Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1939. A MENACED DEMOCRACY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 November 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1939. A MENACED DEMOCRACY.

r WITH a resolution that, is creditable to her people and their leaders, Finland has for the time being broken oil negotiations with the Soviet rather than make concessions which are felt to be incompatible with her independence and integrity. Fortunately there is no suggestion that the break involves ain immediate danger of hostilities, but it is indicated in t u utterances of the Moscow Press and in other ways that the Soviet is only biding its time. As they were outlined recently by M. Molotov, the Russian demands were that in exchange for lands among the Karelian marshes and forests on Finland’s eastern border, the Finns should allow the Russians certain territories which would put Leningrad out of range of Finnish artillery, and should cede some islands which would allow Russia to safeguard the entrances to the Gulf of Finland. According to a message from Copenhagen which was published yesterday, however,- the Soviet is also demanding, not only a naval base on the Finnish mainland, at Hanko, but also an inland air and military base. Making these, or even less onerous concessions, Finland oln iously would have shared the late of the Baltic States which have now become controlled military outposts 01. Russia. As a nation of some 3,800,000 souls, inhabiting rather thinly a territory considerably more extensive than Groat Britain and Ireland, the Finns must be credited with remarkable courage in withstanding so boldly the mighty Soviet Union. The national spirit thus exhibited is the more remarkable when account is taken of the history of Finland. For some five centuries, up to the early years of the nineteenth century, the country was a cockpit of war, in which Sweden and Russia struggled for supremacy. The Finns, during those tragic centuries, suffered all the evils of war, pestilence and oppression and developed a deep and abiding hatred for both Russia and Sweden. In 1809, the Swedes resigned all claims to Finland and during the century that followed the Finns suffered under Tsarist tyranny at its worst.

Following upon the declaration of the independence of Finland, in 1917, a savage and bitter civil war broke. The conflict, in the words of one authority, “stands out as a. civil war of Finns against Finns, the old Finland of yeoman and pastors against .the new proletariat of the towns, helped by the landless peasants.” Years of political strife, marked at times by violence, followed, but Finland on the whole is making promising progress towards conditions of liberal and progressive democracy.

Much more than the independence of Finland may be involved in the stand the Finns have taken against Soviet military domination. The belief is entertained by many Finns that Russia may try to gain a port giving upon the Atlantic by thrusting through Finland and then through northern Sweden and Norway. Writing recently in the “Sydney Morning Herald,” Mr Basil Fuller quoted a travelled and educated Finn as saying on this subject:—

It is because we fear Russia that we make common cause with our old-time oppressors, the Swedes. Do you not understand the likelihood of all this? Russia lacks free outlet to the Atlantic. The Kattegat is commanded by Sweden and Denmark, and could be closed to Russian shipping. Germany’s geographical position permits her to aid such action. Thus Russia cannot go by sea and, were she to decide upon a Western gate, we believe she would strike through Finland.

'Whatever immediate grounds may exist, for these fears, it is not. in doubt that it. is in the interests of world democracy that the independence of nations like Finland should be maintained. Ju spite of some recent Soviet assurances, the outlook for Finland will continue at best, to be troubled so long as aggression is afoot in Europe. The hope of happier days for Finland, as for other countries desiring to be free, must depend upon the establishment of conditions in which nations will combine to maintain and uphold international law and justice.