CFM Files
United States Delegation Minutes
USDel(CP)(IT/P)7th Meeting
The Soviet representative declared that Articles 2 and 3 of the Italian treaty have been drafted after careful consideration by the CFM, their seven commissions, and on the basis of six special reports including maps etc. He declared that the Australians were now proposing to ignore this immense amount of work and suggesting that the Commission start all over. He referred to Mr. Hodgson (Australia) as resembling a country lad who had come to town and wanted to try everything himself not believing in the work done by others. Mr. Vyshinsky reviewed the time and work which had gone into examination of the frontier problems presented in the Italian treaty and declared that the Commission was now asked to begin this work all over because of an ignoramus. He declared that if a person is ignorant of the facts he should ask someone who is conversant with them. Karl Marx had said “ignorance is no excuse”.…
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[The Soviet Representative] asked why the Australian Delegation persisted in delaying the work of the Commission and why it had felt it necessary to submit such a large number of amendments on the Italian treaty which he described as 35 percent of all amendments submitted. He pointed out that Australia was farthest removed from Italy of all the countries represented and he suggested that the Australian Delegation was trying to destroy the work of the CFM so carefully put together. He concluded that he was opposed to the modified Australian proposal. Mr. Beasley (Australia) replied that no one had delayed the progress of the peace treaties more than the Soviet Delegation, that Australians would not be bullied or kicked around and that that had been the attitude of Australia throughout her history. He declared that Australia had equal rights in the Conference and had a right to put forward whatever suggestions she wished. He attacked Mr. Vyshinsky’s attitude that Soviet decisions should not be questioned. He pointed out that it was decided at Moscow that the Conference was to review the work of the CFM and that Australia would not tolerate charges that in following this procedure she was using delaying tactics. The Australian Delegation has as much right in the Conference as the Soviet Delegation. One of the fears of the Conference which had become apparent since its opening was caused by the consistent effort of the Soviet Union to push its fist down the throat of any voice raised in opposition to its [Page 289] views. The Australians will not be menaced by anyone and it is hoped that other members of the Conference would not be coerced or be afraid to voice their views. He referred to wide discrepancies in figures which had been submitted by the Albanians and other delegations and declared that there was a lot of lying going on in the Conference and that the Australian Delegation wanted to get the truth. He refuted alleged Soviet statements that the Australian Government does not represent its people or that the Greek Government does not represent its people. He declared that the only paper in Australia which stated daily that the Australian Government was not representative of the Australian people was the Communist newspaper and that that was apparently the line which was being followed by some of the delegations in the Conference. He considered Mr. Hodgson’s proposal a reasonable one designed only to obtain the facts and viewed the French compromise as too weak. While Australia might be 15,000 miles away he reminded the Conference that she had sent soldiers overseas to fight and die in two wars in a generation and that Australia, therefore, had as much interest as anyone else in peace in Europe. What the Australians wanted however was a just and durable peace and their efforts to this end should not be described as delaying tactics.