Evening star., 1955-02-23
By Crosby S. Noyes
Foreign Correspondent Of The Sior

BONN.-With all his troubles
DR.. Adenauer still has one huge
asset on his side. The remark
able incapacity of the Socia
Democrats to exploit the situa.
ton is perhaps the most i'm
portant secret weapon in tn;
Chancellor's arsenal.
IF only Kurt Schumacher
were still around" is the stan.
dard Socialist dirge. But the
fiery old champion of social
democracy died in the summer
of 1852 and his successor. DR.
Erich Odenhauer. isn't exactly
what you might call the ag.
greSSive type.
With the popular current
combining anti-militarism, thu
hope of an agreement on reuni-
fication and impatience with the
West-running strongly in theil
favor, the Socialists have showr
a singular lack of imagination
in forging these things into g
coherent political program. Theil
m u C h advertised campaign
against the Paris Treaties has
been a spectacular flop. Theil
whole plan of attack is rated
as uninspired, overcautious ano
weaseling by most of the critics
in Bonn.
Doubtful Supp0sitiOn.
In fact when it comes to for
eign policy the Socialists are baS-
ing much of their argument on
a shaky supposition-that, once
the Paris Treaties are ratified,
the Russians will refuse to nego-
tate about Germany. In pre-
dieting the contrary, the gov
ernment has good deal of his
torical precedent in its favor, in
Guiding unfulfilled thre IS
against Denmark, Yugoslavia,
Greece and Iran.
Thanks to some shifty gov
ernment footwork, DR.. Adenau-
er now has another even more
telling argument on his side:
That once Germany regains its
sovereignty and the right to re-
arm, it will have something tam
gible to trade for reunif1cation
and the liberty to bargain freely.
This argument, needless to say,
is never stated so bluntly in pub
lie. Government spokesmen refer
instead to the "f1rmness of posi-
tion we need in order to achieve
a stronger international influ-
ence than before in seeking a
solution of Germany's vital ques-
ton" But the German people
get the idea.
On their side, the Socialists
have little. more to 60 on than
the claim of special insight when
it comes to the old German par
lor-game Of reading the Rus
sian mind" In his Office at the
Bundestag, Carlo Schmid, a
leading parliamentary ball-car-
rier for the Socialists, stated the
case for me with disarming SIM
plicity.
Says He "Knows" Russians.
81 know these Russians" DR..
Schmid confided. "a very literal
minded people. When they make
a precise commitment, they stick
to it. If you ever have to sign
a treaty with the Russians, make
sure that everything is down in
exact figures. If they sign it,
you'll have nothing to worry
about, But if the commitment is
not precise. they'll interpret it
any way they please.
In the case of the Paris
treaties, their commitment is
very precise indeed. They say
sign these treaties, and there
will be no negotiations I don't
see any reason to assume that
they're bluffing."
On the question of whether
under any circumstances,
will permit the reunification of
Germany Gin peace and free
DOM" DR.. Schmid and his asso-
ciateS are a good deal less posi-
tive. The recent shakeup of the
Soviet government - widely in
terpreted here as return to a
guns before butter" policy-has
had a chilling effect on the op-
timists. On this occasion DR..
Schmid admitted frankly that
he didn't know whether Russia
would accept German offer.
But I know this" he added,
German reunification is the
way-and perhaps the only way
to assure the peace of Europe
for at least the next SO years.
And Russia needs peace. After
all, you can't keep people in a