A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK T HIS year's opening Fabian lecture, delivered by
Mr. John Strachey, relieved, to his satisfaction or other- wise, from the responsibilities of office, contains some very sound observations on Russia in relation to world-peace. Recalling a conversation with Ernest Bevin on the day that news that the Russians would attend the first Marshall Aid Conference was received, and Bevin's repeated ejaculation, "Perhaps they will play. Perhaps they will play,' Mr. Strachey insists that the supreme need is to convince the PolitburO that in the West a reactionary capitalism no longer prevails, that the need to export capital to raise the standard of life in the undeveloped regions of the world is recognised, that in this country a real redistribution of the national income has been effected. The only way to convince it is to make these things continue to happen ; even the Politburo cannot for ever shut its eyes to plain facts. Of course Mr. Strachey thinks that only a Labour Government can continue a process that has been well begun. That remains to be seen. But he is undoubtedly right in contending that, essential as armies and navies and air forces are, much more than that is needed to maintain an enduring peace.
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