860C.01/6–1345
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Eastern European Affairs (Durbrow)
The Polish Ambassador called at his request to discuss the latest developments in the Polish question.
He was quite frank in expressing his feeling that he did not expect a satisfactory solution from the coming talks among the Polish leaders in Moscow. His principal complaint was that we had consented to hold the talks before obtaining the release of the sixteen Polish leaders. The Ambassador felt that this was the only significant thing which had come out of the talks in Moscow, namely, that we had consented to continue the talks regarding Poland despite the fact that the Polish leaders were still under arrest. The Ambassador felt that in doing this we had made it impossible to reach a solution of the question because he could not imagine that Mr. Mikolajczyk could proceed with the talks while his colleagues were in jail in Poland.
I told the Ambassador that Mr. Mikolajczyk had consented to take part in the conversations in Moscow although the leaders had not been released.
In answer to the Ambassador’s arguments to the effect that we had conceded too much to the Soviets solely to get on with the business regarding Poland, I stated that to adopt a negative attitude in this matter [Page 339] would get us nowhere, would give the Lublin Government time to consolidate its position, and that, therefore, I felt that a definite positive step forward had been taken in arranging for the consultations in complete conformity with our interpretation of the Yalta agreement. The Ambassador was disappointed at the choice of many of the people called to the consultations since some of them were too old and therefore he felt that they were not mentally capable of resisting the demands of the Soviet and Lublin representatives. I explained to the Ambassador that Mikolajczyk had stated definitely that he desired to have Mr. Witos take part in the consultations and he also approved of Kutrzeba, although both were quite elderly. The Ambassador made the interesting observation that Kolodzierski, who was for many years the Librarian of the Polish Parliament, was the man who was always consulted by all political parties in connection with the formation of governments. The Ambassador stated that he was of a left-wing frame of mind, associated with the Socialists but had actually never taken an active part in Socialist Party politics. He added that Kolodzierski, in his opinion, was the most important political figure from inside Poland who is to attend the consultations.
The Ambassador, during the three-quarters of an hour talk, endeavored to point out various “weapons” that we had which, if we should choose to use them, would bring the Soviets to reason. Most of them, if carried through to their logical conclusion, would mean that we would have to fight the Soviet Union, although the Ambassador did not go that far.