Cold War & Cold Peace

A new phrase, reflecting a new mood, was crossing Europe last week: Cold Peace. As cold war means sustained hostility short of World War III, a cold peace means a sustained truce without a settlement. The mood, which was latent and unexpressed, suddenly popped into the open and is now, reported the London Observer, "the main topic of informed political conversation all over Europe."

What spread the mood was Stalin's new party line, his present attitude of unconcern over "capitalistic encirclement," and his prophecy that the "imperialist" nations will war on each other (TIME, Oct. 13). Apparently the world was in for another Communist attempt to divide the anti-Communist coalition by creating popular fronts. The intent was to relax tension in Europe; the spread of cold peace was a measure of how much a credulous Europe wanted tension relaxed.

But cold war, not cold peace, was still the order of the day in the Kremlin, where the Communist Party Congress met for the first time in 13 years. Molotov cried that U.S. "ruling circles" are "conducting preparations for unleashing a new world war"; Malenkov accused the U.S. of saddling "their junior partners, enslaving them, flogging them mercilessly," also "inspiring plots against their English and French allies" in their colonies. "The conflicts at present dividing the imperialist camp can lead to war."

As for Russia, insisted Malenkov in a five-hour speech, it is friendly as can be: "Peaceful co-existence of capitalism and Communism is perfectly feasible. Export of revolution is rubbish." Any capitalist state that wanted it, cooed Malenkov, could have "lasting peace" with Russia.

On the home front, Malenkov reported glowing economic progress. Russian industrial output had increased 13 times since 1929 and doubled since 1940. Statistics in percentages is an old Soviet trick, but this time Malenkov gave specific production figures too, which--insofar as they are to be trusted--show that Russia is turning out only 40% of current U.S. production, but nevertheless making considerable strides. His 1952 estimates: iron, 25 million tons; steel, 35 million tons; coal, 300 million tons.

Then, having praised his party's performance, Malenkov proceeded to berate it. The detailed shortcomings: "Great waste and unproductive expenditure . . . inefficient and excessively long railway transportation . . . road transport still badly organized . . . laxness in raising labor productivity ... an acute housing shortage everywhere . . . defective goods." He warned the delegates that "nepotism had been rife" in the party. Even the writers and artists, a privileged caste, caught it: "Not enough good films, not enough satire."

In Peking, where loyal Communists and gullible fellow travelers were subjected to hours of oratory at the Asian and Pacific Peace Conference, cold war, not cold peace, prevailed. The Communists, mixing threats and benedictions in lunatic proportions, charged America with "germ warfare" and unloosing a "new world war," then switched and offered the same America "peaceful co-existence."

Star of the day was a Florida Negro, Louis William Wheaton, who rose before his fellow "Peace Partisans" and admitted on behalf of the U.S. to "an unspeakable shame before history and humanity." For all the fanfare, however, the Peking conference seemed to have flopped badly. Nobody seemed to be listening, except those who had to.

--

In nearby, free Hong Kong, which is a good barometer of Mao's power and popularity, there was hardly any show of Communist colors on Oct. 1, third anniversary of Red China's founding. But ten days later, on the Double Tenth--the 41 st birthday of the Chinese Republic--100,000 Nationalist flags went up over the slum huts, shops, taxis, buses, junks and offices of Hong Kong's Chinese, in the biggest spontaneous display of pro-Nationalist sentiment since China fell.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.