The Evening Star. SATURDAY MARCH 30, 1935. PEACE MISSIONS.

Evening Star, Issue 21992, 30 March 1935, Page 14

The Evening Star. SATURDAY MARCH 30, 1935. PEACE MISSIONS.

Whatever Sir John Simon may have thought of Berlin, Moscow has done its best to create the most favourable first impressions in Captain Eden. He was entertained on his journey with English jazz airs. M. Litvinoff proposed the toast of “ King George and British Happiness and Prosperity ” at the official reception to him. The station was decorated with British flags. Almost it might have seemed aslf pre-Revohition days, when Britain and Russia were allies, had returned again. But it is an “ all-in ” alliance, for general security, which Britain now seeks. Whether it will be obtainable or not it is toosearly to say. The mood and requirements of Germany, by all unofficial accounts, were not encouraging for it. Sir John Simon, however, is not despairing. His state*

merit to the House of Commons was as brief as it could be, because tho Berlin mission was only one of a series still to be completed. From Moscow Captain Kdcu will go ou to Poland aud Czechoslovakia, ami then thero will be a meeting in Italy between British, French, and Italian representatives. A “ considerable ” divergence of opinion was reported by the British Foreign Minister to have been shown in Berlin. bu,t it was something for each party to know just where the other stood. Doubtless he said much more to the King, but the King will not repeat it. The Germans will be as anxious to know what happens in Russia as anyone could be to learn the results of the Berlin conversations. If Herr Hitlar had talked less about Communist* as a reason for the existence of hi* own party, if the Bolshevists had talked Jess about a world revolution, the position might be easier at this moment. Communism never was very strong in Germany, according to the most convincing evidence. Even Socialism, which was stronger, went down like a house of cards at the shaking of Herr Hitler’s fist. Russia is a big neighbour, potentially dangerous, but she was not very formidable in the last war. The Germans spent much more time on Russian territory than the Russians did on theirs. The proletariat makes a small element in Bolshevy. The peasant, who -has numbers. is not much of a. Communist, and traditionally he has had tho character of a sluggish, easy-going fellow. Could Communism weld such material into a fanatical army, bent on the overwhelming of neighbouring countries? Does Communism want to? The German Government believes, or professes to believe, that it could and would. The Russian arm.v itself gives some warrant for its fears. A German paper, commenting on proceedings of the Seventh Soviet Congress, shows the dread that it .provokes. ‘‘ The world,” the commentary says, “ must be grateful to tho Deputy Commissar for Defence. M. Tukhachevsky. for his report on the Red Amv and armaments. That army is approaching an effective strength of 1.000.000; its motorisation and mechanisation are being feverishly promoted by tho mass production of the most modern offensive weapons, such ns tanks, heavy guns, and bombing aircraft: and the military Budget has undergone a corresponding increase from 1,600,000.000 roubles to 5,000.000,000. These sensational figures gain an overwhelming interest when it is realised that the Soviets hardly stand for a pacifist ideal of brotherhood, but for a programme of world revolution, which could not conceivably be more far-reaching or dangerous.” The Soviets are more concerned, «nc can believe, about enough to eat. The Red Army is big, but then the Russian Government, like that of Germany, has to look to two fronts when it thinks of national security. Arrest drives which it makes periodically would suggest that it is not yet at ease concerning its own. .And .the .ordinary man in the Russian Army, it is generally agreed, has groat advantages over his fellows. A stomach for food mar as naturally take him , there as a stomach for fight.

It- is not only the army that makes alarm. To quote from a recent letter of ‘ The Times ’ Berlin correspondent, “to Russia’s enormous resources of man power and material, which are being developed, according to the German thesis, at the expense of an underpaid' ami hall-starved population, conics the Soviet air fleet which, it is contended, is being expanded ami improved rapidly, with the aid of French advice. It is the National-Socialist theory that sooner or later the Russians, the most primitively vital people in Europe, might come into conflict with Western Europe; and the issue would be either the successful defence of Western Europe or the overwhelming of Germany, which would he used as a stepping-off place for the imposition of the world revolution.” At the gates of Warsaw Europe was defended before from that peril. The Poles and Germans arc now allies, ami it, is not Germany, hut • Poland, that lies nearest to (he, Russian path. If Russia, can conic into a general agreement there should be no real reasons to keep Germany out’. But Germany wants all the concessions she can get in return for restrictions on her armaments. If she wants colonies back, as has been reported, seventeen years during which they have been under other rule makes the greatest obstacle for that ambition, and few Germans lived in them when they were under her flag. Patriotic hysteria forms another obstacle to co-operation. It will be a long argument before Germany is brought to reason.