FIRST TASK
CREATE CONFIDENCE Mr. Bevin States Views On Foreign Affairs The first thing to do in order to get right relations is to create a spirit of confidence in your intentions, wrote Mr. Ernest Bevin, the new Foreign Secretary, last month. In dealing with Soviet Russia, we should remember that she was held as a nation at bay, and everything that could be done was done to cause offence from the time of the Revolution right up to her entry into the war. I know of nothing that caused a greater set-back in all that tragic period than the sending of the Foreign Secretary to see Hitler, while only a member of the staff of the Foreign Office was sent to see Stalin. It is quite clear that this left Russia in a state of great suspicion. On the other hand, in dealing with the United States there has been a tendency to lack of frankness, and from my experience of the American Government and people, I know that what they like is for people to say exactly what they mean.
Stability In Europe
I am very deeply concerned about our relations with France. It is absolutely vital that an understanding be reached between France and ourselves if stability in Europe is to be finallv attained. With regard to the smaller Allies, they must be protected against attack, but what is more important, they must never be used as pawns in the diplomatic game by any of the big Powers. Every possible step should be taken to facilitate trade, exchange, movement of population, &nd to encourage understanding. Britain's present policy towards Germanv is in a process of constant change. * The policy adopted must depend largely upon the Germans themselves. We have to remember that we are faced with a nation into which the most diabolical docti ines have been inculcated, and until we can feel quite sure that the war machine has been destroyed, and that they have effectively accepted their defeat, we cannot begin to recreate a new spirit in Germany. ' Cheap labour Pool The first ana most essential need ic therefore to eliminate entirely the war-like spirit. But in handling Germany we have got to be very.careful that we do not create a virtual pool of cheap labour which will bring down Western standards. To that end I believe that the International Labour Office, the European Transport Board, and the other unifvine and educational forces that the Coalition proposed to establish, C3 As b we have experienced two wars +v>o nntir<?e of 25 years, caution and the determination to eliminate the war spirit must be our motive, wo must never, however, be actu nnrelv by a spirit of revenge. Security must be our main motive.
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FIRST TASK, Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 177, 28 July 1945
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458FIRST TASK Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 177, 28 July 1945
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