Article VII

As our readers already know, on 10 May of this year Chicherin sent the Polish government a note protesting against Poland's violation of Article VII of the Polish-Russian peace treaty signed in Riga in 1921. The Soviet government sees this violation in the facts of Poland's oppression of the national minorities (Belarusians, Ukrainians, Russians) and also of the Orthodox Church, although the peace treaty secures all freedoms to them.

In this move by the USSR in defence of the Belarusians, Ukrainians and Russians living under Polish rule, the Polish government saw a desire to interfere in the internal affairs of the Polish Republic, and it evaded any discussion of the facts of national and religious oppression listed in Chicherin's note.

On 23 May of this year Chicherin sent a new note, in which he says, among other things:

"The government of the USSR most resolutely rejects the accusation that by its note of 10 May of this year, No. 769, it wishes to interfere in the internal affairs of the Polish Republic. That note was based on the Polish government's disloyal fulfilment of Article VII of the Treaty of Riga, which clearly speaks of the Polish government's obligation to grant persons of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nationality in the Polish Republic, on the basis of the equality of nationalities, all the rights that secure the free development of culture and language and the performance of religious rites.

The facts mentioned by the Union government in the said note of 10 May of this year, facts of unprecedented oppression of the language, school and religion of the Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, based on material that the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs has and that has been used far from fully, were not rejected at all by the note of the Polish government, which is undoubted proof of the correctness of the Union government's statements.

"The Polish government's declaration that the intervention of the government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in defence of the trampled rights of national minorities in Poland, rights secured by the above-mentioned Article VII of the Treaty of Riga, is an interference in the internal affairs of the Polish Republic contradicts the text and spirit of Article VII, which gives the Union government the formal right to defend the rights of national minorities by demanding of the Polish government its exact fulfilment."

Chicherin regards the answer given by the Polish government to the note of 10 May as "proof that, in the view of the Polish government, not all articles of the Treaty of Riga must be fulfilled. The Union government takes this opinion of the Polish government under advisement."

The Polish government replied to this note in its own note of 27 May of this year, saying, among other things:

"The Polish government firmly objects to the Union government's improper interpretation of the statement contained in the note of 15 May of this year, No. D. 2310, and also to the improper interpretation of Article VII of the Treaty of Riga, which makes the securing of the freedoms mutually recognised for national minorities dependent exclusively on the internal laws of the given state."

Unfortunately, laws are laws, but Chicherin protests precisely not against them but against their non-fulfilment. As we see, the Polish government says nothing about the latter, and moves the question of the oppression of the national and religious minorities onto quite different ground, the ground of a dispute over how Article VII of the Treaty of Riga is to be understood. For this reason we give here the exact content of this article, all the more so because this very article may become historic… Here it is:

Art. VII. 1. Poland grants to persons of Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian nationality who are in Poland, on the basis of the equality of nationalities, all the rights that will secure the free development of culture, language and the performance of religious rites. Reciprocally, Russia and Ukraine secure all the same rights to persons of Polish nationality who are in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

Persons of Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian nationality in Poland have the right, within the limits of internal legislation, to cultivate their native language, to organise and maintain their own schools, to develop their culture, and for this purpose to found societies and unions. The same rights, within the limits of internal legislation, will be enjoyed by persons of Polish nationality who are in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

2. Both contracting parties mutually undertake neither indirectly nor directly to interfere in matters concerning the organisation and life of the church (the Roman Catholic church) and of religious societies situated on the territory of the other party.

3. The churches (Roman Catholic churches) and religious societies to which persons of Polish nationality in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine belong have the right, within the limits of internal legislation, to arrange their internal church life independently.

The above-mentioned churches (Roman Catholic churches) and religious societies have the right, within the limits of internal legislation, to use and acquire movable and immovable property necessary for the performance of religious rites and also for the maintenance of the clergy and of church institutions.

On the same basis they have the right to use the churches (Roman Catholic churches) and the institutions necessary for the performance of religious rites.

The same rights are enjoyed by persons of Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian nationality in Poland.

In all this diplomatic correspondence which we have presented here, particular attention is drawn to what we have underlined in the concluding passage of Chicherin's note: the Union government, considering that the Polish government regards it as necessary to fulfil not all the articles of the Treaty of Riga, "takes this under advisement." These words contain a very eloquent unspoken implication, which must be understood as a threat that the government of the USSR too may release itself from the duty of fulfilling those of its own obligations that are inconvenient to it. That this is so is indirectly attested by the latest Polish note, which places particular stress on the obligation to fulfil "all the provisions of the Treaty of Riga."