Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-04

LITTLE STAIN PRIZE
Here's One Poper's Entry
In Red Essay Contest on
Mutual Understondinq'
By RICHARD FRYKLUND

Dy 1SANkA1N1AO y 1S4 1AkCIND
The greatest contribution that
can be made to East-West under
standing is a clear statement Of
what understanding is and what
1t isn't. what it can do and why
there isn't more of it.
People on both sides Of the iron
curtain must understand these
things about understanding"
First, understanding does not
mean an uncritical, sweetness-and-
light acceptance Of what the other
country says and does.
Second, understanding is not
panacea that win cure all that is
wrong with American-Soviet rela-
tons.
Third, both Russia and America
put up bars which make 1t more
difficult for the people Of the two
countries to understand each other.
Fourth, almost without exception.
the American bars are there because
the Soviet bars were there first.
And fifth, there are tragically
few indications that the Soviet gov
eminent intends to make substantial
progress toward elimination of. its
bars.
Understanding" in this country
means to have q full and clear
knowledge Of something. The word
may well mean something differ
ent in the Soviet Union, just as
democracy" and peace" mean
different things in the two coun-
tries. But Americans want to have
q full and clear knowledge Of what
the Soviet Union is and what 1t is
trying to do.
Americans Know Aims
Americans suspect they know
pretty well already. Lenin and
Stain laid it out in their volumin-
GUS writings, and the present Soviet
government endorses those writ
ingS.
AS this country. understands it.
the Soviet Union intends to force
Communist control over every ma
ton where it has the strength to
do so. (Note the word force.) And
Russia has proved that commu-
nism means dictatorship by small.
privileged few.
America wants no part Of that
political system. and we will do
everything in our power to keep 1t
away from here.
Incidentally. we Americans ar
rived at these conclusions after a
free contest of ideas In which
American Communists and their
supporters here had an unfettered
opportunity to state their case)
What does understanding of the
United States mean to Russia?
That, Americans feel, is UP to the
individual Russian. We feel he
should have free access to informa-
ton about ou1 country. should be
permitted to hear every point OF
view including the official Soviet
government version Of our activities.
and then he should be permitted
to make up his own mind about
America.
More Is Needed ..
And if we understand each other,
will the threat of war end? Not
necessarily. Understanding does
not guarantee peace. Hitler, for
instance. understood the Poles we'll:
he understood how weak they were.
And the Poles understood the Hitler
government and IT'S aggressive in
tentions. The mutual understand
ing did not prevent Hitler from
taking over the Poles.
We do not believe that a perfect
understanding of Russia will con-
vince us we can lower our guard.
That does not mean that UNDER
standing will be of no value. For
We hope that If the Russians are
permitted to understand the Amer
leans, then the harsh Soviet gov
eminent will mellow and the cold
war some day may end. If only
the Iron Curtain which blocks off
ideas and information can be
lowered, then the Russian people
will have a chance to learn that
their lives can be made much better
If their government works with
instead of against the free world.
And America does not mind
stating that it believes free ex-
change of information will in the
long run work for a fundamental
change on the Soviet government.
And this change will be to the
benefit both of the individual Rus
sian and individual American.
So although understanding is not
a panacea. it certainly is worth
trying for.
The Bors
What are the bars to under
standing?
The bars on the Russian side are
summed up in the phrase iron
curtain" They are things like
censorship. which prevents Ameri-
can correspondents from sending
complete stories from Russia; travel
restrictions, which permit only a
tiny handful of foreigners to visit
Russia and which prevent them
from moving freely inside the coun-
try when they do visit: tanning of
foreign broadcasts - breakfasts