368
PARTISAN REVIEW
Reagan's words and the reaction of the German population hor–
rified me.
In France there has been nothing like this, and in general
the French conc.eption of resistance seems to me a t present to be
much more firm, stable, and courageous. The French have
created their own atomic weapons. They understand that they
will not be able to fight properly and resist the Soviet Union on a
one-to-one basis, but they believe in the necessity of the most deci–
sive resistance to any aggression on the part of the Soviet Union.
So, one can say that in Europe two opposing conceptions
have formed: one predominates in West Germany, the other in
France, the two strongest countries in Europe.
PAVEL LITVINOV: I don't know much about what's going on
in Europe, but the so-called peace movement in the United
States worries me very much. Not because I am against peace and
for
nuclear war-I don't believe anybody is. But one thing is
clear: when the Soviets are so strong and so dangerous, and when
they increase their production of nuclear weapons, then this
movement really becomes dangerous also, because the pressure
of the American peace movement is clearly directed against the
American government, as if the American government were the
chief villain. And only the American government really will feel
the offensive pressure of this movement. The Soviet people
won't know when people in the Soviet Union try to stage some
small peaceful demonstration-I don't mean Soviet citizens, but,
for example, some young people from England who came to
Moscow and tried to stage small peaceful demonstrations. They
were immediately isolated from the public. Nobody even heard
about them, and they were quickly deported. There is no peace
movement possible in the Soviet Union. So the peace movement
here-the American youth, the religious groups-is dangerous,
because the Soviet Union-even if it doesn't want to start a
war-wants to use the weapons they have to put pressure on the
West. By wielding the threat of nuclear war, they can acquire one
country after another-Afghanistan today, tomorrow it will be
Iran, or something else. The peace movement won't prevent the
war; it will probably make the war even more likely.
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: I think my question
might already have been answered by Mr. Litvinov; it's about
peace movements in Russia. Based on your experience with free-
