MISINFORM
WHIN the Spectator was considering last August, at the height of the Geneva good will, what gestures the Russians might make which would cost them little or nothing, we said, 'The Cominform, a disused relic of the Zhdanov Period which has not even met since 1949, could be dis- solved tomorrow without affecting Soviet control over its Constituent parties.' Well, the gesture has now been made, presumably to help brighten up the Khrushchev and Bulganin visit to this country. The only surviving activity of the Comin- form has long been the publication of its fortnightly journal, in , various languages. Perhaps this will continue independently, or have its functions taken over by the various other Soviet international organs, like New Times. Though the Cominform was for some reason a great bogey to Mr. Nehru it operated only in Europe (unlike the far more active and menacing World Federation of Trade Unions, which will be carrying on as befOre). Those parties, like the British, which were not mem- bers have always contrived to be quite as servile as those which were. The Russians adequately demonstrated their other methods of control by this week replacing the Bulgarian Prime Minister and by insisting on the rehabilitation of foreign Com- munists purged in Malenkov's heyday. On the other hand Slansky (one of the many Cominform delegates who turned out to be traitors), having been hanged during the Stalin- Khrushchev assault on Beria and Malenkov, has been con- demned afresh—so that the last great spy plot still certified as authentic was that in which a leading part was played by Mr. konni Zilliacus and other English Leftists. Might this not affect the response to the hearty appeals for Socialist good will with which Pravda accompanied the dissolution announce- ment?
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