Evening star., 1954-12-31
Greetings That keIyWeren't Delivered

Under the heading Greetings to
MoscoD," the folIoaDing appeared in
the December rs edition OF the Lon
don Economist. IT is reprinted NTH
the Economists permission
nN EARTH, peace: good viii toward
~ men. Good will, even, from re-
dictionary, imperialist Western war
mongers toward the peoples of the
Soviet Union. How many Russians will
be allowed to hear that message? Conn
munist authorities do not give their
subjects many opportunities of read
ing the newspapers of free countries
except for those Western newspapers
that toe the Party line, as some do, and
without risk, since they are published
in free countries If. then. even words
of Christmas greeting are withheld
from Russian eyes land from Chinese,
Czech, Polish, East German, Hungarian
and other such eyes, the reason given
by the paternal Party will be that the
western press is aggressive and mill
taristic, that the people of the Soviet
world must be shielded from its war
mongering. Does not this same press
fill many of its columns with discussion
of new strategy based on atomic
weapons? Does it not air suspicious
about Soviet intentions and tireleSsly
criticize Soviet actions? True enough, it
does. It is a pleasure for once to find
common ground with Prada. Indeed
PrgUdG might well quote the last few
words. But will it quote-in full
what follows?
Perhaps not For it is the aim of
this article to set out, as simply as
possible, the reasons why the West
has to give so much of its attention,
its newspaper space, and it's energy
to armaments and anxieties, even at
this uniting season of the year. There
may be only slender hope that our
friends, Sergei. Ivan, Pavel and Alex
sandr, will ever read these words But,
in that hope. the explanation should
be simple one; and If it never reaches
those to whom it is addressed, it may
still serve to remind ourselves in the
West of the real roots of our actions,
which are not often put into simple
words.
The explanation might we'll begin
from that fact. Among us, Sergei, the
accepted is seldom emphasized. In
your cities. we hear, peace" is adver-
tised on hoardings, much as soap is
here. Does that really make your
nation more peaceful? Cor ours more
cleanlyD Do you feel that the absence
of peace" advertisements in British,
American, Swiss or Swedish cities
betrays a militarist outlook? If you
knew us better, you would know better.
We are quickly bored, even embar-
rassed by the repeating of ideas on
which we all agree; and peace is one
such idea. Our newspapers do not enjoy
the monopolies that yours have; they
cannot force daily sermons on peace
down their readers throatS. Any one
of them that tried to do that would
quickly lose its public-not because the
public dislikes peace, but because it
regards the desire for peace as some
thing as natural as air; and our peoples
would have little patience with any one
who tried to sell them air on his own
terms.
So taking the desire for peace for
granted, when we discuss world affairs
We discuss the worlds troubles; and II
We discuss wars and threats of wars
more than anything else, you, Pavel,
would agree that they are the greatest
OF the dangers we face. Do we talk
too freely Of war, in our press and our
! pubs? More freely than your people,
no doubt. Why should we not? It is
our own fate that we are discussing;
and we are not accustomed to keeping
silent about anything that we think
important, however much our elected
governments might sometimes like us
to. Your government. we are told,
promises you freedom of speech and
press. We hope some day to see IsDestia
print letter from a reader criticizing
Mr.. Molotov's foreign policy. Until then,
we shall suspect that you, If you were
allowed to talk freely, would talk as
loud and long as any Of us about your
fears of war; and that your press. if it
were free, would reflect your anxieties
just as our papers reflect ours.
You may believe that we not only
talk of war, but talk also of attacking
your country. That is nonsense, as you
would soon learn if your rulers allowed
you to read the Western press or to
make personal friends in the West. You
could also learn 1t from history. The
democrac1es have never started q war
against the Soviet Union-not even
when Stain invaded democratic Fin
land, or when he joined Hitler in par
titioning Poland. They held their hand
when the Red army blockaded West
Berlin for year and refused passage
even to milk for the city's children
And the Americans, whom you have
been taught to regard as maniacs
brandishing atomic bombs, did not use
this irresistible weapon against you
when they were the only nation that
possessed it.. Instead, they and the
other Western democracies flooded
your war-ravaged Ukraine with food,
medicine and relief supplies. Do you
remember these things, Aleksandr?
Do aggressors usually behave with such
restraint and such kindness?
Why. then, do we criticize your gov
ernment? Because we hold 1t our right
to criticize all governments, including
our own. We in the West have won
that right painfully and slowly over
This 1nd Th,