Review

Reviewed Work(s): Poland between East and West: Soviet and German Diplomacy Toward
Poland, 1919-1933. by Josef Korbel; In Allied London. by Edward Raczynski and John
Wheeler-Bennett; Poland: Bridge for the Abyss?: An Interpretation of Developments in
Post-War Poland. by Richard Hiscocks
Review by: A. Romer
Source: Slavic Review, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Dec., 1964), pp. 771-773
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2492236
Accessed: 17-02-2021 12:02 UTC

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 Reviews 771

JOHN A. ARMSTRONG, Ukrainian Nationalism. 2nd edition. New York

and London: Columbia University Press, 1963. xvi + 361 pp. $7.50.

The first edition of this work, published in 1955, was reviewed briefly in the
October, 1956, issue of this journal and achieved wide recognition as a sig-
nificant scholarly work. The new edition differs from the original work,
which was confined to the 1939-45 period, in that it includes a new chapter
of thirty pages devoted to postwar developments.
The new chapter deals with the armed struggle which the UPA (Ukrain-
ian Insurrectionary Army) waged against the Soviet regime in the Western
Ukraine from 1945 to 1950 under indescribably difficult conditions and in
the face of tremendous odds. Professor Armstrong has concluded that "if
one takes into account duration, geographical extent, and intensity of activ-
ity, the UPA very probably is the most important example of forceful
resistance to Communist rule." The remainder of the additional chapter
deals with the condition of the Ukrainians and principal events as well as
Soviet policy following the defeat of the UPA; it also surveys some of the
activities of the Ukrainian emigration.
Of the original chapters only Chapter 6 has been revised and expanded
as a result of access to new data. Professor Armstrong has also drawn on
sources published since the appearance of the first edition as well as on
unpublished Soviet dissertations. The appearance of a second edition pro-
vides additional proof of the worth of this study and the continuing interest
in its subject.
University of Washington JOHN S. RESHETAR, JR.

JOSEF KORBEL, Poland Between East and West: Soviet and German
Diplomacy Toward Poland, 1919-1933. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1963. xi + 321 pp. $6.50.

COUNT EDWARD RACZYNSKI, In Allied London. Introduction by Sir

John Wheeler-Bennett. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962.
xiv + 381 pp. 36s.

RICHARD HISCOCKS, Poland: Bridge for the Abyss?: An Interpretation

of Developments in Post-War Poland. London, New York, and
Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1963. viii + 359 pp.

Professor Korbel's work is a masterpiece of proper exploitation of diplo-

matic documents, some of them unknown before the publication of German
archives, and of a great amount of Russian, German, and Polish documen-
tary publications. What he is able to prove is the precarious state of Poland's
liberty, between the two world wars, continuously threatened by the strange
collusion that existed between Soviet Russia and Republican Germany de-
spite the fact that Soviet Russia was pledged to foment revolution every-
where through the "Third International."
Korbel proves how successful Stresemann was in his policy of rapproche-
ment with France, crowned at the expense of Poland by the Treaty of
Locarno, while simultaneously seeking to strengthen collaboration with

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 772 Slavic Review

Russia, based on the Treaty of Rapallo, through Count Brockdorff-

Rantzau's friendship with Chicherin. He also proves the shortsightedness
of Polish policy in not exploiting the German-Russian differences as well as
Litvinov's occasional readiness for an understanding. Korbel also shows how
Pilsudski's seemingly clever attempts to break this vicious circle by his
treaties with Soviet Russia and Hitler's Germany were based on his illusions
about Poland's power status and how his and Beck's policies undermined
the system of alliances with both France and Czechoslovakia on which
Poland's security was based.
Count Raczynski's book is of a very different kind. It is based on his war
diaries, and as a history of the activities of the Polish government it is
therefore incomplete. Although he loyally collaborated with General Sikor-
ski and his successor Mikolajczyk, being trusted and fully appreciated by
both, he never really understood the bitterness of most Poles toward Pit-
sudski's dictatorial regime. He was therefore rather astonished when after
Sikorski's death Lord Strang told him at the Foreign Office: "We in Britain
considered Sikorski as a very great man, in fact the greatest of all European
statesmen whom the war had driven into exile." But on the whole Count
Raczynski gives a fair picture of Sikorski's great merits in organizing a
Polish State and a Polish Army in exile, cordially cooperating with
Churchill. In particular he proves that no better Polish-Russian agreement
than the Treaty of July 30, 1941, was possible at the time and that it was
certainly neither Sikorski's nor Ambassador Kot's fault that the Russians
violated all their commitments. He also staunchly defends the General's
reaction to the German revelations of the Katyn forest mass murders, which
Stalin used to break off diplomatic relations with the Polish government.
General Sikorski's intention of keeping a Polish army in Russia in order to
ensure the true liberation of Poland was not frustrated by the Soviet gov-
ernment alone, as General Anders engineered his "eviction" mainly himself.
The last chapters are very moving in their appreciation of Poland's tragedy,
which was largely caused, in the opinion of Poles, by the betrayal of Poland
at Yalta by her Western Allies.
Hiscock's book is a well-documented account of events in Poland after the
Second World War. His bibliography is just as vast and comprehensive as
Professor Korbel's. The first chapters contain a concise history of commu-
nism beginning with Marx and Engels and ending with its adaptation to
Russian conditions by Lenin and Stalin. The author presents a very accu-
rate picture of Polish communism from its beginning up to its seizure of
power backed by the Red Army. Pilsudski's part in the rift between
extreme socialist internationalism and patriotic Polish socialists is painstak-
ingly described as is also Stalin's ruthless destruction of the leaders of Polish
communism. The treacherous and cynical betrayal of the heroic Warsaw
rising against the Germans is thoroughly explored and explained. Miko-
lajczyk's gallant but hopeless struggle against the well-entrenched regime of
the so-called popular democracy, the strange story of Gomulka's falling out
with the Stalinists, the reign of terror under Bierut, the subsequent "thaw"
ending with the Poznan rising, and the return to power of Gomulka during
the famous "October" days of 1956-all these dramatic events are faithfully
recorded.

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 Reviews 773

Mr. Hiscocks has been in Poland several times, and his opinions certainly
carry much weight. His only weakness is his exaggerated optimism and his
belief in Poland's chances of becoming a bridge between the free world and
Communist slavery. True, there is no Stalin memorial in Warsaw, but there
is one to Dzierzynski. Gomulka, who became Khrushchev's most trusted
adviser, bitterly disappointed the hopes of all patriotic Poles who helped
him to power. Only a few remnants of "October" are left; the militancy of
the Church, headed by the extremely popular Cardinal Wyszynski, has not
yet been curbed, and the peasants have not been forced back into the "col-
lectives" dissolved in 1956. The present outlook is very bleak indeed, and
worst of all is the economic situation.

Middlesex, England A. ROMER

SALVADOR DE MADARIAGA, Latin America Between the Eagle and the

Bear. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1962. xiv + 192 pp. $4.50.

PHILIP A. RAY, South Wind Red: Our Hemispheric Crisis. Chicago:

Henry Regnery, 1962. ix + 244 pp. $5.00.

These books are quite different in many ways. One is written by a world-
renowned Spanish scholar with long experience in Latin America. The
other is the work of a businessman who served as Undersecretary of Com-
merce in the Eisenhower administration, and whose acquaintance with the
area is of recent vintage. One has the view of the liberal intellectual, the
other that of a conservative who concentrates mainly on economic and finan-
cial matters.
However, the two volumes have certain traits in common. They are both
concerned with the problems of Latin America in their relation to the
world-wide struggle between the Communist and non-Communist powers.
Both authors have pet ideas they are trying to sell. And both books are
replete with errors of fact and interpretation.
Salvador de Madariaga, as in most of the things he has written about
Latin America, is concerned in this volume with righting the "Black
Legend" concerning the role that Spain has played in the area over the cen-
turies. He stresses the positive values that the Spaniards contributed to the
culture of the region, and argues that the ancient contacts with Spain can
be of important influence in keeping Latin America aligned with the West
in the world-wide struggle.
Unfortunately, the errors in the Madariaga book are many. There are
mistaken dates, errors in spelling of names, and similar oversights through-
out the volume. These are undoubtedly more the fault of the editor than
the author, but they tend to depreciate the value of the book.
Mr. Ray is very upset by what he conceives to be the "socialist" inclina-
tions of the Latin American nations. He sees the tendency to nationalize
public utilities, oil wells, and the like, as well as the extensive social security
systems and labor legislation of the countries of the area as a "stepping-
stone to communism." He tends to overlook entirely the two fundamental
reasons that these phenomena have occurred. These are the desire of the

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