Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR 'FAMINE-MAKERS' Many thanks for publishing the superb 10 pages on China by Valentin Chu ("The Famine-Makers," NL, June 11). Nothing as clarifying (and as devastating) as this...
...That, at least, has happened in the aftermath of an American-Polish conference held in Poland in early May...
...The "nuclear fallacy" is the belief that if the magnitude of the danger of nuclear destruction is understood, it can lead to peace...
...It didn't need this book or the review (through the book is probably better than the review makes it out to be) to point it out...
...Little Neck, N.Y...
...A series of such demonstrations throughout the free world might force Tito to release Djilas—possibly under an agreement to leave Yugoslavia...
...This statement was altered in some Polish press accounts by dropping the word "territorial," thus appearing to apply it generally to the present political situation in central Europe—something which the speaker neither intended nor favors...
...But the "fallacy" was exploded a long time ago...
...Have those of us who love liberty grown so indifferent to the fate of a martyr for freedom of thought as to let him rot in Tito's prison...
...Socrates operated under the mad idea that right knowledge produces right action...
...Everyone knows that faith not proved by logic is a "fallacy," so Marseille has us over a barrel on that one...
...Both sides also agreed that PolishAmerican cultural exchange should be expanded...
...Some nationalist West German newspapers have attacked the American participants, presumably relying in part on the Polish press accounts...
...Nothing as clarifying (and as devastating) as this has come to our attention...
...As for politics, the Poles strongly emphasized their view of the German danger, while the Americans pointed out what they considered to be the threat to peace generated by the Soviet-provoked crisis over Berlin and the resumption of nuclear tests by the Soviet Union...
...For three days they were closeted in joint sessions in an extremely attractive palace near Warsaw...
...Perhaps this is the price which must be paid for the first steps taken in the direction of more normal relationships...
...both sides agreed that expansion of Polish-American trade and the continuation of American credits to Poland were desirable...
...Afterwards, the American group traveled to the port of Szczecin and through the ancient medieval city of Krakow...
...The initial PolishAmerican confrontation was bound to produce some misconceptions, perhaps in the way of "a dialectical" step towards greater understanding...
...Neither of them mentioned that, in the course of its discussions with the Poles, the entire American delegation vigorously defended the right of West Berlin to its freedom and condemned the East German regime...
...They covered many issues, but the greatest heat was generated, as was to be expected, by international affairs...
...In Szczecin the other undersigned (Brzeziniki) stated "that the overwhelming majority of Western public opinion neither anticipates nor desires any change in the territorial status quo in Europe...
...Discussions with the Poles were both frank and direct...
...Washington, D. C. Sidney Koretz...
...they fixed him, all right...
...Despite all this, we feel that the meeting was extremely valuable in clarifying some mutual misunderstandings, and it is to be hoped that others will follow...
...The talks ended with an innocuous communique...
...I learned nothing from Marseille's review except that Teller is a sweet guy in spite of what everyone says about him, and that he is not misled by the "nuclear fallacy...
...A Milovan Djilas Day and protest demonstration would put us where we belong, in the vanguard of the battle against all forms of tyranny, whether from the Right or the Left...
...Isn't it time similar protests were organized for Milovan Djilas...
...Shortly after the conclusion of the conference, some of the Polish participants published articles concerning the meeting which, in our view, did not reflect the American position there with complete accuracy...
...Edward Teller's The Legacy of Hiroshima ("Exploding the Nuclear Fallacy," NL, May 28) reminds me that Prince Metternich used to say: "I tell myself twenty times a day how right I am and how wrong all the others are...
...Most of us have not quite known what to make of the frightening mystery of Red China...
...Certainly, with the many prominent figures and worldwide contacts you have, it should be possible to start the ball rolling...
...Now we can begin to know...
...David H. Galerstein NUCLEAR FALLACY Walter W. Marseille's review of Dr...
...We are happy that the article is to be issued as a separate pamphlet...
...Harry and Bonaro OVERSTREET POLISH-AMERICAN DIALOGUE It is characteristic of the profound ideological conflicts and crosscurrents of national interests which divide our world that even efforts to achieve mutual understanding often result in new misunderstandings...
...Another Polish participant, writing in Przeglad Kulturalny, implied that the Polish anti-German arguments found a receptive audience in the American delegation...
...The meeting brought together 20 leading American and Polish intellectuals, journalists, and specialists in international affairs...
...There were few if any differences on economic matters...
...And if Djilas is permitted access to news, he can at least know that the world has not forgotten him...
...Surely we have little to fear from them...
...It would seem appropriate for The New Leader to take the lead in this matter, given Djilas' relationship to the magazine...
...Thus, in an article in Polityka one of the Polish participants seemed to suggest that the American delegation endorsed the existing political status quo in Eastern Europe...
...Critics of liberals have pointed out that one reason for the success of the radical Right in recent years is that we have been negligent in taking the lead in the fight against Communism...
...Furthermore, the Americans indicated their concern over the Soviet revival, most notably in their memorandum to Bonn of last December, of the Rapallo theme—a line of Moscow policy which could well be in the future, as it has been in the past, inimical to Polish as well as American interests...
...New York City Zbigniew Brzezinski William E. Griffith DJILAS When Mooney, Billings, Sacco and Vanzetti were jailed for crimes they did not commit, groups and individuals interested in freedom, fair play and justice organized worldwide demonstrations in an endeavor to secure their freedom...
...Throughout their stay, the American delegation was treated with friendship and warm hospitality...
...Falls Church, Va...
...We think it most important for all people interested in the cause of free communications among peoples to do what they can to further, rather than to hinder, such contacts...
...As one of the undersigned (Griffith) remarked, the United States can hardly be expected to recognize the band of Quislings in Pankow...
Vol. 45 • July 1962 • No. 14
