ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 October 1944, Page 5

ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

“NEVER MORE CORDIAL”

CHURCHILL MOSCOW REVIEW RUGBY, October 27. Mr Churchill in a statement .to the Commons on his visit to Moscow spoke of the agreement cn foreign policy established between the three major Allies, and of the affairs of ■France, Poland, Greece, and the Balkans generally. He said: “The present stage of the war is dour and hard, and fighting must be expected on all fronts to be increased in the scale of intensity. We believe we .are on the last lap in this race, in which failure to exerf our fullest efforts to that end may protract that end to a period almost unendurable to those who have almost the race in their hands after struggling so far. The enemy has two hopes, one that by lengthening the struggle he may wear down our resolution, and his second hope is that division will arise between the three Great Powers assailing him, whose continued union spells his doom. Quarrels may arise about Bulgaria. Poland or Hungary, which, so he hopes, will mar the union of our counsels and the symmetry of the momentum of our concerted advance. There is the enemy’s great hope, and it is to deprive him- of all hope that our efforts must be ceaselessly made.” Mr Churchill proceeded to point out it could not be expected that three great Powers should not have many different views about the aims toward the various countries into which their victorious arms had carried them. The marvel was how good had been the unity between them. Moreover, there were problems of occasion and personality which made it extremely difficult to bring the heads of the three Allies together in one place at one time. “I have, therefore, not hesitated to travel from court to court like a wandering minstrel, but always with the same song to sing or the same set of songs. The meeting at Moscow was a sequel to Quebec. At Quebec Mr Roosevelt and myself felt very much the absence of Russia. At Moscow, Mr Stalin and I were very conscious that Mr Roosevelt was not with us, although Mr Harriman made us feel at all times the presence of the great Republic. There was a reason for our dual conference at Quebec. British and American fighting forces are intermingled in lines of battle as the fighting men of no two countries have ever before been mingled so closely and so easily. As to Russia, Britain has many problems in Eastern Europe to solve in common with Russia and practical issues arise from day to day. We must disperse misunderstandings and forestall them before they occur. We must have practical policies to deal with day-to-day emergencies and, of course, must carry with us at every stage the Government of the United States. - ’

ANOTHER EARLY MEETING. '

Mr. Churchill continued: “I am satisfied the results achieved at-Moscow have been highly satisfactory, but I am quite sure no final result can be obtained until the heads of the three Governments meet together again, and I confidently hope it may be before the end of this year. After all. the future of the world depends on united action in the next two years by our three countries. Other countries will be associated, but the future depends upon the union of the three most powerful Allies. If that fails, all fails. H that succeeds, a broad future for all nations may be assured. I am very glad to inform the House that our relations with Soviet Russia were never more close, intimate and cordial than at present. Never before have we been able to reach so high a degree of frank, friendly discussion on most delicate, even potentially vexatious, topics as we have done at this meeting. Where we could not agree we understood the grounds for each other’s disagreement and each other’s points of view, but over a very wide area, an astonishingly wide area, considering all the different angles from which we approach these topics, we found ourselves in full agreement. It goes without saying that we were united to prosecute the war against Hitlerite Germany with absolute unity. Let all hope die in German breasts that there will be the slightest division or weakening among the forces that are crowding iin and will crush the life out of their resistance. Upon the difficult question of the Balkans we reached complete agreement, and I do not feel there is any danger of our combined war effort being weakened by developments of policy in Greece and Jugoslavia and beyond the Balkans in Hungary. We reached a very good working agreement for those countries with the object of concentrating all their efforts with our own against the common foe and also providing for peaceful settlement after the war. We are acting jointly— Russia and Britain —in our relations with the Royal Jugoslav Government and Marshal Tito, and have invited them by joint message to come together for the common cause, as they have already agreed to' do, at the conference between them at Naples. How much better there should be a joint Anglo-Soviet policy in this disturbed and very complex area than that one side should be backing one set of ideas and the other the opposite. We know it is a most pernicious state of affairs to grow up in any country, because it may easily lead to misunderstanding between the Great Powers themselves. It is so much easier to make arrangements by conference, but these workaday arrangements must be looked upon as temporary expedients to meet an emergency.”

POLISH PROBLEM

Mi' Churchill added: “There were, of. course, a great many serious military questions. I had with me General Ismay and other officers. We also had the advice of the American Ambassador and the technical representative. All these discussions were part of the process of carrying out the great decisions taken at Teheran nearly a year ago, which, without exaggeration, may be said to have altered the face of the world war. Naturally I could not say anything about these military discussions, except that I found them very good. The most urgent question was Poland. Here, again, I speak words of hope reinforced. To abandon hope in this matter would indeed be to surrender to despair. There are two crucial issues. The first is the question of the eastern frontier of Poland and the Curzon Line as it is called, and the new teritories to be added to Poland in the north and west. The second is the relation of the Polish Government with the Lublin National Liberation Committee. On these two points we had a series of conferences with both parties. We held them together, and separately, and were in constant discussions with representatives of the Soviet Government. I wish I could tell th® House that we reached a solution of these problems. It was certainly not for want of trying. I am quite sure we got a good deal nearer it. I hope M. Mikolajczyk will soon return to Moscow. It will be a great disappointment for all sincere friends of Poland if a. good arrangement cannot be made for a Government to be formed on Polish soil, recognised by all the Great Powers, and indeed by all

those Great Powers which now recognise only the Polish Government in London. Although Ido not underrate the difficulties which remain it is a comfort to feel that Britain and Russia, and I do not doubt the United States, are firmly agreed in the reconstruction of a strong, independent Sovereign Poland, loyal to the Allies and friendly with her great neighbour and liberator, Russia. Speaking more particularly for the British Government it is our persevering, constant aim that the Polish people, after their suffering apd vicissitudes, shall find in Europe an abiding home and resting place, which, though it may not entirely coincide or correspond with the _pre-war frontier of Poland, will, nevertheless, be. adequate for the needs of the Polish nation and not inferior in quality to that they previously possessed. It would be a great pity if time were wasted in indecisive or protracted negotiations. I hope no time will be lost in continuing these discussions and pressing them to an effective conclusion.” Mr. Churchill said the French Assembly had been enlarged and strengthened by the admission of many fresh" representatives, including those of the resistance organisations and members of the old Parliamentary groups. The Assembly was now as representative a body as could be got together in the difficult circumstances to-day in France. It would be holding its first Assembly in Paris in a few days’ time. As the tide of battle had moved up General Eisenhower had found he could safely hand over his special powers to the French authorities, except immediately behind the battle zone. Those authorities had shown themselves fully capable of taking full responsibility. Ma-. Churchill outlined the steps which ledjjo the establishment of the French Government, and said some critics had asked why this step was not taken earlier. The reason was very simple. The British and American armies had something to do with the liberation of France, and the British. and American Governments, therefore, had the responsibility for ensuring that the French Government emerging in power from their military action would be accepted by France as a whole and not appear imposed from without. “It is not for us to choose the Government or ruler of France, and for that very reason We had a special responsibility.” Mr. Churchill said he had been satisfied for some weeks past the present Government under General de Gaulle commanded the full assent of the vast majority of the French people and was the only Government which could discharge the very heavy burden cast upon it, untih Parliamentary processes can be reconstructed. France could by no means be excluded from the discussions of the principal Allies dealing with the problems of the Rhine and Germany. “This act of recognition may be regarded as a symbol of France’s emergence from the four dark years of terrible, woeful experience and heralding the period in which she may resume her rightful historic role on the world’s stage.” LIBERATION OF GREECE. Mr. Churchill said the liberation of Athens and a large part of Greece had been the cause of universal rejoicing. There had been hardly any loss of life and practically no damage to the immortal Greek capital so dear to the hearts of so many nations throughout the world. When we were driven out of Athens in 1941, amid so much bloodshed and disaster, and with the loss of over 30,000 men, we promised to return. The Greek people never lost faith in that promise nor abandoned the belief in final victory. We had now returned and redeemed our pledge. A lawful Greek Government was now sitting in Athens. Soon supplies of food for the sorely tried Greek population would be in process of active distribution, if indeed that had not begun already. We were doing our best in every way to’ bring Greece back to normal, but we did not seek to become the arbiter of Greek affairs. Our wish and policy were that when normal conditions of tranquility had been restored throughout the colintry, the Greek people should, make in perfect freedom their own decisions as to the form of Government under which they wash to live. Pending such decision we naturally preserve our relations with the Greek Royal House and the existing constitutional Government and regard them as the authority to whom we are bound by the alliance made at the time of the Italian attack.

Mr. Churchill appealed to all parties and groups in Greece to set national unity above all other causes in cleansing the country of the remaining German forces and in destroying or capturing the last of the miscreants who treated them with indescribable cruelty and, finally, to join hands to rebuild their strength and reduce suffering in their famous cherished land.