COMMUNISTS: Second Time Around

The Nikita Khrushchev who put on a spectacular road show across Asia in 1955 was the man on the make, from the land on the make. The Khrushchev who ended his second Southeast Asia swing last week was a man who all too obviously thought he had it made—and meant to keep it if he could. It was a holding operation. His big purpose was to jack up Communism's prestige in Southeast Asia, which had been severely damaged by the aggressive conduct of his Chinese ally. Except perhaps in Afghanistan, his crowds were thin, especially compared to President Eisenhower's—and worse, his audiences were not really with him this time. His efforts to stay neutral on the Chinese-Indian border dispute were not sufficient to win the affection of neutralist Indians, who on this issue ardently believe there can be no neutrality between right and wrong.

On Boasting. As he arrived home in Moscow, Western diplomats as well as Communists added up his performance. He succeeded in showing that Russia was peace-minded, but made little attempt to show that Peking was too. He was not always public-relations smooth. His rude lecturing on the evils of the multi-party state irked India's multi-party Parliament, and his arrogant boasts that Soviet aid is purely altruistic, whereas Western loans always have strings attached, provoked Nehru to comment that nations grant aid to other nations "on the ground of enlightened self-interest." In Indonesia, Khrushchev hurt President Sukarno's pride in his country's culture by walking out halfway through a Balinese dance, and the two men—though finding each other useful—were obviously uncongenial. One mealtime exchange showed their feelings:

Sukarno: Indonesian socialism is not a severe socialism. It aims at a good life for all, with no exploitation.

Khrushchev: No, no, no! Socialism should mean that every minute is calculated—a life built on calculation.

Sukarno: But this is the life of a robot.

In one aside, Khrushchev remarked that China's industrial achievements were being made "at too great a cost" in human accounting.

On Barking. A more successful part of Khrushchev's trip was to make clear that the Soviet Union is not abdicating its influence in Asia to Peking. The Soviet leader attended a New Delhi ceremony at which his government extended $378 million credits to the Indians, and later he gave $250 million in low-interest loans to Indonesia. In Djakarta, Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko did not insist that the final communiqué include the usual plea for Red China's admission to the U.N., the Indonesians having called the suggestion "inopportune"* ; Peking has been giving them a bad time over their law curbing overseas Chinese traders. And in Calcutta, where Khrushchev stopped over to meet Nehru and Burma's Prime Minister-designate U Nu, the air was festive because China's Chou En-lai had meanwhile agreed to visit New Delhi to discuss the Chinese-Indian border dispute. "The Indian people will overcome difficulties," shouted Khrushchev. "Let pug dogs bark while the Indian elephant marches forward!" "We are with him on this," replied Nehru.