S/PV.6 Security Council

The proppsal now before thé: chair is that which is proposed by the representative of the United Kingdom. 1 will ask: Are there any objectio:l"'.s? If not, the resolution is adopted unanimous1y. The resolution was adobted unanimousl'l1. . ~ As proposed by Mr. Stettinius (United States of America), following a short discussion it was decided that the next meeting would he held on Friday, 1 February, at 3 p.m. The meeting rose at 7.16 p.rn. 5IX!H MEETING Held al Church House, Westminster, London, on Friday, 1 February 1946, at 3 p.m. President: Ml'. N. J. O. MARIN (Australia). Fresent: The representatives of the following countries: Australia, BraziI, China, Egypt, France, Mexico, Netherlands,Poland, Union of Soviet Sôcialist Republics, United Kingdom, United States of America. 26. Provisional agenda 1. Adoption of the agenda. 2. l.etter Irom the Acting Head of the Scvi~t delegation ta the President of the Security Council dated 21 January 1946.1 . 3. Letter from the Head of the Ukrainian SSR delegation ta the President of the Security Council dated 21 January 1946.2 4. Letter from the Head of the Yugoslav deIegation to the Executive Se..:retary (undated).S 27~Adoption of the agenda • Ibid•• Annex 4. • Ibid., Annex 5. Mr. MODZELEWSKI (Poland) (translated Irom French): l RfiJ.in favour of the procedure suggested .by thè President, provided that the representatives of the Govêrnments concerned with the matters referred to in the communica- tions in question are consultèd. ' The ;PRESIDENT:- l would like.-"to suggest to the representative of Poland that all countries are represented on the Oommittee of. Experts. May 1 suggest, further, that the Committee is not to deal with the communications themselves but actually to suggest what_ procedure should be adopted regan:ling their receipt and, II neces- sary, their distribution to members of the Coun- cil. 1 take it, therefore,that the recommendation that 1 have made to the Council is adopted? 29. Letter from the Acting Head of the Soviet delegation to the President of the Security Counci! dtJed 21 January 1946 2

The next item on the agenda is the consideration of a letter from the Acting Head of the Soviet delegation to the President of the Sec"Urity COUI1Cil d~.ted 21 January 1946. May 1 remind members of the Côuncil that at the second meeting of the Council, on 25 January 1946, it was decided that during discussion of this item a representative of Greece would be asked to take bis place at the Council table in order that he might exercise the right to participate, without vote, in the discussion. 1 would point out that the right is the same whether it is under Article 31 or 32 of the Charter. Are there any objections to thatprocedure? If not, 1 will now invite the representative of Greece kincily to take his seat at the table. s See OfficialR,côrds of the. S,curity Council. First y"ear, First Series, Supplement No. 1, Annex 7. As this matter has been brought before the Council on the initiative of the representative of the Soviet Government, 1 take it that the Coun- cil would wish the delegation of the Soviet Union to be given the opportunity to make oral obser- vations either in explanation or in supplementa- tion of the letter of 21 January 1946, signed by the Acting Head of the Soviet: delegation. This letter refers to the presence of British troops in Greece and makes statements regarding the events which are said ta have resulted from the presence of such troops. 1 think it would he appropriate therefore~ when the oral statement of the Soviet representative has been co~pleted, to call upon the representative of the United Kingdom to .make such oral statement in reply as he may wish. 1 take it that the Council would then wish to afford the represen,tative of Greece the opportunity of making an oral statement of the views of bis. Government on this question. The matter could then be thrown open for gen- eral discussion. Are there any objections to adoption. of the course that 1 have suggested to the Council? The sugges~ed procedure was adopted. 30. Statement of the Soviet representative Mr. VVSHINSKY (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) (translated tram Russian): On 21 January of this year the Soviet delegation, acting upon the instructions of the Soviet Gov- ernment and in accordance with Article 35 of the United Nations Charter, proposed to the Security Council that·the prevailing situation in Greece should be discussed, and that measures provided for in the Charter should be taken to put an end to this situation. f- I think 1 should remind you that this is not the first cime the Soviet Government has brought the question of the situation in Greece to the attention of its Allies. Thus, in connexion with· the Yâlta Declaration on liberated Europe, at the Berlin Conference on 21 July 1945 the Soviet Government submitted a memorandum in which the situation in Greece was described as one where there was no proper order, where laws were not respected, and where terrorism was raging and was directed against democratic e1ements who had borne on their shouldens the main burden of the struggle against the German occupation forces in Europe. In this memoran- dum the Soviet Government pointed out that the. Government then in power in Greece was adopting an attitude which might endanger peace and might even. lead to a war against its neighbours. Albania and Bulgaria. .Sorne time later, in September 1945, the So"iet Government submitted to the first session of the Council of Min.isters of Foreign Affairs in London a second memorandum on the situa- 1. In Greece an extremely tense situation has been created which is fraught with serious con- sequences, both for the Greek people and for the maintenance of peace and security. 2. The presence of British troops in Greece is not dictated by necessity, since they are not there to protect the communications of British troops stationed in defeated countries. • 3~ The presence 'of British troops in Greece has in actual fact become a means of exeJting pressure on t.he internaI potitical affairs of that country. 4. This ,circumstance is frequently used by reactionary e1ements in Greece against the demo- cratic forces of the country. These are the four main points on which the Soviet delegation based its January letter. It seems to me that there is no special need to dwell at the preserit time upon the nature of the situation, which was described.in the Soviet statement as being e:xtreme1y tense and fraught with serious consequences. What is happening today in Greece-horrors, lawlessness, the overt "White" terror of the so:.called "X" organiza- tions and similar fascist scum which rule in that country-is well known, and hardly needs any proof. Nevertheless, 1 feel obliged to remind you of some of these facts, limiting myself to those which are the most necessary and important. That is what Metropolitan Archbishop Joachim wrote in the London bulletin Religion IJnd the People in December 1945. The following telegram is from Athens, dated 21 January: "Yesterday the monarchists began their putsch in the Peloponnesus. From fragmentary information, we learn that in the town of Kalamata well-armed monarchists in military uniform occupied the police station, freed over thirty members of the monarchist-fascist or- ganization 'X', who had been arrested for murder, and took away with them sorne imprisoned members of EAM. The late of these prisoners is unknown. The monarchists attemptedto seize the prison and government buildings. The results are asyet unknown. To aIl practical purposes, Kalamatais in the hands of the 'X' organizatiOJ;l. Monarchist bands from the provinces are converging on the town; theyare said to number 3,000. Many of them, according to our information, wear arm-bands marked with the letter 'X'. Dnits of tIre National Guard are offering re- sistance to the rebels. Shooting is taking place in Sparta, where the 'X' gangs have occupied part ofthe town. People have been killed in both towns. The Government has declared martial law in the provinces of Laconia and Messina. Motorized units have been sent to the Peloponnesus from Corinth and Athens. "The Prime Minister's declaration, printed on leaflets and sent by aeroplane to the Pelo- ponnesus, states that thètebels 'will be sub- jected to court-martial, and the sentences will be executed immediately'. The events in the Peloponnesus were preceded by an ultimatum sent to the Prime Minister by the head of the 'X', Colonel Grivas; the ulilinatum stated that if the Government would not break with tb.e Communists of its own accord, the 'X' groups themselves would 'put the country in md~. . "The Minister of Social Security declared that there had fallen into his hands a circulai' distributed by Grivas, which made it clear that the responsibility for the events in the Peloponnesus faIls on the 'X' organization. "During the last few days, the monarchist press has issued a number of false statements to the effect that Communist elements were prepared ta start a revolutionary movement. ,.Allthismerely s.ervesas proof thatmonarchist and fascist organizations hav~ prepared a plan for the Pe1oponnesus, and later for the whole country." It is quite understandable that several days aga the Central Committee of the National Lib- erationMovement in Greece (EAM) addressed 1 a telegram to the General Assembiyand the Security Council, ta the effect.that $e Greek people, who have expendéd all their strength in thestruggle against the Germans, .are living un- der the conditions of an .anti-democratic regime. In .this telegram it is emphasized that the mon- archists, who receive foreign support, are terror- izing the Gre,ek people, and that the situation in Greece is a contravention of the statements of ·the Allies, and particularly of the Yalta Declara- tion on .liberated Europe. Itis no accident that the Central Committee of the Nationcd Liberation Movement .(EAM) visitdl' Prime Minister Sophoulis,' andalso the British, American and Soviet ambassadors a few days ago, and submitted.a memorandum which states thatthe monarchist terror has now reached e:x:treme limits, thatthe monarchists wish to es- tablisha'dictatorship by",falsifying e1ections and resorting toall manner of fraud, and tha: the present. Government cannat and .does .not wish to put. an end to the.terror, and should bear the .responsibility for the events in GliieCe. . It is noteworthy that thisstatementwas made n9t by the Communists alone but by the repre- sentatives of aU ofthe parties ma.king upthe . National Liberation Front (EAM) . The repre- ,.sentati~es Were the Secretary oftheCommunist 'party; Siantos, .. the Secretary of the Socialist Here, in my opinion, it is necessary fust of all to discuss the general question of what justifica- tion there may be for the presence of Allied troops in an Allied country. This is a question of political and moral significance, a question of enonnous significance in matters of principle. ln the opinion of the .Soviet delegation, which expresseS the views of the Soviet Govemment, the presence of Allied troops in an Allied coun- try may-be justified in two ways. ln the fust place, if the Allied country has been'inv-aded .. byene111Y trüops, Allieâ forces may .naturally help to expel them from that country. That is why British troops stationed near Greece came to that country and helped to expel the German OCcupgtion forces. Bqt now, not oruy are there no Germav.B in Greece~ but there is not even a threat from an external enemy. Consequently, the aforementioned justi- fication for the presence of British, troops in Greece no longer applies. That is the position regarding the first justification for the presence of Allied troops in an Allied country. This leads us tQ a second consideration, which concerns another justification for the presence of Allied troops in an Allied country. It is the· following: theirpresencein an Allied country may be dictated by. the necessity of protecting comrriûnications with a defeatlld conntry where ·troops of· the Allied Power in question must be stationed. This maybe said, for instance, of the presence of· British and American troops .in .France, Belgium and Holland to protect com- munications' with' British and American 'troops in Germany; this may be said of the presence of Soviet troops in Poland to protect communica- tions with Soviet troops in Germany.Sîmilarly, the presence of Britishtroops in Italy, for in- stance, is understandable, since the British Com- mand has the task ofprotecting·communications with Austria, where British trQops are also sta- tioned. The territQry of Greece cannot be used by Great Britain for such purposes. Conse- quently, this second justification for the pr~sence ofBritish troops in Greece is aIso absent. Thus, both ofthe possible justifications for the presence of British troop~onthe territoryof. its Greek AllY do not exist at present. Greece~ But the Greek Govemment is making a mistake in this case, since it does not t<>ke into account the consequences of this situation, wmch may give rise to complications. This is aIso evi- dent from a recendy published. dedaration by the Greek Prime Minister, Mr. Sophoulis, who 'said: "An Governmelilt measure.s. are pàralyzed by the 'X' organization. Four-fifths of the State apparatus, the organs of justice, thegendarmerie, the police and officers' corps are all 'X' mem- bers. In the province, the Surlas bands are the masters, and have. established their owngovern- ment; they are weIl armed, and do anything . they please." But l shall.not speak now of the Greek Gov- ernment, as in this' connexion a great deal is still shrouded inmystery. 1 am thinking particu- lady of ·a rather strange occurrence, almostun- precedented in pelitital practice,.when, on the éve of the. discussion of the Greek.problem·by the 31. 'Statement of the United Kingd.,m repr'asentative MT. BEVIN (Unite.d Kingd0':ll): 1 think the speech that we have just listened to, outlining the difficulties l\le have reached, points Dr)t to the ne-cessity of Vvithdrn:wing British troops, but to the imperative necessity of putting more there. But in order to deal with the history of the mat- ter, 1 may have to weary you with rather a long statement, which 1 regret. Mr. Vyshrnsky went into the discussion that had taken place between the British Government and the Soviet Government regarding Greece. Tllli; matter was discussed at Yalta. Marshal Stalin asked for information about Greece, wmch he was given. The next day he said he did not wish to interfere; he had complete confi- dence in the British policy in Greece. That is where it was left at Yalta. It was at Potsdam that the attacks on our policy really started. A paper Was circulated there about Greece; that was done before my arrivaI at Potsdam. The Security Council will probably remember that a very orderly e1ection -without a single list, Mr. Vyshinsky-took place in Great Britain. The Government changed, andso 1 had to go to Potsdanl. But prior to my arrivaI, Mr. Eden circulated a memorandum enclosing reports by Field-Mar- shaI Alexander and by the trade union delega- tionthat went to Greece. At a meeting on 31 ]uly , MI'. Molotov, after reading thiS,agreed to drop the matter. That ended the situation at Potsdam. But it is significant that, whenever the problem of Greece has, arisen in any negotiations with the Soviet Union, it has always'come abo~t when wehavebeen discussing Roumalîia or Bulgaria The same thing occurred in. London. Mter the discussion in London, 1 was told by Mr. Molotov that "( should hear no more from the Soviet Gewernment about Greece. 1 understood that the matter was left ta Great Britain and the Greek Government, and for a time it was. At Moscow there was an agenda, which had been agreed upon before we 1eft London and before Mr. Bymes left the United States. When we got to Moscow, we found such pi'ûblems on the agenda as China, Manchuria, Iran. Then we added Indonesia and Greece. Mter discussion, it was agreed that they should not be placed on th~ agenda, but should form the subject of an informal eY.change of views. 1 had a meeting with Mr. Molotov on 18 De- cember. 1 gave a very full explanation about Greece, and Mr. Molotov did not press the mat- ter further and did not ask that any specifie actionshould be taken. 1 said the other day that 1 was glad this ques- tion was going to be debated in the open, because .the British Government has been charged by that extraordinary organization calIed Ôe Com- mumist Party~ which seems to act by some mys- terious lilethod with great unanimity in every country in the worId in order ta attilckGreat F. ~tain. Indeed, 1 know when 1 displease the Soviet Govemment, because all the shop stew- ards, who are Communists, and others in this country send me resolutions in the exact same language. Icannot accuse any Government of taking action. AIl 1 say is, as he has said, that it is one of those strarge coincidences that occur: How did this business start in Greece? The British.Govermnent recogr'ized that· Greece had been torn to pieces, and· let me say. that, not èxcluding the Soviet Union nor Great· Britain nor America, no. country fought moreg~,11ant1y in this War than Greece did against the Italians and the Germans. And if 1 maysay so, the diversionary tactics when the British forces first went ta: Greece werenp mean contribution to enable .the Soviet .Governmen:ùmobilization againstHitler. Greece hadbeen Qverrun.by two anrJ~. Indeed, as I.said in the House of Com- mons n()t .Iongago,.Greece has Beenin thè thraldolll .of .warvîrtuanysince.·19.12, and has .1:>een the cockpit of big-Power controversy.Itwas .agreat Englisillnan, Lord Byron, whohelped ta " •win the freedom of Gteece; And without anyc There was a meeting in the Levant at which EAM, Socialists, Populists, and everybody eIse was present. Discussion took place as to what steps should be taken to revive Greece. An all- party Government was formed, inc1uding EAM. It was agreed there and later on in further dis- cussion that, Bince no po!ice, no army and no civil service were left, British administrators and troops, in agreement with Marshal Stalin, should go into Greece and help revive the country, tum out the Germans and seek to restore order and settle civil government in operation. We went. We have a Parliament in this country, and al! 1 am saying has been reported in Parliament. What is more, 1 was a member 6f the Coalition Government of that time, and took part in every decision. When 1 was challenged, 1 went to the Labour Party Co'1ference in the hall where the Assembly is now meeting, and that Conference agreed we were doing the right -thing. When we went into Greece, a civil war broke out. Our information is that that war was started primarily by the Communists seeking to àbtain a minority government to control the country. Here let me repeat what the Trade Union Con- gress said about that, because if there is bitter- ness now between Left and Right and Middle, the world should mow the circumstances that produced that bitterness. And, having had expe- rience with civil wars closer to home in my time, 1 say to the world that nothing produces more bitterness than civil wars; they produce far more bitterness than extemal wars do: family against family, class agaînst cIass, man against man. The Trade Union Congress, which wasan independent delegation, said this: "In response to a question as to the part ELAS has played,in the pursuit of the retreating Germans"-and 1 read this because EUS ID called the Resistance Movement-"it was stated that when our ttoop.: were moving north in pursuit of the Germans, they passedforces of ELAS marching in the op- posite direction, and that a review of these tt:oops showed undoubteclly that ELAS, which was the army of the EAM, was more concemed with returning to Athens to seek power than with fighting the Germans. We were impressedwith the universal opinion of thoseBritish troops and of many others whom we •consulted, that had theynot been ordered into action against ELAS there wouldhave beenwholesale massacre in Athens. Farfrom regarding tlùs action as prema- ture,thesemen expressed the definite~opinion tbat had action taktn place at an earlier stage, "From numerous sources) we heard horrible staries of the atrocities committed by ELAS. Whatever may be the truth) it is undoubtedly implicitly believed by a vast majority of the peo- ple of Athens than OPLA) which was a terrorist organization) murdered many civilians who had no connexion with the fighting wllatever. Direct evidence was given to us by frlends of certain trade unionists, who, it was alleged) had been executed by OPLA without trial. With this evi- dence, it would be wrong to assume that all the e..xecutions followed the outbreak of the civil war. Some two hundred and fifty of thase victims were laid out for identification, and there were still many trenches to be Qpened. We questioned relatives on the spot, and there seems no reason ta doubt that practically a11, if not the whole of the dead, had been victims of organized murdt:r. AlI had been executed at close quarters. There ,"'las no sign that fighting had taken place, and many of the victims had their hands tied behind their backs. We made particular inquiries ta en- sure on the highest authority that no British, or Greek troops~ or National Guards were in the area at the time the executions had taken place. "These bodies had been discovered c:ùy a few days before our arrival in Athens. The evi- dence of both British and Greek medical officers showed that death had taken place within a month prior to 21 January. It was officially stated that in certain areas up to that date, 1,050 bodies of men and 168 bodies of women had been exhumed. These figures do not include the bodies of persnns killed in. the fighting, or about 800 taken ta the mortuary. Most of the bodies we sàw were barefcoted and aImost naked. We were infonned by the Regçnt·fuat, as far as they could estimate, the number of persons murdered was at least 10,000." That is the story told by independent trade union officiais holding highly respected positions in this country-the leaders of the railwaymen, the textile men, the Trade Union Congress- and not by the British Govemment. 1 could go on reading many more passages of a similar char- acter. The Greek Govemment, and each succeeding Greek -Govemment, was faced with the situa- tion in which there was a determined attempt on the part of the Communists ta seize power We could have done as was dOlie in Roumania by Ml'. Vyshinsky. We had the power. Greece would no doubt have responded. We could have put in a min01'Îty government, but we·did not do that. We have not set up governments ïn Greece. We have asked Gl'eece to find her own govern- ment. We knew that govemments would rise and fall; we mew there would be difficulty. We- believed that democracy must come froM the bottom, not from the top. We believed that in the end, out of hcr difficulties and experience, a way could be found to enable Greece to get her proper position. . We began to get Greece right. Ml'. Zacharla- des, the leader of the Communist Party, went back to Athens. We did not stand in bis w~\ .. We did not censor him. The Gover1Unent placèd no obstacle in bis way to agitate his cause. . This report includes a quotation of what he said: "Ml'. Zachariades, the leader of the Greek Communist Party, addressed a mass meeting in Salonika on 24 August. The speech contained a violent attack on British palicy and on British troops in Greece and included the words: 'If Ml'. Bevin is not in a position to impose order in Greece with his occupation forces, let him with- draw them from our country. Then the Greek people, in spite of the one-sid~d application of our Peace Agreement, will be in a position to restore arder and quiet in the country through its own unaided efforts.' " Mrs. Sprigge, the i\lanchester Guardian cor- respondent, had an interview with Ml'. Zacha- riades next morning, during which the following conversation took place: "Why did you concentrate 50,000 people and then turn against Great Britain? Is it be- cause you want the British to leave Greece? "Ml'. Zachariades: Yeso "Mrs. Sprigge: Are you aware of the conse- quences? "Ml'. Zachariades: 1 am aware that a civil war, which we want, will follow. It will be a question of two months, and then everything will be all ~ight:' Ml'..Zachariades Iater denied having made these statements ta Mrs. Sprigge, but the latter confinned that. this is what he in.{act said to Let me caU youX' attention to another pact. Signed in this· city, there is a treaty of friend- ship betweenthe Soviet Union and Great Britain. 1 should have thought, and 1 am sure that the Security Couneil will agree with me, that if we were such disastrous becUcllows as wc are accused of being today, somcthing would have been said through diplomatie channels before this matter came to the Security Couneil. But there has not been one comm14nication to us, other than what l have read. There have been no negûtiatiollS about this business, as required by the Charter. There have been no representa- tions other than Generalissimo Stalin saying he was satisfied with our policy, and Ml'. Molotov dropping the question at Potsdam, taking it off the agenda at Moscow and not pressing the matter at aIl. And yet, apart altogether from our membership of the United Nations, we are here in the dock today, apparently, without a single official communication from a country that is an Ally, and that, in addition, has a treaty of friendship with us. There have been quotations about the Kala- mata incident, but 1 would remind the Security Council that there were no British troops in the vicinity or anywhere near it. 1 do not think it is cIaimed that there were. But Ml'. Xianthos, who is a member of the Communist Party, and there- fore, 1 suppose, wants us ta withdraw from Greece, called on the British Ambassador to complain of the failure of British troops to inter- fere in the incident. He complai.."led that our troops were not there to protect them. 1 sugge.'3t that this is a glorious inconsistency. Indeed, we are accused of protecting the Right.· The Right is accusing us of protecting the Left. What we aredoing is trying ta hold the scales fairly. .1 have said to Ml'. Molotov and to the Soviet Government in Moscow that 1have been press- ing the Greek Government ta get on with the task .ofestablishing tranquillity iU the country, toget the eIections over with, and let the British troops come home. As anybody knows who knows our country, after six years of war every- body in this country.Îs anxious for our troops to retum.home. That is not mercly true of us; it is true of other countries in a similar position. We do not want these occupation forces there. But .,--,... the Greek 'Govemment has stated- over ..and-over again,c~We. must get a.settledgevernment, we m1.1sthavedections, and you, the British, must " .. help us ta do it." ·1 have pressed forthese elec- tians. And soanxiouswas the British Govern- Indeed, sorne of the best experts in electoral law from these three counmes have been in Greece, and are returning there again next week. They go through the register8, arrange for the voting and help to supervise, so tllat there will be no disturbance if it can possibly be avoided. We invited the Soviet Government to take part, and for reasons of its own it refused. 1 do not make any complaint about that, but if you refuse to take part in a thing, 1 do not tbink you are justified in bringing it before the Security CouDcil. It has been said that Allied troops are justi- fied in being in a country only for the purposœ of communications and, 1 t.hink, two other re"- sons; but there is a fourth l·eason. Surely an Allied country, bound by an alliance and a guar- antee, such as Britain is with Greece, is entitled ta have troops in a country if invited by that country's Govermnent. If the Greek Government decides it does not want us, we are not going to impose ôurselves upon it. But Mr. Vyshinsky says that we are endanger- ing peace. If 1 heard him aright, he talked about attacks on neighbouring countries. 1 would like to ask him what neighbouring countries Greece is going ta attack. When there were incidents on the frontier, 1 proposed a four-party commis- sion; but I.had no response from the Soviet Government saying that they would joïn that commission to investigate. frontière, The new Greek army is a comparatively small army. 1 understand that Bulgaria -has a battIe-- trained army, still mobilized, with well over 100,000 men in it. Is there any danger of Greece attacking Bulgaria? Yugoslavia has 300,000 men mobilized. Is there any danger of Greece attack- ing Yugoslavia? In addition to this, thereis a very large Russîan army in Bulgaria, where, 1 understand there is no question that communica- tion and peace between the two countries have . practically been established. seulement In these countries bordering on Greece (it is only an estimate) thereare not far short of 700,000 to 800,000 Russian, Yugoslav and Bul- garian troops within a reasonable range of com- munication, from Hungary right down tothe frontier of Greece. Can you imagine Greece, even with the aid of·the British anny there, ln so far as Greece is concerned, as soon as we have carried out the obligations that we have undertaken with the Greek Government, these troops will be withdrawn and we shail not men- ace or cause any trouble to any other nation. 1 have difficulty in be1ieving-and 1 .am in the habit of being fairly frank-that this is brought forward because of what we are doing in Greece. 1 cannot help feeling that there is a deeper rea- for for it than that, which can be known only to the Soviet Government. It is difficult to un- derstand why this propaganda and incitement, with regard to a country that is trying to re- establish itself, is going Gn ail over the world dayby day. 1 should have thought that the right thing to have done would have been to tell the people to surrender their arms: ''Tell those who are ypur prôpagandists to drop this nonsense and get on with the .reconstruction of your country." That is the propaganda 1 should have thoùght was the right propaganda to indulge in, through- out the world, in ail these territories which are going through such terrible times. 1am not going to parade our virtues, but notwithstanding the difficulty that the Greek Government was faced with, and without any ulterior motive what<;ver but simply with a desire to try to help her on to her feet economicaily, the British Government sent my Parliamentary Secretary to Greece and he met the parties. We did not set up the Government of Mr. Sophoulis; they did it. But we said: "Yoù can- not get political stability unless you pay greater attention to ecollomic stability. Food, clothing, wages, transport, railways and shipping must be restored if you are going to get back on yoUf feet again." The whole of our energy for weeks and weeks now has been directed to that end. The United Statesh~d0inedus and given help, for whi~hlam sure the Greeks, and· certainly l, are very grateful!,. We are both, if 1 understand our policy, anxiotis to bring Greeceback again ta a good, sound, democratic electorate by the free votes of the people and fOr her to establish herown Government, .and conduct. her ownaffairs.. In the peace settlement we have to devise withBul- garia, of which we.shallhaveto bea'party, we are .anxious to secure such arrangements. that It is said that 1 am encouraging, if 1 under- stand the suggestion correctly, a kind of fascist poliee. Other countries represented here may not understand me, but at least my own countrymen will when 1 say that the police force in Greece is being organized on the basis of the Metropolitan Police Force. 1 think that the London Metropol- itan Police Force cannot be accused of being a fascist organization. The whole basis of the train- ing is to handle crowds and problems with care, and to carry out duties in a friend1y manner toward the people. In fact, there was one dem- onstration in Athens which caused alarm to the Government; even the leader of the Communist Party was alarmed. Yet, 1 think the whole crowd was handled in and out of the stadiumby three of these policemen, and not a single incident . occun'ed. ,That is the spirit in which the new police force of Greece is being organized at the present time. . niques, ment tion. With regard to the army, it is true that we have lent Greece one of our greatest generals, whose duty and directive are to assist Greece in building a non-policlcal army which will ac- cept the'authority of the civil government, a principle which, 1 may say, is very vital for the peace of the. world. 1 am speaking of an army which is subject ta civilian control, and many people have been removed who are not prepared to accept it. Both our military people here and myself have kept in close touch with the situa- tion. Mention has been made of a bishop whose article.was published in Birmingham. My people know thisgentleman; he is a well-known ELAS man, very biased, and his evidence is uncor- roboratedand not borne out by the facts. The total numberof people imprisoned at this mo- ment in Greece is just under sixteen thousand. That incl~des criminals. held under all sorts of charges. It will not be denied by the representa- tive of the Greek Government that no Govern- ment has been more anxious than we have and, indeed, urged-but not ordèred-more than we have that the prison population should be re- duced as speedily as possible. Mes nombre sentant qu'aucun rapidement We are told that we have thousands interned in North Africa. There are under a thousand, and they were mutineers,during the war.Even so, they are being sent steadily back to Greece and. to their homes. 1 do suggesî: that this is an internaI matter for the Greek Govel',nmentin its relation. With the British Government. 1 cannot find any Article in the Charter' under which a civil action of this kind is entitled tobe brought before the Security Council-I should be glad to he shawn Ït;-unless. it is syggested that 1 am se de pracédo~ et d'ordre grec, britannique. la 1 am going to ask the Security Council for straight declaration, no question of compromise in answering this: Is the British Government, by acting in response to, the request of the Greek Government 'in lending sorne of its forces to- help get order and economic reconstruction in that country, endangering peace? 1 am entitled to a yes or no answer. If we are endangering the peace of the world, then you are entitled to tell us so, and the British Government will take that answer into account immediate1y. If we are not, then we are entitled to a clean bill of health; we are entitled to be told that we hàve done nothing at aIl to endanger the peace of the world. The danger to the pcace of the world has been the incessant propaganda from Moscow against the British Commpnwealth, and the incessant utilization of the Communist parties in every country of the worId as a means to attack the British people and the British Government, as if nd friendship existed between us. That is the danger to the peace of the world which sets us one against another. It is this suspicion which causes misûnderstanding and makes one wonder what is the motive behind it. Therefore, 1 conclude by asking that there be a straight verdict: Have 1 or my Government, or the pre\>ious Government underMr. Church- ill (because we were aIl in itYin going to the aid of Greece to reconstruct her and train her army, in helping to organize her police, in try- ing to put her on her legs economicaIly, granting her credit, and handing her gifts from our smaIl surpluses in this country; have we, in doing aIl this, been, endangering the peace of the world? 1 ask for a straight answer to that question. 32. Statement of the representative of Grëece Mr. AGHWVES (Greece): 1 have to thank the Security Council for the hORour it hasdonemy country in inviting its representatives to sit around the Council table during, discussion of the questi.on so closely affecting Greece. This is in accord with the spirit and the letter of, the Charter, and is a happy omen, aince it shows that the United Nations Organizationis a liv- ingreality. My, Government, hopes that the happy precedent thuscreated will continue, and that inaccordance with Article 31 of ihe, Char- ter, it.may b,einvited to participate. in the dis- .cussion ofany,questionbrought before the Security Council that affects the ipterests of our Vou will understand thàt 1 have some reluc- tance in discussillg, and in having discusseà here, our internaI affairs. If 1 may be forgiven for .saying this, we are a very proud nation, and we .do not like our internaI affairs to be discussed in public with other nations, although we' have the greatest friendship for all of them, and espe- cially for those around this table. AlI the same,- 1 think that perhaps 1 may be allowed to reply to one or two of the questions which aroseduring the discussion in the speeches of the two'previous .speakers. It was said by the representative of the USSR that at Potsdam, the Soviet delegation called the attention of the two other delegatioIl3. to the threat ta the peace of! the world' caused by the attitude of the then Greek Government, which was contemplating attacking Bulgaria and Alba- The second point which 1 ask leave to men- tion is that the incidents which have been men- tioned by the rt'~reseritative of the USSR are press reports or agency reports. 1 know that 1 would vex your patience at this late hour if 1 were to deal with all the allegations made by the opposition party. My country has suffered very much, not only through the war and the triple, .almost the quadruple occupation; but it has aIso suffered from civil war. 1 do not wish to· enter into the dctails of the civil war. My only dream is that all my countrymen should unite as soon as possible. In this connexion, 1 make an appeal to the Council, and in particular ta our great Allies, that theydo not give their assistance to sectional interests inmy country.. 1 beg of them tohelp Greece:one, eternal Greece, which represents, afterall, something in the history oftheworld: That is· wha.t l, af) representative of Greece,ex- pect,.. gent1emen~ .from you all. Help us in Greece tocompose our differences. We will do it the sooner with your help. ' Inhis speech,the representative of the United Kingdom mentioned .!hat he would ipsist that those imprisoned should be let out of prison. 1 think it is only fair to say this: Inview of my diplomatie position in. this country, Ibow the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, and the last time ht didme thç honour of receiving me,beforè 1 leit for. Athens a month ago,. he recomlllended that 1·tell my Government that, in the. opinion of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, this wouJld be a very salu- tary measure. Ithought 1 would mention these things. :My·last wordis. ta thank the representatï.ve ofthelInitedKingdom for the generoustribute hl: pai4to my country and to the contribution .made by my country to the Allied cause.- The PRESIDEN'l': Ithink this might be a suitable m()ment for us- 1:0 regard as theaq.joum- mèntof th~proceedings.Ifthereare no objee- -tiottS,1 will t~eittliatthatis agreed to.What . \\@,be the timeand date of our next meeting? . ,1Y.[r. STETTINlÛs (United StatesofAmen.ca): .Iproposethatwemeet on Monday afternoon at3.·o'dock.