The Press Monday, December 30, 1929. Britain and Russia.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19814, 30 December 1929, Page 8

The Press Monday, December 30, 1929. Britain and Russia.

It would be easy to be cynical about the exchange of Notes between Britain and Russia, the text of which is now at length released. It was one of the conditions of the resumption of diplomatic relations that hostile propaganda would cease (on both sides) with the exchange of Ambassadors, and all that has now happened is that the Ambassadors have reported and drawn attention to the terms of the October Protocol. There is nothing new in any of it, and no guarantee that what was found to be impossible five years ago will not be impossible again. The 1924 Treaty would have been quite satisfactory if it had been kept. The agreement that has been re-affirmed now carries us no farther than 1924, and in one respect not so far, and it is not certain that the world is five years wiser as well as five years older. Yet we have to believe in the new arrangement or in nothing. It is an agreement without respect, and even without trust, sirce Britain is still the arch-enemy in Moscow, and nothing will or can change that while the present regime lasts. Further, the resumption of relations with Britain will do more than anything else (except good government at home) to keep the Bolsheviks in power; and power for an indefinite time is their hope of worlds revolution. They preach, and they believe, that everyone who refuses, when the time comes, to destroy the existing system of society is a fool, or a coward, or both, and they especially therefore hate and despise halfmeasure Radicals like the British Labour Party and the German Socialistfe. It must be remembered also that when a Russian talks about force he means force. If the Bolsheviks could annihilate Britain they would, and if instead of attacking her they make terms with her, there is no suggestion in this of a ehange of heart. The agreement, on Moscow's side, is indeed almost a new form of offensive, since the ebjeet of it is partly economic relief, partly a political vrespite for those in actual power in Russia, and partly international bluff. Whatever it is, it is not the welfare of Britain, or of any part of the British Empire, as the Foreign Office thoroughly understands ; but it does not follow that what Russia wishes and Britain will obtain are one arid the same thing. Britain hopes to obtain peaee and trade; and she hopes also that with trade will come, very gradually, a reluctance on the part of the Russians themselves to revert to violence and disorder again. It is a gamble on both sides with time ■—in Moscow for a long enough exten* sion of power to organise for a bigger revolution; in London for a long enough experience of the fruits of peaee to make revolution seem hateful.