Russian Break

COMMONWEALTH

(British Commonwealth of Nations)

Three men sat, like the Three Fates, close together on the Government bench of the House of Commons. Like the Fates, they had power to cut a thread of life-the slender diplomatic thread linking the two largest countries on the globe. The British Empire had come to the point of severing relations with the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Premier Stanley Baldwin rose from where he sat between Foreign Secretary Sir Austen Chamberlain and Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston S. Churchill. Ostensibly they were calm, Sir Austen sitting habitually erect and glacial, almost prim; and Mr. Churchill slumped in thought. Yet the extreme nervousness of all three was manifest a little later, when easy-going Mr. Baldwin seemed about to blunder into a damaging admission. Then and there, the Premier was literally yanked down by the coattails. He subsided between the other two Fates until he could collect his thoughts and go on. This little comedy was played in deadly earnest last week ironically enough on Empire Day.

Revelations. The Premier announced in even, measured tones that His Majesty's Government desired, with the approval of the House, to break off formal relations with Soviet Russia.

He revealed for the first time what had been discovered by Scotland Yard when its operatives raided Arcos House (TIME, May 23, 30), in which were the premises of the Soviet Trade Delegation which came to London under the Trade Agreement of 1921, during the Lloyd George Ministry. For perhaps an hour the Premier built up his thesis that the Russian Trade Delegation and also the Soviet Embassy have functioned as directing agencies for Communist propaganda, subversion and espionage. The evidence supporting this thesis was a sheaf of telegrams and letters which were stated rather than proved to have passed between the Soviet Trade Delegation and the Soviet Government. Because Mr. Baldwin is a good, sturdy Britisher, his statements carried weight, and were very generally accepted by the British public as proof that Great Britain had a perfect, technical right to cancel her Trade Agreement and diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia last week on the ground that the Russians had consistently misused the privileges accorded them.

White Book. The evidence cited by Premier Baldwin was released in a White* bearing His Majesty's Arms, last week, and further imprinted with the title: Documents Illustrating Hostile Activities of the Soviet Government and the Third International Against Great Britain.

As a random example of what the White Book contains, observers noted a letter telling how down-and-out British subjects have been trained as Communist agitators while being given employment as sailors on Russian merchant ships. The Soviet agent in charge of this subversive activity told in early letters how "choice of the men was carefully made, preference being given to Negroes, Hindus and other oppressed nationals." In later correspondence these "oppressed nationals" were declared to have turned out to be "lazy swine . . . the refuse of the Labor Party . . . slackers and bad workers who drank or left the ships. . . ."

Debate. For several days the chief Cabinet Ministers and Premier Baldwin hammered home these revelations, not seeming quite to realize that they were only "proving" the sort of thing which most British and U. S. businessmen have unshakably believed about the Soviets for half a decade. There was nothing new, and nothing especially terrifying. How then were these stale "proofs" worthy to justify the new and drastic course of breaking off relations?

Mr. David Lloyd George delivered on this general theme the greatest speech which he has made this year. His mane of white hair bristled, and he spoke with a fire that carried conviction:

"There is and always has been," said Mr. Lloyd George, "enough evidence ten times over to turn the Soviet representatives out of England. . . . The Soviet attitude, from first to last, has been a clumsy attempt to reconcile a desire for peace with hopes for the destruction of the British Empire. . . . Their representatives have been liars and double dealers-but that does not prove that this is the time to turn them out! . . .

"After His Majesty's Government has broken off relations with Russia, when are these relations to be resumed? What are you waiting for? Are you going to wait for the Romanovs to become Tsars again? . . .

"What is the object? To abolish propaganda? This will double it!

"The breaking off of relations is serious business. You cannot treat the situation as though everything would go on exactly as before. Twenty-four powers have recognized Russia following our lead. We shall be completely isolated in this respect in a Europe which is full of trouble. . . .

"Whom are you watching for in Russia? Tchitcherin? He is broken and has failed. Litvinov's signature you cannot take. Stalin's signature you cannot. Trotsky's certainly you cannot.

"The case of His Majesty's Government against the Soviets is strong . . . but this act is that of a distracted man who jumps into a whirlpool. . . . It is the riskiest act ever taken by the Government against such a huge country as Russia. . . .

"Since this melodramatic raid has been carried out by Scotland Yard, I admit the necessity for taking action. But abrogation of Russia's special trade privileges, and prosecution of all alleged spies and agitators ought to be enough to satisfy our honor. . . ."

The reply of the Government, through various ministers, was simply that they had, in the words of Sir Austen Chamberlain, "practiced forbearance until forbearance is outworn."

In vain Laborites tried to delay the break. Their leader, onetime Premier James Ramsay MacDonald, was still so weak (on his arrival from the U. S. last week) that he could not address the House, but merely hobbled in using a cane. Other Laborites, marshaled by Deputy Chairman of the Labor Party John Robert Clynes, spoke, but under the heavy drawback that they feared to seem to take the part of "Bolsheviks," "Reds."

367-118. As a matter of course, the Conservative majority in the Commons put through a motion of confidence in Premier Baldwin's course by a count of 367 to 118.

Diplomatic Break. A few hours later diplomatic relations were formally severed; and the official Soviet diplomatic and trade representatives were given ten days in which to clear out of England. The Soviet charge d'affaires ordered packing to start at once, but took care to issue a formal statement branding as "forgeries" all incriminating documents in the British White Book.

Trade Continued. Ironical was the fact that Premier Baldwin and his Ministers kept repeating that His Majesty's Government will do nothing to hinder "genuine trade" between Britons and Russians through "business channels," and will allow "an adequate number" of Soviet Russians to remain in London for this reason.

American Reaction. His Majesty's Government in Canada immediately followed last week the example of His Majesty's Government in Great Britain, notified the Soviet Trade Delegate in Montreal that he must depart.

To U. S. citizens the chief fizzle of the week was a "revelation" by Premier Baldwin of names and addresses of persons in the U. S. seized during the British raid. The list contained only 15 names of persons so obscure that public interest flagged utterly. Reporters, sleuthing diligently, came upon nothing to indicate that even one of these humans is "a dangerous Red." Typical was Miss Elizabeth Braun, a 22-year-old proofreader, boarding with one Editor Max Bedacht of The Communist and his wife at No. 3101 Nordica Ave., Chicago.

*"White Book," "Red Book," ."Green Book," etc. are traditional, technical titles employed by governments when they issue collections of important (usually incriminating) documents.