THE TABLET, October 17th, 1953 Voi. 202, No. 5917

THE TABLET

Published as a Newspaper

A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW

Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria

FOUNDED IN 1840

OCTOBER 17th, 1953

N IN EPENCE

P ersecu t io n in Poland : 1 : The Elimination of Christian Influence in Education Austrian Port, Ita lia n C i t y : Impressions of Trieste. By Bernard Wall Labour and th e Grammar S chools : Socialist Education. By Christopher Hollis, M.P. B e fo re and A fter D a rw in : The Story of Evolutionary Theory : II. By E. F. Caldin A N e g le c te d Heritage: Recusant Archives in the Low Countries. By AlphonsusBonnar, O.F.M.

W asteland M iss io n : A Fresh Start in the Eastern Pyrenees. By Rotsart de Hertaing, S.J. Books R e v iew ed : A History o f Philosophy (Volume III : Ockham to Suarez), by Frederick

Copleston, S.J. ; Flying Saucers have Landed, by Desmond Leslie and George Adamski ; The Family, A Report of the British National Conference on Social Work ; The White Monks, by Louis J. Lekai, O.Cist. ; Liberation in South America, 1806-1827 by R. A. Humphreys ; Crown fo r a Prisoner, by Jane Oliver ; and On Being a Bird, by Philip Wills. Reviewed by E. I. Watkin, Roland Hill, L. Fairfield, Bruno S. James, Edward Sarmiento, Noel Macdonald Wilby and Christopher Derrick. Correspondence from Norman Baird, J. M. C. Toynbee, Richard M. Brackett, S.J., M. L. Dempsey, Sister

M. Ansgar, O.P., J. J. Dwyer, G. Houghton-Brown, C. P. Peach, Sir Rupert Hay, R. H. Hodson and J. P. Taylor.

elections, th a t Britain and America will consider Trieste as Ita lian . Probably such a reaffirm ation was thought needless last June. But now something more th an words has been thought necessary, even though it was always clear th a t a gesture th a t really pleased the Italians would proportionately anger Tito, both for its substance and as humiliating him before his own public, to whom he naturally presented his visit to L ondon as a p ro o f o f the consideration in which the British held him.

EUROPEAN TRIESTE T HE Russian protest over Trieste, grounded in Russia’s position as a signatory o f the Peace Treaty with Italy, serves to underline how far the world has travelled since th a t trea ty was drawn up in 1946. F rom the beginning the difficulties were such th a t no nam e acceptable to all the Powers concerned could ever be pu t forw ard as Governor o f th e in te rnationalized territory. As with Germany, lines o f dem arcation drawn by soldiers fo r reasons o f immediate military expediency have now lasted for eight years, and w ith the passage o f tim e have pu t new geographical units on the map. The distinction between Zone A and Zone B is quite artificial ; b u t it looks as though the Allied calculation in withdraw ing from Zone A in favour o f the Italians was th a t Ttaly could take Zone A and Yugoslavia keep Zone B, a solution which would please neither country bu t would give Italy th e city o f Trieste and leave T ito in possession o f the part o f the in te rnational zone which he has, in fact, held all through.

The American Ambassador in Rome is widely credited with the sudden decision to withdraw, though it is a decision parallel to th a t which British Governments to ok in In d ia and Palestine, as a way o f throw ing responsibility firmly on to local shoulders. The Italian election results were disappointing, and one reason which could be and was advanced in explanation was the Ita lian s’ m istrust whether they would no t be abandoned over Trieste for the new-found and much advertised friendship with T ito , feted here by the Government as no Ita lian President has been.

I t was noted, inevitably, in Italy th a t the Italian elections were held w ithout any em phatic reaffirmation o f the promise, so carefully tim ed and emphatically worded for th e 1948

T ito is now in the very difficult position, th a t his own people will expect him to stand up boldly to Italian demands, while the Italians have the West behind them in this question —hence the speed with which the Russians have stepped in to show the Yugoslav public th a t they are on their side. I t is obviously in T ito ’s interest to keep the West guessing, to indicate the possibility th a t he might return to his first love. But it is extremely unlikely th a t the Kremlin will ever forgive him, both for the bad example o f independence he has set to o ther satellites, and fo r going so fa r in establishing relations with the West. There are many Communists who are also patrio ts in the satellite Governments, who have played with the idea o f taking up an independent attitu de whom it is very im portant fo r the Kremlin chiefs to discourage, as they know how to discourage with ropes and nooses.

F o r our p a r t we cannot b u t regret the failure o f Western statesm anship to link Trieste and its fu tu re to those European institutions which are slowly tak ing shape, and to which the Italian s have given so much support. The p o r t o f Trieste ought to be a European district, like the Saar, passing by n a tu ra l transition from in te rnational to European status. The Italians who in these last weeks have been hosts in Rome