Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, NOV. 25, 1937. FUTURE OF POLAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 306, 25 November 1937, Page 10

Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, NOV. 25, 1937. FUTURE OF POLAND.

Recent incidents in Poland, many of them bearing a marked similarity to certain occurrences in Germany under tlie Nazi regime, have raised doubts in observant minds as to whether the future of that country will be what the founders of the republic sought when it was proclaimed at Warsaw in 1918 and what Marshal Pilsudski, the stern but just head of the State, most desired—freedom from the yoke of both Germany and Russia and the creation of a virile nation, taking its place with equality in the councils of the. world. For several months reports have been cabled anent the segregation of Jews —of whom there are large numbers throughout Poland—from other students in the universities. Semi-official statements have been made of a determination to drive all Jews out of thq country. This aspect of the subject gives a strong flavour of Nazism, and it is little wonder that the question arises as to just how far the present system of control of. the State has been undermined by proNazi influences aiming at a totalitarian State. The Warsaw correspondent of the London Daily Herald —a journal whose policy opposes Fascism, Nazism, and any other influence likely to injure what are the parallels of Labour politics in Britain —says that the reactionary elements in Poland consider the time is ripe for a Fascist coup; that the militarised police force is in Fascist hands; and that one in seveu of the population is ready to line up —presumably in the Fascist ranks. In short, a totalitarian State of the Hitler model is aimed at. A subsequent report, from the Warsaw correspondent of the London Times, is more reassuring, with an indication that national unity may be preserved under the present Constitutional system. The position seems full of misgivings, however. To get the real perspective of the issue it is necessary to recall that Marshal Pilsudski himself at one stage, in 1926, when he brought off his coup against a vacillating Government, vitally amended the Constitution by conferring on the President of the Republic the power of legislation by decree at times when the Diet —a democratic Assembly—was not sitting. That power was freely used, and increased in 1085. Indeed, the Daily Herald’s correspondent says that the mass of the people, of their freedom by edicts, are in

the mood for revolt. This is an intriguing situation, for at no time could there be discerned in Pilsudski’s policy anything of the totalitarian State kind of rule. . His was a rule of iron, but was deemed necessary to save the nation froip influences which, under the guise of a democracy, were hindering rather than helping the aims of the young republic. Pilsudski has passed on —he died in 1935 —and so now a new phase develops. It is a phase fraught with serious implications not only for Poland; if foreign activities succeed iu the aims now under discussion they will virtually bring the Nazi sphere of influence right to Russia’s front door; another important political neighbour of Poland is Czechoslovakia, in the south, of whose future relations with Germany there is much conflict of prophecy. For Russia, Poland’s ex-enemy, over whom she gained a masterly victory by a strategic counter-stroke in 1920, when all seemed lost, the new developments may mean a very great deal. Looking further ahead, it has to be borne in mind that the independence of the Republic of Poland is guaranteed by the assentors to the Covenant of the League of Nations and the signatories of the Treaty of Peace. If it should happen that Poland comes under Gennan domination through pro-Nazi elements, as is greatly to be feared, there would arise an international situation claiming immediate attention throughout all Europe. The fate of Poland may be in the balance within the next few months.