A Friend for Keeps

Britain's lucid, 76-year-old Sir Bernard Pares said last week that American ideas on Russia are 20 years out of date. At the end of a ten-week lecture tour, he spoke with more authority than does the usual British tourist: he has studied Russian history for nearly half a century, visited Russia more than a score of times, taught in two English universities, packed many tomes with meaty detail.

Last week, in the New Republic, Sir Bernard wrote that since 1921 Russia has been ruled by "Communists who had ceased to practice communism," and that chief among the changelings is "home statesman" Joseph Stalin. Other points: world revolution is out as an objective of the Russian state; the prevailing moral standards of Russia are much the same as those in Britain and the U.S.; Britain and the U.S. can get along with Russia if they choose, and the British are determined to do so. Wrote Sir Bernard:

"While in this country I have heard loose talk of a third war against Russia. Do not expect us to take any part in such criminal foolishness, or throw away the friend whom Hitler so foolishly gave us beyond the deserts of our past understanding."

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