T E E TA B L E T , May 3 0tk, 1 * 0 0

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA D E I , PRO REGE ET PATRIA

VOL. 195, N o . 5739

FOUNDED IN 1840

L O N D O N , MAY 20th, 1950

S IX PENCE

PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

INTO EUROPE Why Britain must Welcome M . Schuman’s Initiative

BRIDGES OVER THE RHINE The Historical Setting o f the Proposal. By Godfrey Scheele

CLOSING THE CZECH MONASTERIES New Thomas Cromwells at Work. By Jan Stransky TELEPATHY AND THE SAINTS GABRIEL MARCEL

By René Haynes

By Robert Markus

THE CENTENARY OF THE RESTORATION OF THE HIERARCHY

A Summary o f the Arrangements for its Celebration

COUNCIL OF COLD WAR S PEAKING to the Pilgrims, Mr. Acheson explained the tasks of the London meetings : “Our purpose is peace, not war. And what folly it is to existing machinery for the carrying out o f these policies, are tasks too big to be achieved by a single gathering and in the course o f a fortnight ; but a t least they have been thoroughly studied‘and defined, and it is hoped that the first practical results o f the meetings will soon be apparent. Reaching the Russians believe that the prospects o f peace can be enhanced by the vigorous strengthening of Europe and, indeed, o f the Western community o f which it is a part.” The task o f saving the peace by making the Western community strong enough to deter the potential aggressor was the keynote o f last week’s talks o f the three Foreign Ministers and o f this week’s conference of the twelve Ministers o f the Atlantic Treaty Powers. The Atlantic community itself is a new geographic and political unit ; it comprises more than 420,000,000 people, it includes nations which are members of the Atlantic Pact or the Marshall Plan, or both, and it unites countries which have much in common—the highest standard o f living in the world, for instance, or a common cultural heritage—but which have been, throughout their long history, fighting each other in cruel wars and in trade competition and are still divided by many traditional rivalries and resentments. Today they have been brought together by their common fear o f Russian expansion. Yet they still have to be welded into a proper community, and to achieve this, or, rather, to prepare the way for such a development, the twelve Atlantic Foreign Ministers have been reviewing a world-wide range o f problems.

The wish o f the American State Department that the Atlantic Treaty Powers’ conference should be closely followed by an Anglo-American conference on anti-Communist propaganda is another proof that Mr. Acheson’s “ total diplomacy” expresses a reality. Ambassador Jessup has already reached a basis for a co-ordinated counter-propaganda policy with the British representatives in London, and it is hoped that a t a later stage the other North Atlantic treaty countries will join this centrally planned “ truth campaign,” advocated by President Truman.

Mr. Barrett, who is in charge of the State Department’s public relations, is visiting London for a series o f talks with British officials. I t is expected that he will propose the establishing o f a public relations committee to distribute from London information about the activities o f the North Atlantic Treaty nations, and that he will outline his plan to co-ordinate the various information policies o f the Western countries. He hopes to bring to this programme the experience o f the British, who achieved such notable successes in their broadcasts and in their general propaganda for the Germanoccupied countries during the war.

Dominant among these problems was the building up of the Atlantic defences. In Europe, Western strategy has to achieve two objectives : the rehabilitation o f the European economy and the strengthening o f the European defences. The first objective has been very nearly achieved. The second must be achieved as soon as possible, without, however, destroying Europe’s economic balance. That is why the problem of reconciling outlay on defence with economic recovery formed such an important part o f the discussions. The Russians, who stand behind a line, two thousand miles long, stretching from Norway to Italy, represent, together with their satellites, a military strength o f about 3,700,000 men, a strength which, should war come, could be increased by many more millions. As long as the United States possessed the monopoly o f the atomic bomb, Europeans were able to believe that this monopoly was a sufficient deterrent to the men in the Kremlin. They do so no longer.

To build adequate defences in Europe, and to contain Communism in Asia, requires a great deal o f money. It was, therefore, necessary to state just how much would be needed and how much each o f the participants would contribute. To review all past defence planning, to co-ordinate policies among the member countries, and, finally, to extend the

The aim o f this new propaganda campaign is not confined to the piercing o f the Iron Curtain which divides free Europe from her Communist-dominated part, but is intended to penetrate increasingly into the Soviet Union itself. The Americans have good reason to believe that both the “Voice o f America” broadcasts and those o f the B.B.C. are reaching the Russian masses, despite the vast Russian efforts a t jamming and despite the danger which every listener incurs. There are some 4,000,000 radio sets in private hands in Russia, 3,500,000 o f them capable o f receiving on a short wave. By simultaneous broadcasts o f about a hundred transmitters, established in different parts of the world, the Americans hope to reach a great number of Soviet citizens and to correct the distorted picture o f Western policy and the Western way of life which the Communist leaders are impressing upon the Russian masses.

The great possibilities o f this propaganda do not lie in any capacities o f the peoples o f the Soviet Union to change their Government. There is very little tradition of any such change, except as a consequence o f unsuccessful war. But it will make the men in the Kremlin exceedingly cautious about