urged the States concerned to continue the suspension of test explosions, and also its resolution 1578 (XV) of the same date,

53

Further recalling its resolution 1379 (XIV) of 20 November 1959,54 Bearing in mind both the grave and continuing hazards of radiation resulting to humanity from test explosions as well as their adverse consequences to the prospects of world peace through heightening rather than lessening international tensions,

Considering it urgent and imperative that no further tests should take place,

1. Expresses its deep concern and profound regret that test explosions have been resumed;

2. Earnestly urges the States concerned to refrain from further test explosions pending the conclusion of necessary internationally binding agreements in regard to tests;

3. Expresses confidence that the States concerned will reach agreement as soon as possible on the cessation of tests of nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons, under appropriate international control;

4. Calls upon the States concerned to engage themselves with urgency and speed in the necessary efforts to conclude such agreements expeditiously.

602. "A WAY TO A COMPLETE ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS ... IS GENERAL AND COMPLETE DISARMAMENT, ON WHICH THE SOVIET UNION INSISTS": Remarks Made by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the U.S.S.R. (Khrushchev) on the Fortyfourth Anniversary of the October Revolution, November 7, 1961 55

Dear comrades, friends, Messrs. ambassadors of capitalist countries: It is a solemn day for the Soviet people today. We are celebrating the 44th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution which opened a new era in the history of mankind. This revolution meant a sharp turn in the history of our country. This was also a turn in world history. The October Revolution brought down the power of capitalists and landowners and placed the working class in power. It opened up for all the peoples the road of salvation from exploitation and at the same time the road of salvation from wars into which they were thrown by the exploiting classes.

In the historic days of October 1917 the first decree of the Soviet power was the decree on peace, written by the immortal Lenin.5

Text ibid., p. 759.

"Text ibid., 1959, pp. 1353-1354.

6 Moscow radio broadcast, Nov. 7, 1961 (text as printed in Documents on Disarmament, 1961, pp. 572-573). The remarks were made as a toast at a reception held in the Kremlin Hall of Congresses. [Footnote adapted from source text.]

5 The decree, dated Nov. 8, 1917 (N.S.), is printed in George F. Kennan, Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917-1941 (Princeton, 1960), pp. 116-119. [Footnote from source text.]

In those days, news from revolutionary Petrograd told the whole world not only what the October Revolution was bringing the peoples of our country but also what it was bringing to all the peoples. Peace and peaceful life for the peoples-this is what the Leninist decree on peace appealed for. We are true to these noble Leninist ideas, these Leninist behests. And now, too, we are urging all peoples, all states to live in peace and friendship. Herein was and is the great strength of our foreign policy, the Leninist policy of peace and peaceful coexistence.

Today some leaders abroad, especially the leaders of countries affiliated with the NATO military bloc, rebuke us, charging that the Soviet Union decided to hold nuclear weapons tests. What can I say to that?

We would be glad, as I have already said from the rostrum of the 22d party congress, if it were possible not only to stop testing these weapons but to free mankind fully from them. We would be happy should the other powers possessing nuclear weapons agree with us not to produce these weapons and would destroy them and thus stop testing them forever. I again solemnly declare: The Soviet Union is ready for this.

People speak about the harm of nuclear test explosions to human health. Yes, science has found that they are harmful to health. But the use of nuclear weapons in war is millions of times more dangerous not only to the health but also to the very existence of people. And it is clear that these weapons are not produced to be stockpiled. We understand well the feelings and aspirations of people who want to do away with nuclear weapons tests. This coincides with our own feelings and aspirations.

Is there a way to a complete elimination of nuclear weapons tests? Yes, there is a way, and that is general and complete disarmament, on which the Soviet Union insists; that is the liquidation of armies and armaments, including the total liquidation of nuclear weapons.

Our decision to hold nuclear tests was a forced measure, taken in reply to threats of war against the Soviet Union if it signs a German peace treaty. Under these conditions we would have betrayed the behests of the great Lenin. the interests of our country, had we not shown care for its security, for the life and well-being of the Soviet people, and for the security of our friends. We are convinced that all upright people understand that we are doing this not only in the interests of our country but also in the interests of world peace.

Thus, to end nuclear weapons tests it is necessary to stop threatening the Soviet Union; it is necessary to reach agreement on the German peace treaty; it is necessary to clear from the international atmosphere the inflammable material that has accumulated as a result of the Western powers' policy. But the main thing is to agree to general and complete disarmament and to implement it. Now it is up to the Western powers.

As to the Soviet Union, it urges the Western powers to stop nuclear weapons tests, to sign a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict international control, to sign together with the Soviet Union a German peace treaty. and to normalize the position of West Berlin on this basis. The Soviet Union urges that dangerous tension be removed from the international atmosphere. All this will contribute in a practical way toward the elimination of the danger of a new war, to the consolidation of peace among nations.

I ask you to raise your glasses for general and complete disarmament, for peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems, for peace and friendship between peoples!

603. THE URGENT NEED FOR A TREATY TO BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS UNDER EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL CONTROL: Resolution 1649 (XVI), Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly, November 8, 1961 58

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 1252 (XIII) of 4 November 1958,59 1402 (XIV) of 21 November 1959 60 and 1577 (XV) and 1578 (XV) of 20 December 1960,61

Noting with regret the recent initiation of nuclear weapons testing and the rejection of the proposal of the Governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that further nuclear tests in the earth's atmosphere should be suspended,

Noting that the negotiations at Geneva on the discontinuance of nuclear weapons tests have been recessed pending completion of the discussion of this matter by the General Assembly,

Recognizing that a permanent and continuing cessation of nuclear weapons testing in all environments would be guaranteed only by an effective and impartial system of verification in which all States have confidence,

1. Reaffirms that it is urgently necessary to reach an agreement prohibiting all nuclear weapons tests under effective control which would be a first step towards reversing the dangerous and burdensome arms race, would inhibit the spread of nuclear weapons to other countries, would contribute to the reduction of international tensions and would eliminate any health hazards associated with nuclear testing;

2. Urges the States negotiating at the Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapons Tests at Geneva to renew at once their efforts to conclude at the earliest possible time a treaty on the cessation of nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons tests on the following basis:

(a) The treaty should have as its objective the cessation of all nuclear weapons tests in all environments under inspection and control machinery adequate to ensure compliance with its terms;

(b) International control machinery should be organized so as to be representative of all parties to the treaty and should be staffed and operated to guarantee its objectivity and effectiveness, avoiding selfinspection, under procedures which would ensure that its facilities will be used exclusively for purposes of effective control;

(c) The day-to-day executive and administrative operations of the control system established under the treaty should not be susceptible

"U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Sixteenth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/5100), p. 4. This resolution, sponsored by the Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States, was adopted by a vote of 71 to 11, with 15 abstentions.

59

Text in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1958, pp. 1298-1299 and 1357.

Text ibid., 1959, pp. 1354-1356.

"Texts ibid., 1960, pp. 758 and 759.

to obstruction by the exercise of a veto, and administrative responsibility should be concentrated in the hands of a single Administrator acting impartially and functioning under the supervision of a commission composed of representatives of parties to the treaty;

3. Requests the negotiating States to report to the Disarmament Commission by 14 December 1961 on the progress of their negotiations:

4. Calls upon all States, upon the conclusion of a treaty which will ensure that nuclear weapons tests will be permanently prohibited under effective controls, to ratify or to adhere to that treaty.

604. UNITED STATES-UNITED KINGDOM PROPOSAL FOR A RESUMPTION OF THE GENEVA NUCLEAR TEST BAN CONFERENCE: Note From the American Embassy in Moscow to the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, November 13, 1961 62

The Embassy of the United States of America presents its compliments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and has the honor to state the following:

The Geneva Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapon Tests recessed on September 9, 1961. The relevant portion of the joint communique agreed to by the Soviet, British, and American delegations 63 is as follows:

The representatives of the United States and of the United Kingdom proposed a recess until after the completion of the General Assembly debate on the nuclear tests question.

The Conference went into recess.

The United Nations General Assembly has now completed its debate on the nuclear test issue. Thus, the condition under which the Geneva conference recess was proposed last September has now been fulfilled. Further, the General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for resumption of negotiations on a nuclear weapon test ban.64

The United States Government therefore formally proposes to the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that the meetings of the Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapon Tests be resumed on November 28, 1961.

In this connection the United States Government notes that the General Assembly resolution 1649 (XVI) of November 8, 1961, calls for a progress report on nuclear test ban negotiations to be submitted to the United Nations Disarmament Commission no later than December 14, 1961. The United States Government will consider any other

02

Department of State press release No. 779 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 11, 1961, p. 965). A similar note was addressed by the British Embassy to the Soviet Foreign Ministry.

63 Ante, doc. 589.

64 Supra.

date which the Soviet Government may wish to suggest with respect to prompt resumption of nuclear test ban negotiations which would also permit fulfillment of the requirement laid down in the General Assembly resolution cited above.

"THE UNITED STATES

...

WILL PURSUE ITS OWN PROGRAM OF CAREFULLY CIRCUMSCRIBED TESTING UNTIL [A TEST BAN] AGREEMENT IS REACHED": Statement Read to Correspondents by a Press Officer, Department of State, November 13, 1961 65

605. SOVIET AGREEMENT TO A RESUMPTION OF THE GENEVA NUCLEAR TEST BAN CONFERENCE: Note From the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the American Embassy in Moscow, November 21, 1961 (Excerpt) 66

If, at the present moment, the governments of the United States and Great Britain are of the opinion that the resumption of negotiations between the governments of the U.S.S.R., the United States, and Great Britain on the subject of the termination of nuclear tests can facilitate a rapprochement between the points of view of the two sides, the Soviet Government is ready to make still another joint attempt to achieve progress on this matter, remembering that the three powers who took part in the negotiations proclaimed universal and complete disarmament as their common goal.

07

In this, the Soviet Government proceeds from the fact that in the near future, in accordance with the accord reached between the governments of the U.S.S.R. and the United States on the principles of universal and complete disarmament, the 16th session of the U.N. General Assembly, it may be hoped, will adopt a decision on the resumption of negotiations on the whole complex of questions pertaining to universal and complete disarmament and on establishing an organ in which such negotiations will be conducted.

68

It is self-evident that if during the negotiations any power begins to hold tests of nuclear weapons then, due to circumstances to which the Soviet Government has pointed more than once, the other side would be compelled to make the relevant conclusions also with regard to nuclear tests.

Taking into account the above-mentioned, the Soviet Government expresses its consent that the Geneva conference of the three powers on the subject of terminating nuclear weapons tests should resume its work 28 November 1961.

"THE UNITED STATES IS TODAY INSTRUCTING THE U.S. DELEGATION TO THE CONFERENCE ON THE DISCONTINUANCE OF NUCLEAR WEAPON TESTS TO RETURN TO GENEVA": Statement Issued by the Department of State, November 21, 1961 69

Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 11, 1961, pp. 965–966.

€6 Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 11, 1961, p. 966. A similar note was sent to the British Embassy.

* Ante, doc. 562.

68 See ante, doc. 569.

69 Department of State press release No. 811; the Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 11, 1961, pp. 966–967.