Toward a New Central Europe

WHAT HAS TO BE DONE

STAN IONESCU

HUNGARY, like Rumania, has been absorbed by the Soviet Union. It is futile to speak of the governmental structure of our countries; the state, self-determination, sovereignty, and boundaries are a mere illusion when faced with cold reality. The fact that our countries are represented abroad just as Poland and the Ukraine are, is meaningless. Westerners know as well as the Soviets and Chinese do that when they speak of "the sovereign states of the East" they speak of lies. Nevertheless, all have become used to living with lies in the name of peaceful coexistence, which in itself is nothing less than communization of the world. According to Soviet thinking, the objective truth is a "bourgeois" concept; the only valid principles being those which are conceived by the almighty Party.

For the last 500 years, Russia has been spreading, enveloping neighboring European and Asiatic peoples with her political and military might. At present, she is persistently exerting her influence upon distant lands such as British Guinea, Cuba and the Congo.

Between 1920 and 1961 Russia totally annexed. while the free world stood passively by, thirteen countries, 551,400 sq. km. and 18,533,000 people.

During the same time, she occupied de facto 12 more countries comprised of 2,641,000 sq. km. and 98,608,000 inhabitants. This conquest is virtually acknowledged by the Western world.

Russia has for 41 years occupied and kept under her arbitrary rule 3,192,800 sq. km. of foreign territory and 117,181.000 human beings of various ethnic and religious groups.

A long list of historians and politicians, from Custin to Gafencuó such as Renan, Michelet, Napoleon himself, Gonzague de Raynold, Bedell Smithówrote treatises on the actions and influence of Russian imperialism. The single object guiding the political thought of Western Europe up until 1914 was the restriction of this imperialism.

The Paris peace treaties dissolved the Turkish, the German and the Austro-Hungarian empires which had created a natural and political barrier in the road to further Russian advancement. The principles

upon which the treaties were founded were the results of typically Western ideals which many nations adopted; but which, however, did not take into consideration the reality of the relentlessness of Russian imperialism.

The Rumanian historians, Nicolae Balcescu and Andrei Popovici, as well as our great poet, Mihail Eminescu, pointed out this mortal danger but our nationalism prevented us from recognizing the rapidly approaching catastrophe. Marshal Antonescu was right when he said that borders of Rumania are defended at Stalingrad. The political leaders of our nations from the Baltic to Cairo had accepted as the basis of their political strivings those principles created by French and Italian theoreticians whose countries were not threatened by Russia.

In the name of these principlesóprinciples that did not take into account the realities in Eastern Europeótens of millions of people died in wars (which were actually civil wars), destroying a tremendous amount of material goods and creating the political chaos which today governs the world.

The three ruined empires should have been replaced by other political organizations strong and effective enough to stop the Russian pressure. As it happened, the void created in 1918 was easily filled by Russia.

The politicians who committed these mistakes in 1918 were a good match for those of 1941 to 1945, characterized by the same makeshift decisions, the same blind passions, the same ignorance. Our century is ruled by Russian imperialism. Those Westerners who divided the world at conferences of Casablanca and Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam, did not want to think of this danger, and the Western statesmen participating at these conferences pawned the fate of their own nations under the influence of passions that did not take into consideration the true interest of their countries. This line of political thought refused to see the ever-advancing Russian imperialism and its methods of infiltration, a form of which today is Communism and Sovietization of the whole world. For these mistakes, approaching betrayal, the whole world is still paying.

The idea of imperialism is as old as the world itself. It originated from the material needs and the military organization of nomadic tribes. With the birth of the first political units as we understand them today, it started to be modernized. The first imperialism arose in Asia, ten thousand years before the Christian era. The Russians inherited imperialism as an instinctive tendency, and inherited its political methods from the Mongolians who ruled them for three centuries. The Asian imperialisms were followed by others. The world was ruled in succession by Roman, Arab, Spanish, French, British and German imperialisms; and finally, the most cruel and best organized the Russian imperialism of today. All of them had some things in common:

strong central power and centralized management which were internally supported by the military, while the same military might spread itself over their defenseless neighbors. The final goal of imperialism is always unlimited control over the whole world.

In time those peoples who have been crushed by the imperialists' power rise again. They free themselves of the central governing power and create new and independent countries. This is a common occurrence today among the Asian and African peoples. However, the new world may survive only if it finds unity, and its is Russia which feels responsible for the guidance and unification of the world under her leadership.

The Russians, who know history, are aware that the captured peoples are going to rebel because they are more enlightened and are used to thinking freely. To prevent the inevitable historical trend and the movement toward national independence they introduced the Marxist political and economic system which strengthens the rule of the central power and strengthens discipline and economic potential. Under a liberal and democratic system Russia would lose not only satellites like Rumania, but also Turkestan, Mongolia and the Ukraine.

Soviet imperialism is nourished by certain characteristics of the Russian people. These are the desire to dominate and the instinct to take advantage of others and in the traditions of the ruling class the drive for power is restless. The ruling class is molded of the same material whether called Peter the Great, Catherine or Khrushchev. They resemble each other in that they are in constant rivalry with the ruling classes preceding and succeeding them. They are compelled to conquer. Dictators donít like to leave unfinished business for their successors. They believe that only they themselves are capable of completing such, and of conquering the world. Khrushchev's haste can thus be explained.

There is no alternative for the free nations but to unite completely and lastingly. This is the only possible means for averting the fatal consequences of Russian imperialism. The choice is not between Russian and American imperialism, but between Russian imperialism and the unification of all the countries of the free world. This new world organization of the free countries cannot be realized through the United Nations of today, as it was not possible through the League of Nations. It can only be achieved through the economic and military unification of the free world.

The economic and military unification of Europe is now being realized. Within the free peoples of Europe, a loyalty to Europe has replaced the loyalty to national politics in a short time.

The liberation of our people will be accomplished by themselves. The European union which is the first step towards the unification of the free world will undoubtedly weaken and impede Russian imperialism.

To imperialismóany imperialismóceasing to move ahead means defeat. There is no alternative but to press ahead or draw back. The present Soviet might lacks the moral strength and sense of justice which are the only prerequisites justified to rule the world. The Soviet Union is too weak to embody these ideals or to battle them. The satellite nations are restless, their sufferings cannot be assuaged by Khrushchev's promises. Across the concrete and barbed wire barricades from the rebellion of the satellites and the free thinking of the Europeans a united feeling of danger and hope has grown. The Soviet imperialists' efforts are helpless in the face of this unifying spirit.

Therefore, in exile, it is our duty:

a) To pool our internal strength in the cultural fields and to support by our propaganda with all our strength the European unificationóand beyond all that, the unification of the whole free world. The European economic unification has been accomplished against the wishes of Soviet imperialism and the local Communist parties representing it. Europeís political unification is in the process of being realized. Three hundred million people, better educated, more productive and more optimistic people than the Russians; well-armed and supported by the military potential of the United States already represent a victory over Soviet imperialism. The Soviet state-capitalism has lost the battle against democratic capitalism and economic neo-liberalism. The economic system of the free world has defeated Marxism, unnerving the Soviets.

b) Through our radio propaganda we have to keep alive the hope for liberation in our countries. Our publications must reach our countries. Many of our countrymen feel deserted and we must fight against this feeling.

c ) We emigrants must declare that we already consider our countries united into a single body, without reservation, clearly indicating our desire to make our union part of a United Europe.

d) After the solemn declaration of the union of the peoples of the Danubian Basin, a government in exile must be created. This would be disturbing to some in the West who are in political contact with the satellite nations; nevertheless, we should not be deterred because we have to use every possible means in the successful propaganda battle with the Soviet Union that will keep alive the hope in our countrymen under her rule. Inactivity on our part would dim those hopes.

The exile government of the Danubian Union could be acknowledged by all those nations which have no diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union or any of the satellites, regardless of the fact that certain nations and their leaders are opposed to this thought. They may continue their sinful actions by which they support Soviet imperialism,

under the delusion that the Soviet Union will only be satisfied if our countries remain under her occupation.

e) Official publications by this government in exile would prompt a shift in the political thought of the emigrants, from nationalistic to European sentiments. The purpose of our vigorous nationalism is the presentation of our moral and spiritual values, which are the roots of our culture. Civilization and progress are defined by national culture and ethnics not boundaries.

f) Our publications have to support the reunification of Germany. A Christian and democratic Germany will bring about the unification of Europe. Her ideals are our ideals. At the same time Germany is the center of military preparedness in Europe. The Soviet Union. as all imperialistic powers, has respect for opposing might only. Germany is fighting for the political union of Western Europe and, therefore, constitutes a greater power for bringing it about than the Soviet Union.

g) We must not forget cooperation among the religions, and the participation of the Catholic Church in our work up to now. In our battle the Roman Catholic Church has been one of our most loyal and unselfish allies. The spiritual power of the Christians led by the Vatican, together with the great ideals of the unification of the Christian religions is, along with the military might of a United Europe, its greatest strength.

Toward a New Central Europe