“Soviet No Longer Member” League Council Adopts Draft Resolution

Northern Advocate, 15 December 1939, Page 8

“Soviet No Longer Member” League Council Adopts Draft Resolution

Assembly Urges Aid For Finns

(Received 1.30 p.m.) ‘‘ G'ENIKVA, December 14

THE LEAGUE COUNCIL, AT A PRIVATE SESSION, FORMULATED A DRAFT RESOLUTION AS FOLLOWS:

“The Council associates itself with the Assembly’s condemnation of Russia’s action against Finland, and finds that by virtue of Article XVI, paragraph 4, 1 lie 'Soviet has placed itself outside the League. “Therefore, it follows that the Soviet is no longer a member.” The Council adopted the resolution. Four delegates, representing China, Finland, Greece and Yugoslavia, abstained from voting. China and Egypt have been elected to the Council.

Assembly Motion

The League of Nations Assembly unanimously approved a resolution condemning Russia as an aggressor, aha asking its members to aid Finland. The Scandinavian States, the Baltic States, China, Mexico, Bulgaria and Switzerland abstained from voting. The British Foreign Under-Secre-tary (Mr R. A. Butler) said .Britain was already taking steps to enable Finland to obtain war materials. The Assembly could rest assured that, despite the heavy burden the Empire and France were carrying for the major struggle for right and law, Britain would not seek to excuse herself from giving all possible assistance to Finland. Supreme Crime M. Deribes, the French delegate, said France fully supported the proposal to aid Finland by all possible means. The Portuguese delegate, M. Dematta, said Russia’s aggresison .against Finland was the supreme crime, and not only Finland was endangered. The Spanish delegate, Don Manuel Tello, objected to the procedure, but promised to abstain from voting, rather than block the expulsion of the Soviet.

The Indian representative, Sir Muhammad Khan, was loudly applauded when he declared that the Russian aggression was that

of a monster feeding on liberty, “We must fight this monster together,” he declared, “before it brings barbarism and chaos on the whole world.”

The Swiss delegate, M. William Rappard, said that Switzerland was abstaining from voting for the sole reason that she did not wish to affect her special neutrality with the League. Dr. Rudolf Holsti, the Finnish representative, expressed Finland’s profound gratitude.

The Moscow radio today claimed that the method of election of the League’s Russo-Finnish Committee was “an Anglo-French manoeuvre,” the members were carefully selected from anti-Soviet representatives of countries dependent upon British and French capital.