The Sun MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1920. THE CAMPAIGN IN POLAND.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2047, 6 September 1920, Page 6

The Sun MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1920. THE CAMPAIGN IN POLAND.

I It is greatly to the credit of the | Poles that Warsaw was maintained I inviolate. At one time it looked as though it was impossible to save the capital. But, with the assistance of expert French counsel, the city was saved, and, generally, the wheel of fortune has turned against the invaders. Owing to the source and incoherence of most of the cable messages, it is difficult to set out the actual results of the Poles' reaction. We hear stories of Bolshevik armies captured or annihilated, but such extravagances are not seriously entertained by the observant these days. What can be affirmed with some assurance is that there is evidence that the Bolsheviks have been badly mauled. Once the momentum of their drive on Warsaw was lost, the invaders' hopes began to darken. Coincidently, the hopes of Poland brightened, and have continued to improve. So much so, that Warsaw reports the decision of the Soviet Government to recommence peace negotiations at Riga. It is stated that the Bolsheviks are anxious for an immediate armistice, and are prepared to modify their original terms. If this be true, the boot is on the olher foot. We presume that it all depends on the extent of the Polish victories as to the attitude the Polish envoys will assume when the parties meet. It is more than likely that Poland, in the flush of success that has latterly attended her arms, will try and drive a hard bargain. If that fire-eater, Pilsudski, has any say in the proceedings, he is ' almost certain to be uncompromising. It was this soldier who led the ambitious but ill-fated attack on Kieff, and it was the same gentleman who, speaking as the Polish generalissimo, declared that-he would fight the Bolsheviks to the bitter end. Poland, he said, must either march forward until she had crushed the Bolsheviks or conclude an illusory peace. There speaks the spoiled child of France, and of the League of Nations. Poland may have been one time in danger from the aggression of the Soviet, but we fancy that Lenin and Trotzky, and particularly Trotzky, are realising that a Government cannot live and prosper by war alone. There are indications that the Soviet is desirous of re-establish-ing trade connection between Russia and the Western Powers as soon as possible, and a shrewd man like Lenin knows that there can be no such relationship with Britain, say, while Bolshevism is militarily provocative. Poland brought the present trouble on herself, and, if she cares to be reasonable now that, apparently, she has escaped the worst consequences of her folly, she will probably be able to conclude a satisfactory peace with Russia. Paderewski, not Pilsudski, is understood to have the last word on any Polish policy, and if the ex-virtuoso is wise and strong enough, he will see that his hot-headed general does not go chasing any more will-o'-the-j wisps. In any case, it is essential to (be peace of Europe thai [he

present campaign should not be allowed to develop Into another attempt to overthrow the system of Sovietism. If that form of government suits the Russian masses—and seemingly it does—neither P<f and nor anyone else has the least right to interfere.