The Kremlin Is Willing

While the free world talked fitfully of a last-hope parley with the Russians, the press wires from Moscow were singularly silent on the subject. The New York Times wondered what had happened to its Moscow correspondent, Harrison Salisbury. Then, when his copy finally came in, the Times discovered that Soviet censorship had held up everything. "Three [dispatches]," explained the Times, "were subjected to extraordinary censorship delays, varying from one to four days, presumably because they touch on matters that apparently have been undergoing high-policy discussion within the Soviet Government."

The gist of the Salisbury report was that the Kremlin seemed interested in growing Anglo-American sentiment for renewed atomic talks, though such details as Winston Churchill's statement on the issue (see FOREIGN NEWS) had not yet been printed in the Russian press. The Moscow journal, Soviet State and Law, had exhumed and emphasized Joseph Stalin's two-year-old statement to Henry Wallace: "Peaceful settlements of disagreements between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. are not only possible, but absolutely essential in the interests of general peace." In principle, Russia was not against a limitation on national sovereignty; it was just against the kind of international inspection proposed by the Baruch plan.

Pravda hinted that "international relations were entering a new stage," attributed this to the strong impact of the new Sino-Soviet alliance (see below). Red Fleet accused the U.S. of rejecting "all proposals toward lessening the international strain," then sniffed a "modification" in the wind, because U.S. public opinion was more & more ranging up against U.S. policy.

This week Correspondent Salisbury conveyed the Kremlin's feeler with full frankness. "The Soviet Union," he cabled, "would welcome an opportunity for careful and serious examination of Soviet-United States problems."

It was the old, old story--the peace offensive to throw the Western world off its guard, cynical promises made to be broken, the indignant walkout when the negotiations got down to specifics. Or was it? Without any confidence at all that the U.S.S.R. could be trusted on anything, the free world, full of foreboding over the dreadful prospect of atomic war, waited to hear more. But it would have to hear a lot more before it paid any hopeful attention.

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