Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-03-31
The Dilemma We Face

has been to bring it face to face
with the actualities of problem
with which it had earlier been able
to deal in abstract terms.
AntieoIoniolism in U. N.
The anticolonial temper Of the
times. which has also brought very
significant changes in the policies
of the major colonial powers. has
found a strong reflection in the
United Nations. One phase was the
tightening up of the trusteeship
system but a more far-reaching
development was the establishment
OF the principle that the colonial
powers can in some measure be
held internationally accountable
for all nonself governing peoples
under their jurisdiction. The net
effect is that colonial problems have
moved out of the domestic sphere
and into the international public
domain.
The cause of ending colonialiSm
and promoting development has
usually been able to count on
U. N. majority. the hard core of
which consists of the Asian African
and Soviet blocs, and this majority
is sure to be strengthened by the
newly admitted members from Asia,
the Middle East and Africa.
Before turning to the implica-
lions of these developments for
American policy. it might be wen to
ask what is currently meant by the
invidious term colonialism, even
though nothing like a watertight
definition is possible.
The most obvious and most lin
tied definition is that colonialism
concerns the relations between an
imperial state and the outlying
dependent territories over which it
has established its rule. 1t is in
this sense that the anticolonialists
speak of colonialism when they de-
mand that the right of self-deter-
mination be granted to all peoples
who remain in an inferior colonial
status.
However ironical it may seem in
the light of the actual circum-
stances of the postwar years, it is
clear that most Asians and Africans
continue to regard imperialism and
colonialism as evils which pecu-
liarly attach to the West and to
capitalism--a theme which the
Communists have missed no OPP
portunity to stress.
While the dependencies Of the
West have made great strides to-
ward freedom. the Soviet Union
has been ainassing an empire of
its own and Red China has come
to be a threat to its neighbors,
but these more recent turns Of
the wheel have not yet been brought
home effectively to the anticolo-
nialists.
The United States must spread
the news that communism can also
be imperialist, that the European
satellites lost their freedom after
World War II. that much Of Soviet
policy in Asia has Enthusiastically
colonial aspects. and that Macs
China shows signs of developing
dangerous appetites.
The American Dilemma
This. then, is the baffiing world
into which the United States has
been thrust. The position Of the
United States itself is puzzling
enough. There is the old and hon.
ored American anti-imperialist ira
dition, but there is also the fact
that the United States has accumu-
lated its own empire.
Our pre-World War II pledge of
independence for the Philippines
was fulfilled in 1916, and a new
Commonwealth status has been
worked out in agreement with
Puerto Rico, but Hawaii and Alaska
have still not achieved statehood
and the Virgin Islands, Guam and
Samoa are clearly in the colonial
category. In addition, Pearl Harbor
and the Pacific war persuaded the
United States of the need for new
military advance posts. with the
result that the former German