Józef Piłsudski

Interview with correspondent from Le Matin

(15 February 1920)

Piłsudski was always of the opinion that the most important tasks for Polish foreign policy lay in the east of Europe. Hence the desire, expressed in the interview cited below, to influence the Western powers so that they would recognise Poland as an important actor in the determination of political relationships in Eastern Europe.

The interview was published in the Paris Le Matin daily on 20 February 1920 and dated: “Warsaw, 15 February”; it was signed by Henryk Korab-Kucharski.

– The time has come to make peace with Russia. This moment has come not only for us, but also for all the Entente states.

To date, no one has dared to take on this enormous problem, but everyone has tried to skirt it instead, using half measures. To a certain extent, Kolchak,1 Denikin2 and others provided an ostrich’s wing under which the world’s diplomacy hid its head for months on end. However, those were obsolete and therefore reactionary measures. There is no way to bring the old Russia back to life, at all costs, with the help of former Russians. We need to look for new formulas … We need sufficient courage to understand that a huge change has occurred in the east of Europe.

Now is the time to show that courage. We need to start working in earnest. Poland offers to help the Coalition in this difficult task. We are not doing this out of ambition or because we want to play some role, but simply because we believe that Poland is the country most directly interested in the outcome and thus should take initiative.

So we are now working on a plan to achieve a legitimate solution in the east of Europe. This plan will soon be put forward to the Entente powers. It may not be suitable in all details and some of its clauses may lead to a discussion, but in any case, our draft will provide a basis and a starting point for regularising this matter finally.

– General, but do not you think that agreement with the Bolsheviks could pose a grave danger to Europe?

• I am well aware of the dangers. These have emerged, for example, because the Bolsheviks act not just as Bolsheviks. There are other influences in the Moscow government, which are clearly hostile to Poland and the Entente powers; influences that have nothing to do with the social revolution.3 Still, I am deeply convinced that it is better to expose ourselves to dangers which we can fight than to maintain indefinitely a state of affairs that will clearly have a disastrous effect.

• General, do you expect that after peace is concluded, Bolshevik propaganda will resume?

• Probably, but I am not afraid of it. After peace is made, France and England will not be more exposed to Bolshevik propaganda than it is the case now. It may even be the case that in Paris and London, Bolshevism will largely lose its halo. When it comes to Poland, which is Russia’s closest neighbour, I am not afraid of anything at all. The country is completely resistant to Bolshevik influence. Yesterday, the Russian Bolsheviks tried to organise a general strike in Warsaw, and the attempt failed miserably. On the front, the proclamations sent to our soldiers by those from the other side are answered with gunfire.

Getting up, the General finishes:

– Fear of Bolshevism should not become a pretext for doing nothing.