The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-05-26
Comment On
World Events

The American Federation Oi
Labor, through its international
Labor Relations Committee, has
warned the Department Of State
that any appeasement of COmmun-
ist Russia at the meeting Of the
Big Four Foreign Ministers in
Paris would open the door to Russ
ian domination Of Europe. This is
a warning, which, if ignored OF
forgotten, will imperil the United
States and all democratic nations
The committee, meeting during
the AFL executive council sessions
at Cleveland, pointed out that any
weaknesses on the part Of the West
would enable 'the Russian aggres-
sors" to Offset their recent set
backs and "grab through infltra.
ton what they could not snatch
through starvation"
Pending final adoption Of the
peace treaty, the AFL committee
called for a cessation of all further
dismantling Of German industrial
plants producing peacetime goods.
The committees stand is in line
with the view frequently expressed
by Comment on World Events,
which has consistently opposed the
dismantling policy as one of the
biggest mistakes of the occupying
powers. "The policy" the column
said last Oct. 9, ''is seriously hamp-
ering efforts for the creation of a
selfgoverning, d m cratic Ger
many, committed to peace and to
aiding the rehabilitation of Eu-
rope"
In connection with the Foreign
Ministers meeting, Sc labor, relig-
ious and civic leaders have urged
Secretary of State Acheson to
bring to Paris a program for the
establishment of a central dem
ocratic government for all Ger
many and its refrigeration into the
family of nations.
In a telegram to Acheson, re-
leased through the American Asso-
citation for a Democratic Germany,
New York, the signers declared
that: "The prime purpose with
which this country approaches the
four power negotiations must be
the extension of the area of demo-
cracy within Germany and its fur
ther integration with the rest of
the democratic world.
"The establishment of a demo-
cratic government in Germany in
wolves, of course, the holding of
rec elections under the supervision
IF all a powers. 1t involves, too,
he end of the police terror at pre-
sent in effect in the Soviet Zone,
md the release of those who have
,een imprisoned or deported for re-
using to accept Communist dicta-
,orship. There must be effective
protection of civil rights in all |
zones of Germany. If the Soviet
Union is unwilling to concede such
guarantees as these, then an agree
nent will be worse than useless"
!. j. J.
The telegram went on to urge |
resistance to any further Russian |
lemand for reparations, on the
,round that the Soviet Union had /
4lready received far more than the /
0 billion dollars it asked at Yalta. i
And it declared that "there must Il
'e no veto power in the hands of 4
ither the Soviet Union or any of \
he other Allies in respect to Ger
nany's international economic re-
ations or her integration into any
arrangements for CO.
peration with the rest of the II
yorld." II
The statement concluded by urg- Il
ng that if agreement for all Ger
many on a basis of satisfactory
principles should not be possible,
he government of Western Ger
many should be expanded to in
lude Berlin, $50 that it will be II
lear to all that participation in it
J open to all Germans, and that
ne division of Germany is not the
lult of the West" H