Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 42. (1992)
NAUTZ, Jürgen: Österreichische Überlegungen zur wirtschaftlichen Integration Europas und zum europäischen Machtgleichgewicht. Die wirtschaftspolitischen Arbeiten Richard Schüllers im amerikanischen Exil 1943–1950
EDITION such a combination will be achieved and they have not influence enough to promote it efficiently. But the small nations will cooperate as best they can to invest a wide combination, if it emerges, with real power and they are ready to assume their part in a common defense system. It is a question of life and death for them. Such a system would cause great changes in Europe’s political situation. The multinational states, with the exception of Switzerland, did not grant selfgovernment to their different nations, because national separatism seemed to threaten the existence of these states. The artifical unity did not save them, and the result is that Slovaks, Magyars and Sudeten-Germans, representing together half of the citizens of Czechoslovakia, fight on the side of the Axis. So do many Kroats and Slovens, citizens of Jugoslavia. The Ruthenes of Poland became partisans of Russia when Russia occupied Eastern Poland. The danger of separatism disappears in a system of common defense. Each partner can have his own parliament and government, his schools, churches, economic, social and other public services. It does not matter, if the number of self-governing units is somewhat increased. The Czechs have no interest to rule over Kroats and Slovens and so on. All these nations are members of the same defense system, based on the military forces of the big powers. But it is by no means certain that self-government will be granted to the different nations, if the status quo is restored unconditionally after the war. It would be necessary to establish self-government claimed by the small nations simultaneously with collective security and restauration of the conquered countries. It may seem paradoxical, but it is true that the small nations would get much closer to each other if they were allowed to separate under the protection of the big powers. The League of Nations had little power and her activities were limited. The small countries could play a role in Geneva in spite of their lack of cooperation. But there was some regional grouping to be observed in the assemblies and committees of the League. A powerfull political combination would be a much stronger incentive to their cooperation because small nations can only exercise their influence and defend their rights and interests if they act in concert in a community with the big powers. The Scandinavian, Danubian, Balkan and other combinations which cannot be realized independently, would be the consequence of a collective security system. The mind of the people, suffering under German tyranny, certainly differs from the mind of the governments in exile. The people may prefer to be governed by men who are now in prisons and concentration camps or who are organizing underground movements. It may be expected that the war and Russia’s role in the war will effect a vehement 359
