Evening star., 1950-11-21
The KremIin and Peace

The Soviet Union has received another we'll
deserved rebuff in the General Assemblys over
whelning rejection of Foreign Minister Vishn-
sky's so-called plan for peace. Considering the
nature of that plan, the Assembly could hardly
have done otherwise without stultifying itself
and making the free world look like timid soul
yielding meekly to the threatful demands of the
Kremlin.
For the Soviet plan-as set forth by Mr..
vshinsky in speech full of bristling and abusive
language-in effect called upon the United Ma
tions to capitulate to Moscow Thus, it demanded
among other things Cd that the u NJ imme-
diately admit Red China into membership, (2)
that the General Assembly reverse its recent
decision not to let the Russian veto prevent ac-
ton against aggression, and 81 that atomic
weapons be outlawed on an unconditional basis
without the prior establishment of an effective
system of international control and inspection.
Presented on take-it-or- -leave-it basis, as
conditions that would have to be met before the
Soviet Union would cooperate in world peace
program, these demandS-all old oneS and all
previously either ignored or formally rejected by
the great majorty-amounted to nothing but an
other attempt to browbeat the United Nations into
bowing to the Kremlin's will. In offering them,
Mr. Vishinsky himself must have been we'll aware
that their acceptance out of the question, the
more so because of the bulldozing way in which
he placed them before the Assembly. Indeed,
even his demand regarding Red China-whose
admission many members are inclined to favor
was couched in language incorporate enough to
seem deliberately calculated to insure rejection.
AS matter of fact, Mr. vishinsky's harsh un-
reasonableness in presenting the Soviet program,
his completely uncompromising spirit, makes ii
difficult to believe that the Kremln has the
slightest desire to cooperate in any kind of peace
except a peace organized strictly in accord with
its own terms. Such a peace-which would out
law the atom, for example without setting up
powerful control guarantees-would be mockery
leaving the free nations gravely exposed to con-
quest on one-by-one basis. The Russians bel
ligerent insistence on it seems just bit ominous;
1t indicates that they may already have made
up their minds to let events drift toward an all
out global war unless everybody quails before
them and permits them to have their own way.
BY way of contrast, all the other members
of the United Nations-all but the Soviet bloc
have made clear, in rejecting the vishinsky de-
mands. that they really want genuine co-opera-
ton for genuine peace. To that end, they have
passed resolution urging special efforts to see
what If anything can be accomplished through
Secretary General Trygve Lies proposed 20-year
program to avert war-a program calling for
such things as periodic highlevel meetings of the
Big Five, renewed attempts to establish interna-
tional atomic control, and the organization Of
special anti-aggression armed forces in the U. N.
It seems clear, however, that Mr.. Lies pro-
gram will be more or less futile if the Soviet
Union Is irrevocably committed to policies of ag-
gression, at the risk of precipitating another
world war. Certainly, If the men of the Kremlin
have made up their minds along that line, the
best hope of the free nations is to achieve as
much armed strength as possible and as much
unity as possible as fast as possible. Their sur
vival may well depend upon their doing that
without further delay.