Coexistence Is Poison:
BROWN, IRVING
Two views of our allies' controversial new policies Coexistence Is Poison By Irving Brown AFL Representative in Europe I RECENTLY RETURNED from a visit to what I should like to call a land of...
...The quick, almost prearranged settlement on Indo-China not only endangered the defense of Southeast Asia but led to EDC's defeat...
...Ironically enough, the internal position of the Communists in France is at its weakest level since the end of the war...
...Out of these very weaknesses and difficulties the Soviet "new look" arose...
...The expenditure of close to $45 billion by the United States has contributed much to this advance...
...The German mark rates as one of the strongest currencies in the world...
...Actually, the Soviet new look, as expressed in the so-called policy of "coexistence," has one objective: the disintegration of coexistence among and between the free nations of the world...
...No serious German democrat can afford to ignore the all-out claims for German sovereignty and rearmament...
...Although we have printed many articles dealing in some form with this basic question, The New Leader now feels obliged to treat it more directly...
...Thus, in contrast to the successful August 1953 strike of the non-Communist unions, the attempt of the Communist CGT to call a general strike last April 28 was a great failure...
...Yet, in Western Europe today "coexistence" is a magic word...
...The dearth of adequate housing--especially in France...
...This alone reveals how critical the situation had become for the French CP...
...Carved out of the wooded hills of this beautiful agricultural land extends a lonely dirt road 100 yards wide which runs for 50 to 60 miles along the Hungarian side of the frontier...
...Declining Communist influence among the youth of France was reflected in the constantly rising average age of the membership...
...There were no more than 500,000 on strike out of a total of over 11 million workers in France...
...The present Soviet policy is succeeding...
...This moving away from positions of strength by the United States increases the temptation for certain allies to seek agreement with the USSR and Communist China on the basis of weakness and division--which can only spell appeasement...
...The small progress in breaking down tariff barriers between the European nations, as well as between Europe and the United States, the continued economic restrictions and cartel arrangements, the high profits and luxury production methods of employers--all of which contribute to the narrowing of mass purchasing power, which is the main cause of the low living standards on which the European economy is based...
...This is what "coexistence" means in the Soviet book...
...With resentment against France mounting after the defeat of EDC, the door is being opened to doing business with the Russians (who hold the trump cards on German reunification), to East-West trade, and to the revival of military and nationalist leaders in both zones...
...Thus, the whole edifice of American policy on Germany is tottering...
...And, with this new foreign policy, the Soviets have moved forward with great speed in the past year to create the poisonous atmosphere of "peace and coexistence" in Western Europe...
...On page 5, Reinhold Niebuhr declares that we can gain as much as the Kremlin from "coexistence...
...Watchtowers and barbed wire complete the decor...
...In industrial areas, the commissars are constantly inveighing against the workers, accusing them of sabotage...
...Economic and social progress has been encouraging since the end of the war...
...The French Communists have not only extricated themselves from their formerly isolated position but are now a decisive factor in influencing the course of French foreign policy...
...This was not just another government or another Prime Minister...
...The continuing gap between exports and imports, which is hidden by American dollar aid, procurement of military items and European import restrictions...
...A month ago, I toured for seven hours the Soviet Zone of Austria, covering over 250 miles--right up to the frontier of Communist Hungary...
...There is no life on this road, human or animal, because any living thing that touches down here will be blown to smithereens...
...While Western Europe has been making halting progress, there can be no doubt about the signs of economic failure coming out of Eastern Europe...
...The French veto of EDC may not only postpone indefinitely German sovereignty and rearmament but may lead to a new Locarno Pact on Germany in which the Soviets become the arbiters of the situation, thus pulling the Germans in an eastward direction...
...Even more startling is the report that many Communist members and union officers refused to comply with the strike order...
...The seeming truce, under the deceptive formula of "collective leadership," conceals rather than solves this problem...
...Developments in France have had direct and dire consequences in Germany, and the pro-Western, European policy of the present government has been badly shaken...
...The crisis was not confined to the membership but extended to the lower leadership as well...
...Every inch of the road is mined...
...This is especially true in the agricultural sector, where the annual yield of many essential food items is insufficient to meet the population increases, thus showing a per capita production that is below even the levels of Tsarist times...
...In addition, the possibility of a Franco-German rapprochement has been weakened to the point where it appears that the Atlantic alliance is splitting along a Franco-British versus German-American lineup...
...The unequal and unjust tax system in certain countries, which places an unfair burden on great masses of workers and farmers, plus the cumbersome distributive systems, which contribute to the inefficiency and high price levels of many national economies...
...All of Europe's longing for "peace," all of the people's hopes for a respite from cold and hot wars are being exploited under the cover of this illusory word, which promises the world a formula whereby the lion will lie down with the lamb...
...Let us not forget that this fatal change in French policy was perhaps made inevitable, first, by the kind of settlement we made in Korea and, second, by the failure or unwillingness of America to enter into the defense of Indo-China--as had been done in 1950 in Korea...
...In contrast to these international political weaknesses, the German economy continues to boom, reaching perhaps the highest level of any of the Western European nations involved in the recent war...
...Despite three months of preparation, the expenditure of tremendous funds on propaganda and organization, and the support of the Christian trade unions, the workers did not respond...
...The Atlantic alliance may well be in jeopardy as a result of these recent Soviet political victories: The division of the allies on political and military policy at the Geneva Conference led to the almost inevitable appeasement in Indo-China, which may bring about the eventual loss of Southeast Asia...
...Two views of our allies' controversial new policies Coexistence Is Poison By Irving Brown AFL Representative in Europe I RECENTLY RETURNED from a visit to what I should like to call a land of "coexistence...
...The liquidation of Beria last year brought no final and decisive solution...
...These weaknesses were not confined to the labor field...
...Here was a French government which accepted not only a policy of retreat but, to a large extent, a policy of appeasement of the Soviet bloc...
...At this very moment when the CP is at such a low ebb, the advent of a new government has opened up a new and dangerous period in postwar France...
...Even more tragic, Soviet policy in West Germany gets a new lease on life...
...Germany is practically the only nation on the Continent--barring Switzerland--which is ready for full and free monetary convertibility...
...The June congress of the French CP announced a drop in membership from a peak of 900.000 to about 500.000...
...Germany has a huge surplus credit in the European Payments Union--at the end of June, the rest of Europe owed her over a billion dollars...
...On his last visit to the United States, Sir Winston Churchill proposed new Allied outlook toward the Soviet Union, an outlook which came to be summarized by the word "coexistence...
...This favorable picture of the German economy fits in with a relative degree of economic stabilization throughout Western Europe...
...Export trade as well as production is booming...
...Thus, the Soviet regime still requires time and "peace" to attempt to stabilize and consolidate after the death of Stalin...
...Never were the democracies so disunited and weak as in recent months...
...For only Soviet totalitarianism can play and win successfully with German Nazis and extreme nationalists...
...But that should not blind us to these harsh facts: Continuation of low living standards--in many countries workers' standards are not much better than in prewar years, and in several countries there is still serious unemployment...
...The recent elections in Schleswig-Holstein were a defeat not only for Adenauer but for the entire policy of orienting West German foreign policy toward the West...
...Since the death of Stalin, the Soviet masters themselves openly admit serious economic crises...
...At the June 1954 congress of the French Communist party, the leaders reported that their attempted general strike in April had been a failure and confessed that they were incapable of staging any strike, political or economic, which the non-Communist unions of Force Ouvriere opposed...
...For it was clear that the real Communist objective was to defeat the European Army project and exert pressure on the French Government toward appeasement of the Soviet Union...
...Actually, the membership is probably less than 300.000...
...The struggle for power still rages within the Soviet ruling clique...
...This major Soviet political breakthrough has been due primarily to the weakest link in the Atlantic alliance--France...
...The political strains continue...
...On this page, Irving Brown argues that, in actual operation, "coexistence" has meant serious gains for world Communism...
...Having suffered two major defeats last year--first, the workers' revolt of June 17 in the Soviet Zone and, then, the West Zone elections on September 6--the Communists are now on the road to a possible comeback through the back door of France...
...The further danger is that the British and French may move toward a new "entente cordiale" with the Soviets...
Vol. 37 • October 1954 • No. 40
