860C.51/5–2146
Memorandum by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Eastern European Affairs (Elbrick) to the Director of the Office of European Affairs (Matthews)
Mr. Matthews: In accordance with the Secretary’s instructions from Paris (Paris’ telegram 2400 of May 1758) deliveries of surplus property to Poland are still suspended, and the contract with the Export-Import Bank for a $40,000,000 credit for locomotives and coal cars has not been signed.
The notes exchanged at the time of the credit authorization were published on May 12 in Poland and accordingly one of the conditions cited in connection with the suspension of surplus property deliveries has now been met by the Poles. The question of censorship involving the transmission of a press despatch quoting Banczyk’s speech has not been completely clarified; the Poles, however, claim they have proof that this message was not stopped by the Polish censorship. The texts of Poland’s trade agreements have not yet been forthcoming, and it [Page 456] appears from Warsaw’s 723 of May 1859 that Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Modzelewski, is again attempting to evade the issue. He has informed our Chargé d’Affaires at Warsaw that certain information contained in these treaties or their accompaniments may be seen by a member of the Embassy staff but may not be copied. He has also indicated that certain information can not be shown to the Embassy, because it is considered to be secret. While the opinion of all interested Divisions of the Department has not yet been obtained, it appears obvious that the information which Modzelewski says the Polish Government is prepared to give us will be unsatisfactory. Accordingly, the question arises as to whether we should continue to suspend surplus property deliveries indefinitely pending a change in this attitude of the Polish Government.
The question likewise arises, in view of the disturbing political situation in Poland, whether it might be desirable to continue to withhold the Export-Import credit and the surplus property credit even though the Polish Government may decide to comply with the third condition cited above in the near future. The political situation is deteriorating rapidly according to press reports and to reports from our Embassy at Warsaw. Apparently the Security Police are carrying out repressive measures against the Polish Peasant Party (Mikolajczyk) leaders. The aim of the Government in the opinion of our Embassy is to destroy if possible Mikolajczyk’s prestige and that of his followers by branding them as “Fascists” and linking them with the so-called “terroristic underground”. These repressive activities would naturally prevent the holding of “free and unfettered elections” in accordance with the Yalta and Potsdam decisions and in accordance with the reaffirmation of the Polish Government to hold such elections, as expressed in Ambassador Lange’s note of April 24 at the time the credit notes were exchanged.