Cold War Barter

Out of Budapest came a bizarre proposal from the Communists. They wanted to exchange a British "spy" imprisoned in Hungary for a woman guerrilla leader facing the gallows in Malaya. Rarely has Russian diplomacy so blatantly acknowledged its real control over Communists everywhere. The barter proposal showed how fast, when the Reds want to make a deal, they cynically drop the pretense of a rebel band of local "patriots'" fighting "colonialism" in Malaya, or of a "People's Republic" having a genuine claim to sovereignty in Hungary. The principals in this cold war barter:

Edgar Sanders, 48, tall, bespectacled Briton who was a representative of International Telephone & Telegraph in Budapest, was tried with Robert Vogeler of the U.S. in the strange Budapest "spy case" of 1950, has since served three years of a 13-year prison sentence. The U.S. ransomed Vogeler in 1951, the British had nothing satisfactory to offer for Sanders.

Lee Meng, a young (25), doll-faced Chinese Communist, one of the key leaders of the Red war against the British in Malaya, until she was captured last July and tried for having a hand grenade in her possession, an offense punishable by death. After two trials which caused a stir all the way to London. Lee Meng was convicted and sentenced to death.

The British Foreign Office, caught by surprise when the offer was made secretly several weeks ago, tossed the matter directly to Winston Churchill's cabinet. Sanders' wife begged the government to make the trade. But Britain did not want to give the Communists the notion that they could make a deal any time they pleased by tossing a British citizen into jail on trumped-up charges, and it feared the effect of Lee Meng's release in Malaya.

Lee Meng had become valuable propaganda material for the Reds in Asia by maintaining that she was someone else, a victim of mistaken identity and British injustice. Now the Reds were admitting her complicity by revealing how highly they value her life.

This week in the House of Commons, Winston Churchill refused to consider a trade while Lee Meng's appeal for clemency is being considered. "There can be no question," he said, "of bartering a human life."

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