Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1915-current, 1943-09-03
(Sidney B. Fay, Professor Of
History, Howard University,
Current History, July, 1943)

Current History, July, 1943)
On March 1, 1943, the Soviet
Embassy in Washington stated: !:
eve have not and we canot have
any such war aims as the seisure
of foreign territories and the sub
jugation of foreign peoples. Our
first aim is to liberate our terri
tories and our peoples from the
German-Fascist yoke. For Stain
"Our territories and our peoples"
as is evident from his speeches and
from editorials III the official So
Wet newspaper Prawda mean all
the territories and peoples which
before June %, 1941, belonged to
Soviet Union; that is, including all
anneXations since September 1889.
In reuniting them (western bor-
derland) after Hitler started World
War II, and in claiming to keep
them, Stain, according to Soviet
theory, is not flouting the Allan
tic Charter. Its signatories "de-
sire to see no territorial changes
that do not accord with the freely
expressed wishes of the peoples
concerned :" According to the
Soviet theory, these interpretations
(of 1889 and 1940) are to be con-
sidered not annexations or con-
quests of force, but "liberations"
or realizations of "freely oppressed
wishes of peoples" and therefore
wholly compatible with the Allan
tic Charter.
There is the angle of the people
themselves in the borderlands. 1t
is said that they really do not want
to be incorporated in the Soviet
Union now or in the future peace
settlement. Stalin's annex a ton
and claims, it is declared are in
compatible with the Atlantic Char
ter, because the puppet Peoples
Assemblies" of 1939-40 which voted
for incorporation did not freely
express" the wishes of the popula-
ton. The elections and votes were
a sham engineered by the Bolshe-
visits under the pressure of the
Communist political Commissars
and the Red Armies of occupation.
Such mockeries Of the principle of
self determination, it is said, have
no more validity than Hitler's own
spacious but, terroristic plebiscites
1t is maintained that an honest ex-
preston of opinion in Estonia, Lat
via and Lithuania would show that
these little states want to be re-
stored to the independence, how
ever precarious, which they were
able to maintain for twenty years
from 1929 to 1889 =.
Britain and the United States
have never given their approval to
Stalin's annexation of the border
lands. Nor have they presumably
agreed that he should keep them
at the peace settlement after the
war. On the contrary, the Ameri.
can State Department has always
adhered firmly to the doctrine, put
forward by Secretary Stimson ir
connection with Japan's seizure OF
Manchukuo in 1881, that it will not
recognize annexation based on the
illegal use of force. This view was
frequently expressed in the United
States in disapproval of Stains
annexations in 1939-4O
When Hitler invaded Poland, he
came to an understanding with
Stain. Russia was to remain al
peace with Germany =. and tt
have a free hand in Estonia, Latvis
and the Lithuanian republic :.
Stain invited Estonia, Latvis
and Lithuania to sign trade agree
ments and mutual assistance pacts
with Soviet Russia. The Invitation
was equal to a command and hao
to be accepted. Then Stain de-
manded that he be allowed to es
tablish garrisons, aerodromes anc
naval bases within the countries
as a means of assuring them his
protection and assistance. They
were too weak and defenseless tt
refuse. When his troops had oc
cupied the agreed-upon bases, his
political commissars organized 9
pro- Russian political party OF
Working Peoples Alliance in each
republic in preparation for dem
ocratic elections >.
In the ensuing elections :. on
ly the name of the official pro.
Russian candidate appered on the
ballot. The result. was naturally
and overwhelming endorsement OF
"Working Peoples A IL ance"