RESTITUTIONS
ARE RASCALDOM
( it
refers to the Czechoslovakia and post-socialist countries )
Property transfers and
reforms
In the course of the history of human society, during which
political and social conditions and systems changed, there were
very often changes in the property and legal arrangements
of movable and immovable property. In quiet times, this
was commonly done (and still happens) in the form of sale
and purchase , or. heritage. In times of war or
during dynastic and power changes , there were
also violent property changes , often according
to "stronger law" ...
In addition to these unjust and violent property changes, there
were from time to time also the opposite types of non-market
property changes - property reforms. Prudent
property reformers (and later governments) usually proceeded with
property reforms when property imbalances reached a level that
already threatened the functioning and development of society.
Possibly. when the political situation made it possible to
enforce at least a partial redress of dishonestly and unjustly
acquired property.
In our recent history, this situation occurred after World War I,
when in the newly established Czechoslovak Republic, led by the
very enlightened President TG Masaryk, an effort was made to
remove the remnants of feudal injustice and reduce property
imbalances. In 1920, therefore, an extensive land reform
began , which allowed the peasants and landless people to acquire
the land on which they mostly worked diligently; this has led to
significantly greater efficiencyagriculture than
the former "latifundial" system with parasitic
owners .
After World War II and the liberation of the republic, the
fundamental reconstruction of the whole society began in
1945-1948, the beginning of which was the nationalization of
larger enterprises and the completion of land reform (2nd land
reform of 1947, land nationalization in 1948). The process of
implementing social ownership and management of
the means of production was then completed during the 1950s and
1960s by the complete nationalization of industry
and the establishment of larger agricultural units
- agricultural cooperatives and state estates. Despite all the
mistakes and touches that accompanied this process, it was a real
restitution material goods to their creators and
rightful owners - the people of this country.
After the political coup in 1989, there was a persistent
ideological effort to negate everything that was
in the past, and many people felt an enticing opportunity to
suddenly and laborlessly get rich - in the then
manipulated and corrupt parliament was pushed shameful " restitution
" Act No. 87 / 1991, in effect enforcing anti-restitution
.
Editor's question: What is your opinion on
restitution?
According to the Restitution Act, I would also be entitled to
an apartment building with three stores, which are now a gold
mine for the homeowners. However , I will not marry this
apartment building , as I claim that restitution is atrocity
. I would find it humiliating to make a profit from the
work of others.
Editors: Why do you think restitution is atrocity?
First of all, no one asked the nation if they
wanted them, no party had them in their election program.
Parliament calls them "redressing the wrongs of the
past". But was it "wrong" to lose a factory or an
apartment building? When your distant relatives owned a property,
perhaps foreclosed or in debt so that they almost no longer owned
a door handle - you would get it clean today. Often even more
exaggerated, and if it has fallen into disrepair or has
disappeared, the state will reimburse you for the compensation,
for which 50 billion crowns were planned (from the pockets of us
all). It would be interesting to find out what property is
acquired by "restitutions" (and corruption) of those
deputies who have so vigorously enforced them absolutely ,
regardless of the opinions and interests of the majority of the
nation.
( from an interview with the writer
Zdena Frýbová on September 25, 1991)
Pope John Paul II on private property
God created this Earth for the benefit of all
people . Private property is legitimate only if it is in accordance
with this basic purpose of God. This applies in particular to
large amounts of private property: individuals have a right to
such property only in the sense that they manage it for
the benefit of all, and thus of themselves. They did not deserve
this property in any way - it is the result of God's grace and
the work of many of their neighbors . If this
principle is not respected, great differences in property
lead to injustice and hatred - to sin .
(from the homily of John Paul II on October 14, 1991
during a pastoral visit to Brazil)
Restitution is injustice
"Restitution" is nonsense mainly for two reasons :
Argument 2. indisputably and indisputably applies to the "restitution" of aristocratic property , which in the past was literally drained from the sweat and blood of tens of thousands of ordinary people; their "restitution" would be a mockery of all law and justice . Similarly large estates, factories, forests, etc.
Category 2 also includes most of the former property
of the Catholic Church . This property was acquired by the
Church on the basis of its direct connection with the then feudal
dictatorship (for which it created ideological patronage), and on
the other hand by purposeful false interpretation of religious
texts by some priests, according to which the Catholic Church is
able to ask God for forgiveness of sins ) for cash or other
remuneration. It so happened that manipulated people bequeathed
their property (dishonestly and honestly acquired) to the Church.
However, in the interest of objectivity, it should be noted that
even in the Catholic Church there were thousands of honest,
selfless and humble priests who took their spiritual
vocation honestly as a service to their neighbors and thus
to God, as they are literally portrayed, for example, in the
novels of K.V.Rais or J.Š.Baar. The charitable activity of
the church must also be evaluated positively. But isn't it much
better to create such a social climate and system that charitable
activities are needed as little as possible than to try to weakly
"patch up" the mistakes of an immoral and antisocial
society through persistent charitable activities? And a church
that flatters lords and accumulates wealth can
hardly reach people positively — it has little to do with
the true Church of Christ.
Freedom and
democracy?
- or deception and the path to slavery?
Restitution is only a link in a chain of negative phenomena leading to an increasing decline in morale and deteriorating interpersonal relationships. This frustrates the hopes of creating a decent and just society, with which we went into the November changes of 1989. Instead, the unbridled rule of money and the ideology of "differentiation of society" - its stratification into rich and poor - are openly promoted . The current social system and the trend of its development can be characterized by two points :
Not everyone finds the courage to admit that he
has been deceived . Nevertheless, more and more people
(including many dissidents and critics of the previous regime)
are realizing that the social system that seeks to impose on us
today is bad and morally unacceptable - in stark contrast
to their philosophical views and values . Many members of
the older and middle generation even gratefully acknowledge that
they could spend at least part of their lives in a system whose
goal (despite all the mistakes and distortions) was for people
to get along fairly , not rob each other, respect each other
equally, and solidarity. It is probably a historical tragedy that
instead of maintaining this goal and eliminating the scandals,
the development is on the path of rejecting the humanistic
goal , preserving most of the scandals and their
multiplication - the introduction of a number of new scams.
Villains and impostors "got the green light" and some
of them are still preaching morality to the nation in the senate,
parliament and mass media.
Some positive features, such as greater freedom and democracy,
wider travel opportunities, a wider range of goods, etc., are
unusable for a large proportion of people. The real level of
society is not determined by the number of banks, casinos, or the
range of opportunities for a narrow class of characterless people
to enrich themselves at the expense of others, but by how ordinary
citizens , decent and erudite people feel and realize it
, creating real value through skilled work .
material and spiritual. And they are deeply depressed now. Many
are out of work , or have to " shut
up and keep up " under inflated, untouched flocks
who make them bosses, managers, and owners - employers. Nobody
cares if you're right; if you are not "loyal" even in
nonsense and scams, or otherwise you "don't like" the
boss, you just "fly" - freely and democratically, he
has a sacred right to it, no one has anything to say to him ...
It is not a good system where erudite experts are
"swept" by soulless managers and business owners, who
often do not reach even to their ankles from a professional point
of view, only far outnumber them by arrogance, impudence and
elitist arrogance - and the resulting social "success".
and wealth. By publicly looting national property, fraud and
speculation, selling twice-sold goods, declining commercial
culture, abusing and falsifying recent and ancient history, or
embarrassingly undermining (even "rectoscopy") a
bloated Western neighbor, the nation does not work towards
prosperity.
But let us believe that this state will not last too long - that
the "compass" of ethics and humanism encoded in
our minds will prevail , we will overcome soulless
consumerism,and we will remember the cultural legacy of
past years and decades, dating back to the national revival. Let
us be on the one hand irreconcilable to injustices and
selfishness , but on the other hand we are maximally tolerant
and accommodating to those cultural and
spiritual currents that contribute to more noble relations
between people and the surrounding living and inanimate nature.
It is perhaps one of the last chances (one great chance
has been wasted over the last few years) for the long-term survival
not only of the nation, but perhaps globally for the survival of
all mankind .
Let us recall in this context a wise folk
proverb verified by many generations: " Where money speaks, the truth is
silent ." And also the
life-honored statement of the writer Honoré de Balzac :
" Behind every
great private property is a crime hidden
." Experience further teaches that wealth often comes with
selfishness, arrogance, greed, cruelty, and dishonesty; if
someone manages to seize (or directly say -
steal) a larger property, he often begins
to think that he is a "superman", better than others
...
Ostrava 1992
RNDr. Vojtech Ullmann, physicist
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