Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-12-02
Conf Prevail


Although we must still reckon with
1t as formidable and dangerous thing
in terms of armed power, the Soviet
empire today seems very definitely to be
tossing on sea of troubles And this sea
of troubles may, in fact, amount to what
some experts suspect it to be-namely
an internal crisis Of the first magnitude,
an upheaval that promises to have the
ultimate effect of Shattering international
communism as world force threatening
to enslave the whole of mankind
There was time, of course, when
the Soviet Union and its satellites had
all the earmarkS of being a supremacy
mighty monolith of theological unity and
military power, against which the ex-
plotted and oppressed peoples trapped
behind the Iron Curtain could not pos
sibly rebel. But then, in 1948, the mon
olith suffered great crack: Marshal
Tito Of Yugoslavia, in a sensational break
with Stains Kremlin, declared his indie
pendence of Moscow and defiantly pro-
claimed that he and his country would
henceforth be their own masters and fol-
low their own path toward nationalist,
not internationalist communism
Titoism from that point on became
kind of contagion within the satellite
empire, and GeneraliSsimo Stain went to
the most violent lengths-short of an
outright shooting war--to stamp it out
by topping Tito himself But Tito sur
vived. He survived so we'll that last year
the Kremlin'S new collective leaders"
journeyed to Belgrade to beg his for
giveness and affirm that he had been
right all the time. Needless to say, this
extraordinary event-coupled with Sta
Inns later deglorifcation by Nikita Khru-
shchev-made profound impression on
the minds of the leaders and peoples of
all the once-independent lands Subju-
gated by the Soviet tyranny.
We have only lately been witnessing
great and historic events in two of those
lands. Poland, under the leadership Of
WladySlaw Gomulka-an independence
minded, TitoiSt Communist-has man.
aged, after the June uprising in Poznan,
to win from Moscow half loaf or at
least quarter of loaf of national free
dom. The people of Hungary, on the
other hand, in an almost unbelievable
display Of heroism, have demanded the
whole loaf. And the KremIin, although
showing at first a confused and tempo
rizing reaction, has answered them with
one of historys most british and most
pitilesS displays of naked force. Yet, de-
spite the Establishments and threats of
their puppet regime, and despite all the
murderous Russian tanks and guns, they
refuse to be broken in spirit, and the
Soviets stand exposed before the entire
world as imperialists of the worst kind.
This is thing that can hardly fail
to have deep and permanent weakening
effect on Kremlin-led international COM
munism. For what it demonstrates is
that Red Russia, even with Stain dead
and disgraced, is capable of evil every
bit as great as that associated with his
name What is "neutralist" Asia to think
of this? What is any adult and informed
mind anywhere to think of it? Who does
not know, now, what the Soviet system
really is? Who can deny the fact that
its satellites are not its allies, but its
captives held prisoner by sheer terror
Remove the force, remove the terror, and
what would happen? Who can doubt
that all these ancient lands-with in
eradicable memories of their individual
cultures and their ancient national liber-
ties-wouId choose freedom, would throw
of, with the most explosive enthusiasm,
the harsh yoke of Moscow?
These are questions whose answers
are self-evident Indeed, even the Rus
sian people themselves now that they
have been exposed to a generation of edu-
cation, must harbor the gravest doubts
about the nature Of their government.
And this in turn probably accounts in
part for the Discrimination program
that can scarcely be reconverted at this
stage into a revival OF Stalinism. The
Soviet masses, in short, despite all the
censorship and the blackout Of news from
the outside world, must have more than
a little milling OF this fact: That the
Kremlin cannot stand the test Of free
election anywhere. at home or abroad.
and that Communist economic programs
in contrast with those Of the free-enter-
prise or capitalist" system have failed
dismalIy to satisfy human wants
In that sense, the crisis that now
seems to be besetting Soviet-style COM
muniSm is a crisis OF theological, social.
political and economic bankruptcy Mr.
Khrushchey has said that the free world
viii have to wait until shrimp learns TO
whistle before Russia viii abandon Marx
iSm-Leninism. But what Is this thing