Cried Dr. Joseph Charles of Haiti: "Fraternity! Luminous entity which comes out of the flame and the heat, may you enlighten this august assembly . . . so that the structure of the future should never take the form of tombs. . . ."
There was indeed a faint glimmer of enlightenment over the U.N.'s General Assembly last week, and more than an occasional flicker of fraternity. All the week's major subjects were old quarrels, inevitably disinterred, but the U.N. Assemblymen approached them with new determination to have another go at the world's endless agenda of discord.
Spain. In his initial report, Secretary General Trygve Lie bluntly said he hoped that U.N. would "find ways and means by which liberty . . . may be restored in Spain." The Russians were obviously pleased, and no other important delegation hurried to object. Argentina's Jose Arce obliquely defended Franco by urging caution against "any downfall in the old-established human societies and centers of culture."
South Africa. After Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts sponsored a request that South-West Africa be incorporated in his South African Union, the Indian delegation, led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's sister, silver-haired Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, accused South Africa of persecuting its Indian minority. In the Assembly's General (Steering) Committee, Smuts, already harassed by domestic troubles (see FOREIGN NEWS), argued that the Indian minority question was an internal
South African affair. Russia's Andrei Vishinsky countered that the minority dispute concerned all nations. Vishinsky insisted that the South-West Africa question be excluded from discussion. After the U.S.'s new chief delegate, Senator Warren Austin, watchfully assisted by Adviser John C. Ross (whom one newsman called the delegation's "invisible quarterback"), made a placatory speech, Vishinsky withdrew his objections.
The Veto. A group of small nations, led by Cuba and Australia, demanded that the Assembly take a stand for modification of the Big Five veto in the Security Council. Since Russia has used the veto nine times since U.N.'s creation (no other nation has invoked it), the Russian delegation naturally was dead set against debating the proposal. The Ukraine's Dmitri Manuilsky charged that the small nations were scattering "apples of discord."
On the day that the General Committee was expected to act on the veto, both Austin and Vishinsky arrived early. In a corner of the committee room they talked earnestly through their interpreters. Later, Vishinsky reversed his stand, declared that Russia would not oppose discussion of the matter by the Assembly. The Russians were not taking any risk; Vishinsky knew Austin would not support drastic changes in the veto power.
Everyone agreed that the new Russian attitude was wonderful, and spoke quietly so as not to disturb it. Even Turkey's Huseyin Ragip Baydur only indirectly referred to Russian demands on the Dardanelles by growling that "arms and military might are powerful [but] world opinion is far more important."