SOVIET UNION

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23845, 14 January 1943, Page 4

SOVIET UNION

FUTURE RELATIONSHIPS DISCUSSED

RUSSIA AS GREAT POWER Future relationships with the Soviet Union were mentioned by the Hon. W. E. Barnard. Speaker of the House of Representatives, in a speech last evenin';’ before a largely-attended meeting at the Civic Theatre, held under the auspices of the Christchurch branch of the Society for Closer Relations with Russia. Mr ,1. Roberts presided. “It is vital that we tight together now, but equally vital lo have a wide and common outlook when it comes to days of peace. When it comes to shaping the new order there are not a few lessons we may learn from the Soviet Union itself," said Mr Barnard. He detailed the common objections to Russia, referring to the Russian revolution and to religion. The real reasons for objections were not usually found among the working classes of any country, he said, but were found to belong to a different social order altogether. The Soviet leaders’ attitude toward property was highly distasteful to those in other countries who occupied positions of privilege and power. New Zealand's concern was with the future, Mr Barnard said. No country had desired peace more than the Soviet, and Russia would have an eye to the real peace when it came. Russia was not likely to adopt an isolationist policy. The Soviet would make sure that the common man and woman would receive a square deal. “If at the coming great peace conference Churchill were to move that Stalin take the chair and Roosevelt were to second the motion. I should be supremely satisfied," said Mr Barnard.

“It is not enough to treat the Soviet Union as a good, brave, and faithful ally in times o[ war, to be dropped in peace. It must become a permanent friend of the British Empire," Mr Barnard continued. He said he had asked Hie Prime Minister in the House lo take steps for diplomatic relations and an exchange of diplomatic representatives to be arranged with (lie Soviet Union. "I hope,” he added, "that this will soon come about." Need for Second Front

Mr E. K. Braybrookc, another speaker, spoke of the need for a second front. Much suffering in Russia could have been avoided if the opening of a second front had come last year. Operations in Tunisia did not constitute the second front, Tie added. “We must have it in 1943 if victory is to be in front of us. It must never be forgotten that the Soviet Union was the one state that had been able to forecast and predict fof many years the present war. It was the only state that was not caught completely unprepared for the attack of the Nazi hordes. But for Russia we might have been ground under the heel of the Japanese oppressors. The lesson of unity was the main one we could learn from Russia. After reading Russian newspapers, Mr Braybrooke said he was impressed by the way that all the different nationalities in Russia were working together without a dissentient voice. There were no petty squabbles in Russia. Two members of a Soviet ship were guests at the meeting. The sum of £B2 10s was collected.

Representatives of the Maoris, China, India, and Jugoslavia w’ere on the platform. Others present were Miss Mabel Howard, Labour Party candidate. and Mr H. E. Herring, Democratic Labour candidate, for the Christchurch East by-elcction. The stage and galleries were hung with Allied flags, with the Soviet hammer and sickle prominently displayed on the platform between the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes.