Forum Speakers Clash Over U.S. Russian Policies

Damning the United States "yellow process" for "bringing calamity that much nearer" in U. S. Russian relations, Arthur Upham Pope, biographer of Maxim Litvinoff, defended Russian foreign policy last night at the first Law School Forum of the 1946-47 season.

Before a crowd of over 1,500 in Sanders Theater, Pope opposed a "get-tough-with-Russia" attitude defended by David Dallin, former member of the Moscow Soviet. Harrison Salisbury, United Press foreign editor, in a history-like appraisal of Russia since the war, asserted that her foreign policy stemmed from fear of the western powers.

Opposition Aggression Urged

Is a denouncement of the U. S. press, so-called "officials" such as John Foster Dulles and American Legion commanders, and some churchmen, pope, director of the Iranian Institute, urged people of this country to "put themselves in the Russians' place" in an effort to understand what makes soviet foreign policy appear difficult to cope with.

"Nothing can strengthen peace better than consistent opposition to aggression and oppression, in internal and international affairs alike, and clear, frank, and consistent loyalty to the principles of individual freedom and political liberty," Dallying said. He maintained that "two paramount facts" stand out in the Soviet post-war policy: (1) the reversal to its traditional, pre-war trends, which he termed anti-British; and (2) the unexpected difficulties in shifting Russian public opinion back to the old "schemes and concepts," after the policy of friendliness to the allied powers displayed during the war.

In his analysis of domestic factors leading to the present Russian foreign policy, Salisbury said the Soviet Union was in "a strong position" in some respects at the conclusion of the war and week in other ways.

On the "credit side," there was general confidence among the people in leadership; great military strength in Europe and Asia; a forceful strategic position on the "whole conditional land mass;" the alliances with the west "whose durability and value under post-war stress remained to be tested, and a speeding up of industrialization which "would eventually pay dividends."

on the "debit side," Salisbury said Russia had suffered great loss of life and damage to her country during the war, her technology was backward, and the people were "exhausted." All in all, he said, Russia fears war, and presumably-would direct her foreign policy toward preservation of peace.

During the Forum question period, John M. Couture 2L was awarded three books, written by the speakers, presented by the Personal Book Shop for the most "outstanding question" submitted from the floor. E. Merrick Dodd '10, professor of Law, was Moderator