860C.01/6–745: Telegram
Mr. Harry L. Hopkins, Adviser to President Truman, to the President
062100. Harriman and I had a final meeting with Stalin and Molotov this evening.87 I impressed on Stalin that we preferred Popiel in place of Kolodzei. He replied that he did not want more than three members from London but that if we wanted Popiel instead of Stanczyk that was all right with him.
He said that would only agree that Kolodzei be replaced by Julian Zakowski, who Stalin said was an engineer teacher at Liverpool University, and non-party. I told him that inasmuch as we did not know of him we would like to have the opportunity of checking. It was felt that the Polish members from England would be Mikolajczyk, Stanczyk and either Kolodzei or Zakowski. It is important therefore to check at once on Zakowski and for us to determine whether we wish him rather than Kolodzei. Our judgment here is that on the basis of Stalin’s information he would be far more desirable than Kolodzei. It is important that this be correlated with the British and Mikolajczyk at once.
We agreed upon the members from Poland as follows: Witos, Zulawski, Kutrzeba, Kolodzierski, Krzyzanowski.
It was agreed that these eight persons together with three or four from the Lublin Government would be invited promptly by the Moscow Commission to come to Moscow to start the consultations. I told Stalin that you and Churchill would send him a formal message confirming this list.
I regret that I was unable to induce Stalin to add a Christian Labor member to the list, but Stalin was adamant about limiting the membership of the consulting committee to three from London and five from Poland. We could have had Popiel, but that would have meant throwing Stanczyk overboard. Since Mikolajczyk insists on Stanczyk, it seemed best to leave him.
I told Marshal Stalin that my mission here had not been to go into the many problems which will be involved in the settlement of the Polish problem, and that although our meeting of minds here was a great step forward, it was obviously not the final solution, which would be up to the Commission in consultation with the Poles invited here; and of course no decision would be taken during these consultations which did not have the unanimous approval of the 3 members of the Commission. I, therefore, believe that if the Commission [Page 331] should agree unanimously to invite additional people in for consultation, that can be done. However, I want to impress upon you that Stalin has repeatedly stated that he would like to have the group confined to three from London, five from Poland, plus the Lublin representatives. At this point, I told Stalin that I was authorized on behalf of the United States Government and the British Government to agree to the list.
I then raised again as forcibly as I could the question of the majority of the Polish prisoners now under arrest, who were accused of operation of illegal radio transmitters. I strongly emphasized that the atmosphere of the forthcoming consultations would be seriously hampered by this and urged him to find in his own way a solution of this question. Marshal Stalin replied that he would take what I had said fully into consideration. In reply to my thanks he expressed his appreciation and satisfaction with the forward move in the solution of the Polish question. Harriman and I gained the definite impression that Stalin was going to do something about the prisoners. We have no idea how or when he will do it.
We then laid out to him the impasse at San Francisco over the voting procedure. Stalin had not understood the issues. After considerable discussion in which Molotov took an active part, Stalin overruled Molotov and agreed that the American position was acceptable to him. Harriman should be informed if Gromyko does not receive instructions promptly.
I am leaving Moscow tomorrow morning for Berlin and will see Eisenhower88 in Frankfurt. I should be home within a week.