Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-01-08
Russia and Border Chances

This is hardly the time for long
range invective or Incorporate argu-
ment over the future of Poland and
other states in Eastern Europe. 1t is
unfortunate and mystifying, to say
the least, that Pravda, the official
newspaper of the Communist party
in Russia, has seen fit to aggravate
the issue by passing hostile COM
ment on Wendell WILKES article in
last Sundays New York Times. The
article spoke in the most friendly
terms of the Soviet Union, but be-
cause it referred speculatively to the
Polish and kindred questions,
Pravda-presumably with the fore
knowledge of the Stain govern
ment-went out of its way to attack
Mr.. Wilkes motives and to tell him
to mind his own business.
The net effect of this Russian COM
ment has been to create the impress
sion in the United States that the
Soviet Union, despite having sub
scribed to the Atlantic Charter and
the more recent Moscow Declaration,
does not intend to cooperate with
the United Nations in establishing
the peace structure of Eastern Eu-
rope but proposes instead to take
unilateral action in respect to the
status of countries like the Baltic
States and Poland. Coming at this
particular juncture of the war,
when the Red Army seems to be
driving the Nazis to the edge of ca
taStrophe, such an impression Is
obviously discouraging, for even
though it is not likely to cause any
change in the tide of battle and even
though it may be based on exag-
gerated assumptions. it does not
serve to promote the kind of mutual
trust and confidence that will be
needed by the Allies if the reorder-
ing of the world is to get off to
sound start when the shooting stops.
From the American viewpoint,
therefore, the wise course at this
point would seem to be to avoid any
emotional approach to the problem
and to be wary of assuming too much
on the basis of what Pravda or SINH
lar Russian organs may say. Eastern
European questions, after all, are not
simple things. They are complex
in the extreme The controversy
over the Russo-Polish border, for
example, has roots that are centuries
old and is full of historical, ethno-
graphical and strategical factors too
intricate to permit of any off-the-
cuff judgments by any one in this
country. 1t is straining the mean
ing of the Atlantic Chatter, more
over, and of the Moscow Declaration
as well, to suggest that any moves
toward boundary ~revisions on the
part of the Soviet Union violate the
principles embodied in those two
documents. Assuming fair give
and-take by all parties concerned,
the fact is that neither the charter
nor the declaration closes the door
to change but rather invites change.
The record shows the Soviet Union
a subscriber to the Atlantic Charter
and the Moscow Declaration. 1t
shows, too, that in July, 1941 the
Kremlin recognized that the 1899
Polish territorial changes had "lost
their validity" Further, Premier
Marshal Stain is himself on record
as favoring strong and independ-
emit" Poland. In the circumstances,
there is at least some reason to be-
lieve that RusSia-although it has
the power to do so-will not play a
high lone-wolf game in
Eastern Europe. Pravda, it is true, has
raised a degree of doubt in this con-
nection, but it would be premature
to assume that Pravda has spoken
the last Russian word on the sub
ject. In any event, we must hope so,
because there is at least hope now
for a system of collective security
revolving around China, Britain,
Russia and the United States. Moth
ing would initiate more against
that system than imperialistic or