CLEAR-CUT DEFEAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26290, 23 October 1946, Page 7

CLEAR-CUT DEFEAT

COMMUNISTS IN BERLIN MORAL FOR ALL POWERS HEAVY POLL RECORDED (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 22. Closer examination of the results of Sunday’s municipal elections in Berlin confirms the completeness of the Social Democratic victory and the Socialist Unity defeat, says the Berlin correspondent of The Times. In all the 20 boroughs of Greater Berlin the Social Democrats were the leading party, having in some boroughs an absolute majority. In Zehelendorf the Unity Party had only 6.9 per cent, of the total votes, in Steglitz 7.3, and in Templehof 9.2. These results are explainable partly by the fact that three boroughs are middle-class districts in the American sector, which would not be attracted by a predominantly Communist Party like the Socialist Unity, but even in working-class Weissensee, in the Russian sector, the Unity Party got only 31.8 per cent. The Social Democrats, as expected, did best in the sectors controlled by the three Western Powers, having over 50 per cent, in all three, but even in the Russian sector their vote was 43.2 per cent. Between 90 and 95 per cent, of the electorate voted, a clear indication of the seriousness with which they regarded the occasion. It is an amply and even embarrassingly decisive result—embarrassing to Russia and to Britain, France and America as her colleagues in the joint administration of Berlin, says The Times in a leader. After the harmony of Allied relations in the control of Berlin, it is perhaps unfortunate that the German electorate should have had the opportunity of recording so pointed a verdict. Yet, The Times adds, there is a moral in the story for all the occupying Powers. The moral for Britain and America is that the German Social Democrats perhaps will not always collapse so feebly in the face of threats as they did before those of the German Nationalists and Hitler in 1932-33. The moral for the Russians is plainer still, though it is idle to express confidence that it will be heeded. Communism does not bow to a majority verdict, and will not readily take “ No ’ for an answer. Russia is not impressed by a counting of heads. Last year’s Austro-Hungarian elections were as decisive rejections of Communism as the Berlin election, yet their effect was to sharpen their not moderate policy in those two countries.