File No. 861.00/2053
The Consul at Moscow ( Poole ) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 15, 1.12 p.m.]
628. … member of the board of the All-Russian Union of Cooperative Societies, which includes Moscow national and Siberian union at Novo Nikolaevsk and is in close relation with Siberian union of butter makers, has authorized Consulate General to transmit to the Department statement given below as an exact and confidential expression of his personal views on points stated in Department’s unnumbered June 5, 12 midnight.1 … is considered the most solid leader among the Cooperatives of Siberia and Russia on the purely business side. Commended for his participation in the Moscow conference, he has carefully refrained from all political activity and he desired it to be understood that he gives the statement below as a business man and humanitarian worker, not as a politician. Every one whom Consulate General has consulted agrees that … is the most dependable spokesman for the rank and file of the Cooperatives, especially those of Siberia. The statement is as follows:
The Cooperative Societies are non-political organizations. Our rule that the leaders should not be politicians has been broken only when the Cooperatives, under my leadership, took part in the Moscow [Page 206] conference of last August. We thought it was our duty to help save the country at a crisis. Our efforts were in vain. The country has perished.
Now an economic calamity surpassing the imagination impends, and it is the duty of the Cooperative Societies to endeavor to save the people from starvation. For this, outside help is necessary.
The weariness of the great masses of the people in European Russia has become such, as a result of disorganization and Bolshevik terror, that they desire only the reestablishment of normal economic order; and although as a rule antagonistic to Germany, are now prepared to accept the reestablishment of order through the interference of either the Allies or even the Central powers. As for the Cooperatives, we have worked under the Bolshevik regime and now, if necessary, we can work under German, as our main duty is to relieve the masses of their suffering.
However, the political sympathies of the Cooperatives are with the Allies. In Siberia, where the Cooperative Societies represent the people here in the fullest measure, there is a special feeling of friendliness fixed and upholding in [unshaken toward] America. On the other hand there is distrust of Japan. We have no means ourselves of stopping the German advance or of preventing the spread of all German influence. Direct military aid from the Allies is the only means of making resistance against Germany. We are practical men and understand that for intervention there must be compensation of some sort. Many of us fear that if Japan is allowed to enter Siberia by herself without the control of other nations she may demand compensation such as none of us is prepared to grant.
It is my personal view that the Allies should take the leaders of the Cooperatives, as well as other pro-Ally leaders, into their confidence stating definitely their objects and intentions, what compensation is expected, especially by Japan, the manner of intervention and the approximate date at which it will come. Speed is especially important as the suffering of the people has reached such a pitch that it cannot be endured much longer.
I believe that in view of the confidence of the Siberian people in America, American assurances respecting the preservation of what we consider our vital interests would be acceptable, and that intervention begun after such assurances have been given would be welcomed by the Siberian Cooperatives, and the Allies could count upon our support and the support of the Siberian people in carrying out a combined resistance to German aggression.