Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1925. A PERILOUS EXPEDIENT

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 116, 20 May 1925, Page 4

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1925. A PERILOUS EXPEDIENT

A striking new departure in ! foreign policy was attributed to the British Government in a London message yesterday. The Berlin correspondent of the "Daily Herald" claims "reliable. authority" for the statement that the British Government has proposed j-that the Allies should send a joint Note to the Soviet demanding absolute repudiation of the Communist International and..the expulsion of its headquarters from Moscow. The news is described by the "Herald" editorially as "of-the gravest significance," and the description is beyond challenge if the item is authentic. It is not merely " a new diplomatic \ offensive" that the British Government has in view if the "Herald's" correspondent has not been misinformed, but a diplomatic offensive of a very dangerous kind. Put fti so crude a form, the demand would put a peaceful solution almost as completely out of the question as did the demand made upon Serbia by Austria in July, 1914. The Soviet Government could not comply without the humiliation of an abject surrender—a course which would present such a contrast' to the insolence and the truculence that it has hitherto displayed as to damn, it for .ever in.the eyes of its own countrymen and to make it the laughing-stock of the world. As we must at least cr,edit the Bolsheviks with the courage of their convictions, it is impossible to suppose that they would accept this position. Their reply would surely be an uncompromising negative which the Allies would either I. have to take lying down or to answer by a declaration of war. It is, according to the "Daily Herald/ the last of these alternatives that the British Government is apparently contemplating. j The British representatives in every European capital and at Washington have, says the "Herald," for some time been conducting behind the scenes an anti-Soviet campaign, and suggests that the present move is to make impossible demands in. order that^the Soviet's refusal may serve as' an excuse for arupture of diplomatic relations; from whicn there would be only one step to open hostilities. ■ It is difficult to believe that even a Tory Government can be supposed by the Labour Party's paper to be guilty of such; criminal stupidity as to desire to add to the staggering burdens of the Empire and its Allies the appalling responsibilities of a war. with Kussia. l'rorn such a war, even if it stood alone, there would be about as much glory or profit to be won as Napoleon was able to win in his retreat from Moscow in 1812. But a war between the Allies and Russia could no-more be isolated than the war which was started by Austria's quarrel with Serbia, It would provide a vent for all the pent-up animosities of Europe. As Asia would doubtless be drawn in, and perhaps even .Africa, the world would be plunged in that greater Armageddon which the diplomats have been dreading for the last six years and in which the prophets have foreseen the destruction of civilisation. | Who can believe that the Conservative Government which has hitherto shown itself just as earnest in its desire for peace as its Labour predecessor, and just as fully alive to the risk of war, is going out of its way to invite a head-on collision with Bolshevik Russia? It is 'fortunate that neither the "Daily Herald" nor its Berlin correspondent credits Mr. Baldwin and his colleagues with the desire to undertake this cheerful responsibility single-hand-ed.^ It is a'joint Note'from the Allies to. the Soviet, Government \vhicli they aye said by the "Herald's" correspondent to be endeavouring- to engineer, and the imti'Soviet campaign which the "Herald" itself says that they have had in hand for some time includes Washington as" well as every Euro- J ,pcan capital. But, that America, which appears to be just as anxious as oyor to "keep cool with Coolidge," should join in an expedition to Moscow, or that the Brii;iftli OovehrtttPrtl, tittyuM r.spccf, i(, I°. d\) bo a is douMqgs- soffiet&ftg

that exceeds even the swallowing capacity of the "Daily Herald.*' The anti-Soviet campaign which the British Government has been conducting is, indeed, a perfectly legitimate -campaign, and the Bolsheviks' alarm at its success and the sympathy of their friends in the British Labour Party are probably at the root both of the extraordinary report from Berlin and of the gravity with which it is regarded by the organ of the party. Mr. Chamberlain is, indeed, making such good progress with his diplomacy as to increase the improbability of his contemplating any perilous expedient and at the same time to supply the Soviet Government with a very good reason for misrepresenting him, That Government has made no secret either of its desire to overthrow ' the power of Britain as the most formidable obstacle to its project for a world revolution, or of its determination 4o effect this object both by promoting revolutionary movements in Britain and by rousing the East against the West. The defensive measures which British diplomacy is taking against these tactics are, of course, represented as part of a deeply-laid plot for the encirclement of Kussia. Writing on the 28th March the ftiga correspondent of "The Times" described the procedure as folio ws':-— alarm is being shown by Moscow in connection with the British efforts to restore the political balance and_ tranquillity of Europe. Particular 1 anxiety is displayed whenever the subject of reconciling German and Francololish interests or of Germany's joining the League of Nations is discussed A ! new wave of anti-British feeling has apparently been gathering strength durliig the past few weeks. Numerous articles in the Soviet Press and speeches of Communist leaders on the subject of Jiastern and Western policy revolve round one theme—how to paralyse Great ■Britain s influence or how to prevent ■an Anglo-Franco-German rapprochbment lest Great Britain, freed from European problems, should find leisure to, thwart the Bolshevists' Oriental plans. During the last few days, the Bolshevists have again brought forward the_ bogey about British efforts to encircle Soviet Russia, The ■ "Daily Herald" and its correspondent appear to have been misled by their Bolshevik sympathies into taking this wild talk too literally. The Bolshevik is the innocent victim whom they must save from the cruel clutches of the British Government!