Evening star., 1939-11-01

ated by war.
II B therefore not only sense
les, but criminal. to wage such Z
war : - camoudaged q . Tight
for .democrAcy." -
h,it not clear that the aim Of
the present war III Europe Is not
what 1t Is proclaimed 10 be In
ofncial statements intended Tor
the broad public In France and
Ensland7 That 1t b not = Tight
for democracy, but something else
Of which these gentlemen do not
speak openly7
The real cause Of the Anglo
French war with Germany was
not that Britain and France had
vowed to restore old Poland and
not, OF course, that they decided
to undertake the fight for democ.
racy
Fear ef Colonial Aims
by Germany Prompt War.
The ruling circles Of Britain
and France have, Of course,
other and more actual motives.
- These motives do not lie In
any tdeology, but IN their pro-
found material interests a.
mighty colonial powers. - It
Is fear Of Germany's claim to
these colonial possessions that 10
at the bottom Of the present war.
: It is the fear of losing
world supremacy that dictates to
the ruling circles Of Great Brit
ain and France . policy Of
fomenting war with Germany.
Thus the imperialistic char
acter Of this war Is obvious to
any one who wants to face real
tiles and does not close his eyes
to facts.
The non-aggression pact con-
cluded between the Soviet Union
and Germany bound US to main
tain neutrality. We con-
sistently pursued this course.
which was in no wise contra
dicted by the entry Of our troops
into the territory Of former
Poland. 80
1t Is known that our troops en-
tered the territory OF Poland only
after the Polish state had coll
lapsed and actually ceased to
exist. Naturally We could not re.
main neutral toward these facts,
since as q result OF these events
we were confronted with urgent
problems concerning the security
Of our state.
Brothers In White Russia
Abandoned to Their Fate.
Furthermore, the Soviet gov
ernment could not but reckon
with the exceptional situation Gre
ated for our brothers In Western
Ukraine and Western Byelo-
russia (White RUSSIA who had
been abandoned to their fate as .
result Of the collapse Of Poland.
80
Relations between Germany
and other Western bourgeois
states have In the past two dec
AIDES been determined primarily
by Germany's efforts to break the
letters Of the Versailles treaty,
whose authors were Great Brit
ain and Frannce, with active par.
ttcipation Of the United States.
This was which In the long run
led to the present war In Eu-
rope.
! We have always held that .
strong Germany Is IN indispen-
sable condition for durable peace
In Europe. 'ss
Total Casualties Of the Red
Army Tin Poland were: 737
killed, 1852 wounded. 80
Our relations with Finland are
Of . special character. This Is
to be explained chiefly by the
fact that in Finland there Is q
greater amount Of outside In
duence on the part Of third
powers. - The same prob
lens concerning the security Of
the Soviet Union, and particularly
Of Leninsrad, which figured In
the negotiations with Estonia also
figured In the negotiations with
Finland.
In . certain sense 1t may be
said that in this case the prob
lem Of the Soviet Unions secur-
ity Is even more acute, inasmuch
as Leningrad, which, after Mos
COW, is the most important city
Of the Soviet State and is stu.
ated at . distance Of only 80
kilometers (about 20 miles, from
the Finnish border.
Within Reach Of
Long Range Guns.
This means that the distance
Of Leningrad from the border Of
. foreign state Is less than that
required for modern long-range
guns to shell It.
On the other hand. approaches
to Leningrad from the sea also
depend to = large extent on
whether Finland. which owns the
entire northern shore Of the Gull
Of Finland and all the islands
along the central part Of the
Cult Of Finland, Is hostile or
friendly toward the Soviet Union. :
In view Of this, as we'll - in
view Of the present situation In
Europe. It may be expected that