LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
" RUSSIA AND OURSELVES "
Six,—The correspondence which has followed my article " Ourselves and Russia " makes gloomy reading. The suggestion in the main As that the difference between the outlook on life in Russia and the Anglo- Saxon world is such that the Soviet Union should be excluded from the United Nations and the iron curtain drawn down across Eastern Europe. I assert that it is irresponsibility of the worst kind to throw in one's hand like this and form an anti-Russian alliance of the kind advocated by Mr. Churchill before all other avenues have been explored. As yet no important avenues have been explored. I repeat what I said in my article—that Russian suspicions of us, though ridiculously exag- gerated, are not without some foundation. As long as she is excluded from participation in the atom bomb secret, as long as we take no steps to meet her very reasonable wish to revise the Montreux Convention and give her some say in the control of the entrance to the Black Sea, as long as we maintain a Polish Army in Italy which is bitterly hostile to her, we can expect trouble from her all over the world.
Her methods may be detestable ; her outlook as far apart as the poles from us. A policy of firmness, even toughness, in dealing with her may be essential. For instance, I should lay down certain condittons which, if infringed by Russia, would lead to forcible resistance on our part. Thus, if the Russians started arresting Germans in our zone of Germany because they objected to a united front with the Communists, or if Russia armed the tribes of South-West Persia—she is already known to be intriguing with the Khurds—and thereby caused disorder in Iraq, or if she approached our oil concessions on the Gulf, we should take armed action immediately and inform Russia of our intentions now. But when we have made up our minds that we will not tolerate certain things from Russia, it is madness to stop there and to refuse to meet her on other grounds and negotiate. There may be a risk in sharing the atom bomb secret with her, but it is a lesser risk than withholding the information which in any case she will get in a few years by her own efforts. To assume that the great difference of outlook between us, who passed through the Reformation with all its legacy of " humanism" and valuation of personality, and Russia, who did not, must permanently prevent a practical working arrangement between us is a counsel of despair, of which those who want to indulge in it had better think
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