Khrushchev On Co-existence

Press, Volume C, Issue 29514, 16 May 1961, Page 10

Khrushchev On Co-existence

(N Z. P-A .-Reuter— Copy right >

NEW YORK, May 12. The Soviet Premier (Mr Khrushchev) said today that he and President Kennedy would have to find a “common language” on co-existence in spite of the fact that they were “poles apart” as men, it was reported from Moscow.

Mr Khrushchev referred briefly to Mr Kennedy and international relations during a 95-minute speech at Tbilisi at the fortieth 'anniversary session of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Georgia. The Soviet leader said he and President Kennedy "live on one planet. We must exist and in some questions And a common language.” Mr Khrushchev also made a brief but surprisingly cordial reference to the late Josef Stalin. Stormy Applause Stormy applause greeted his description of Stalin as “one of the most notable leaders of revolutionary social-democracy in Georgia and all Transcaucasia . . . who later became an outstanding leader of our party.” Mr Khrushchev had denounced Stalin at the twentieth Soviet Party Congress in 1956. The Soviet Premier said he welcomed America’s successful launching of a man into space, but the achievement was far short of Russia's "triumph” in orbiting a man around the earth. Snace Flight The flight by Major Yuri Gagarin, he said, “has forever given priority in manned space flight to our country." Sneaking of President Kennedy's statement that in 40 years the Soviet Union had achieved great successes, and that these successes might exert a power of attraction. Mr Khrushchev said: "We are glad to hear such an admission.” Mr Khrushchev said that although he and President Kennedy held different views on social systems, “we live on the same planet and we must co-exist and find a common language in some questions.

“The question of peace is the main question on which the Soviet Union is ready to built its relations with any State.” Mr Khrushchev said the Soviet Union had no need for war. The advantages were on the side of Communism, and it would win. Kennedy's Message President Kenendy in Washington said today that only a progressive America could “refute and roll back the challenge of Communist totalitarianism and rise to the challenges and seize the opportunities that surround us all today.’’

He made the statement in a message to the fourteenth annual convention of Americans for Democratic Action, an organisation promoting what it calls liberal principles. Mr Kennedy said the present was a time of unprecedented danger and “it is no time to stand still: rather it is a time for movement, for action, for change, and thus for liberalism,” Associated Press said.