From International Press Correspondence, Vol. 3 No. 41 [23], 7 June 1923, p. 386.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
Now that we have Marshall Foch inspecting the troops of Poland and Czecho-Slovakia, it is opportune to draw the attention of the proletarian world to a fact relating to the Polish attack on Russia in 1920. It is generally believed that in this war, the French army staff only began to take an interest in the Polish army at the last moment, in order to prevent Warsaw from being taken, this town being saved by General Weygand. This view of the case is, however, not correct. On the contrary, the French army staff took part in the war from the very beginning, which means that, even at that time, capitalist France and Red Russia were fighting on the Polish frontier. This signifies that the Red Army, when it drove the Poles out of Kieff and back to Warsaw at the point of the bayonet, showed itself capable of defeating a modern army under French command.
The proofs of this assertion may be seen in the museum of revolutionary exhibits in Petrograd. I had the opportunity during the III. World Congress, of showing these documents to some French comrades. Some time after the collapse of the Polish invasion of the Ukraine, some comrades brought to Petrograd the archives and papers of certain Polish divisions, which had been captured or routed. The papers of one rifle regiment are especially fresh in my memory. All the orders for this Polish regiment, fighting in Poland against Russia, were written in French. The officers of the regiment were Frenchmen, or Poles born in France who were unable to write their own language properly. These papers were of a symbolic character. The Polish names only appeared in cases of persons who had been punished or had deserted. The typical style of the notes was as follows: Lieutenant Durand orders trooper Moraczievsky, Janos or Domczinsky, to be placed under arrest for 8 days. Captain Dupont adds a further 8 days: Colonel Dupont-Durand is in agreement. These papers enable one to form a clear idea of the state of affairs. The commanders French, the officers French, and the cannon fodder, workers and peasants, given commands in a foreign language which they did not even understand – this was Poland. Thus were demonstrated the blessing? of Polish independence. It is, however, satisfactory to note that the cannon fodder did its best to escape. Every day brought fresh desertions. The commanders-in-chief had not much faith in the cannon fodder. The patriotic enthusiasm of these row people, driven into war against Russia, could not have been very great. It was too much risk to place important weapons in their hands, such as machine guns. I remember the list of names of a machine gun company, in which there was always a Frenchman to every two or three Poles, in order to ensure that the good French machine guns might not contribute to the equipment of the Russian Red Army. Another characteristic detail: At that time there was a scarcity of paper in Poland, and therefore the Polish army used the back of old French army staff maps for orders, decrees, etc.
And now French imperialism once more wants to drive the unhappy masses of mobilized Polish peasants against revolutionary Russia, under French command. Since Versailles, imperialism has become accustomed to carry on its wars by proxy. Thus the English contrived that if should be Greek blood which was shed when the English made war on Turkey in Asia Minor, and it was Gounaris who had to pay for the affair with his head instead of Lloyd George. This highly up-to-date method of conducting war consists in buying the blood of others. France’s first trial of this method had disastrous effects for the European bourgeoisie. M. Poincaré, who knows so well how to laugh when visiting soldiers’ graveyards, and Marshall Foch, the Moltke of today, are preparing for a second adventure along the same lines. But all who know communist Russia are aware that these gentlemen will come a very bad cropper!
Last updated on 3 September 2022