665.001/10–1251: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Gifford) to the Secretary of State 1
1791. FonOff has given us its first reactions to Sov note2 re Ital peace treaty, in form of guidance for its press Dept. Other reactions were that no reply shld be made to Sovs and care shld be taken to [Page 724] avoid passing buck to Itals. Press Dept guidance cleared with Ital Emb here fols:
Begin verbatim text: As was expected, this is a propaganda piece cleverly designed for exploitation by the Ital Commie Party. It does not treat the subj on its merits, but uses it as part of the campaign to prove the aggressive nature of NATO—last refuted at Ottawa. It bears no relation to reality. The present position is that while many of the other signatories have declared their unconditional readiness not to exercise their rights, the USSR have posed conditions which will clearly be acceptable to the Ital Govt. Thus the treaty position as between Ital and the USSR remains unchanged, while the bulk of the other signatories will, it is hoped on receipt of an Ital request, proceed in accordance with the declaration of the 26th Sept.
(Note: This point shld only be made in reply to questions on the legal position. We naturally do not wish to appear to be passing the buck to the Itals.)
The conditions and comments outlined in the Sov note to HMG concern the bilateral relations of Ital and the Sov Govt but the fol considerations are obvious:
(i) Admission of Ital and satellites to UNO.
Applications for membership should, according to the statutes of UNO and the opinion of the Internatl Court be considered purely on their merits and cannot, therefore, be the subj horse trading deals. While the Russians have raised no objections to Itals suitability for membership they have always made her admission conditional on the admission of the satellites. (Note: Finland is not a satellite.) The objection of HMG to the admission of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Roumania, is that they have consistently violated not only the armament but also the Human Rights clauses of the treaties.
(ii) Analogous revision of satellite treaties.
Bulg, Hung and Roumania have violated their treaties in an outrageous manner, and it is ludicrous to compare their action with the present case. Revision is consequently immaterial.
(iii) Withdrawal from NATO allowing bases and armed forces.
Ital, as sovereign state, has a perfect right to join this defensive alliance, and there is nothing in the treaty against her doing so. To insist on her withdrawal wld be a gross infringement on her sovereign rights.