The dossier which we publish on page 10, concerning the Government's attitude to Bertrand Russell's invitation to the three spokesmen of the Vietnamese N.L.F., is yet another sign of the disgraceful retreat which has been made by the Government, not only from socialist principles, even from elementary liberal fundamentals, Coupled with the prohibition which has been placed upon the performance of the Bolshoi Ballet which was to have been given in aid of the Russell Peace Foundation, everyone will see it as an attack on the greatest living exponent of British liberal thought. But at the same time, it reveals a new low in cowardly evasion of responsibility, in smug dedication to reactionary causes which happen to pay off in dollar loans, in perfidy, deceit and lying demagogy.
At his carefully rehearsed and thoroughly hollow performance at the Oxford Teach-in, Mr. Stewart tried, with some measure of success, to present himself as a seeker after truth, a man prepared to see reason, a statesman confronted with tragic alternatives, but humane to the last degree, It was essential, he said, for British people "to have access to news, information and comment from all over the world...to form their own opinions and to express those opinions freely." His veto on the visas of Professor Nguyen Van Hieu, Mr, Dinh Ba Thi and Mr, Pham Van Chuong, invited here precisely in order to bring "news, information and comment" from a forbidden quarter in which all of us have an extremely lively interest, can only be interpreted as a repudiation of his ow sentiments, which are thus exposed as completely cynical deference to the mood of his rightly hostile audience, If the Vietnamese came here, Mr. Stewart would have to debate with them. His stature would not gain therefrom: there is a distinct possibility that they would gain overwhelming sympathy once their voices could be heard. So Mr. Stewart acts in the one way which should be unthinkable for a socialist, He muzzles the unpleasant truth. This is a sneaky act, the act of a mean little, apprehensive man, Such a man can hardly be thought fit to represent British labour anywhere, leave alone in the vital field of foreign affairs.
We must react sharply. Emergency resolutions must be tabled to the Labour Party Conference, demanding that the N.L.F. speakers be allowed to come here for these teach-ins, Letters and deputations must be poured on the heads of the Home Secretary and Mr, Stewart. Every M.P. must be pressed to declare where he stands on this vital question of free speech* The whole wountry must resound with the clamour we raise on this crucial matter, * Reports of all such activities should be rushed to The Week,