"Between Earth & Hell..."

The House of Commons spoke, clearly and firmly, for all the West. There was almost complete internal agreement between Government and Opposition, almost complete external agreement between Britain and the U.S. Ernest Bevin opened the debate by saying: "I am not unduly pessimistic, but. . . ." For 95 minutes, he calmly listed the buts.

Said he: "There is ... [in] all the speeches and writings of our Soviet friends a theory that they alone . . . are democratic. . . . This leads to the idea that the security of Russia can only be maintained when every country in the world has adopted the Soviet system. . . . I do not deny the right of Russia to pursue her own . . . industrial revolution, but for us . . . who started our industrial revolution over 150 years ago, to adopt the Russian method would be really retrogressive."

Bevin lost his calm tone when he tried to bring home the dreadful day-to-day consequences of the ideological conflict: "[It] is holding up the distribution of food in Europe. Let us fight that out, on some basis, but not on the bellies of the people!"

The Eagle on His Perch. Next day, Winston Churchill rose not to reply but to agree. He warmly praised Bevin's conduct of foreign affairs (to Ernie's gruff embarrassment). Churchill scored Soviet propaganda, according to which "all oppression from the left is progression, all resistance from the right is reactionary. . . ." Grimly he warned: "The idea of keeping scores of millions of people hanging about in subhuman state between earth and hell until they are worn down to slave conditions and accept Communism or die off will only breed moral pestilence and probably . . . war."

Churchill paid his tribute to the U.S. in a full-flavored Churchillian image: "The American eagle sits on his perch, a large strong bird with formidable beak and claws. . . . Mr. Gromyko is sent every day to prod him with a sharp sickle, now on his beak, now under his wing, now in his tail feathers. All the time the eagle keeps quite still, but it would be a great mistake to suppose that nothing is going on inside the breast of the eagle."

Through the entire debate ran a note of acknowledgment that Britain's role was secondary to the U.S. Perhaps young (36) Hector McNeil, Permanent Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, stated it most clearly: "We may be without cash. We may be much less than the power we were even six years ago. . . . Moral currency must be reestablished. If we [no longer] have the power to coerce and to dominate . . . I insist that this country have the ability to lead morally. . . . One appeasement in any generation is one too many."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.