The name is absent

other off the face of the earth, they all will end up eventually in some middle
ground where the two systems will be hardly distinguishable. Even if this hap-
pens, however, it probably will not be admitted by zealots on either side ....
But hard facts and realities will continue to prevail in the end. People generally
are less concerned with ideology and theory than they are with having a system
that works and serves their needs well.

Market gardens for each collective farmer, and free markets for distributing
the products of these gardens exist all over Russia. Art, literature, even
ideological interpretations are decreasingly censured in Russia. Competition
exists between the managers of firms and of collective farms. The profit
incentive is recognized. Interest is developing in sports, cosmetics, consumer
goods, and travel. Common practices converge from opposite directions.
Theoretical expressions remain diverse supported by different authoritative
texts, but the real differences that remain are a consequence more of dif-
ferences in national cultures and historical experiences than of differences
in ideology. In similar manner the ideological conflicts, between Christen-
dom and Islam, between Protestantism and Catholicism, between democ-
racy and aristocracy, which formerly led to crusades, wars of religion, and
revolutionary wars no longer prevent the convergence of practices best
adapted to the increasingly similar technologies.

Communism and International Relations. What has been the relation of
the United States with governments that profess communism? There has
ceased to be a monolithic communist bloc exercising political power di-
rected by the Kremlin. There was such a bloc in Stalin’s time. European
satellites, China, and other Far Eastern communist countries followed his
lead, but even before Stalin’s death, Tito broke away and muffled dissent
occurred in other communist countries. Some Americans think this bloc
still exists, but few Europeans. Asians, or Africans think so.

The United States government recognizes that this monolithic bloc no
longer exists and pursues different policies toward each communist state,
tailored to the particular situation. Of the fourteen communist states, it
trades and gives economic assistance to Yugoslavia and Poland, and is
developing similar relations with Bulgaria, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and
Hungary. The relations of the United States with the Soviet Union have
been improving since the death of Stalin in 1953, with considerable coop-
eration in nuclear control, exchange of persons, conclusion of a Consular
treaty, and prospects of most-favored-nation trading relations. There have
been setbacks, it is true, as in the Hungarian affair of 1956 and the Vietnam
hostilities. The United States does not recognize the Mongolian, Cuban, or
Albanian governments, but associates with them in the United Nations. It
refuses to recognize Mainland China and East Germany and has kept them

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