International: Eastern Union

Last week, while the West talked and planned integration, Eastern Union churned ahead, too:

¶ In Helsinki, Finland's Parliament, by a vote of 157 to 11, ratified the Soviet-Finnish mutual aid treaty (TIME, April 19) that Finns had not wanted at all.

¶ In Belgrade, Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito took another step in his Two-Year Plan, nationalized all private enterprises (above the level of small individual shops) that had not been nationalized already.

¶ In Bulgaria, Premier Dimitroff's program to collectivize farms & farmers got started.

¶ In Moscow, Marshal Nikolai A. Bulganin issued the Order of the Day for May Day. Said he: "The entire personnel of our armed forces are obliged steadfastly to perfect their military knowledge, to master new military technique, to increase their vigilance . . ." For emphasis, the Red Army displayed new, long-range, B-29-type bombers in larger numbers than Moscow had ever seen before.