THE PROGRESSIVE PATH TO PEACE

...The suppression of rebellion, the denial of freedom, the repression of social and economic progress—these are the accompaniments of a status quo policy...

...They do ask for a clear-cut declaration and a supporting program which will be rooted in democratic, not imperialist principles ; in tolerance and understanding, not hate and revenge...

...Premier Stanislaw Mikolajczk, the head of the Polish Government-in-Exile, has just returned to London after going to Moscow, hat in hand, to plead for some kind or recognition from the Kremlin...

...Mission To The Kremlin Ruth of these principles are being violated with ruthless abandon in the case of Poland...

...And yet, by advocating or acquiescing in the present determination of American, British, and Russian leader-chip to provide for coercive power to enforce the peace settlement, regardless of the terms of the settlement, liberals are playing squarely into the hands of their historic enemies...

...It specifies that there shall be "no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned," and it supports the "right of all peonies to choose the form of government under which they will live...

...Welles' language again, the peacemakers of our generation become less and less like prophets and more like harassed, tired, and irritable old men, "moving in an atmosphere of cold and cynical pessimism," the peace they write might not be worth enforcing with the blood of a single American boy...

...not apply to nations like Poland either...

...It is too late in the proceedings for an American citizen to be able to discharge his responsibilities by merely saying he is for cooperation with the nations of the world and the necessary machinery to enforce peace, for this cosy attitude overlooks entirely what is to be enforced...

...We have already wasted much time and bargaining power...

...I grant readily that, for all its frostbitten phrases and restricting reservations, the Atlan-fContinued on Page 12) In This Issue The Basic Conflict At Home By SEN...

...Louis Post-DUitotch : "From the vague glimpse we get of the political developments among the Allies, it appears that the sound principles laid down by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill (the Atlantic Charter) are sharing the fate of the 14-point program of President Wilson...

...Dorothy Thompson, an ardent internationalist in her own right, stated the issue neatly in her syndicated column the other day when she wrote: "It has become the fashion to say that peace must be enforced...

...These hard facts," the Economist contends, "and not the morals of the case or the goodness or badness of the Germans, are the compelling reasons why, in a settlement with Germany, it is absolutely necessary to go the way of moderation...

...And these, too, are the very negation of everything that Progressives stand for and fight for at home...

...Moreover, we could and would continue to cooperate on specifi« issues, like relief and rehabilitation, monetary control, labor, social security, health standards, communications, airways, etc...

...And the Chicago Sun reports from Washington that the plan to be hatched at Dumbarton Oaks will create machinery whose function would, "in large part, be confined to maintaining the status of Europe"—which status is being secretly shaped by the "Big Three...

...The role of America, as we have said before, is to be the conscience of the United Nations...

...In all, the transfers may cover as many as 10 million souls...

...They do not, I repeat, ask for blueprints, or for perfection...

...But the Atlantic Charter has been little more than window-dressing for many months...

...But it is being settled in a small room in the Kremlin where Premier Mikolajczyk faces Josef Stalin...

...The enforcement of anything— even peace—-except under law, is war...

...TT has become all too clear, as Wavell refuses to confer A. with Gandhi, as the British announce that Burma must be returned to the Crown, regardless of what the Burmese think, and as the powers prepare to draw the new maps of Europe and Asia in the light of their own selfish needs, that the principal assignment of the world organization and its police forces will be to stand guard over an imperial settlement, crush rebellion, and suppress all attempts to extend freedom to the vast areas of the world still held in bondage...

...Mikolajczk's visit moved the liberal Christian Century to make this extraordinary comment: "The fate of Poland is being settled, not by common action of the United Nations, ami still less by the Polish people themselves...

...If the Economist's reports of the impending settlement of revenge are accurate—and William H. Stone-man, London correspondent for the Chicago Daily News asserts that they are—then we are moving toward greater catastrophe and a more destructive war than the one in which we are now embroiled...

...Almost from the very beginning Mr...

...Only justice and law can be enforced...

...That is rubbish, of course...

...on the peace conference after World War I, Welles writes: "As the months passed, it gradually became apparent that those gathered at Paris who had the power to shape the future world were departing more and more from the clear-cut principles of the 14 Points, partly because of the greed of some of their governments, partly on account of political expediency, and finally, because of clamor at home for immediate demobilization and a speedy windup of the job of peacemaking...

...This would not mean, of course, our withdrawal from the world stage...

...The Sudetenland will also, it appears, be cleared of its Germans...

...Progressives believe that the United States should not join in enforcing a treaty which plants the seeds of a new and more terrible war by providing for the maintenance of an imperialistic status quo, by imposing terms of vengeance and dismemberment on defeated nations, by failing to resolve the major social and economic dislocations which create hunger, frustration, and then dictatorship, and by trading off territories and peoples in violation of our solemn agreements...

...The development of the robot bomb and other, even more fantastically lethal weapons, make it all too clear that we are entering an era when a nation, without large armies or any navy, can become a menace to the peace of the world through the use of weapons of concentrated fury and savagery, the like of which the world has never known...

...To enforce peace we are contemplating for the first time in American history, permanent universal military service, the world's largest air fleet, and a Navy second to none...

...The Russians are already planning their peace force, with a network of new cadet schools...

...They are convinced that the peace settlement is going to be their kind of settlement, and they're anxious to get their Governments to sign a blank check for enforcement now...

...The gathering of the Big Three at Dumbarton Oaks to decide how to compel the world to accept whatever peace settlement might subsequently be concluded has nothing to do with justice, with freedom, with democratic principles, or even with peace...

...This, I submit, is a far more democratic, far more progressive, and far more peace-preserving foreign policy than the nebulous policy of those who place their faith in force and Dumbarton Oaks...

...This development makes it all the more imperative that we conclude a peace of justice and moderation—a peace which has a fighting chance of appealing to the thinking, democratic elements in the conquered countries, and a peace which would strengthen the hand of these progressive forces in their continunig struggle for power against the extremists in their own countries...

...The completeness of the process moved Constantine Brown, noted analyst on foreign affairs, to record this conclusion in the Washington Star and St...

...Here is one of the greattinder-boxes of the world...

...Although quite naturally the Soviets do not regard as "aggrandizement" their intention to carve out a slice of that unhappy land for their "military security," certainly the impartial judge must conclude that this specific prohibition in the Charter is being flouted at will...

...The British also intend to retain universal service, thus departing from a most ancient tradition...

...R. G. WALDECK T. SWANN HARDING Plots And Purges In Germany Science In Our Biggest War Plant MILTON MAYER LT...

...THE gathering of the diplomats at Dumbarton Oaks underscores the lateness of the hour...

...I suspect that their overpowering longing for peace has momentarily blinded them to the fact that force doesn't mean peace, that beautifully concocted schemes of world organization won't be worth the paper they're written on, as they weren't a generation ago, unless there is an honest and realistic effort to get at the causes of war, and unless there is a profound Jesire to resolve the worldwide social and economic dislocations which, if left unsolved,-will result in war again...

...Progressives who contend for a fair, moderate settlement—a settlement which will permit the democratic forces of Germany to take over and build on the ashes of Nazism—have been unable to make their voices heard amid the clamor of the hate-mongers who demand a peace of vengeance and dismemberment...

...we do ask for a sign that the British are prepared to grant India freedom...

...If, in Mr...

...Had this Government refused to ba moved by considerations of political expediency and by commitments, it is probably that our military victory would have been followed by a long era of peace...

...The Economist's sources are so important that I want to quote several pertinent paragraphs: "The most important annexations foreshadowed in the reports cover East Prussia, part of which, with Koenigsberg, is to go to Russia, while the rest, together with large slices of Pomerania and Silesia, is to be Poland's share...

...Hull, Mr...

...Only A Pious Wish' Poland is only one example of how thoroughly the Atlantic Charter is being reduced to a "scrap of paper...

...The elimination of Asia, the Empire, and enemy nations from the protection of the Charter by no means completes the list of exceptions...

...The Progressive Path To Peace By MORRIS H. RUBIN AMERICAN, British, and Russian diplomats, surrounded by their retinues of experts, have gathered at Dumbarton Oaks, a stately, red-brick mansion on R Street, in the Washington suburb of Georgetown...

...But the diplomats of the Big Three at Dumbarton Oaks are reversing this process...

...Churchill, does not apply to any of the areas of the earth where its application might be most useful...

...The only difference is that while Mr...

...The great tragedy of the perilous situation in which we may soon be trapped is simply that it need not be this way...

...Once we agree to enforce the peace settlement, regardless of its terms, we deprive ourselves of all bargaining power at the peace table...

...They want to see who the check is made out to, and for how much, before they sign it...

...Marshal Stalin has decided that the Kremlin alone, not "the freely expressed wishes of the people concerned," will determine thj territorial changes affecting Poland...

...Just as, in pre-v-'ir Europe, the heads of small states had to go to Berchtesgaden to learn the fate which awaited their countries, so the Polish premier has at last gone to MOSCOW...

...we do ask for a general understanding that there shall be self-determination for small nations, no hate and war-creating spheres of influence, no territorial aggrandizement, no attack on cultural autonomy...

...But we do have every right to expect at least a right frame of mind, to observe a democratic objective...

...Another settlement like Versailles will produce another Hitler and another war, no matter how ponderous the peace machinery we build...

...Wilson's permanent, peace plan began to be trampled under the feet of our associates after the war ended, the Atlantic Charter is rapidly being reduced to only a pious wish while thi' fighting is still going on...

...The Mangled Charter In short, Progressives want to know what they're to be called upon to enforce with the blood of the next generation before they agree to enforce it...

...Wilson claimed that he was uninformed of the nature of the secret treaties, distributing vast territories and their inhabitants in a manner wholly inconsistent with the 14 Points...

...Progressives believe that the United States must cooperate with the other nations of the world in enforcing the peace settlement—if the peace settlement is just, democratic, and anti-imperialist in its overall impact on the peoples of the world...

...The Charter, it seems, doe...

...History shouts this warning at us from every page...

...We could and would continue to fight for a better and more democratic peace, and we would doubtless have the support of countless millions of plain people all over the world...

...We don't ask for a complete plan of how Germany and Japan are to be dealt with after the war...

...What Progressives demand is a statement of democratic objectives, the outline of a program based on freedom for all peoples of all colors and races, the disavowal of imperialism, aggrandizement, and a vengeance-minded settlement...

...The flood of emotional optimism quickly vanished in a wave of cold and cynical pessimism...

...Welles' Warning Sumner Welles' new book, The Time For Decision, is hardly an "isolationist" document, and it makes our point better than anything else I have seen in months...

...A Democratic Program Should the settlement take such a tragic turn, the policy of the United States must be to refuse to support an organization designed to maintain an intolerable status quo...

...These racists, who would make all Germans responsible for the criminal acts of barbarism by the Nazis, have apparently made their counsel prevail in the higher circles of Anglo-American diplomacy...

...Nor, until the final months before the Armistice, had this government tried to come to an agreement with the Allies regarding the Covenant of the League of Nations...

...we do look in vain for a wholesome frame of mind indicating that our leaders are not committed to a settlement of dismemberment and revenge, which can only explode into World War III...

...It is concerned primarily, perhaps even exclusively, with force—with the weapons, machinery, and institutions for coercing all nations, great and small, into abiding by any final settlement which two, three, or four men might make behind the closed doors of secret diplomacy...

...Certainly we have a right to know now whether American boys are to be summoned into battle to suppress revolt and maintain Britain's imperial rule against the wishes of the peoples concerned...

...Having signed the blank check, we would no longer have much voice in determining how much and what for...

...The recent writings of Col...

...But what I can't understand is why so many otherwise liberal-minclfcd Americans go along with this dangerously reactionary game...

...By failing to speak up, by failing to fight for democratic objectives, and by failing to become the aggressive champion of an anti-imperialist policy, we have contributed materially to strengthening the hands of those who are determined to write a harsh, imperialist peace—a peace which will be little more than an uneasy armistice...

...The one great hope for lasting peace is to strike and strike now at the causes of war...

...One of the chief reasons for the compromises which President Wilson felt himself obliged to accept at Paris was the fact that the United States had made no effort '. 3 reach a prior understanding with its allies concerning political and territorial problems...

...It is only the moderate way that will be enforced—not now but in 15 or 20 years time when the fat and lazy habits of peacetime have returned...

...The policy of the United States must be simply this: while it is too late to call off the conferences at Dumbarton Oaks, it impossible for America to insist that whatever instruments of force are established as a result of this conference to police the peace settlement, they shall not become operative until the terms of that peace settlement itself are known and accepted...

...Their assignment is to create the organization and machinery to enforce the peace settlement, and to provide for the policing of that settlement, with the blood of another generation of youth if necessary, and all this before that peace settlement is made or even discussed publicly...

...A Clear-Cut Declaration We don't ask for a blueprint for India's freedom...

...ROBERT M. LA FOLLETTE, Jr...

...What you want to do is wait until you can have a perfect world before you'll cooperate with it...

...But, somebody is sure to say, "That's perfectionist obstructionism...

...They want to know what the peace settlement will do to small nations, to the oppressed of Asia, to a Germany freed from bondage to hateful Hit-lerism before they agree to underwrite that settlement...

...Churchill has stipulated further that the Atlantic Charter does not apply to the British Empire, and, moreover, that its protective provisions are not intended to apply to enemy nations when the war ends...

...This time we are not going to be 'idealistic,' but 'realistic' "But—if one may be permitted to say so in a quiet voice—peace cannot be enforced...

...We ask for a goal, not an achievement...

...Nobody thinks for a moment that even a tiny fraction of the world's problems can or will be solved in our lifetime, or that we ought to remain aloof from the world until they are solved...

...a program, not an accomplishment...

...This sobering statement by an analyst with important sources of information confirms a position long argued by The Progressive—that the United States has be?n squandering away its vast bargaining power with its Allies...

...Reversing The Process Miss Thompson went on to remind her readers that civilized states, seeking peace within their own borders, did not first create "an army, to arrest, punish, and guard those who were not peace lovers...

...Dewey...

...Churchill has made it clear that the Charter does not apply to Asia and Pacific areas of the world most likely to produce the new great global explosion...

...They are charged with the task of creating institutions and instruments of enforcement for whatever system of law and/or justice may ultimately emerge from the settlement of this global holocaust...

...ICAN understand why British imperialists like Winston Churchill and hard-shelled American reactionaries like the management of the National Manufacturers Association, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, et al, are so cordially disposed toward committing their respective countries to enforcement of an unwritten peace settlement...

...C. S. SEELY Two Towels A Day The Struggle For Warsaw JANE STAFFORD ISABEL B. LA FOLLETTE Your Health: Here's How The Spinning Political Wheel Book Reviews By NORMAN THOMAS, JOHN WILLIAMS, McALISTER COLEMA tie Charter might have provided the minimum basis for a just and democratic peace...

...Rather, she pointed out, they established a system of justice and law and then a police force to stand guard over that system...

...The well-informed London Economist, one of the most respected of British journals, carried a sensational, report only last week that British and American statesmen have agreed on "a peace of indemnities, reparations, annexations of territory, and transfers of population...

...But, a critic complains, this is all very well, but we do have such declaration and supporting program—the Atlantic Charter...

...The time is now, as Wilson would warn us, and his followers do warn us, to assert a democratic program—and to fight for it and stick to it...

...Carving Up Countries Take the question of dealing with Germany, as an example...

...In short, the Charter as interpreted by Mr...

...Parts of Western Germany, it seems, are to be annexed to France, Belgium, and Holland...

...Everybody says it—the President, Mr...

...While it was undoubtedly true that so long as the war continued the United States was all-powerful in view of the realization that the victories of 1918 [substitute 1944 for present application] could not have been achieved without American help, nevertheless, with the conclusion of the Armistice, the force of American leverage steadily decreased...

...We don't ask for a map of postwar Europe showing precisely every new boundary...

...The enforcement of the status quo, whether on a national, continental or global scale, is a natural objective for imperialists and Bourbons...

...The Charter specifically prohibits territorial aggrandizement...

...Stephen Bonsai, William Bullitt, and Sumner Welles—all of them internationalists, Wilsonians, and believers in peace by force—are filled with the grim reminder that we lost the last peace because we failed to use our bargaining power while we still had it...

...Against such an array of force, it is argued, whoever will dare to be an aggressor...

...It is the most mischievous sort of nonsense to contend that Progressives insist on a perfect or near-perfect world before giving their assent to participation in international plans for cooperation...

...But while agreeing to cooperate on specific problems, where we would have freedom of decision in each case, we would be duty-bound to refuse to be committed in advance to enforcing in its entirety a general settlement based on the maintenance of an imperial, war-provoking status quo...

...The editors of the Economist see clearly what too many editors—and politicians—in America cannot and will not see, that a harsh settlement in Europe, uprooting millions of humans and trading off millions of acres of land in total mockery of the Atlantic Charter, will not be enforceable over a long period of time and that within a few years, a brooding Germany could begin to break its terms with even more facility than it did those of the Treaty of Versailles...

...Churchill, Premier Stalin, and Mr...

...and which will concentrate not on the symptoms, but on the causes of war, the most important of which are imperialism, competitive armaments, territorial aggrandizement, racial discriminations, social dislocations, economic inequalities, harsh indemnities, and a war-creating spirit of vengeance...

...Our job is to demand and fight for democratic, anti-imperialist peace terms as a minimum preliminary to the establishment of any enforcement machinery...

...Commenting...

...In some areas, for example in East Prussia and possibly all along the Polish-German frontier, the annexations will be accompanied by massive transfers of German inhabitants either to Germany or to forced labor abroad...

...COMDR...

...The arbiters of human destiny seemed less and less like prophets and more and more like harassed, tired, and irritable old men...

...Many political observers believe that the short and crisp principles announced in the Charter would have been maintained had the American Government persisted in its intrcgal fulfillment regardless of what our associates had to say...

...The London New Statesman and Nation, for instance, warns us that Mr...

...Churchill, for all his greatness as a war leader, is basically an imperialist who "fears the upheaval of popular forces...