DEBATE IN MOSCOW

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28434, 14 November 1957, Page 15

DEBATE IN MOSCOW

Reforming Of

Cominform

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.> NEW YORK, November 13. Word had reached Warsaw that a major subject under discussion now in Moscow was the reestablishment of some form of organised central direction of the international Communist movement. the "New York Times” said today. The newspaper said all the major figures of the Communist world, with the exception of Marshal Tito of Jugoslava, had been in Moscow in the last week for the celebrations of the anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. This, it added, was the largest meeting of Communist leaders ever held. The "New York Times,” in a dispatch from Warsaw, said diplomats there had heard of heavy Soviet pressure to recreate an organisation on the lines of the old Communist International (the Comintern) or the more recent Communist information bureau—the Cominform. The Comintern was dissolved early in World War II as a gesture to the Soviet Union's Western allies, and the Cominform early in 1956, principally to please Jugoslavia. The "New York Times” said Mr Nikita Khrushchev, the secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, had been trying all this year to rebind Moscow's reins, loosened by Jugoslavia's expulsion from the Cominform in 1948. and loosened still further by the upheavals in Poland and Hungary. Jugoslavia Declines According to diplomatic sources, the “New York Times” said, Jugoslavia, as might have been expected after her experiences with the Cominform, had* asked to be left out of any new organisation. The paper said Mr Palmiro Togliatti, the Italian Communist leader, was said to have expressed doubts about the wisdom of reassuring Moscow's direction of the international movement. It added: "But the situation is more difficult for the two other major parties known to oppose, the idea, those of Poland and Communist China. Both countries are going through severe economic difficulties, for whose solution they must increasingly turn to the Soviet Union.” The "New York Times” said the Chinese stand, it was believed in Warsaw, would be vital in the final decision. It was conceded that the Chinese, because of their economic difficulties, were not now in as strong a position to say “No” as when Mr Khrushchev previously made similar proposals. The newspaper added: "Mr Khrushchev now is arguing his case from a stronger position. People here (in Warsaw) would be unhappy, but not too surprised to see some kind of a new international Communist organisation evolve in the next six months.”

A. 5.11 . MINISTER DIES

(Rec. 10 p.m.) SYDNEY. November 13

The New South Wales Minister for Agriculture. Mr E. H. Graham, died suddenly today in Wagga Calvary Hospital. Mr Graham, who was 60, had been suffering from a heart condition since early 1955. He represented Wagga from 1941 in the Legislative Assembly and was Minister of Agriculture from June. 1944.