Milford chronicle., 1955-05-20

Europe and tie Soviet Union
alike has resulted in recovery
from the wounds of war and the
attainment of relative prosper
ity as compared with l945-or
even with 1889 before the war.
. m~re thu this: Potsdam
took place a few days before the
daw' Hiroshima of the atom
ic age. Even in 1855 the world
las not become accustomed to
the danger f total destruction
which n lear weapons nave
brought.
What are the chances of some
real progress from a Big Four
meeting Eat the summit" this
summer in the direction of world
peace?
The very intensity of the hopes
that will go to the 1855 meeting
with the Big Four leaders are
guarantee that no one at this
meeting will dare to disappoint
these hopes in a careless man.
ner.
Prestige Involved
The people who have repeat
edly insisted that there were
merits in the meeting of the top
distinguished from their
foreign ministers - have all
along had point. For when the
top men get together in such an
important meeting they all in
some measure are gambling with
their own personal prestige.
There is another important
factor. The 1855 meeting will be
the first time tina. the chieftains
of the United States and Britain
have had a chance to get ac-
qLainted with the post-Stalin
la2dc- or leader Of the U.S.S.R.
This leadership has shown at a
minimum that it is more elastic
than the old dictator's iron re-
giIne, that it was prepared to
assist the settlement of at least
some of he troublesome issues
of the world such as Korea, the
lndochina war, and apparently
the Austrian treaty. The repeti-
ton this week of the previous
Soviet demand for prohibition of
atomic weapons as part of an
overall peace plan, coupled
with new suggestions for with
drawal of the bulk of foreign
troop from Germany, appears
to be another example of this
elasticity.
Stains heirs have demon
strated at numerous social gath
erings in Moscow in the last
year that they are not inap-
proachable, that they can be on
occasion affable and pleasant,
that man to man diplomacy is
by no means out of question
with them.
Outlook Conditioned
One can Of course point out
he danger Of thinking that the
Soviet leaders will or can mako
important concessions on per-
sonal basis. Important basic fac
tors condition the outlook of the
Soviet rulers on questions Of
easing tensions, factors which
are lastin in their influence.
Take, for instance, the question
If the Soviet agricultural prob
.enl. All indications are thai this
u acute, not in terms of threat
ening present starvation but in
endangering Soviet economic
progress and ultimately perhaps
even the entire Soviet system.
The Soviet farm problem is
therefore a factor making in a
way for peace. Stain during his
lifetime did not realize how
acute it was and might have
taken serious risks. His heirs
have had to look at it more real
istically
System Demands Foe
Another important factor in
Soviet affairs is of even more
basic importance. Westerners
who have seen the Soviet sys-
tenn have become CONVINCED il
must have, or literally demands,
an enemy" Since the revolution
the Bolsheviks have been fight
ing an enemy" The only jusli-
fication he Soviet government
and the Communist party have
ever had for perpetuating their
totalitarian dictatorship is the
alleged existence of elements
threatening the nations exist
ence. At times they had real
enough enemies such as Nazi
Germany. At other times there
were no'real enemies" and they
had to create them--partly out
of their imagination, partly by
provocative and threatening at
titudes.
1t would not do to overesti-
mate this factor. but it would
likewise never do to forget its
existence. And the Soviet Union
is not the only country where
there are people with vested
interest in the continued exist
ence of international tension
where tension plays social and
economic role in national life