CAN CZECHOSLOVAKIA LIVE ?
By DR. GERHARD SCHACHER
[Dr. Schather is a well-known German economist who lived till a few days ago in Prague] ANYONE who has followed closely the political, economic and military development of Czechoslovakia during the last five years, and has studied her possibilities of self-defence, must confess, despite his sympathy with the democratic fighting spirit of the Czech people, that the nation's backbone has been broken by accepting the terms of the Munich dictate.
Politically the undefined structure which today bears the name of Czechoslovakia is now totally dependent on its great neighbour. Instead of one of the most powerful bastions of Europe we now have a State the frontiers of which it is impos- sible to protect by military measures, since its defences must run entirely across level country, and the State in its new form can be severed into two parts in a few hours by the Germans blocking the Moravian corridor. Internally also the power to resist the neighbouring dictatorship has been equally paralysed because the group, who, for economic and personal reasons, have always opposed Dr. Benes' policy of relying on the support of the Western democracies and have preferred alliances with Germany, Poland and Hungary are today in power in the new Czechoslovakia.
In practically all the leading Government departments the democratic officials who played a part in building up the republic of Masaryk and Benes have been replaced by members of the Agrarian Fascist Party and the so-called National Union. Quite openly these men aver that all efforts on the part of the Czech democrats for a policy of their own must forthwith cease. The Voelkischer Beobachter some time ago stated that the Third Reich's maximum concessions to the Czechs would be " autonomy within the German confines " (deutscher Lebensraum). Everything points to this aim of German politics reaching a speedy fulfilment. There are warm friends of Berlin and also of Warsaw among the Prague rulers today. Dr. Benes' resignation was only the first conse- quence of the new post-Munich situation. Interdiction of all democratic parties, the ousting of all politicians, writers, and journalists antagonistic to the totalitarian system, are already following this first step. The remainder of the former State, including now 8i million Czechs and Slovaks will doubtless be much more quickly reduced to a state of far greater subordination to Berlin than Poland or Hungary. Poland has four times as many inhabitants and Hungary a thousand-years-old political tradition. In both these respects both States are greatly superior to Czechoslovakia. She can proclaim no further political resistance to Germany's hege- mony, and this will lead, probably more quickly than was expected, to the incorporation of the crippled State into the " German sphere."
From an economic point of view Czechoslovakia was, before her dismemberment, a well-balanced organism. Endowed with a large supply of natural resources, her position in Ifuropean international trade was almost unique in view of her comparatively small territorial extent. The famous brown-coal mines of Northern Bohemia, including those in the almost purely Czech districts of Bruex and Dux, which provided fuel for the export-industry, have been handed over to Germany. The most important collieries near Mahrisch-Ostrau and Karwin have been divided between Germany and Poland—although Poland has hitherto found it very difficult to dispose of its abundance of coal. The yearly extraction of about 18 million tons of brown-coal and 12 million tons of ordinary coal was formerly sufficient to supply the Czech export-industry. Today the problem is already seriously looming up whether it will be possible to supply the electric current for Prague and other large towns. Almost the entire chemical industry, four-fifths of the textile and the greater part of the glass and china industries, so important for export purposes, are now in German hands. On the other hand the purchase of foreign raw materials, as, for example, cotton for the textile industry, becomes unnecessary. But this ought not to be over-rated, as large and important export industries in the ceded areas, such as glass, china, and paper, had their sources of raw materials within the boundaries of the Republic. Now too the valuable kaolin-strata and the large stock of timber in the forests of Northern and Western Bohemia have fallen to Germany.
Parts of the armaments industry remain, but the most important plants, such as the Skoda, lie within a few miles of the German border. In consequence, should the pro- duction of armament-materials be permitted at all, the products will have to be sold exclusively to Germany, which will not pay for them except than in blocked marks or by bartering certain goods, the doubtful qualities of which have been demonstrated in the clearing-conventions with the other South-Eastern- States. The greater part of the sugar industry also remains, but it can sell only a part of its products in the world market and that at very low prices. The Agrarian Party, whose leaders take a specially strong interest in this industry, count on good chances of trading with Germany, but it is more than doubtful whether this optimism will be justified. In any case one may state already that even the sale of the entire joint products of the armaments and sugar industries will be quite inadequate to maintain the former standard of living in Czechoslovakia. Under the pressure from beyond the frontiers the agrarian produce of Bohemia and Moravia will serve almost entirely to increase the German food-supply. Czechoslovakia politically has become a vassal State, economically—with or without a customs union—a colony of the Third Reich. The more apparent this becomes the more, of course, those sections are strengthened. inside the country whose aim is to give up a sovereignty which practically exists only on paper.
Even if the democratic . forces in new Czechoslovakia survived the present panic-stricken period, and by putting up a last resistance tried to defend. the independence of the rump State, this would prove a hopeless enterprise. Doubt- less there still. exist democratic forces in the army. But they, too, are convinced that only a complete change of the world's situation could re-establish the State tradition of Masaryk and Benes. The entire railway system of the mangled State is today under the control of the Germans, and thus all shifting of troops and materials is dependent on Germany's permission. For financial reasons new fortifications cannot be erected at the new frontiers. To keep up even a much smaller army than the force which had proved one of the most effective instruments for the defence of democracy on the continent would cause the greatest political and economic difficulties. To this must be added the fact that after the Munich "dictate " Germany is already finding the Czech army, and especially the Generals, a fertile soil for her propaganda. Since the Czechoslovakian State was set up the Czech nation have made every effort that patriotism and self-denial could bring forth to build up this army. Today we must reconcile ourselves to the thought that this instrument, made to defend democracy will, sooner or later, strengthen Germany's potentiel de guerre. The scanty remains of optimism which may have existed before the execution of the so-called Munich agreements are no longer justified now that the Berlin Committee has approved Germany's wishes wholesale. The formal inde- pendence of the new Czechoslovakia, as well as the con- ditions of her further existence, rest now wholly in the hands of Berlin. Herr Hitler has more than once spoken of the " dictated peace of Versailles " ; he has proclaimed that Germany was not able to exist under this dictate. Mr. Chamberlain has said of this new creation : " It is my hope, and I believe, that under the new system of guarantees the new Czechoslovakia will find greater security than she has ever enjoyed in her past." It remains a fact, however, which can no longer be doubted by any unbiassed observer, that Czechoslovakia in its new form, more grotesque than could ever have been foreseen after the Munich agreement, is not fit to live.
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