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FATEFUL ELECTION
IN BERLIN
East-West Issue; Reds
Under Arrest
BERLIN, Dec. 5: Polling in western Berlin's muni-
cipal election — in which the broad issue is East
versus West — took place today. After a quiet open-
ing, there were incidents in which Russians and
Germans from the Soviet sector were involved and
several arrests were made.
Against a background of taut
alertness, thousands of Ber-
liners went into the streets be-
fore the polling booths opened
at 8 a.m. Among the first to
vote were 10,000 German
police who, wearing side arms
and carrying truncheons, after-
wards took up positions outside
the 1,600 polling booths in the
British, French and United
States sectors. Reinforced mili-
tary patrols also stood by.
After the police went hundreds
of street cleaners who had
spent a busy early morning
clearing the remnants of elec-
tion posters which had been
ripped down during the night.
The city authorities said that
40 per cent of the electorate
had voted by 12.30 p.m.
Western German police head-
quarters announced in the mid-
morning that they had arrested
14 Communists who were
caught attempting to create dis-
order at election booths. The
French Military Government
reported to the central election
bureau that shortly after noon
three Russian soldiers carrying
sub machine-guns and two
civilians passed from the Rus-
sian sector into the French
sector and took up positions
outside a polling booth at Flot-
ten Strasse. A French military
patrol which was summoned
arrived quickly and loaded
their rifles. The Russians and
the two civilians then withdrew
to the nearest underground
station in the Russian sector.
The first incident of the day
was the arrest of a Russian
sector policeman who was
found posting anti-election
posters in the United States
sector. Russian sentries at the
Russian war memorial just in-
side the British sector fired
three shots this morning at
two men whom they saw on
top of the Brandenburg Gate,
where the Russian flag flies.
There were no casualties.
Later the French authorities
reported that 100 young men
armed with sticks had been
seen arriving in Berlin from
Oranienburg, in the Soviet
zone of Germany.
Public transport was dis-
rupted this morning by a five
hour strike on the surface and
underground services, called by
the anti-Communist Trade
Union Federation because the
Communists were trying to
force 100,000 western Ber-
liners who work in the Soviet
sector to attend their places of
employment instead of voting.
The anti-Communist unionists
believed that the transport
strike would give those
workers a good excuse for not
attending work; thus the Com-
munists could not take re-
prisals against them. (The Rus-
sian boycott of the election dis-
franchised about 900,000
other Berliners).
'Mammoth Straw In Wind'
Berlin — "an island of freedom
100 miles inside the Soviet
army's ramparts in Europe"
— was conducting an election
which the Russians could not
stop, the American Associated
Press said. The East-West
struggle for Germany had
magnified this local political
contest into a mammoth straw
in the wind, revealing which
side the Germans preferred. If
a high percentage of voters ap-
peared at the polls, the West-
ern Powers would claim en-
dorsement of the fight against
the Sovietising of Berlin. If
the voting was relatively
meagre, the Communists would
hail it as a vindication of Rus-
sian efforts to force the West-
ern Allies from the city. But
no Western observer expected
the Communists to admit a re-
verse regardless of how many
Berliners ignored their demand
to boycott the elections.
Britain, the United States and
France control 12 city boroughs
with a population exceeding 2,
000,000. The Russians have
eight boroughs with 1,200,000
Germans, whom they have
forbidden to vote. Berlin has
two of everything political,
from lord mayors to police
chiefs. The election is called
for by the Berlin Constitution
which the four Powers ap-
proved in 1946. It contains de-
mocratic safeguards including
the right of a secret ballot.
When the Communists set up a
rump city government they
chose it by show of hands at
a mass meeting in a former
operetta theatre. This rump
government now claims to rule
all of Berlin. Undoubtedly the
1946 election, when the Com-
munistic Socialist Unity Party
received only 19.8 per cent of
the votes, was a jolt to Rus-
sian prestige. The Social De-
mocratic (Independent Left)
polled best with 48.7 per cent.
The anti-Communists say that
their foes would get less than
ten per cent if they dared face
the electorate now. In 1946
there was a 92 per cent poll
and the Communists voted.
The hours of polling today
were 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Every
German citizen 20 years of age
or over who had resided in
Berlin for six months was al-
lowed to vote. Two other par-
ties besides the Social Demo-
crats were in the field. The
Christian Democratic Union,
which is Conservative, received
22 per cent of the votes in
1946; the Liberal Democratics,
who believe in private enter-
prise, obtained 9.5 per cent.
The three parties are united in
their opposition to Commun-
ism.
"What City Authorities?"
Britain, France and the
United States are preparing a
detailed indictment of recent
Soviet actions which they com-
plain are splitting the admini-
stration of Berlin, Reuters says.
The document will give details
of all measures taken by the
Soviet authorities in recent
weeks aimed at creating two
separate city administrations
and, if possible, driving the
Western Powers out of their
sectors of the city.
Western experts in Berlin have
referred to the Soviet state-
ment yesterday that a proposed
finance commission should
exercise "supervision and con-
trol over the fiscal policy and
the financial activity of the Ber-
lin city authorities." They
asked, "What Berlin city auth-
orities?" They are puzzled as
to how the Soviet administra-
tion intends to apply overall
financial mechanism to the
whole of Berlin when the city
administration has been split
into two.
On the eve of the poll the
Russian Press and newsagencies
in Berlin conducted an intense
"nerve war," publishing under
large head-lines reports that the
United States Military Gov-
ernor (General Clay) was to
be dismissed immediately after
the elections, that food supplies
in the western sectors were
running very low, that the
Western Powers would leave
Berlin in January, that the air-
lift would collapse within five
weeks and that gas and electric-
ity undertakings in the western
sectors would be forced to close
next week because of shortages
of coal. A British spokesman
said that "all these stories are
a continuation of the lying
technique which is intended to
keep the people away from the
elections. Another British
spokesman said: "We shall not
be out of Berlin by January or
February. The British are not
going out by their own will or
by any other means."
General Clay assured Berlin-
ers that the United States would
not be forced from Berlin. He
added: "My own headquarters
will continue in Berlin. There
will not be any departure of
American families except in the
normal routine as staff mem-
bers leave and are replaced."
Killed: Raymond Young (23),
of Newcastle (N.S.W.), was
killed when he fell from his
motor cycle on an overhead
bridge at Islington, Newcastle,
on Saturday night.
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