Opinfon is still divided as to whether the King or
Genera Zivkovitch is the real Dictator in Jugoslavia. Probably, as_ in Spain, it . is six of one and half a dozen of the other. But there can be no quastion that a strong hand is thought by. Belgrade to be more important than any attempt to meet Croat aspirations. Last Sunday it was decreed that all political parties bearing the name Croatian should cease to exist—a • bold step which was followed by one even more -drastic, the dissolution of all Organizations that keep alive local, racial or religious distinctions. This means that the Government rejects outright the constructive proposals of the Croat Peasant Democratic Party, whose leader, Dr. Matchek, is liable to -be arrested any day. Belgrade will also apparently have no truck with the Independent Democrats, and the Slovene Catholic Party is expected to fade away quietly at the behest of Father Koroshetz. It also means that disaffection is forced underground, where it will become more and more dangerous. These measures at least lend some point to the alarmist assertion of a correspondent of The Giornale d' Italia that the Dictatorship is the child of French intrigue (both military and financial) in the Balkans. The best proof the Belgrade Government can give that this is a fabrication would be a proniPt renewal of the Pact of Friendship with Italy, which expires next Sunday.
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