FIRST SESSION OF U.N.O.
Work of Organization.—The United Nations General Assembly ended its first session on February 15, after meetings in London extending over 37 days. The Assembly was to meet again in New York on September 3. The Security Council held its final session one day later and adjourned to meet again at New York, probably about April 1. The work of the Assembly and Council was concerned partly with tasks of organization and partly with efforts to grapple with international disputes. Under the head of organization may be listed:
(1) The early election of Paul-Henri Spaak of Belgium as President of the Assembly, and the choice on January 29 of Trygve Lie (pronounced Lee), Foreign Minister of Norway, to the important permanent post of Secretary General. The choice of the latter was a compromise with the Soviet delegation, in which the Americans and British shifted from their support of Lester Pearson, Canadian Ambassador to Washington.
(2) The election, by separate voting in the Assembly and Council, of 15 jurists to serve on the International Court of Justice. The American representative will be Judge G. K. Hackworth, and the other judges were chosen from China, Belgium, France, El Salvador, Britain, Russia, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Egypt, Canada, Yugoslavia, Norway, and Poland. The Court will sit at The Hague in April to consider the boundary dispute between Guatemala and British Honduras.
(3) The organization of the U.N.O. Military Staff and of the Economic and Social Council of fifteen members, slated to meet in New York in May.
(4) Adoption in February by unanimous vote of a resolution condemning the Franco regime in Spain, and denying to Spain under her present government membership in the U.N.O.
Action on Disputes.—The U.N.O. Assembly carried out its work with less friction than the Supreme Council. In the latter body hot disputes over the Russians in Iran, the British in Greece and Java, and the British and French in Syria threatened withdrawals from the Council or even its disruption. But the new body weathered these trials and in so doing perhaps gained strength as a forum for the open debate of international problems. The conflicts of East and West, of British Socialism and Soviet Communism, of Right and Left in the Council were but a broad manifestation of similar rivalry for political ascendancy going on in the small nations of eastern and western Europe, in France, Italy, China, Korea, and in fact throughout the world. Decisions on various matters taken up in the Council are here summarized:
Iran Dispute.—The Iranian delegate was granted the right to present before the Council in open session on January 28 his complaint over Soviet “interference in Iran’s internal affairs.” This was despite Moscow’s contention that the Soviet position in Iran was based on treaties and that the dispute could be settled by direct negotiation. Meantime the new Iranian premier, elected January 21 by a close vote of 52-51, was reportedly pro-Soviet. The decision of the Council left the matter for negotiation between the two nations, with the reserved right of the Council to request information and review results. Russia was to remove troops by March 1. She was expected to get North Iran oil concessions sought since 1944, and American interests were also concerned in oil concessions east of the Persian Gulf.
Greek Dispute.—The Soviet charge that British troops in Greece threatened world peace brought sharp controversy between Foreign Minister Bevin and Vice Commissar Andrei Y. Vishinsky. The latter called for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of forces, whereas Mr. Bevin pointed out that the British troops were in Greece with the approval of the Allied Powers and at the request of the Greek Government for the sole purpose of assuring a free election. Though eight members of the Council supported Britain, the final Council decision merely took note of the declarations made and considered the matter closed.
Indonesia.—The Ukrainian delegate charged that the intervention of British troops in Indonesia was “contrary to the purpose and principles of the U.N.O. charter,” and made necessary a special commission of investigation. This proposal was rejected February 13 by a 9-2 vote, but both the Dutch and British Governments promised to keep the Council informed of negotiations at Batavia.
Syrian Appeal.—The appeal of Syria and Lebanon for Council action to force the immediate withdrawal of British and French forces was met by a resolution that this matter also be left for immediate direct negotiation among the parties concerned. The resolution was supported by seven votes (France and Britain not voting) but was killed by Soviet use of the veto, which threw the matter out of the Council. France and Britain, however, promised to carry out the terms of the resolution.
Permanent Seal Decided.—The U.N.O. Commission to pick a headquarters site in the eastern United States reported in favor of a rural area of about 42 square miles in Westchester County, New York, and extending into Fairfield County, Connecticut. Despite considerable opposition from residents in the area, this site was approved February 11 by a vote of 22-17 in the Headquarters Commission and the choice was subsequently confirmed by the Assembly. New York City was selected as interim headquarters for the session next September.
Atomic Control Plan.—The U.N.O. Assembly on January 24 voted unanimously to establish a commission to study atomic energy, in accordance with the favorable report of the Political and Security Commission. The text of the resolution required (1) that the Commission be composed of one representative of each nation in the Security Council plus one for Canada, (2) that the Commission’s report be submitted first to the Security Council and be approved by that body, (3) that the investigation shall cover methods of exchanging basic scientific information for peaceful ends, control of atomic energy to the extent necessary to limit its use to peaceful purposes, elimination of atomic weapons and other weapons adaptable to mass destruction, and safeguards by way of inspection and other means to protect complying states against the hazards of violations or evasions. The Commission was to begin its work this spring in New York.
Progress on Treaties.—In the midst of the U.N.O. sessions in London, the Big Four assistant Foreign Ministers with their expert advisers continued work on their task of drafting peace treaties, assigned to them by the Moscow conference. These included treaties with Bulgaria, Rumania, Italy, Germany, Japan, and Finland. Secretary Byrnes hoped that treaties with the Eastern European states would be ready for a conference in May, and the German and Japanese treaties within the year. In the drafting of the Italian treaty, the chief problems arose over colonial trusteeships and the disposition of territory at the head of the Adriatic claimed by the Yugoslavs. Italy has produced a map purporting to show the line approved by [President Wilson for the Italian-Yugoslav frontier. It gives about one- third of the Istrian peninsula to Yugoslavia.
UNITED STATES AND LATIN AMERICA
Blast at Argentina.—On February 12, less than two weeks before the Argentine elections set for February 24, the Washington State Department issued a 131-page Blue Book for distribution to 19 other American republics. While much of the material had already been made public, the Blue Book further documented charges that the Argentine Government, before and even after its declaration of war against the Axis, had given support to the German war effort and continued to give refuge and protection to powerful Nazi interests. It supported the view that Argentina under the Peron Government could not “merit the confidence and trust expected in a treaty of multi-lateral assistance among the American republics.” The United States Government, while not assuming to influence the attitude of other republics, would decline to enter into such a treaty with the Argentine government as then constituted, and unless there were a change, would continue to take that attitude at the conference on the matter of such a treaty scheduled to be held at Rio de Janeiro in late March.
In a communiqu6 from Buenos Aires issued February 16 in reply, the Argentine Government declared the charges in the Blue Book were largely false, that its issue was contrary to international usage, an interference in internal Argentine affairs, and calculated to influence the Argentine elections. In an earlier statement the U. S. Embassy in Argentina was also charged with espionage and complicity in arms smuggling from Uruguay to opponents of the Peron government. The elections in Argentina were held as scheduled, and it was even stated that they resulted in an “operation of purity,” guaranteed by the army.
Bedell Smith to Moscow.—After the resignation of W. Averell Harriman as Ambassador to the Soviet Union, the President on February 14 announced that General Walter Bedell Smith would be his next choice for the Moscow post. The appointment would be delayed for legislation that would enable the General to retain his military status. The General had previously served with great distinction in Africa, Europe, and recently in this country as General Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff.
WESTERN EUROPE
New French Government.—The evil of frequent cabinet shifts in the old French Republic was brought to mind by General de Gaulle’s decision on January 20 to resign as President and Chief of Cabinet, thus ending his difficult task of guiding French recovery. His break with the Assembly developed over proposed cuts in military appropriations, but deeper than this was the General’s opposition to the Left Wing policy of reducing the powers of the President under the new Constitution.
After two days of uncertainty, the Assembly on January 23 chose Felix Gouin, Socialist leader and former president of the Assembly, to head a new provisional government. Gouin, after General de Gaulle’s example, formed a coalition cabinet, with 7 members from the Popular Republicans, 9 Socialists and 7 Communists, and Georges Bidault still at the post of Foreign Affairs. In his statement of policy the new President stressed the two chief problems facing France, first that of food supply, and second “the dangerous cycle of inflation.” He advocated cuts in the military and civil budgets, freezing of wages, reduction of profits, continued nationalization of banking houses and industries, and increased “mass production of standard goods at low cost prices.”
German Elections.—The first post-war elections in Germany were held in the American zone—Bavaria, North Baden, and Hesse—on the last two Sundays in January. Limited to local elections in the country districts, the attendance at the polls was estimated at 80 to 90 per cent. The outcome was a decisive victory for the conservative Christian Democratic Union, which polled about two-thirds of the total vote. The Social Democrats were a poor second and the Liberal Democrats (extreme conservative) and Communists a feeble third and fourth.
According to plans, further elections will be held in April and May, and on June 20 delegates to a constituent assembly will be chosen. Only after Constitutions have been drafted and ratified will elections be held on a state-wide scale. It was anticipated that in these elections the Christian Democratic Union would have a majority, though with Social Democrat gains in the cities. In the event of a Union victory, the present Minister President of Bavaria, Wilhelm Hoegner, would be replaced by a minister of more conservative trend. The Military Government reserves the right to strike from the new Constitutions any clauses contrary to Allied policy, i. e., tending to limit popular and democratic control.
In the Russian Zone and in Berlin there were reports of Soviet efforts to bring about a coalition of the Social Democrats and Communists under a new “United Workers” party. This would insure left wing control, and, if accomplished, might hasten elections in the Russian Zone.
Polish Disorders.—Both from London and Washington at the close of January came strong expressions of dissatisfaction over the measures taken by the Communist- dominated Polish Government to suppress opposition parties. Foreign Secretary Bevin declared in Parliament that many members of Vice Premier Mikolajczyk’s Peasant Party had been murdered and that circumstances appeared to “point to the complicity of the Polish Security Police.” The American Ambassador at Warsaw was also asked to call on the Polish Government “to assure the freedom and security essential to successful holding of free elections.” Polish replies stated that there had been violence on both sides and that the elections would be democratic, though “not in the Western sense.” The Soviet Government protested at the retention of Polish forces still under British pay in Italy.
Soviet Elections.—The first Soviet general elections since 1937 were held on February 10, with a one-party ticket and inevitable results. Dissatisfaction could be expressed only by scratching the ticket. In the election Soviet voters chose 1,140 members for their two assemblies—the Council of the Union of 569 members, one for every 300,000 people, and the Council of Nationalities of 574 members elected by the various republics and autonomous regions. Candidates were not required to be residents of the districts from which they were elected, and they therefore included not only Stalin himself but many prominent military and political bureau leaders. Not all the candidates were Communist party members. In the former parliament there were 108 non-party men in the Council of the Union and 165 in the Council of Nationalities. There were also 187 women members.
In an election speech on February 9 Premier Stalin proposed big new five-year industrial plans to build up mineral production “close to the output of the United States.” The high goals which he set are indicated by the following comparative table (in millions of tons):
|
U.S.S.R. (proposed) |
U.S.S.R. (1941) |
U.S.A. (1944) |
Pig iron |
50 |
18 |
61 |
Steel |
60 |
22 |
90 |
Coal |
500 |
191 |
684 |
Oil |
60 |
38 |
— |
The Premier promised an end to rationing and a raise in the workers’ standard of living. He declared that the war was the result of “world economic and political forces on the basis of monopoly capitalism,” which made impossible a “periodic redistribution of raw materials and markets among the countries in accordance with their economic needs, by co-ordinated and peaceful decisions.” Another candidate described Russia as still “within capitalist encirclement.”
BALKANS AND MIDDLE EAST
Balkan Politics.—Throughout the Balkans there was increased evidence of the cracking up of the wartime secret Anglo- Soviet Agreement of 1944 which put Rumania within the Soviet sphere of influence, Greece in the British sphere, and Yugoslavia under a kind of divided tutelage. In the latter nation, as well as in Bulgaria, Soviet policy has clearly gained the upper hand. In Albania also, following recognition by the U.S.S.R. and qualified recognition by Britain and the United States, the Government of Premier Enver Hoxa has given every evidence of setting up a typical left wing dictatorship, with a large army, secret police, and elimination of opposition parties. Admission of Albania to the U.N.O. was proposed by Yugoslavia with Soviet support, but action was delayed in London partly because of the objections of Greece, with whom Albania is still technically in a state of war. The Albanian Government has issued decrees for the expropriation of private industries, and apparently is moving toward a modified state socialism similar to that planned for the Yugoslavs.
In Hungary, the National Assembly under the new constitution proclaimed on February 1 the end of the 1,000-year-old Hungarian Monarchy and elected Premier Zoltan Tilda as President for four years of the Third Hungarian Republic (earlier republics for brief periods in 1848 and 1918). A new premier was to be chosen from the moderate Small-holders party, which gained a clear majority in the earlier elections.
Palestine Inquiry.—After its January session in Washington, the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine began in February to hold hearings in London, listening to views which ranged from hopes of peaceful co-operation between Jews and Arabs to advocacy of partitioning Palestine into two separate states. Despite Arab protests, the British Government on January 30 announced that, “for cogent reasons,” the admission of 1,500 Jews monthly would be continued. Meantime there was a renewal of violence by Jewish extremists, though it was difficult to see how terrorism could be of real service to their cause. In early February Jamal al Husseini, leader of the Palestine Arab party and cousin of the exiled Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was permitted to return to Palestine.
New Egyptian Cabinet.—In Egypt the three-party coalition ministry of Mahnoud Fahmy Bey fell early in February after a year in office. Its resignation was due chiefly to agitation to speed negotiations with Britain and the early withdrawal of British forces. A new government was formed under Ismail Sedky Pasha, a non-party leader and former Premier who has advocated more vigorous measures to end the British occupation. In the treaty negotiations which were going on at the time of the cabinet shift, Egypt sought not only evacuation of British forces but complete control over the Sudan.
PACIFIC AND FAR EAST
Yalta Pledges to Russia.—The price paid to the U.S.S.R. for her support in the war against Japan was fully revealed in early February by publication of the secret agreement made at Yalta a year before by President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and Premier Stalin. It is pointed out that, though the price was high, the early conquest of Japan was not as clear in February, 1945, as it was a little later on. In return for Russia’s entry “in two or three months after Germany has surrendered,” Russia was promised:
(1) The status quo in Outer Mongolia (the Mongolian People’s Republic) shall be preserved;
(2) The former rights of Russia violated by the treacherous attack of Japan in 1904 shall be restored, viz.:
(a) The southern part of Sakhalin as well as all the islands adjacent to it shall be returned to the Soviet Union.
(b) The commercial port of Dairen shall be internationalized, the pre-eminent interests of the Soviet Union in this port being safeguarded and the lease of Port Arthur as a naval base of the U.S.S.R. restored.
(c) The Chinese Eastern Railroad and the South Manchurian Railroad which provides an outlet to Dairen shall be jointly operated by the establishment of a joint Soviet-Chinese company, it being understood that the pre-eminent interests of the Soviet Union shall be safeguarded and that China shall retain full sovereignty in Manchuria;
(3) The Kurile Islands shall be handed over to the Soviet Union.
Assurance was given that China would approve, and the promises have since been carried out, as has Russia’s pledge to conclude a pact of friendship with China and to aid in her liberation. The evacuation of Soviet forces from Manchuria, however, has not yet been completed.
Views on Pacific Bases.—The United States joint chiefs of staff went on record early in February in favor of full United States sovereignty over the Marianas, Marshall, Caroline, and Palau groups of islands formerly held by Japan in the Pacific, and in favor of the sole trusteeship of the United States, under the U.N.O., over the Ryukyus, Bonin, and Volcano groups. U.S. sovereignty was urged to balance Soviet sovereignty over the Kuriles, as apparently pledged in the Yalta agreement. On the other hand, a committee of the American Association for the U.N.O. urged that the United States should avoid a “strictly nationalistic policy,” and should accept a limited trusteeship over former Japanese islands, involving responsibility to the United Nations for the welfare of their inhabitants. The only clue at that time to the policy of the President and the State Department was given in the President’s promise that the “national defense necessities of the United States would not be sacrificed.”
As regards the control of former Italian colonial possessions in Africa, the United States at first favored Italian trusteeships, and Britain has advocated a trusteeship, like the five-year arrangement in Korea, under the supervision of the “Big Four,”—Britain France, United States, and U.S.S.R. The U.S.S.R. has not withdrawn its request for a sole trusteeship over Tripolitania.
Chinese Unity Plan.—In a final plenary session of China’s Political Consultation Conference on January 31, unanimous approval was given to plans for a new coalition government, nationalization of all armed forces, and selection of a national assembly to adopt a new constitution. A three-man committee, with General George C. Marshall as adviser, was to work out the amalgamation of Communist and Kuomintang armies, and an interim coalition government was to rule until the adoption of the new Constitution. A state council was to be set up consisting of 40 members, 20 representing the Kuomintang and 20 the communists and minor parties. Regional autonomy was to continue on the basis of the status quo. Despite these rosy prospects, there were repeated subsequent clashes between Nationalist and Communist forces, especially in Manchuria. Here the Communists, on the basis of their armed forces in the province which they estimated at 300,000, demanded joint control and restrictions on the ingress of Nationalist troops. Russia was also reported as settling down at Mukden and making new economic demands on Chungking, including control of Manchurian waterways and a corridor to Dairen guarded by Soviet forces.
Korean Conference.—A conference of United States and Soviet military delegations ended in Korea on February 6 with little progress toward closer economic and political co-operation between the northern and southern occupation zones, but with plans for further conferences in the near future. In these subsequent meetings, Korean leaders were to be consulted and arrangements made for the setting up of a provisional government, with its seat at Seoul. The Koreans themselves are divided into parties of the Right and Left. The Right parties have set up a so-called National Assembly, headed by the aged Kim Koo, in which Communist politicians have not been invited or have not chosen to take part.