Congress Reaffirms Soviet Leadership

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30038, 24 January 1963, Page 11

Congress Reaffirms Soviet Leadership

(N.Z J*-A.-Reuter—Copyright)

EAST BERLIN. January 21.

The East German Communist Party Congress ended today with a decisive rejection of China’s bid for policy leadership of the Communist Bloc.

In a brief cloeing speech, the East German leader (Mr Walter Wbricht) raid the Congress had demonstrated ■the unity of the bloc “with the Soviet Communist Party at its head.”

But there were indications that China would intensify efforts to win support among the Communist parties of Latin America, Aifrica and Asia. In spite of the sometimes stormy reception given the Chinese delegate (Mr Wu Hsiu-chuan) neither Moscow nor Peking sought a final break. But each side refused to give ground. Mr Khrushchev rejected the Chinese proposal for a “summit” to discuss their ideological dispute. At the same time, however, he offered a truce in the propaganda battle. Mr Wu drew a storm of protest from delegates last week when he attacked Jugoslav “revisionism” and Soviet policies.

But he added: “We will not relax our efforts to overcome differences of opinion.” Peace Treaty Restraint

Reuters East Berlin correspondent, Vincent Buist, said Mr Khrushchev had offered the West the prospect of a further period of relaxation in the cold war. This he had done by renewed public rejection of war as an instrument of Communist

policy and his “notably restrained references” to the crucial issue of a German peace treaty. The Soviet leader, in a speech to the congress, said that since the building of the Berlin border wall in 1981 the “German peace treaty is no longer the same problem.”

In contrast to the boos, "whistles and feet-stamping for Mr Wu, the Jugoslav delegation, making its first appearance at a Soviet Bloc party congress since the Tito-Stalin break in 1948, was given a tremendous standing ovation.

The Jugoslav delegation’s leader, Mr Velkjo Vlamovic, was cheered when he said the

Chinese attack against his country was, in fact, a frontal attack on the whole Communist. movement.

Inside and outside the congress haU, Mr Khrushchev laid heavy stress on his belief that the rapid advance of communusn depended upon economic growth. He told East Germans shortly after his arrival that “neither God nor the devil'* would provide their daily bread and butter. The victory of communism depended on hard work. Chinese Tactics

Chinese lobbying was aimed largely as selling the ideology of “permanent revolution,” and attacking the Soviet Union's “soft line" against the West in Vietnam, Laos and Cuba.

Mr Ulbricht was ostensibly given the full backing of the Soviet delegation. As expected he was today reelected first secretary of the Socialist Unity (Communist) Party’s central committee. Mysterious Blast

A mysterious explosion early today rocked a residential area of East Berlin where Mr Ulbricht lives and where Mr Khrushchev is staying. West Berlin police said the explosion occurred in the Pankow -Niederschoenhausen district ait 3.15 am. Mr Ulbricht’s residence, Niederschoenhausen Castle, is in the district, and a Government guest house where Mr Khrushchev was staying was also there. A Russian Embassy spokesman, however, dismissed as “nonsense” reports that either Mr Ulbricht or Mr Khrushchev were endangered by the blast. Both men appeared, smiling, as the final session of the congress today. The explosion was so powerful it was clearly audible two miles away on the bonder of the French sector of West Berlin.

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