Evening star., 1961-07-12
Rusk in OweFs World

In his excellent address to the
National Press Club, Secretary of State
Dean RuSk seems to have borrowed
leaf from George Orwell'S 1894" to help
explain why there is so much tension
and danger today. AS he has put it,
the underlying crisis" stems from the
fact that the Soviet Union, though
member in form, has never joined the
United Nations in actuality, as gen.
timely cooperative participant On the
contrary, in flagrant and persistent vio-
lation of all the U. MS rules and prin-
cipleS, it has upended law and truth,
and resorted to various forms Of direct
and indirect aggression, in brutal,
ceaSeleSS effort to impose its will upon
those not already subjected to it''-and
thus win mastery over the whole of
mankind.
Clearly enough, in carrying out
this altogether dismal and peace
endangering policy, the Russians have
turned reality upside down and made
mockery or a fantasy of the true
meaning of words. Thus, as Mr.. RuSk
has declared, "the very language of in
ternational discourse" has had violence
done to it: "'Peace' has become word
to describe whatever condition would
promote their world revolution. 'Aggres-
sion is whatever stands in its way.
Peoples democracy is term applied
to regimes no one of which has
been chosen by free elections. Self
determination is loudly espouSed, but
only in areas not under Communist
control" And the Secretary has gone
on to add the following remarks, which
should be taken to heart by anybody
naive enough to suppose that the Krem-
lin is sincerely interested in such pro-
jectS as the Geneva talks, now moribund,
on banning nuclear tests:
The normally attractive word "negoti-
atom is used as weapon [by the RussianS],
for the only subjects to be negotiated are
further concessions to Communist appetite.
Agreements are offered but against the back
ground of a long and SOLDERING list of broken
promises an agreement is apparently rest
camp, where one pauSeS and refitS for
further advance. New assurances are offered
in the very act Of withdrawing those earlier
given Law, as one of their spokesmen put
IL, Is ike LIl6 tongue OI q WdgOIl-lI goes Ill
the direction in which it is pointed And
the gains of lawlessness are cited as the new
conditions" which justify new invasions Of
the rights Of others.
All this is quite in line with the
loathSome new world depicted by the
late Mr.. Orwell in his grisly but faSci-
mating "1984"-a world in which every
old value is transvalued into the precise
opposite of itself through the CHASTITY
ministrationS Of supremely efficient
totalitarian dictatorship armed with
limitless technology and the obscene
amorality of AntichriSt. So it is that
wickedneSS is goodness, and uglineSS is
beauty, and the lie is the truth, and
freedom is slavery, and war is peace
and anybody is mad, and subject to
being tortured and "vaporized," who has
the suicidal temerity to challenge these
propositions after they have been pro-
claimed from on high through official
processes known as "newSpeak" and
"doublethink."
Although we have not asked him
whether he has read 1884," we feel
pretty sure that Mr.. Rusk has. We feel
pretty sure, too, that he sees terrible
similarity between it and what is
actually going on in the Communist
world. And so 1t is good to hear him
say-and it should be said more and
more often, because it is true-that "We
can move on with confidence if we are
prepared to do what has to be done.
The free world has enormous strength,
including the inner strength of purposes
which are deeply rooted in the nature
of man." Given that, we and our allies
need not fear the future.