Evening star., 1949-02-01
Does StuIin Mean Business?

SOSS StOIl IVtSOu OuSIuSSSs
There is a familiar ring to Prime
Minister Stalins latest remarks about
RuSsias desire for peace and cooperation
with the United States in particular and
with the rest of the world in general.
From time to time in the past, either he
or his spokesmen have said much the same
thing without acting accordingly, and so
the fact that he has said it again must
be viewed with wary eye.
Yet it would be a serious mistake
arbitrarily to dismiss the gesture as being
nothing more than just another exercise
in the Kremlin's art of confusion breeding
propaganda. To be sure, the general
nature of the Soviet Unions actions since
the close of the war, its devious ends
justify-means philosophy, and the fact
that Mr.. Stalin's relatively soft words have
come Immediately after a sharp Moscow
attack on the projected North Atlantic
security pact and an implicit warning
to Norway not to join that pact, all
combine to make suspicion sensible
Nevertheless, that reservation to one side,
1t would be foolish of us to discount COM
pletely the possibility that the Russians
may be genuinely anxious for a peaceful
settlement.
After all, it is at least conceivable that
the Kremlin is finding itself on the losing
end of the cold war. There is evidence,
for example, that the Soviet satellites,
wholly apart from openly rebellious Yugo-
slavia, are resentful of the economic price
they must pay for obeying Moscow's orders
to boycott the Marshall Plan for European
recovery-a situation that could develop
into a real Russian headache. Further
more, politically, psychologically and
otherwise, it is by no means unthinkable
that Mr.. Stain and his Politburo are
beginning to worry seriously about how
their obstructionism in the United Nations,
their blockade of Berlin and their hostile
and aggressive actions elsewhere have
inf1amed the temper of the free world and
placed them in position of isolation that
no power, however strong, can sanely
desire for itself
Accordingly, when Mr.. Stain, through
a question exchange with an
American news agency, says the Soviet
Union is prepared to consider issuing
joint antiwar declaration with the United
States, when he. says his government
could cooperate" with us in Implement
ing that pact of peace" with such meas
ures as gradual disarmament, when he
says he "sees no obstacles"-under certain
conditions-to lifting the Berlin blockade,
and when he says he is willing to meet
President Truman at mutually suitable
place" his words, though subject to sus-
picion, ought not to be brushed aside as
mere talk designed to befuddle us. That
is what they may be- of course But on
the other hand, given Russia's not-too-
enviable position in the world, it is Just
barely possible that they constitute q
sincere feeler, an earnest fishing around,
for some formula of negotiation to bring
about an understanding or satisfactory
modus vivendi between East and West.
In some quarters UNDERSTANDABLE
enough-there is frame of mind that
considers the Soviet Union to be incapable
of acting in good faith. On the basis of
past experience, there Is more than little
reason for that viewpoint, but it should
not be allowed to make the governments
OF the free Western world adopt stiff
necked or stubbornly unreceptive attitude
toward any and every gesture of the sort
just made by Mr. Stain. All possibilities
OF peaceful settlement need to be
explored, and in this instance the explor-
ing can be done without by-passing the
United Nations, undermining such projects
as the Marshall Plan and the North
Atlantic security pact, or leading to an
appeasement deal between Russia and the
United States
Certainly, sooner or later, we and like
minded nations must either reach an
understanding with the Soviet Union or
resign ourselves to the virtual certainty
of an eventual war. In the circumstances
we cannot afford to slam the door on the
Russians; we can no more afford it than
they can afford to keep on speaking peace
full words while committing hostile acts.
In all sanity if catastrophe is to be averted,
our divided world must pull itself to-
gether one of these days with an enduring
settlement. To that end. no harm will
be done If diplomatic effort is made to
find out whether Mr.. Stain is really
anxious to cooperate or whether he is
just beating away again at the propaganda
drum.