Evening star., 1955-02-23
Adenouer's One Big Asset:
A Wishy-Woshy Opposition

ICNOlublOlldly . a z 4OiCFCA .
There comes a time when you
have to give them something to
live for, and Russia has reached
this stage"
Do They Mean II?
You get a curious sensation
in talking to Socialist leaders
that they are not completely
swept away by their own argu-
ments. In spite of their efforts,
most of them seem to take it as
a foregone conclusion that the
Paris treaties will be ratified by
Germany. There is suspicion
that their apocalyptic version Of
the consequences is overdrawn
and that they are not really
quite so determined to prevent
ratification as they like to ap-
pear.
In short, you get the feeling
that the moment is not ripe
that the Socialists are willing to
wait a while to make their su-
preme bid for power in Ger
many. That moment will arrive
after the Paris treaties are
ratified-or killed; when the
popular ferment for reunifica-
ton and against rearmament
reaches its natural climax, and
when. perhaps, the towering fig
ure of Chancellor Adenauer no
longer dominates the German
political scene.
When that moment arrives,
the Socialist Party, for all its
shortcomings, is likely to take
over the German government.
And a good many popular Amer
ican misconceptions about the
nature of DR.. Adenauer's politi-
cal opposition will have to be
revised.
A Socialist victory in Ger
many will not mean the end of
the world. It will not even mean
the end of a close German
partnership with the West as
long as such a reaction is not
forced on Germany by reaction
abroad. All the foolish ideas
that Europeans had about the
consequences of a Republican
victory in the last American
presidential election Isolation
ism, restrictive trade policies and
SO on find their counterpart in
current American attitudes to-
ward the Socialists.
Not Pinkos.
To begin with, the point can
not be overemphasized that the
German Socialists are not Com
pink" or flabby or
necessarily more susceptible than
other Europeons to the bland
ishments of the Kremlin. Most
of the men I talked to among
the Socialist Party leaders would
be hung to the nearest tree on
the day that the Communists
took over in Germany. All of them
are perfectly aware that the
safety of Germany depends on
the strongest possible barriers
economic, social and military
against Russia and that such
security is impossible without
the support and good will of the
United States.
When it comes to foreign pol
icy, their attitudes are dictated
as much by political necessity
as by conviction. Even in their
public statements, however, the
leaders have refused to
take anything approaching a
fiat stand against German re-
and their various
views about the degree of "neu-
trality which Germany might
accept as unified nation out
side NATO stop we'll short of
those expressed my more radical
political thinkers on both ends
of the political spectrum.
In their social and economic
policy, the Socialists are a long
way from the wild-eyed reform
ers that one might suppose. The
party has long since lost its
Marxist leanings-a kind of
cautions New Deal is a much
closer parallel. Above all the
draw their strength
from the country's slowly
awakening new electorate, the
young people. the working
classes and women.
Not ti-American.
1t is extremely unfortunate
that today. Germany's Socialist
Party should also be tagged so
clearly with an anti-American
label. And it is only fair to say
that the label has been pinned
on them by the American gov
in its anxiety to support
Chancellor Adenauer. Secretary
Dulles remark before the last