Evening star., 1945-11-11
Bv Harold J. LaSki,
Chairman of the British Labor Party.

Chairman OF the British LABOR Party.
LONDON-The most remarkable
speech of the week was that of the For
eign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, in his
discussion on the situation in ravaged
Europe. This was the Ernest Bevin
whom all Socialists hope will prove him
self very great Foreign Secretary. He
had grim and ugly picture to paint,
and he told Parliament the whole truth
without mincing his words.
There are 25,ooo,Oo0 people on the
move in Europe. They are homeless and
mostly starving; they create the imme-
diate danger this winter of an epidemic
the proportions Of which might well
prove more terrible than the atomic
bomb.
Bevin insisted that this awe-inspiring
horror was by no means all. To the
physical hunger there corresponded
spiritual hunger. There was "black-
out" over Europe. People did not know
in one country what was being said in
another; people over wide areas did not
dare to speak, much less to exchange
ideas. eff every country" said Bevin,
could have free parliaments, with full
expression without dictation, and people
could express themselves freely on all
these vexed questions, we could make
better world for the future"
Bevin did not conceal from the House,
first, that UNRRA was on the verge of
bankruptcy, and that if the American
Congress did not give it immediate aid,
its benefcent work would end. He in
sisted that the wheat-producing coun-
tries had special responsibility, and
that it was an urgent responsibility to
stop all political differences holding up
production which might make all the
difference between the chance of saliva
ton and the possibility Of disaster.
Full of Hard Realism.
All this Bevin said with a blunt and
fortnight eloquence that was full of
hard realism, and wholly devoid of SEN
timentality. But, perhaps even more
important, were other elements on
which he laid emphasis. He showed a
wise sympathy for the immense and
painful problems which confronted the
Czechs and Poles. as they sought to re-
build from the very foundations the
shattered machinery of their states. He
made the proportions of the deliberate
anarchy left by the Nazis as their leg
acy in defeat something no one could
fail to understand. He pointed out the
folly of relying on frontiers and spheres
of influence as the road to security.
Bevin proclaimed his warm sympathy
for the American proposal to set up in
ternational commissions to make full
and free use of the great inland water
ways of Europe He urged the need to
make the Allied Control Commission
in the Danube basin unified organiza-
tion capable of maximizing the food
supply of that area and seeing that it
went where it was needed. He insisted
on his opposition to any schemes that
might ruin the peaceful industry of
Germany; but he pointed out that the
Ruhr must not become threat to
peace, and it was clear that Bevin was
sympathetic to some form Of interna-
tional control Of Ruhr production.
The whole ethics Of his speech was q
plea to the statesmen Of the world to
get rid Of fear, and to rebuild security
not by reaching for strategic frontiers,
or by keeping large armies in being. but
by obliterating the past and cooperating
in the rehabilitation Of Europe. That
was the only road to true security,
| and it was road on which science to-
| day could make recovery speedier and
the journey to weil-being faster than
ever before. But the condition, said
Bevin, Was that statesmen should be
left free from fear Of each other to de-
vote their energy to creative work" !"
] do not think any one could havs