The Polish Press on the Commission for the Affairs of the “Minorities”

The more serious and self-respecting Polish press looks very pessimistically on the government's plans to "settle" the question of the "national minorities."

"Kurjer Polski", having given a picture of the broad Belarusian cultural and national work in Soviet Belarus, and having also noted the main facts of the oppression of the "minorities," Belarusians among them, in the Polish Republic, says in an article, "Iskry w prochowni" (Sparks in the Powder Magazine), as follows:

In the face of these pictures and facts, how pitiable is the preparation (by the Polish government) of a reform of the administration, as if changes in the posts of voivodes, starostas or police chiefs could today reduce even in the slightest degree the evil that is rooted in the very foundation of conditions in the Kresy! We have already noted more than once that in this terribly inflamed, dangerous and stifling atmosphere a reform of the administration alone, which might have had some positive significance a couple of years ago, would today represent only a simple outward reshuffling of figures with no influence on the thinking of the population, and above all would not remove the causes that turn the Kresy into one enormous store of explosive materials.

If the promised project of recovery is not cut to so large a measure as to open new broad horizons in Kresy policy, if the government does not go boldly, without false bashfulness, scorning half-measures, along the path of genuine reforms and does not introduce constitutional guarantees into life par force, then the change in the situation in the Kresy will go on representing a very deceptive illusion…

And about those "constitutional guarantees" Mr. Tadeusz Hołówko writes in "Robotnik":

The Polish state stands today on a lie (kłamstwo). This must be said frankly. And it haunts us. We boast before Europe of the constitution of 17 March, but in practice it is trampled with impunity not only by every policeman, but also by ministers. The constitution speaks loudly of religious tolerance, while the minister of public education looks on idly as, at the wish of priests, Methodists are driven out of Poland and the national church and researchers of Holy Scripture are persecuted. The constitution speaks of freedom of the press, yet in the courts trials of left-wing newspapers take place almost every day. The constitution speaks beautifully of respect for the rights of national minorities, but in practice…

"Robotnik" diplomatically leaves it unsaid! No wonder that Member of the Sejm Wojewódzki, a Pole from the Lida region and a good connoisseur of "Kresy" conditions, categorically declined Mr. Grabski's invitation to take part in the government commission on the "minorities": declamation about a constitution which nobody observes with regard to the "minorities" has by now wearied everyone. And Mr. Wojewódzki quite justly explains his refusal to a correspondent of the newspaper "Nasz Przegląd":

I consider that if they truly want to achieve a solution of the question of national minorities, then one cannot exclude from taking part in the deliberations precisely the representatives of the national minorities concerned. This is not only mistaken, but simply indecent. Standing on this ground, I decided not to take part in the deliberations. The government's conduct represents a continued use of methods introduced by the President of the Republic, which I positively condemn.

The voices of the endek press try to convince the government that no political or social reforms are needed for the "Kresy": only an "iron fist" is needed, and, as "Gazeta Poranna" wrote recently, stan wyjątkowy (a state of emergency)!

In fact, just such a state has existed with us all along, for we Belarusians have so far not seen any "constitutional guarantees" in relation to our people!