"WILL BE NECESSARY TO EACH OTHER"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 39, 16 February 1943, Page 3

"WILL BE NECESSARY TO EACH OTHER"

BRITAIN AND RUSSIA

Stabilising Influence In Post-War Europe N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 9.30 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 15. The outstanding Russian victories, which are changing the whole course of the European war, are having the not surprising but nevertheless interesting result of causing BritishRussian relations to be increasingly discussed. It is being said everywhere by the man in the street that Britain should maintain close ties with Russia after the war. This opinion is based not only on admiration of Russia's magnificent victories; it has regard for her post-war position. "Who can doubt," asks Mr. Hamilton Kerr, Conservative M.P. for Oldham, "that the Soviet will enjoy enormous influence in post-war Europe? The Russian Army will be the largest land force on the Continent. Supported by vast numbers of tanks and bombing planes supplied by an immense industry filled with glorious memories of Stalingrad, Moscow and Leningrad, Russian armament will be a tremendous instrument in the hands of its leaders. If peace is to be maintained in Europe, if Germany is to be prevented from attempting to revive her broken fortunes, it is important that we should have a firm understanding with the Soviet." Basis for. Understanding Mr. Kerr points out that a basis for understanding already exists in the 20 years' alliance between Britain and the Soviet. He sees no cause for economic rivalry between the two countries, and expresses the opinion that many British people have an entirely false picture of the Russian mind. Regarding politics, he considers the Russians are ardent patriots before they are internationalists dreaming of a world order, and that the Soviet post-war foreign policy will have self-interest for its first principle. This leads him to believe that Russia is less likely to make demands on Poland and Czechoslovakia if Britain and the United States provide grounds for confidence that they will support her in the event of a future 'war with Germany. "But should Britain and America fail her," Mr. Kerr says, "then, undoubtedly, she will attempt to organise her own security, just as France did after the collapse of the British-American guarantee." Britain and America, he concludes, will be necessary to each other in the postwar world, both, in Europe and the Far East. . . The Spectator maintains that formal agreements must be supplemented —as they are being—by an unclouded understanding between peoples, and adds: "It calls for a conscious and deliberate effort, for the ethos and traditions of the AngloSaxon and the Russian peoples are too different for full comprehension between them to be easily achieved. Trends Over-Emphasised "Certain' trends in each country have been- over-emphasised in the other. The contrast between Russian Communism and British capitalism is not the last word in the definition of the distinction. Even if it were so when this war began, it certainly is not so to-day." - It is noted in more _than one quarter that certain interesting changes are occurring in the Rett Army. Since the German invasion it has been the subject of universal admiration, and the names of new marshals and generals have been ■ given the widest publicity. This is a completely new feature to Russia. It is noted that the war medals of Suvoroff and Kutuzoff have been ranked above the Orders of Lenin and the Red Banner in the army, also that in army reforms the discipline and army regulations of Peter the Great are recalled as the guiding principle.

Hamilton William Kerr has been Conservative M.P. for Oldham since 1931. He attended Balliol College, Oxford, and was an Oxford running Blue, winning the half mile. He has worked on the stalls of the Daily Mail and the Daily *elegraph. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mr. Duff Cooper when the latter was First Lord of the Admiralty.