Evening star., 1942-09-26
Thut Russian Goodness

Wendell WILKES statement to the
press after his interview with Joseph
Stain further high lights the un-
satisfactory situation between Rus
! sia and its Western allies over the
issue of the second front" Mr.
Wilkes two-hour conversation with
the Red dictator in the Kremlin was
the climax Of several busy days in
the Soviet capital during which he
talked with many persons, from high
officials to manual workers. With
this international background, Mr.
Willkie told the Associated Press that
he would take back to President
Roosevelt deep and disturbing i'm
preston of Russian dissatisfaction
over the failure of the Allies to estab-
lish a second front in Europe That
is what they all want, including by
plain inference Stain himself and
unless one is created, they are going
to be terribly let down" The Asso-
ciated Press staff writer indorses the
correctness of Mr.. WILKES observa-
tions by saying that outright criti-
cism of the United States and Brit
ain" is growing rapidly into autum-
nal GOODNESS, and that if the coming
winter in Moscow is very, very cold,
"the weather will not be the only
reason for the frigidity."
However true all this may be. it
would be interesting to know in what
capacity Mr.. Willkie gave out a press
interview with such senSat tional i'm
plications. Did he speak as a private
individual or as the Presidents per-
sonal representative? This is not
known, because Mr.. WILKES exact
status on his foreign tour has never
been clearly defined But it is impor-
tant, because, if the general impress
sion gets around that he spoke
in a semiofficial capacity, this
belief, even though, unfounded, will
strengthen popular demands in
mediate opening of a second front,
and will tend to raise Russian hopes
that such an event shortly will take
place.
The most disturbing feature about
all this criticism and these demands
is that they imply shortsightedness
slackness, and even bad faith on the
part of the American and British
governments. Such suggestions are
wholly incorrect They are based
upon a misreading of the official
statement given out after the visit
of Mr.. Molotoff, Soviet Commissar
for Foreign Affairs, to London and
Washington last spring. 1t was then
announced that full understanding
was reached in regard to the urgent
tasks of creating a second front in
1922 and it was then specifically
pointed out by authoritative British
and American spokesmen that this
did not imply an unconditional COM
mitment to open such front this
year under any circumstances. This,
Mr.. Molotoff we'll knew, and he was
also given complete picture of
Anglo-American military and naval
Notwithstanding that Russia
has never reciprocated.
Yet, despite all this, the govern
ment-controlled Russian press gave
it's readers consistently to under
stand that second front was COM
ing, and coming soon. That, of
course, enormously encouraged Rus
sian popular morale and enabled it
better to undergo the summers
gruelling ordeal. Now, however,
those high hopes have been disap-
pointed, and a popular reaction has
set in. This suggests that the Soviet
government is left out on limb
with its own people-or will be, un-
less official propaganda can find an
alibi and appropriate scapegoats.
That is possible explanation of
Moscow's current GOODNESS" and
criticism of its allies. Nevertheless,
this policy of alibi has it's eventual
complications in working relations
between Russia and its Western al
lies. Certainly neither London nor
Washington should time the opening
Of second front by any other than
military considerations. They can
not afford to risk a second Dunkirk.