Evening star., 1951-02-19
The Stain Interview

Like Big Brother in George Orwel's 1884"
Generalissmo Stain, in his "interview" with
Pravda, has given voce-as he and his propa-
gandlsts always give voice-to language that
turns truth upside down and words inside out
until reality becomes the exact opposite of ITSELF
This is the technique of the colossal lie. "Black
is white" 'evil is good" . "yice is virtue"
-. aggression is friendship" "war is peace"
Say the thing over and over again, shout it
incessantly, and as loudly as possible, and even
tually the public mind will be stunned or rumbed
into believing it,
In keeping with this theory, the Stain
"interview"-exuding an air of injured innocence
and righteous indignation-swings hard at prac-
tically everybody in the free world British Prime
Minister Attlee, for example, is guilty of a base
Islander" in declaring that the Kremlin has been
maintaining huge armed forces ever since w
day. He ought to know that the Soviet Union is
concentrating on civilian endeavors and would be
risking bankruptcy if it maintained such
forces. Attee is full of deceit He is in favor of
unleashing "the new world war being organized
by the ruling circles of the United States"
AS for the struggle in Korea (Stalin still
speaking), the British and American generals
are as good as those of any country, but the
soldiers under their command soldiers who
proved themselves excellent against Nazi Ger
many and militarist Japan-regard the war as
unjust" and fight listlessly without enthu-
siasm" or a sense of Righteousness" Accord
ingly, the situation over there "can only end in
defeat of the interventionists" if Britain and
the United States reject finally" Peiping'S pro-
posals. AS for the United Nations it's decision
proclaiming Red China an aggressor is a shame
full decision" The U. N. lis now not so much
world organization as an organization .. .. .. acting
on behalf of the requirements of the American
aggresSorS." Hence, sit is burying its moral
prestige and booming itself to disintegration."
What is it that really threatens the world?
According to the Soviet dictator, it is the fact
that "billionaireS and miionaires" in Atlantic
Pact countries like France, Britain Canada and
the United States need war to obtain super
profits" So, since they control the reactionary
governments of those countries they see to it
that the governments turn down the Kremlin's
peace-loving proposals to do such things as
reduce armamentS and ban atomic weapons, and
they also strive to entangle "the masses of
people in lies" aimed at winning support for a
new global conflict. Nevertheless in Stains
opinion, the conflict-"at least at the present
t1me"-is not inevitable, and the reason for that,
OF course, is that the U.SSR, like good hearted
knight in shining armor will continue firmly
to pursue policy of avertng war and main
tanning peace"
But what are the realities? The realities are
tnat tne Tree world is rearmlng only because
Soviet policy has expressed itself, and continues
to express itself in the form of such hard facts
as these: Cd The maintenance of tremendous
armed strength; ~ direct and indirect aggres-
sion that has ended the independence of no fewer
than nine once-free countries in Eastern and
Central Europe; 90 satellite military action in
Korea; "a mounting pressures and threats
against Yugoslavia; 60 a persistent refusal to
cooperate with the overwhelming u N major
ity in establishing a system of genuine atomic
control; and (6), as the British have set forth
in their weekend note to the Kremlin long
series of treaty violations, hate -mongering
against the West, far-reaching international
subversive activities and the existence of the
fear-breeding Iron Curtain, whose removal is
one of the prime essentials of peace.
These are some of the realities that Stain
has tried to make vanish in torrent of men
dacious words accusing the free nations of things
that the kremlin alone is doing. Since he must
know that such propaganda is wasted on this
side of the Iron Curtain, the question is why he
has bothered to mouth it. Like his similar
interview that opened the way to negotiations
ending the Berlin blockade, this latest one
undoubtedly has purpose. But what the pur-
pose is-whether to suggest that Peiping will be
receptive to new proposals on Korea whether
to prepare Russian opinion for a Soviet with
drawal from the U. Ms anybody's guess
Events themselves will have to clarity it. Mean
while, the whole business is interesting in itself
as an example of how language can be used to
lacerate truth beyond recognition
M Boussnc's View