The Soviets refuse to deceive the peoples’

cr MARK FRANK
* Tribune Correspondent
COW—Why did Nikita
sthey turn down the
ti ~Macmillan proposal
W nuclear tests in the
“Phere?

“statement appearing in

ti “Sept. 10 the Soviet
7" Sets out his reasons
Y point.

TESTING
. are offered” says
ey “that the USA,

Ai, i let alone France which
1 2 altogether outside this
4 Should retain the op-
a of going on improv-
4 nuclear weapons, but
‘his is not enough for
vite want to try and
ether it. is possible or
” tie the hands of the
hte nion even more firm-
ising its defense poten-
Other words they want
two birds with one
ce stone; to sanctify
. Soviet Union’s consent
ere preparations in the
of nuclear armaments
Same time tripping up
Partner in the negotia-
» the Soviet Union.
ica it is common
8e that the program of
bing new types of nu-
Weapons which has been
Up in the USA now re-
Precisely underground
“iat is the kind of experi-
4 to which the U.S.-Brit-
% posal is to give the
"light. For several years
8. has striven at the
& negotiations of the
iuclear powers to legal-
Merground nuclear tests,
has been one of the
} %bstacles to the conclu-
™, a treaty on the com-
4, “SSation of nuclear tests.
er all, it is an open
petet the United States
}, 8 Since planned under-
»; OUclear tests and ap-
hy ‘te pits and huge under-
,/ Zalleries in the state of
@ are kept in readiness

Shchey also noted that
S. didn’t wait for the
union to reply to the
S.-British call for an
atmospheric tests. The
€r the call was issued
: » 5 Kennedy issued in-
Ns to resume nuclear
: derground.”
ooent on cessation of
Nd of test only, con-
Khurshchev, that is in
Mosphere “would be a
“© to the

Aft

cause of

vould mean deceiving
“Oples. Such agreement
€ate harmful and dan-
: illusions among the
) ,°8 if steps were being

arms race while in fact a:
ing of the kind would have
been done. In fact the States
would continue in a sort of
legalized way, to improve ex-
isting types of atomic and
hydrogen weapons, using for
this purpose underground tests
including. those for so-called
peaceful purposes and tests in
outer space. Besides the pos-
sibility would be preserved to
design new, still more destruc-
tive types of nuclear weapons
on the basis of the data obtain-
ed as a result of these experi-
ments ..

Thus the nuclear arms race
would continue and its dan-
gerous consequences would in
no way be less than they are
now. The conclusion of an
agreement starting a kind of
race in underground nuclear
tests, and if you wish in outer
space, or underwater could be
assessed by the peoples, and
with good reason. As a dis-
honest deal. Of course, the
Soviet government cannot and
will not strike such a -deal.
Such an arrangement is wani-
ed by those who build their
policy on deceit of the peoples,
on playing at talks.

ROLE OF FRANCE

While the U.S. and Britain
were stalling at the Geneva
talks, their partner in a mili-
tary bloc, France became a nu-
clear power. The French gov-
ernment staged a series of nu-
clear explosions and clearly
intimated that it would not re-
gard itself bound by any com-
mitments with regard to the
cessation of nuclear tests.

“The Soviet government has
pointed out more than once
that a false situation for the
Geneva talks was created in
connection with the French nu-
clear tests. The Soviet Union
warned that it would be com-
pelled to resume tests if
France did not stop her test ex-
plosions. However, it became
clear there was a certain dis-
tribution of roles between the
NATO allies. The U.S. and
Britain held talks with the
USSR on the cessation of tests
thus retarding the improve-
ment of Soviet nuclear weap-
ons while France exploded one
nuclear device after another.

“Tf there still were gullible
people who might believe the
assurance that France was
staging nuclear tests by herself
and not working hand-in-glove
with the U.S. in this respect
in the interests of the entire
NATO bloc, the agreement just
approved by the US. Presi-
dent on co-operation between
the U.S. and France in using
atomic energy for military pur-
poses disposed of any illusions
on this score. ee

_'© put an end to the

“It is clear that the results of

The Vancouver Province

‘READY TO USE ATOM

“APONS: a

"$0 THIS, pss THE QUEEN

Ice the U.S. acquired nuclear weapons they have
“ly threatened to use them to force U.S. policies on
‘ “Ountries. The above front page headline of the Van-
ovince of Jan. 7, 1954 shows one of the many
3 Heats made by the U.S.

~~ EISENHOWER}

FRENCH TE

SITTING

nuclear tests held by any

NATO power go into the com-|

mon imperialist’s NATO pool.
“Now too Kennedy and Mac-
millan’s statement refers only
to three nuclear powers USSR,
U.S. and U.K. and what about
France? The sponsors of the
statement proceed from the as-
sumption that France will con-
tinue nuclear tests as hitherto.
Don’t they ask too much of the
Soviet Union expecting that it
would tolerate such an im-
permissible situation?”

DANGER OF AGGRESSION

The bellicose replies — and
arms build up to the proposal
to sit down and negotiate a
peace treaty with Germany ac-
companied by blunt threats of
invasion led the Soviet Union
to take measures in its de-
fense, said Khrushchev.

“The Soviet Union has- re-
sumed nuclear weapon tests
because it would border on
thoughtlessness in the present
situation to disregard the pos-
sibility of aggression against it.
Deciding to resume tests the
Soviet government, of course,
was aware that at first some
people might not be able to as-
sess the entire complexity of
the international situation and
would display a certain lack
of understanding at this step
taken by the Soviet Union. We
realized in advance that some
people in the west would not
disdain to exploit this in order
to try to earn propaganda capi-
tal. Nevertheless the Soviet
Union could not act otherwise.

-Weighing all the pros and cons, |

the Soviet Union with an ach-
ing heart had to resume test
explosions . . . The aggressor
must know that there is a
dependable force capable of de-
fending peaceful labor, free-
dom and independence of the
peoples.”

“It goes without saying that
these are undesirable . pheno-
mena. ‘The Soviet. Union is
taking all measures to reduce
to a minimum the harmful ef-
fects of tests on living organ-
isms. However, it is legitimate
to -pose the question ‘why
neither the U.S. government
nor British once complained
over the contamination of the

atmosphere when for a number

of years the roar of explosions
of atom and hydrogen bombs
continued. far from the vital
centres of those states: on
Bikini, Eniwetok and Christ-
mas Islands when a tremendous

PRETTY

amount of radioactive fallout
poisoned not only the earth’s
atmosphere but also the waters
of the Pacific and passed
through products of the sea
into the bones and blood of in-
nocent people?”

“Why did the governments]. ,

of the U.S. and Britain find no
word to condemn the action$
of the French government
which for almost two years
has ‘been contaminating
earth’s atmosphere staging nu-
clear tests in the Sahara? . .
The present policy of the

NATO powers creates a situa-|

tion when we must fear not
radioactive fallout -but lest
nuclear weapons with all their
deadly and destructive force
are dropped on the heads of
the people.

“If we put on the scales the
harm of nuclear tests for the
people’s health and the conse-
quences of the combat applica-
tion of nuclear weapons, every-
one will see the alternative
facing mankind today and how
hypocritical the statements of

the Western powers concerning

nuclear tests are.

No, the Soviet Union can-
not permit risking the lives of
millions upon millions of
people. The Soviet government
would not have discharged its
duties if it did not show proper
concern for the security of the
Soviet people.

“And if it is now confronted
with the grim necessity of re-
suming tests of nuclear weap-
ons, this is being done only
to safeguard our people and
indeed all-mankind from ex-
periencing on themselves as
was the case with the Japanese
cities of Hiroshima and Naga-
saki, live explosions of these

the

weapons.

“The Soviet Union is trying
to prevent people from be~
coming victims of atomic, hy-
drogen or neutron bombs
which «are spoken oi increas-
ingly frequently in the West
. It is common knowledge
that the Soviet Union has held.
several times fewer nuclear
tests than the U.S., Britain and.
France and yet we have every
reason — both from the stand-
point of morality and from

-|that of our national interests

— to hold as many tests as the
Western Powers.

KEY — DISARMAMENT

“ce

. Nuclear tests can now
be ended everywhere and for-
ever only on the basis of gen-
eral and complete disarma-
ment. Once this problem is
settled no one would have the
temptation to test nuclear wea-
pons-on iand, underground, in
the atmosphere, in outer space
and indeed there would be
nothing to test as the weapons,
and above all nuclear rocket
weapons, would have been sent
to the scrapheap. Life itself has
linked these two questions into
one indivisible whole.”

Khrushchev concluded his
statement with another call for
“setting down together to set-
tle the main problem of our
time. — general and complete
disarmament. Let us seek ser-
iously, in good faith a solu-
tion to the question of the Ger-
man peace treaty in order to
arrest in time the sliding of
states into the chasm of nuclear
rocket war. Then everything
will fall into its proper place;
there will then neither be nu-
clear tests nor the threat of
nuclear war itself.”

force in West Europe.

every 2,000 men.

West Germany’s generals
becoming more impatient

West Germany has at its disposal the biggest military

This new Germany army has a fantastically high propor-
tion of officers—one to every 11 men, and a general to

A huge expansion would be possible in almost no time
with such an officer cadre. The Bonn territorial army is }
like the "Black Reichswehr,” which Hitler used io expand
the 100,000-strong Reichswehr into a Wehrmachi of millions.

There are also now well over 200 NATO posts filled by
West German Officers, among them 13 ex-nazi generals.
But without atomic weapons under their control they can-
not reach the absolute command of the Western. bloc. This
is now the prime demand of Bonn and its generals.

September 22, 1961—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7

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