Evening star., 1951-08-22
Let Them Prove 1t

In formally transmitting to Congress the
"peace and friendship" communications recently
sent to him from the Soviet Union, President
Truman has effectively challenged the men of
the Kremlin to start proving that they really
mean what they say-that they sincerely seek
an understanding with the United States and
the free world as a whole, that they are anxious
to ease international tensions, and that their
real objective in life is to cooperate in building
a happy, constructive and collectively secure
global society liberated from the fear of aggres-
sion and the scourge of war.
AS Mr.. Truman has pointed out the Soviet
communications were sent in reply to his letter
transmitting to the Kremlin the joint congress
sional resolution proclaiming the desire of the
United States to establish genuinely good peace
and live in amity with all peoples, including the
Russians. Both the letter and the resolution
were withheld from publication by the Stain
government for a full month. But then that
government, apparently feeling that it could
keep them secret no longer, finally ordered its
press and radio to give them widespread publicity
simultaneously with the answer sent to the
President.
Of course, the simultaneous release of that
answer-an answer full of characteristic mis-
repreSentationS-was a propaganda counter
move aimed at Soviet and satellite public
and becloud the meaning of the sentiments
expressed by the President and Congress. Never
theless as Mr.. Truman has said, the mere fact
that those sentiments finally received rather
thorough circulation in the u. S. S. r. "has
opened at least a crack in the Iron Curtain"
and probably has had a real effect on the
minds of the Russian people" In other words,
little bit of the truth has gotten through and
even little bit of it is far better than none
whatever.
AS for the Soviet Unions answering avowalS
of an earnest desire for peace and friendship,
the President has rightly emphasized that the
deeds, unfortunately, continue to be wholly at
variance with the words. The avowals have not
altered the vilifying character of the Kremlin's
propaganda against the United States and like
minded nations. BY way of example, they have
not stopped the Russians from staging the recent
hate-America youth meeting in East Berlin.
They have not done anything, in short, to give
the slightest assurance that there will be any
changes in the Stain governments hostile and
expansionist policies-polices that have brought
the threat of war to the whole world.
In such situation, there is only one way
for the men of the Kremlin to win serious at
tention for their peaceful protestations That
way requires that they respond aff1rmatively
to the Presidents challenge calling upon them
to take steps like the following: Cd Permit
free exchange of information and travel between
their world and ours; (2) stop supporting armed
aggression in defiance of the United Nations;
60 make constructive contributions to peace
settlements for Germany, Austria and Japan;
"a put an end to their Subversive operations
in other countries and their use of force to
maintain puppet regimes against the will of
the people; (5) cease ibeling other nations and
violating fundamental human rights; and (6)
join in good faith in efforts to control atomic
energy.
Plainly enough, until the Soviet rulers begin
to take action along such lines, their words about
peace will continue to ring hollow. And as long
as they do ring hollow the United States and
its allies as the President has declared will have
to maintain powerful common defenSes against
the threat of aggression, while at the same time
sparing no effort to rip bigger and bigger holes
in the Iron Curtain in order to get the truth
through. Conceivably, by holding fast to this
course the free world may yet succeed-short
of war-in obliging the men of the Kremlin to
shift, no matter how slowly or grudgingly, to a
w-abiding policy.