SUPPORT FOR CHURCHILL

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27048, 25 May 1953, Page 9

SUPPORT FOR CHURCHILL

Plan Approved By “Pravda”

MOSCOW, May 24. <tnnrh« u-^ ay ?, ü ßPorted Sir Winston Churchill’s call for a Big Power at the highest level. In a full page leading article devoted to the current international situation, “Pravsal? that Sir Winston Churchill’s ?^2 P . OS . S 1 .y as constructive with respect to the methods of discussion of ripe questions of the international situation.

The British Prime Minister, unlike certain other statesmen of the West, n< z m *ke his proposal with any sign of preliminary obligation for one side or the other. • Soviet Union is always ready, m all seriousness and good faith, to discuss any proposal directed towards the securing of peace and possible wider economic and cultural ties among States.” The newspaper, however, criticised the forthcoming Three-Power confer®“ce Bermuda as “a reversion to the old line counterposing of one State against another.” “Pravda” said: “The presence of a new plot of the Western Powers at the present time not only does not continue to discharge the international situation, but on the contrary can be a further Intensification of tension in international relations.” / “Pravda” said that Sir Winston Churchill s speech on international affairs in the * House of Commons ‘contains propositions reflecting the peace efforts of the British people.” It said the speech testified to the realistic approach of the British Prime Minister in appreciation of some basic features of the present international situation.”

‘Sir Winston Churchill devoted an important part of his speech to the guestion of mutual relations with the Soviet Union. Not everything he had to say on this score can be accepted by public opinion in the USS R, without. criticism, or without serious objections. but his statements, reflecting the peaceful efforts of the British people, have been received with satisfaction by the broad circles of public opinion interested in the preservation of peace. Criticism in US. “At the same time they came under fire from circles, particularly in the United States, who display special interest in the maintenance of the present tension in international relations.”

The newspaper said that Sir Winston Churchill’s statement that <‘l don’t believe the problem of combining the security of Russia with the freedom and security of Western Europe is insoluble” found support among people who really worked for a settlement of the mounting international issues, and who hated war. “Pravda” continued: “In our country this declaration read as a timely move in the present international situation. When he spoke of the possibility of combining the security of the Soviet Union with that of the countries of Western Europe, the Prime Minister was ruled, of course, by the interests of his own country, but at the same time there is no doubt that a policy aimed at conjoining Britain’s national interests with the interests of preserving peace and consolidating international co-operation will meet with the understanding and the Support of the Soviet Union and other peace-loving nations. "The proposition advanced by Sir Winston Churchill on a marriage between the security of the Soviet Union and that of Western Europe is all the more important, as by raising this question the British Prime Minister concerns himself at the same time not only with mutual relations between Great Britain and the Soviet Union, but also with the whole problem of the maintenance and consolidation of peace.” “Complexity of Problems” “The present international situation is characterised by the great complexity of the problems to be settled. This •> commands due understanding for those who believe that an endeavour to examine and solve In one single attempt all disputed and unsolved problems is doomed to failure. “Any progress made in the settlement of such thorny questions as those of the Korean war or Germany could assist in lessening the tension in the present international situation and prepare the ground for a settlement of other problems too. “Sir Winston Churchill had in mind such an approach to the settlement of international problems when he declared it would be a mistake to think that nothing cap be settled with the Soviet Union unless or until everything is settled. The settlement of two or three difficult questions would represent a great achievement for any peace-loving country. "One of the most important international problems in the peaceful settlement of which the peoples of all countries are interested is the Korean Pl “SirWinston Churchill even deem it necessary to recall the Yalta declaration and the Potsdam decisions in the elaboration of which he himself took a part, in which were formulated the most important principles of a real settlement of the German problem on the basis of the creation of a united Germany as a peace-loving democratic government Yalta and Potsdam "The Yalta and Potsdam documents expressed joint policy and concrete agreements between the Western Powers and Russia on the German problem reached during the war and confirmed shortly after its conclusion. These agreements pledging the Parties concerned to assist in the unification of Germany as a peace-loving democratic state constitute the most important achievement towards the aim of combining the security of Russia with the freedom and security of Western Europe. “We are clearly still interested to know after Sir Winston Churchill’s speech to what extent the steps taken by Britain in the field of international relations will conform to the basic principles of those agreements to which the Great Powers affixed their signatures. and to what extent any fresh agreement between them can assist the consolidation of the peace and security of nations. Experience in past years shows that the settlement of disputed and unsolved-questions has been hampered by the Western Powers’ policy to renounce concluded agreements.” Turning to the Korean truce negotiations, “Pravda” was critical of General

Harrison’s attitude after the diplomatic initiative of China. North Korea, and the Soviet Union "had opened genuine possibilities for the conclusion of a truce and ending the war.” “Pravda” added that Sir Winston Churchill expressed himself in favour of a patient and attentive examination of the Korean and Chinese proposals and declared that he was not aware of any reasons to believe that they could not serve as a basis of agreement. Referring to criticism in Britain and elsewhere of General Harrison’s attitude, “Pravda” quoted Mr Nehru’s recent speech in the Indian Parliament as showing “that General Harrison’s attitude is ia flagrant contradiction to the resolution on prisoners of war in Korea passed by the United Nations at the end of last year.” Because of General Harrison’s stand at Panmunjon. the negotiations were again being delayed, said “Pravda.” It said that Sir Winston Churchill rightly reserved a special place in his speech for the German problem, “yet his exposition can under no circumstances be accepted as an expression of a genuine desire to settle this dominating international problem.”