Staff Correspondent, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Praha.
A beautiful dream was dreamt in Czechoslovakia during the last weeks by the Zionists and the other national Jews. They hoped that the new election law would make it possible for them to appear as an independent Jewish party at the elections of May 19 and to gain at least four, possibly even five seats, thus being able to form an independent Jewish group within the Parliament.
Such a position in Parliament would have considerably strengthened the Zionist Jewish party with the masses of the Jewish voters and would have led to the formation of a unified Czechoslovakian Jewry with the exception of the extreme Czech – Jewish assimilationists and the orthodox adherents of Rabbi Spira of Munkacevo. For the idea that the Jewish people best can safeguard their interests and their honor by Jewish representation in each country has but few opponents nowadays.
NEW ELECTORAL PLAN
In connection with the impending elections the Czechoslovakian government submitted to the Parliament an election reform bill which, among other things aimed at elimination of extremely small parties. It was therefore agreed that a party was qualified to send representatives to Parliament only if it could muster at least 120,000 votes throughout the whole country, or a minimum of 20,000 votes in any single electoral district.
To insure representation for the Jews an exception was recommended for the Jewish and Polish minorities. This exception provided that only a minimum of 50,000 votes for the whole country and 20,000 in at least one electoral district, was necessary. The Jews of Czechoslovakia, numbering about 375,000 in a total population of 15,000.000 would have been able, if united, to produce 120,000 votes throughout the country. The total number of Jewish voters is estimated at 180,000, as women may vote too.
DREAM SHATTERED
This dream has come to an end. The government has not been able to maintain the intended concessions for the minorities. The nationalistic Fascist and semi-Fascist press voiced a lively opposition against such “preferences” for the national minorities.
Even within the government party it was pointed out that one could not make concessions to Jews and Poles which were denied to other minorities such as the Hungarians and the Russians. Therefore, the government decided to take the paragraph which provided for an exception in favor of Poles and Jews out of the project.
In 1920 the Jewish party received 97,661 votes and in 1925 a total of 89,83# votes within the whole country, but in both elections they gained no seat as they had not attained the necessary minimum in a single electoral district. At the election of 1929 the Jewish party joined the Polish minority. They received 104,464 votes or four seats, which were divided between Jews and Poles, although the Jews could have demanded three seats as their votes by far outnumbered the Polish ones.
The members of the Jewish party in the present Parliament are the lawyers, Dr. Angelo Goldstein of Prague, and Dr. Julius Reisz of Bratislava.
At the present moment a coalition with the Poles is impossible. Firstly, because they are disunited among themselves, and secondly, because their loyalty towards the Czechoslovakian State has, in a certain sense, undergone a change.
COALITION NECESSARY
As the Jewish party could not hope to reach 120,000 votes for the whole state, or a minimum of 20,000 votes in a single electoral district, it had to resolve to seek an election pact with some other party.
As the middle parties of the country don’t wish to burden themselves by a pact with the Jews, the only party was the Czechoslovakian Social Democratic party. Here, too, stubborn resistance had to be overcome and even Minister Bechyne, member of this party, vigorously opposed a pact with the national Jews.
However, during its last session, the central committee of the Czech Social Democrats resolved to offer the Jewish party two assured seats on its list. Should the number of Jewish voters be higher than expected, this party would also accede a seat to the Jews in the Senate.
The question whether this offer should be accepted or not, caused lively debates within the Jewish party during the past weeks. The president of the Jewish party, Dr. Emil Margulies of Leitmeritz, and a number of leading members of the Executive of the party vigorously opposed acceptance. They pointed out that the meaning of the Jewish party would be betrayed by passing the word that all Jewish voters have to vote for the list of the Social Democrats.
However, the central committee of the Jewish party at its meeting at Maehrisch-Ostrau resolved by a majority vote to enter an election pact with the Czecho Social Democratic party. As its candidates the Jewish party nominated Dr. Angelo Goldstein and the director of the Hebrew High School of Munkacevo, Dr. Chaim Kugel, both well-known Zionists.
As a result, Dr. Emil Margulies and other members of the Executive have resigned from their posts. They, as well as their closest political friends and also certain Mizrachist circles, have seceded entirely from the Jewish party. The Revisionists also will remain aloof. All these circles intend, in spite of the pact of the Jewish party with the Socialists, to enter the next election campaign as an independent group, although they will have no chance of gaining a seat.
A dinner celebrating the granting of a charter by the State Board of Regents to the Yeshiva Ohel Moshe of Bensonhurst was held last night at the Jewish Community House, Bay parkway and Seventy-ninth street, Brooklyn.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
