"RUSSIA MUST CHOOSE"

An anxious appeal was made to Soviet Russia last week by a group of U.S. citizens, all of whom were vigorous pioneers in the cause of aid to Russia. The signers included:

William Agar, vice president of Freedom House; Justice Ferdinand Pecora; President George N. Shuster, of Hunter College; President Harry D, Gideonse of Brooklyn College; Raymond Leslie Buell, former president of the Foreign Policy Association; Major George Fielding Eliot, John W. Vandercook and Sydney Moseley, commentators; Harry Scherman, president of the Book-of-the-Month Club; former Supreme Court Justice Jeremiah T. Mahoney; the Rev. Robert W. Searle, general secretary of the Greater New York Federation of Churches; Robert J. Watt, international representative of the American Federation of Labor.

The major part of the text of their appeal follows:

We believe the time has come when those Americans who regard close cooperation with Soviet Russia as a cornerstone of victory and permanent peace should address a word of appeal to our Russian allies. We speak as individuals who have favored all-out aid to Russia ever since Hitler's unprovoked attack in 1941.

"Because of the necessity for tactful avoidance of unnecessary criticism between allies in time of war . . . we have hitherto allowed some things which aroused misgiving to pass in silence. Recent events, however, have convinced us that continued silence will only play into the hands of the isolationists and enemies of aid to Russia. For they are not silent, and every act of the Soviet press or government which can be misunderstood or criticized in America is grist to their mill. . . .

"In common with every loyal citizen of the United Nations we welcomed the declarations of Teheran and Moscow, which explicitly reaffirmed the earlier declaration of Jan. 1, 1942, pledging support for the purposes and principles of the Atlantic Charter. . . . And we welcomed especially the joint communiques issued at Moscow by Mr. Molotov, Mr. Eden and Mr. Hull, which said:

The conference agreed to set up machinery for insuring the closest cooperation between the three governments in the examination of European questions arising as the war develops. . . .

"Because of all this, the apparent determination of the Soviet Government to insist on a unilateral settlement of the Polish problem, without mediation or consent either of Russia's allies or the Polish Government, has come as a shock to American opinion.

"The American and British peoples cannot forget that Poland was the first nation to stop Hitler's procession of bloodless victories. The Poles determined to fight even though war meant the temporary conquest and enslavement of Poland, because they believed that the justice of Poland's cause and the loyalty of her allies would insure her resurrection in the end.

"They made this decision at a time when Russia thought it necessary to collaborate with Hitler, and yet Poland, after suffering untold agony, is now asked to surrender far more to Russia than what she refused to give Hitler. For the Curzon line frontier demanded by Russia is close to the Hitler-Stalin line of 1939. It means a loss of 47% of prewar Poland, while it represents a gain of less than 1% for the Soviet Union. The Polish Government has declared its readiness to discuss concessions, but no government, least of all a government in exile, could make such concessions as this without the express consent of the Polish people. . . .

"As for the Polish Government in Exile, it is not our concern to pass judgment upon the merits of some of Russia's complaints against it. But it is at least a legitimate Government, supported by the Polish Underground and composed almost entirely of men and parties who opposed the dictatorship of the Polish colonels. . . .

"It is for the Polish people and for them alone to decide how far they will recognize the present Government when they are free. In the meantime, if improvements along democratic lines are to be made they cannot be dictated from outside, least of all dictated by one great power which is not now a democracy. For how can we uphold the principle of a strong and independent Poland, to which Russia is committed, if Russia alone is to decide unilaterally what constitutes a democratic Polish Government?

"It would make little difference whether a unilateral Russian policy is imposed direct from Moscow or through the Ukrainian or White Russian Soviet Republics. Nor is the problem solved by the proposal to compensate Poland for the loss of much of the country to which she has strong historical and cultural claims by giving her territories to the north and west, where her claims are infinitely less. That would mean two violations of the spirit of the Atlantic Charter instead of one. Whatever is done should be done for the sake of a just and permanent peace--not by robbing Peter to pay Paul.

"If, therefore, Russia values America's friendship as we believe she does, she must not use her power to impose either an unjust frontier or a puppet government upon the Polish people. Russia must choose. She can impose her will but she cannot impose it without estranging millions of Americans whose opinions may be decisive in the development of our foreign policy. And Russia will estrange others besides Americans, for what will millions of citizens of the small conquered (and satellite) countries have to hope from an Allied victory, if this is how we discharge our obligations to Poland? Such a default would be worth many battalions to Hitler. We hope, therefore, that Russia's immense power will enable her to be generous. . . .

"Therefore in the interest of all the United Nations we urge the British and American Governments to raise these questions with the Soviet Government, and we ourselves appeal to our Russian allies to take cognizance of the legitimate disquiet of the American people. We ask this not only because it would strengthen our unity in the war and hasten the day of victory, but because it would cement the friendship between the Russian and American peoples in the crucial years to come."

* Newest in a longtime series published in Captain Joseph Patterson's New York Daily News.

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