An Offensive in Germany Dr. Adenauer is a worried man.
He faces national elections in Western Germany, paralysis in Paris such as to discourage hopes for a European Defence Treaty in the near future, and a new " United Germany " campaign from the Soviet Zone. These are some of the anxieties' that are taking the German Chancellor, in person, to the meeting of the six " Little Europe" countries in Rome on June 12th, and that led him to despatch Herr Blankenhorn to Washington last Saturday. The Pravda article of a fortnight ago, in which Moscow clearly referred to a settlement in Germany as the point of departure for a real cl6tente, was smartly followed by a reshuffle in the Soviet organisation within East Germany. The offices of Commander- in-Chief and Head of the Control Commission, previously united in the person of General Chuikov, have been separated, and Mr. Semeonov returns to Berlin as Soviet High Commis- sioner. Mr. Semeonov has come to be associated with that aspect of Russian policy for Germany which concentrates on the " peace " movement and the appeal for unity. His disap- pearance in April, at which time he was General Chuikov political adviser, seemed bewilderingly inconsistent with Mr. Malenkov's new diplomatic offensive. Now it appears that ho went to Moscow merely to learn better how to play his role; and, with his return, Western Germany will be hearing more and more of the attractions of East-West trade and of German unity. A reasonable, or genuinely attractive, settlement in Germany is not, thereby, any nearer than it was before Stalin's death. Pravda did not mention free elections and it did, categorically, base its arguments on the Potsdam agreement. This will not, in itself, make any serious appeal to the Western Germans. But, at a time when the western alliance is hesitant and Dr. Adenauer is still denied a firm place within that alliance, it may effectively make confusion more confused.
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