The Press SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1967. Communist Conference

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31362, 6 May 1967, Page 12

The Press SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1967. Communist Conference

The sparse reports from last week’s Communist conference contained few surprises. Held in the old Czechoslovakian resort city of Karlovy Vary—Karlsbad before the communisation of Eastern Europe the conference dealt mainly with European questions. But the main aim of the conference, as revealed by President Novotny, of Czechoslovakia, in his opening address, was party unity in pursuit of common ends. Jugoslavia was not represented; President Tito had previously indicated that there was no intention on the part of the Government and party in Jugoslavia to abandon the processes of “liberalisation ”, even to the extent of Western capitalist participation in his country’s industrial development. Marshal Tito had added, on the subject of European security, that in his judgment a meeting of all the European parties would do more harm than good. A more damaging abstention, however, was that of Rumania, which asserted that Moscow intended to use the conference as a means of isolating China completely Albania’s association with China apart from European communism. The cabled summaries of the conference debates made little reference to China beyond mentioning a plea by the Soviet party leader, Mr Brezhnev, for a broader Chinese-Soviet effort to aid North Vietnam. Opportunity was no doubt taken to repeat the Russian condemnation oP'Maoist extravagances inf erentially asserting Russia’s claim to rule the Communist roost

The concentration of debate on European security had been anticipated- There is, indeed, a certain naivety in the demand for “ the immediate “ liquidation of the military organisations of the " Atlantic Pact and the Warsaw Treaty. ” The European peoples “ are able to settle themselves the “ issues of peace and security ”, said one pronouncement “Let them take the destinies of Europe in “ their own hands It may be imagined how appreciatively the conference thus endorsed President de Gaulle’s “ Europeanism ”, with its concept of a Europe “ stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals ” and the potential of such a doctrine as a dividing force in Western unity.

Again there was, predictably, no sign of change on the question of German unification. Mr Ulbricht had obviously received adequate assurances that moves by Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria towards diplomatic association with Bonn were not to be regarded as implying any political or ideological schism in Eastern Europe. Russia agreed to diplomatic contact with West Germany in 1955; but that did not mean that relations between the two Governments were thus “ settled ” or “ normalised Before that could happen, Bonn would have to concede the separate status of East Germany by recognising the German Democratic Republic. There is no prospect of that and no thought of compromise in Eastern Europe. A week before the conference in Karlovy Vary, Mr Ulbricht had been at pains to remove any misconceptions on the East German attitude. The Federal Chancellor, Dr. Kiesinger, had made certain proposals for an improvement in relations between the Bonn Government and the East German Government Mr Ulbricht’s retort was that Dr. Kiesinger, if he desired improvement, should first deal directly, as an equal, with the East German Prime Minister, Mr Stoph. There was no hope for unification, he added, “ before “ those in the West had been converted to “ socialism ”. Mr Brezhnev later gave a Soviet endorsement of that requirement Relations with West Germany, he indicated, could not be cultivated at the cost of socialist unity.

The keynote at Karlovy Vary, then, will have been Communist solidarity even in a situation, created by Rumanian, Jugoslav, and Albanian non-participation, of what an Italian delegate curiously described as “unity through diversity”. No doubt the Russians were satisfied to leave the conference fortified by approval of their strong line against Peking and of their policy of greater flexibility towards the West. From the Western as well as the Russian point of view the conference may be regarded as a mild success.