Among the States of the Entente there is always a fundamental discord on the subject of Russia.  Great Britain recognized at once that if it were impossible to acknowledge the Soviet Government it was a mistake to encourage attempts at restoration.  After the first moments of uncertainty Great Britain has insisted on temperate measures, and notwithstanding that during the War she made the largest loans to the Russian Government (more than 14 milliards of francs at par, while France only lent about 4 milliards), she has never put forward the idea that, as a condition precedent to the recognition of the Soviet Government, a guarantee of the repayment of the debt was necessary.  Only France has had this mistaken idea, which she has forced to the point of asking for the sequestration of all gold sent abroad by the Soviet Government for the purchase of goods.

Wilson had already stated in his fourteen points what the attitude of the Entente towards Russia ought to be, but the attitudes actually assumed have been of quite a different order.

The barrier which Poland wants to construct between Germany and Russia is an absurdity which must be swept away at once.  Having taken away Germany’s colonies and her capacities for expansion abroad, we must now direct her towards Russia where alone she can find the outlet necessary for her enormous population and the debt she has to carry.  The blockade of Russia, the barbed wire placed round Russia, have damaged Europe severely.  This blockade has resolved itself into a blockade against the Allies.  Before the present state of economic ruin Russia was the great reservoir of raw materials; she was the unexplored treasure towards which one went with the confidence of finding everything.  Now, owing to her effort, she has fallen; but how large a part of her fall is as much due to the Entente as to her action during the War and since.  For some time now even the most hidebound intelligences have recognized the fact that it is useless to talk of entering into trade relations with Russia without the co-operation of Germany, the obvious ally in the vast task of renovation.  Similarly, it is useless to talk of reattempting military manoeuvres.  While Germany remains disassociated from the work of reconstruction and feels herself menaced by a Poland that is anarchical and disorderly and acts as an agent of the Entente, while Germany has no security for her future and must work with doubt and with rancour, all attempts to reconstruct Russia will be vain.  The simple and fundamental truth is just this:  One can only get to Moscow by passing through Berlin.

If we do not wish conquerors and conquered to fall one after the other, and a common fate to reunite those who for too long have hated each other and continue to hate each other, a solemn word of peace must be pronounced.

Austria, Germany, Italy, France are not diverse phenomena; they are different phases of the same phenomenon.  All Europe will go to pieces if new conditions of life are not found, and the economic equilibrium profoundly shaken by the War re-established.