Evening star., 1946-06-23
Advising Us to Get Out From Between
Britain and Russia Before It's Too Late
By William B. Zit. fHarpers;
TWO WORLDS

49,
A somewhat appallingly realistic
proposal for Americas part In the
post war world is the core of this
book by the author of "The Gentle
men Talk of Peace" Proponents
Of the United Nations organization
are not going to like it.
It begins with the proposition
that the u. N. is impotent. In
4 chapter entitled yet Another
League" Mr.. Ziff demonstrates the
current leagues" inability to deal
with the known and likely causes
Of war and makes it clear that
handsome ideals on paper are, when
all is said and done, handsome ideals
on paper. From that he proceeds
to the proposition that global
organization of the nations is i'm
possible on any terms. The only
thing that would make it effective,
he says, would be physical force
sufIicient to crush any combination
against it, and to intrust such might
blithely to the good intentions OF
any group of men would insure
nothing except tyranny and the fear
Of tyranny to all people.
II there is to be a global organi-
sation, then, in Mr.. Ziff's view, it
must take the form Of q world
state-not that Of a league of SOW
ereign states. But any such world
state is at this time out OF the
question-it is just not going to
happen. What is going to happen?
Mr.. Ziff turns the question over
and answers-most likely war.
Certainly, he says, We are heading
for war at the present time. War
between Russia and somebody-our-
selves or Great Britain or an Anglo
American alliance. Russia Is going
to start q fight sooner or later. She
does not want war but she Is con-
Quoting herself in such way as
to bring war on-and she knows
1t. She would rather chance a
fight than risk the prestige which
she has won with the ignorant
peoples of Europe and Asia by pos
ing as the one power which Is able
and willing to defy the democracies.
The Russian idea, as Mr.. Zin de-
lineates it, is to carry on the world
revolution by taking into the Rus
sian system of federated republics
all the populations which lie be-
tween France and China, or as many
Of them as can be swallowed. Pre-
dominantly, that is backward area
where the people, brutalized by CEN
turies of ignorance and hopeless
ness are easy victims to propaganda.
It will not be hard to persuade
these masses, who do not know
the meaning of freedom, that the
rich democracies are their enemies
and that the Communists are their
friends-particularly as the colo
nizing democracies of Europe have
set q long example of abuse and
insult for the masses to see. Russia
will then have consolidated an en-
pire too great to be faced by the
United States, even with Britain's
uncertain help. The next step in
the world revolution will be the
war against ourselves and If we
wait for Russia's time we will Ger
tainly be defeated.
What, then, should we do?
Britain, Mr.. Ziff thinks, would like
for us to fight now, and is using
considerable pressure to get us to
start a war for her salvation before
it Is too late.
Such a course, in Mr.. Ziff's view,
would be a terrible mistake. We
must get out from our position be-
tween Great Britain and Russia,
he says, and take up our own policy
shaping it to meet the new world
which, from day to day, is being
created by Russia in Asia and what
was once Europe-for Europe, as
Mr.. Ziff sees it, will soon be no
more than a ragged fringe on the
edge OF a great Eurasian empire
under Moscow control.
There is only one policy, he fiatly
states, which will do that. That is
for us to federate our half of the
world, too. We must take into our
Union all the territory and peoples
of the Western Hemisphere, also
including the British Isles and
Australia. We will not govern these
territories in their local affairs-they
will be as free as are our States to-
day. But their people will become
citizens of the United States. We
will join them together in security
system under one head for mutual
I>fn vHYk,nrn do fhof
confront Russia with strength and
resources equal to her own. If there
is. a war then, it will be one-half
Of the world against the other half,
and any government would hesitate
a long time before starting such an
appalling conflict.
Mr.. Zin in making these recon-
mendations strives obviously for
realism. He plays no moral favor
ties. Though he castigates the
hypocrisy and ingratitude of Britain,
he is equally plain about the bru-
tality of the Russian methods in
the new republics" which they have
annexed, where liquidation of the
educated, the liberal, the free
minded goes on precisely as it did
when the countries were under
Nazi control. But that is beside the
point, he says. The Russians have
succeeded in robotizing the minds
Of their people quite as well as did
the Nazis, and moral arguments
have no more weight in Russian
politics now than they did In Hit
lerite Germany. The day Of the
small state is, therefore, at an end.
We cannot proceed on the basis of
respect for little nations while all
the little nations on the other half
Of the globe are being corrupted
against US.
AZ for Britain, she is through,
says Mr.. Ziff. We can keep her
by q prodigal system Of international
charity or we can take her into our
Union, along with Canada, the
usvaiians and GuatemalA to her