LONDON AND LUBLIN
Sta,—The Spectator has accustomed us to such a fair and balanced pre- sentation of the Polish case that your comments in the last issues have come as a painful surprise. I would not, however, encroach on your space were it not for the necessity of clearing up a fatal misconception. You express the hope that " the present Polish Government will give place to one less intransigeant," and state that if such a less intransigeant Government was formed " there might still be some prospect of achieving a fusion between the rival Governments." Now this is a complete mis- reading of the situation. No Pole accepts the Lublin men as a rival Government, and no Polish Government will ever accept a " fusion " with the men of Lublin. Mr. Mykolajczyk and his followers have made it quite clear in their Sigan jutro Polski that in this respect there is no difference between them and the actual Polish Government. The so- called Lublin " Government " is exactly on the same plane as the " Government " of Manchukuo. It is a puppet organisation with no basis in Poland, supported only by the Russian bayonets. To accept a fusion with this Government would be to sign away the independence of Poland.
At no moment was such a fusion contemplated, nor can it be con- templated in the future. What was contemplated at a certain moment by Mr. Mykolajczyk's Government, and what might still be possible, was something quite different, namely, 'he inclusion in the Government of representatives of the Polish Communist Party, though this party has never commanded the allegiance of more than 2 per cent. of the popula- tion. If you, Sir, had followed the debate in the House of Commons, you would have seen that the speakers of .all parties were unanimous in recognising the wholly uprepresentative and fictitious character of this Lublin " Government." Quite recently, Mr. Arthur Greenwood, speaking officially, has reaffirmed that the Labour Party will never accept its recognition. The actual dispute is a dispute between Poland and Russia. To transform it into a dispute between two " rival Governments " is to drag a red herring. It may be that as you say it in this dispute Russia "holds all the trump cards," and if Poland was to be abandoned by her Allies there could indeed be no doubt about it. But you cannot in fairness ask of a Polish Government to be a willing party to the surrender of the independence of Poland which a " fusion " with the Lublin Committee would inevitably amount to.—I am, Sir, Ypur obedient
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