BRITISH INTEREST

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 120, 16 February 1944, Page 5

BRITISH INTEREST

Solution Of RussianPolish Dispute DIPLOMATIC PROBLEM (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 14. The utmost, discretion is being maintained in official quarters in London about the Soviet-Polish dispute and the British Government’s interest in it. The London Press, however, has published reports of the efforts being made io find a solution. It is state'll that letters have been exchanged between Mr. Churchill and Marshal Stalin about both 'the immediate requirements and the broader need of an agreed settlement aiming at the preservation of Allied unity. There are also reports of American participation in these exchanges. This is regarded as the thorniest diplomatic problem in the United Nations camp, and it is pointed out that consideration of it is still only at the tentative stage. The foremost difficulty is evidently the Soviet insistence on the reconstitution of the Polish Government, which was accused by the “Pravda” on Saturday of “hostile” activities and even of co-operation with “Fascists.” Particular exception seemed to be taken to what is described as the “Sosnkowski clique.” General Sosnkowski succeeded General Sikorski as chief of the Polish armed forces.

More pressing, perhaps, is the problem of relations between the Polish and Soviet ‘guerrilla fighters in provinces into which the Red Army is penetrating and into which it is very likely to advance further before long. The recent cessation of hostilities brought about by British efforts between the rival partisans in Greece suggests that this aspect of the RussoPolish problem may not be impossible to solve.

One subject, on which most light is thrown in the Press, is territorial compensation to Poland for the territories claimed by the Soviet Union. Division of East Prussia?

According to Press reports, it is suggested that East Prussia should be divided. The southern and western parts, inhabited by people racially akin to the Poles, though speaking a German dialect, would go to Poland. The more northerly part, including Koenigsberg, would be added to Russia, which would thereby acquire a first-rate naval base from which to assure peace in the southern Baltic. It is also suggested that the Polish-German frontier should be shifted westward to include eastern Pomerania and the whole of Upper Silesia in Poland. These districts, like east Prussia, were originally mainly Polish before the tide of German colonization (Drang nach Osten) engulfed them in Prussia during the past few centuries.

According to these plans Poland would have an outlet to the Baltic more than 150 miles broad. The German populations concerned would be deported back to where their ancestors came from, and these new lands would be occupied by the present Polish minorities in the eastern provinces claimed for the Ukraine and While Russia.

Whether or not such a territorial settlement offers a basis for the solution of the Soviet-Polish dispute it is too early to say. One thing, however, seems certain. The success of any territorial settlement will be dependent on the establishment of a satisfactory political relation between the Soviet Union and the Polish people. When the German invaders are expelled from Poland it will be done by the Soviet Army. But it will not be forgotten by the people of Britain that it was for the cause of Polish independence that they went to "war. "" ’

CANNOT BE IGNORED Russia In Post-War World

LONDON, February 14. . The granting to Soviet States of the right.to conduct their own foreign affairs is proof that Russia does not intend to withdraw to isolation after the war, says an article published in “War and the Working Class,” quoted by Moscow radio.

Drawing attention to the alliance with Britain and the friendly relations with America, the article says: “Russia has developed into a Power of such magnitude that it cannot be ignored by any country without damaging its own interests.. .The creation of an anti-Hitleritc coalition headed by Britain, America, and the Soviet has proved to the whole world the possibility and necessity of friendly relations between Russia and the other democratic countries. Russia must have n proper place corresponding to her share in saving the world from the Fascist Plague.” “No Bolshevik Bogy.’’ A member of the United States Embassy in Moscow, who is home on leave, said today that the so-called Bolshevik bogy did not exist. He said that the Soviet Union was nationalist in form. The present fight was for the motherland, not for Marxism. The Rus.sians knew they had a big job ahead in rebuilding their wounded country, and they knew that the United States and Britain could help them.

“The. Russians are determined to maintain friendly relations with us,” he said. “It is good business for them, and for us. A solid working relationship must endure if the peoples of the world arc to enjoy a decent future. Individually we like the Russians, and they like ue.”