FAMINE FEARS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22241, 29 January 1947, Page 5

FAMINE FEARS

UKRAINE AREA LESSON OF 1948 PACT WITH ALLIES CONCILIATORY APPROACH (From E. G. Webber. Special Representative of the N.Z. Press Association.) LONDON, Jan. 27. Amid conjectures as to tlie next step the British Government will take in reconsidering the present treaty of alliance with Russia is a suggestion made by the special Russian correspondent of the Observer that Russia’s more conciliatory attitude towards the West is closely connected with fears of another serious famine in Moldavia, Ukraine and the whole of "the black earth" zone which, before the war supplied two-thirds of grain for the Soviet. This suggestion is based on facts revealed in the annual report of the Soviet State Planning Commission, which has just been released. This report discloses for the first lime that the drought in European Russia last year was the most severe for the past 00 years, and that it affected a targetarea than the drought of 1921 which plunged much of the country into famine and compelled Lenin to appeal for help to a hostile world. Relief Grain Supplies

The Planning Commission emphasises that the total grain production in 1940 was "incomparably" greater than in 1921 due to the Communist organisation of production, but does not give the total figure of grain deliveries, nor does it claim that conditions were better than in 1921.

It is known that large supplies of extra grain are being obtained from Eastern Russia and Soviet Asia for relief of the drought-stricken areas, but it remains to be seen whether these supplies are adequate to stave off disaster which has periodically afflicted Russian peasantry in years of drought. The Observer's correspondent says that Russia’s fear of impending famine and the realisation that she may again have to look for outside aid, may be one reason why her leaders are endeavouring to prepare the Russian people for a new attitude towards the Eastern Powers. “Indirect Invitation’’

In London, Marshal Stalin’s statement that Russia is not prepared to extend at present the Anglo-Soviet Treaty unless it is first freed from “reservations,” is regarded as an indirect invitation to discuss a revision of .the agreement. It is not disguised tljat the British Foreign Office is disconcerted by the Russian method of raising the matter in Pravda, and there is no doubt that a suggestion will be made that in future the relations between the two countries should be negotiated through more normal channels. It is now considered evident that the Pravda articles were not just another incident in the favourite Russian newspaper pastime of baiting the British and Americans, but that they were a deliberate move in a carefully considered diplomatic manoeuvre. One of the current problems is how long the Russian press and radio polemics against British and American policies will be tolerated without open remonstrance. Although they have diminished in tempo, they are still continuing. The Americans are endeavouring to bring the matter to a head by specifically charging the Russians with “large-scale misrepresentations” in their European propaganda. Next British Step

This charge was made last week by officials of the American State Department and broadcast over the European network. It is probable that the real gauge of the Russian desire for better relations with Britain and America are .to be seen in the rise and fall of the present highly critical and often actively hostile Soviet radio and press campaigns. The next step is almost certain to be a British request for the Russian amplification of Marshal Stalin’s statement with special reference to the “reservations” which the Soviet desires to remove.

In this connection it is pointed out that Russian treaties ot alliance with France, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Poland, will be concluded subsequent to the treaty with Britain. All will go further than the British Pact in guaranteeing immediate efforts to prevent any resurgance of German military power. The present Anglo-Sovie.t alliance is entirely defensive—that is to say, no obligation is imposed on either party until one or other is attacked. The Russo-Polish pact, on the other hand, pledges both parties to take immediate joint measures “to eliminate any threat on the part of Germany, or of any other State which might unite with Germany."