Permit me, Mr. President, to offer you my warmest congratulations upon your unanimous election as President of the sixteenth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations., Your election is an achievement for your country, Tunisia, whose destiny has been of great interest to my country, particularly during the last few months. I wish you every success in your work.
38. If we were to look back to the fourteenth session, the one which has been called "the session of peace", it might seem that we had lived through two years of disillusionment and retrogression.
39. We Poles are not under this impression. No, those years have not been a period of retrogression, but rather years of difficulty engendered by progress.
40. We have seen the growth of the forces of peaceful coexistence, the socialist forces and the anti-colonialist forces, and the development throughout the world of the mass movement for peace.
41. All over the world people have become increasingly aware of the fact that a nuclear war would be a disaster for all the nations, for all the social classes, for every family and for every man.
42. There are, I believe, few people even among responsible western circles who would deliberately provoke a nuclear war. But not all those who do not want such a war are working against it. Those who, even if they do not want anatomic war, are increasing ' the danger of one, are still powerful. Blind anti- communism, colonialist interests, the desire to dominate, interest connected with armaments, all these factors operate in favour of the arms race, tension, the cold war, the policy of risk, intervention and local wars and, consequently, in favour of a worldwide atomic conflagration.
43. Yet the question of peaceful co-existence has reached its decisive stage: there are on the agenda such matters as the German problem, the final abolition of colonialism, and general and complete disarmament. The contradiction between common sense—the supreme universal interest of peace—and the rash actions of blind selfishness is becoming more and more acute. The West must make its choice.
44. The socialist; States, being ready to discuss and seek mutually advantageous solutions, are willing to meet half-way those who choose action in favour of peace, but are resolutely opposed to those who choose action likely to lead to war.
45. We must embark on the greatest revolution which has ever been seen in the history of mankind: the elimination of war. No one can as yet imagine the changes which that will involve in human relations and in man's way of life and manner of thinking. It would be Utopian to think that such an upheaval could be effected without struggle, without crisis, without danger.
46. Once again the German problem is at the centre of the current dangerous tension. It is German imperialism which is mainly responsible for it. But the fact that this imperialism has reappeared, that it has attempted to gain the hegemony of Western Europe, and that it has become a force likely to endanger world peace, is due to the policy of the Position of strength, a policy blinded by anti-communism and raised to the status of an official formula by previous United States Governments.
47. German imperialism was to have been a card for NATO to play against the socialist camp. Little by little, however, it is NATO which is becoming more and more a card in the game of German imperialism.
48. The fundamental elements. of the German policy of the Western Powers, as it was developed in the past and as it is now being pursued', are the rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany, the non- recognition of the German Democratic Republic and reluctance to recognize the definitive character of Germany's eastern frontiers. In fact it is a programme for the reconstruction and mobilization of the aggressive forces of German militarism against the socialist States.
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49. It is a policy which tends to encourage the revenge-seeking forces of Bonn to try to annex the German Democratic Republic, the first German State to have eliminated aggressive forces in that part of Germany, which has renounced any territorial claims against its neighbours and which is adopting a policy of peace and friendship towards them. It is a policy of encouraging the German revenge-seekers to undertake a new "Drang nach Osten".
50. Hitler's aggression and occupation cost Poland 6 million victims, 6 million men, women and children killed, shot, tortured and asphyxiated in the gas chambers.
51. Over 30 million human lives were lost in the Soviet Union, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and other countries to the east of Germany.
52. Let no one be under any illusion. Let no one think, that the socialist States will remain passive in the face of the policy of preparing further aggression and another war. We are not defending only ourselves. We are also defending the peace and ^security of the nations of Western Europe who themselves Suffered grievous losses during the last war; similarly we are defending the existence of the German nation itself.
53. That is why we are not isolated. The policy of reconstruction and mobilization of the forces of German imperialism is not supported by. any nation. It is no secret that, apart from the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, all the Western Governments already have serious apprehensions concerning this policy. The stubborn determination to defend and carry out this policy is simply a waste of effort. That is patent proof of the extent to which the Atlantic Treaty countries have been drawn into the vicious circle which they have themselves created.
54. Not that there has been any lack of warning on our part. For years we have been proposing an alternative solution. The socialist States have for a long time been advocating summit talks on the German problem. It was only in deference to the interests of Chancellor Adenauer that the Western Powers rejected that idea.
55. In 1957 Poland submitted a proposal for the establishment of an atom-free zone in Central Europe. It was rejected without discussion.
56. At the end of 1958 the Soviet Union, in agreement with the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the other socialist States, proposed the conclusion of a peace treaty which would write the final page of the history of the Second World War and would lay the basis of a final peaceful solution of the German problem. Once again, this was refused.
57. It was therefore essential to eliminate from the policy of the Federal Republic of Germany and NATO with regard to the German problem at least that factor which constituted the most direct threat to peace, that is to say West Berlin, which has become the main instrument of sabotage and of gradual preparation for the annexation of the German Democratic Republic and a potential centre of provocation on a world scale.
58. It is now almost three years since the proposal concerning Berlin was made. Meanwhile the army of the Federal Republic of Germany has become the strongest in Western Europe. It has been equipped with rockets; bases for manoeuvres have been granted to it in Western Europe; it has been trained in the use of nuclear weapons. The propaganda of territorial claims made by the Federal Republic of Germany against Poland has become increasingly provocative. The sabotage of the German Democratic Republic, particularly by West Berlin, has reached disquieting proportions.
39. The events of the spring of 1960 and the spring of 1961 have clearly shown the danger of provocative action on the part of Western militarist circles,
60. The problems of Berlin and of Germany are nearing their critical stage.
61. The question of Berlin can and must be settled. We should like to have it settled by agreement and in3 such a way as to constitute the starting point of a new evolution in Europe towards the easing of tension, security and peaceful coexistence. We would like the present crisis over Berlin to be the last one on the substance of the German problem.
62. The Polish delegation takes the view that it would be possible to settle the question of West Berlin on the basis of new principles which would replace the occupation status and which would provide for the rights and the interests of the people as well as of those of all the States concerned. If the Western Powers really feel strongly about the freedom of the inhabitants of West Berlin, it is difficult to understand why the proposal to make West Berlin a free city is encountering much opposition.
63. The settlement of the Berlin question can satisfy both parties if at the same time we remove the main threat to peace in Europe.
64. It is thus essential to insure respect for the sovereign rights of the German Democratic Republic. Non-recognition of the obvious fact that the German Democratic Republic exists can only be interpreted as support for the plans for its annexation.
65. Recognition of the definitive character of the existing German frontiers is vital to the peace of
Europe. The unrealistic but dangerous hopes of revenge-seekers of all kinds must be finally dispelled. The armaments race, particularly with relation to nuclear weapons and rockets, in this part of Europe must be stopped. Poland abides by its proposals for an atom-free zone together with the possibility envisaged in our plan of restricting other armaments on the territory of the two German States and of Poland and Czechoslovakia. We should like these fundamental problems to be resolved on the basis of a peace treaty with the two German States.
66. If peace is to be ensured in Europe, these problems must be solved in one way or another.
67. With regard to the question of a peace treaty, I should like to recall the firm stand taken by the Polish Government, which has intimated that if the Western Powers refuse to sign a peace treaty, we and the other States which see fit to do so will sign such a treaty With the German Democratic Republic, which will have serious practical consequences.
68. We are glad to note that contact has been established between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning the present crisis.
69. Poland has always considered that in response to the Soviet Government's willingness the Western Powers should in their turn have declared themselves ready to negotiate as soon as possible, We regret that they have not done so earlier.
70. More and more often we hear Bonn speak of the right of the German nation to self-determination. The right to self-determination is a sacred right of each nation, and that is why we cannot accept the unjustified use of the words "self-determination" for purposes contrary to the essence of this concept. Yet the concept of self-determination is abused even from this rostrum. This is done, for instance, to defend the colonial regime in West Irian. The right of the German nation to self-determination, as Bonn understands it, constitutes a similar abuse, The purpose of this version is to justify imperialistic expansion.
71. This conception, however, is not new. It was in the name of the Germans' right to decide their own destiny that Hitler organized his famous plebiscites. The right of self-determination was supposed to justify Hitler's annexation of Austria. It was in the name of the right to self-determination that Hitler's columns moved into Czechoslovakia and invaded Poland,
72. We shall never accept such an interpretation of the right to self-determination. There is no right in the world which can justify preparations for fresh aggression and another war.
73. The second problem which endlessly gives rise to new conflicts, crises and local wars, and keeps the whole world under the threat of war is that of colonialism,
74. The abolition of colonialism has never been the exclusive business of the dependent peoples. It was and remains the common business of all the forces of national and social liberation. It is entirely due to this fact that the colonial system is breaking up,
75. The final abolition of colonialism and its consequences is today intimately bound up with the struggle for peaceful coexistence. This is how the socialist States see it. It was the key idea of Bandung where the ten principles of peaceful co-existence were proclaimed. It was the same idea which brought together in Belgrade2/ twenty-five States differing from each other in numerous respects and which led them to adopt resolutions in common. Poland greeted this conference and its results with sympathy and appreciation, despite certain differences of opinion,
,76. At its fifteenth session, thanks to the initiative of the Soviet Union, the General Assembly broached the problem of the definitive abolition of colonialism. By an overwhelming majority, the Assembly adopted a declaration, sponsored by forty-three Asian and African States, on the granting of independence of colonial countries and peoples [resolution 1514 (XV)],
77. But the colonizers are not relinquishing Mozambique, or Portuguese Guinea, or West Irian, or Rhodesia, or Kenya, or Uganda, or the still-dependent Territories of the Near East, or the Pacific Islands, They stop at nothing in the Congo. They are still waging an endless and bloody war in Algeria. And it is not long since blood flowed at Bizerta. The colonialists' answer to the Angolan nation's aspirations to liberation is a war of extermination.
78. All the States responsible for these facts are members of NATO. To a greater or lesser extent they all profit from the aid and solidarity of this alliance. See how all the affairs of this world are bound up together! The General Assembly should once again—and still more categorically—condemn colonial wars and interference. An early date should be set for the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples. The memorandum by the Soviet Union [A/4889] concerning the implementation of the above-mentioned Declaration contains proposals which in the opinion of the Polish delegation should serve as a basis for General Assembly resolutions in this field.
79. It is a difficult and thankless task to defend colonialism from this rostrum. That was why it was easier to have recourse to methods which I would rather not go into. Hence the fantasies about alleged communist colonialism, based, I feel, on a lack of respect for the intellectual level of the audience, For my part I have too great a respect for this audience to embark on a serious discussion of arguments of this kind. The purpose of these fantasies is only too clear; to sow confusion and discord in the ranks of the anti-colonialist forces.
80. But there is more to it than that: there is an echo of what is called "the policy of liberation", which is one of the main elements of the policy based on positions of strength. This policy, though discredited, is still a threat to peace. And yet we have had an opportunity, even quite recently, of seeing what miscalculations underlie this policy of "liberation" of those who are free, and what harm it does.
81. The development of international economic cooperation is becoming an increasingly important factor for peaceful co-existence and is particularly important for nations freed from colonial dependence.
82. The elimination of imbalance in the world economy is not only a requirement of justice but also a necessity
created by the development needs of the whole world economy.
83. To achieve this, the first necessity is to refrain from placing obstacles in the way. On this subject I
should like to devote a few words to the question of economic integration.
84. We are not opposed to those processes of integration whose goal is a more rapid expansion of productive forces and a rise in the general standard of living—above all in the developing countries—as well as an extension of commercial relations and co-operation with the whole world. Those are useful and progressive processes. Our opinion is different when it comes to certain processes of integration in Western Europe, and above all the Common Market. The political bases and practical activities of this association are resulting in a decrease in trade between East and West and to an intensification of the division of Europe; they are thus strengthening the cold war elements in the world economy. At the same time the Common Market is drawing the former colonial countries into its orbit by forcing them to go' on playing their erstwhile role of complement and reserve for the economies of the imperialist countries. This sort of integration is consequently becoming an element of neo-colonialist policy.
85. If, therefore, we really have the progress of the under-developed countries at heart, the second requirement is that the aid supplied should be genuine aid. It is possible to give or lend large sums for the development of enterprises which will not only fail to improve the economic structure of the country but will even weaken it, which will not only fail to raise the standard of living of the population but may even lower it as a result of price fluctuations on the world market, which, far from reducing the economic dependence of the country, will increase it still further.
86. Furthermore, it is not unusual for such aid to have political and military strings attached. Genuine aid, however, must help to modernize the country's economic structure, to industrialize it and consolidate its independence. The use of aid for such purposes can be ensured by an appropriate attitude on the part of the nations concerned, by the development of their relations with all countries, and by peaceful competition.
87. Thirdly, aid to developing countries must be as extensive as possible. But little more can be done in this field as long as the burden of the armaments race continues to weigh on the economy of the developed countries. The solution is general and complete disarmament.
88. Lastly, there is a fourth and decisive requirement if the under-developed countries are to make good their economic backwardness and put foreign aid to the best use: the application by the nations concerned themselves of principles and procedures enabling them to mobilize their own resources and themselves to determine the direction to be taken by their country's development for the benefit of the whole nation. I shall not dwell on this question, since it is for the countries concerned to settle it themselves.
89. Thus it is that the question of the complete ; independence and rapid advancement of the developing countries is connected in all its aspects with the fundamental problems of the struggle for peaceful
co-existence.
90. I now come to the third key problem of international relations, that is to say the question of disarmament, An analysis of the balance of forces in the world of today leads to the conclusion that it is possible to avoid war, But life constantly reminds us that war is still possible. It is the historic task of the present generation to make it impossible, i.e», to carry out general and complete disarmament.
91. The idea of general and complete disarmament is rapidly gaining ground. As for practical steps 3 almost no progress is being made. The Polish delegation is glad that the Soviet Union and the United States have agreed on the principles which should guide future disarmament negotiations [A/4879]. Their positions have moved closer together on certain essential points.
92. There still remains, however, the fundamental contradiction, which can be summed up in the following question: Is it control of armaments or control of disarmament that should be adopted? Poland's position on this matter was expounded in detail and explained in Vladislav Gomulka's speech at the fifteenth session of the General Assembly [874th meeting]. Control of armaments is unacceptable if only because no Power can agree to reveal its defence system. There is another thing: the control of modern lightning-action weapons of mass extermination would not avert a preventive war or surprise attack; on the contrary it would increase the danger, It would speed up the race for modern armaments, instead of slowing it down.
93. So long as there is a danger that the means of mass extermination will be used, the dilemma—control of disarmament or control of armaments—can basically be reduced to the following alternatives: disarmament and security or a speed-up in re-arming and an ever-growing threat.
94. This difference of opinion is linked to yet another one. We consider that the possible use of weapons of mass destruction must be eliminated during the first stage of disarmament. This would lead to a hew situation which would make the other problems of disarmament, including that of control, much easier to solve. The alternative—postponing the elimination of the most modern weapons until the last stages of disarmament—would produce the opposite effect and could well result in modernization of the armed forces instead of disarmament. An initial study of the. American disarmament plan shows that it involves this Very danger. The elimination of the most horrible weapons at the very first stage would simultaneously hasten the final cessation of nuclear weapons testing.
95. The Polish delegation has already given its views on this matter and will do so again in greater detail in due course. In short, however, it can be said that so long as the armaments race, particularly the race for nuclear weapons, continues, and so long as international tension and the threat to the security of nations continue to grow, a lasting suspension of nuclear weapons testing will be impossible. The question of testing cannot be examined realistically if it is divorced from that of general and complete disarmament.
96. Poland was and still is in favour of any measures that will slow down the armaments race as soon as possible. What is important is that the efforts devoted to that end should be genuine efforts, that they should effectively strengthen security and not merely give the dangerous illusion of doing so, and finally that any steps taken should facilitate, and not merely be a substitute for general and complete disarmament. The Soviet memorandum of 20 September 1961 [A/ 4892] does in fact put forward a number of proposals along those lines.
97. In stating the Polish delegation's support for those proposals, I should like once again to draw attention to the initiative of the Government of the People's Republic of Poland in proposing the creation of an atom-free zone in Central Europe, a proposal presented from this very rostrum on 2 October 1957 H and explained in detail in the Polish memorandum of 14 February 1958 which was transmitted to the Governments concerned, and in subsequent documents and statements.
98. Apart from the important direct effect which it would have on the situation in Europe, the establishment of such a zone could facilitate negotiations on general and complete disarmament. It could also provide a wealth of practical experience in the field of control.
99. Poland would warmly welcome the creation of atom-free zones in other parts of Europe and elsewhere in the world. We support the proposals already made to that effect by Romania, the People's Republic of China and Ghana.
100. We shall continue to play an active part in all attempts to facilitate and speed up work on our main task, which is the achievement of general and complete disarmament,
101. Mankind is today more divided than ever, but it is also more closely linked than ever before by the supreme common interest of avoiding atomic war and safeguarding peace. It is that that should determine the starting-point, the direction, the methods and the structure of the United Nations, which must be based not on what divides the nations, but on what unites them, what will be decisive for their future.
102. The United Nations must unite all States to that end. The major gap here is the absence of the People's Republic of China, which discredits and paralyses the United Nations. Nothing can justify the presence here of these gentlemen from Taiwan, Indeed, they no longer even manage to represent the United States properly. As for the interventions which they make in the name of China, they leave the impression that in our Organization surrealism has taken the place of realism. The rights which belong to the People's Republic of China must be restored to it as soon as possible during the sixteenth session.
103. We should also have liked to welcome among us the representatives of the noble, courageous and humane Mongolian nation.
104. The United Nations must become a true world organization.
105. If the universal longing for peace is to be satisfied, practical solutions must be found to the principal world problems: the abolition of colonial dependency, the expansion of international economic, scientific and cultural co-operation and the introduction of general and complete disarmament.
106. The work of the United Nations must be based on the common objective of consolidating peace and must be directed towards the implementation of specific measures for attaining that end.
107. In international relations it is effective power which counts and that power is concentrated in the three main world groupings. That being so, attempts to impose important decisions on one of those groupings with the aid of the United Nations is damaging
' to both the cause involved and the United Nations.
108. The United Nations can become the instrument for closing the gap between the positions of the decisive world Powers on issues of crucial importance. That is all, but in fact it is a great deal.
109. That is the basis of our conclusions regarding the structure and organization of the United Nations. Those conclusions were expounded at the fifteenth session of the General Assembly by Mr. Khrushchev the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union [869th meeting, paras. 275-285] and are unreservedly supported by Poland,
110. We know that there are Powers which do not like these conclusions, simply because they reduce their influence inside the Organization to its correct proportions. It is difficult to discuss such a position, since it is based on premises which are acceptable neither to the socialist States nor to any other State which is unwilling to regard the United Nations as the instrument of any one of the parties.
111. We also know, however, that there are persons and circles whose view of the United Nations is that of a world parliament and government adopting and implementing resolutions through a supranational Secretariat. Those are unrealistic and dangerous ambitions. If the United Nations were to follow that path, and turn aside from the most important of its time tasks, it would find itself outside the stream of life, it would lose its whole importance and would be completely paralysed. The failure of such a concept of the United Nations when confronted with the facts was the background of the human drama of Dag Hammarskjold.
112. One fact, however, gives grounds for optimism: it is that the more clearly the contradictions of today's torn and divided world appear, the more the nations are united in their desire for peace. Such optimism will be well founded if the desire for peace is translated into active work for peaceful coexistence.
113. Poland's entire home and foreign policy serves that course. My country is living, working and developing its activities in the conviction that common sense and a persistent will to peace will defeat blind and narrow egotistical interests, which in any case history will not allow to prevail.