Evening star., 1946-04-07


mental in helping the Spanish Loyalist
armies purchase and smuggle arms
across the Pyrenees under the name Of
Michal Rola-a name which he kept
when he returned to Poland with the
Red armies in 1914 and dropped only
in the republics army.
Finally, the Minister Of Security
probably the most important in an
undemocratic state-is Bronislaw Rad
Hewicz, Bielo Russian who does not
even speak the language Of the country
in whose cabinet he Is member. He is
on the active list of the Russian secret
police-the famed NKVD-a friend of
Marshal Beria, the former chief of that
organization, and has more power than
any other member of the Polish govern
ment. 1t is he who orders deporta-
tons and imprisorlments. There is no
authority in the republic which can
override his decisions.
The rest of the ministers are mere
puppets who must obey the orders of
these former Russian citizens. It is hard
! to conceive, regardless of how much we
would like to give Moscow the benefit
of the doubt, that country led by such
men is anything but vassal
Yugoslav Government Similar.
The situation in Yugoslavia is not
much different The strong man of that
| country, Marshal Tito, is also member
of the Comintern, of the NKVD and an
obedient servant of Moscow. All his
actions, whether they be in the domestic
or international fields are predicated on
blind obedience to his Russian masters.
He, too, agreed in keeping with the Yalta
agreements to expand his government
| by bringing into the cabinet three mem
bers of the government of King Peter
from London.
| But while Beirut had the grace to
keep his two unwanted "collaborators"
even if he relegated them into powerless
positions, Tito got rid of them soon after
he was recognized by the United States
and Great Britain. The Yugoslav mar
shal held elections, in accordance with
the Yalta declaration. But he refused
to permit outsiders to witness them,,
refused to permit the opposition fair
chance and like Hitler in his heyday,
obtained a 80 per cent majority at the
polls. He presented his people with only
two choices: Vote for Tito or go to the
concentration camp. He is the leader of
Russia's farthest outpost-the Adriatic.
A similar vassalage has been imposed
on Bulgaria. where George Dimitrov, a
Bulgarian by birth, but until recently
Russian citizen and former secretary Of
the Comintern, is the guiding spirit OF
the puppet government Romania is no
better of. The Groza government is
under complete Moscow control. The
government. which does not have sim
gle strong man." but from outside by a
Russian woman, Anna Pauker, who has
the full confidence of Assistant Foreign
Minister Andrei Vishinsky.
Had. to Call Halt.
The great powers reluctantly ac-
cepted all these arrangements to trans
form countries which before the war
had been sovereign into vassal states.
The United States in particular felt that
it had to choose between a continued
close collaboration with the U. S. S. R.
leading to the creation of the United
Nations organization or complete col
lapse of the peace machinery which our
policy trainers had planned as cure-au
for the evils of war and power politics.
They considered that Russia's price-the
subjugation of the nations from the
Bothnian Gulf to the Black Sea and the
Adriatic-was reasonable in order to
obtain lasting peace.
But when after VI day the u S. S. R.
showed that it was still hungry for land
and power and that it was ready to defy
the organization which had been created
to guarantee the security of all nations
big and small-Washington and London
had no other choice but to call halt to
the Soviet's appetite.
1t is one thing to continue to have the
friendliest possible relations with the
Russians and another thing to accept
everything they desire under the pretext
that we cannot live in the new world
without the Soviet's cooperation.
The trend which can be detected to-
day in Moscow appears to be that the
Russian government believes in friend
ship and cooperation only If the other
powers accept without murmur all Rus
sia's demands for territorial, ECONOMIC
and political expansion. Russia in
structed her representative to walk out
| of the Security Council session at New
York because the Council refused to de-
lay the presentation of the Iranian case
: until April 10. This refusal was based
on information that the Soviet Ambas-
sador at Teheran intended to coerce the
1ranian government into accepting the
Russian terms and had told him that
the Council in New York would not dare
offend Russia by placing the Iran dis
pute as the No. question on its agenda
U. S. Sticks to Guns.
For once the Moscow calculations
missed fire because the American Gov
ernment, supported by the majority OF
the Council stuck to its guns and
showed determination which our wal
associate had not encountered before.
1t is hoped that the reaction of those
who are now criticizing Mr.. Byrnes for
having gone too far" will not affect
the future policy of this Government
as 1t concerns the fate of Turkey or any
other country which might become in
volved in dispute with Russia. The