The Soviet delegation also deems it necessary that the
Conference should fix a precise date for the withdrawal .of
all foreign troops fiHoni Trieste, and that the withdrawal of
foreign troops from Trieste should not be postponed to an
indefinite future, as is suggested in the so->call'ed French pro-
posal.
Essentially speaking, it would be enough for -us1 to agree
on one simple decision: namely, that Trieste should be organ-
ized approximately on the same lines as Danzig. All the
rest would not be difficult to settle. It is not correct to say
that there is no analogy between Trieste and Danzig. An
analogy undoubtedly exists1, and the experience of the ad-
ministration of Danzig must be utilized in Trieste. If it was
possible in Danzig to manage with only a High Commission-
er and leave it to the Danzig population itself to establish
the legislative and executive authority; why should it be im-
possible in Trieste to establish similar relations- between the
Governor, on the one hand, and the legislative and execu-
tive bodies, on the other? Why should we go backward as
compared with Danzig in the matter of the democratic or-
ganization of Trieste?
If it is not desired here to make a forward step in this
matter—which should be perfectly natural in our days—then
in any case we should not make a single step backward
compared with the democratic principles and democratic
order which the League of Nations established for Danzig
twenty-five years ago. The Soviet delegation- cannot consent
to the proposal of the Commission on this question.
The Soviet delegation urges the Conference to approach
the statute of Trieste and the wishes which have been ex-
pressed by the Yugoslav delegation in this matter with the
utmost attention. The Soviet delegation regards the attempts
to impose upon Trieste an anti-democratic gubernatorial re-
gime resembling a colonial system as unwarranted. Nor can