Expulsion or Condemnation?

Late in 1918, shortly after the Armistice, a young Finn appeared in London, sought out Herbert Hoover, then chairman of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, and appealed to him for food for his starving, war-torn country. Impressed by the facts presented, Mr. Hoover not only arranged to get hold of the food, but persuaded the Allied powers to relax the blockade still being enforced in the Baltic to allow the food to be shipped in. It was a life-saver for the nation in its struggle against the Reds.

Ever since that time Rudolf Holsti has played a prominent part in Finnish affairs. For two stretches he was Foreign Minister. At other times he has been the Finnish Minister to Latvia and Estonia and special delegate to the League of Nations. It was he who, as Foreign Minister, signed the "good-neighbor" agreement with the Soviet Union in February 1937. He and the then Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinoff became good friends.

Fortnight ago this Finnish patriot informed the League of Nations Council that "Good Neighbor" Russia was guilty of having "attacked not only frontier positions, but also open towns of Finland, sowing death and destruction." He asked the League to "take all necessary measures to check the aggression."

When the League met in Geneva last week it was unlikely that, having failed to do anything effective to help Manchuria, Ethiopia* or Spain and not having even discussed the disappearance of Austria, Czecho-Slovakia or Poland,/- it could check anything at this late date. But a novel project was nevertheless afoot. With Argentina as their spokesman, the six South American nations still remaining in the League (Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador) demanded that the Soviet Union be expelled and threatened to resign unless the League kicked the Communists out.

The Russians sat tight. Foreign Commissar Viacheslav Molotov dispatched a message to League Secretary General Joseph A. C. Avenol which declared that the "Soviet Union is not in a state of war with Finland and does not threaten the Finnish people with war." On the contrary, maintained Comrade Molotov, "the Soviet Union maintains peaceful relations with the democratic Republic of Finland" --a reference to the puppet Soviet Government the Russians set up at Terijoki, Finland, fortnight ago (TIME, Dec. 11).

Russian Delegate Jacob Suritz, also Ambassador to France, kept to his hotel while the League Council, in secret session, debated. Prominent visitor to Comrade Suritz's suite was the cultured, polished, Dr. V. K. Wellington Koo, the Chinese delegate. One more screwy turn of the 20th Century's apparently chronic cockayed politics, had put the doctor on another grotesque spot. Once China demanded that the League act against Japanese aggression. Later China supported League action against Italy in Ethiopia. But China, on the other hand, gets much of its war materials from the Soviet Union. Despite China's desire to keep a clean record against aggression, it was unlikely that Dr. Koo would be able to cast a vote against Russia.

Since it would take a unanimous Council vote to expel Russia, China's one vote alone would therefore block such action. Other nations with Council seats who are within gunshot of the Red Army were also likely to demur, notably Iran, Latvia and Turkey, to say nothing of the Scandinavian countries. Anti-Soviet zeal, in fact, could last week be directly gauged by the distance of nations from the Soviet border. British and French delegates, who generally stage-manage League proceedings, declared themselves ready to support expulsion provided other nations wanted it.

When the League met, up rose Sweden's delegate, Bosten Unden, to express a wish of his Government endorsed, he said, by Britain: even though good offices had so far collapsed like chunks of snow against Soviet steel, one more effort should be made to achieve peace by request. The League agreed. A special committee drafted a note inviting Russia to cease hostilities and let the League mediate. Richard Austen Butler, head of the British delegation, suggested that some limit must be set; accordingly a reply was requested within 24 hours.

No one thought for a moment that Russia would accede. If not, should Russia be expelled? Probability: censure of Russia's aggression, followed by Russian notice of withdrawal at the end of the customary two-year wait. Certainly no more than moral help would come to Finland through the League.

*Italy's resignation from the League because of sanctions voted during its Ethiopian campaign became effective early this week. Last week Italian Journalist Virginio Gayda, curiously enough, wrote that Finland had the "right to demand and expect sanctions" against Russia, but scornfully added: "The slave State of Ethiopia did not have that right, for it was guilty of 30 years' aggression against Italy as well as of the most brutal violations of civilized principles." /-Switzerland has notified the League that meetings can be held on its territory only if the present war is not discussed.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.