The Subversive Food Parcels
At a railway_ station in East Germany the police made a little man, who only a few minutes before had been clutching his parcel, stand up and address the crowd on the wickedness of accepting food parcels distributed from West Berlin. "I have been enlightened in a friendly way," he said, "that the acceptance of such a parcel containing agents' butter is treason towards the People's Republic." He had, he added, been brought to see the justice of giving up his parcel for the benefit of the poor and hungry and unemployed in West Berlin. One wonders by what process the East German authorities can delude themselves into the belief that their absurd antics are' anything but bitter farce. The screaming rage of the East German Communist Press and the fantastic retaliatory measures taken by the East Berlin authorities arc the clearest proof possible that what began as, for the most part, a humanitarian scheme for the relief of distress has turned into a resounding political success for the Americans (on whose initiative the food distribution was begun, although they have been careful to avoid credit for it). The fierce threats against East Germans who accept parcels do not seem to have been carried out, and. the " people's " police have been in no position to confiscate parcels easily—wherever they have tried this on a large scale there has been trouble, or "fascist provocation" as the double- thinkers of the Communist Press put it—but the suspension of railway travel to Berlin has been strictly enforced and so for the moment has reduced to a trickle the flow of badly needed food into the hungry East. But how long can the puppet Govern- ment keep East Germans from travelling by train to the capital ? When the distributioa of food began the Communists once again demanded the freeing by the Americans of the sum of 1,400,000 dollars which stands to the credit of the East German Government and which was frozen during the blockade. Now the American High Commissioner has informed his Russian counterpart that he is willing to recom- mend the freeing of this sum if a guarantee is given that the money will be spent on food for the East Germans. It will be difficult for the Communists to reject this offer out of hand.
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