Positive Internationalism

Senator Taft's perseverence in isolation has led him to suggest recently that the United States withdraw the Baruch plan for international atomic energy control "until the world is in a more peaceful state." By throwing this idea upon the table as a last futile barrage against the Lilienthal confirmation, Taft shocked many people, even his Republican colleagues. It is clear, however, that the Taft proposal to squelch the American atomic plan is a type of thinking characteristic of the present power conflict between the United States and Russia.

The "get tough with Russia" philosophy which now prevails in the State Department presupposes that a show of force is the only means by which the commissars of the Kremlin who live by the law of the jungle will be compelled to cooperate. Taft believes, therefore, that the Baruch plan is too liberal and smacks too heartily of appeasement: since Russia has so far proven unwilling to accept the Baruch plan provisions for international inspection and suspension of the veto, the plan should be put back into the files until the Russians are willing to bid for it again.

The Taft proposal seems perfectly compatible with the "get tough" policy. It remains a question, though, whether getting tough in this way will remove the hope of attaining international cooperation. If a stiffer attitude towards Russia appears to be justified, the Taft proposal for withdrawing the Baruch plan raises the problem of how tough to get. The removal of such a facet of international organization as atomic energy seems in effect a pocket-veto by the United States of world cooperation. Unqualified use of the toughness policy may result in the destruction of the United Nations pattern.

The basic reason for getting tough is in hope that Russia will see the advantages of cooperation and then will cooperate. If there is no machinery available for expected cooperation, this hope cannot be fulfilled. It would seem, therefore, that other ways of getting tough ought to be tried if the ultimate is to make it a practice for nations to utilize an international organization. If Senator Taft sincerely believes in cooperation and is not just red-baiting, he ought to reconsider his proposal in light of these larger demands of internationalism.