793.94 Conference/129: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Davies) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 29—9:30 a.m.]
280. Supplementing my 269, October 18, 9 p.m., the Soviet press commented editorially for the first time today on the Brussels Conference. Vigilis and Korradov, who are considered here as authoritative spokesmen for the Government, emphasized the following points in Izvestiya and Pravda:
1. Combined action on the part of only those states immediately interested in the Pacific would have been more advisable than the convocation of a cumbersome international conference.
[Page 117]2. The participation of Italy, Portugal, Bolivia and possibly Germany is unfortunate for they will undoubtedly try to transform the Conference into a replica of the London Nonintervention Committee. Aggressor nations should not be invited to discuss the means of struggling against aggression.
3. Italy has accepted in order to champion the integrity of Japan. Japan has calmly turned down the invitation to participate knowing that “the Italians and the Germans will do everything in their power to secure for Japan a free hand with respect to China”.
4. England is in no way ready to renounce its attempts to come to an agreement with Japan and is striving only to protect its interests in the Pacific by limiting the extent of Japanese aggression.
5. It is too early to judge whether the United States is ready “to show initiative in the matter of taking positive measures” against Japan. “It is possible, however, that American diplomacy will introduce a new ray into the negotiations. President Roosevelt’s speech seems to show a realistic approach to problem of protecting peace.”
6. There is little possibility that any concrete action will be taken by the Conference. Past performances in London and Geneva have shown that the democratic states are afraid of the aggressor nations and “even of their own shadows”. There is little reason to expect any stronger opposition to Japan than that displayed against the seizure of Abyssinia and the intervention in Spain.
“Until the bourgeois governments decide to conduct a practical struggle against military aggression, conferences called by them will only represent various alternatives of the same fruitless and frequently harmful gatherings where there is only talk and no action. There is still no reason to expect that the Brussels variant will be any better than the London one which only serves the aims of the aggressors.”
Cipher text by mail to Brussels.