Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1949. SOVIET PROPAGANDA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 28, 12 November 1949, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1949. SOVIET PROPAGANDA

The clash of Eastern and Western ideologies goes on, and one wonders what the outcome will be. The spokesman for the democracies have asserted over and over again that they have no warlike intentions; that their every thought and action is directed toward peace and unity among the nations, and from the East one hears similar expressions, only with qualifications. Mr Vyshinsky recently said in America that there were wide open spaces for optimism, and Mr George Malenkov, Soviet Deputy Prime Minister, says, “the Soviet Union stands firmly, for peace and the .friendship of the nations, but he added that the basis of the. Marshall Plan was preparation for war. The aim behind it, was to transform the whole world into a colony of American imperialists. “The Soviet people do not fear peaceful competition with the capitalist world, but they are sure of their might, and they know very well that any war adventui e will end in disaster for the Imperialists,” he declared. Well might Mr Malenkov’s remarks be termed war-mongering. The democratic world ihas come to look for statements of this nature on the anniversary of the Russian revolution, and seldom has the tone of the speeches varied. The main theme .has always been that Russia is right and the rest of the world is wrong. For once America, has had to bear the brunt of the tirade against 'the imperialists. America’s Jiand of friendship to Europe has. been construed by the Soviet as the basis for preparation for war. In his effort to glorify Soviet progress, Mr Malenkov pointed to the marked decline in American production in comparison with that of Russia, but he gave no indication of what Russian production amounted to, so actually no comparison is possible. In the capitalist world there are 40,000,000 unemployed or partly employed, says Malenkov, but not a word as to how many there are in Russian slave camps. In short, the whole of Malenkov’s speech was propaganda. What the world is lookingfor is action, and Russia can best illustrate her peaceful intentions by supporting the other nations in their efforts to solve the many pressing problems of the moment. i