Satellite Policy

When Henry Cabot Lodge told the U.N. last Friday that America would "not forget" the Soviet satellites and would not abandon efforts to free them from their Communist yoke, he was reasserting a vital part of U.S. foreign policy. The independence of the subjected peoples of Eastern Europe, although no longer a realizable goal, nevertheless remains an ideological basis of Western policy.

Like the reunification of Germany, satellite liberation cannot be considered a visible objective, or even a real expectation. It stands, however, as a reminder that the world does not recognize the legality of Soviet de facto control over the satellites, and the the subjugated peoples of these countries will not be forgotten by a shrug of the shoulders and a despairing sigh.

In answer to a Soviet charge that the U.S. is guilty of subversion, Lodge asserted that America "will not remain silent and unprotesting." Organizations like the Voice of America and the Free Europe Committee fulfill their function, although they may not achieve the satellite liberation which they claim as their major goal, besides that of spreading information. Their real function is symbolic, the vocal reminder of an ideological disparity between Soviet rule and government by consent of the governed.

Four centuries ago, Richard Hooker, speaking from the pulpit, said that "Rule there cannot be which public approbation has not made so." Firm adherence to this principle must be reiterated occasionally. Mr. Lodge, from a large pulpit, has underscored the dogma in unequivocal terms. Such explicit assertion is essential, for illegality thrives upon that silence which is often interpreted as tacit assent.