The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1934. ENTER RUSSIA?

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 21, 25 January 1934, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1934. ENTER RUSSIA?

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance For the future in the distance, And the good that ice can do

It would be a piece of arresting irony if, following on the withdrawal of Japan and Germany from the League of Nations, Russia were to enter. Rumours that Russia intends seeking entry to the League have been so persistent of late that they cannot be lightly dismissed. Russian policy under Stalin has been in the direction of seeking closer relations with the European Powers, and M. Litvinoff, the Soviet Foreign Minister, has ably seconded him in this effort. Russia is now seeking to protect herself against any possible warlike intentions on the part of Germany and Japan. To this end she has concluded pacts of non-aggression with her immediate neighbours, as well as with France and Italy. She has thus formed a sort of League for herself, and has given assent to the main principles for which the League stands. The Lytton Report also made a very favourable impression on Moscow, and showed that the League was not a sort of capitalist combine, as some of the Russian Communists had asserted, but was a body genuinely desirous of seeing justice done between nation and nation.

Previously Russia was considered ineligible for membership because she had not observed her international obligations in the matter of her external debt obligations. This objection was mainly raised by France. Now France is said to be supporting Russia's entry, and M. Herriot's visit to Russia is believed to have been undertaken with this end in view. If Russia joins the League, it is possible America may do the same, especially if Mussolini carries through his proposed reform of the League with this end in view. These two Powers would more than compensate for the loss of Germany and Japan. Membership of the League would give a certain measure of respectability to Russia, and might do much to modify her attitude towards other nations. It is a triumph for M. Litvinoff that his country, which was for so long almost an outcast among the nations, should now be recognised as being an influential factor in shaping international affairs.