Evening star., 1946-08-12
Moral Strength Aids
Democrucies in Paris
Russia Must Bow TO, Opinion
Of World in Peace Debates
By David Lawrence

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By David Lawrence
Moral force, in some respects the
most powerful force In the world, Is
winning some real victories In Paris.
Physical force, the potential use OF
military resources in an atomic age,
has not been utilized directly or in
of the issues being discussed at the
conference of the 81 nations assembled
at the Luxembourg Palace.
The spokesmen for the democracies-
Great Britain, the United States, Cam
ada, Australia, France and others
spokesmen of the totalitarian area of
Europe which embraces Russia and her
group of satellite states. But that word
battle is meaningless In itself. What
is far more important than the discus
sion Of procedures or rules is the fact
. that the governmental representatives
speak out plainly in world forum
where every word of Importance is
transmitted round the world.
Soviet Relaxes Grip.
Even the Soviet censorship which
controls the Russian press has had to
be relaxed sufficiently to print the text
of the speech of the Secretary of State
of the United States, James F. Byrnes.
It was, to be sure, as the result of
challenge or a taunt that the Soviet
iy,cf al o.
what Mr.. Byrnes said and the reply by
Mr.. Molotov. But, nevertheless, the in
cident marks the beginning of a pene-
tration that must have reaching
effects.
The debate between Mr. Byrnes and
Mr.. Molotov continues from day to day,
with OCCASIONAL interjections from the
Australian spokesman, Mr.. Evatt, or
from the French or British delegates,
but the main outline of the skirmish
changes very little The Russians ap-
parently believe the whole world is
against them and they fear that, un-
less every single decision Is subject to
their final veto, it will be decision
against them.
Rarely has there been such a mani
fest proof of an inferiority complex In
diplomacy. To Offset it, sometimes the
opposite extreme-a superiority COM
plex-is developed. So long as there
is nothing more alarming in the situa-
ton than excessive pride and a ma
tionalistic exuberance, the world can
watch with satisfaction a debate in
which the representatives of totalitari-
anism find themselves at such a dis
advantage with their adversaries.
will Make Concessions.
This Is not to say that Russias con-
tentions or points are wholly unjustified,
for the truth is Secretary Byrnes recog-
nizes that concessions must be made.
What he says, significantly. is this:
I'VE haven't fought to dictate to a
free world, or to have one of our allies
dictate to us. We are not going to gang
up against any nation. We will make
concessions-but we will not make all
the concessions"
Throughout the civilized world the
white light of publicity beats fiercely
on the gathering at Paris. Mr.. Byrnes
and his associates rely on it. They give
the press everything they can-even
the so-called secrets of the closed
sessions. This is done so that the whole
world may know what is going on.
One would think that, inasmuch as
the Russians suppress whatever they
wish to keep out of their own news
papers, they would not be concerned
about what is printed elsewhere. But
Russia must continue to do business
with the capitalistic world no matter
how antagonistic to Communism the
capitalistic nations might happen to be.
Russia Is more dependent on the outside
world than her spokesmen are willing
to concede. So the Russian represent
atives try to get as much as they can
by maneuvering. All the talk about
procedures is pointless because Russia,
as sovereign nation, cannot be CO.
creed into agreeing to something she
doesn't want. Nor can Britain or the
United States.
Debate Guides Opinion.
The debate, on the other hand,
strengthens the case for q just cause
and mobilizes opinion outside OF Russia.
Hence the Soviets cannot afford to
ignore persuasive point.
Moral force is gathering more power.
1t uses worldwide discussion and pub
licity. but above all 1t must mobilize
the respectful judgments of many ma
tions whose people are free to make
up their minds. What powerful force
to use in an era of instantaneous COM
munication and scientific devices for
transmitting promptly the spoken voice
and the written word!
The debate may wear out the patience
and the nerves of democracy's spokes-
men in Paris but the progress is greater
than appears at first glance In the
perspective of history, the democracies
are gaining ground. Maybe they will
discover IN time better way to pene-
trate Russia's iron curtain than any
physical weapons ever devised.
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