12 MAY 1950, Page 18

Marx on Russian Imperialism

SIR,—The whole world is at the present moment confronted with the policy of ruthless Russiaexpansionism and annexations. This resembles very remarkably the " Ilussian projects of annexations and aggrandise- ment" referred to by Karl Marx in 1853. In an article to the New York Tribune of Apri1.12th, 1853, he said that: "The vital interests of England should render Great Britain the earnest and unyiellipg opponent of the Russiad -proje,cis tof annexa- tions and aggrandisement. . . . It would appear that the frontier

of Russia runs ... from Stettin to Trieste. And, as sure as conquest follows conquest, and annexation follows annexation . . . the ultimate realisation of a Slavonic empire. The arrest of the Russian scheme of annexation is a matter of the highest moment. In this instance, the interests of revolutionary democracy and of England go hand in hand."