Evening star., 1944-12-19

blllllS W uPoCG
this situation was only theory held
by some members of the exiled gov
ernment."
The government" with which
Russia has been doing business is
the Polish Committee of National
Liberation, composed of some Poles
who retreated with the Russians at
the time of the German invasion
and other Poles who participated in
the Polish resistance movement
within Poland The committee has
its headquarters in Lublin. Efforts.
both in London and Moscow, to
blend the two governments" into
one having failed, the U. S. S. R. ap-
parently already is giving recogni-
ton to the authority of the Com
mittee of Liberation.
Evidence that this is the case is
contained in the current issue Of
Soviet Russia Today, monthly
magazine published in New York.
Answering a question from Lithu-
snian reader, the magazine tells
what is going to be done or is being
done about Lithuanians living in
Poland
Agree to Resettlement.
The Polish Committee of National
Liberation says the magazine, and
the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Re-
public, now part of the U. S. S. r.,
have agreed to mutual resettlement
of their Polish and Lithuanian mi
norities. This reSettlement, by the
agreement, is not made compulsory
either for the Poles or the Lithu-
anians. But Polish and Lithuanian
peasants who wish to return to their
respective countries are being grant
ed homesteadS equal to their present
land holding They retain their
right to take with them all personal
belongings. even livestock and poul-
try. If any family prefers to leave
some of its possessions behind, re-
fund in money or kind is to be made
by the government at the new place
of settlement Both states also
guarantee employment to their re-
settled people in their own trades
or professions and complete equality
in every respect.
The landless Polish peasants
who formerly resided in Lithuania
will be allotted land in the new
Poland" says the magazine, in ac-
cordance with the recently enacted
agrarian reform of the Polish Com
mittee of National Liberation The
two states will. at the end of the re-
adjustment, settle all accounts in
volved in financing and resettlement,
compensation for property left be-
hind, transportation, etc
Those in either country wishing
to resettle were directed to register
between October Is and December
of this year, with the actual reset
tlement to be carried out between
now and April.
The agreement further provides
for monetary loans up to 5000 Rus
sian rubles, or 5000 Polish zloty, to
be used in setting up new house,
holds and meeting other immediate
expenses, the loans to be repaid
over a period of five years.
Cites Agreement.
This agreement, says the maga-
zine, is signed on the authority Of
the government of the Lithuanian S.
s. r. by the chairman of the Council
of the Peoples Commissars, and for
the Polish Committee of National
Liberation by the chairman.
The magazine tells further of a
three-cornered agreement of a
similar nature entered into between
the Polish Committee. the Ukrainian
S. s. r. and the Byelo-Russian S. S.
r. This provides that people Whowere
Polish citizens before September,
1889, may, if they wish, go into new
ly reconstructed Poland" Ukrain-
ians and Byelo- Russians now resid-
ing on Polish territory may return,
If they wish, to their native coun-
tries. There they will be given
their rightful allotment of land
and may either join collective farms
or engage in individual farming"
AS for the Poles returning to Poland,
the allotment of land applies not
only to those who had land, but
also to formerly landless peasants.
Part of the Committee of Liberia
tion's agrarian reform, mentioned
above, is the breaking up of large
landed estates and their distribu-
ton among the landless.
Getting back to the spot in which
Churchill found himself, it is known
in London and Washington that,