. 4 THE ADVOCATE Page Five es October 20, 1939 FORUM OF THE PEOPILE Asks What Motive Lies Behind Anti-Soviet Articles In Dailies To the Editor: editorial, the Vancouver Sun stated “Mr. Churchill followed the lead of Mr. Lloyd George in an evident intention not to agsravate the situation with Russia.” In his broadcast two weeks ago Churchill receded very considerably from the stand he took in his cable to Colliers, though he did not go so far as Lloyd George, who has stated that Russia's action in occupy-— ing eastern Poland was justi- fied and that public opinion in in agreement with that view. We are at war with Ger- many, not Russia. Therefore of what possible advantage would it dave been to us had the Russians, who did not in- tervene until the defeat of the Polish army was plainly inevi- table, allowed the Nazis to oc- cupy the whole of Poland? Is it not better that eastern Poland should be occupied by a neutral rather than by an enemy state? 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Historic Background Of Baltic States To the Editor: Conclusion of pacts of mutual assistance and friendship between the USSR and Estonia, Latvia and Lithu- ania led to one natural and inevitable consequence; the depart- ure of thousands of Germans from these countvies. The bourgeois press laments that for 700 years these families have been living there and now they must go. What does history say about the presence of these Germans in those alien lands during all these years? Some 700 years ago a horde of Teutonic knights, the scum and some of the greatest blackguards of feudal aristocracy of central Europe, with a large retinue of mercenaries, fought their way, killing, raping, plundering, into these peaceful countries of the Letts and Estonians. They disguised their theft and Plunder by calling themselves a religious order, proclaiming to the world that they were bringing the blessings of their order to these barbarians. Hluge estates were set up and the peasants enslaved. The life of serfs in those days needs no de- scription. Hardship was agsravat- ed a hundred times by the fact that lords and masters were of an alien race and despised and hated the natives. Mercenaries who had accompanied the knights became the leading traders, handicrafts- men and merchants, retaining their privileges through the cen-— turies till the present time. Phese invading Germans could never set up their own states as their numbers were too small, they could merely hold down the native population by force. As these small countries came under the domin-— ation of other countries, the Ger- man lords always allied them- selves with the different govern- ments against the native popula- tion. Thus were they able to main- tain their privileges and ruthless exploitation, REVOLUTION OF 1905. forming a close union with their Russian brothers, the workers and peasants in the Bai- tic provinces revolted. Factories stood still, shipping was paralyzed and some of the big estates taken. over, throwing landlords and capi- talists into panic. Some fled to Germany. When 1905 brought no final lib- eration to the Russian workers and peasants, it brought none to the oppressed people of MTLatvia, Estonia and Lithuania. German landlords and bourgeoisie return- ed and with the help of cossacks, police and gendarmes began a2 reign of terror. Then came the 1914-18 war. The Germans in the Baltic first sup- ported the Russian government, then finding how rotten and weal it was, deserted it and welcomed the advancing German troops. They opposed and sabotaged the Russian revolution. Following a period of intrigue with England, France and Ger- many independent states were set up in these {provinces, but the native population, misled by oppor- tunists, was unable to protect its interests. “The British fleet was stationed in their harbors, British sailors patrolled all the important sea towns, and British and Prench eapital invaded and successfully exploited the countries. Despite the fact that these small eountries were now officially in- dependent, children taught their own native language in schools, streets and towns renamed, life for the peasants and workers be- came no better. Separated from Russia, they had no outlet for | their industry, factories were idle, | hharbors empty of shipping, peas- ants had insufficient land and very primitive implements. Having exploited most of the na- tural resources, foreign capital withdrew. Many Germans left the countries. Those who stayed main- tained their domination, hated the native people more because they had obtained certain rights and established a certain amount of trade competition with the Ger- mans in municipalities, NAZI ACTIVITIES. With the advent of Hitler, the German minorities began to have ideas of undisturbed exploitation and domination as=of old with modern improvements. Nazi or- Banizations were set up which forced the governments to align themselves with Hiitlerism. Demo- cratic rights were suppressed, par- liaments disappeared and pro- eressive parties were outlawed. This orientation was greatly as- sisted by the policy of appease- ment carried out by Chamberlain and Daladier, if these countries were not to fall easy victims to aggression there was no other way but for Britain, France and the USSR to guarantee their independence and neutrality as proposed ‘and de- manded by the Soviet Union. As we now know, Britain and France refused to do so with the result that we are now at war, with the Soviet Union not on our side. These Baltic countries are ideal jumping off places for an attack against the USSR. Rather, they were. They are no longer, thanks to Stalin’s clearsighted policy. The expression of how the peo- ple of Lithuania, Estonia and Lat- via feel about their government’s change of policy was given by the Estonian minister of foreign af- fairs on his return from Moscovy. He thanked Stalin and the people of the USSR for the pact of friend- ship and mutual assistance. These Baltic people are now safe and a splendid future opens eut for them. Their star will rise, clear and bright for the first time in history, and united with the splendid radiant star of the USSR will show to mankind that free- dom, liberty, justice and a happy prosperous life are not idle words and dreams but realities, waiting only to be grasped by man. The Letts, Estonians and Lithu- anians will shed no tears at the departure of the German minori- ties to their own country. Only Hitler and his followers will la- Ment because his Fifth Column is coming home with empty hands. GEORGE EDGAR. Fort Fraser, BC. Letters Received Because of space limitations several letters received this week are being held fer future pub- lication. Receipt of the follow- ing letters is acknowledged: Old Veteran, Vancouver, BC.; North- ermer, Fort Fraser, BC.; Alex S. Clark, publicity director, Domin- ion Society of Disabled Adults, Vancouver, BC; Mrs. S. Hough- ton, Vancouver, BC. SHORT JABS by OF Bill 174 Tons Some of those who read the story sent out Of Gold by the London Times about the transfer " of 1714 tons of gold from Moscow to Berlin have questioned me as to what it means. “Is Soviet Russia doing this to help the Nazis?” they ask. With the barrage of distortion let loose by the capitalist press regarding every action of the Soviet Union, it is not surprising that many friends of the Soviet Union are led astray. To understand the significance of all these maneuvers, even if the capitalist press did not mislead, requires a fairly good working knowledge of economics and an up-to-the- minute grasp of world politics. The reaction of one worker IT met was shown in the remark he made when he read the story. Right off he exclaimed, “i don’t believe it!” This is a wrong attitude to adopt towards such a question and is the result of a lack of understanding of all the facts. When Britain, France and Poland turned down the proposals of the Soviet Union for a military alliance which would have stopped Hitler from invading Poland and prevented outbreak of war, the Soviet statesmen were compelled to turn all their attention to defense of their own borders and their own people. Tf in this task of defense they make an agreement with one of their worst enemies, an agreement which ensures the immunity of their borders, the peaceful lives of their citizens and at the same time is in the interest of the working class of the whole world, it is per- fectly good politics. This is precisely what the Soviet statesmen have Pacts. done. First, they made a non-ageression pact with Germany, which was published in full for the world to digest. At the same time a trade agreement was entered into between them. After the Red army had extended the boundaries of the Soviet Union to embrace eleven million of their own people and three million Jews who had been living for twenty years under the police and military terror of Polish colonels and landlords; after the Red army had erected an invulnerable Hast Wall against Hitler’s progress to the Black Sea, sturdier than the West Wall the Germans have built against the French, then the Soviet statesmen made another agreement wtih Hitler, pushed it, as it were, down von Ribbentrop’s anti-Bolshevik throat. This has not been made public but events are making its contents plain. The non-aggeression pact and the trading agreement that went with it, had to be endorsed by the Soviet Congress, their parlia- mentary assembly, for such is the proletarian dictatorship. In asking the Congress to give the government power to consummate this treaty, President Molotov stated, “The agreement is advantageous to us because of its credit conditions (Seven years credit), and it enables us to order a considerable quantity of such equipment as we need -_. - we had no economic agreement equally advantageous with Great Britain, France, or any other country.” These are Molotovs own words. At the same time Germany must pay cash for everything pur- chased from the Soviet Union. (Thait’s something like the bargain unorganized workers make with the boss.) So the transfer of 17% tons of gold from Moscow te Berlin has no connection whatever with the Soviet-German trade. Why, then, was the gold transferred ? As mentioned in this column last week, Hitler in his speech of Oct. 6 gave the clue. Among the lies and falsifications of that tirade, he stated the following truth: ‘“‘The east and south of Hurope is, to a large ex tent, filled with splinters of the German nationality ... Germany and the Union of Soviet Republics have come to an agreement to support each other in this matter.” Since they were unable to secure the cooperation of Britain and France to prevent the growth of Fifth Column movements in the Baltic states, the Soviet statesmen are going ahead on their own, to make impossible any such developments. They COMPELLED Hitler to gather up his “splinters” in these countries (to be followed later by the “splinters” in the Danubian basin). These Germans are mostly Wazis and around them were to grow the Fifth Columns. But the people of these Baltic countries are poor. They have been kept poor by imperialist exploitation. (American capitalist-imperial- ists are now bemoaning the loss of over $200,000,000 worth of invest ments in Poland.) The Baltic peoples are not rich enough to pay com- pensation to the German barons and factory owners. The Dettish people could not dig up the $600,000,000 demanded by the Germans who are being “repatriated,” even if they got 20 years to make it, at least not under the conditions existing prior to the signing of the Soviet-Lettish treaty. But the workers of the Soviet Union have lots of gold, tons upon tons of it. Their gold production is second only to that of South Africa. It is three times as great as that of Canada. They have had no occasion to export any of it for years, and they need only a small part of it at home. What is more natural, then, than that they should lend it to the Letts, the Esthonians and the Lithuanians to buy out the holdings of the Nazi advance agents? And this is just the reason why 1734 tons of Soviet gold was transferred to Berlin last week This is only a beginning, more will follow. German Splinters. What will be the result? The economic life of z Happy Days the people of these countries will be in their own Ahead. hands. They are already taking over the fac- tories vacated by the Germans. They will also share the prosperity of the Soviet workers. Already textile mills in Eisthonia which have been closed down are operating full blast with raw cotton from Turkestan, with a market assured to them in the Soviet Union. The shipyards of Tallinn (Reval) too, have started work on orders for the Soviet government. It will be the same in Latvia and Lithuania. Politically, too, they will be drawn closer to the Soviet people. The fascist elements among them, without the support of the deported Wazis will find that fascism has gone out of fashion. Already the semi-fascist Esthonian government has resigned to make way for “a wider and more liberal government.” Tatvian Foreign Minister Karel Selter, in a speech welcoming the treaty with the Soviets, said: “The Soviet army, air fleet and nayy are mighty forces, and they are our ally.” And Lithuania is still celebrating the return of her ancient capital, Vilna, brought back by the Red army, and the prospect of getting rid forever of the fascist menace, Polish as well as German. “But,” you may ask, “won’t Hitler benefit from this gold?” Well, let him! Tt will not be at the expense of the Soviets, but at the expense of the “repatriated” German Wazis from the Baltic states and the others who will follow them from Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and Wugoslavia. Tom Mecinnes and the Dies Committee can holler truthfully about Moscow goid this time, but the only way Hitler can derive any bene— fit from it is te spend it on flour and butter and eggs and sausages for the German people. Otherwise it will cnoke him! Press Den’t let us forget it was to Berlin that 171% tons = of gold went. None of it came to Vancouver. Drive. So the press drive must go on. If we don’t hurry and get that $100, Bud Munro will get ahead of us and we may also lose that five-spot that is promised as soon as we get to the century. Donations have been coming in from far-away places like Dawson and Mayo in the Yukon; from Quatsino came a five-dollar bill one day; from Van Anda subs have been rolled in by a good supporter there. I was very pleased to get a dollar from a young lad whose dad was in the movement with me about 30 years ago. Even two-bit pieces are being sent along and they ail count Wet us keep it up for another couple of weeks and help the drive to make that $4900.