Evening star., 1945-10-07
Russian Attitude Blocks
Agreements at London
Declaration and Other Concessions Increases
Gulf Between Reds and Other Powers
BY Constantine Brown

ana cooperative attitude IN keeping
| with the principles of the world peace
| organization, Commissar Molotov came
| forward with the claims which none Of
the other delegates expected.
In essence, the Russian foreign COM
missar, whose hands were tied by strict
| instructions from Premier Stain, de-
manded that Russia be given privi-
legged position in the world. Mr. Molotov
| demanded that all Russias actions in
the Danubian states where she organ
lied her own puppet governments, be
ratified by the other powers; that new
bases be given her in the Mediterranean
and Africa; that her puppet Marshal
Tito, the self-imposed head of Yugo-
slavia, be given everything he asked
from Italy, and, finally, he demanded a
complete revision of the Potsdam agree
ments regarding Japan and the creation
OF flve-power commission which would
| control and dictate to Gen. Macarthur,
who had been accepted at Potsdam as
the supreme authority for the Allies.
| But what was far more important than
| these tangible Russian demands was the
| in regard to Russian British relations.
The British government of Winston
Churchill began to fear Russia soon
after the Teheran Conference when
Stain rejected the British plan for an
invasion of Europe through the Balkans,
known as the "underbelly operation"
Roosevelt Backed Stain.
President Roosevelt and his military
advisers sided with the Russian leader
because he believed that an invasion
| from the west would end the war in
| Europe quicker. Mr.. Churchill probably
| shared this belief, but he was interested
in creating buffer zone between the
Russians and the peoples in the Balkans.
He was afraid that if the Russians got
as far as the Adriatic and occupied the
entire Danubian Valley from the Black
Sea to Vienna, Britain's postwar situa-
tion would become difficult.
The Labor government which succeed
ed his government, while not sharing
any OF the views of the conservatives in
the domestic field is as interested as its
| predecessor in maintaining the empire
intact. Secretary Bevin is reported to
have made this plain to Commissar Mol
otov in one of the heated arguments
during the London Conference Mr..
Bevin is said to have told Mr. Molotov
that the British labor classes are more
interested than the capitalists in Brit
aims ties with the empire.
The capitalists, according to Mr.,
Bevin, can always find an outlet for their
capital in other points of the globe-but
without imperial markets, which in turn
call for the maintenance of the empire.
the British laboring man will be reduced
to poverty, regardless of what social re-
forms might be introduced in Britain.
Bevin Speaks Plainly.
| To survive, Great Britain must rely
on raw materials from abroad and on
markets where it can sell the finished
| product, Mr.. Bevin is said to have told
Mr.. Molotov. And he pointed out that
Russia already has established exclusive
trade monopolies in most of the Dam
ubian countries, in Poland and in the
section of Germany which is under
| russian QOmlndtlOn.
| Thus, more than half of the market
IN Europe with populations capable of
absorbing British products will be lost
to Britain's trade if Russia persists in
coercing those nations which have been
blessed with puppet governments
established by Moscow with the support
Of the Red army.
The attitude of the Russian Foreign
Commissar in London is said to have led
the British Foreign Secretary to believe
that the U. S. S. R. wishes 10 take ad-
vantage of the liberalism" which has
characterized the Washington and Lon
don governments in handing over to
Russia every territory she has asked for
to build up an instrument which would
eventually stif1e Great Britain.
Secretary Bevin, who has the same
claim to being proletarian as Mr.. Mol
otov, has neither minced his words nor
concealed his thoughts in the closed
conversations. He is said to have empha-
sized to all the delegates present at the
London meeting that the United Nations
Organization is just another pact which
can live only if those who have pledged
themselves to support it live UP to the
letter as well as the spirit of that peace
instrument
Only One United States Hope,
The spokesman for the United States
went to London with only one hope and
desire-to reach the compromise which
would save the United Nations Organ
ization, the white hope of the American
people who have been led to believe that
it offered the only "cure all" for future
world crises.
The Secretary of State tried desper-
ately to reconcile the conflicting inter.
ests which emerged during the discus
slons OF matters dealing with the blue
printing of Europe's future map. He
was fully aware of the existence of these
differences but hoped that they could be
sufhciently delayed and would not come
to fore before the UNO became living
organization.
In his desperate effort to salvage the
conference and give the American peo-
pie another lease on optimism regarding
the future of the world, Mr.. Byrnes went
further than he had anticipated and
agreed to permit Russia to obtain toe
hold In Japan. He was willing to accept
Russia's demand for an Allied commits
sion to supervise the disarmament and
reorganization of that country, although
the Potsdam Conference had agreed diff
ferently.