Evening star., 1947-09-19
Moral Pressure on Russio

Moral Pressure on Russia
# Russia were willing to 60 along with
them, there would be no trouble at all
about adopting the far-reaching Marshall
proposals to end the present state OF
paralysis in the United Nations. Un-
fortunately, however-indeed ominously-
Deputy Foreign Minister vishinsky has
made dismally clear that Russia is any
thing but willing. Under the U. N. Charter,
moreover, it has the right to make its un-
willingness effective. It has the right to
veto any effort to restrain 1t from excessive
use of the Veto
With one possible exception this obstacle
seems to affect all the Marshall proposals
for overhauling the machinery Of the
U. N. The exception Is the proposal that
the General Assembly set up special
standing committee to meet in permanent
session as counterpart to the Security
Council: The creation Of such an agency
which would lack the Councils powers
but could exercise considerable moral
force in behalf of action for peace-ap-
pears to be permissible under provisions
allowing the Assembly to adopt its own
organs. But the same cannot be said of
the other measures advocated by Secretary
Marshall. If they are to be effective, the
Charter must be amended, and Russia, as
q permanent member of the Security
Council, has the legal power to veto any
steps to that end.
Thus, unless the Kremlin decides to
change its policy-and Mr.. Vishinsky's bit
ter distortions indicate that no change is
in sight-the Marshall proposal on the
Balkans cannot result in direct action by
the General Assembly. The proposal
would have the Assembly take specific
measures to end the aggressive acts of
Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria against
Greece. But the Charter has delegated all
such measures to the veto-crippled Sc
curity Council, so that an amendment
would be necessary to empower the
Assembly to do anything more than dis
cuss the issue and make recommendations
Such an amendment move, of course, could
be nullified by Russia. So, too, could the
kindred one proposed by Secretary Mar
shall to eliminate the veto from decisions
involving peaceful settlements under
Chapter vi of the Charter. In other words,
though the overwhelming majority may
support the Marshall suggestions, and even
though two-thirds of the Assembly mem
bers may vote to put them into effect, the
Soviet Union has only to say mo" to
block them and keep the United Nations
paralyzed.
No one could be more aware of this than
Secretary Marshall He has harbored no
Illusions about Soviet opposition of the
type Just voiced by Mr.. Vishinsky, much Of
1t self evidently butchery of the truth.
But still, even though they face great and
perhaps insurmountable obstacles the
secretary's proposals have this virtue:
They place Russia on the defensive. They
bring the moral weight of the 55-nation
General Assembly to bear on the problem
of the Kremlin's refusal to cooperate in
building decent peace. In sum, they
place the Stain government before the
bar Of world opinion, in the hope that the
judgment passed there will impel that
government to cease and desist from frus-
trating the will of the bulk of mankind.
It may be that such moral pressure will
have little or no effect. 1t may be that
censorship and the secret police rule out
the possibility that the Russian people
themselves will have opinions strong
enough to influence their rulers for the
better. Nevertheless, the pressure needs
TO be applied. There may be moments
after all, when the men of the Kremlin
are unsure of themselves and find it diff
cult to stand out virtually alone against
the world. Mr.. Vishinsky's address yes
terday-particularly his logically absurd
and demonstrably untrue remarks on the
Truman Doctrine, European recovery and
atomic control-suggests that there is con-
fusion in their minds over the showdown
implications of the Marshall proposals
Conceivably, If the General Assembly
adopts those proposals. they may hesitate
to veto them,
In any event. one thing seems certain:
II there is no change from the line fol-
lowed by Mr.. Vishinsky, the United Nations
will disintegrate, and its cooperating
members will have reason to organizes a
new balance Of power designed to out
weigh the self-isolated soviets as heavily
as possible.