CO129-497 - Public Offices - 1926 — Page 445

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government

SECRET.

710-B.

Printed for the Committee of Imperial Defence. July 1926.

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Copy No. 18

(Also C.I.D. Paper No. 146-D, and

0.0.8. Paper No. 49.)

COMMITTEE OF IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

FOREIGN POLICY IN RELATION TO RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Note by the Secretary,

BY direction of the Cabinet, the accompanying Memorandum by Sir W. Tyrrell is circulated to the Committee of Imperial Defence and to the Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee.

2. Whitehall Gardens, S. W. 1, July 30, 1926.

(Signed) M. P. A. HANKEY.

C.P. 303 (26).

Memorandum by Sir W. Tyrrell.

At the meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence on the 22nd July, the Chancellor of the Exchequer called attention to the Russian danger and suggested that the Chiefs of Naval, Army and Air Staffs and the Foreign Office should enquire into the subject and report upon the best way of meeting an ever- threatening menace to civilisation.

I assume as common ground that ever since the Bolshevist régime was established in Russia its activities have been mainly directed against this country, and that in every part of the world we have been met by its persistent and consistent hostility. The reason for this is to be found in the unbridgeable character of the policies of the two countries, our respective aims being diametrically opposed to each other. British policy aims at securing the safety of the Empire and the promotion of its trade, upon which its life and prosperity are based. For this purpose we are working everywhere for peace and settlement, with a view to achieve a return to normal economic conditions. Russian policy, on the other hand, aims at the establishment of communism, which it can only achieve by the destruction of the present order of things. To promote this revolution it aims at fomenting disturbance and disorder everywhere. Its chief weapon is a ruthless propaganda all over the world, which everywhere assumes an anti-British character, not only because we are a world-wide Empire, but because our overthrow is the chief aim and object of Moscow.

In the Far East we have a Bolshevist Russia, pursuing the same aims as the Czarist Russia, the main difference being that the Bolshevists are far more efficient and unscrupulous in the pursuit of that policy than their predecessors ever were. The obvious counter measure would be the resurrection of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, which was largely due to the policy of Imperial Russia against China. The difficulties, however, of effecting such a resurrection are great, and may be briefly summarised as follows:—

1. It is easier to denounce than to renew an alliance. I understand that we denounced it mainly to please America, and I believe that to a certain [14899]

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