Where the News Ends
CHAMBERLIN, WILLIAM HENRY
WHERE the NEWS ENDS By William Henry Chamberlin American-Soviet Communications THERE ARE THREE REASONS why the problem of American-Soviet communications, official and unofficial, has become more...
...Some of the newspaper comment, suggesting the possibility of big political and economic deals, was less responsible...
...But not all American visitors are equipped with sufficient background to make the best use of their opportunities...
...These qualifications enhance the authority and value of his report, which indicates dissatisfaction on the part of individual Russians with whom he had private talks...
...WHERE the NEWS ENDS By William Henry Chamberlin American-Soviet Communications THERE ARE THREE REASONS why the problem of American-Soviet communications, official and unofficial, has become more important...
...Raymond has a thorough command of the Russian language and long experience as a foreign correspondent in the Soviet Union...
...Schuman finds his own country mainly responsible for the cold war...
...How is it possible to give an accurate or even intelligible picture of the development of American- Soviet hostility without even mentioning the Communist philosophy of world revolution—and its logical outgrowth, espionage and subversion in all non-Communist countries...
...The Professor's dullest student might squirm uneasily in his seat to hear him talk of "all the Russian efforts to make common cause with America...
...It would be pleasant if it were possible to report the address of a Soviet history professor at a meeting of the Moscow branch of this organization, attributing most of the blame for the cold war to the Soviet Government...
...Schuman fails to mention that when the chips were down...
...It is a relief to turn from the "da, da" public relations man and the inaccurate professor to bestow a necessarily brief word of hearty praise for Leopold Haimson's admirable analysis of the Soviet intelligentsia in the current issue of Foreign Affairs...
...Second...
...Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pursues the traditional Communist objectives of world subversion and domination by more agile and flexible methods than those which Stalin employed in the last years of his life...
...When he received in response the Russian word for "yes"—"da"—sometimes repeated two or three times, he took this as a proof of great popular enthusiasm...
...Or the ruthless destruction of elementary liberties in countries under Soviet military occupation...
...Here is one visitor to Russia who did not waste his time...
...A carele.ss speculative story coming out of Washington on the Mikovan visit may do little harm in this country, but considerable harm in foreign capitals...
...It is useful to contrast Mansfield's superficial impressions with a report by Ellsworth Raymond in a recent issue of the Reader's Digest...
...Third, more Americans are now able to visit the Soviet Union, and their impressions produce an impact on American public opinion...
...First, there is the rising curve of Soviet scientific achievement, industrial development and military power...
...Much progress...
...System, good...
...Britain and France against the Fascist menace...
...From the standpoint of historical scholarship...
...Stalin joined forces with Hitler to strike one of history's most cynical deals, at the expense of the peoples of Eastern Europe...
...The New Times, English edition of a Soviet propaganda weekly published in several languages, presents in its issue Number 49 a condensation of an address by Professor Frederick L. Schuman at a meeting of the National Council on Soviet-American Friendship...
...Mansfield's investigating technique, judging from his owi breezily written stories which appeared, among other places, in the Christian Science Monitor, was to approach a Russian worker or taxi driver with some such questions as "New apartments...
...Schuman makes a pretty sorry showing...
...A public relations man for the Boeing Airplane Company, Harold Mansfield, using what he admits was "fractured Russian," brought back a picture of all Soviet citizens working like busy bees, animated by a common conviction that their work was for the common good...
...The visit to the United States by Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan was handled sensibly at the top level...
...One fact about Mikoyan's visit is certain...
...There was realistic willingness to hear what Mikoyan had to say without any out-of-place cordiality or any tendency to overplay the significance of his visit...
...Khrushchev and his envoy would like nothing so much as to disrupt or at least weaken the bonds of confidence between the United States and its West European allies...
...Wider opportunities for observing Soviet life, freer opportunities for communication between American and Soviet citizens are to be welcomed...
Vol. 42 • January 1959 • No. 4
