Labour Delegation Spends Busy Time In Moscow

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27427, 13 August 1954, Page 11

Labour Delegation Spends Busy Time In Moscow

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) MOSCOW, August 12. The British Opposition leader (Mr Attlee) and his seven Labour colleagues will leave Moscow today in a special Russian plane for China, after two days’ inspection of Soviet industries in and around Moscow and two successive nights of gay dinner parties with Mr Malenkov. , After last night’s party at the British Embassy Mr Aneurin Bevan said he thought Mr Malenkov “charming, vivacious, and gay,” and Mr Attlee said he considered him “very capable.” For two hours after the dinner party last night the delegation and the Soviet leaders discussed world affairs. Before leaving Moscow for Peking today the delegates will visit the Kremlin and also possibly the Red Square Mausoleum, where lie the embalmed bodies of Lenin and Stalin. They will break the two-day journey in Siberia and spend a night at the Soviet town of Irkutsk. After his China tour Mr Attlee will go to Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Malenkov and his close colleagues last night and early this morning discussed with the British Labour Party delegation “peaceful co-existence,” East-West trade, and other outstanding issues. The discussions, lasting two hours, were part of a five-hour visit by Soviet leaders paid to the British Embassy ending at 1.30 o’clock this morning. Mr Malenkov and others dined with Mr Attlee’s group as the guests of Sir William Hayter, the British Ambassador. After the dinner, which was informal and gay, with champagne flowing freely, the Soviet leaders and the British delegation of eight, split up into small groups in the embassy’s richly-decorated “White Room” to discuss world affairs. Mr Malenkov and Mr Molotov joined Mr Aneurin Bevan, Mr Morgan Phillips, Dr. Edith Summerskill, and Mr Wilfred Burke for a private talk. It is understood that Mr Attlee and Mr Malenkov did not at any time have a private discussion, but they were partners at dinner, and talked with each other constantly during the meal. Mr Attlee was joined after dinner by Mr Mikoyan and Mr Vyshinsky. Eight Toasts Honoured , An Embassy official said that about eight Toasts were drunk but none to Queen Elizabeth or to Mr Malenkov. Mr Malenkov proposed the toast of “Coexistence,” and Mr Attlee followed with “to Anglo-Soviet Friendship.” Mr Nikita Kruschev, the Communist party’s First Secretary, said in a toast: “The Soviet Union does not wish to interfere in other people’s affairs.” As the gathering went on into the early hours of this morning the Embassy’s windows were lit by flashes of lightning. Peals of thunder crashed, and rain pelted down, but the weather did not dampen the atmosphere within the embassy. Mr Burke, the Labour Party chairman, said: “It was just as jolly an affair as last night” (when the delegation members were dinner guests of Mr Malenkov) —“maybe even more so.” Subjects Discussed

When the Labour delegation dined with Mr Malenkov the night before they discussed what the delegation described as “current topics.” These were understood to be the question of China, East-West trade, and other outstanding problems, and the talk round the embassy dining table last night concerned the same topics. The dinner at the embassy was believed to have been approved personally by the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, and a report of last night’s discussion between Mr Malenkov and the Laboui* leaders has already been sent by the British Ambassador to the Foreign Office in London.

Mr Morgan Phillips, the Labour Party Secretary, told correspondents: “I think the nett result of our talks has been a better understanding of the role and responsibilities of the respective political parties of Britain and the Soviet Union. “We have had in our two days’ stay in Moscow a frank and free exchange of opinion. I think that in consequence of this we understand each other very much better than we did before. “It is too early to formalise opinions, because the Labour delegation has not yet had the opportunity to meet in order to arrive at a collective opinion. “But there has been no inhibition, either on the part of the delegation or of the representatives of the Soviet Union to express quite freely their point of view. “I do not want to go further at this moment,” he said. British and American correspondents covering the visit were allowed full freedom of movement outside the embassy. They crowded so close to Mr Malenkov and other Soviet guests that they could almost touch them. Mr Malenkov waved to the reporters as he drove away from the embassy.