Paris Peace Conf. 184.011102/112: Telegram
Mr. Albert Halstead to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
[Received July 7—6:50 p.m.]
560. Ammission to conclude peace with German-Austria before the overthrow of the Bela Kun Bolshevik regime in Hungary would be greatest tactical error. The problems of German-Austria and Hungary are inseparable. There would be no peace for this country with Bolshevism still ruling in Hungary. The German-Austrian frontiers would be open to easier Hungarian attacks. Not only has German-Austria [Page 540] no armed force sufficiently strong or reliable to withstand an attack, but the Bolshevik element here would aid in such invasion. With the failure of the Entente to act decisively against Hungarian Bolshevism those members of the Government of German-Austria who are really in sympathy with Bolshevik doctrines could afford to come out into the open. Failure to crush Hungarian Bolshevism would invite its spread. The efforts of Russian and Hungarian Bolshevism to infect other countries have had considerable success, as is witnessed by its appearance as an accompaniment of industrial unrest in all countries. The danger to the rest of Europe must not be minimized. The countries surrounding Hungary will be most endangered, but Italy’s position is menaced and next come France and Great Britain, while the Scandinavian countries, Norway especially, have felt seriously the effects of Bolshevists propaganda from Russia.
I do not give these views as my own alone. They are by no means original and have been strengthened by conversations and conferences with members of our Allied Missions. Captain Gregory of the ARA11 has expressed to me identical views. The memorandum of yesterday’s conference sent to the Food Administration in Paris, a copy of which was forwarded for me to the Mission,12 is a considered judgment, reached with full sense of the responsibility assumed. It is earnestly hoped that the views of those on the spot who should understand the situation best will receive noted consideration. The proposed action will not be regarded in Hungary as foreign meddling, but will be welcomed there as the only solution.
The so-called Government at Arad has no force and engages in trivialities and considers personal ambition of would-be rulers as of first importance. It comprises Monarchists, Reactionaries and Socialists and has not even the germ of practical political wisdom. Ineffective and impotent, it does not represent a majority of the Hungarian people. It is practically little more than a pious exclamation. For the present time there is no party sufficiently strong to undertake government. The majority of the people, at least 90 percent are in agreement against Bolshevism, but when Bolshevism disappears each faction would at first seek to enforce its own theories. Thence the necessity of sympathetic Allied control until a suitable government can be erected. The very desire to govern themselves would hasten compromise of theories, so the period of the Allied control need not be long.
With no action against Hungarian Bolshevism, and a treaty that deals with German-Austria as with a hardened criminal, Bolshevism is certain to have German-Austria as its next victim. Following that [Page 541] would come union with Germany. The necessity of an early peace with German-Austria so that the work of rebuilding may begin needs no emphasis. This very need of an early settlement makes immediate action in the case of Hungary imperative.