BRITAIN AND RUSSIA

Southland Times, Issue 19125, 18 December 1923, Page 5

BRITAIN AND RUSSIA

TRADE RELATIONSHIP THE INFLUENCE OF LABOUR SOVIET AGENTS ACTIVE. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.). LONDON, December 16. The Daily Telegraph’s political correspondent states that the Soviet Trade Delegation in England is actively preparing for the moment, which it considers imminent, when Labour Government will put Russia on an equal footing with civilised countries. Numerous meetings, at which prominent English Socialists have been present, iiave been held with the object of creating an Anglo-Russian Entente. The correspondent adds that important meetings are taking place at the Foreign Office in Moscow in connection with the possibility of a Labour Government in Britain, the formation of which the Bolshe viks would welcome with delight. While the Third International Committee believes that even a short-lived British Labour Government would immediately recognise the Soviet, better-advised diplomats point out that no British Government would concede recognition without demanding substantial trading advantages in return. The Soviet regime has now been weakened by the protracted financial crisis, of which there is not yet no end in sight and would fie at a disadvantage for such bargaining.