Greymouth Evening Star. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1950. Red Decline In West Europe

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 September 1950, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1950. Red Decline In West Europe

THE rout of the Communist invaders in South Korea has, once more, shifted the centre of gravity in the international scene. From the outset the Western Powers have viewed the Korean conflict as a diversionary . move, instigated by Russia with the object, of embroiling large forces in the East and thus weakening the West’s defensive strength elsewhere and at the same time adding an extra strain to civil economies. This, it has long been clear, is the basic object of the constantly shifting policy followed by the Communists.

Europe remains the main theatre of international tension. There, on the West side of the Iron Curtain, the tide is almost everywhere running strongly against the Communists. The days when they dreamed of rising to power in the democracies by constitutional means are gone, and in that defeat may lie the gravest immediate danger to peace. The Communists are no longer a political force; as a result, their comrades behind thq Iron Curtain are faced with the decision whether to stay there or to attempt to conquer Europe by military power. The Swedish municipal elections — which are also indirectly elections for the Upper House of Parliament—have brought a heavy setback for the Communists. They have polled only 5 per cent, of the votes —a third of their strength two years ago. This ebb of Communist parties, their decline to the status of an insignificant if troublesome minority,, is general throughout western Europe. Only .in France and Italy are they a serious political force. And signs of the coming decline are visible there as well. In the Danish General Election earlier this month the Communists—posing as the champions of peace and the only opponents of the “warmongers”—won only six seats out of 150. In 1945 they had 18. In Norway last November they, lost every one of their 11 seats in the Storthing. In three Belgian elections they have dwindled from 23 in 1946 to 14 in 1949, and to seven in 1950. The Dutch municipal elections last year and provincial elections this year show the same trend —a loss of some 25 per cent, of strength since the 1948 General Election.

In Britain, for the first time in 30 years, there is not a single Communist in the House of Commons. Lastly, Western Germany. In June there were provincial elections in the North Rhine-Westphalia, which includes the whole of the great industrial area of the Ruhr. The German Communist Party threw all its energies into a specially intensive campaign and cheerfully prophesied great gains. In the event it polled only 5.5 per cent, of the votes, as against 14 per cent, three years ago. In Schleswig-Holstein the Communis! vote was a mere 2.2 per cent.; even in Hamburg, once a “Red stronghold,” it was only 7 per cent. The basic reason for this decline is obvious enough. The Communists have been found out. In one of their £ < own favourite phrases they have been unmasked.” Such success as they have had in the past has been the result of a series of fraudulent pretences. They have professed to be the champions of working class unity—while, in fact, they had orders to disturb the. trade unions and to destroy social democracy. They posed as the only genuine opponents of Fascism while Stalin was coming to terms with Hitler. They professed patriotism when it seemed to serve their purpose. They even at times came forward as defenders of the individualist peasantry and of the small business man. Their latest disguise is that of “partisans of peace.” They had hoped great things from it. But their eager and enthusiastic support of aggression in Korea has made this pretence merely ridiculous.