Evening star., 1947-11-14
The Communists Will Not Wait

Communist rioting in France and Italy
mob violence of kind that could grow
into civil war-lends grim emphasis to the
headlines advocated by Secretary Marshall
for affirmative congressional action on
both short-term and long-term European
aid. The situation is boiling up To deal
with it in -little-too-late spirit would
be about as bad as not dealing with it
at all. If an economic and political COL
lapse is to be avoided, then the United
States must move swiftly, without vacilla-
ton or delay, to do what needs to be done,
not merely for the sake of its friends
abroad but fors its own sake as we'll
In Secretary Marshalps exceptionally
Well-informed opinion-as presented to
the House Foreign Affairs Committee-the
proposed $597, 100000 stopgap emergency
fund must be appropriated before Deem
ber l if conditions in France, Italy and
Austria are not to 60 from critically bad
to critically worse. Moreover, if it is to
be as effective as hoped, the long-range
European Recovery Program must be en-
acted not later than early next March.
Considering the magnitude of the problems
involved, especially as regards the ERP,
considering also the opposition threatened
by influential men like Senator Taft, Con-
gress may be physically unable to meet
these headlines, but that does not alter the
fact that every effort must be made to
come as close to them as possible.
The situation is too pressing, too urgent,
too dangerous in its potentialities to allow
for legislative dillydallying or protracted,
repetitious debate. History will not stand
still long enough to let us enjoy the luxury
Of slow-motion action. Least of all will
the Communists stand still. Under the
revived" Conlintern, in keeping with the
line laid down by the Kremlin, they are
frankly dedicated to the task of wrecking
the ERP, and they will lose no time in
trying to shape events accordingly. In
France and Italy-two of the key powers in
the projected recovery program-they con-
troll the bulk of organized labor and they
have already launched kind of offensive
with strike calls. riotous demonstrations,
street fighting and other strong-arm
measures designed to promote chaos and
Illustrate plans to restore the economic
svigor Of the free, nontotalitarian European
lands. The ultimate objective behind all
this, OF course, is to force the whole con-
tinent under the dominance of the Soviet
Union.
This threat involves nothing less than
the survival of democratic western civiliza-
ton, which means that it also involves the
future of our own American liberty, pros
perity and security. 1t Is situation that
demands two lines of action above ALL
First, as Premier Ramadier has just init
mated in connection with the Marseille
rioting, the free governments of crisis
ridden countries like France and Italy must
move boldly and decisively to check the
internal Communist menace And second
as an indispensable Complementary step
to save those countries from collapse and
get them back on their feet the United
States-through Congress-must act with
the greatest possible dispatch to extend
emergency aid and go on from there to
the long-range recovery program.
1t Is clear enough, certainly, that this is
no time for inaction or indecision. The
Communists are not going to wait for the
free world to make up its mind. Current
events in France and Italy strongly sug-
gest that they are moving now to acceler-
ate the tempo of European trouble as much
and as fast as possible. The United States
and the west as a whole cannot afford to
hem and haw over this challenge. They
must meet it together, and with the ut
most speed. AS far as congressional action
is concerned, nothing could make more
sense than the Marshall headlines.
Hue&onar IIn:op9