The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING “LUCEO NON URO” TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1937. Poland’s Importance In Europe

Southland Times, Issue 23376, 7 December 1937, Page 6

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING “LUCEO NON URO” TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1937. Poland’s Importance In Europe

The visit of France’s Foreign Minister, M. Yvon Delbos, to Poland came opportunely at a time when the chancelleries of Central and Eastern Europe were disturbed with rumours rising out of Viscount Halifax’s Berlin conversations with Herr Hitler. According to yesterday’s cable message, the diplomatic talks have been cordial and successful; the Press emphasized that the FrancoPolish alliance “was never stronger or better adapted to serve the cause of European peace”, and everybody seems to have been satisfied. One or two points in the conversations, however, could be described as controversial, more especially a reiterated criticism of the Franco-Soviet Pact. The Poles have never attempted to conceal their dislike of the pact, which probably did a great deal to encourage German influence in Poland, where a Nazi Party is already strongly established. In a country without natural frontiers, foreign politics must always be dominated by traditional enmities, which means in this case that Poland remains uneasily placed between Russia and Germany. Of these two nations it is probably Russia which looms largest above the councils of the Poles, chiefly because the memory of past oppression is still deep in the minds of the people, and also because internal politics in Poland show a strong movement away from the Soviet ideology. If there is to be a totalitarian State in Poland—and cable messages printed less than a fortnight ago reported that this was a probable contingency—it will most likely be based on a Fascism of the German type. But it is by no means certain that the Fascists will have their way. In spite of much backwardness in the rural districts Poland has a surprising number of political groups which favour democratic rule. The Camp of National Unity, founded by Marshal Smigley-Rydz with the purpose of putting the Government on a national basis, has lately shown a marked tendency to co-operate with other parties, including the Nationalist group which hitherto has been in opposition to the Government. This could be termed a negotiation on the Right, although a staff correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, writing from Warsaw, stated that before the recent peasant strike the Camp had initiated discussions with the Peasant Party. This latter group, known usualty as the Populists, has been making overtures to the Socialists, whose leader has long been working for a genuine Popular Front; and it was rumoured that additional support might come from the Left-Wing Legionaries.

The mere existence of these various parties shows that politics in Poland is a matter of active interest for the people; and although it would be unwise to mistake political activity for a nascent democracy there has been a sufficient growth of public opinion to make the alliance with democratic France something a little better than a matter of military expediency. Yet the army is still the dominant power in Poland. The country’s existence depends on the adequate defence of frontiers which receive no help from nature, and while a large army remains necessary it is bound to become a political force in a nation still handicapped with much illiteracy, backward industry, and financial difficulties that survive from the post-war chaos. When trouble threatens, it is the iron discipline of military rule which descends upon the people. It is worth noting that when Ignace Paderewski, the famous pianist and first Prime Minister of Poland, sent an open letter to the Government recently, condemning its repressive measures, there was an immediate confiscation of newspapers. Under these conditions much time will be needed before “democracy” can be anything better than a facade for authoritarianism. And although the Franco-Polish alliance may be popular with the people, it is not unlikely that German influence is doing its work with the leaders. There was a strong tinge of Nazism in some of the criticisms and suggestions which seem to have been included in the Warsaw conversations. It was emphasized by the Poles that “the improvement in their relations with Czechoslovakia depended on better treatment of the Polish minority”, and mention was made of colonies and access to raw materials. Whether France’s “partial” promise of facilities for migration to Madagascar will be quite what was wanted must remain for the future to show; in the meantime it is hopeful to notice that Jews were included with peasants as possible emigrants to the island, for up to the present the Poles have been inclined to drive the Jews out of the country and leave them to shift for themselves. Anarf from this suggestion, the

message reported no tangible results from the conversations. There remains, of course, the atmosphere of good-will which seems to have gathered above the meetings of diplomats and statesmen; but this need not be taken too seriously. Poland has been rearming largely on loans from France, and the French alliance is valuable to a country which lies between the hostile camps of Europe. But a precarious strategic position can have its values as well as its dangers, and it is part of the policy of a nation situated like Poland to show a certain hesitancy in the bestowal of friendship. Her ultimate place in the European groupings must remain one of the unpredictable factors in the world situation today.