The Dominion. TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1920. RUSSIA AND WORLD PEACE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 259, 27 July 1920, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1920. RUSSIA AND WORLD PEACE

I, Pop. the moment, negotiations be- • tween Britain ana Russia with a view to the resumption of trade arc .at an epd, and tho latest news of the Soviet emissaries—Krassin, K.uieneff and others—is that they ' are angrily accusing- Britain of: "im.posing conditions as to their movements after agreement had been reached." Obviously, however, the wrath of Krassin and'his associates is only a surface symptom. Tho real trouble which makes it impossible meantime to continue the trade negotiations is the uncertain outlook in Eastern Europe, and: especially tho Russo-Polish situation. Tho •point upon which everything, turns was brought out clearly by Me. Lloyd George ho stated last week that "the Atlics concludodthey must take steps to arrest tho destruction of Poland and the march of the Bolsheyfk armies through Poland." _ Recent news from Russia., for what it; is worth, suggests that one, faction in that country, headed by Lent.'n, is in favour of making peace with Poland on moderate tormsv, while anothor faction, headed by Trotsky, aims at the destruction of 'Poland. The issue between these tactions is* meantime in suspense. At tho Trotsky faction prevails, ' the trade negotiations with Russia,, of course, will definitely terminate, and it will devolve upon the Allies, as Mr. Lloyd George has said, to give Poland such assistance as they can. On. the other hand, consideration of the great advantages to be gained from resuming trade , with Britain and other parts, of Western Europe may powerfully influence the Soviet Government in its attitude towards Poland. No one can say at the moment whether the Krassin mission must be regarded 1 as a complete fiasco, but there is little doubt that the conclusion of a trade agreement between Britain and Russia would have, ,--and still will represent if- it is accomplished in spite of the new complications that have arisen—a definite forward step towards the re-establishment of European peacc. The decision of the British Government to receive the Krassin mission was criticised warmly in tho House of Commons and elsewhere on a number of grounds. Objectors urged not only that the. Soviet Government was an unconstitutional and irresponsible despotism, but that trade with Russia was unthinkable until reparation- and apology had been offered for murders and outrages of which British subjects were tho victims. To these amtentions and others Mr. Lloyd George inado a powerful and telling reply in the House of Commons last month. In the first place, he stated that the Allies, months ago, while refusing to enter into diplomatic relations with the Soviet Government, camo unanimously to the conclusion that it was in the interest of the world that trading relations with'.Russia should be resumed. All ; the official Allied leaders, he said /(including M. Glejienceau, while lthat_ gentleman was still Prime 'Minister of France),' concurred in this decision. _ At succcssive conferences tho Allies had adhered to the view that it was essential to reopen trade with Russia, though diplomatic relations with the Soviet Government were impossible. Accepting full responsibility for his share in promoting this decision Mil. Lloyd George maintained that it was in accordance with "the rough common sense that leads the British people in the end to the right conclusion." He defended on two main grounds the policy of opening up trade with Russia: that it was essentia! to tho economic reconstruction and re-establishment of Europe, and that it offered Russia her only hope of getting down to "something like a sano normal." His answer to those who said "Look at, this atrocity and tljat atrocity! Aro you goingto grnsp this tainted-hand?" was; m part s '

Russia exported 4,000,000 tons of grain bcforo the war, lA j lc ] over y 0 f j s needed by-EuroW, nDWI ftn d j n Eui'opo 1 include Great Britain. Millions nf tons of timber, scordj 0 f thousands of tonn ot ilm were expoj[ e( j before the war, all needixl by rho industries of the world. When aro. you. Voiug to trado -with Russia? . .The British PrinL Minister frankly .repudiated the that it is out of tho question U; 0 f>i-acl© with a people whose uov(y nnlell t j s guilty of atrocitics. sues, a standard, ha said, would rulo oU more ftoveniinents than he eare\i t 0 think 0 f To those who said \j, at tilß ri policy was to crush Bolshevism, ho replied: "We have | osfc hundreds of thousands of are WQ pre .

pared to loso hundreds of' thousands more? Wo have. £8,000,000,000 of debt; arc we going to pilo up another £3,000,000,000 or £4,000,000,000 more?" As matters were going in Britain prior to the Polish debacle, the ideas of tho Prime Minister on the subject of trade with Russia wore in a fair _way to prevail. The Krassin mission is said to have made a very favourable impression :n British business circles, and apparently it was not regarded as a fact of serious _ importance that Krassin himself is a person of pronounced German associations. A Siberian by birth, and an electrical engineer by profession, hebecame in 1909 a director of the Pctrograd branch of tho Gorman firm of Siemens and Schuckert. Apparently he retains this position now that he is also Russian Commissary for Transport and Foreign Trade. According to the, London Timet, Krassin is a "bourgeois Bolshevist" at heart, opposed to Communist experiments.

During his tenure of four Ministerial omces (it adds) he has worked imperceptibly for the restoration of the plain bourgeois methods of commerce. To him the nationalisation of commorca was one of tho most stupid of Benin's blunders. As for the world revolution, ho is an entire sceptic, and is all for a good bourgeois peace. He would lead Russian hovjultsui into the normal ways of democracy. ho believes in Socialism in luissia?" he is reported to have asked, riot I, nor Lenin." Fear of extremists is said to.be the motive which restrains jum from proclaiming what he knows to be true—namely, that the Soviet regime is the Antithesis of genuine C'ommu&isln.

<tti his mission to Britain, Krassin was accompanied by a score or more of technical experts, amongst whom be fotfnd, according to one British commentator, "the cream of Russian' scientific, administrative, and business men."- It seems fairly certain that the organisation of the mission is part and parcel of the amended policy under which the Soviet Government is making great I efforts to enlist the services of those factors in society it at first strove to destroy,' and it is so much the more l'ikoly that the reopening of trade, apart from its vital importance to the rest of tho world, might materially assist the Russian people in working out their political salvation. Until tho Polish problem arose in its present shape, the chief obstacles to the policy ably advocated by Mr. Lloyd George were of an economic character, and due to tho chaotic disorganisation of productive industry and transport in Russia. It was confidently anticipated that these difficulties would gradually be overcome, but evidently thcro is an absolute bar to progress on these lines until tho problems centring in the fate of Poland have been brought to a satisfactory settlement.