World: In the Name of Security

Fortnight ago, Finnish President Urho K. Kekkonen barely escaped a crushing bear hug, won postponement of "military talks" with Moscow. Last week the price of the respite became clearer: a move to silence Finland's anti-öCommunists.

All of Finland's parties agree that, in foreign affairs, the country's only hope is friendly neutrality toward Russia, but domestically, there is strong opposition to Communism—particularly by Vainö Tanner's Social Democrats. Aiming his words directly at the Social Democrats, Kekkonen demanded that his political opponents retire permanently from public life. Said he: "We have been repeatedly reminded of what our national interests require, and it is time to put an end to an unrealistic attitude which has already led its adherents to a dead end. As they leave the scene, they know that they will be serving the highest interests of a citizen —the security of their country."

Kekkonen was apparently carrying out Khrushchev's wishes in urging anti-Communists to quit—but many Finns felt that he was also acting with considerable relish for his own political gain. Ignoring the Kekkonen plea, the Social Democrats defiantly nominated Rafael Paasio. chairman of Parliament's foreign-relations committee, to run against Kekkonen in next month's vote for the presidency. The Conservative Party decided not to run its own presidential candidate, but pledged to remain in the fight for parliamentary general elections in February. Kekkonen's principal support was thus reduced to his own Agrarian Party and the Communists—a stigma he has been trying hard to avoid.