Door to the Future

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin left last Aug. 19 for his Black Sea retreat, Sochi. He has not yet returned from his longest vacation in years. However, the machine that carries out his will never rests. Last week world Communism was still gaining in power on several fronts, notably China; but it was sharply checked in the crucial battle for Europe.

Two Motives. French labor unionists, rallying behind a surprisingly forceful new Premier, Robert Schuman (see FOREIGN NEWS),hamstrung a Communist maneuver to paralyze France with strikes. After a week of tension in which the fate of the Fourth Republic hung in the balance, French workers were pouring back to their jobs, disregarding the pleas of Communist leaders.

The Reds had known that the strike calls would hurt their position inside France; they struck in spite of this because of two motives more important to world Communism than its popularity with Frenchmen. The motives were:

1) To wreck the Marshall Plan by convincing the U.S. Congress that Western Europe could not be stabilized, no matter how much help the U.S. sent.

2) To threaten the London Conference of Foreign Ministers (see below) with chaos if they did not meet Russian demands on a German peace treaty. Germany is still the key country of Europe, if only because Europe cannot recover without German production. The Russians know this, and know also that the Western powers intend to put Western Germany to work for Europe. At London Molotov countered by attempting again to delay a German peace settlement, covering up his intention with a shameless bid for German favor. German Communists promptly seconded Molotov by adopting the slogan: "The Fatherland is in danger." In fact, the U.S. and Britain favor (and France will accept) a unified Germany. What the Western powers will resist at London is either a Communist-dominated Germany or the kind of international arrangement which will allow the Russian veto to paralyze recovery and leave both Germany and Western Europe in an economic morass.

"With Every Nerve." At London, Britain's Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin summed up the Western position. He said: "If a settlement is to be blocked every time we try, we cannot go on forever with chaos in Europe as it is now. ... I shall strive with every nerve and every effort to get a politically united Germany. . . . But if in the end peace is denied, then surely you cannot expect us at this stage to stand still with Western Europe in chaos and not do anything at all."

This position made economic, political and moral sense. The hope of the Marshall Plan had made it possible. Now that the disruptive Communist drive in France was checked, the door to a stable future for Europe was open. Russia could not close it by deadlocking the London Conference.

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