FIVE MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

...The difference was mainly in the emotional approach, which ranged all the way from undisguised pleasure to resignation to gloom...

...To say that such an expansion of the influence of any great power, especially a totalitarian one, over the European continent, is an American war aim, doesn't make much sense, of course...

...Once, it was now felt, the United Slates adjusts its statesmanship to its military power, the cause of a liberal, democratic Europe is not lost...

...In this respect one has to be extremely cautious...

...The Europeans felt that totalitarianism was after all winning the war...

...Practically overnight the United States has become a military power of the first order, a fact that considerably changes the picture of international politics...

...All that matters now is for American statesmanship to become a match for American military leadership...

...The fact that the liberation of France was achieved by the armies of the West has enormously strengthened American prestige with the European peoples...

...These circles were of course grateful to be liberated from the Nazis, but they were dismayed at the thought that the values they stood for would be endangered by the Society brand of totalitarianism...

...In view of the veil of secrecy under which they are hidden, it is hard to tell...

...Hope returned to those who had almost despaired that there was after all still an alternative to totalitarianism...

...One is to allow the European nations a voice in the decisions concerning the destiny of their continent...

...Now that they approach the heart of Germany the Europeans discover that the forces of democracy are not as dead as they had seemed...

...No Evidence Of A Policy What are the aims of American statesmanship in Europe...

...For the destructive plans for the Balkanization and reduction of Germany to an agricultural state can hardly be cii'.ied a policy conducive to the restoration of a liberal, democratic order in Europe.In fact, one sometimes wonders whether statesmen who concoct such plans remember the basic principle of peacemaking, which is to remove, or at least to lessen, the causes of war and to incorporate the tamed aggressor-nation into a prosperous and peace loving society of nations...

...Nor were those unenthusiastic ones only reactionary capitalists and professional red-baiters...

...Of course, the United States of Europe cannot spring ready-made into life the moment the war is over...

...In most European countries the economic and ideological bottom has been knocked out from under labor unions and middle classes...

...But it is five minutes to midnight...

...The case of the United States of Europe has been.made at greater length frequently in The Progressive...

...As things are developing there is no doubt that Russia intends to expand her influence in Europe as far as possible, partly by outright domination and partly through the medium of regimes friendly to her...

...For, not only has it, so to speak, put democracy back on the map in an entirely unexpected manner and at a moment when totalitarianism, the Russian version, alone seemed to be able to wage successful wars...

...Nor was this opinion held only among Communists and fellow-travelers...

...It would also seem that Hungary, Greece, and Czechoslovakia are also Soviet inclined...

...And as Germany goes, so goes Europe...

...Still, it was most of all the European peoples themselves who began to put all their political eggs into the Russian basket—not because they specially liked that basket but because there seemed to be no other basket handy...

...On the contrary, the ones most' apprehensive about Russian domination were the very forces which alone could eventually guarantee a Christian liberal bourgeois civilization in Europe—namely the churches, the surviving trade unionists and majority-socialists, and the thin remains of the bourgeoisie...

...Such a step would renew the confidence of Europe in democratic ways — a confidence somewhat shaken by the manner in which European conferences were held in which the European continent was not even represented...

...What added to their dismay was the impression that the Anglo-Saxon powers gave Russia permission virtually to help herself to as much as she wanted of the European continent...

...Had he lived to see World War II, he might have modified his statement...

...There are ways and means of asserting America's interest in a liberal civilization in Europe here and now...

...There is every reason that the United States should assert its interest in no uncertain terms now when by its sacrifices, ingenuity, and leadership this country has emerged as the most powerful nation in the world —the one nation which needs no help from anyone, the one nation which wants nothing out of this war for itself...

...America's Distinction Thus Russia sits at the Adriatic and at the Mediterranean...

...Now...

...From what transpires about plans and intentions, as this is being written, there is little evidence that there is a policy at all...

...The United States of Europe is the answer to many questions...

...The Russians, these people argue, already dominate Eastern Europe, and once they lay their hands on a large chunk of Germany the rest of Germany follows automatically...

...Russia, in a series of swift, bold military and political moves has brought Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria under her domination as well as the Baltic states and Finland...

...A Different View It was during this period that many people thought that the Russians were winning the war more or less single-handedly and that, according to the true relation of power and merit to dominion, it was only fair that theirs should be the decisive voice as to the future organization of...

...For instance, there was a time, not so long ago, when the Russian armies alone were racing the Germans all the way back to their frontiers at a pace of 30 miles per day while all the American armies seemed able to do was to hang on heroically to a dismal beachhead...

...In the second place, America should back those groups in the various European countries which give the best guarantee of a livable western civilization...

...By and large the Europeans felt that the American contribution to the liberation of their continent would be of a minor order—mostly machinery with maybe a bit of diversionary second front—while the Russian armies fought the decisive battles...

...There are well informed people who fear that it's too late to translate the great American military achievements into political power...

...But it would be a worth-while task of American statesmanship to lead the way to it...

...For World War II has produced a miracle...

...What complicates the discussion of these interesting developments is the fact that any suggestion to the effect that possibly our interests in Europe may not be identical with Russia's interests is falsely interpreted by overzealous friends of Russia as an attempt to drive a wedge between our Russian ally and ourselves...

...This miracle is the tremendous productive capacity of America which, coupled with military skill and leadership, has achieved the great victories in Western Europe...

...To be sure, German totalitarianism was on the way out, but what with Soviet Russia evidently emerging as the only power of military consequence, it was still distinctly the victory of totalitarianism and not of democracy—or at least this was the way most Europeans saw it, whether they liked it or not...

...At the risk of being frowned upon by Communists and fellow-travelers, it may be said that there were many Europeans who didn't like it at all...

...History still leaves a large margin for American statesmanship to match its military successes and help to create the sort of Europe with which we can live in peace...

...This sounds discouragingly logical...

...Thus, while it may be gratifying to destroy Germany the way Carthage was destroyed, such a Germany, festering as a sore in the very heart of Europe, would never allow this unfortunate continent to revive again...

...There are a few facts all too easily forgotten...

...Also, from the way things are shaping up in the rest of Europe, there is no evidence of clear-cut American policy...

...the great American victories have changed all this...

...The traditional democratic forces may, for the present, be too weak to carry a revolution alone...

...Only history is not logical at all...

...This impression, which resulted chiefly from the secrecy which surrounded the various diplomatic conferences, strengthened the belief that what with the American armies getting nowhere quickly, the democracies had not the power to make their influence felt, and that totalitarianism, the Russian version, had evidently won the day...

...No, the safest guarantee of a liberal order in the transition period is to combine popular support with that of the so-called conservative groups such as the churches, the old trade unions, and even the military purged of its Fascist and Nazi elements...

...They can only be the result of long and patient work...

...Even the planned partition of Germany, which, in a Europe as it exists today would only disastrously contribute to the atomization of all forces, could be coped with in the framework of a federalized Europe...

...By the very act of going to war against the Nazis, the United States has its ideological, economic, and political interest in the survival.of a liberal, democratic, bourgeois civilization in Europe...

...Europe...

...Therefore, any revolution started in present-day Europe may wind up as a Communist revolution—evidence of which we may soon see in Italy...

...Finally, we should assert our interest in a liberal, democratic Europe by proposing the creation of a United States of Europe...

...Moreover, a federalized Europe corresponds to the economic necessities of our era and to the growing Europe-consciousness of its peoples...

...Realists" of all political shades and loyalties reasoned along these lines...

...This interest was restated at various occasions in various ways during the war...

...It has also assured to this country the right to have the most important voice in the forthcoming international decisions...