CAB129-78 — Page 244

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Mr. Attlee (Prime Minister)-Speech at Forest Hill, 26th January, 1951

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. . But there was one Power in the great alliance that overthrew Hitler which took another course. It did not turn back to the paths of peace; it went down the roads of conquest and of imperialism. Soviet Russia kept in being a vast military machine spread out over its neighbours' territories as well as its own.

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. In the United Nations, again and again, every effort to solve the world's problem has been blocked by the Soviet 'No.' Inevitably, then, we have been forced to the conclusion that Soviet Russia does not want the world to solve its problem, does not want things to settle down. Its policy seems rather to be to foment trouble.

"The present rulers of Russia are the inheritors of Russian imperialism. Stalin has been more successful in his imperialism than the Tsars ever dreamed of being. But there has been added to this old-style imperialism an ideological imperialism which seeks to impose on the whole world the system of Russian Communism.

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. . . . The doctrines of Marx-Leninism seem to most of us to offer an arid, unattractive creed about as far from true Socialism as can be. They preach slavery, and the negation of human happiness. The trouble is that they are the accepted creed of the Rulers of Russia. .

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Mr. Gaitskell (Chancellor of the Exchequer)—At Birmingham, 27th January, 1951 (press report)

We had no desire to force our way of life upon other countries. But it was part of the tragedy of the situation and part of its difficulty that Russia was not a democracy. However much the people of Russia might desire peace, we had no chance to talk to them.

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Why did Russia seek to build up an intense national hatred against the West? It can have no place in the peaceful and stable world at which its diplomats sometimes said they were aiming. It can have meaning only if in the judgment of the handful of men who ruled Russia the future relationship between their country and the West was to be one of implacable and permanent hostility.

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Mr. Morrison (Foreign Secretary)-To Press Association, 13th June, 1951

Nowadays, if one makes a friendly speech, if one tries to point out how we wish for peace and co-operation with the Russian people, the speech may well be reported everywhere except behind the Iron Curtain.

Peoples living behind the Iron Curtain, are denied their right to take part in international discussion of questions involving millions of lives.

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Mr. Eden (Foreign Secretary)—United Nations General Assembly, 11th November, 1952

The year has been marked by an increase in propaganda designed to arouse and intensify hatred between the nations. Far from seeking to enlighten and clarify, Communist publicity has surpassed itself in its attempts to blacken and abuse the free peoples of the world.

"Monstrous allegations have been made on all manner of subjects. Germ warfare is one example. This columny has been primarily directed against the United States, which country carries the main burden in Korea. It is in vain that the charges have been denied. It is in vain that we have offered to have them examined by impartial investigators. That is always rejected.

It is hard to understand how anyone can sincerely believe these charges. But if they do, how can they refuse a serious investigation of them?

"Nor is it only this alleged germ warfare, Communist propaganda has been even more extravagant. Her Majesty's Government, and many of your Govern- ments also, are frequently described as 'cannibals.' Nobody, of course, believes that grisly accusation, not even those who use the term. But it is just an example

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