Dr. Kaiser and the Russians
The all-German conference of Christian Democrats, which had been convened to discuss the crisis over leadership in Berlin and the Eastern zone, ' reaffirmed, on Monday, its determination to support Dr. Kaiser and Herr Lemmer whom the Russians have sought to depose. In its final resolution, however, it made a large claim when, after emphasising that the rebuilding of democracy in Germany can only be effected by completely independent parties, it stated that the Christian Democrats, as the largest of such parties, have the special task of achieving unity and developing democracy. Having based his decision to abstain from the Russian-inspired " People's Congress "—which provided the immediate occasion for the Soviet attack on him—on the ground that it would have increased the split between East and West, Dr. Kaiser must see that any claim to a particular mandate on his part can only have the same result. Russian pressure on the Christian Union has increased con- siderably since the summer ; and its separate existence must un-
doubtedly be regarded as the chief obstacle to complete Soviet Isola- . non in the East, but it has still to be seen whether resistance to such pressure springs from a genuine opposition to the threat of loss of independence, or from a resurgent nationalism which all the occupy- ing Powers must watch very carefully. If the former is correct, the British and Americans, who exercise more of a watching brief over parties in the Western zone, must be prepared to follow their reception of Dr. Paul, the former Premier of Russian-occupied ThuriAgia, by that of yet another political refugee; but the Russians have yet to demonstrate decisively that they can afford to estrange opinion in their zone by taking the high-handed action that may lead to this.
Previous page
