Soviet Version
1
Published in Soviet News in London on 6th December:-
Page 236
"Certain bourgeois papers have a grudge against me for my statements in India and Burma. But I am not speaking here in order to please them. Why are they dissatisfied? Because I cannot speak with approval about the colonialists. For many decades the foreign colonialists oppressed you and robbed your country. They say that this was done to civilise the Burmese people. We say, however: the colonialists stayed in your country in order to rob your people, to take the last piece of bread away from them. This is why the papers of certain countries dislike such statements. The truth hurts."
Burmese Version
The Nation (Rangoon English-language daily), 4th December:
"There are some correspondents here who are not quite satisfied with what I had to say yesterday. (He was obviously referring to his outburst at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda.) Why are they not satisfied? Because I am going to say that the English were sitting here on your necks and were robbing your people, and because it was done not for your benefit or raising your standard of living, but in order to bring their civilisation into backward countries. But we say differently. They are sitting in these countries to rob the last piece of bread from the people, and that is what they (the correspondents) do not like, because the truth hurts.
UNITED KINGDOM COMMENT
When asked about this speech at the Foreign Office press conference
on 5th December the Foreign Office spokesman said that:-
64
'The pattern of these speeches seems to be becoming pretty clear and
I do not think they call for day-to-day comment from me.'
On 5th December, in a speech to the Pilgrims in New York, Mr. Nutting said:
66
Both in the Far East, South-East Asia and the Middle East the Communists are mounting an offensive in the grand manner. Frustrated in Europe they turn to less well held parts of the world. Repelled at the front door they go round to the back. They tell the Asian world of the blessings of neutrality- You stay neutral and we'll be on your side. We stand for non-interference in other people's affairs, but you would like some Soviet technicians to show you how to do things like we do, wouldn't you? Iron Curtains could be done away with if only everybody would accept our democratic way of life. There's no Iron Curtain for instance between Russia and Roumania: we're all one happy family and our only wish is that you should join the family too.' All these blandishments are of course accompanied by abuse of the Western Powers. Britain and France started the last war: America will start the next: Britain regards you as savages: get rid of the colonialist, imperialist warmongers. To say the least of it this kind of childish nonsense is not very flattering to the intelligence of their Asian audience. Happily I believe that the world is in the long run more interested in performance than propaganda. And when it comes to measuring performance it is the Western world that has helped and the Soviets who have merely offered specious and unfulfilled promises."
5. Speech by Mr. Khrushchev on 6th December at Rangoon
British Version
Reuter message from Rangoon, 6th December:-
that is the irritation to my They especially
"Mr. Khrushchev said certain persons strongly disliked our visit to India and Burma, and they did not like our sincere, frank statements reason why certain organs of the English press responded with speeches and to speeches made by Comrade Bulganin in India.
Page 236
Page 236
217