20 JANUARY 1950, Page 5

Marshal Stalin's prediction of the result of the General Election

will be awaited with interest. In February, 1945, five months before the Election of July. the Marshal " remarked that he did not believe the Labour Party would ever form a Government in Great Britain." That, coupled with an observation by M. Vyshinsky in the same week in another connection, to the effect that " the American people should learn to obey their leaders," throws in- structive light on the understanding of the West by the East. (M. Vyshinsky's remark is recorded by two Americans present at the Yalta Conference, Mr. Harry Hopkins and Mr. Stettinius, Marshal Stalin's by Mr. Stettinius).