860C.00/5–2046
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
| Participants: | Mr. John Balfour, Minister Counselor of the British Embassy; |
| Mr. Dean Acheson, Under Secretary of State; | |
| Mr. C. Burke Elbrick, Assistant Chief, Division of Eastern European Affairs. |
Mr. Balfour said he wish[ed] to inform the Department that he had been authorized to state that there is no truth in the news report that had appeared in the American press on May 15 to the effect that Great Britain was prepared to break off relations with the Polish Government. He had been informed that no officer in the British Foreign Office (to which the report had been attributed) had made any such statement.
Mr. Balfour said that the Embassy had again been directed by the British Foreign Office to consult the State Department on the subject of possible parallel representations to the Polish Government regarding the disturbing political situation in that country. He called attention to the various points raised in a memorandum dated May 20 which he left with me. (Copy attached.57)
[Page 453]In discussing the fifth paragraph of the memorandum in which attention is called to the possible ejection of Vice Prime Minister Mikolajczyk and the representatives of the Peasant Party from the Provisional Government, it was pointed out to Mr. Balfour that any representations which we might make to the Polish Government based upon the assumption or the possibility that Mikolajczyk would be eliminated from the Cabinet might have undesirable repercussions and, in openly linking Mikolajczyk with the American and British Governments, would expose him to further attack by the Provisional Government. Mr. Balfour agreed that such a move might be inadvisable. He said, however, that he felt some action should be taken to impress upon the Polish Government the importance which the British and American Governments attach to the holding of “free and unfettered” elections and to the maintenance of the composition of the Provisional Government as decided upon at Moscow until such elections are held.
In discussing the sixth paragraph of the attached memorandum, Mr. Balfour inquired concerning our reasons for suspending deliveries of surplus property to Poland under a recent credit authorization. He said that it appeared to him that the suspension affected only the surplus property credit of $50,000,000 and not the Export-Import Bank of $40,000,000. He was informed that while it is true that the only positive action that has been taken concerned the suspension of surplus property deliveries, the contract between the Polish Government and the Export-Import Bank had not yet been signed and the credit authorization provided by the exchange of notes on April 24, 1946 had, therefore, not been implemented. Mr. Balfour was also informed that the State Department has no intention of lifting the credit suspension until the Polish Government has complied with all the conditions previously cited by the Department. These include not only the matter of censorship of an AP press news despatch reporting an important political speech hi Poland, but also the furnishing to us of texts of Poland’s trade agreements with other countries. The matter of censorship has not yet been clarified satisfactorily, although there is some doubt as to the reason for the failure of the message to come through. None of the treaty texts has yet been furnished to this Government. Mr. Balfour was also informed that this Government does not intend to go through with the credit deal until and unless it is satisfied that Poland will carry out the economic and political commitments made at the time the credit was authorized.
- Infra.↩