The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to President Roosevelt 95
Supplementing my 141705.96 Yesterday, later in the evening, a meeting was held with the Polish Committee represented by Bierut, President of the Council, Morawski, President of the Committee, and General Zymierski, Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. Bierut indicated that the principle differences in the talks with Mikolajczyk 2 months ago had been the adoption of the 1921 Constitution and the speed of the land reforms. Morawski with passion accused Mikolajczyk of encouraging terrorism in liberated Poland and sabotage of the Committee’s work. There were protracted arguments on such subjects as whether there was real necessity for speed in land reforms and whether General Bor was a patriot or a criminal.
Churchill gave the Committee a sound and useful drubbing along the lines that all the Allies were united to beat Hitler except for the Poles who were fighting among themselves and that if this continued it would not be long before the Poles would lose the respect of the world. Stalin, although he supported the Committee members in the opinions they expressed, agreed with Churchill that the differences were small as compared to the major objective of a settlement being reached between the Poles. Bierut unqualifiedly accepted the Curzon Line as the proper basis for the settlement of the Soviet-Polish boundary thus creating the necessary conditions for the establishment of friendship between the peoples of the two countries. He asked for the support of the Allies in the return to the Poles of their historic lands in the north and the west. Churchill stated that he and Stalin agreed to support these Polish claims.
It was agreed that a meeting presided over by Eden and Molotov should be arranged between the two Polish factions. Eden is now trying to persuade Mikolajczyk to attend. Difficult as some of the specific issues are the strong feelings and suspicions that exist between the two Polish groups appear now to be the greatest obstacle to the formation of a partnership in the new government. On the other hand Churchill and Stalin are determined to force a settlement if at all possible in the interests of the prosecution of the war and harmony in Europe.