S1R.—You ask, somewhat rhetorically, " What would be the position
if Russia alone among the nations possessed a hydrogen bomb ? " Though you may not agree with me, perhaps you will permit one who has studied the Soviet way of life at first hand in the U.S.S.R. for five years, and who has made a thorough study of Soviet foreign policy since 1917, to hazard an answer. My answer is, whatever bombs or weapons the U.S.S.R. may possess, she will always strive to secure drastic international disarmament and the banning and destruction of all weapons of mass destruction. May I remind you that before she was known to have the atom bomb the U.S.S.R. proposed the destruction of all existing stocks, the outlawing of atomic war, international inspection to see that such a polidy was carried out, and the pooling of atomic knowledge to secure a rising living standard for the world's peoples. Having got the bomb, the U.S.S.R. has not modified or withdrawn these proposals. Having got—as she will do—the hydrogen bomb, she will still call for real disarmament. Why? For the simple reason that in the U.S.S.R. nobody profits and everybody loses by pouring resources into the manufacture of means of destruction ; whereas in the U.S.A. the present arms drive is openly regarded as one of the main defences against economic crisis. Secondly, the U.S.S.R. has never believed in or practised indiscriminate borribing of civilian centres as a means of winning wars.—Yours, etc., PAT SLOAN. Yew Tree Cottage, Melody Road, Biggin Hill, Kent.
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