Evening star., 1949-05-05
Western Powers Face
Struggle Now Over
Whole Of Germany
By Yves tsollosher

By Yves Goliosher
Aaseessssd Press fessssn csrsspe.Ss~s
BERLIN. May 5.-The Western
powers, victorious In the cold bat
tie for, Berlin. come now to the
greater struggle for all Of Ger
many.
Many international observers
here believe O victory for the
In this struggle would
shatter the Russians Iron Cur
tain. Eastern Europe traditionally
depends heavily on Germany for
the supplies it needs-supplies
which it Is doubtful Russia alone
can provide.
Russia's failure to attain her
goal Of driving the Western pow
ers from Berlin with the blockade
obviously spells q Western victory
In the Berlin phase.
The next phase viii open with
the forthcoming four power meet
ings In Paris. called in connection
with the agreement announced in
New York yesterday to end the
blockades and seek q settlement
OF the whole German problem.
Shift of Tactics Seen.
Many top American officials In
Germany expect the Russians. ut
the Paris meetings. will shift from
a policy of obstruction to one OF
foxy. limited cooperation. de-
signed to give them the strongest
possible voice in a central German
government merging the Eastern
and Western zones.
These officials predict the Soviet
bargainerS viii make certain con-
cessions. even to the point OF al
lowing satellite nations to seek
renewed economic ties with the
West to relieve economic distress
before they become too restive.
Russia. these Americans believe,
realizes her get-tough policy with
the West has failed. So they look
for a leavening OF this policy de-
signed to strengthen the propa-
ganda hands Of Communist Parties
in Western Europe. and to wangie
Communists into influential
positions In a central German gov
ernment.
These are not unanimous views,
however.
Sharper Struggle Expected
Some very able observers expect
the diplomatic struggle for all
Germany will be sharper and less
subtle. They predict that the
Russians. pinched by the Allied
counterblockade which has stag
mated the economy Of the Soviet
zone Of Germany. simply will dis
card the blockade as q useless
weapon.
These spokesmen say they will
be- surprised II the four-power
are not marked b5 the
same tough. futile discussions
which marked past ones, with the
Russians making few concessions
but blasting the West with propa-
ganda In the hope Of winning
German support.
They stress heavily the Com
munist political machine the Rus
slams have built within their zone.
+. The East zone Reds have sched-
uled elections May 1915 for a
peoples congress" claiming to
represent all Germany. While this
is only . week before the foreign
ministers are due to get together,
some observers feel the Commu-
nists win try to set UP q govern
ment to claim parity with the pro-
iected West German state.
Clues Given by Paper.
Possibly the most solid clues
to guide this speculation came In
yesterdays edition Of the Soviet
army newspaper Taegliche Rund-
schau. It limited at these probable
Soviet demands:
Cd UNIFIED Germany, with dis
proportionate representation for
German Communists: CD Drastic
modification Of Allied control over
steel and coal resources of the
Ruhr. with guarantees that Russia
would have equal authority with
the Western powers In policing it
and that q large share of Ruhr
production would 60 TO Eastern
Europe; Cd An early end to mill
tary occupation Of Germany.
Withdrawal of foreign troops
and relaxed control Of the Ruhr
have been demanded by many
Germans outside the Communist
camp.
A further clue lies in q state
ment last night by the COM
unist-dominated Socialist Unity
Party attacking the proposed West
German government. The state
mer1t viewed the New York agree
ment as evidence of Soviet will
ingness to compromise.
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Ford