YouSaid · the spoken record

CASEY

lines on the record: 388
first: 1951-09-24
most recent: 1959-09-24
sittings or episodes: 9
sources: un-general-debate

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“Most of us had hoped that this Assembly would have been able to avoid a recurrence of the discussion of the Korean question and of the constitution of the political conference, and that all that had been disposed of in the recently concluded seventh session of the General Assembly. There seemed little that could he added by this session and, indeed, it might be thought that further discussion of this matter in New York would tend only to complicate the issues facing the political conference and possibly burden and embarrass it with an even less easy atmosphere than it will inherit in any event. Whether this General Assembly can avoid further argument about the constitution of the political conference, and about the Korean problem generally, is dependent mainly on the authorities in China and in North Korea. 43.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“They exist today, for instance, in Germany, in Korea and in Indo-China, each of them areas in which the Communists can establish their bona fides and their sincerity in a practical and convincing way. They exist, again, in the problem of the international control of atomic energy. 40. If, however, the Soviet gestures of 1953 turn out in fact to be no more than a minor manoeuvre in world politics — and we are likely to discover whether or not this is so in the coming year — then the disappointment, and even the anger, of the ordinary people all over the world will be very real. 41. And now perhaps I might be allowed to speak a little on the major current problem of Korea. 42.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“The mere turning on or off of international tension is not an index to the good faith of communist negotiators. It has been a tactic, in the past at least, to serve a purpose; and it is the nature of the purpose that we have to explore. We are thankful for the cessation — or perhaps I should say the diminution — of the campaign of hate and vilification. But the welfare of mankind is not immediately affected by the manners, good or bad, of international communism. The test of Soviet intentions lies in communist initiative, as I have said, in positive co-operative action in directions of importance, as distinct from the matters of small consequence on which the Soviet Union has experimented so far. 39. As I have said, such areas of co-operation will not lie hard to find.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“They explain it away or, more often still, they do not bother to explain it at all. 37. Now it seems to me that all this adds up to this, that if the policy-makers of the Soviet Union have genuinely decided to try a more human and co-operative policy for the future, the way is clear ahead for them to do so. We will not, however, lower our guard and they cannot expect us to be notably responsive until the process has gone a good deal further than it has up to now. 38. We shall watch out for communist initiative in positive co-operative action. Areas of co-operation are not hard to find. Moreover, let us not forget that we have had experience of the policy of relieving tension from time to time before this. It is an old technique of communism, the stop back before taking two steps forward.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“The communist leaders either have an innate, ingrained and unreasoning suspicion of the democracies that no facts, no logic, no argument will dispel, or, alternatively, they may have decided to adopt an attitude of suspicion and to propagate it as a considered part of their policy and as a means of maintaining the offensive spirit in their peoples. The Iron Curtain enables the lack of knowledge of the rest of the world to be maintained and the suspicion of the democracies to be fostered. 36. Of the two alternatives — that the Soviet suspicion of the democracies is real or that it is synthetic — I would tend to believe that the latter is more likely to be the case. If thus is so, then it is capable of change. The Soviet leaders have never been afraid of a radical change of policy.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“They profess to believe that we are plotting and working towards the downfall of the communist regime. It would be more true to say that we are devoting ourselves whole-heartedly to trying to stop the aggressive expansion of communist domination beyond its present borders. Those communist officials who know the democracies — and surely some of them do — can have no logical fear of aggression by the democracies. But I can appreciate the fact that it is impossibly dangerous for these few men to attempt to communicate their views to their leaders, and still more, of course, to get them accepted.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Maybe they are coming round to considering, if not the spiritual, then at least some of the social — or perhaps, rather, the sociological — lessons that the democratic world has learnt in many centuries of development, and that such lessons are now in the process of beginning to influence their minds, as practical considerations. Perhaps — we do not know — the great thaw may be starting in the Ice Age of Soviet politics. All this may be hopelessly wrong. One’s common sense tells one that it is, but there is just the hope that we may be seeing a gleam of light at the end of the tunnel, and this bare possibility is my excuse for taking up, for a short time, the time of the General Assembly in referring to it. 35. I am not blind to the fact that the Soviet leaders show all the signs of being intensely suspicious of us, the democracies.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Certainly the facts of the past provide but little hope that such matters have even been considered by the Soviet Union leaders — much less that their policy has been influenced by them. Rather would it seem that consideration for the individual has been regarded as a weak bourgeois conception which has no place in the armoury of those whose god is force and to whom domination of others is the only desirable aim. 34. Men’s minds develop, whatever the form of society. The Soviet Union has gone far in learning and applying the material facts of life.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Since this theory was first advanced over one hundred years ago, democracy has weathered many storms and crises — domestic and international — and it has survived and prospered, except where it has been overcome and stamped out by force of arms. I expect it may have occurred to the Soviet Union leaders — occurred only to be anxiously rejected — that it is not at all impossible that the thesis might more properly be true in reverse — that communism may hold within itself the seeds of its own destruction, particularly if the human element is to be left continuously and entirely out of account. 33. However, the incidence of these human observations — whether or not they have been taken into account and, if so, the weight given to them in Moscow — -is no more than speculation.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“We have had some experience in the drawing of inference from history and from events. From the experience of the last forty years we have learnt some lessons. One of them is that totalitarian regimes always look — always, in the nature of things, they have to look- — more durable than they are, until, as in two notable instances, they crack irrevocably. They seem, while they are viable, to present an impervious front; whereas, in democratic countries, every small difference is magnified and emphasized to the world. Mr. Vyshinsky has himself taken advantage of this from time to time by quoting from scraps of newspaper clippings from obscure journals in democratic countries. 32. It has been one of the shibboleths of communism that democracy, as we know it, contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Such changes in direction as we have seen during 1953 do not come about by simple chance, but rather by hard calculation of the probable results. 30. There are internal stresses and strains in every country — democratic and communist — by reason largely of the unfulfilled ambitions of the human beings who make up all our populations. In the democracies these stresses and strains can be resolved — or at any rate eased — through the operation of the well-known machinery of democracy. In the communist countries no such safety-valve exists. The condition of the people — of the ordinary common people — in a dictatorship can be altered for the better only by changes in high- level policy dictated by the person or the group in undisputed political control. 31. We, on our side, are not fools.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Perhaps it would be too much to believe that these simple, homely matters have begun to receive some attention in Moscow, and that they may have been responsible for the slight casing in the asperity of Soviet policy at home and abroad that has been noticeable during 1953. 29. At the sixth session of the General Assembly, in Paris, two years ago, I suggested that it would not be wise for the Soviet Union to provoke world tension beyond the point of no return — the point beyond which there could be no turning back along the road which appeared in 1951 to be leading inevitably to another world war. I am not one who suffers from the malady of folie des grandeurs, but I may be excused for believing that some such consideration as this must have influenced the minds of those in control of Soviet policy.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“They are to us the politics of the Middle Ages, from which we believe mankind has developed a very long way. I believe that, for this reason, if for no other, the theory of communism does not ring true. 28. These observations are commonplace truisms, blinding glimpses of the obvious, to us in the democracies. Maybe they have something of the charm of novelty to those who have not been brought up and lived their lives in democratic surroundings. I am led to believe that not much thinking has been done on these lines in Moscow by the fact that the Soviet Union representatives to the United Nations do not seem to have devoted more than a passing moment of their many hundreds of hours of speaking in the Assembly to the question of the welfare and the happiness of the individual human being.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Perhaps I may be allowed to quote the old Biblical warning: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” 27. The Soviet Union, in framing its plans and its strategy, has taken a great many factors into account. It has shown great skill. It has made itself master of many techniques and much expertise; but I would believe that it has left almost completely out of account a matter on which we in the democracies vet great store and importance — and that is the human element in life and in politics. In communist circles it would appear that politics come from the head and not the heart, whereas with us it is, at any rate to a very great extent, the reverse. We believe that politics that leave the interests and the feelings of individual human beings out of account are doomed, and rightly so.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“If they were designed to secure a response by the democracies, and so to lead to a genuine easing of world tension and to the eventual possibility of the two sides living together, then they have not yet succeeded — nor, indeed, have they yet failed. 26. If, in the course of, say, the coming year, the tentative approaches of the Soviet Union towards the easing of world tension are continued; if, perhaps, they gain momentum; if, in particular, we see signs that carry conviction to us that the Soviet ambitions to communize the world have given place to some less offensive and less all-embracing objective, then I believe that the Soviet Union is likely to get real reciprocity. We, for our part, have every right to remember that, while tactics may change, the repeatedly stated ultimate objective of communism is the communizing of the world.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Suspicion and hostility are cumulative, as are goodwill and tolerance. For some years the Soviet Union held something close to a monopoly of suspicion and hostility, and our side, inherently, a near-monopoly of tolerance. But hostility breeds hostility, just as tolerance breeds tolerance. Every action has its equal and opposite reaction. The present situation is not very unlike that of the Roman leader who said to the Carthaginians: “I have in my toga peace or war. Choose which you will.” 25. The gestures made by the Soviet Union during this year may be important or unimportant. Nobody knows except the handful of men in Moscow who control Soviet policy.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“We understand very well the tactics of retreat and of advance — indeed, the leaders of the Soviet Union have been frank enough to explain it to their followers, and to us, in published volumes. The turning on and off of international tension is a tactic to serve a purpose. Our minds have become quite sensitive to such manoeuvres. 24. However, for myself — and in spite of what I have said — I do not find it impossible to believe that these gestures may be genuine and that, if they are not thrown back in the face of the Soviet Union, they may possibly lead to a more civilized relationship between international communism and the democracies, even to the extent of the two systems living side by side in the world without dangerous friction. The possibility of bringing this about is vastly more in the hands of the Soviet Union than of our side.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“We in Australia, among other countries, have bitter memories of this underground and covert warfare — because there is no other realistic way of describing it. The communist dictum, “The easiest way to take a fortress is from within”, has not been lost on us. We know very well what it means — and we are taking our own measures to protect ourselves. 23. However, I do not propose to dwell on these matters. We have, as I have said, some evidence in recent times of a tendency on the part of the Soviet Union to employ gestures of less malignancy, less hostility than formerly. We may be excused if we treat these gestures with some reserve, if we do not become too greatly impressed with their sincerity.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“This general debate in the United Nations General Assembly has, over the years, come to assume the character of an annual stock-taking by the peoples of the world. It is a unique opportunity for assessing the hopes and fears of the peoples of the world for their future. 22. At this time — and, indeed, at any time since 1945 — the problem of the world is, as it has been, the rivalry between international democracy and international communism. It would be only too easy for most of us here to make a bitter case against the Soviet Union for what we have suffered at its hands since 1945. In addition to the many well-known instances of overt military and political aggression, I expect that there is not one of the democratic countries that has not suffered by reason of the disruptive activities of the clandestine agents of the Soviet Union.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“I remember that when her brother, the Prime Minister of India, had to meet some comment in his own country at having nominated a woman doctor for a certain post in India, he replied: “I have not sent a woman; I have sent an officer.” Notwithstanding this, I do not believe it will be possible to conceal the fact that the women of India — and, indeed, I believe, the women of the world — will be greatly encouraged by Mrs. Pandit’s election. 20. I should also like to give a sincere welcome to our new Secretary-General, Mr. Hammarskjold, who has come to us from his native Sweden with a high reputation and who, I have no doubt, will be a very able Secretary-General. To Mr. Lie, the first Secretary-General of the United Nations, Australia wishes every good fortune for the future. 21.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“18. May I start by offering the President of the General Assembly the sincere congratulations of the Australian Government on her election. I think she knows of my special interest in and regard for her country, in which I have lived and worked. I am confident that her work as President of the Assembly will bring the highest credit both to her country and to herself. 19. I have noticed that she said, in connexion with her high appointment, that she did not wish the fact that she was a woman to be stressed; rather, she wished the fact that she was a citizen of India to be stressed.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“What a travesty they have also made of resolutions, largely instigated by themselves, dealing with questions like war propaganda! If anything is going to produce a war in this world, it is sowing the seeds of hatred among peoples. 63. There is an old tale among some of the peoples who live on the foothills of the Himalayas. It goes like this: “One day as I was walking on the mountainside, I saw at a distance what I thought to be a beast. As I came closer, I saw that it was a man. As I came closer still, I found it was my brother.” It is a far stretch from the Himalayan foothills to this modem chamber. But the councils of the nations could well heed the moral of that simple folk tale if we are to live in peace and understanding in the world.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“We can and shall answer the allegations of the Soviet Union Government, and in strong terms, but it will not go unnoticed that we do not engage, as regards the peoples of the USSR, and the peoples of other countries in the hands of the USSR, in the sort of vilification practised by that Government. 62. The peoples of the world have to try to understand each other. The Charter enjoins us to do just that. Its purposes, which have been callously ignored by some, even Members of the United Nations include the following: “To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples…” and “To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations… What a mockery has been made of those purposes by some of our colleagues in this Organization!”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“It is unthinkable that any responsible officer would have ordered such action.” I have a longer and very much detailed statement from Sir Macfarlane Burnet on this subject which I shall make available at a more appropriate time, when this matter is discussed — as I have no doubt it will be — in the relevant committee. 61. Obviously it is no use appealing to the Soviet Union to desist from the campaign in which it is engaged. The General Assembly has already passed resolutions against war-mongering, war propaganda, and false and distorted reports, all of which are ignored by the country which initiated them.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“The spread of any epidemic is determined almost wholly by the condition of the population concerned. “In areas where plague or typhus are already present, as in North Korea and Manchuria, the occurrence of outbreaks will be determined by local conditions such as the degree of overcrowding, the presence of rats and the immunity of the population. “The deliberate liberation, by any means, of the responsible germs could have no more than a trivial effect on the incidence of diseases. No significant military effect could be expected.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“For myself, I consulted our leading Australian authority on virus and communicable diseases, Sir Macfarlane Burnet, a man whose reputation and experience is not without repute in scientific circles throughout,, the world. Sir Macfarlane Burnet has allowed me to quote him regarding allegations that germ warfare has been carried on in Korea. He said the following: “The whole question of spreading disease by such methods has been extensively and openly discussed in literature on the subject. It is the general opinion of bacteriologists that any attempt to initiate epidemics which would then spread widely amongst enemy personnel is bound to be fruitless. “No intelligent bacteriologist could ever believe that the dropping of plague-infested fleas or typhus-infected lice could have more than a minor psychological or nuisance value.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“Contrast his charges with the claim published in the Soviet New Times on 13 August 1952, which told its foreign readers: “The Soviet Union fosters in its citizens a spirit of respect for, and peaceful co-operation with other nations, The Soviet way of life does not tolerate the propaganda of animosity, let alone of hatred, towards the peoples of other countries.” I hope that no USSR representative will be kept from sleeping by laughing at this unfortunate contradiction on the part of the Soviet Press. 59. Let me now say a word about the fantastic charges about germ warfare in Korea. The charges have, of course, been specifically denied time and time again. Impartial investigation was proposed by the United States when the charges were first made, and, as we all know, it was refused. 60.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
““From time immemorial, the idea of disarmament has been one of the most favoured forms of diplomatic dissimulation of the true motives and plans of those governments which have been seized by such a sudden ‘love of peace!.” 57. I do not think that one could have a more cynical and frank statement of the Soviet Union attitude towards the world or expression of propaganda in recent years. On Saturday, Mr. Vyshinsky, in particular bitterness towards the United States, made his protestations about the desirability and possibility of peaceful coexistence in this world, I believe, a mockery, 58.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“For the reason why we hear so much about this, I refer the General Assembly to the History of Diplomacy, an official publication of the Government of the Soviet Union issued in 1945. It gives, with disarming frankness, the motive behind these campaigns. The following quotation that I am going to read — a short quotation — shows the callous Soviet regard for the effectiveness of certain kinds of dishonest propaganda: “To the same groups of examples of the concealment of predatory ends behind noble principles also belong the instances of the exploitation of the idea of disarmament and pacifist propaganda in the broad sense of the word for one’s own purposes.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“The democracies certainly have, in recent years, banded together in various parts of the world in their own defence. The United Nations Charter provides for this and sanctions it. The reason why we have done this is that we believe it is essential to make provision against the aggressive tactics of the USSR, Despite that country's talk of disarmament, there are no features connected with Soviet Union armed might which have yet given us any particular cause for confidence. Our confidence stems from our growing strength. We are under threat — and we are taking adequate measures to protect ourselves, 56. I shall now speak on peace and disarmament, How many words have we heard from the USSR about these two ideals of all humanity!”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“His speech contained nothing new. I think that that is generally agreed. Most of it reiterated the false and blatant propaganda that the USSR had been trying to sell for a great many years. By the use of quotations, largely taken out of their context, he sought to show that all the United States wanted was war, that its whole system was geared to war, and that it was arranging a series of aggressive actions to encircle the Soviet Union. He even went so far as to suggest that the ANZUS arrangements recently contracted between the United States, Australia and New Zealand, fitted into this pattern of aggressive alliance. But if Mr. Vyshinsky thinks — and I do not believe that he does — that our Pacific security arrangements are threatening the Soviet Union and are designed for anything other than our self-defence, he need have no fear. 55.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“One can only assume that the Soviet Union is not interested in solving these problems but is interested only in fomenting discontent arising out of them. In other words, the Soviet Union has a vested interest in discontent. 53. I should like to speak briefly about the Soviet hate campaign. We are all familiar with its charges of germ warfare, imperialism, racial prejudice and all the rest. Clearly it is the aim of the Soviet Union to attempt to drive a wedge between the United Kingdom and the United States. If this is so, there are a great many of us who have an interest in this matter. British-American co-operation is an anvil that has worn out many hammers. I have no doubt that it will stand up to a sickle as well. 54. On Saturday morning, I listened attentively to the leader of the Soviet Union delegation.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“Vyshinsky seemed to find some grim satisfaction in the fact that there is a world shortage of food. Yet the Soviet Union has done nothing to help. We, the democracies, have made every effort to help. The simple fact is that the Soviet Union, practically alone of all the Powers which could help the food situation, particularly in southern and Southeast Asia, has done nothing and shows no sign of wanting to do anything. 52. Does it not all add up to a rather simple answer? We, the democratic countries, recognize the existence of the food problem, and we are assisting the governments of the countries concerned with freely given aid to the limit of our abilities. The USSR, on the other hand, apparently hopes to produce doubts and fears by stressing these problems — but does nothing about them.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“But we are short of capital for the basic irrigation products and to meet the cost of additional land settlement on which greatly increased Australian production largely depends, However, apart from our domestic Australian situation, Australia has, in common with other British countries — the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand — concerned itself with the foodstuffs situation in the countries on the Asian mainland to our north, Through the Colombo plan, we and others are doing all we can to help in a variety of directions, particularly with respect to food projects. The United States has taken splendidly helpful action. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is supporting developmental projects designed largely to increase food supply on the Asian mainland. 51. Mr.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“However, the food-exporting potentialities of these areas, taken as a whole, have declined over the past fifteen years. Adverse seasons in one or another of these areas could create a desperate situation, 50. In Australia, we are making every effort to stimulate and encourage increased food production. I need not go into detail. We are hampered by a shortage of capital — the best fertilizer in the world. With adequate capital, we could in the long run make substantial increases in food production, Great things could be done in Australia if we could link the provision of additional capital with immigration, irrigation and food production. Similarly, faster development would be possible if the present heavy burden of rearmament forced on us by the threat of communist aggression were to be lifted.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“According to a United Nations survey, there is 5 per cent less food available per capita today than there was in 1939. Next to maintaining peace, mankind’s most urgent task is to increase the world’s food supply. Twenty years ago, the League of Nations reported that half the world was suffering from malnutrition. The population of the world is currently increasing by about 30 million people a year, and yet exportable food surpluses are declining. The remedy must be applied in terms of individual countries and regions, and technical assistance and other means of increasing agricultural production should be given the highest priority. 49. The major food-exporting areas of the world are North America, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“In the days when they still had some measure of independence, the Governments of Czechoslovakia and Poland made such contributions, but in the last three years not a penny has come from Eastern Europe for these programmes. The Soviet Union is a country of 200 million people, or thereabouts; my own country, Australia, is a country of eight and a half million people. Under United Nations and other programmes of relief and assistance, Australia has contributed or pledged no less than $180 million. The USSR has not contributed a penny. This is a record of which we are proud, and it is a record which stands in stark contrast to that of the Soviet Union. 48. I now wish to say a word on the food problem. The world is short of food, and the situation is worsening. Food production has lagged behind population increase.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“It is action for the common good. Economic development not only benefits the people directly concerned, but also those of other nations. Food and want are global problems, not merely regional or national. 47. The USSR has never offered technical assistance to the rest of the world except recently, for obviously self-interested political purposes in limited areas. The Soviet Union belongs to none of the economic and humanitarian agencies of the United Nations. The Soviet Union has made no contributions to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund or the International Refugee Organization. These are facts that need to be said and said again.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“We should recognize the problems and difficulties facing the administrations of the many new nations that have come into existence with complete autonomy within the last ten years. Many are evolving governments best suited to their own conditions. Levels of industrial development and standards of living vary immensely from country to country. If some nations can be of assistance in helping the newer nations to raise their standards of living, they should do so with no strings attached. If assistance is not wanted, that is the affair of the country concerned. No one will attempt to impose it on them. But modern techniques of production, both industrial and agricultural, can do much for them. 46. It is a common form of communist propaganda that technical assistance is another form of colonialism. This, of course, is not the fact.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“If anyone imagines that we are exercising these responsibilities for selfish gain, let me say that since Australia accepted the Trusteeship Agreement for New Guinea, our dependent territories have cost metropolitan Australia a net amount of £14, 900,000. Each year we have made grants to our territories several times the value of the revenues of those territories, 44. Those who have had experience of primitive peoples in many countries know very well that the too rapid impact of what we are pleased to call civilization can utterly corrupt and destroy them. There are many essential things that can and should be done, but there is much else that can be done only gradually and with understanding if the people are to survive. 45.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“Our critics might be reminded of the biblical injunction: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged ... And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” I shall say no more than this, although there is a very great deal more that could be said. 43. The simple fact is that, so far as Australia is concerned, we recognize fully the obligations that we have accepted towards the indigenous peoples of Papua and of the Territory of New Guinea. We propose to carry out these obligations in the letter and in the spirit, as we have done in the past.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“Along with many other colonial countries, Great Britain protected us and assisted us with men, money and markets until progressively we achieved complete representative self-government in all aspects of our domestic and international affairs. 41. There are dangers in the premature granting of self-government. A people must be ready to take effective measures of defence and must learn to direct their economic affairs before self-government can be exercised. Leaders prepared for their responsibilities must emerge. Otherwise, autonomy can lead to chaos and poverty, the breeding ground of communism. 42. We are sometimes criticized by certain countries forgot providing social services in our Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories on a scale far beyond that which exists in the countries of some of our critics.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“Fortunately, the leaders of nationalist movements have been forewarned of this. They have seen the proud independence of countries like Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic States become a tragic — but, we hope, only a temporary — memory. While colonial Powers have, since re war, brought to nationhood an impressive number of countries, many of them represented here today, the Soviet, Union has destroyed the independence of no less than seven nations, There could be no greater fallacy than to believe that communism is the path to greater freedom or welfare, 40. My own country, Australia, was a collection of colonies only fifty-odd years ago.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“Acheson very rightly pointed out, 624 million people have attained full nationhood and independence. Others are moving towards self-government in accordance with principles that have long existed and which have been restated in the Charter of the United Nations. Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon, Israel, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Libya and Eritrea — all new nations — are surely proof of the good faith of the colonial Powers. 38. Communist propaganda holds that nations responsible for the peoples who are not yet self-governing are interested solely in their exploitation. This specious plea is designed to help identify communism with nationalist aspirations. But for these people, communism offers only the kiss of death, the mortgaging of freedom, before freedom itself is attained. 39.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“There has been an underlying innuendo that countries responsible for dependent peoples and Trust Territories are bent upon maintaining the status quo for some selfish ends of their own. The fact is that the responsible Powers have been loyally carrying out their duties under the Charter in accordance with principles accepted not only by those Powers but also by all Members of the United Nations by the act of signing the Charter. Indeed, better conditions exist in certain colonies or dependent territories than exist in the countries of some of the critics. 37. The world has become accustomed to attacks on what is called colonialism. They spring from the concern of all Members for the rights of dependent peoples. But there is much of which one can be proud in the record of the so-called colonial Powers. In the past decade, as Mr.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“The suggestion that the United Nations has the right to discuss anything within the scope of the Charter notwithstanding Article 2, paragraph 7, even though it may not have the competence to make recommendations thereon, is in our view not in the best interests of the United Nations as a co-operative instrument in international affairs, 36. In the opinion of many of us, there have been not only discussions, but positive recommendations, particularly in the past two or three years, on matters not contemplated by the Charter. This has been particularly apparent in the work of the Fourth Committee of the Assembly, Frequently, the Committee has sought to impose its will in contravention of the Charter.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“By stating broad humanitarian principles in the Charter, I do not think that the nations at San Francisco had in mind that the Organization would thereby be permitted to discuss or to intervene in questions of domestic economic or social legislation. The objective of international welfare which has its expression in the Charter is an objective of international co-operation towards an ideal, and not an authorization for the Organization to attack individual States on matters which are the subject of its own legislation. I say this without regard to the merits of any particular situation, 35. I cannot emphasize too strongly the view of my Government as to the need to keep the whole of the Charter in perspective in this way.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“I remember the wise words of the President, on 14 October [377th meeting], when he said: “The United Nations, we should not forget, is not a super-government.” The Charter permits discussion of a wide range of subjects. But at San Francisco, it was agreed to impose limitations without which our deliberations might be so wide as to prove endless and fruitless. To my mind, the Charter must be regarded and considered as a whole. At San Francisco, the document would not have been acceptable to many of us had not its various provisions been interrelated. In this connexion, I refer to Article 2, paragraph 7, which prohibits the discussion of matters of domestic jurisdiction. 34.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“I feel strongly that some way should be found of breaking the deadlock which is preventing a number of countries from joining the United Nations for reasons not related to the Charter. A great majority of Members have believed that a number which have applied for admission since 1946 are fully qualified under Article 4 of the Charter. On the other hand, the Soviet Union has endeavoured to secure the admission of some others which, again in the opinion of the majority, are not so qualified, The exclusion of so many countries from this international forum is a disability reducing the exchange of views and curtailing our activities and usefulness. By admitting more Members, we wish to give the Organization the widest possible representation. 33. But we must remember the Charter on which it rests.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)
“Churchill gave in reply to a similar question during the 1939-1945 war, when he said: “If we stopped, you would find out.” In Korea, we have repelled aggression, and the very fact that we intervened has been a warning to aggressors that they cannot ravage and outrage other countries with impunity. Our resistance to aggression in Korea may well deter aggression elsewhere, maybe on an even more formidable scale, 31. We are still hopeful of an armistice. I assure the General Assembly that my delegation will examine the question of Korea with the greatest of care in the First Committee, while preserving the principle to which I have referred. 32. I should like to make a brief reference to the United Nations, not to its successes or failures, but to its composition.”
1952-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 7 (1952)