Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-07-14

the plans he had put forward seemed
to tally pretty closely with what was
known of Hitler's ideas on the sub
ject. Stain and his friends never
ceased to interpret them as the true
revelation of what the Third Reich
had at the back of its mind. In that
respect, the London conference ap-
pears to have been a decisive turning
point in the postwar history of Europe
very far removed, indeed, from the
one its promoters had in view.
1t is probably not mere coinci-
dence that within a fortnight Russia
had made its peace with the three
states of the Little Entente which are
the most energetic opponents of PAN
Germanism (their mere existence, as
a matter of fact, amounts to a chal-
aenge to "Mittel Europa.
Since that time the relations Of the
Little Entente with the huge Slavonic
power have become so close, not with
standing the clash of their social
ideals, that they are moving as single
block, whatever the international
problem confronting them. In the
last resort, French diplomacy pain
fully had to realize that it must choose
between two alternatives: Either it
would cast its lot with Bolshevik Rus
STA or it would have to part with its
associates in Central and Eastern Eu-
rope.
This great decision has now become
an accomplished fact. If France had
failed them, Soviet Russia and the
Little Entente powers might have de-
SPARED Of ever being able to resist Ger
man hegemony. and, at the expense
of the western states, they might
have endeavored to come to terms with
it, saving whatever could be saved of
their independence and autonomy.
Today they consider that they are in
a position to vindicate their national
cause, and they will subordinate every
other consideration to the major re-
quirements of full national independ-
ence On that ground. Karl Radek'S
watchword can be trusted to prove
effective.
Building New Army.
In Soviet Russia the commissar for
war, Voroshilov, can be taken as the
embodiment of the spirit of national
defense Next to Stain, he is prob
ably the most popular man in the
country. Assisted by Gen. Tucha-
chevsky, formerly lieutenant in the
Imperial Guard, he is patiently build
ing up a force which retains many of
the traditions of the old army-in the
same way the army Of the French
Revolution emerged from the royal
troops of the preceding era.
The western student Of politics
cannot but be impressed by the innate
strength of such leaders, who have
always lived on a battlefield of some
kind and have always been ready to
face death at a minutes notice-in
short, are fully trained in the art of
living dangerously. Mr. VoroShilov
has personally struck me as Lloyd
George of the sterner type.
The Red army has all the outward
appearance of professional force; it
looks like the old PruSsian Guard or
the Royal Guard in London. But are
there to be found, in the background,
the industrial plants. the roads, the
railways, the transport facilities which
really make up an army? The answer
of some men on the spot is that
heavy industry has been put on its
feet out of nothing; that, at the pres
ent time, Russia herself turns out on
her own soil SO per cent of her war
material, and that the problem Of
transport, stupendous as it may be.
may be solved in the same manner
during the forthcoming years.
Is this forecast too optimistic? I
cannot judge. However, the military
organism is already the pride of a
people which every day is told that
sooner or later it will be called upon
to defend its freedom against the
aSsailants in the west.
A society of contributors to all
forms of national defense" has been
started, under official auspices, and
numbers no less than IL or 10 million
members. 1t IS sponsoring the new
sport of parachute jumping, enlisting
thousands and thousands of young
men and women who leap from air.
planes for the fun of it. Many of
them go out from their work. at the
noon time lunch hour and spend it
taking a plunge from the sky.
Population Gigantic.
When due account is taken of the
formidable Russian manpower (the
population increases by nearly 4,000,-
900 every year,. it is difficult to avoid
the belief that in the long run a
great military state will come into its
own. How will it evolve in the distant
future? Will it be devoted to the task
of spreading Communism all over the
planet? A good deal will depend upon
internal developments which cannot
be foreseen. But, for the decade sug-
gested by Karl Radek, it will have to
keep in check the German attempt at
recovering its lost supremacy. The
| question need not be pushed further
by Frenchmen, who since the first OF
the year have felt that war Is an
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