Kerensky Attacks Overall Condemnation of Russians

In the conduct of our foreign policy we are making a disastrous mistake in falling to distinguish between the 200,000,000 Russian people and the small knot of about 80,000 "hated oppressors" who rule them, Alexandre Kerensky declared last night before an audience which packed the New Lecture Hall. The speech of the former premier of Russia who was overthrown by the Bolsheviks in 1917 was given under the sponsorship of the United Nations Council.

There is no question that the goal of Stalin remains the original Leninist aim of world proletarian revolution, Kerensky said, adding that this concept cannot over be reconciled to Western ideals.

To combat this concept our best weapon should be to give all possible aid and reassurance to all people under the yoke of Communist dictatorship, especially the Russian people themselves, Kerensky maintained.

By falling to separate the people of Russia from their rulers, the United States is branding the whole Russian nation the aggressor of the Cold War. In so doing, we are misusing our best weapon by discouraging the people and driving them, through lack of hope from the West, right into the arms of the Communists, Kerensky continued.

No Continuation of History

The tendency in the West to define our enemy as Russian rather than Communist expansion stems from a widely held belief that the world proletarian movement is merely a continuation of the "traditional, historical imperialism of greater Russia," Kerensky said, quoting a statement by General Walter B. Smith, former U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R.

We must realize, Kerensky said, that World Revolution is a new, dynamic concept without roots in the past, a concept which overrides mere national boundaries.

"I spit on Russia," Kerensky quoted Lenin as having said. The Communist aim is to "build the base of an international proletarian revolution," and in so doing, "we must sacrifice all national interest," the quote concluded.