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poor a nd its manageme nt tech–
niques serio usly behiod the times .
Even mo re importa nt. the gap be–
tween Sovie t industry a nd tha t o f
the West was widening mos t seri–
ously in the highly sophisticated
fie lds, such as computer technology.
The recommenda tion o f the ex–
amining ex perts was tha t the Soviet
Union must turn to the Wes tern
world for techno logy, ma nage ria l
skills and vast credits.
T he po licy was no t accepted
wholehea rtedly at first by so-ca lled
" hardliners" within the Sovie t hier–
archy. Th ey had to be convinced of
the need to at Jeast tempora rily
so ften th e ir id eo log ica l s t a n ce
aga inst the West for t he good of the
Soviet economy.
Also. the military esta blishme nt
was promised tha t a policy of dé–
Le nte would not red uce t he na tion's
military posture.
Wi th a ll sides bas ica lly satisfi ed.
major acco rds a nd trea ties were
reached with West G ermany and
France in 1970 a nd 1971. T hen in
May 1972. the first o f th ree summit
talks be tween Mr. N ixon a nd Secre–
tary Brezhnev was held. Dé ten te
had taken root.
That the Sovie t leaders hi p still
places grea t stress upon its new
rela tions hip with the West is ex–
emp li fied by a n apparent willing–
ness on Moscow's pan to pe rmit
expand ed emi gra ti on o f Soviet Jews
in ex pected re turn fo r trade a nd tar–
iff benefits from the U nited States
eq ua t to those Washington gran ts to
other na ti ons.
24
Détente Doesn't Mean
Peace
Dé tente is no l a one-way street. o f
course. Former Preside nt Nixon,
along with Dr. Henry Kissinge r,
have sought a more cordia l rela tion–
ship with the Soviets prima rily in a n
a ttempl lo slow down the arms race
and sta bili ze the nuclear ba lance.
Nevertheless. despite ce rta in mu–
tual needs a nd desires, dé tente has
primarily been a Sovie t initiative.
lt's ex tre n1ely impo rta n! lo th em.
T hei r news media continua lly moni–
to rs the Ame rican po litica l scene,
fe rreting out those po litica l a nd eco–
nomic leaders j udged to be "ene–
mies of dé tente." The down fa ll of
Mr. N ixon, fo r example. was ex–
pla ined as having been engi nee red
by those who disapproved of his
posi tive position on détente.
T he Sov i e t p ress a lso iss u es
period ic wa rnings to its readership
tha t it sho ul d be wa ry aga inst ab–
sorbing unwa nted Western ideas
and c ultu ra l va lu es a long with
Wes tern goods a nd industrial tech–
niques. Pepsi-Cola is now produced
under license in the Soviet Union,
fo r example. But Sovie t a utho rities,
l ' m sure, would no t be happy to see
a " Peps i genera tion" emerge on
their soil.
In sum, détente is no t necessa rily
synonymous with "peace·· or "har–
mo ny" o r "i nte rna tio na l broth–
erhood .' '
It
is more a ma tter o f
exped ience fo r the sake o f Soviet
economic a nd security matters. Dé–
lente is commonly defined as a
" lessening of tensions o r hostility
between na tions." But the term is
fa r more mea ningful when on e
looks into its actual derivation. Dé–
Lente is a French word a nd origi–
na ll y refe rred to th e tempora ry
release o f the drawn and poised
string on a crossbow. The weapon
has been lowered to the bowman 's
side - but its ho lder is still armed
a nd ready lo fight at a momen t's
. no tice. Wha t be tter describes the
nuclea r stando ff between the United
Sta tes and th e Sovie t Uni oo today?
No Lessening of
ldeological Struggle
T he unfortuna te a ntagonism be–
twee n th e two g rea t sph er es of
communism a nd "imperia list ca p i–
ta lism,. remai ns as fundamenta l as
ever.
As a lead ing poli tica l a nalyst in
Europe puts it: "Détente is the task
o f continuing the ideological dispute
be tween democ racy a nd Commu–
nism without the danger of wa r."
T he Sov ie t s t h e mse lves s till
openly pro fess the ultima te victory
o f Communism. They be li eve tha t
the tide of histo ry is on t heir side.
tha t the "socia list working class"
will ye t preva il to become the
"grave-digger of capita lism." T he
current economic sick ness a ffiic ting
the major capitalistic powers has
give n puri s t Communi s t th eo–
re ticians even more reason ro be–
lieve tha t their ca use is r ight.
A Jittle over a year ago, a n edito–
ri a l in
Krasnaya Zvezda,
the news–
pa per o f the Sovie t a rmed fo rces,
sa id bluntly: "Ciass peace betweeo
PLAIN TRUTH December 1974