MOSCOW-PEKING DISPUTE AFFECTS SCANDINAVIAN CP'S
The Communist party of Denmark has lined up solidly on Khrushchev's side in the dispute with Peking. Gelius Lund, a leading spokesman, stated the party position in Land og Folk’ July 19: "Discussion is generally a good thing. In the present case, however, the conflict is disadvantageous. The Chinese leaders have no positive or constructive proposal to make, It is not constructive to make oneself an opponent to general and complete international disarmament or to attack peaceful coexistence as the general line of the Communist parties. It is grist for the mill of the cold war. The Chinese attacks against other parties, denouncing them for hav— ing ideas which they have never asserted, can also be most damaging. The only good thing is that the discussion establishes what is the line of the Communist world movement in general."
The famous Danish Communist writer Hans Scherfig, who, like Lund, is a member of the editorial board of Land og Folk, declared in an interview July 1: "We scarcely ‘now what the conflict is really about. The policy of the Soviet Union Seems most favorable to us, because it offers .more chances of avoiding war, The Chinese only stick more to the texts, more to Marx and Engels, and probably do not recognize that all these clever words were written before anyone thought of the atomic bomb."
Land og Folk has reported the conflict quite one=sidedly.
While the viewpoint of the Communist party of the Soviet Union has been explained carefully and presented with big tendentious head— — lines, important declarations of the Chinese have either not appeared at all or have been highly condensed.
In Sweden the approach has been more cautious. At the end of July Ny Dag, organ of the Communist party of Sweden published an
interview with Hilding Hagberg, chairman of the party. Among other things he said, "I think that the reason for the disagreement, is cifferences of. opinion over the possibility of preventing a new great war, The Communist party of China cannot possibly desire war, on the other hand the leadership of the CPC does not seem to believe in the possibility of preventing a new great war."
"In my opinion," the Swedish Communist party leader continued, "they are thus overrating the possibilities open to the imperialist bloc and underestimating the possibilities held by both the socialist | camp and all other forces of peace. The Communist party of the Soviet Union does not deny the danger of a new great war; on the contrary it warns the people against this danger, Besides increas-~ ing the belief in the possibility of preventing a great war, an agreement on a test ban will reduce the danger of war considerably and increase confidence in negotiation and willingness to engage in ait."
Referring to the possibility of a world gathering of Communist representatives to discuss the differences, Hagberg was of the following opinion: "A world conference is inevitable and might come as soon as the end of this year. "
In contrast to the Danish Communist party, which has three times postponed a tour to study conditions in China, the Communist party of Norway sent a delegation at the end of 1962, After their return, the central committee passed a, resolytion which avoided taking a forthright stand on the Moscow+-Peking dispute. .
The resolution nevertheless praised the Soviet stand during the Cuban crisis, describing it as "an initiative which saved the world from a nuclear war and at the same time protected the independence of the Cuban people,"
The resolution declared that the parties in the discussion "must endeavor to avoid use of language and initiatives which unnecessarily aggravate the situation." It also appealed to the participants to avoid transferring "differences of opinion on ideological and tactical questions. . . to the political plane,"
After negotiations between the Communist parties of China and the Soviet Union were broken off, Friheten, the organ of the Communist party of Norway, declared: M7Aough our parties form a united international movement, this does not limit their independence and does not prevent different opinions and points of view from arising, Therefore each party has the same right to demand respect for its point of view; but it will be to everyone! s advantage to thoroughly and objectively discuss divergent opinions on important international questions. Therefore the discussion between the Communist parties of China and the Soviet Union is of great importance to all Communist + parties. It is part of the common discussion which is carried on in our movement. The two parties that have broken off negotiations thus ought to seriously
consider their responsibility toward the Communist parties of all ather countries,"
CUBA_