GREAT BRITAIN AND RUSSIA
[To the Editor of the SvEcrtoron.] SIR,—The article under the above title in your issue of December 8th will, I should imagine, cause considerable sur- prise to readers of the Spectator. It reads rather more like Mr. Ramsay MacDonald than the Spectator itself. The article says : " the Russian Government, through the hve-stia, has been pressing for a statement from Great Britain as to the concrete and exact conditions which would provide a basis for the renewal of relations."
If our Government is wise, they will take a leaf put of the United States' book, and say, as they have done : " Acknow- ledge your debts and cease trying to foment revolution in our country." Our policy has been vacillating and inconsistent. The policy of the U.S. has been steady and unswerving.
America is respected by the Russian Government for her steady consistency. We have irritated and exasperated Russia, by pretending, sometimes, that intercourse with such a gang of bloody tyrants was at all possible. The position is perfectly plain, and it is Capitalism and Civilization versus Socialism, Anarchy, and Starvation. The writer of your article wants, evidently, to have a " foot in both camps."
It is exceedingly probable that, if England's policy had been as straightforward and consistent as America's, poor unhappy Russia would by now have been out of her troubles. Nothing contributed so much to the downfall of Mr. Ramsay MacDonald's Government as the proposal to lend 14,0,000,000 to Russia. Nothing which our present Government has done, has been so popular as the clearing out of the Reds.
There are two ways of dealing with a tiger. You can go out and shoot him, or you can keep out of his way. This is . what our Government has decided to do. As my friend, Mr. St. Loe Strachey, your late respected Editor, said, more than once, in your paper, " It is no use stroking a tiger and
calling him pretty pussy." Mr. Harriman, the great American , financier, who reorganized the Union Pacific railroad, has recently invested between 7,000,000 and 8,000,000 dollars under the Russian Government, and has cleared out with a, total loss, declaring that negotiations with such a Government,, are impossible.
I do not think many of your readers would subscribe to. any Russian Government Loan, for the Russian Government is a fraudulent bankrupt.—I am, Sir, &c.,
E. L. OLIVER.
The Waterhouse, Bollington, Macclesfield.
[We know that many of our readers disagree with our views on Anglo-Russian relations—but there can be no element of surprise. Our policy has been entirely consistent. Ever since the rupture of diplomatic relations with the Soviet last year we have not refrained from stating plainly why we think the Government's policy was a mistaken one. We have never condoned Bolshevism, but there will be no staple foundations for world peace so long as Russia is treated as a pariah. Why should Great Britain be the only important country in Europe which refuses to have diplomatic contact with Russia ? We frequently discussed Anglo-Russian rela- tions with Mr. St. Loe Strachey and we know that he shared our general view on the subject.—Ed. Spectator.]
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