“Grossest Abuses” Possible Under Soviet System

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28002, 23 June 1956, Page 9

“Grossest Abuses” Possible Under Soviet System

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, June 21. The Secretary of State (Mr Dulles) said today that the present Soviet leaders were Stalin’s closest collaborators and it seemed that if their system was fastened on a country there were no means to prevent the grossest abuses. Mr Dulles drew a sharp contrast between the despotism of communism in the Soviet Union and China and the benefits of democracy in the free world. He described the speech by Mr Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet party leader, denouncing Stalin as “the most damning indictment of despotism ever made by a despot. “The Soviet Communist system provides no safeguards against even such extreme abuses as those that Mr Khrushchev recounts,” he said. “When there is misrule, only death or violence can assure the end of that misrule, and even that is no assurance, for Beria, whom Mr Khrushchev calls even worse than Stalin would probably have succeeded Stalin had not Beria been violently liquidated in the post-Stalin conquest for power.”

Mr Dulles said the principal political figures in Russia today were all intimates of Stalin, and knew full well what was going on. “Mr Khrushchev and Marshal Bulganin were Stalins close collaborators, and, indeed, the beneficiaries of his purges within the party. And today they must admit that onee that system is fastened upon a country, there are no means to prevent the grossest abuses.” Mr Dulles pictured the free world in sharp contrast. “It is the good custom of the free societies to indulge in self-criticism and to expose their deficiencies.” he said. “It is profitable to pause and take stock of the immense changes for good that are accomplished by representative governments.” He listed as examples of peaceful evolution within United States society since the Bolshevik revolution: Women had reached political, economic and social status totally different from that which existed

before. Race discrimination, while nor yet wholly eliminated, was rapidly diminishing. “The present bears no resemblance to the conditions of 40 years ago.” There had been growing protection of health. Infant mortality had been

reduced by 75 per cent. Working men and women were living a good life. They had higher wages, shorter hours, greater job security, and retirement plans. “The lower income groups had gained relatively the most in living

standards.” Property ownership was widely diffused today. More than eight million people owned shares in American business companies. Educational facilities had been greatly expanded. “In any contest with despotism, a free society is under certain seeming disadvantages.” Mr Dulles said. “They expose their deficiencies. whereas despotisms habitually hide their deficiencies. “Thus, free societies often appear worse than they are, and despotic societies may for a time appear better than they are.’’