STATEMENT AT A BANQUET HELD IN NEW
YORK IN HONOUR OF THE UNITED NATIONS

November 11, 1946

Mr. Chairman, allow me, first of all, to thank you ami
the Foreign Press Association for your invditation to this
banquet in honour of the United Nations organization. The
Soviet delegation accepted this invitation with pleasure. It
regards the present assemblage as one of many manifesta-
tions of respect for the international organization which
pursues the lofty aims of the United Nations.
The war has ended in our victory. The hopes of the
peoples are centred on freely enjoying the blessings of uni-
versal peace. The "ordinary people," who constitute the
vast majority of the population in every country, have
only one desire: that their enjoyment of the blessings of
universal peace may be as prolonged, as lasting as possible.
That is their legitimate right, especially after the sublime
heroism and the sacrifices rendered during the war. We
must not forget or underestimate the rights of those who
by their daily labour create all the values, bring into being
all the achievements of civilization, that all of us enjoy,
We will hardly be mistaken in saying: they will appraise
their leaders, their statesmen and public men, by the degree
to which these leaders prove themselves capable of securing
to the peoples a life of peace, the advancement of material
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