Evening star., 1951-04-20
Is 1t UnthinkobIe?

"A long editorial in MoScoWS Pravda-which
regularly turns truth upside down in keeping
with strict instructions from the Kremln-has
set forth the spectacularly twisted thesis that
President Truman dismissed General Macarthur
because of the latter's failure" to carry out the
orders" of American ruling circles to invade
Manchuria and attack Red China The editorial
then goes on to suggest, by indirection, that
General Ridgway will. spare no effort to put
those orders into full effect
Since practically everybody in the free world
understands that the dismissal came largely as
a result of General MacArthur's frank disagree
ment with the U. S.-U. N. ban against bombing
the privileged sanctuary" of Manchuria, the
editors of Pravda must know that their blatantly
mendacious Interpretation will win only ridicule
on this side of the Iron Curtain Why, then
have they been at pains to invent such lie?
Why have they spread it out through three
columns of type on their front page? Why has
the Soviet dictatorship outdone itself In prevari-
cation to give the impression that the President
far from wanting to limit the war to Korea
is really intent upon extending it to China?
Undoubtedly one of the objectives of this
poisonous propaganda is to mislead still further
the Russian people and all other peoples behind
the Iron Curtain. But the tone of the editorial
indicates the possibility of its having been de-
signed also-and particularly-for the attention
of Peiping and the Chinese masses AT any rate
the piece seems well designed to persuade Red
China not to regard General MacArthur's re-
moval as evidence that the, United States Gov
ernment is opposed to the idea of attacking
Manchuria The real truth, according to Prayda
Is that Presidents Truman is determined to. en-
large the war, lid the Mao Tze-tung regime
had betternot let itself be fooled by any Anieri-
can or u N. effort for an honorable peace
settlement. -7ssts@ ~
In other words, the Pravda editorial gives
rise to the suspicion-a faint one, to be sure
but still suspicion-that the Kremlin is little
bit anxious to head off a possible Chinese tend
ency to toy with the idea of negotiated settle
ment In this connection, a Berlin correspondent
of the North American Newspaper Alliance has
just reported having learned about secret
Soviet document-"Bulletin 9009"-depicting the
Kremlin as worried about Red China's poor
vigilance" against Western diplomatic tricks
according to the correspondent, the Bulletin"
declares, among other things, that peace-making
statements growing out of the Macarthur dis,
missal "have already found an open ear in Pei
ping" that this is "too bad" and that Communists
must see to it that the Mao regime keeps on
fighting
Like lot Of other asecret documents" that
have been "uncovereda in the past, Bulletin
90o9" may be completely phony. Yet, when con-
sidered along with the Pravda editorial, the
MANA report about it makes interesting reading.
Is it conceivable that the Peiping authorities
are veering to line that disturhs the Kremlifl?
Could it be that Moscow may be having little
difficulty IN persuadine them to continue expos
ing their armies TO heavy casualties? Are they
perhaps showing signs of wanting to be their
own masters and not mere puppets?
Now ssno time for wishfulness, of course,
but IN the debate raging over how best to fight
the Korean war, it may be advisable for us to
keep in mind this possibility. That Red China,
which has been tied to Moscow only few years,
may yet develop Titoist rebellion of its own
After ALL as recently as 1948 nobody anticipated
what was even then happening in Yugosavia
Is it entirely unthinkable that one of these DAYS
much the same thing may hold true for the
Chinese Communists?