Through the Balkans Phoenix. Reviewed by GEOFF RYAN. JOHN REED is best known to socialists for his classic Ten Days That Shook the World. He is perhaps better known to a wider audience from his portrayal by Warren Beatty in the film Reds In 1915 he travelled extensively throughout Eastern Europe. The reappearance of this account of his experiences is very welcome as it has been out of print virtually since it was first published in 1916.
Like the best socialist writers Reed relates to a wide variety of human experiences.
He describes the horrors of war, the typhus epidemic raging through Serbia, the conditions of the Jewish town of Rosvno in the Pale of Settlement and, with equal fluency, paints vivid portraits of individuals, crowds or scenery.
My favourite chapters are those on Constantinople. Not only does he give a wonderful picture of the city but also shows the hypocrisy of the war.
Despite Turkey being allied to the Central Powers, English, French, Russian and American officials mix freely with the Germans, Austrians and Turks with whom they are supposedly at war.
Members of the Turkish ruling class are expected to buy themselves out of military service - failure to do so would be seen as an admission they were broke!
The poor, who are expected to die for their country, riot declaring 'We don't care for victories! Give us bread!' Of course the most relevant sections today are those relating to Serbia (including Macedonia). Reed gives numerous examples of the depth of nationalism. British army officers are denounced as "cowards' for trying to prevent the spread of typhus. A Serb lieutenant comments 'We Serbians know that all that is needed is the willingness to die - and the war would be soon over. Mothers greet their children 'Hail little avenger of Kosovo'.
Serbia was subjected to brutal destruction by AustroHungary, with massive bombardment of Belgrade. Eighty years later atrocities on a far worse scale than those perpetrated by the Austro-Hungarians are committed on Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Albanians and all the other nationalities of former Yugoslavia.
The most serious flaw in Reed's analysis concerns his inability to accept the existence of a Macedonian nation: he sees them as, basically, Bulgarians, a common error at the time.
It was not until the second world war and the struggle of the Partizans that there was any recognition of a Macedonian nation.
The book would have been strengthened by an introduction drawing together some of the relevant factors for understanding the current situation in Eastern Europe.
Instead it is printed exactly as written by Reed in 1916including the now rather dated anglicised spelling of Slavic names.
But Reed is such a wonderful writer these are minor quibbles.
in 1915 by John Reed. Published by