First Step

Northern Advocate, 6 May 1949, Page 5

First Step

The Tass message continued: “Upon the elapse of a certain time there will take place a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, who will review questions concerning Germany and the problems arising out of the situation created in Berlin and also the questions of Berlin’s fcurrency. The four representatives hope that the remaining questions connected with the details can be settled in a very short period of time.” , The United Press Berlin correspondent says sources close to Soviet headquarters said today that Russia’s first step in lifting the blockade would be to demand a plebiscite to force the establishment of a central German government. Russia would want the plebiscite to sk merely if the Germans wanted a mited or a split Germany. Observers said virtually every German would vot for a united - Germany. By this means Russia hoped, firstly o block the formation of a Western ?>erman state in the American, British and French zones; secondly, to establish a central German government and spread Communist and Soviet influence beyond the confines •>f the Soviet zone; thirdly to block participation of Western Germany in the Atlantic Pact and the Western Union; and fourthly, to gain a voice in the control and management of industrial Ruhr. -u-