ELECTIONS AND FOREIGN BAYONETS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 384, 1 November 1946, Page 5

ELECTIONS AND FOREIGN BAYONETS

Sir-yYour correspondent J. L. Winchester says the Russians "are sceptical about majorities obtained in Greek elections, supervised by foreign bayonets, and in which half-a-million dead men exercised the franchise." I don’t know where he gets his estimate of half-a-million dead men from, but it is a fact that the British bayonets were originally invited into Greece by a Government composed of all non-Fascist parties, including the Communists. There are still a good many foreign bayonets in lands between the most forward Iron Curtain and Russia, and we know what nationality they are. Of course there are more ways of influencing elections than showing a bayonet. It was reported the other day that PA " ~ a ‘ Se

in one of the occupied zones the Russians, before an election, adopted the simple and peaceful expedient of allocating more newsprint to the Communist newspapers than to their opponents. In a recent Christian Science Monitor supplement, an American correspondent, R. H. Markham, summarised his impressions of the, set-up in Greece after a stay in territory dominated by Russia. Like most Americans, Mr. Markham doesn’t like empires, but he has a sense of fair play. Here are some of the points he makes, beginning with the one I have just mentioned about the invitation. The British entry saved Greece "from being forcibly seized by a Communist-led, brutal, well-armed minority.’ Even the leaders of EAM don’t claim more than 25 per cent. of the nation. The Greek people have shown that they don’t want to be governed by this Moscow-controlled party, and it was the British who enabled the Greeks to express that opinion and implement it. The Greek elections were the freest in Eastern Europe, except Hungary and perhaps Czechoslovakia. The Greeks are not political saints, but "one of the largest, most representative, most disinterested election commissions in history said that, generally speaking, the results represented the will of the Greek nation." The Greek press is free; paper is equitably distributed; papers and periodicals from all lands can be sold. Any Greek anywhere can vilify Great Britain. "England provides. freedom to people to defame England." It should not be necessary to stress the way Russia handles the question of free opinion in the territory she dominates. I have given one example. Since then we have had the word of American. supervisors that the plebiscite about the Monarchy was conducted satisfactorily. There were, of course, screams to the contrary from Moscow. These are

somewhat reminiscent of the football fan who abuses the referee from the bank. That the referee gives. decisions against this barracker’s side-is ‘proof that he has been squared. If we could look into this gentleman’s history we might find that he was the victim of circumstances; he has fiever been taught the basis of good sportsmanship. The Russians don’t understand free elections, because they

have never held them,

LIBERAL

(Wellington).