By IVOR MONTAGUE

H STANDS for H-bomb. Also
for hypocrisy.

When the earth has been blown
up, and mankind exterminated,
the angels in heaven will decide
which was more. dangerous. No-
body will be left here to judge.

Poison gas is forbidden in war.
. Unfortunately, not in newspapers

or parliament.

. A number of poison gasbags
in editorial chairs and other seats
of the mighty are already busy
telling us that the West” has
Put forward marvellous new pro-
Posals for banning the H-bomb
turned down as usual by the
Soviet Union.

This is bunk.

The position ofthe so-called

estern Powers remains exactly
What it has always been: keep
™ being the threat to mass-
Murder millions, pinpoint all the
Sensitive and vulnerable points of
every other country, and mean-
While enter into no binding en-
Fagement to ban the bomb.
tr The Position of the Soviet
“Mon is still clear: stop the
bomb,

Is this to say that the month-
long discusSsions of the’ sub-com-
Mittee of the United Nations Dis-
‘mmMament Commission, which
€nded two weeks ago in London,
Were a waste of time? By no
Nieans.

Negotiations are always worth-
While. They subject positions to
the searchlight of public opinion.

€y make matters clearer —
Provided we bother to look.

4€re is a touchstone: the Soviet

tion proposes that, while the
Control system is
While arms reductions is progress-
ng, while stocks are being de-
Stfoyed, as “an ‘important first
Step”:

“The States concerned should
sume a solemn and uncondition-
aj Obligation not to employ
atomic, hydrogen or other weap-
ns of mass destruction.”

The’ British and French dele-
hee supported by the United
states and: Canada, put forward
th Neat timetable for postponing

€ start of the “prohibition and

“mination of nuclear weapons”
"ntil after completion of the re-
Uction of every other kind of
"mament under the supervision

@ new control organ.

a

functioning,:

That makes. it possible for the
U.S. or any of its stooges to
postpone any stage indefinitely
by declaring dissatisfaction with
its alleged degree of completion.

Meanwhile, nuclear weapons
are to be prohibited in the British
plan, “except in defense against
aggression.”
ee ay of light unserene! O
aueer sort of. British delegate,
whose idea of “defense” of his
island. consists in preservation
cf a weapon which makes prob-
able the extermination of every
man, woman and child living on
it!
at not in so many words, then
in plain common sense, the ex-
ception means “except whenever

we like.”

These gentry hope people ‘will
“have forgotten:

That the U.S. (delegates,

backed by the British, have
resisted every effort at the UN
to definie aggression.

U.S. spokesmen have given

as their reason for this that
they “do not wish to have their
hands tied,” and “we will find it
easy enough to recognize aggres-
sion whenever it occurs.”

That in U.S. diplomatic eyes

aggression can be anything
from what Syngman Rhee. or
Dulles says it ‘is, without any
need for supporting evidence, to
nationalization of a fraction of
United Fruit property in Guate-
mala.

In the course of the sub-com-
mittee proceedings the Soviet

Union put forward two new draft
resolutions, a new draft proposal,
and a full explanatory memoran-
dum (on the new Eisenhower
“atom bank” idea) with every
word of which everv man and
woman of sense and honesty is
bound to agree.

The U.S. submitted a long paper
on “enforcement,” that turns out
to be a blueprint for putting the
country at the complete mercy of
safety and economy of every
the U.S. ; ae Sa

Not content with its immense
majority on the Security Council,
it advances a three-tier system

crisy

for ensuring that its views shail
prevail.

There is to be an “Authority”
and a “Board.” On each of these
the Soviet Union may be repre- .
sented—a total minority of one.
Ibe others are the U.S., France, —
Canada and Britain, and they may
pack them “as they wish with
additional members.

The right to demand reports
and investigations from ~ the
Authority is restricted te any
seven members of the Security
Council (a number which ‘has
hever yet been forthcoming for
any Soviet proposal).

And the Board is to govern
the entire civil operation of
atomic energy. It must have
“sufficient discretion” not to be
hindered by the Security Council,
and thé only ‘check on its ab
solute dictatorship over the econ-
omy of all nations is that it
“should interfere as little as nec-
essary.”

Why do the “Western” dele
gates fear an interim renwuncia-
tion of the horror bombs. as the
devil holy water?

They say: “Because we cannot
trust the Russians.” Ridiculous!

The two. Sides did not trust
each other in the last war, but
they observed the renunciation of
gas warfare:

An international renunciation
acts as an additional effective
hindrance by mobilizing public
opinion against violation.

Only would-be violators can ob-
ject. :

report®

The  sub-committe’s
clearly joins the issue.
Either, renunciation of the

bomb as part of the institution of
a control system. to bind the
would-be violators, thereby creat-
ing the confidence necessary for,
agreement on practical control.

Or, insincere -paper schemes -
without renunciation: arid sanec-
tion of the bomb for’ whatever
one side calls “defense.”

When the full Disarmament
Commission meets to receive this
report, let the world be roused
to blow aside the H for Hypocrisy
and dispel the H-bomb danger
for ever.

Getting a driving license in Moscow

By RALPH PARKER

RECENTLY 1 decided to apply
or _a:driving-license. Now, I
€-driven a car on a British
On an International driving
Se for many years. But I
dry Never possessed the right to
ee a car in the streets of Mos-

hay,
and
licen

ad

T should explain that there are
R Hioale types of driving license
re ne USSR — amateur and pro-
enone The tests for profes-
ohn driving are exacting and
date wy be taken after the candi-
exp has attended courses; he is
ita to be able to carry out
deal. repairs and to know a good
tha ,2bout what goes on under

net of his truck or car.
ateur drivers are also expect-
ae know the principles of the
fp Abe combustion engine but
the ...~ the theoretical side of

Sig is no ordeal.
obigt® first thing I was told to

™M “Was a medical certificate.

F

the that I had to pass through

thro ands of five doctors—a nose,

ed a and ear specialist who test-

test Y hearing; a neurologist who
Y herves; a therapist who

CXan:
too ned my chest and heart and

My blood count—and, inci-

dentally, digressed from, her main
purpose to give me some sound
advice om diet; a surgeon who
shook his head over'the traces of

‘a ligament torn twenty-five years

ago in a football game; and, final-
ina eve specialist, who turned
out to be the most exacting. '
Finally I was able to present
myself for my exam before Be
Qualifications Commission of the
State Automobile Inspectorate of
the Moscow Militia (commonly
as CAI).
aa ae examiners had before
them a large? board marked a
with a typical Moscow crossroads
__six lines of traffic eed ey
leaving from each side. They a
a large collection of model ve nz
les, red and yellow ‘signs an
miniature traffic militiamen.
“What does this mean: the
older of the two asked me in Rus-
sian, showing me a yellow see
with a red diagonal bar. al
No stopping. Zone of

was easy.

validity? J managed that one,

Been this?” I was asked. Obvi-

- ously that meant road closed to
all cars. '
“To all cars?

” . ly.

“To all cars,” I said firml :
“Well, what would you do if you
found that sign hanging up at the

entrance to the street where your
garage is?” the examiner enquir-
ed. |

I told him, cautiously, that I
would go and consult the nearest
militiaman. But that, I discov-
ered, was unnecessary.

The questioning went on for
half an hour. The interesting
feature of “it was that -while it
was thorough, it did not appear
to be designed to catch the ex-
aminee out but rather to find out
how he would act in a number of
not - quite - so - obvious situations
often caused by the other fellow’s
mistake. ;

“All right, let’s’go for a drive,”
the Commissioner proclaimed. As
I took the wheel the heaviest
thunderstorm of the season broke
over Moscow and the rain began
to come down in torrents.

“Please drive slowly,” said the

members of the Commission from
the back of the car.

I took them for a ride.

This, they must have decided,
was no time for testing the driv-
er’s ability at emerging — froin
archways, his prudence in ap-
proaching schools or stationary
trams, his knowledge of what side
of the street to park in when the
width was over six but less than
nine metres. ... If he can handle

.the car in this downpour, they

must have reflected as we cross-
ed the Red Square and drove up
Gorky Street, then he is all right.
It was, I thought, a verv practical
approach to the matter.

So I was given: a little cloth-
covered card — my driving ii:
cense. It does not cost anything.

But as it was handed to me I

was also given a slip of card,
“This is your No. 1 Ticket” said
the chief examiner. “If you are
summoned for bad driving it is
changed into a No. 2 Ticket; then ~
to a Number 3 — and after that,
you’ve lost your driving licence.
Try to keep it as No. 1,” he con-
cluded with a smile and held out
his hand for me to shake.

Street traffic is heavy in: Moscow, where Ralph Parker, corre-
spondent of the London Daily Worker, took his test for a driver's
license. In all the cities of the USSR more and more automobiles
ara appearing on the streets. Scene above shows a few cars outside
the House of the Council of Ministers of the Karelian-Finnish SSR
in Petrozavodsk.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 9, 1954 — PAGE 9