The Polish Plan for a Nuclear-Free Zone Today*

Abstract

T NHE Polish proposal for creating a denu;clearised zone in Central Europe was put forward for the first time on October 2, 1957 at the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Polish delegation did not travel to that Session of the Assembly by jet plane. At that time planes of that type did not fly between Europe and the United States. The first artificial satelli;te was put into orbit around the earth only two days after the Polish speech at the General Assembly, that is, on October 4, 1957. There were only 82 states represented at that time at the General Assembly. The black continent of Africa was represented by no more than four states. The war in Algeria was much nearer its beginning than its end. The representative of the then Cuban Government took part in the general debate, playing his traditional role of the principal tamer of Communism. So much for the past-to make clear to myself and my readers how much has altered in the world during the last five years. During these five years, rich with dramatic events and profound changes, the idea of a denuclearised zone in a part of Europe has led to the alppearance of new ideas for nuclear-free zones in different parts of the world and, finally, as it might be said, after Mr. Unden's initiative, to a universal idea of denuclearised zones. At the same time, the plan for creating a denuclearised zone in Central Europe has never disappeared from the list of current problems. Indeed, it has won an increasing number of supporters in Europe itself, in Northern America and in more distant continents. Nor should I be alone in the opinion that today the plan not only remains valid, but that it is even more. valid, after five years of experience and discussion, than it was in 1957. Nevertheless, it has not so far become the subject of constructive negotiations between those states concerned in it. This contrast between, on the one side, the vitality of the idea of a denuclearised zone in Central Europe and, on the other side, the resistance to taking even the first step towards putting this idea into effect, is a symptom characteristic of the contradictions implicit in the events of the five years since 1957, and in the whole present international situation.