THE WAY TO PEACE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21886, 12 September 1936, Page 8

THE WAY TO PEACE

TO TI) BDITOB OT THE PBESB. Sir,—“ Not Less a Pacifist” now admits that, in the accepted sense of the word as defined by me, he is not a pacifist. He is on surer ground when he announces himself as a “worker for peace.” He says. “I have neither sanctioned nor sunported war or war preparations.” This is an extraordinary statement in view of his opposition to the campaign in favour of disarmament. Armaments are war preparations. If he is prepared to tolerate them, what becomes of his claim that he does not “sanction war preparations?” . ... Dealing with my Priestley quotation, he shows that Priestley’s 15-year period was broken by divers alarms and excursions—minor wars. That is true. But my quotation expressly referred to the “greater powers” being unprepared, and, by implication, being consequently immune from major military operations. Priestley wrote: “If everybody is thoroughly unprepared there never will be war.” Your correspondent contemns the logic of this position by saying that it is akin to the statement, “If no one starts a war there will be no war.” If he can see any kinship between those two statements he has a better eye for family resemblances than I have. Priestley’s “thoroughly unprepared” does not mean “if no one starts a war.” By way of further elucidation, let me complete the quotation: “Let every power be convinced that its own army, navy, and air force are all in a shocking condition, and vastly inferior to its neighbours, and nobody will want to fight . It seems we have now reached the dnd of that period.” That is to say, we have now got rearmament. and the nations are “trigger ready,” Your correspondent would appear to possess an almost constitutional inability to see things in their right proportion and perspective. Also, he has not a little cunning in the art of “drawing the red herring.” To throw your readers, and, presumably myself, off the scent, he has introduced the hobby of target-shooting, and tells us that his friend with the rifles is not inspired with fear or suspicion by them. I do not doubt it. But we are not discussing innocent hobbies. We are discussing armaments. He rejects my position that “armaments tend to promote strife.” I would point out that, in doing so, he merely isolates himself from a vast body of enlightened world opinion. The Anglican Bishops at Lambeth spoke of “piling up of armaments until the world is ready for another and more hideous war.” In the House of Commons, on February 6, Mr Lloyd George referred to “the recent increases in world armaments, and the situation of tension, uncertainty, and menace which they created.” Aldous Huxley writes; "Accumulation of armaments by one power has always led, first, to accumulation by other powers, and then, when the financial strain became unbearable, to war.” Discussing the cause of the 1914 war, Mr G. Lawn, of Canterbury College, ascribed it to “too much preparedness, and insufficient organisation for peace.” Article 8 of the League Covenant states that: "The members of the league recognise that the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments.” Yet “Not Less a Pacifist” tells us that disarmament has no contribution to make to world peace! It was in no spirit of levity that I introduced the following quotation: “To prepare for a thing is to set time bringing it towards you.” Your correspondent is mistaken , in thinking that this statement is only worthy of facetious, dismissal. Perhaps he misunderstands it. If I make a will I do not set time bringing death towards me. If, h'owgver, I live an evil life,

or indulge in unwholesome diet, then I am preparing for death, unconsciously, perhaps, and time will begin to bring it towards me. Similarly, armaments are preparation for war, and, as evil living or wrong feeding set up conditions that bring death towards us, so armaments set up conditions that bring war. I know quite well that there are other causes. With your correspondent, I agree that nationalism, and especially national political policies (there are deeper and darker factors also) are among the forces that release the landslide we call war. All the causes of war must be attacked. Among those causes I include armaments. Your correspondent apparently does not. He must be almost alone in his opinion. —Yours, etc., J. R. HERVEY. September 11, 1936.