710
R. H. S. CROSSMAN
Khrushchev probably appreciates that the only thing which can
rally the West and force it to mobilize its strength is a repetition of
the kind of strong-arm action which we saw in the Berlin blockade
and the attack on South Korea. In an actual war, or under
direct
threat of military aggression, the Affluent Societies of the West can
be persuaded to cut back their ostentatious spending and accept a
degree at least of national planning and international cooperation.
Thaugh Mao Tse-tung may be tempted to follow a Stalinite line,
it
seems to me unlikely that Khrushchev will commit the mistake of
saving the Western powers from the comfortable process of peace·
time degeneration on which they have now begun.
For the Kremlin
is now convinced that the only thing which could prevent the ulti·
mate victory of world Communism is nuclear war. Their determina·
tion to practice peaceful coexistence, therefore, is a sign not of
weakness but of confidence. When they challenge' us to disarm
im·
mediately and enter into peaceful competition, they do so because
they are sure they will win the contest.
Which system is best equipped for rapidly modernizing the
under-developed territories, raising their living standards and help·
ing to provide mass education-the Western Affluent Society or
Eastern Communism? The Kremlin is sure that, in the course of the
next twenty years, the North Atlantic area will become a prosperous
backwater, while vast areas of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and,
finally, South America-which at present still accept some of our
ideals of freedom and still look to us for assistance--'are absorbed
into the Communist bloc. Recent history supports their confidence,
Anyone who suggested ten years ago that the new Aswan dam
would be financed by Russia and constructed by Russian engineers
would have been dismissed as either a fellow traveller or a defeatist.
Even five years ago it would have been difficult to take seriously the
prediction that a Cuban Government in 1959 would be entertaining
Mr. Mikoyan and considering the possibility of buying Russian
arms
with which to defend its freedom from mainland interference. The
fact that these two "absurdities" have become sober truth illustrates
the shift in the balance of power, and they will be followed through.
out the 1960's by even more humiliating examples, unless we are
prepared radically to transform the nature of our Affluent Societies
and, in particular, their economic relations with Asia and Africa.
