Evening star., 1951-07-29
Is Moscow Really Singing Loves Old Sweet Song?

and that it might be expected to do
so any day. This hope, however.
received dash of cold water on
July 2l, when Vyacheslav M Molo-
tov, RusSia's Deputy Premier, made
a long speech in Warsaw, cele-
brating the seventh anniversary OF
Poland's liberation" Surely, if
there was in fact new line, Mr.,
Molotov could be expected to know
1t. But there was no indication
that he did, His angry blast pre-
dicted speedy end to Marshal
Tito's renegade Yugoslav regime.
1t fairly bristled with unpleasant
references to "Anglo-U. S. imperial
lists" and their open preparation
for third world war"
Mr.. Molotov's speech was of
course, fully reported and broadcast
in Russia. 1t was mild, compared
to some other reports and broad
casts. The day before, Pravda had
teed off on our negotiations with
Spain: "The ruling circles of the
United States have at long last cast
of their mask of hypocrisy with
regard to their true attitude toward
Gen. Franco, the Fascist henchman
Of the Spanish people. They have
openly welcomed this associate of
Hitler and Mussolini into the family
OF aggreSsors, promising to defend
the Fascist regime in Spain in re- q
turn for Spanish bases and Spanish
cannon fodder for the war they are
preparing"
Rodio Moscow on America
Even as Mr.. Molotov spoke,
Radio Moscow's home service was
putting out a Savory tidbit on
American domestic affairs "Ameri-
can schools" it seems, ARE being
converted into barracks where mill
tary discipline and drill prevail"
The result has been "a disastrous in
crease in nervous collapseS among
the school children"
At the same time, Russia was
beaming to the United States The
intelligence that President Truman
was responsible for The Missouri
Valley floods, since he spends on
armamentS what he should be
spending on dams When Admiral
Sherman died, Radio Moscow specu-
lated heartily that this trader in
death" might have died from an
indigestion of bases"
And so it went. There are, Of
course, lot of names for this sort
of propaganda, but sweet talk" is
not one of them.
Mr.. Morrison's heralded appear
ance as Pravda contributor, with
out doubt, is an example of the
kind Of thing which ought to happen
more often, and which would be
highly significant if it did happen
more often. In the present context,
however, it ought perhaps to be
considered primarily in relation to
a fact we have had occasion to
note above: That Britain seems TO
be the target of all the rest Of
Moscow'S cupid darts. too.
The same thing is true of the
solicitude Moscow has been show
ing for visiting delegation Of
British Quakers. They got to see
Mr.. Malik, last Thursday, and the
Deputy Foreign Minister talked TO
ho1 oh
the seven-point peace program they
are advancing
No Easy Answer
So far as America was concerned
last week, the problem seemed to
be not so much what the Russian
peace offensive meant as whether
there was in fact peace offensive
at all. Yet it was not a problem
which could be lightly dismissed
with a casual answer.
The fact was, as it had been all
along, that Americas whole policy
in relation to Russia-the policv OF
"containment," of building "situa-
tionS of Strength''-hadb been based
on the theory that such a policy
might cause the Kremlin to substi-
tute peace mood for its war mood.
Our hope had been, and remained,
that if this change occurred It
might be possible to enter into real
negotiations with the Russians. tnr
genuine easing of the worlds
tensions.
Phrases like the one about deeds
counting, rather than words-the>e,
Of course. rolled easily off the
tongue. But America had to he
careful what it said. and it had 20
remain watchfully waiting for y
genuine overtures. If. in it's |p-
termination not to be sucked in "
phoney lures, America reacted s
if it thought war was inevital 9
and all talk of peace was nonsense,
1t would take a bad beating in the
world court of public opinion. II
it actually allowed itself to fall
into such a thinking pattern. it
would be betraying the hopes and
prayers of ordinary people every
where
America could not afford to un-
derestimate the effect that Russia's
peace geStures-or feints-might