NEWS OF THE WEEK
AS Sunday's municipal elections in the Western sectors of Berlin draw nearer, uproar grows in the Soviet sector with all the care- fully graduated spontaneity of a Nazi putsch. So far there have been few signs of alarm, and since alarm would do no good in any case, that is as it should be. But the latest development will have to be watched with care. One of the few things that are certain about the Berlin situation is that if the Russians can possibly devise means of making the position of the Western Powers more uncomfortable they will do so. The tone, and the circumstances, of the publication of Marshal Sokolovsky's letter of Monday, condemning next Sunday's elections and producing the usual list of sinister Western "motives," were obviously meant to secure the maximum effect. The announcement next day of the setting up of a separate Magistrat in the Soviet sector was also carefully staged, with provocative speeches and later a march through the streets. The climax may not yet have been reached. There is still time for the whipping-up of more dangerous disturbances. But this much is certain—that each new phase will have to overcome a more solid barrier of sullen resistance by the Berlin population. Each new Soviet move involves still greater excesses of open lying and covert violence against individuals who refuse to accept the pretensions of the Russian-inspired Socialist Unity Party. Marshal Sokolovsky's letter touched depths of misrepresentation and fantasy which, even by Marxist dialectical standards, would have to be followed either by some reaction towards reason or by violent upheaval. The Berliners know more clearly than ever what they are in for if they give way to Russian pressure. That is only one of the reasons why the Western Powers should not waver in their determination to protect the elections from inter- ference, to continue the air lift, and to resist everywhere the malignant policy of which the blockade of Berlin is only one manifestation.
