Shulman States Russia Stresses Co-Existence Policy Since 1949

Soviet Russia's foreign policy has been on the defensive since 1949-50, Marshall D. Shulman, associate director of the Russian Research Center, said yesterday.

The USSR was forced to alter its 1947-'49 policy of "over hostility" when the West reacted by increasing its military strength, he asserted in a speech at Harkness Commons.

Shulman pointed out that Russia has resorted to the forces of nationalism, neutralism, and peace movements in efforts to achieve its ends. Premier Bulganin recently symbolized the new line when he participated in the "martini road" at Geneva with President Eisenhower.

The communists have realized that their postwar hostility caused the Western powers to unite and finally led to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, he continued.

Although the Korean War came after the militant period, the Soviets considered it only a part of the local Asian contest. Western resistance served only to convince them that a policy of co-existence must be developed.

While Russian policy has thus radically changed, Shulman warned that there are many different meanings of "change" for the communists.

They have merely altered their policy on a superficial level while not altering basic aims. In internal affairs, however, Soviet society has moved toward increasing stratification on a class level, Shulman added.

"Whether this trend will cause a liberalization in the regime or bring Russia closer to 1984, I don't know," he said.