stice with Finland. The American delegate launched into a
policy of openly coquetting with a small country, pretend-
ing that this coquetry was a solicitude for Finland's in-
terests. But such methods in regard to small countries are
well known of old and cannot be a novelty to any one
of us.
It is interesting that, somewhat earlier, the British dele-
gation similarly displayed a specific kind of interest in Fin-
land. It was only in- regard to Finland that Great Britain
agreed to the Soviet Union's proposal not to confiscate or
liquidate the country's foreign assets, although both Great
Britain and the United States demand the confiscation and
liquidation of the foreign assets of Hungary, Bulgaria and
Rumania, despite all the objections and requests on the part
of the Soviet delegation that such excessive demands in
respect to small countries be abandoned.
The United States and Great Britain have thus adopted
one line in regard to some of the small states, and a dif-
ferent line in regard to Finland. And these efforts to dis-
play a peculiar kind of goodwill towards Finland are made
in such a way as to tend to set Finland against her neigh-
bour, the Soviet Union. We have had occasion to observe
such methods in the foreign policy of certain states in the
past. Before the war we witnessed many facts of this kind,
especially with respect to small countries which are neigh-
bours of the Soviet Union.
We know what was the outcome of the coquetting by
i?real Powers with Finland's reactionary circles. The Finnish
reactionaries imagined that everything would be permitted
them. The end of it was that Finland concluded an alliance
with Hitler and plunged into a war gamble against the
Soviet Union. Having become a plaything in the hands of
German fascism, Finland bore tremendous sacrifices in- the
last two wars against the U.S.S.R,
231