PAST MISTAKES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 172, 23 July 1941, Page 8

PAST MISTAKES

BRITAIN AND U.S.S.R. EFFECT OF NEW ALLIANCE "We may discover that it is easier to evaluate the moves of Russian diplomacy than those of the Western Powers. To the astonishment of some of us we ma} 7 find that there is a good deal more honesty in Moscow than in Berlin." said the Rev. Dr. Alexander Hodge, 8.A.. 8.D.. speaking at the Junior Chamber of Commerce luncheon this afternoon. Speaking on "The Riddle of Russia,'' Dr. Hodge reviewed the events leading up to the RussoGerman pact, which he considered Russia signed for three main reasons. She was exasperated with British delay in the first place and she also desired to attain a measure of security while it was possible. Russia might also have signed through a far-seeing statesmanship which was designed to beat the Germans at their own game. Continuing. Dr. Hodge said that he believed the present war would have been averted or at least indefinitely postponed had we been less suspicious in our dealings with Russia early in 1939. even though excuse could be found for the go-

slow policy of British diplomacv. "Time has proved that Russia's interests were our own.'' said the speaker. 'In 1939 Russia's friendship began to appear vital, but not very, in the Moscow discussions our representatives were handicapped by Polish recalcitrance, but we were all too slow. Ribbentrop arrived in the capital on August 20 and signed the pact of non-aggression. "We are now impelled by circumstances to an alliance with Russia. Britain is not likely to endorse the domestic politics of the Soviet. We are not likely to initial its attitude to religion. But we should be fair to the past and wise to the future."'