PRESS COMMENT IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27090, 13 July 1953, Page 9

PRESS COMMENT IN BRITAIN

“Struggle For Power Taking Place”

(Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, July 11. London morning newspapers agree in leading articles today that a great struggle for power is taking place in Russia.

“The Times” says: “The struggle in the Kremlin will affect, for good or ill, the fortunes of the whole Communist camp, from the Elbe to the Pacific, and will affect the relations between that camp and the rest of the world no less. The Western Powers can do little but watch and wait.”

“The Times” warns against attempting to exploit the situation by violenl propaganda or incitement to new disorders.

The “Daily Telegraph” says: “The tensions, which have been spectacularly manifested in the satellite countries in recent weeks, are only a reflection of deeper and more destructive tensions within Russia itself. Mr Malenkov is, for the moment, master, but master in a household where ability to strike first is the law of rule and survival.”

The paper suggests that it would be better for Western statesmen to wait before holding talks with Russia. “It would be idle to seek a lasting agreement with a government just entering a period of cold civil war.” The “Daily Mail” says: “The grave «tate of unrest behind the iron Curtain cannot be questioned. We may have seen only one phase in the struggle for power.” The “Daily Herald” submits that Mr Beria’s fall does not render as pointless the Western discussion on an approach to Russia, but there would inevitably be a delay before the situation was clarified.

The “News Chronicle” calls for a quick decision by the Western Ministers in Washington to determine their attitude to the events in Russia and to “hammer out” a policy. It says that if Mr Malenkov fails his successor might be “a Red Napoleon.”