T H E T A B L E T , October 7th, 1950
THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW
PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGE ET PATRIA
VOL. 196, No. 5759
FOUNDED IN 1840
LONDON, OCTOBER 7th, 1950
SIXPENCE
PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER
THE HIERARCHY CENTENARY CONGRESS
A Narrative o f the Week’s Events
POPE PIUS XII TO THE CATHOLICS OF ENGLAND AND WALES
The Text o f the Holy Father’s Broadcast to the Catholics at Wembley
THE VOICE FROM THE VATICAN
England’s Special Role in the Church
THE SECOND AUTUMN The Centenary Sermon as Preached by Mgr. R. A. Knox THE CATHOLIC LAWYER IN ENGLAND Reactions between Law and Theology. By Richard O ’Sullivan, K.C.
AFTER THE VICTORY T HE great victory which General MacArthur has won for the United Nations has changed the pattern of events in Asia. The Thirty-Eighth Parallel never was in any sense a national frontier, as the Koreans who live in the north and the Koreans who live in the south were, and are, the same people. The demarcation line was originally set up by an agreement between the United States and the Russians, as a purely military line, dividing areas of operation. The Russians were taking Japanese surrenders north o f the Parallel, the Americans south of it. I t was not a political boundary, and it did not constitute, originally, even a definition of zones of occupation. But the Russians tried a t once to change its character : they established a Communist regime and created an army, meanwhile resisting all plans for national unification. The sharpness of the artificial frontier was accentuated when the Communists refused to permit United Nations observers to come into any part of Korea north of the Parallel.
Now, however, other Communist parties will think twice before letting themselves be persuaded to follow the example of the North Koreans. A Lesson for the Asiatics
For these reasons the Russians will certainly try to balance their strategic defeat by a propaganda victory. They are already presenting themselves in the part of peacemakers, and they come forward once more with the claim that the Koreans should be left alone to settle their quarrel between themselves—a claim which undoubtedly has some popular appeal with the Asiatics, and which at the same time admirably coincides with Russian attempts to restore the present military situation in Korea. They will also exploit, as much as possible, the unfavourable effect which the American bombing of North Korean cities, industries and communications has inevitably had on the Asiatic people. But above all, unless they succeed in saving their North Korean allies and keeping them in power, the Russians will do their utmost to wreck the United Nations efforts aiming a t the unification of Korea and a t the restoration of normal conditions in the country.
I t should be remembered that the Korean partition was never recognized by the United Nations General Assembly, and that the United Nations never accepted any validity in the claim of the North Korean Government to national sovereignty. The unification of Korea has always remained the declared aim o f the United Nations, and the British proposal, submitted to the General Assembly a t Flushing Meadow, shows the practical way in which this aim can be achieved.
The crossing of the “ deadly Parallel” might, indeed, involve some risks, but in the light of past experience these risks seem to be much smaller than were originally anticipated. I f the Kremlin resisted the temptation to intervene in the Korean conflict—either directly or by forcing the hand of its Chinese allies—at the time when the United Nations forces were in great difficulties and when the smallest Russian or Chinese intervention might have dealt them a decisive blow, it is not likely that it will be tempted to intervene now, when the Korean armies have practically ceased to exist and when all the fighting would have to be done by the Russians and the Chinese themselves. Mr. Vyshinsky’s proposals, on the other hand, would only allow the North Korean Communists some breathing space to reorganize and replenish their resources, so that sooner or later the conflict would flare up once more.
A t Flushing Meadow, the Russians still maintain a façade of composure, but the fact remains that the resounding defeat of the Korean Communists constitutes a heavy blow to their prestige. Korea is the counterpart to Greece. I f the attack had been crowned with success, similar moves would certainly have followed in other parts of the world.
Thus already now, even before the military operations in Korea are over, the United Nations are facing a new task which will require ju s t as much courage and imagination as did the military task. They will have to restore self-government to the country, and to do it in such a way that all the Asiatics will be able to see the difference between the Western and the Communist interpretations of that term. They will have to rebuild the shattered cities, find homes for the hundreds of thousands of refugees, and prevent their starvation and the spread of epidemics. All their moves will be watched and judged by an Asiatic gallery of millions of Chinese, Indians and Pakistanis, Filipinos, Japanese and Indonesians, and the result of their endeavours may have a direct effect upon the attitude which these millions will adopt in the great contest between East and West. Appraising this task, Mr. Acheson has said that “ now the United Nations can demonstrate to the world how in one place it can bring together all the knowledge and all the power of its members really to create a life for Korea.” Mr. Gaitskell at Torquay
Mr. Hugh Gaitskell, speaking a t Torquay to the delegates attending the large Conference on Tariffs and Tariff reductions, pointed to the undeveloped portions of the earth where huge poverty still reigns, and gave as the two sovereign recipes by which the Asiatic standard o f living can be raised more productivity and more capital investment. The two are very closely linked, and the productivity will be the fruit o f the investment ; and the great test of Asiatic statesmanship
