YouSaid · the spoken record

GROMYKO

lines on the record: 1,518
first: 1957-09-24
most recent: 1984-09-24
sittings or episodes: 22
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“There can no longer be any question of recognition or nonrecognition of its existence by States belonging to the other system, any more than there could be of recognizing or refusing to recognize the fact that the earth revolves around the sun. The simple truth is that if States do not want a new world war, they must maintain with each other, not temporary relations permeated with mistrust and hostility, but truly peaceful relations. There is no other way out, no other possibility exists. 46. To how that the need for the peaceful co-existence of States and its benefits are recognized not only by the representatives of socialist States, allow me to read an extract from a letter sent in November, 1941, by Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to Stalin, then head of the Soviet Government.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“Needless to say, we have no objection if those whom we are inviting to this competition enter it with the same confidence in their own chances. 44. All this, of course, does not remove the differences existing between the two social systems, or the ideological dispute between them. The differences and the dispute exist - we must admit that as an immutable fact. But should they be allowed to interfere with peaceful toil and the peaceful competition of States? In the Soviet Government’s view, there is no reason why they should. 45. Today more than one-third of the population of the globe lives under the socialist system.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“This, of course, is competition of a kind, but one to which we are opposed. In its place we propose a competition in the transformation of nature, in bending its forces to the will of man and for peaceful purposes. It is precisely such a competition, not an armaments race, which should settle the argument about the advantages and drawbacks of different social systems. 43. In viewing the question from this angle, we are well aware that some sectors of our economy still suffer from shortcomings which we shall have to do a great deal of work to remove. But we have faith in our latent powers. Our confidence in our success springs from our knowledge of the Soviet people’s creative enthusiasm and the great advantages of a planned socialist economy.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“The Soviet State is engaged in the execution of a gigantic programme of industrial and agricultural development, the utilization of its natural resources and the improvement of the level of living of the Soviet people - other aims we have none. 42. For the Soviet people it is a point of honour to gain victories in peaceful competition with capitalist countries, including the most advanced. Who would dispute that competition in increasing production of milk, meat and butter is far more useful than competition in the production of nuclear weapons and other means of mass extermination? Nowadays military specialists try to estimate from time to time which of the two Powers, the United States or the Soviet Union, has exploded more atomic or hydrogen bombs, and the explosions of which side are equivalent to more millions of tons of TNT.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“Owing to the very nature of the socialist order of society, any desire to seize foreign sources of raw material is fundamentally incompatible with Soviet policy; what is more, our own land has very rich deposits of practically all known types of metals, minerals and fuels. Neither have we any need to fight for markets for our products; our planned economy, which is immune to crises caused by over-production, guarantees a stable and ever-growing domestic market for the products of our industry and agriculture. 41. No social group in the Soviet Union could hope to derive any advantages from war. Our country needs peace, a long and stable peace.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“Its foreign policy is based on the desire to maintain peaceful relations with all countries without exception. 39. As soon as the Soviet system had triumphed in Russia - and the peoples of the USSR are celebrating the fortieth anniversary of that event this year - the Government of our country appealed to all the belligerents in the First World War, which was then still raging, immediately to begin negotiations for a just and democratic peace. All the Soviet Government's activities in the international field are governed by the teaching of Lenin, the founder of our State, concerning the need for the peaceful coexistence of States, irrespective of their social systems. 40. We need no foreign territories.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“The Soviet Union advocates the restoration everywhere of normal peace-time conditions; for its part, it is ready to withdraw its troops from those countries where they are now stationed under the Warsaw Treaty and other international agreements, if the United States and the other Western Powers will withdraw their armed forces from the territories of various European countries. In the Soviet Government's view, foreign troops should also be withdrawn from other States on whose soil they are now maintained on various pretexts. 38. The policy of NATO and its organizers is today the main reason why the world's aspirations towards a lasting peace are still unfulfilled. If we wish to free mankind from the nightmare of a destructive atomic war, we must end this policy once and for all. The Soviet Union, for its part, is a stranger to it.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“36. This policy is foreign to the interests of the peoples. It has produced a deep rift in Europe and other continents; and by deliberately exacerbating relations among States, it has transformed the world into something very like a military camp. The territory of dozens of States is covered with a dense network of military airfields, arsenals, barracks and firing grounds, and many million soldiers, equipped with the most modern types of weapons, stand in readiness. You need only imagine this gigantic machinery of destruction being put in motion to have a clear picture of what the final outcome of this policy could be. 37. Can we really resign ourselves to the fact that, twelve years after the end of the war, there are foreign troops in dozens of European, Asian and African countries? This is clearly a most unhealthy situation.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“For the time being, however, the strategists of the "cold war" and the partisans of the armaments race find it suits their book that world peace should be unstable and that mankind should live in a constant state of tension which might any day lead to a military explosion. They take advantage of this situation to continue to draw enormous profits from the intensified armaments race, to suppress peoples fighting for their national independence and, last but not least, to keep their own allies in the military blocs under subjection, 35. Has this policy effected the solution of a single controversial issue? Has it perchance helped in solving the disarmament problem and removing the threat of atomic war, or in settling the German question? Has it proved capable of ensuring peace and normal conditions in the Middle East? Nothing of the sort.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“The role that NATO plays in Europe has been assigned in the Far East to the South-East Asia Treaty Organization - a military bloc organized by the United States - and to the Baghdad Pact in the Near and Middle East. These two military blocs are in fact nothing but branches of NATO. They are tarred with the same brush. 33. The originators of the policy of "negotiation from strength" admit that its purpose is to maintain the world "on the brink of war". There is a good deal of truth in that description. But they should not disregard the incontrovertible fact that, if war breaks out, the aggressor, wherever he may be, will not escape retaliation. Only those who deliberately shut their eyes to present developments in military technology can leave this out of account. 34.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“The end result of such action by NATO, it is not difficult to foresee, can only be an atomic armaments race both in Europe and elsewhere, and a greater danger of atomic war. 31. This danger is further increased by the fact that the leaders of the North Atlantic bloc intend to supply atomic weapons to West Germany, that is, to place such weapons into the hands of the very same forces of German militarism which unleashed the Second World War. Let me recall that only two or three years ago we were assured that atomic weapons would in no case be furnished to the West German army, which was then in process of creation. And what do we see today? These assurances have been forgotten and there is open talk of equipping the West German armed forces with atomic weapons. 32.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“The NATO leaders do not even trouble to hide the purpose of these bases. Incidentally, they ought to bear in mind that with present developments in military technology, these bases are not nearly as important as they were only a few years ago. However, the mere fact that in peace time such military bases exist on foreign soil deepens the mistrust among States and poisons the whole climate of international relations. 30. Lately the situation has become even more dangerous because the North Atlantic bloc has engaged in preparations for an atomic war in Europe. American nuclear weapons are being stockpiled in the territories of the European members of NATO. In May 1957, the NATO Council, meeting at Bonn, decided to equip the armies of member countries with atomic weapons.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“It cannot be considered accidental that the political and military leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, when speaking of the aims of this military alliance, have repeatedly indulged in openly aggressive statements. 27. It would be a mistake to assume that NATO is hostile only to the socialist States. Many countries of the East know from their own experience that this bloc is an alliance of forces directed also against other peoples and inimical to their independence. 28. As soon as the North Atlantic bloc was founded, its participants engaged in an intensive armaments race, forcing other States to join in. 29. In its military preparations, this bloc relies on a wide network of United States military bases situated thousands of kilometres from that country's frontiers.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“This policy has left its sombre mark on the whole development of international relations during the last decade, following upon the successful co-operation of the great Powers which had taken part in the anti-Hitlerite coalition during the Second World War. The creation of aggressive military blocs, unbridled agitation for a new war and even direct acts of aggression, which the world has witnessed more than once since the end of the Second World War - such are the chief manifestations of this policy. 26. What this policy means can best be illustrated by the activity of the North Atlantic bloc, which is today the chief instrument in the preparation of a new war.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“Most emphatically not, if we wish to justify people's confidence in it. 24. In the USSR Government's view, it is our common duty to try to prepare and carry out such measures as would avert the possibility of new bloodshed and would allow people everywhere to dedicate themselves fully to peaceful toil. We consider that this is entirely feasible, if only we all start from the same premise: that we all desire peace, not war. 25. First of all, of course, we must renounce any attempt to resolve controversial international problems by force. It will be remembered that, after the Second World War, reliance on the use of force or the threat of force was proclaimed by some States as a principle of international politics; this was the policy of "negotiation from strength" to which I have already referred.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“Disarmament negotiations have been dragging on for many years without any tangible results, and a settlement of even such simple and easily solved problems as the cessation of test explosions of nuclear weapons is being deferred. Elementary forms of peaceful economic intercourse among peoples have been sacrificed to the "cold war" policy. The military and strategical plans forged by the leaders of the North Atlantic bloc govern even ordinary trade relations between countries. 22. The situation in the Near East, where almost before one military conflict has been settled a new crisis fraught with the danger of fresh hostilities is already gathering to a head, cannot but occasion serious concern. 23. Can the United Nations, which is called upon to guard international peace, look on passively while events take such a turn?”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“We are beginning our work in relatively more favourable circumstances than we did at the previous session. At that time, certain events familiar to all, which were the outcome of the "cold war" and the notorious policy of "negotiation from strength" had led to a serious worsening in international relations. There were moments when the danger of a general military conflagration was acute. 21. Things have now calmed down, but on the whole the international situation remains profoundly abnormal and disturbing. The world is still split up into mutually hostile military groups, between which an atmosphere of sharp distrust prevails. An armaments race such as we have never seen before is in progress, and it is particularly dangerous because it involves mainly the manufacture of atomic and hydrogen weapons.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)
“Let me first of all congratulate Sir Leslie Munro on his election to the office of President of this session of the General Assembly. 18. Each session of the General Assembly is an event of some importance in international political life. This is only natural, since the United Nations, which now embraces eighty-two States, is called upon to solve the problem that is of the greatest importance for all countries and all peoples - that of ensuring a durable peace. 19. I should like to begin by expressing the hope that the General Assembly's twelfth session will mark the much-needed turning point towards a constructive solution of the tasks before us. This of course can be accomplished only by the concerted efforts of the countries represented here. For its part, the Soviet delegation will do everything in its power to achieve this end. 20.”
1957-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 12 (1957)