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THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGE ET PATRIA VOL. 189. No. 5565 ESTABLISHED 1840 LONDON, JANUARY 4th, 1947 SIXPENCE PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER EUROPEAN UNITY AND THE CATHOLIC PARTIES Mr. Churchill’s Vision, and the Chances of a Response TOWARDS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF PEACE The Christmas Eye Allocution o f Pope Pius XII “ THE SWELLING TIDE” The “ Anti-Christian Violence ” to which the Holy Father Refers THE WORLD WEEK BY WEEK The Atomic Bomb M r. Bernard Baruch and the American delegation have a t long last had their patience rewarded, and the A tom ic Energy Commission o f the United N a tio ns has accepted Mr. B a ru c h ’s plan for the control o f atom ic energy in all its forms. This is not, unhappily, a t all decisive, but it is a notable success th a t, in spite o f avowed Soviet opposition, including, o f course, the opposition o f the Warsaw Government, all the nations present agreed th a t there should be a general right o f inspection, and th a t no veto should be available to shield a delinquent nation. M. G rom yko, who has pointedly abstained for months from playing any constructive p a r t in th is Commission, suddenly showed a desire to s ta rt covering all the ground again, and sought to argue th a t the Commission is going beyond its term s o f reference in recom mending any system which does not accept the veto. I t is self-evident that, if the scheme is to have any chance, th e agents o f the United Nations must have the right to go everywhere, and the United Nations must have the right to ac t i f what its investigators discover is disquieting. The remarkable th ing is th a t the United States should have had so much difficulty in gaining acceptance o f an arrangem ent which involves a much greater relative sacrifice by the United States th an by any o ther Power. But Mr. B a ruch 's plan is a p a r t o f a general picture which shows th e United States acutely alive to its changed position, and to the way the lives no less th a n the prosperity o f American citizens are dependent upon what sort o f regimes, commanding what kinds o f resources, rule in o ther continents. A t th e present moment there is a very marked difference between British and American policy, reflected in the Press o f th e two countries, which may be summed up by saying that the Americans feel strong enough to look all the facts in the face, however uncom fortable they may be, while the English a re n o t yet ready to do so. It might, indeed, be made a m a tte r o f rep roach to the Americans th a t, in the person o f their late President, they insisted, down to his death and fo r some months afterw ards, in taking much to o optim istic and kindly a view o f Soviet policy ; insisted on believing Marshal Stalin when he swore th a t what he wanted to see was a strong and independent Poland, and when he urged th a t there need be no British o r American troops coming eastw ard into liberated Central Europe. A t a tim e when it would have been quite easy to have insisted, as should have been done, upon jo in t Allied occupation o f all the liberated countries, President Roosevelt halted his armies in the middle o f Germany. Today the Americans, as is shown in such docum ents as the recent report o f the Economy and Planning Committee o f the House o f Representatives, have learnt by hard experience how great an erro r was committed. But the British, in the face o f the accomplished facts, are now clinging to the view th a t by continued courtesy and moderation they may induce a more reasonable and co-operative policy out o f the Soviet leaders. So the visit o f Field-M arshal Montgomery to Moscow has been eagerly acclaimed, although it is very palpably an attem p t to detach the British from the Americans. While President Roosevelt lived, and for some while afterw ards, Soviet policy concentrated on the American end o f the Anglo-American alliance, seeking to talk the language o f one progressive State to another, o f two peoples who had both transcended a feudal past in which G reat Britain was still embedded— a past which Mr. Churchill personally, with his refusal to liqu idate the British Empire, could be held to embody. But in the eighteen months since P resident Roosevelt died the illusions, even o f American progressives, about the Soviet Union, have also died. Only a small and violent group accompany Mr. Wallace, and the main lines o f American policy are set for a defence o f the principles in the American Constitution and for a policy which will save o r reclaim for th a t economic liberty w ithout which political liberty becomes purely form al as large an area o f the world, including Europe, as can be reclaim ed. The battle for Central Europe is by no means over, and when this is understood the decision to close down U n rra and arrange for relief directly takes its natural place in American policy. The Economy and Planning Committee use very plain language about what th e Soviet authorities have been doing in their p a r t o f Germany, and calls on the S tate D epartm ent to exercise the maximum pressure to dissuade Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and France from supplying Russia “ with industrial development th a t can only be deleterious to the interests o f a secure and peaceful world under the present Russian policies.” The Lingering British Fantasy A lthough this Committee is only giving advice, it is advice which will be very generally approved in Washington a t a moment when Washington is in an immensely strong position for giving advice to o ther countries. We can see the dilemma th a t may face th e British Government. Probably few except the Labour rebels themselves imagine for a moment th a t the more conciliatory phase into which Soviet policy has entered is to be a t trib u ted to manifestations o f sympathy in Britain ra th e r than to manifestations o f toughness in the United States. But the illusion th a t the Kremlin is filled with men nervously on the defensive and not, as it is, w ith hardened revolutionaries, continues to survive because it would be so much pleasanter if it were the tru th . So eminently balanced a jou rnal as The Yorkshire Post, deploring the American report, went on to urge th a t “ nothing should be said or done a t this stage which might exacerbate the suspicion and distrust at Moscow which have so long proved a stum bling block to • in te rnational peace and security.” T hat old “ suspicion and distrust a t M oscow ” —how very well they have served the Kremlin th rough five long years, enabling Stalin to ask and ask and get and get! And a t the end here he still is, as a man whose suspicions need to be allayed, and might be exacerbated if, for instance, the British showed any more zeal for the independence o f their o ther Allies who are R u s s ia ’s neighbours. We can see the whole diplom atic operation o f months already being prepared with this invitation to Viscount Montgomery. F irs t will come the atm osphere o f good will and new hopefulness before the discussion o f G e rm any 's future, and then the disclosure o f the new high price Britain is asked to pay, and then the many eager, undignified English voices urging th a t it should be paid, since anything is better than th a t the Russians should be suspicious and distrustful.

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THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGE ET PATRIA

VOL. 189. No. 5565

ESTABLISHED 1840

LONDON, JANUARY 4th, 1947

SIXPENCE

PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

EUROPEAN UNITY AND THE CATHOLIC PARTIES

Mr. Churchill’s Vision, and the Chances of a Response TOWARDS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF PEACE

The Christmas Eye Allocution o f Pope Pius XII

“ THE SWELLING TIDE”

The “ Anti-Christian Violence ” to which the Holy Father Refers

THE WORLD WEEK BY WEEK The Atomic Bomb

M r. Bernard Baruch and the American delegation have a t long last had their patience rewarded, and the A tom ic Energy Commission o f the United N a tio ns has accepted Mr. B a ru c h ’s plan for the control o f atom ic energy in all its forms. This is not, unhappily, a t all decisive, but it is a notable success th a t, in spite o f avowed Soviet opposition, including, o f course, the opposition o f the Warsaw Government, all the nations present agreed th a t there should be a general right o f inspection, and th a t no veto should be available to shield a delinquent nation. M. G rom yko, who has pointedly abstained for months from playing any constructive p a r t in th is Commission, suddenly showed a desire to s ta rt covering all the ground again, and sought to argue th a t the Commission is going beyond its term s o f reference in recom mending any system which does not accept the veto.

I t is self-evident that, if the scheme is to have any chance, th e agents o f the United Nations must have the right to go everywhere, and the United Nations must have the right to ac t i f what its investigators discover is disquieting. The remarkable th ing is th a t the United States should have had so much difficulty in gaining acceptance o f an arrangem ent which involves a much greater relative sacrifice by the United States th an by any o ther Power. But Mr. B a ruch 's plan is a p a r t o f a general picture which shows th e United States acutely alive to its changed position, and to the way the lives no less th a n the prosperity o f American citizens are dependent upon what sort o f regimes, commanding what kinds o f resources, rule in o ther continents.

A t th e present moment there is a very marked difference between British and American policy, reflected in the Press o f th e two countries, which may be summed up by saying that the Americans feel strong enough to look all the facts in the face, however uncom fortable they may be, while the English a re n o t yet ready to do so. It might, indeed, be made a m a tte r o f rep roach to the Americans th a t, in the person o f their late President, they insisted, down to his death and fo r some months afterw ards, in taking much to o optim istic and kindly a view o f Soviet policy ; insisted on believing Marshal Stalin when he swore th a t what he wanted to see was a strong and independent Poland, and when he urged th a t there need be no British o r American troops coming eastw ard into liberated Central Europe. A t a tim e when it would have been quite easy to have insisted, as should have been done, upon jo in t Allied occupation o f all the liberated countries, President Roosevelt halted his armies in the middle o f Germany.

Today the Americans, as is shown in such docum ents as the recent report o f the Economy and Planning Committee o f the House o f Representatives, have learnt by hard experience how great an erro r was committed. But the British, in the face o f the accomplished facts, are now clinging to the view th a t by continued courtesy and moderation they may induce a more reasonable and co-operative policy out o f the Soviet leaders. So the visit o f Field-M arshal Montgomery to Moscow has been eagerly acclaimed, although it is very palpably an attem p t to detach the British from the Americans.

While President Roosevelt lived, and for some while afterw ards, Soviet policy concentrated on the American end o f the Anglo-American alliance, seeking to talk the language o f one progressive State to another, o f two peoples who had both transcended a feudal past in which G reat Britain was still embedded— a past which Mr. Churchill personally, with his refusal to liqu idate the British Empire, could be held to embody. But in the eighteen months since P resident Roosevelt died the illusions, even o f American progressives, about the Soviet Union, have also died. Only a small and violent group accompany Mr. Wallace, and the main lines o f American policy are set for a defence o f the principles in the American Constitution and for a policy which will save o r reclaim for th a t economic liberty w ithout which political liberty becomes purely form al as large an area o f the world, including Europe, as can be reclaim ed. The battle for Central Europe is by no means over, and when this is understood the decision to close down U n rra and arrange for relief directly takes its natural place in American policy. The Economy and Planning Committee use very plain language about what th e Soviet authorities have been doing in their p a r t o f Germany, and calls on the S tate D epartm ent to exercise the maximum pressure to dissuade Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and France from supplying Russia “ with industrial development th a t can only be deleterious to the interests o f a secure and peaceful world under the present Russian policies.” The Lingering British Fantasy

A lthough this Committee is only giving advice, it is advice which will be very generally approved in Washington a t a moment when Washington is in an immensely strong position for giving advice to o ther countries. We can see the dilemma th a t may face th e British Government. Probably few except the Labour rebels themselves imagine for a moment th a t the more conciliatory phase into which Soviet policy has entered is to be a t trib u ted to manifestations o f sympathy in Britain ra th e r than to manifestations o f toughness in the United States. But the illusion th a t the Kremlin is filled with men nervously on the defensive and not, as it is, w ith hardened revolutionaries, continues to survive because it would be so much pleasanter if it were the tru th . So eminently balanced a jou rnal as The Yorkshire Post, deploring the American report, went on to urge th a t “ nothing should be said or done a t this stage which might exacerbate the suspicion and distrust at Moscow which have so long proved a stum bling block to • in te rnational peace and security.” T hat old “ suspicion and distrust a t M oscow ” —how very well they have served the Kremlin th rough five long years, enabling Stalin to ask and ask and get and get! And a t the end here he still is, as a man whose suspicions need to be allayed, and might be exacerbated if, for instance, the British showed any more zeal for the independence o f their o ther Allies who are R u s s ia ’s neighbours. We can see the whole diplom atic operation o f months already being prepared with this invitation to Viscount Montgomery. F irs t will come the atm osphere o f good will and new hopefulness before the discussion o f G e rm any 's future, and then the disclosure o f the new high price Britain is asked to pay, and then the many eager, undignified English voices urging th a t it should be paid, since anything is better than th a t the Russians should be suspicious and distrustful.

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