On to Berlin

Berlin had held the Big Three together in war. Now the heads of the Big Three would meet in or near Berlin's ruins, to test whether cooperation could carry over to the construction of "a just and durable peace." The date of the Truman-Stalin-Churchill meeting would be some time between July 5 (when Britain elects a new Parliament) and July 7 (when election results will be announced).

Preparing for the meeting, diplomats last week reviewed the two months of Big Three relations attending the European war's end. As the cohesive element--a common, dangerous enemy--dwindled away, relations obviously worsened. Peace disclosed deep conflicts of purpose and method which in future decades would try the skill of diplomats and the wisdom of statesmen. But many of the last two months' "issues" were mere pinpricks and needle jabs, magnified to dagger thrusts by the tension of the times. Already some of them looked pretty silly.

Problems. Although the tension had relaxed in the last fortnight, the Big Three still had plenty to do. Their job at the Berlin conference would break into two parts: 1) interim arrangements for Europe, pending the peace conference, 2) preparations for the conference itself. This division grew out of two decisions at

Yalta, to postpone the peace conference on Europe until after the Japanese war, and to separate the job of peacemaking itself from the creation of a world organization at San Francisco.

Postponement of the peace conference did not postpone issues which may have to be taken up before that conference is held. Among the immediate problems, the most pressing was Poland (see below). But the most important was Germany. Even with the Reich tumbled about their ears, Germans know that what happens to them decides the fate of Europe. Even in defeat they still hope that the conquerors will quarrel over what to do about Germany. First stone in a "just and durable peace" is the coordination of control policies toward Germany (see The Occupation).

The Last Act. No matter how far away the peace conference may be, there is none too much time to prepare its enormous agenda. The last act of the greatest upheaval of modern times, its European aspects alone involve every country and every sort of issue, from cultural to economic.

So vast and complicated is its scope that, there was talk last week at San Francisco of breaking the peace conference into several parts, just as San Francisco itself was broken away from the peace conference. There might be one peace conference to deal with Germany, another on Mediterranean problems, another on colonies, etc. Big Three delegates could see one advantage in this suggestion: not every conference need include all nations; Big Three dominance might be maintained by selecting the nations to consult with them on each set of problems.

To set the stage for the fateful finale there was much work to be done at Berlin by a Missouri lawyer, a British politician and a Russian revolutionary.

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