RUSSIA’S PROBLEMS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22341, 28 May 1947, Page 5

RUSSIA’S PROBLEMS

TOO WEAK FOR WAR BRITISH PRESSMAN’S VIEWS LONDON, May 10. “There will be no world war within the next 15 years unless America starts one,” says Mr. Alexander Clifford, the Daily Mail correspondent in Moscow. “I believe that Russia does not want war,” he says. "International war has never been an instrument of Communist policy. Class war—yes.” Mr. Clifford says that the Russians cannot possibly fight a war for a long time to come. Russia, in fact, faces a really appalling industrial crisis. After outlining Russia’s difficulties — war destruction, drought, fuel and power shortage, man-power shortages and worn-out transport—he states that the Soviet’s task beyond doubt is a long-term affair, even granted the utmost efficiency. He recounts stories from the stricken Ukraine of human flesh being eaten, which may or may not bo true, but which indicate the seriousness of the situation. Mr. Clifford, however, says that these points should not be forgotten: (1) Russia has the capacity to become a big military Power if she wants to. (2) She will certainly fight a defensive war if attacked. (3) She does not suppose that capitalism will go under without a struggle. President Truman’s new foreign policy has only confirmed her in that belief. “So long as circles throughout the world advocate an immediate war to destroy Russia while she is sitting down, Russia will make preparations to meet the threat,” adds Mr. Clifford.