Wovember 10, 1939

THE advo

CATE

Page Threa

Amperialist

| Soviet Union last week:

}

1

number of years.

Polish nationalities.

bankruptcy.

' guarantees were.

Gause radical changes in the
only in Europe.

int changes in the international
situation, certain old formulas,
‘ormulas which we employed until
Die are and to which many peo-
isle are so accustomed, are now
4 inap-—
4 We must be quite clear
m this point soasto avoid making
sross errors in judging the new
solitical situation that has devel-
ped in Europe.
' We know, for example, that
in the past few months such
_concepts as “aggressor” and “ag
| Sression’ have acquired new con-
crete copnotetions, new meaning.
)it is not hard to understand that
)we can no longer employ these
/concepts in the sense we did,
i say three or four months ago.

Teday, as far as great Euro-
pean powers are concerned, Ger-
Many is in the position of a state
which is striving for the earliest
termination of the war and for
peace, while Britain and France,
| which but yesterday were de-
| Claiming against aggression, are
in favor of contimuing the war
and are opposed to the conclu-
sion of peace.

The roles, you see, are chang-
ing.

The efforts of the British and
French governments to justify this
Aew position of theirs on the
srounds of their undertakings to
Poland are of course obviously un-
sGund. Everybody wyealizes that
there can be no question of restor-
ing old Poland. it is therefore
2bsurd te continue the present war
ander the flag of restoration of
-he former Polish state. Although
he governments of Britain and
"Trance understand this, they do
aGt want the war stopped and
ve€ace restored, but are seeking
1¢w excuses for continuing the
War with Germany.

The ruling icircles of Britain
nd France have lately been at-
€mptinge to depict themselves as
thampions of democratic rights of
ations asainst Hitlerism, and the
sritish government kas announced
hat its aim in the war with Ger
Hany is nothing more or less than
lestruction of Hitlerism.

it amounts te this, that the
British, and with them, the
French supporters of the war,
have declared something in the
mature cf an ideological war on
Germany, reminiscent of the
wars of olden times. In fact,
relizious wars against heretics
and religiqus dissenters were
euce the fashion. As we know,
they led to dire results for the
masses, to economic ruin and
the cultural deterioration of na-

‘viously out of date and
» licable.

Of War Obvious,

Premier Declares

(By Inter-Continent News)

| MOSCOW, USSR.—following is the text of
-livered by Premier-Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov at
'the extraordinary fifth session of the Supreme Soviet of the

There have been important changes in the international situa-

‘tion during the past two months. This applies above all to
‘Europe, but also to countries far beyond the confines of Europe.
4 In this connection mention should be made of three principal
j/circumstances which are of decisive importance:

—Mention should be made of changes that have taken place

in relations between the Soviet Union and Germany.
Since conclusion of the Soviet-German non-agsression pact on
Aug. 23, an end has been made to the abnormal relations that
have existed between the Soviet Union and Germany for a

Instead of enmity, which was fostered in every way by
certain European powers, we now have rapprochement and
establishment of friendly relations between the USSR and
Germany. Further improvement of these new relations, good
relations, found its reflection in the German-Soviet Treaty of
Amity and Frontiers, signed in Moscow on Sept. 28.

This radical change in relations between the Soviet Union

and Germany, the two biggest states in Europe, was bound to
have its effect on the entire international situation. .Further-
more, events have entirely confirmed the estimation of po-
litical significance of the Soviet-German rapprochement given
at the last session of the Supreme Soviet.

Ae ae must be made of such a fact as the defeat of

Poland in war and the collapse of the Polish state. The
ruling circles of Poland boasted quite a lot about the stability
of their state and the might of their army. However, one swift
blow to Poland, first by the German army and then by the
Red army, and nothing was left of this ugly offspring of the
Versailles Treaty which had existed by oppressings non-

The traditional policy of unprincipled maneuvering be-
= tween Germany and the USSR, and of playing one off against
_ the other, has proved unsound and has suffered complete

| 3 must be admitted that the big war that has flared up
i in Europe has caused radical changes in the entire inter-
/national situation. This war began as a war between Germany
and Poland and turned into a war between Germany on one
hand and France and Britain on the other.
The war between Germany and Poland ended quickly ow-
ing to the utter bankruptcy of the Polish leaders. As we know,
neither the British nor the French guarantees were of help
»to Poland. To this day, in fact, nobody knows what these

The war between Germany and the Anglo-French bloc is

ouly in its first stage and has not yet been really developed.
eat is nevertheless clear that a war like this was bound to

in connection with these import-©

Character

the report de-

Foreign Policy Of USSR Outlined By Premier Molotov

land, that it is mot a fight for de-
mocracy, but something else whicn
these gentlement do not speak of
openly?

The real cause of the Anglo—
French war with Germany was
not that Britain and France had
yowed to restore old Poland, and
not, of course, that they decided
to undertake a fight for democra-
ey. The ruling circles of Britain
and France have, of course, other
and more actual motives for soing
to war with Germany. These mo-
tives do not lie in any ideology,
but in their profoundly material
interests as mighty colonial pow-
ers.

Britain, with a population of AT,-
000,000, possesses colonies with 2
“population of 480,000,000. The col-
onial empire of France, whose pop-
ulation doesn’t exceed 42,000,000,
embraces a population of 70,000,000
in French colonies. The possession
of these colonies which makes pos-
Sible the exploitation of hundreds
of millions of people is the foun-
dation of the world supremacy of
Britain and France. It is the fear
of Germanys claims to these col-
Onial possessions that is at the boi-
tom of the present war of Eng-
land and France with Germany,
which has Srown substantially
stronger of late as a result of the
collapse of the Versailles Treaty.

It is the fear of losing world
supremacy that dictates to the

ruling circles of Britain and
France the policy of fomenting

War with Germany. Thus, the
imperialist character of this war
is obvious to anyone who wants
to face realities and doesn’t clese
his eyes to facts.

One can see from all this who
is interested in this war which is
being waged for world supremacy.
Certainly not the working class.

We have consistently pursued
this course, which in no wise was
contradicted by the entry of our
troops into the territory of the
former Polish state, beginning on
Sept. 17. It will be sufficient to
recall the fact that on that same
Gay, Sept 17, the Soviet govern-
ment sent a special note to all

Situation in Hurope—and not

Premier Molotov

tions. These wars could have
moe other outcome. But they i
were wars of the middle ages.

fis it back to the middle ages, to
the days of religious wars, super-
stition and cultural deterioration,
that the ruling classes of Britain
and France want to drag us?

In any case, under an “ideologi-

cal’ flag has now been started a
war of even greater dimensions
and fraught with even greater

danger for the peoples of Europe
and the whole world. But there is
absolutely no justification for a
war of this kind.

Qne may accept or reject the
ideology of iHtierism, as well as

states with which it maintains dip-
lomatie relations, declaring that
the USSR will continue its policy
of neutrality in its relations with
them. It is known that our troops
entered the territory of Poland
only after the Polish state had
collapsed and actually ceased to
exist,

Naturally we could not remain
neutral towards these facts, since
as a result of these events, we
were confronted with urgent prob-
lems concerning the security of
Gur state. -

Furthermore, the Soviet sovern-
ment could not but reckon with
the exceptional situation created
for our brothers in Western Uk-
raine and Western Byelorussia,
who had been abandoned to their
fate as a result of the collapse of
the Polish state.

Subsequent events fully con-
firmed that the new Soviet-Ger-
man relations are based on a firm
foundation of mutual interests.
After the Red Army units entered
the territory of the former Polish
State, serious questions arose re-
lating to the delimitation of the
state interests of the USSR and
Germany. These questions were
promptly settled by mutual agree—
ment.

The German-Soviet Treaty on
Amity and Frontiers between the
USSR and Germany, concluded at
the end of September, has consoli-
dated our relations with the Ger-
man state. The relations between
Germany and other West Puro-
pean bourgeois states have in the
past been determined primarily by
Germany's efforts to break the

any other ideological system. That
is a matter of political views. But
everybody will understand that
ideolosy cannot be destroyed by
force, that it cannot be eliminated
by war. It is therefore not only
senseless but criminal to wage
such a war aS a war for the ‘de

structign of Hfitlerism,’ camou-
tlaged as a fight for “democracy.”
Indeed, you cannot give the

Mame of a fight for democracy to
such action as banning the Com-
munist party of France, arrests of
Communist deputies to the Brench
parliament, or curtailing the poli-
tical liberties of Emegland, or un-
remitting national oppression in

india, and so forth.
It is not clear that the aim of
the present war in Europe is not

fetters of the Yersailles Treaty,
whose authors were Britain and
France, with the active participa-

Permit me now to dwell on the
events directly connected with the
entry of our troops into the ter-
ritory of the former Polish state.
There is no need for me to de
scribe the course of these events.
They have been reported in detail
in our press. You comrades-depu-
ties are well acquainted with the
facts. I shall only dwell on what
is the most essential.

There is no need to prove that
at the moment when the Polisn
state was in complete collapse, our
government was obliged to extend
a helping hand to our brother Uk-
rainians and Byelorussians inhab-
iting the territory of West Uk-
Taine and Western Byelorussia.
That is what it did. When the
Red army marched into these reg—
ions it was greeted with general
sympathy by the Ukrainian and
Byelorussian population, who wel-
comed our troops as liberators
from the yoke of the gentry, from
the yoke of the Polish landlords
and capitalists.

As the Red army advanced
through these districts there were
Serious encounters in some places
between our troops and the Polish
troops, and consequently there

what it is proclaimed to be in of-
ficial statements intended for the

broad public in France and Enz |

Were casualties. These casualties
were as follows:

This war promises nothing to the
working class but bloody sacrifice
and hardships.

Well, now judge for yourselves
whether the meaning of such con-
cepts as ‘aggressor’ and ‘ageres-
Sion’ has changed recently. It is
mot difficult to see that the use of
these words in their old meaning,
that is, the meaning attached to
them before the recent decisive
turn in the political relations be-
tween the Soviet Union and Ger-
many and before the outbreak of
the great imperialist war in FHur-
ope, can only create confusion in
people’s minds and must inevit-
ably lead to erroneous conclusions.
To avoid this, we must not allow
an uncritical attitude towards old
concepts that are no longer ap-
Plicable in the new international
situation. :

Phat has been the course of in-
ternational affairs in the recent
period.

£ shall now pass to changes that
bave taken place in the interna-
tional position of the Soviet Union
itself. Here, the changes have been
ne mean ones, but if we confine
ourselves to essenfials, the follow—
ing must be admitted, namely,
Thanks tO our consistently pur-
Sued peaceful foreign policy, we
have Succeeded in considerably
strengthening our position and the
international weight of the Soviet
Union.

As IT have said, our relations with
Germany have radically improved.
Here development has proceeded
along the line of strengthening our
friendly relations, extending our
practical cooperation, and render
ing Germany political support in
her efforts for peace. The non-
ageression pact between the Soviet
Union and Germany bound us to
maintain neutrality in the case of

Germany participatins in war.

onsistent Neutrality

tion of the United States of Amer-
ica,

This was what, in the lone run,
led to the present war in Hurope.
The relations between the Soviet
Union and Germany have been
based on a different foundation,
which had no interest whatever in
perpetuating the post-war Ver-
Sailles system.

We have aiway sneld that a
strong Germany is the indispen-
sable condition for durable peace
in Hurope. It would be ridicu-
lous to think that Germany
could be “simply put out of com-
maission” and struck off the
books. The powers which cher-
ish this foolish and dangerous
dream ignore the deplorable ex—
perience of Versailles, do not
realize Germany’s increased
might, and fail te see that any
attempt at a repetition of Ver-
sailles, in the present state of
international affairs, which rad-
icaHy differs from that of 1914,
may end in disaster for them.
We have consistently striven to
improve our relations with Ger-
many and wholeheartedly welcom-
€d a Similar striving in Germany
herself. Today our relations with
the German state are based on our
friendly relations, on our readiness
to support Germany’s efforts for
peace, and at the same time on our
desire to contribute in every way
to development of Soviet-German
economic relations to the mutual
benefit of both states.

Special mention should be made
of the fact that the change that
has taken place in the Soviet-Ger-
man political relations has cre-
ated favorable conditions for the
development ‘of Soviet-German
economic relations. Recent eco-
nomic negotiations carried on by
the German delegation in Moscow,
and present negotiations carried
on by the German delegation in

Moscow, and present negotiations
Carried on by the Soviet economic
Gelegation in Germany are prepar-
ing a broad basis for the develop-

On the Byelorussian front, count-

Ment of trade between the Soviet
Union and Germany.

Polish Occupation

ing both commanders and the
rank and file of the Red army,
there were 246 killed and 503
wounded, or a total of 749. On the
Ukrainian front there were 491
commanders and rank and file
soldiers killed, 1359 wounded, or a
total of 1850. Thus, the total cas-
ualties of the Red army on the ter—
ritory of Western Byelorussia and
Western Ukraine were 737 Killed,
1862 wounded, or a total of 2599.

As for our trophies in Poland,
they consisted of over 900 g2uns,
ever 10,000 machine guns, over
300,000 rifles, over 150,000,000 rifle
eartridges over 1.000.000 artillery
Shells. and about 300 aeroplanes
and so forth.

The territory which has passed
to the USSR is equal in area to a
large Fuuropean state. The area of
Western Byelorussia is 108,000
square kilometers and its popula-
tion 4,800,000. [The area of Western
Uwraine is 88,000 square kilometers
and its population 8,000,000.

Hence, together, the territory of
Western Ukraine and Western By-
elorussia which has passed to us
has an area of 196,000 square kilo-
meters and a population of about
13,000,000, of whom there are more
than 7,000,000 Ukrainians, more
than 3,000000 Byelorussians, over
1,000,000 Poles and over 1,000,000
Jews.

The political significance of
these events can scarcely be over-
rated. All reports from Western
Ukraine and Western Byelorussia
show the population greeted their
liberation from the yoke of the
Polish gentry with indescribable
enthusiasm and rapturously hail-
ed this great new victory of the
Soviet system.

The recent elections to the na-
tional assemblies of Western
Ukraine and Western Byelorus-
sia, conducted for the first time
in the history of those territor-
ies on the basis of umiversal di-
rect, equal suffrage and secret
ballot, have shown that at least
nine-tenths of the population of
these regions have Iong been
ready to rejoin the Soviet Un-
ion. The decision ef thes na-

This was a reflection of the rad-
ical difference between the policy
of the Soviet government and the
policy of Tsarist Russia, which bru-
tally oppressed small nations, de-
nied them every opportunity of in-
dependent national and political
development, and left them with
most painful memories of itself

it must be admitted that the ex
perience of the past two decades
of development of Soviet-Eistonian,
Soviet-Latvian, and Soviet,Lithu-—
anian friendly relations created
the favorable conditions for fur-
ther consolidation of the political
and all other relations between the
USSR and its Baltic neighbors.
This has been revealed, too, in re-
cent diplomatic negotiations with
representatives of Latvia, Estonia
and Lithuania, and in treaties that
were signed in Moscow as a result
ef these negotiations.

As you know, the Soviet Union
bas coneluded pacts of mutual as-
sistance with Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania which are of major po-
litical significance. The principles
underlyins these pacts are identi-
cal. They are based on mutual as-
sistance between the Soviet Union
on one hand, and Latvia, Estonia
and Lithuania on the other. They
include military assistance in the
case of any of these countries be—
ins attacked.

in view of the special seogra-—
phie position of these countries,
which are in the way of approach-
es to the USSR, particularly from
the Baltic, these pacts allow the
Soviet Union to maintain naval
bases and aerodromes in specified
parts of Estonia and Tatvia, and
in the ease of Luthuania, the pact
provides for the defense of Lithu-
anian borders jointly with those
of the Soviet Union.

Creation of these Soviet naval
bases and aerodromes on the ter-—
ritory of Matvia, Estonia and
Luthuania, and the stationine of
a certain number of Red army
units to protect these bases and
aerodromes, insure a reliable de-

In view of the improvement in
our political relations with Es-
tonia, Latvia and Withuania, the
Soviet Union has gone a long way
to meet the needs of these states
and has concluded trade agree-
ments with them. Thanks to these
economic agreements, trade with
the Baltie countries will increase
several-fold and there are favor-
able prospects for its further
growth.

At a time when all Puropean
countries, including neutral states,
are experiencins tremendous trade
difficulties, these economic agree-
ments between the USSR and Es-
tonia, Latvia and Tithuania are
of great and positive importance
to them.

Thus, the rapprochement be-
tween the USSE on the one hand
and Estonia, Latvia and Lithu-
ania On the other, will contribute

to more rapid progress of agri-
culture, industry, transport and,
in general, to the national well-
bemg of our Baltic neighbors.

The principles of Soviet policy
towards small countries have been
demonstrated with particular force
by the treaty providing for the
transfer of the city of Vilna, and
the Vilna region to the Lithuanian
Republic. Thereby, the Lithuanian
State, with its population of two-
and-a-half million, considerably
extends its territory, increases its
population by 550,000, and receives
the city of Vilma, whose popula-
tion is almost double that of the
present Lithuanian capital.

The Soviet Union asreed to
transfer the city of Vilna to the
Lithuanian Republic not because
Vilna has a predominantly Lithu-
anian population. No, the majority
of the inhabitants of Vilna are
non-Lithuanian. But the Soviet
sovernment took into considera-
tion the fact that the city of Vilna,
which was forcibly wrested from
Lithuania by Poland, ought to be-
lene to Lithuania as a city with
which are associated, on the one
hand, the historical past of “the
Lithuanian state, and on the other
hand, the national aspirations of
the Lithuanian people.

it has been pointed out in the
foreign press that there has
meyer been a case in world his-
tory of a big country handing
ever such a big city to a small

State, of its own free will. Alli

Lithuania

tional assemblies in Lyov and
Byelostok, with which we are ail
not familiar, testifying to com-
plete unanimity of people’s rep-
resentatives on all political ques
tiens,

f shall now: pass on to our rela-
tions with the Baltic countries.

As you know, important changes
have taken place in this sphere as
well. The relations of the Soviet
Union with Esthonia, Latvia and
are based on peace
treaties concluded with these re-—
spective countries in 1920. By
these treaties Eistonia, Latvia and
Lithuania became independent

states, and ever since then, the
Soviet Union has invariably pur-
sued a friendly policy towards
these newly-created smail states.

Baltic Treaties

fense base not only for the Soviet
Union, but also for the Baltic
staites themselves, and thereby
contribute to the preservation of
peace, which is to the interest of
our peoples.

©ur recent diplomatic negotia-—
tions with Estonia, Latvia” and
Luthuania have shown that we
have sufficient confidence in each
other and the proper understand-
ling of the necessity of adopting
these measures of military defense
in the interests of both the Soviet
Union and of these states them-
selves.

The negotiations have fully
revealed the anxiety of parties
concerned to preserve peace and
Saipguard the security of our
peoples who are engazed in
peaceful labor. It was all this
that insured the successful com-
pleGon of the negotiations and
conclusion of the pacts of mu-
tual assistance which are of
reat historical importance.

The special character of these
mutual assistance pacts in no way
implies any interference of the
Soviet Union in the affairs of Eis-
tonia, Latvia or Lithuania, as
some foreign newspapers are try-—
ing to make out. On the con-
trary, all these pacts of mutual
assistance strictly stipulate the in-
widlability of sovereignty of the
Signatory states, and the principle
ef non-interference in each other’s
affairs. These pacts are based on
mutual respect for the political,
social and economic structure of
the contracting parties, and are
designed to strengthen the basis
for peaceful, neighborly coopera-
tion between our peoples.

We stand for the scrupulous and
punctilllous observance of these
Pacts on the basis of complete reci-
procity and we declare that all
monsense about Sovietizinge the
Baltic countries is only to the in-
terest of our common enemies and
of all anti-Soviet provocateurs.

Relations With Finland

the more strikingly, therefore,
does this act of the Soviet state
demonstrate its good will.

Our relations with Finland are
of a special character. This is to
be explained chiefly by the fact
that in Finland there is a greater
amount of outside influence on
the part of third powers. An im-
partial person must admit, how-
ever, that the same problems con-
cerning the security of the Soviet
Union, and particularly of TGenin-—
grad, which figured in the nego-
tiations with Estonia, also figures
in the negotiations with Finland.

in a certain sense, it may be said
that in this case the problem of
the Soviet Union’s Security is even
more acute, inasmuch as Denin-
grad; which, after Moscow is the
most ,mportant city of the Soviet
State, is situated at a distance of
only 32 kilometers (20 miles) from
the Finnish border’ ‘This means
the distance of Leningrad from
the border of 4 foreign state is
less than that required for modern
long-range guns to shell it.

On the other hand, approaches
to Leningrad from the sea alsg de
pend to a large extent on whether
Finland, which owns the entire
northern shore of the Gulf of
Finland and all the islands alone
the central part of the Gulf of
Finiand, is hostile or friendly to-
wards the Soviet Union.

in view of this, as well as in
view of the present situation in
Europe, it may be expected that
Finland will display the necessary
understanding.

What has been the basis of the
relations between the Soviet Union
and Finland during all these
years?

As you know, the basis of these
relations has been the peace treaty
of 1920, which was on the pattern
of our treaties with our other Bal-
tic neighbors. Of its own free
will, the Soviet Union insured the
Separate and independent exisi—
ence of Finland.

There can be no doubt that
only the Soviet fovernment,
which recognizes the principle
of the free development of na-
Gonalities, could take such 2
step. It must be said that none
but the Soviet government in

(Continued on Page Four)
See MOLGTOV: