ASSASSINATION

Two days ago on the platform of a railway station in Warsaw, a Russian monarchist student assassinated M. Voikoff, the Soviet Minister to Poland. The Polish Minister at Moscow was immediately instructed to express to the Soviet government Poland's deep regret; President Moseicki of Poland sent a message of like effect to President Kalinin of the Soviet; the Polish foreign minister forwarded a similar communication to the Soviet Foreign Office. The Polish government seemed to have done all that was reasonably possible. But the matter was not allowed to drop by the Soviet officials, and a sharp protest was returned to the Polish officials.

The matter is obviously delicate. Poland and Russia have not recently enjoyed cordial relations, and unfortunately M. Voikoff seems to have been an influential worker for a better amity. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand at Sarajevo is recalled, and the prospect of war, if not imminent, seems at least possible. The Soviet is not enjoying success, the diplomatic rupture with England and the difficulties in the Far East have not made matters easy for the Russian government, and reports from Moscow hint that popular feeling regards the assassination as part of a concerted campaign against the Soviet.

The event seems to have been peculiarly unfortunate for the Russian government which seems to be placed between the Scylla of popular criticism at home and the Gharibdis of general disfavor abroad. To let the matter drop would probably not be satisfactory to those in Russia who feel that communism is being threatened. To press it would probably be to incur the hostility of the other nations who would inevitably regard the action as totally unwarranted. It is possible that the severity already threatened is no more than a beau geste for the benefit of Russian opinion, and that further action is improbable. But thus to confuse further an already delicate issue would seem extremely unwise. How the matter will be settled remains to be seen, but it appears that Russia has been placed in a much more awkward position than Poland, and it will probably require very acute statesmanship to save the Soviet from discredit both at home and abroad.