Evening star., 1953-07-03
The KrenIin on a Volcano

It may be that President Eisenhower has
somewhat overstated the case in declaring that
unrest seems to have spread like wildf1re in the
European lands behind the Iron Curtain. But
even If he has, even though intelligence reports
may not quite justify his use of the word wild
fire." there can be no doubt that the Kremlin-
especially since Staln's death-has been run
ming into ever-increasing trouble within its
satellite empire.
Leaving aside the Asian sphere-where
Communist China certainly has Titoist po-
tentialities-this empire is largely a postwar
creation. Organized by deceit, subversion and
outright aggression, and held together by ter
ror and naked force, 1t is made up of Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria,
Hungary, Albania, Czechoslovakia and the
Soviet zone Of Germany. In all of these once
independent lands intensely among the
Balts the Poles, the CzechS and the Germans,
there exists a deep and ineradicable yearning
to be free. Moreover, by virtue of their ancient
individual cultures, traditions, histories and
religious beliefs, there exists in most Of them
very strong preference for Western civilization
and a centuries-old anti-Russianism that has
greatly increased with the advent of the Red
totalitarians.
Such an empire, by its very nature, is one
in which its builders can never feel sure OF
far from feeling loyal to their oppressors store
up hatred against them, and hope and pray for
liberation and a day of reckoning. Thus, al
though the Russians may have the power now
to suppress rebellion and although they may
believe that they can successfully digest these
countries if given enough time to terroriZe them
into total submission, what really exists behind
the Iron Curtain is a volcano full of tremen-
dously explosive human forces deep inside. And
it is volcano whose not-too-d dormant nature
has been momentousy dramatized by the recent
eruption in East Germany and by lesser but
still highly significant blow-ups in Czechoslo-
vaka and other captive lands.
1t is probably because of this volcanic stu
ation-because some of the terribly hot lava
has exploded skyWard before the eyes OF the
whole world-that the Kremlin has called home
for consultations it's ambassadors to France,
Britain and the United States, together with
its key military and political representatives in
East Germany. Russia's post-Stalin leaders
plainly have trouble on their hands, and in all
likelihood they are searching for ways and
means to cope with It, Certainly, If President
Eisenhower is right, they must feel a measure
of desperation, and in that mood they may
conceivably resort to desperate action OF a
kind that could inflict fresh terrors on the op-
pressed and add further to the anti-Soviet
hatred.
In these circumstances, the United States
and its allies in the free world obviously can
not afford to stand by and do nothing. What
Is needed is an out-of-the- ordinary effort to
reach the minds and buoy up the spirits OF the
captive peoples. Given that plus full build-up
of Western strength, there will be solid ground
for the hope that the Soviet Union can be made
to feel internal and external preSsureS powerful
enough to persuade it, in due course, to dis
gorge it's indigeStible empire and start CO.
operating for a decent peace.