Last week nine million West Germans in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia which includes the Ruhrwent to the polls to elect a new state legislature. It was the second free election in Germany since the Nazis, and the quietest yet. By evening the voters, mostly miners and steelworkers, representing one-fourth of all voters in West Germany, had smashingly rejected both Communists and extreme right-wing Nationalist parties.
When the votes were counted, the Christian Democrats had won 36.9%, the Social Democrats a strong 32.4%, the right-of-center Free Democrats 12.1%. The Reds kept only twelve...
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