Candid Statement

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 149, 21 December 1945, Page 7

Candid Statement

BASIS OF POLICY

(Special P.A. Correspondent.)

Eec.-4-O a.m,

LONDON, December,2o.

The Soviet point of view on international questions has been stated unambiguously in recent political publications, says "The JFimes'' Moscow correspondent. The method of approach and the arguments advanced indicate continued adherence to the fundamental tenets of Marxism, coupled with a firm belief in the capacity .of the Big" Three to work as a united team for the cause of world peace, and, by raising the standard of living of all peoples, for the welfare of mankind.

To the Soviet mind, vital decisions in world affairs should, in sthe last analysis, be taken by those who possess the power and refcources essential to bearing; the responsibility for the maintenance lof peace and the establishment of world order.

Where the Soviet Union feels that she is being excluded from positions where to her it seems right that she should shoulder her 'share of this responsibility, as in the control of Japan or the trusteeship of colonial lands, she will press for equality with her partners.

Where her position is assured, as.in territory liberated by the efforts of the Red Army, she will seek to use her influence to support the majority of the people against the direct adherents of Fascism.

If the question is narrowed, as it jhas been by recent commentators, to south-eastern Europe, the Soviet mind rejects the view that protection of the rights of minorities is a true test .of democracy.

New Zealand envoys to Russia and lunched with the French Ambassador.

What minorities can one have in mind as regards the,; countries which have just been liberated and not yet purged of Fascist agents? a writer asked in "Izvestia" recently. Should democracy concern itself with the rights of supporters of Fascism? Is not the unity of an overwhelming majority of the people the most solid support for democracy? What is a minority which should be the object of attention, say in Rumania? ' ' . The trusteeship issue has been brought up sharply in two recent articles in authoritative journals, and it has merged into the general question of the future of colonial peoples, without a solution of which the Soviet view is that a firm and-just peace system is unattainable.

Much harsh criticism has been directed against the present status of the peoples'of India and Africa, including the Sudan, which are described as being under total British domination, and of Indonesia.

No matter what form colonial domination assumes—economic domination for which certain powerful elements in America are deemed to be striving, or the political domination that is associated with London's policy—it always leads to retarding of« productive forces, economic enslavement, and deprivation of political rights, a state of affairs which the Russians also see in the mandated territories of the Near East. DANGER TO WO%D. But, the Soviet argument continues, the upsurge of national liberation movements bears evidence that the colonial regime is fraught with danger lo world peace, and because the Soviet I Union is vitally interested in maintaining that peace and also because she feels she could be an enlightening influence, the view is being expressed with increasing emphasis here that, she would participate in the trusteeship system, "a step towards the achievement of complete independence," as an article in "Bolshevik" puts it. The foreign news pages of the* Moscow Press, by devoting much space to the events in Persian Azerbaijan, the Nuremberg trial, and any attempts of Fascisnrto re-establish itself—including even Sir Oswald Mosley's recent activities—indicate that happenings in lands adjacent, to the Soviet Union and what Mr. Molotov has defined as the moral and political defeat of the enemy are still considered as matters ,of paramount interest.