1955-05-14 — Page 7

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1955.

Sir BEVERLEY BAXTER, M.P. asks:

Can The Russian Be My Brother?

Twas in the early knows what was in his mind! Autumn of 1946 that Perhaps he just wanted an at- our convoy of three tache case. army motor cars with Two more vignettes-and we motor cycle escorts stopped shall change to a broader can on the autobahn at what looked like a frontier scOTIE in a Western movie.

vas.

Somewhere in Berlin there was a building sufficiently un- harmed to hold a conference of the four

France, America and

We had travelled from Britaka decupying Povers-

the Rhine to the Berlin out- Russia.

skirts on the. vast sweeping roads which Hitler

had

Nazi attack against the West. It was Stalin's blind belief in his own. astuteness." and in Hitler's promises, that cause Russia to be so poorly prepared for the eventual Nazi onslaught upon her.

And so deep was Stalin's dis- Great Britain (even when we were allies) that when our conveys, running the

auntlet of icy storms and sub- marine attacks, reached Arch angel Stalin would not allow

datastof

our crews to go ashore for re-

extention.

Thus we

Before we answer that ques of robbing the individual of with the his freedom and harnessing him tion, we must deal political, or, if you like the to the needs of the state and the evangelical character of Russia's Communist Party. development since the November

Is Com- Here is the lesson yet to be learned, Neither Communism, Revolution in 1917. murdsin an eronemie policy or

But this much I am prepared to remember and to acela k. · It was the Russians who set fre to holy Moscow so that Napoleon and his Grand Army should be driven back to "disaster, an Europe made free once moTÉ. is it a religion? Is Communism, nor Socialism, nor Nazism, nor it was Russia, though corrupt olu- Capitalism, can destroy the basic and badly organised, that in 1914 by its nature, a call to revolu-

British are a product of the war against the

Kaiser's tion, or is it an evenemic creed character of a people. We honoured her bond and declared the re-distribution of wealth? based upon the confiscation a centuries. We are the offspring many. It was Rs broke of heredity: we are the willing the power of Hitler's legions at slaves of tradition.

the gates of Stalingrad and It is also true Moscow, although it is. It has been said that it was the Stalin was the tragic dupe the grey skies of England that that

who vowed eterna. Created the

of Hider British character endship to the Russian leader Certainly it is the lone mists of the Highlands that gave birth to while we were telling Stalin German attack on the romantic realism of the Sw that the And so it was the vast lonely. Bussin steppes that made Russia such days.

is more cruel and move excud Russia and Great!

A Tyranny

that

Four sentries," representing the PowerS, were standing on

Surely the HTSWET S built ostensibly for "the duty in the entrance. Suddenly

grutetul stand in people and the people's car the Russian threw down his tribute to the heroic dead of Communism is, like the rule of but which were primarily rifle and, seizing the American Stalingrad, yet gaze at the same the Tsars, a tyranny based up for mushing motorised units round the waist, whirled him time upen a regime that trusted on the blind acceptance of thre.

about

a wild-waltz. Then no one, not even in the brother from one front to the other smiling broadly he sat down end hood of death. in war. We were en route to allowed the GI to recover his

Ten years have passed since Berlin and, as today, we had composure.

Ten years without war

· on a vast scale. Ten years of troubled, blood-spotted peace.

to pass through the zone

occupied by the Russians,

"A Russian sentry, supported

port"

Upside Down

Waved Back

then.

people. Almost the only differ- ence is that Communist

than that of the Tears. secret police, bad enough ander the Romanoffs,

were amateurs

of cruelty compared with the

frutiful soil for revolution.

Britain fear each other? Why should we cavy Russia or Russia

eavy us? land hungry. Neither

was only a matter of

Most Powerfu!

Neither country is What a chance Marshal Bul- lacks in has at this hour! Stalin

Driven Back

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died a cold in his in fis antiseptic,

Then, as Russia is a police without allies. And if we need that he

Berla is dead, on the by two others who were armed Finally...at the Russian Warganisation,

let 14 remind the established ground that he who to the gills, ordered us to ad- Memorial, in Unter Den Landen glassy, modern factory building state whose people are allowed to establish any further ties of head

that it whose creed calla for world re- Russiar our passports a handsome blond Soviet soldier in New York, Russia has sat at to vote for only one party and similarity,

lives by the axe shall die by was London ves vance: and..show and

We waved to the council table as a full part As "pass- was on guard," military

ctable bore Karl Marx. In retirement through, resignation— and military visa were him and with a shy, attractive ner in the preservation and en-volution, cur 1, as a citizen of which gave sanctuary to the in- the axe. Malenkor has sought

forcement of peace. It is true the British Empire and Com-

it was

in the British and I hope that he will die' of the only English they knew, smile, he waved back.

that by

a persistent use of the monwealth, regard the Russian fact

that he Wrote the old age. and as we sppice no Russian,

as my brother? As a Christian, Museum At that time the Ruses velo she has reduced UNO to a

but effective pages of Here, then. is Marshal Bul- the fraternal nature of the oc-

nilles. Suffering mere talking shop, but that is am I to open my heart and arms dreary

me "Das Kapital." "Tovarich! Let

one of the three mest Karin, casion was somewhat circum- were

terrible casualties.

they had better than to have the Soviet and cry:

powerful statesmen in the world scribed.

fought the way through the sulking like a bear with a sore embrace you!" «

Supposing he said he was duleners of Berlin and establish- head on the banks of the Volga.

willing to place muclear weapons ed their right, along with

under International control with

of mutual us, of conquest and tenure. The

complete powers Anal decision

said was to partimon

So we come to the question spection. Supposing he The sentry solemnly read my the German capital, with

of today. Can the Russian be that he would

Join the Great passport upside down, as if he the grim

that consequencES

peaceful as my brthoer?

Powers in finding a worth while? Has it been

"No" would be settlement Lorries suspected the worst.

of the Formosa have stemmed from that un-

To crswer armed round-headed

Would it not have been more 1001

To answer “Yes” of the 1 deny to Communism the right offensive.

Supposing he said problem honest if, at the end Russiana paused to have a look natural operation. at us, but there was no sign of I have deep sympathy for Hitler war, the Western Allies

I would

deny the same gullibility or opportunism. Cer Testored to Austria and that friendüness. Even when

Russian homes had said to Russia we the countless reached the hideous

wreckage that were bereaved in the war, your way and we shall go ours. right to Conservatives, Socialists, tainly I want to visit Russia East Germany should be allow that had once been Berlin, the but I have nothing but contempt. We need not be enemies but, Seventh Day Adventists, Douglas but I do not wish to pretend ed a free election to determine Russian sentry outside

seeing my blood brother on the bunker where Hitler died con- pelley of Russia. It was Stalin's friendship when our way of life Gallows" brigade.

Communism is not so much a Siberian Plains or in the under fiscated the attache case of one pact with Hitler in 1939 that is es conosite to yours as day

creed as it is an effective system ground railway of Moscow, for the to night." "Goodness gave the all clea”” my colleagues.

طریه

Way of Life

Now comes the point where you the reader, and I, the writer, may draw apart. I see no reason why a man should not be a Communist if he is such a fool or an opportunist as Nor would

to want to be one,

to preach its doctrine any more would hak like sentimentality, that independence should an than "You go

future.

be

the the prewar and early-war also, we need not pretend to Creditors, or even the "Save the that it is for the sole reason of her others words, supposing he

THE GYPSY WIFE

THE piping had gone

T

en all day, and all

day she had.

sat

They

By Donald Stonard

branches. The woman shivered

suddenly:..

SATURDAY

HORT

In

the hand of friendship extended towards the West and said: "Brother!"

I would grasp

that hand. while keeping an eye alert to see what he was doing with the other one. I would drink a glass of vodka to the eternal friendship of Russia and Britain, partly because I Hike vodka and partly because Russia and Great Britain have had historic partner- shipa against military mega- tomaniacs...

Second Toast

under a blazing, sky her side was getting full. Five loped quickly, as hers had, into

Therefore, in the established indifferently watching her snakes they had caught, and a love that neither had dreamt

The night is full of trouble,"

fashion, I would propose a after another. of. And now she knew that, for husband and son catch now they were

second toast: "To the greatness snakes for the planter. She The planter and his wife were Anagl, she would gladly die. If she murmured.

of Russia and the early collapse Rama was tired and turned on followed

not for stupid old Rama, how

at Communism!" Nor could we was proud of her boy; very excited.

it Then the thought fashed upon

Marshal Bulgarin object already at seven, he had every movement of her husband happy they could be together! her roughly. "Woman, case thy Yet Rama had been kind to her, wailing" She kept silent for and son 15 if they suspected

ever since the time when her there was something in the air her: had the not seen that Rama replied with a toast: "To Britain

complete learnt to play the six tunes trick. Did they think that half-

collapse of of the snake charmer's craft a-dozen snakes could be hidden parents had sold her as a little that stilled the quick retort on would die of cobra bite? That and

Capita strange urgency was strange, for here was she the middle-aged her lipsa

What then fostered by the pulsing moon- about to prevent that occurrences.

is my answer to with professional skill, and about the person and miracu- girl to him,

after a little chief of the clan. » : lously produced

light.

His death would give her tree-the-beading of this article: "Can knew no fear of any anake. piping without anyone noticing

the the Russian be my brother?" dom and happiness with She sighed and dug her heel 1? Did they not know that no

she loved. Fool, to defy The answer is: "Under certain See him, how boldly he poisonous snake could resist the vindictively into the soft sand.

the Fate! Why not let it happen? well deaned conditions-prac- walks into that treacherous call of the pipes, with its peo They were all coming towards

She Quietly, she cooked for

only to sit there, tically mise of tender mice and frogs? her now, the planter, tangle of undergrowth, his How well did Rama played!

jabbering like mon follow-

The big cobra little herself, and when, having their course. like monkeys, small fingers dancing on his

ing in the wake of her husband finished, they lay down to sleep, would either out first, pipe-stem. See how his

was not unmoved by the

and his

wife and a dozen estate coolies, man and her 500, She could eat molt and let things take I mean you know what |

fusing.

and

by

and son. What was that Rama she, driven by her longing, want Rama, directly in its path, as

hand? A cobra? That into the right and leant the doorway, would awake bright eyes watch for the Often as she had heard him, held in his hand large one! And hir

size?

to against a tree, alone,

drea snake to come to his piping she

it crawled over him and hit out! what was all the

chattering awhile. Then, when she

...and then and how, when it appears, throbbing dominance of the

some time about? Apparently the planter been standing there some time. he seizcs its tail himself high walling tune, but he was wanted to see this snake de though she

heard

she withdrew the nothing,

Slowly, fimid as the time

had she alone hand

instinctively before calling for his father becoming

and that Anagi

was beside her, stretched towards the quivering to pin down the head with a went by, She, who had watched fanged, too, and Rama was re- knew that she was not

ત him at work for years..

The lid creaked and stick and grab it by the his

difdence and growing

"No, Sahib, we have removed Neither of them smiled or greet. basket. Who was she to dery

ed the

but her breath- Fate?

fraction by fraction. "throat." Yes, he was a cover ly noticed the diminishing the teeth of the other Eve for Ing quickened perceptibly.

པ་

watched it in hand- you, but this one is different. "Come with me and we will Bon to be proud of! Never assurance of his touch.

the more dangerous snakes. See how large it is, how fierce, and another tribe where we heave ing

almost imperceptibly, and Had the clan known one One day, his hand would taller, Of the seven kinds of cobra, will not be known and where subside. How her eyes ached. young, so clever at the and then, she knew in her this is the most savage. When we can be happy together" he. Then very slowly it roge agunt trade.

heart of hearts, in spite of all we get home, not now, I must whispered urgently. She did not higher and higher, until at his wonderful charms and anti-

remove the fangs and collect the

"The boy will not leave, it fell softly on to the

Python would be fatally poison for medicine. See this

his father. How And she she was young dotes, he

I come sack beside it. The moonlight

coils black stone, It is

glinted on the shining made of the without my berself to be the mother

Had she not read it in his crushed teeth and the venom "There will be others, finer, the makes so closely packed in of a child of seven. Young palm, though she had never which we squeeze out of the fairer, in the years ahead. Come the basket. She saw the cobra

Now!" quickly.

·and 'very · comely, yet she dared to tell him la case "he sockets. When this is placed on with me her shoulders and ward, and its hood swell

His lift its long neck questingly for

like hands gripped bruised her fesh. She felt her fans on either side of the nar- whole soul go out to him, and row eager head. yet she held back, the love of

bitter.

And her own a snake bite, it sucks up all the at nine. All these years of fortunes? She glanced at her poison." married life had not spoilt upturned hand, but it could tell her nothing, and she had never

had been given in marriage should beat her?

turn

her son fighting against love for her sweetheart.

No, no, I cannot,

her looks, for Ramaswamy, had read by the other women... her husband, had treated After all, what did they know Idly, she watched them argu- her well. Now, at eighteen, that she herself did not? Idly, ing and talking, conscious only she was in the prime of her she traced a line. That meant that she was hungry, and that afraid

in romance, but when? And with she would like to be back

the

i

beauty and in her wild way whom? The answer to that, at wondered jealously what

where Anagi was, She "A fine gypsy, you, to be scared

He laughed at that, mockingly, he so easily. Perhaps it is better I

for each snake

ΟΙ

am In his sleep, Ramaswamy stirred, as if conscious of the menace threatening him. Far away in the trees a night-biri shrilled exultingly, breading the deadly stillness. In the further согдет of the tiny hut the staring at the The hood

thep ад no Unc and went ended

was aware of it and knew least, the knew,

Her thoughts stole back to a was doing. At last, the palaver should find a woman of greater that men cast desiring eyes

recent incident in camp of ended,

Seven rupees changed courammed anguished eyes on....weinan crouched frozen beside at her.

herself,

and of another, whe hands. One rupee looks good

and her own

"Don't speak like that. I her sleeping matched

one for a anake stone. Good, hi meeting face to face in the they would be well off

will come; come. She Net tonight, there is evil in the beyond

her by which the tribe had many days to Being something.

a pitched their talipot-leaf huts struggle to her feet, stiff after air

soon-temurrow coquette, she took trouble with Anagi had stared at her as it her long walt and beckoned to her long black hair; oiled it and she were an apparition, his bold, the boy.

moothed it well so that it did dark eyes appraising her love-

"of

.

for

"Son, you carry the python

only give me time. lasthsame her now quite

Dertight, but":

alert for an

i dwindled At last he flat, and the sinuous form

His arms went around her. "Tachorrow, "love"

not hangatted-like that of lines with the sureness of much sack: I'll take the spake basis left her and wistfully the softly over Rama. The woman's other gypsy women; and she practice.

hod a way of gathering her

bright scarier and blue and

emerald clothes into many,

as she

tried to silence her breathing. The manents seemed an eternity" and passed. for Rama never moved...

As she

her foot focized the child," ani. his he turned right over in

toward sleep, his head ting

It is heavy now with its burden watched his litho Egure melt fanger-nails dug into her flesh of extra makes. Your father among the shadows, then slowly

she went back to her hut, will relieve you of the sack she "Whither away so fast, lovely when we get to the bottom many folds, so that they foamed one he had asked her boldly the read."

Ramzant the boy were tension, around her silver-ankleted feet“

"Let me pass!" she had cried, and dipped and swayed with Bercely. She knew this Anagi, It was evening, and they had asleep. The moonlight fell every movement of her lissor who had newly joined her many miles to go. By the time their relaxed figures, and one hips,

comrades and I made free of the they reached their encampment, bulging sake basket at Rama's And her voluptuous month, maidens in every village and the men was treaded their chin on her hands, thinking the cruel head rose and with

brightly side. She sat down silently, her

the escaping cobra,. In a flash not yet spoilt by betel-chewing, hamlet through not they way the salipot-test

Watching them. as if would be was wandered. He had piqued.)

that

she watched, she heard in swelled-out hood struck deeply intrigued her, but their paths bruts and the donkeys at the uther stillness, an ominous into the

Carried their

possessions on the had never crossed before

of wicker and saw the anguished.

dagger Very red, it seemed, set in the "Not so fast! Why have 1 not march until ties reached their crea

that looped the lid of like a #rich, glossy brownness of her seen the prettiest woman' in the own: hit, rather longer than these market slip: gently, asunder, She had not known that in ̈her ||

others, & little spart from the the

"palnit was written that she her own way she was clan before?

mbers of Instinctively her hand reached would be the slayer of ber sont autoubtedly beautiful, and the "Because you have eyes

Iffect Bama The dully--in camp replied, the chilly moonlight for the should have put the most coura the dross," she had

Into another basket she had, audaciously and

swirl of her skirts had passed and plenty of deep Away in Supponit escaped un

the more attractive for the crimson stain of the betel-juice

old age the clan said Rama- so many, you miss the jewel for the

well to swanty would do

Te

Om weich, on her.

always

Keep

betw

"a'part, ispades-Lked their meals! early to loose Menscaped and 'been faithful to him, on, Aplocking Wim with the bay free How 7 that bird someone?

Her Jaws worked as the water from her chatty, that had of ill-en, bad and the Hama himself! The other mankes thoughtfully chewed her betel. been the beginning of this trees took

Lat, ruuod moxics-basicet at easily excited, passion, izad

dness in the word for gless and harmi

wch, but this cock

cry stabbed the A

*

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