Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-31
FEAR OF RUSSIAN PERIL"
DISAPPEARING In EUROPE
Nations Optimistic as Menace of Bolshe'
vism at Home Fades and Non-Agressive
Status of Red Army Is Seen.

! b1 fhANh IL. SlMONDS.
all the circumstances which
make for optimistic expectations
In the new year there is none
! i more impressive than the Rus
sian. Moreover, what Is odd about
the change with respect of Russia is
! that there has been no real trans
formation brought about by diplomatic
or other agreement or even conference.
The Franco-German bitterness, which
a year ago, despite the London agree
ment on the Dawes plan, dominated
all European calculations. was not bet
tered in any obvious fashion until the
Locarno conference and the signing
Of documents which gave France q
British guarantee against any German
attack, while giving Germany similar
assurance.
With respect Of Russia. however,
not only has nothing happened to give
ipromise of adjustment. but on the
surface there has been much Of the
familiar evil activity OF the Soviet
leaders. Locarno itself was bitterly
combatted by Tchitcherin IN Berlin
and in Warsaw. All the Russian In
fiuence, based upon the famous or no.
torfous Rapallo treaty with Germany,
which resulted in the virtual collapse
Of the Genoa conference, was exerted
to persuade the Germans to reject the
!
phatically to prevent German entrance
into the League Of Nations.
| Still more recently the Turco-Rus-
sian agreement has been brought out
with the obvious purpose of indicating
that Russia, although isolated in Eu-
rope. has still Asiatic opportunities.
Yet perhaps for the first time since
1917 Europe has heard of major Rus
sian operation with utmost calm. De-
oil nj l.
Guilty attending the whole Mosul ques-
ton, and in the larger sense all the
questions which center between the
Mediterranean and Persia. neither
London nor Paris showed any outward
sign Of disquiet.
Polish People Calm.
Moreover, when I was in Warsaw
last Spring I was struck with the
total absence OF Polish apprehension
such as has been felt in more western
countries, that the Bolsheyists might
almost without warning resume their
attack upon Poland, which brought
them to the outskirts Of Warsaw five
years ago. And I discover the same
calm shown by Ruma mans with whom
have talked even more recently. All
IN all, the fact IS plain that Europe.
the neighborS Of Russia particularly,
is no longer lying awake nights wor-
rying over the great Slav neighbor.
What has brought about the change,
for change there certainly has been.
in q relatively limited period of time?
Two circumstances. the one disclosed
in the domestic conditions OF the Eu-
ropean nations, the other in the con
ditions within Soviet Russia itself.
Peril Of Bolshevism Passes.
Looking first at the conditions
within the European countries It is
clear that there has already been suf-
ficient recovery everywhere to make
the peril incident to Bolshevism prac-
tically insignificant. There was a
moment, not yet seven Years ago.
when the war had hardly come to
an end, when disorganization had
spread from Hamburg to CONSTANT
nople and from Moscow to Madrid,
when the whole social system of
Europe was, or at least seemed TO
be, gravely in peril.
! No one who was in Paris during
the peace conference Will forget the
tremendous sensation caused there
and all over Western Europe when
Bella Kun gained the upper hand in
Budapest. Perhaps this was the crit
cal moment for all OF the west Of
Europe, so far as bolshevism was
concerned, but there We're other mo-
ments hardly less evil, such. for ex-
ample, as when, IN 1920, the Bolshe
visit armies approached Warsaw it
self and It seemed as If the whole
still fragmentary reconstruction In
the middle and east Of Europe was
doomed to go down and the red wave
spread as far as the Rhine and the
Alps.
AS late at 1928, when the Ruhr con
fict WIS in full blast. there seemed
again q very real peril, which was
probably largely exaggerated, that
Germany in despair might adopt the
gospel of Lenin. as Italy had appear
ed to do in the period before Musso-
lini and the Black Shirts appeared.
Indeed. the Russian issue proved to
be the cause Of the downfall of the
Labor government in Britain as late as
the closing months Of 1924.
Reject Moscow Leadership.
Nevertheless. by the close of last
year Europe. speaking generally, was
beginning to be perfectly aware that
while the conservative elements might
still find useful propaganda material
in Red activities. the real menace was
long passed, for the simple reason that
the Labor party in Britain and the
Socialist parties in Germany hnd
France had definitely rejected the light
: and leading Of Moscow.
. Italy had, of course, definitely en-
, tered the pathway of Facist reaction
| but In Britain, France and Germany
, the parties which represented the
. working class, the masses, had so pa
: tiently turned their backs upon Sovte,
: ideas that there were appearing
noisy, but not politically, consider
able groups Of Communists, who haC
broken with their own associates and
despairing Of influencing the majori
ties in their organizations, had openly
, abandoned them. Today the House o.
, Commons, the French Chamber an6
!, the German Reichstag have small
groups Of extremists, but they have
been. practically speaking. expelled
from the political organizations which
represent the mass of the workers.
In reality the workers, whatever
their original notion as to the Soviet
J. experiment, have by now been con
I verified from it by the practical re
Y suits. The utter breakdown OF the
| whole economic life Of Russia the
r vast misery, the terrible famine II
3 a country which produces food II
q vast quantities. the great social, politi
! cal and moral break-up-in word
a the visible, unmistakable, undeniable
, outward consequences Of bolshev1sm-
, have destroyed the cause in the eyes
Of those who alone might concetvably
have adopted 1t.
Despair Is Driven Away.
PART passu, to use the phrase having
present currency, the condition in al
countries outside of Russia has not
= only improved vastly, but In such
8 fashion as to stand in striking con
r trast with the Russian condition It.
i self. Despair. which was the founda.
: ton of the whole danger, has gone