Bargain at Yalta
Bargain at Yalta IT is a sad eommentary on the .state of world polities that we should be forced to regard the Yalta conference as a bargain-driving session In which the conferees were divided...
...In both there is comj|P>te disregard of the will of the inhabitants and of all democratic proKeedureB...
...It remains up to the democratic forces of the world to make sure that this war shall not have been fought in vain...
...From the point of view of world politics, however, their achievements are the reverse of impressive...
...They represent the main asset of this I conference...
...During the coming months in this country—and presumably in others—the problems to be faced by this Conference will be the focus of attention...
...Bargain at Yalta IT is a sad eommentary on the .state of world polities that we should be forced to regard the Yalta conference as a bargain-driving session In which the conferees were divided two against one...
...With a dramatic display of ^ialitieaj adroitness, Roosevelt has already named the American delegafffcm to this assembly...
...The opinions of men everywhere can now be brought to bear...
...Poland and Yugoslavia are given special treatment in the report...
...A nation accused of aggression will not be entitled to vote white the charges are being discussed by the Council...
...Broadly-based gdvernments and free elections are for the future...
...In San Francisco on April 25 a new world organisation will perhaps come into existence...
...No chance has been left for German peace-feelers such as, no doubt, reached Yalta during the conference...
...t vHkl results of the Yalta, confereice are generally praised because they symbolize our victory in the war awl hmMsml l>H jjafcjso to hasten that victory...
...eliminate or control ?gjB German industry that could be used for military production...
...All of his unilateral actions were okayed and made official...
...It is sadder to |pM to remark that the two got the worst of the bargain...
...A date has been set for an inclusive conference i ef the United Nations...
...In ^ both of them Stalin gets precisely what he wants...
...The military plans adopted naturally receive primary attention...
...Crass violations of the Atlantic Charter in the name of the Atlantic Charter...
...There is provision, moreover, that Poland "must receive subR^Wtial accessions of territory in the north and west...
...In these pUpmstances the promise of free elections is discounted in advance...
...Thus military or economic intervention against a great power is practically ruled out...
...This sounds fine...
...break up for all time the German General Staff . . .; remove or destroy all German military equipment...
...It it true that the returns are not all in...
...Not one European participated ija the discussions...
...This must mean P**t millions of Germans, without the least pretense of a plebiscite, will N* P'aced under Polish rule...
...ftia tak*k>t* $r?iiU that whatever has happened in these lands is finished...
...He iris confirmed in his control of eight or ten nations stretching from the Baltic to the Adriatic...
...For the first time the ' basic international problems of this crucial time will be thrown open, to public discussion...
...The decision on this point represents a minor concession to Great Britain and the United States...
...And millions of People see their democratic leaders shot, imprisoned, deported...
...The small nations which have been disregarded Kebject both to the methods which were used and to the results which shave been announced...
...Much may be changed in the course of ffhe next six months...
...In the meantime the people of eight ,......or ten countries have governments forced upon them...
...And as the Red Army continues triumphantly through Hungary arid Germany wo may expect On enlargement of the territory in which arbitrary, unilateral power will be supreme...
...The two representatives of democracy got promises...
...P There are, to be sure, fine promises: The peoples are to be assisted in stamping out the last vestiges of Nazism and Fascism...
...From the military point of view the throe conferees continue their record as successful leaders...
...No hope of survival is left far National Socialism in Germany...
...One othef commitment may be counted as a gain for the democratic *, side...
...Wt * * • of the definite decisions reached by the conference had to do PfUhftfci fate of Europe...
...There his been a widely felt fear that the Moscow Free German , Committee, with its powerful group of ex-Nazi generals, was engaged in building up the core of a new German General Staff...
...There are to be "free elections of governments responsive to the will of the people...
...Despite all the fine promises there is no consistent effort to root dictatorship out of the world...
...This decision is in line with the policy pushed by Russia from the start...
...The dispute among the great powers with regard to the method of voting in the Security Council has been settled substantially in Stalin's favor...
...This country will be represented by authoritative public figures from both political parties...
...Already we see signs of the closer military cooperation which has been promised...
...But when the promises are lined up alongside the actual deeds of the conference, skepticism is inevitable...
...The political future of this ancient center of y o*rr civilization was settled by outsiders...
...Next to winning this war, chief attention goes to means initiated to prevent the next one...
...j The fate of the throe Baltic states has been passed oyer in silence...
...v v., Since this conference is symbolic of the approaching United Nations I victory, public opinion everywhere outside of Germany is predisposed to • greet Its decisions with approbation...
...Inevitably murmurs of protest arise from many parts Kef the old continent...
...Actually every Unilateral action of the Soviet Government has been ratified, made part •f the policy of the UrUted Nations...
...That at least is a gain, jr...
...We are told in ' precise terms that it has been "determined to disarm and disband all German forces...
...With one hand the conference starts the ^structure of an international security council and with the other it prefepares a new cause of war...
...Crass perversions of democratic principles in the name of democracy...
...But to anyone looking at the results as they stand Hew it in evident that Joseph Stalin got the better of the bargain...
...In the last stages of the Council's deliberations, however, when the time for action has come, a unanimous vote of the great powers will be required...
...The victorious ?jpwers are to encourage the establishment of broadly based interim ' governments...
...Stalin got power...
...Nothing is sin about Rumania anef Bulgaria...
Vol. 28 • February 1945 • No. 7
