BREAK WITH RUSSIA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 67, Issue 158, 17 April 1947, Page 3

BREAK WITH RUSSIA

DEMAND BY U.S. POLITICIAN HALT TO COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) WASHINGTON, April 15. An immediate break in United States diplomatic relations with Russia was demanded in the House by Mr John Rankin (Democrat, Mississippi), a member of the Un-American Activities Committee. “We cannot halt Communism dictatorship all over the world with soup kitchen diplomacy,” said Mr Rankin. “Communism is not a system of government but a system of crime. While we have the atomic bomb and while the United States is the world’s leading nation, we should tell the Soviet that these international crimes must stop. “If the United Sates takes positive action it will, be only a matter of time until the decent people of Russia rise and overthrow their Government and replace it with one in which the people of the world can have confidence.” The House Committee on unAmerican Activities declared to-day: “The spectre of Communism stalks our colleges.masked under the cloak of American youth for democracy,” and called upon State Governors and school headmasters to expose this organisation. In a 20-page report to Congress the committee charged that American Youth for Democracy was a direct arm of the Communist Internationale and was striving to plant the seeds of Communism in American universities and colleges.

A resolution censuring Mf Henry Wallace for “grave disservice to the welfare of the United States” was introduced in the House by Mr Mendl Rivers (Democrat, South Carolina). The resolution was referred to the Foreign Affairs Committee. It is reported that a similar resolution will be introduced in the Senate by Senator John McClellan (Democrai, Arkansas). Wallace Supported Criticism of Mr Wallace’s statements in Britain characterised a further debate in both Chambers on the United States aid programme for Greece and Turkey. One of the few voices raised in support of Mr Wallace’s views was that of Senator Glen Taylor (Democrat, Idaho), who compared the programme with Japan’s 1931 invasion of Manchuria. “Japan’s action wrecked the League of Nations,” said Senator Taylor. “Our unilateral action will just as surely wreck the United Nations. Japan started the world on the one-way road to the Second World War. Can we be sure the action of the United States will not set us on the road to the third world war?” The first public comment by a member of the Cabinet on Mr Wallace’s references abroad to American foreign policy was made to-night, by the Attorney-General, Mr Tom Clark, in a speech at a Jefferson Day dinner in Philadelphia.

“One who tells the people of Europe that the United States is committed to ruthless imperialism —and war with Russia —tells a lie,” said Mr Clark. “It is a most cruel falsehood because it reveals an utter lack of undereanding or appreciation of the American way of life.” Mr Clark did not mention Mr Wallace by name. The Presidential Press secretary, Mr Charles Ross, told correspondents in Washington that he knew of no approach by Congress to the White House for action on Mr Wallace’s activities in Britain. Asked if the United States would officially notify Britain that Mr Wallace was not speaking officially, Mr Ross replied it was obvious that Mr Wallace spoke as a private citizen in his speeches attacking the foreign policy of the United States. Wallace Interviewed In a radio interview recorded in New York by the Columbia Broadcasting System, Mr Henry Wallace said it was part of every American’s fundamental faith in free speech to allow the expression of personal opinions at variance with, those of the Government. “I have spoken out for a constructive programme for peace, and as long as there is hope for peace I shall continue to speak out,” he added. “I think that is the American way.”