Evening star., 1946-10-18
Peace PorIey Results
Face Test of Years
Significant Fact of Conference
Is That 1t Has Not Adjourned

Significant Fact of Conference
Is That 1t Has Not Adjourned
By David Laurence
Persons with short memories are say
ing the Paris Conference was failure,
but they forget that no peace conference
In the past was ever hailed as success
by all the parties. The real test is
whether the agreement brings peace for
any length Of time or plunges the par
ticipants into another war. This s
something which will not be known for
many years to come.
The Paris Conference did not settle
all the fundamental questions before it.
Many compromises were offered and
many were rejected. But the significant
thing about the conference is that it
keep on talking. 1t may be that 1t will
be another year or more before COM
prehensive settlement Of the issues
growing out of World War II will be
achieved.
In a broad sense, the world can
derive encouragement from the fact
that the discussions continue. For as
world opinion plays its searchlights on
the debates, inevitably world opinion
will penetrate even the iron curtain"
And the moves being made by the de-
mocracieS are bound sooner or later to
impress even the totalitarian regime
that there must be some element Of
cooperation lest Russia's own recovery
be stymied and her own internal situa-
ton become so unstable economically
as to furnish the basis for revolt.
Fifth Column" Active.
The negotiations at Paris tax the pa
tience of fair-minded men whose con-
cept of an agreement is a spirit of give
and-take. The Russians make conces-
stons on minor points but never seem
to bulge on the major points. The Rus
| SLAMS have been encouraged by virtual
fifth column" inside the United States
which is as active in behalf of the COM
munistic foreign policy program as the
pro- Nazis and their organizations were
for the Nazi cause inside the United
States before December. 1941. The
American people are slow to discover
certain .disloyal elements which have
bored within minority of our labor
unions and which have secured the
support of various liberal citizens and
organizations that happen to be nothing
but fronts for communism
The Russian government may not
know it, but the biggest single barrier
being erected to an understanding with
the Russian people is that formed by
the activities of those so-called friends
of Russia inside the United States who
are members of the Communist Party
or are supporting the Communist line.
When Congress reconvenes in Janu-
airy, it seems certain that the Ameri-
can people will hear more about the
activities of Communists inside the
United States and countries to the
south of us. Up until recently this has
been laughed off by the "parlor pinks"
and some of the so-called liberals, but
this has not discouraged members of
Congress or national organizations like
the American Federation of Labor and
the American Legion from pursuing the
matter.
Guilty Feeling in Moscow.
Russian American relations would be
benefited if the Communists in this
country ceased their interference. The
number of persons outside the Com
munist orbit who want to see friend
ship established with the Russian peo-
pie is overwhelming. Such antagonism
as exists is leveled against the totali-
tartan regime in Moscow All the talk
from pro-Communist sources about civ
ing with communism" is simply blind
to urge acceptance of totalitarianism as
a respectable way of living. There can
be no reconciliation between the de-
nlocracies and tyrannical regimes which
abolish civil rights.
The Russian controlled press and
their allies inside the United States
have formed the habit of pointing to
the few persons lynched in the South
or to other isolated instances of sup
preston of civil rights as typical ex-
amples of how lawless all Americans
are No emphasis is placed, for ex-
ample, on the attitude of the Republic
can Party-which is denounced as
''reactionary' by Moscow-in taking a
stand publicly against lynchings and
in favor of legislation to abolish all
forms of discrimination beween persons
of different race or color.
The truth is that MoscoW's press has
a guilty feeling about the criticisms OF
the totalitarian regime made by he
American press and faunts the lynch
ings and the Tennessee episodes as
characteristic of the entire American
people. Just as Americans do not be-
lieve that the oppressive acts OF the
Moscow regime are typical of the be-
havior of the Russian people, so may
it be said that the few cases of dis
regard of civil liberties in America are
not typical of the people or their gov
ernment in democracy like the United
States.
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