T H E T A B L E T , September 2nd, 1950

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA D E I , PRO REGE ET PATRIA

VOL. 196, N o . 5754

FOUNDED IN 1840

L O N D O N , SEPTEM BER 2nd, 1950

S IXPENCE PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

THE GREAT INADEQUACY The Under-Valuing of the Place o f Religious Faith

FORUM OR AUTHORITY ? The Closing Stages at Strasbourg

THE GERMANS AND THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Strasbourg and Frankfurt: A Contrast THE ENCYCLICAL “HUMANI GENERIS”

Specially Translated by Monsignor R . A . Knox th a t most precious possession o f mankind, the toughest and most resolute fighters against imperialism and Fascism had now formed a military alliance,” and th a t their union had more weight than all the measures o f unification o f the small caucus o f Wall Street-led monopolists with their Schuman Plan and A tlan tic P act.”

MOSCOW AND THE GERMANS O UT o f a flood o f leaflets, speeches and newspaper articles there slowly emerges the pattern on which the Communists o f Eastern Germany are modelling their campaign o f “national resistance against the Anglo-American imperialism .” One aspect o f this campaign consists o f the openly conducted struggle fo r West German opinion, in the course o f which all sections o f the Germ an community, from the destitute refugees in their tem porary encam pments to the well-to-do industrialists o f the Ruhr, receive full a t ten t io n in the fo rm o f both promises and threats. But a t the same time the Communists are concentrating, w ithout even tak ing much trouble to conceal the fact, o n building a strong underground movement in Western Germany to sabotage the Federal Republic’s economy and any attem pts a t building a peace-time defence force, and to constitute a well-trained fifth colum n in the rear o f the Western forces.

To th is la tte r category o f activities there indubitably belongs th e signing o f a solemn Pact between G erm an and French resistance fighters against the Schuman Plan and against “ war and Fascism .” This ceremony, which took place in Weimar, as well as a subsequent Press conference and a “ G erm an-F rench friendship meeting” in the Berlin Friedrichstadt Palast, received much publicity, and millions o f German radio-listeners were to ld th a t F rench and G erm an resistance fighters h ad pledged themselves to work for the Stockholm peace campaign, to oppose West G erm an rearm am ent, and to expose the “ Acheson-Schuman-Adenauer w ar p la n” in its tru e light. One o f the French representatives, M. Leroy, declared th a t “ all antagonism between F rance and Germany would disappear as soon as the whole o f Germany was ruled by a truly peace-loving and democratic Governm ent.” R udo lf Leonhard, speaking fo r the G erm an hosts, answered th a t “ a l though treaties could no t be concluded with the reactionary Governm ent a t present in power in F rance, the nations themselves could conclude pacts o f friendship which p rom oted peace,” and th a t such pacts were more solid and stable than many Governm ent treaties. Another German speaker, Hans Seigewasser, said th a t the vital interests o f bo th the French and the G erm an people would be safeguarded as soon as “ a tru e people’s and labour Governm ent” was in power th roughout Germany and, so th a t the significance o f all this FrancoG erm an Communist handshaking and embracing should be quite clear, F ranz Dahlem declared a t the Berlin rally th a t the national resistance in the Federal Republic would be conducted “ with the fighting methods used by the F rench resistance against the German occupation.” The Communist Taegliche Rundshau, contrasting th is manifestation with the “war speeches in S trasbourg,” and especially with the dem and for a “West Germ an mercenary army, made by th a t old warmonger Churchill,” concluded th a t “ to protect peace,

A t the same tim e th e Eastern Communists are trying to gain the support o f Western non-Communists by emphasizing the great business opportunities which would be open to them once Germany is united and becomes a p a r t o f the Eastern “ camp o f peace.” Western Germ ans are asked to violate the occupational sta tu te and to trad e with the East, and there are, indeed, many West German firms which have excellent business contacts with Eastern Germany and Russia through their branches in the Soviet sector o f Berlin. A short time ago a “ Society for T rade with the E a s t” was established in Hamburg, and it is reported th a t this society is now negotiating a private deal with Eastern Germany fo r the exchange o f goods worth twenty millions o f Western marks. The War o f Propaganda

In the East, G erm an Communists a re boldly open in recruiting and training their arm ed forces. They speak with great pride o f the People’s Police, which they themselves already often call “ the People’s A rm y,” and a t every largescale rally in Eastern Germany Communist spectators can warm their hearts with th e sight o f the marching columns o f the Bereitschaften and th e border o r naval police. However, it is quite a different m a tte r if the problem s o f defence are discussed in the West, either by Chancellor Adenauer and his colleagues o r by the th ree Western High Commissioners. Similar discussions are used as proofs th a t the Federal Republic is being rem ilitarized, and the Communist Press is full o f fantastic reports in tended to show th a t this imperialist and “ anti-Potsdam ” Allied policy was laid down some considerable tim e ago. The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, fo r instance, claims th a t service contracts and call-up notices fo r the West G erm an “mercenary arm y” were printed as far back as January last.

O f all the fantastic stories o f the alleged war preparations o f the Bonn Government and their Western friends, the first prize, as fa r as im agination is concerned, goes indubitably to a b roadcast delivered by H err H erbert Gessner from Berlin, a story which equals those o f the American-spread Colorado beetles o r o f the preparations for the blowing-up o f the Lorelei rock. H err Gessner discussed the implications o f the release o f toy-balloons from the Marshall P lan Exhibition in Bremen, which landed in Eastern Germany. A ttached to these balloons were propaganda-postcards, advertising the exhibition and asking the finders to re tu rn the cards, stating