No One Knows

The U.N.'s Third General Assembly closed last week on a note of hope. It took credit for the fact that its soothing, pale-green lounge had provided a common meeting ground for the U.S.'s Philip Jessup and Russia's Jakov Malik when they began negotiating the Berlin blockade's end. Actually the job the Assembly had done was middling. It had (among other things) admitted Israel to U.N.; defeated a Latin American motion to lift the diplomatic boycott of Spain; again asked the Big Five to curb their veto. Perhaps the most significant measure--though it had little hope of success--was the decision to establish a committee to study ways & means of increasing U.N.'s efficiency, cut out unnecessary talk.

The delegates were kept talking right up to closing time. The Assembly was asked to settle the fate of Italy's former colonies, a question popped into U.N.'s lap when the Big Four were unable to agree on it. After heated debate, the Assembly firmly shelved the question until its next session. Next day, it was the distant figure of runaway Communist Gerhart Eisler which agitated the Assembly. Poland's Juliusz Katz-Suchy asked the Assembly to conduct an inquiry into Eisler's rights of political asylum. The Assembly voted against allowing discussion of the Eisler case. During the balloting the Ukrainian delegate mistakenly lined up against Katz-Suchy. "You see," snapped Poland's Katz-Suchy at Assembly President Herbert Evatt, "that just shows you no one knows what we are voting on."

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