days lay ahead of him during which there would be the public Christmas holiday of the Orthodox Calendar, and during which all the public departments, the shops and the newspaper offices would be closed. Public excitement, therefore, had an opportunity to wear itself a little thin before the newspapers could get to work again.
The severity of the Dictatorship is startling. All authority in what used to be a Constitutional Monarchy is superseded by that of the King himself and his right- hand -man, whose reputation is that of a soldier who means to be obeyed. Although all this is displeasing to democrats, and must leave a great deal to chance, as is the way with autocratic gambles, it is difficult to see what the King could have done to retrieve the utter Parliamentary failure unless he did something drastic. The blaMe, after all, must fall not on him but on those who were indifferent to all the arts of tolerance and compromise. The Serbian failure is all the more melan- choly because the Serbs are independent people who have hated and suffered from autocracy in the past.
Representatives of the dissatisfied Croat Opposition, who had sequestered themselves at Zagreb since the murder of the Croat deputies in the Skupshtina six months ago, visited Belgrade last week and laid their demands before the King. There was a lively hope that there might at last be an accommodation, for the fall of Father Koroshetz's Government had made all men aware that the Prussianizing attitude of the Serbs towards the Croats could no longer be maintained. Even this awareness, however, did not soften the Serbian heart sufficiently. The Croats first of all put forward their familiar claim to autonomy under a Federal system. This was rejected. -Then Dr. Matchek made a modified proposal that a neutral Cabinet should be appointed, with a mandate to discuss with the Croats the complete revision of the Constitution. Afterwards there would be -a General Election to give effect to the decisions. The King invited the Government to consider this second proposal, bub it was rejected - in its turn on the ground (as the Times correspondent tells us) that it involved the dissolution of the Skupshtina. The real demerit of the proposal apparently was that it was too late. Always too late ! That has been the tragedy of Jugo- slavian politics. If the murderer of the Croat deputies had been brought to trial immediately after, his act, the suspicions of the Croats might have given way to confi- dence. But as it was, suspicion grew into the bitter conviction that the Government itself was behind the murderer. Since then neither side has been in the mood to listen to the other.
One cannot read King Alexander's proclamation without being impressed by its skill. Although he was performing an act of destruction and reaction he did it with an air of deep sincerity, and put his appeal on the highest, and indeed on the one essential, ground of Jugoslavian unity. Unity must be saved, come what may. His determination, which he has since acted upon, was to form a non-political Government. This Govern- ment, however, will have no Cabinet responsibility in the ordinary sense. The word of the Prime Minister, or Dictator, will prevail in all circumstances, without consultation with his colleagues. The Prime Minister is General Zhivkovitch, who began his military career in sympathy with the " Black Hand " and was connected in some degree, according to the Times, with those who killed King Alexander Obrenovitch and Queen Draga in 1903. Since then his politics seem to have come full circle ; he is now said to be a member of the " White Hand." From what we can learn of him he does not seem to have the humour and opportune sympathy which make the Spanish Dictator, the Marquess de Estella, a popular character ; but he is sincere and has proved himself an exceedingly good officer. As for the rest of the Government, most of them are drawn from the group who are described as " the King's friends." The Government, though called non-political, might easily be less political, but it is satisfactory that it includes three Croats.
The peace of South-Eastern Europe depends so directly upon the peace of Jugoslavia—was not the origin of the Great War in that very place ?—that we must devoutly hope for the success of the King's policy. He starts with a clean slate. The Constitution, the Skupshtina, the County and District Councils, have all been swept away. The future depends upon the triumph of a paradox—the contriving of a liberal policy towards the Croats out of a great initial act of retrogression. Croatian hopes " soar up again like fire."
Previous page
