THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, January 7, 1944. RUSSIA AND POLAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25427, 7 January 1944, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, January 7, 1944. RUSSIA AND POLAND

The crossing of the pre-war Polish frontier by Russian troops has inevitably brought the problem of Russo-Polish relations into the forefront of diplomatic discussion. In particular, the Polish Government in exile must be seized with the extreme urgency of the need for an adjustment of relations that will , permit of the earliest possible return Of the political leaders to their native country. It has frequently been emphasised, with reference to the failure of the Polish and Russian Governments to resolve their differences, that in, diplomacy not less .than on the battlefield time is a fifactor of supreme importance. The applicability of that maxim in the case is disturbingly apbparent. Military progress, on the side, has over-run dipl'o•(matic negotiation, with the result •{hat the Poles are lamentably illprepared, in the political sense, to meet the situation that has. arisen 'out of the swift penetration of the 'Red Army into Polish territory. If r use can be made of the good offices of the United States Government in striving for a new Russo-Polish accord it may be assumed that advantage of Mr Cordell Hull’s offer to intervene will be gratefully taken by the Polish President. When, in July of last year, the political crisis due to the untimely death of General Sikorski was overcome, the new Polish Foreign Minister, M. Romer, declared his Government’s deter-

mination to follow the lines of General Sikorski’s foreign policy, which, in respect of frontier demarcation, was adamant in insisting that the pre-war eastern line must be restored. The comment made by the •Economist at the time was that Poland could not be expected, on any ground, to accept the MolotovRibbentrop frontier of 1939 as the basis of an agreement, but at the same time it deplored the failure of the Polish Government to put forward any constructive alternative to serve as the basis for discussion. " In practical terms,” said the newspaper, “it is useless—and inconsistent —on the one hand to say that ‘ We will not give up an inch of our territory in the East,’ and, on the other hand, to claim East Prussia and the whole of Silesia or a frontier on the Oder. It is not possible for Poland to have the cake of the status quo in the East and to eat it in the West.” While the statement now issued by the Government in London makes a helpful contribution to the immediate problem of securing Polish co-operation: with . Russia in the military operations that are developing on Polish territory, it maintains a complete silence concerning the question of a / new approach to frontier adjustment, without which it would seem futile to hope for a speedy and harmonious renewal of diplomatic relations between the two Governments. It may well be, of course, that publicity at this stage might prejudice the prospects for a quick settlement. , But it would seem reasonable to suppose that some reference, however oblique, would have been made to hopes for'a compromise solution of the" frontier question if such hopes were in fact, immediately entertained. And it must seem equally futile to look for the restoration of • even an emergency Government on Polish soil whild a matter so vitally affecting Poland’s future territorial status as frontier adjustment remains in dispute. It is known that Marshal Stalin has on more than ‘ one occasion declared himself in favour of the re-emergence of a “strong and, independent Poland.” But he has also indicated pointedly that hp considers the retention by the Soviet of the frontier line negotiated with Ribbentrop after Poland’s collapse in 1939 to be essential to Russia’s future security. M. Mikolajczyk, on the other hand, reiterated only a few months ago that Poland’s capacity to play a constructive role in Europe in close political, economic, and military collaboration with Britain and the United States “ must depend on a wide and open access to the sea for Poland, and the restoration to the mother country of those lands seized from Poland in the age-old German Drang nac Osten. . . . We believe,” he said, “ that the pledges of our great Allies will be kept in full. We believe that Poland will emerge from this war enlarged and built on the steady and powerful foundations of democracy, Justice, and freedom.” That, in effect, is the promise contained in the Atlantic Charter. But in respect of its realisation Russian intentions are, and may remain until after the complete defeat of Germany, an imponderable factor.