The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES." GISBORNE, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1946. STALIN’S REASSURING OBSERVATIONS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22136, 26 September 1946, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES." GISBORNE, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1946. STALIN’S REASSURING OBSERVATIONS

DESCRIBED by London diplomatic observers as the most reassuring statement on foreign affairs since the end of the war, Marshal Stalin’s interview with Mr. Alexander Worth, the Moscow correspondent of Ihe Sunday Times, lias been bailed with relief and pleasure in Ihe British and Russian capitals and with slightly more restrained satisfaction in Washington. There can be no doubt that. following a period of growing tension, the Soviet leader’s reassuring attitude towards international relationships comes as a soothing balm.

Some people, still distrustful of Russian policy, may regard it merely as “soothing syrup.” Yet the world learned, especially during the war, to respect Marshal Stalin'as a man of sane and solid outlook, and any slump in that confidence during the postwar period has probably been due to the fact that other nations have been hearing too little from Stalin himself and too much from M. Molotov. Easily remembered, furthermore, has been the policy statement by the late President of the Soviet Union, M. Kalinin, who appeared to reject any settlement which would set a limit to the struggle between communism and the western democracies.

Marshal Stalin’s replies to Mr. Worth’s questions, however, cannot help but clear the air. The democracies no longer worry about communism for the Russians and they would have no right to worry about communism for any country provided the party organised on orthodox lines and was elected to power by the majority vote of the people. What has really been troubling them is the suspicion that this political doctrine is dictated from Moscow and that its exponents would not hesitate to seize power by revolutionary methods as part of a well-organised struggle against the capitalistic system.

In addition to his all-important declaration that Russia does not fear capitalistic encirclement and that there is no real danger of war, Stalin went a long way towards assuaging democratic feeling when lie denied the accusations that the Communist doctrine was dictated from Moscow and expressed the belief that linn and lasting co-operation was possible despite ideological differences of opinion. If his remarks about the power of the atomic bomb should be accepted with more reserve, there is at least a pleasingly confident note in bis assertion that, in tlie final issue, use of Ihe bomb will be prohibited—presumably as the result of an international agreement.

The future course of the nations will depend on leadership. Who will be Stalin’s successor in a land where supreme leadership counts for a great deal? When Stalin rose to power he cut himself adrift from the idea of world revolution and went in for a purely Russian experiment. At first bis policy was opposed by the old Bolsheviks, who believed that the continuance of communism in Russia was impossible without world revolution. If Stalin’s successor also inherits his sense of proportion, all will yet be well.