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PARTISAN REVIEW
an issue that was of particular interest to NGOs (nongovern–
mental organizations) and the throngs of peace demonstrators who
gathered from throughout the world to attend the session. The pro–
posed campaign was mainly to consist of distributing information
through U.S. channels on disarmament and arms control issues, but
it was a means of acquiring U. N. accreditation and funding for vari–
ous peace movements. From the outset, the U.S. argued that fund–
ing for the campaign should be derived from the regular U. N.
budget, through "more judicious allocation of existing resources,"
and added that it would not contribute additional funds unless it
could be assured that the campaign would be genuinely world wide
in its scope, in other words, that the information would be equally
distributed in the West and the East. The upshot of this was that for
the first four weeks of the five-week session, the NGOs, peace activ–
ists, and nonaligned countries vehemently denounced the U. S. for
"blocking" the campaign. The Soviet Union remained si lent during
this period, neither pledging money nor raising objections.
It was not until the final week, again in a "closed" drafting
group meeting, that the Soviet Union revealed its positions, first by
objecting to references to "freely expressed public opinion" and
then by insisting that a separate item be included stating that states
could "exercise their sovereign rights" in determining what infor–
mation could be made avai lable and how it would be distributed.
Without this item, the Soviets said, they would block the entire doc–
ument. As one Swedish delegate, who had previously been critical of
the U.S position, told me, "I wish the NGOs could see this. The
Soviet Union is always insisting on references to the importance and
value of NGOs, now they insist on references to the sovereign rights
of states. The only possible outcome of this is that it will strengthen
the peace movements in the West which are not under government
control." Eventually a compromise was reached on the sovereign
rights issue . Though it was not listed as a separate item, it was
included as a phrase under another item and, technically, can be
used to justify censoring information whenever the Eastern bloc so
chooses. But the damage to the U.S. had already been done-with
most NGOs and press continuing to believe that the U.S. had been
the obstruction ist, resisting the campaign for purely" selfish" finan–
cial reasons.
Finally, there is the issue of a proposed comprehensive test ban
treaty, a critical section of the comprehensive disarmament program
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