Stalin Will Not Initiate World War, Says Kirk

Josef Stalin is "too prudent" to launch a war against the West, Alan G. Kirk, Jr., former ambassador to Russia, said in an interview Friday.

Earlier, at a U.N. Council talk, Kirk declared that the U.S. will have to rebuild its military might before it can effectively tete-a-tete with the Soviets.

Kirk said that the people in the Communist sphere of authority don't want war, but they'll do--as always--what they're told. He described Stalin as being "feared, hated, respected, loved," and volunteered, "For my money he is the outstanding figure of the century."

Asked if the Soviet dictator would be walling to resort to war to accomplish his expansionist ends, Kirk alluded to Stalin's many outstanding accomplishments and said that he has a "strong sense of history." Although he is under pressure from ambitions military advisors and theorists. "I think he's too prudent for that." Kirk stated. "Besides, he's 72, and even for a Georgian, that's old."

We Need Might

Regarding the current balance of power, Kirk said. "We can't deal with these fellows when we're weak, in a military sense. They understand superiority. They won't talk until they're persuaded that we have enough force to make our voice heard."

After we've regained military strength and can bargain, we must be reasonable and firm "but not truculent," he continued. "We must be consistent. They're pushing for more and more power in the world. We must face this."

Life behind the Red curtain is restrained and regimented, according to Kirk. Political education begins very early among children. The control of information by the Bureau of Propaganda and Agitation "comes close to the fantastic control (described in) that book '1984.' And I think a great deal of it sticks," he added.

Explaining their propaganda technique, he told how, immediately after the outbreak of the Korean war, the Russians stormed that the South Koreans were the agressors and that the Americans were accomplices. This has been repeated over and over at home and at the U.N.

"The secret police are everywhere," he said. There are unknown informers in every factory, ship, farm, army unit. It has reached the point where the people are afraid to express opinions, except to expose deviation of others. "But," Kirk remarked, "the more uneasy and unhappy the people are, the more secure the leader is."