Portrait of the Week
THIS week has brought significant news from both East and West. From America President Eisenhower's re- moval4o hospital and subsequent operation must in one sense have heartened the Dertiocrats no end, though their Jubilation was tempered by a decent regret. In Russia the visit of President Tito seems to have been a success, while Mr. khrushchev, after being nearly knocked down in the rush of Cheering crowds at Stalingrad, found time to make a speech denouncing capitalism. The text of his address to the twentieth CoQgress of the Soviet Communist Party has now been pub- lished by the American State Department and turns out to be a major addition to the history of the Soviet Union. In it Mr. kbrushchev strongly hints that Stalin was responsible for the assassination of Kirov in 1934 as well as for the death of Ordzhonikidze, another member of the Politburo. While de- ll(ntneing the ideological errors of Trotsky, Zinoviev and hukharin, Mr. Khrushchev expressed the opinion that there was no need to shoot them and condemned Stalin's order for torture to be used in order to extract confessions. Significantly enough, another close associate of Stalin, Mr. Kaganovich, has re ; slned his office. Russian foreign policy has now consecrated the breakdown of negotiations on disarmament through the UN. In another letter to President Eisenhower Marshal Bulganin claims that it is better for countries to continue disarming individually, as illere does not seem to be much chance of reaching a solution through the UN. Other news from behind the Iron Curtain ineludes the stern answer given to Czech students (who had asked for more freedom of the press) by Mr. Novotny, the First secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. He said that the Party definitely denied 'the independence of the press from e Party and its ideas. Elsewhere, there have been the usual killings in Cyprus to- gether with rumours that Colonel Grivas, the leader of EOKA, may have been trapped by a cordon of British troops. In this country a Greek priest, Father Kallinikos Macheriotis, has been deported for going beyond his 'legitimate ecclesiastical duties.' In French North Africa troops have had more clashes with the fellagha, while a new development is the crossing-over into Algeria near the town of Tindouf of elements of the Moroccan 'Army of Liberation.' In the Argentine there has been an attempted rising by Peronista supporters in the army. This was suppressed by the Government forces and a number of the rebels were shot after summary courts-martial. A more cheerful note is struck by Dr. Adenauer's visit to Washington, where, an agreement has been reached between the West Ger- man and American Governments about the cost of supporting American troops in Germany. Six hundred and fifty million marks are to be paid by the Federal Republic, but Dr. Adenauer has the satisfaction of having broken the united front which the Western Powers had hitherto maintained on this question.
In France M. Poujade and some of his followers are on trial for having incited to the non-payment of taxes, while in Saigon the notorious Hoa-Hao leader Ba Cut has been sentenced to death for atrocities committed under his orders. In Turkey the new law on the press has been the subject of animated debate in Parliament, one deputy hurling a weighty brief-case at the head of the opposition leader; the International Press Institute meeting at Zurich hai protested against this law. In Singapore Mr. Lim Yew Hock has replaced Mr. Marshall as Chief Minister of what he describes as a 'caretaker' government.
At home the news that Great Britain is shortly to explode its first hydrogen bomb has been swiftly followed by the report of the Medical Research Committee on the hazards of nuclear and allied radiation, which points out in particular the dangers arising from the accumulation in human bones of radio-active strontium. No Government comment on this report has yet been made, but there is evidence that it has aroused consider- able disquiet among MPs. Also disquieting this week was the dismissal at the instance of the Government's security services of Mr. Lang, assistant solicitor to ICI. Such a dismissal, by denying its victim access to the courts, seems to many people to open the door for grave infringements of the rights of the individual citizen.
The news that the Government poll at the Tonbridge by- election dropped by more than 8,000 votes fluttered the dovecots of Abbey House. More cheering for the Prime Minis- ter and his associates is the reduced trade gap during May. The proposed sale of the Trinidad Oil Company to an American concern has been the subject of questions in the House and led the Trinidad Government to pose five conditions for the sale, the most important of which are racial equality and an assurance that the oilfields will be kept operating.
Lovers of sensation will be sorry to hear that the Oxford Magazine may be closing down through money difficulties. Deaths this week include those of Mr. Maurice Webb and M. Julien Benda, whose La Trahison des Clercs invented a phrase from which leader-writers have never failed to profit. The Oaks was a resounding victory for French horses, while the first Test Match was drawn.
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