Evening star., 1946-09-01

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cumstances. She went into Norway, Hol-
land and Belgium in spite of recognized
international treaties.
Russia attacked Poland while the non-
aggression pact still had some three
years to run. She set up puppet gov
ernment in Azerbaijan and compelled
the Teheran government to accept the
situation in spite of formal agreement
signed at Teheran by Stain himself in
December, 1943. She signed the Allan
tic Charter and later not only threw it
aside but also coerced the United States
and Great Britain into overlooking all
the lofty ideals the Charter contained.
Russia signed formal treaty with
Generalissimo Chang Kai-shek of
China recognizing the rights and the
position Of the national government
Yet she is now supporting the Commu-
mist government of Yenan At the same
time she has ignored the provisions of
the treaty signed with China on August
18, l945, by denying Chinese ships entry
into Port Arthur and by occupying the
Port of Dairen which under the pact
was to be demilitarized and used on an
equal basis by the Chinese and the Rus
slams.
Prime Minister Stain and his gov
ernment signed the United Nations
Charter and solemnly pledged them
selves to live up to it. Yet all Russia's
actions in that organization were to
promote her expansionist interests re-
gardless of how other nations might be
affected. Many observers who have
watched the antics of the Soviet dele
gates in the world organization of
peace-loving countries have gained the
impression that Russia is using the
U. N. exclusively for her own purposes
and is prepared to leave it as soon as
the other nonsatelite countries make
a real attempt to live up to its scope.
People Kept in Dark.
One of Hitler's first steps when he
took power was to conceal world events
from his own people. Foreign news
papers we're frequently banned. Heavy
penalties were imposed on individuals
who attempted to listen to foreign
broadcasts and every difficulty was
placed in the way of German citizens
who desired to travel outside their own
country. The same is being done on
a far larger scale in the Soviet. Be-
cause of her geographical position
Russia has been able to draw heavier
curtain between her own people and
the outside world, No news from abroad
ever reaches the citizens Of the U. S. S. r..
except that approved by the government
and appearing in the government
owned newspapers and broadcasting
stations.
When, some two weeks ago. the Rus
sian broadcaster told his fellow country
men how Russia defeated Japan and
doubt that the story was believed by
all the listeners in that vast country.
They must now be wondering what right
the Americans have to be in control
in Japan and why the rest of the world
remains hostile to the U. S. S. r. when
it wishes to have the final word in the
Far East.
The Germans, because of their busi-
ness interests and their geographical
position, were not able to cut off all
contact with the outside world Hun
dreds of thousands of peoples from all
over the world visited Germany every
year until the outbreak of the war.
While these visitors were tagged and
followed by the Gestapo and their bag
gage frequently searched in the hotels
and boarding houses where they lived,
there still was some interchange between
Hitler's Reich and the democratic coun-
tries.
No such contact exists with the Rus
slams. Unless an individual is COM
pletely sympathetic to Russia's ideolo-
gists he cannot receive visa to go to
Russia. And those few privileged per-
sons are allowed to visit only Moscow,
Leningrad and few other places under
the most strict surveillance of NKVD
agents.
This parallel of salient similarities
between the system we helped crush in
1945 because it was threatening the
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today in the U. S. S. r. is now being
taken into consideration by policy
trainers in the western democracies. In
the face of Russia's adamant attitude
toward all problems presented at the
Paris Conference and before the U. N.
they cannot help but wonder where the
world is drifting.
Warning by Stain.
The business and peace-minded west
ern nations believed until quite recently
that the two systems-the democratic
and the totalitarian-could live side by
side without coming to blows. They
were convinced that Russias crying
need to improve her economic position
and mend the devastations of the war
would induce the Kremlin leaders to
adopt friendly attitude toward the
"decadent capitalism" of the western
democracies. They hoped that we would
have at least f1ve-year honeymooning
with the U. S. S. r. In this time many
things could happen. The Russian
totalitarianism Is much older than that
created In the Reich by Hitler. Conse-
quently, said our political philosophers.
it likely has more mellowness. Give the
Russians five more years, they said, and
they would realize that nothing could
really be gained by force. Their own
people after such period would be less
willing to shoulder a rifle and go fight
ing for chimera which is called world
domination.
The fact that Stain said shortly after
the end of the war that communism