La Ruthénie Subcarpathique by René MartelReview by: R. W. Seton-WatsonThe Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 15, No. 44 (Jan., 1937), pp. 481-482Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4203264 .

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REVIEWS. 481

The Balkan States: I.-Economic. Prepared by Information Depart- ment of Royal Institute of International Affairs. Oxford (University Press), I936. 5s. net. I54 Pp.

CHATHAM HOUSE has performed a most valuable service by publishing this closely documented survey of economic development in the five Balkan States. It falls into two parts-the first dealing with the " structure of production " and the effects of agrarian reform in each state, and with the main characteristics of foreign trade and financial policy, while the second describes the effects of the economic blizzard of I93I-2, especially upon Balkan agriculture, the impoverishment of the peasantry, and the state of the foreign debt problem. A survey of " attempted solutions " leads to the conclusion that for all the Balkan States the main problem still remains "that created by the fall of agricultural prices since I930," and that a solution has actually been rendered more difficult by the extent of agricultural indebtedness and by the increased restrictions on foreign trade. As a matter of fact, even since this handbook appeared, the tide has turned both in Jugoslavia and in Greece in favour of a rise in prices, with the result that the purchasing power of the peasant is again increasing.

There are a number of very useful statistical tables both in the text and in five appendices. R.W.S.-W.

To readers interested in Jugloslavia, but unable to read its rich poetry in the original, we cordially commend Anthologie de la Poesic Yougoslave des xix et xx siecles (Collection Pallas, Paris, Delagrave, 1935), prepared by Professor Miodrag Ibrovac and his late wife, Mme. Savka Ibrovac. It is on the whole very representative of all schools, but the poets of our own century are treated with special generosity. There is a short and scholarly introduction, and thumbnail biographies of all the poets included. R. W. S. W.

La Ruthenie Subcarpathique. By Rene Martel. Paris (Hartmann), I935. 15 francs. i88 pp.

IN all Europe there is no more complex problem than that presented by the little semi-autonomous province of Carpathian Ruthenia or Podkar- patskd Rus, which used to be the most remote and neglected corner of pre- war Hungary, and which now forms the extreme eastern section of the Czechoslovak Republic. Here a most fascinating experiment has been in progress since 1919, and the end is not yet. The bulk of the population (446,916) are Ruthenes or Ukrainians, and as they had no secondary and virtually no primary schools under the Magyar regime, the first task of their new rulers was to provide them with the necessary educational groundwork, without which there could be no trained officials, clergy, teachers or, indeed, a middle class in any real sense of the word. The task was complicated by the rivalry of the Uniate and Orthodox churches, and by dissensions between rival linguistic theories, the majority favouring complete uniformity with the modern Ukrainian literary language in

REVIEWS. 481

The Balkan States: I.-Economic. Prepared by Information Depart- ment of Royal Institute of International Affairs. Oxford (University Press), I936. 5s. net. I54 Pp.

CHATHAM HOUSE has performed a most valuable service by publishing this closely documented survey of economic development in the five Balkan States. It falls into two parts-the first dealing with the " structure of production " and the effects of agrarian reform in each state, and with the main characteristics of foreign trade and financial policy, while the second describes the effects of the economic blizzard of I93I-2, especially upon Balkan agriculture, the impoverishment of the peasantry, and the state of the foreign debt problem. A survey of " attempted solutions " leads to the conclusion that for all the Balkan States the main problem still remains "that created by the fall of agricultural prices since I930," and that a solution has actually been rendered more difficult by the extent of agricultural indebtedness and by the increased restrictions on foreign trade. As a matter of fact, even since this handbook appeared, the tide has turned both in Jugoslavia and in Greece in favour of a rise in prices, with the result that the purchasing power of the peasant is again increasing.

There are a number of very useful statistical tables both in the text and in five appendices. R.W.S.-W.

To readers interested in Jugloslavia, but unable to read its rich poetry in the original, we cordially commend Anthologie de la Poesic Yougoslave des xix et xx siecles (Collection Pallas, Paris, Delagrave, 1935), prepared by Professor Miodrag Ibrovac and his late wife, Mme. Savka Ibrovac. It is on the whole very representative of all schools, but the poets of our own century are treated with special generosity. There is a short and scholarly introduction, and thumbnail biographies of all the poets included. R. W. S. W.

La Ruthenie Subcarpathique. By Rene Martel. Paris (Hartmann), I935. 15 francs. i88 pp.

IN all Europe there is no more complex problem than that presented by the little semi-autonomous province of Carpathian Ruthenia or Podkar- patskd Rus, which used to be the most remote and neglected corner of pre- war Hungary, and which now forms the extreme eastern section of the Czechoslovak Republic. Here a most fascinating experiment has been in progress since 1919, and the end is not yet. The bulk of the population (446,916) are Ruthenes or Ukrainians, and as they had no secondary and virtually no primary schools under the Magyar regime, the first task of their new rulers was to provide them with the necessary educational groundwork, without which there could be no trained officials, clergy, teachers or, indeed, a middle class in any real sense of the word. The task was complicated by the rivalry of the Uniate and Orthodox churches, and by dissensions between rival linguistic theories, the majority favouring complete uniformity with the modern Ukrainian literary language in

This content downloaded from 193.104.110.28 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 01:57:11 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

482 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

Kiev or Galicia, but others leaning to the adoption of Great Russian, as giving access to the immense Russian world, while a third group favours greater insistence upon the local dialect. As everything in that part of the world turns to politics, these linguistic quarrels have long since passed from the philological to the political sphere. A cynical observer has remarked that wherever there are 4 Ruthenes, there are 3 parties, and, indeed, while the nationalists fall into 3 groups, there are 4 distinct sub-divisions among the Russophils alone. But these fissiparous ten- dencies are not confined to the Slavs, for the Jews, of whom there are 9I,ooo, are also torn by internal dissensions (Orthodoxy, Zionism and Magyarophilism), and the IIo,ooo Magyars are also far from presenting an united front. The soil being very poor, save for the strip along the river Tisa, and the population being already too large and yet growing very rapidly, and having lost the vent-hole of American emigration, there has been acute distress even long before the world crisis began, and it has vented itself in Communism, which cuts across all parties and races and complicates the political issue still further. If the Prague Government has not yet fulfilled its pledge to establish a Diet at Uzhorod, it is mainly because it does not see its way to anything like stable parliamentary government. But no one who knows the country at first hand can accept the ludicrous accusation of " Czechisation," and it comes with a special bad grace from the mouth of any Magyar advocate of the former regime. To take but a simple instance, in I931 out of 7I,OOO Ruthene children, only 1,200 attended Czech schools: the school attend- ance figures have in I5 years risen from 25 to 90 per cent. In 1917 there were 5I7 primary schools in what is now Ruthenia-of these only 34 were Ruthene and all the rest Magyar. In I93I there were already 433 Ruthene schools, as well as IIo Magyar, 6I German, I60 Czech and 34 mixed.

M. Martel is a safe guide, and his book, while necessarily polemical in places (for instance, he deals faithfully with certain French, Polish and Magyar propagandist writers, e.g. Maitre Desbons of the Aix Trial), contains a mass of statistical and other material on which to form a judgment. R. W. SETON-WATSON.

A LIST OF BOOKS IN ENGLISH ON RUSSIA PUBLISHED IN 1935

(Compiled by S. Yakobson and F. Epstein.) I.-BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Martianov, N. N. Catalogue of books available in English by Russians and on Russia published in the United States. N.Y. 48 pp. 35c.

II.-GENERAL WORKS. Abbe, James E. I photograph Russia. L. 320 pp. Illus. I2s. 6d. Banerjee, Nityanarayan. Russia to-day. Calcutta. Rs. 3.

482 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

Kiev or Galicia, but others leaning to the adoption of Great Russian, as giving access to the immense Russian world, while a third group favours greater insistence upon the local dialect. As everything in that part of the world turns to politics, these linguistic quarrels have long since passed from the philological to the political sphere. A cynical observer has remarked that wherever there are 4 Ruthenes, there are 3 parties, and, indeed, while the nationalists fall into 3 groups, there are 4 distinct sub-divisions among the Russophils alone. But these fissiparous ten- dencies are not confined to the Slavs, for the Jews, of whom there are 9I,ooo, are also torn by internal dissensions (Orthodoxy, Zionism and Magyarophilism), and the IIo,ooo Magyars are also far from presenting an united front. The soil being very poor, save for the strip along the river Tisa, and the population being already too large and yet growing very rapidly, and having lost the vent-hole of American emigration, there has been acute distress even long before the world crisis began, and it has vented itself in Communism, which cuts across all parties and races and complicates the political issue still further. If the Prague Government has not yet fulfilled its pledge to establish a Diet at Uzhorod, it is mainly because it does not see its way to anything like stable parliamentary government. But no one who knows the country at first hand can accept the ludicrous accusation of " Czechisation," and it comes with a special bad grace from the mouth of any Magyar advocate of the former regime. To take but a simple instance, in I931 out of 7I,OOO Ruthene children, only 1,200 attended Czech schools: the school attend- ance figures have in I5 years risen from 25 to 90 per cent. In 1917 there were 5I7 primary schools in what is now Ruthenia-of these only 34 were Ruthene and all the rest Magyar. In I93I there were already 433 Ruthene schools, as well as IIo Magyar, 6I German, I60 Czech and 34 mixed.

M. Martel is a safe guide, and his book, while necessarily polemical in places (for instance, he deals faithfully with certain French, Polish and Magyar propagandist writers, e.g. Maitre Desbons of the Aix Trial), contains a mass of statistical and other material on which to form a judgment. R. W. SETON-WATSON.

A LIST OF BOOKS IN ENGLISH ON RUSSIA PUBLISHED IN 1935

(Compiled by S. Yakobson and F. Epstein.) I.-BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Martianov, N. N. Catalogue of books available in English by Russians and on Russia published in the United States. N.Y. 48 pp. 35c.

II.-GENERAL WORKS. Abbe, James E. I photograph Russia. L. 320 pp. Illus. I2s. 6d. Banerjee, Nityanarayan. Russia to-day. Calcutta. Rs. 3.

This content downloaded from 193.104.110.28 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 01:57:11 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions