The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1918. "A FUTURE STRUGGLE."

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 63, 14 March 1918, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1918. "A FUTURE STRUGGLE."

For the eaiue that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that toe can do..

Naturally the Bolshevik leaders are fluking some difficulty in inducing the great mase of the Russian people to accept "a German Peace," and the reaeons put forward hy Lenin and his colleagues for agreeing to Germany's terms are nrnch more ingenious than convincing. But one of Lenin's arguments, quoted in our cable messages yesterday, deserves special consideration, because rfc throws some light upon the etato of mind of a great many well-intentioned people who do not -wish to see Oennany absolutely defeated or Prussi&niem reduced to final and complete impotence. Lenin has excused himself to the Russians for accepting peace on the outrageous conditions dictated by Germany on the ground that it is his duty to sign any sort of treaty that will give the Rueeian people an opportunity of preparing for "a future struggle." Now, it is quite possible that Lenin has in view not the renewal of a national war against Germany, but the perpetuation of that "class war" "which the Bolsheviks have inaugurated in their own country, and which they confidently expect the "proletariat" of all other countries to organise and promote elsewhere. The Bolsheviks have given ample proof that however sincere their convictions may bo their ideas are utterly impracticable and visionary, not to say childish. But none of their fantastic and Utopian notions is more puerile than their conception of the peoples of Europe as waiting eagerly to combine against monarchs and thrones, and ready to follow in the footsteps of the Bolsheviks toward the goal which, at least in theory, democracy is striving to attain.

Even a very superficial acquaintance with, the true nature of German rule and German ambitions would have taught the Bolsheviks that the triumph of Germany in this -war, by justifying the policy of Pruseianiem in the eyes of its subjects, must rivet the fetters of tyranny anew upon the necks of the German people, and defer indefinitely that "great awakening" which the Bole-heviks have predicted bo confidently over since the Czar lost hie throne. By making peace with Germany now the Russian Socialists are setting hack the tide of democratic progress and emancipation in Germany itself for many a year to come. More than.thie, by allowing Germany to occupy and dominate the western province* of Russia they are practically inviting the most tyrannical and arbitrary government in the world to enslave.millions of the nation that, as the Bolsheviks boast, hae just ibeen freed by the revolution from a despotism not more cruel and ruthless than Pruseianism. Whether Lenin and Trotzky are paid tools of Germany or not, they must bo singularly ignorant and blind if they cannot realise that by making any sort of agreement -with Germany they are striking a blow at democracy through-

out the world, and undoing the work of the Russian revolution iteelf. But it is conceivable that Lenin's threat of a future struggle may have a -wider and more comprehensive meaning. Poeeibly he has already recognised the truth about Germany, and believes that the only hope of lasting freedom for Rtuwia and the world lice in withdrawing from the conflict for the moment,.bo an to get time for reorganisation and preparation for "a final war," which will end in the complete overthrow of militarist tyranny and the emancipation of all mankind.

This interpretation of Lenin'e viewe may be accurate or not, but there is no doubt that it is closely paralleled in the minde of many who, in other countries, are prepared to see the present war closo now, leaving Germany with her power for evil practically unbroken, and who trust for the future to the hope that the civilieed' nations, including. the German people, will be so disgusted and horrified with the experience* of these three awful years that they will combine to overawe and repress any State or Government that attempts to plot or precipitate a war of aggression again. This view ie, in our opinion, quite as delusive as the most fantastic of the Bolehevik dreams, and therefore it seems to us desirable to emphasise as strongly as possible the necessity for fighting this 'war to the only possible finish, involving the complete destruction of German militarism. For the German people have bo far given no sign or proof that they are so eick of war that they will resist any attempt on the part of their TUlere to drag them into it again. On the contrary, with every German succeee, however transient or temporary, the loaders of German thought and public opinion demand greater conquests, wider annexations, and heavier indemnities. Further, the Germans have left no room for doubt about their future intentions, for their most influential representatives have already assured the rest of the world that Germany means to make another effort to securo "world power" later on, and that ac soon as this war is over ehe will bend all her energies to the toek of preparing for another. But will the other nations, with this warning in their ears, ever allow Germany again a free hand to plot once more their subjugation and destruction T The answer la that Germany is the only Power which can depend upon employing all its national resources and energies for the purpose* of aggressive (warfare, and thorefore she alone will be able to carry out once more efficiently and thoroughly that plan of preparation for a world war which she followed out co vigorously for two generations, and which co nearly reached a successful culmination in August, 1014. Who can be sure that the people of France or Britain or Italy or America, with the horrors of these frightful years fresh before their eyes, will agree to shoulder anew the intolerable burden of military and naval preparations on a scale commensurate with the danger to which they will be exposed from Germany's enormous strength and her unscrupulous ambitions, if once this war closes without breaking Prussianism utterly and for ever! It follows that, if there is to be another war, Germany's prospect of victory will be brighter than it was in 19H. Unless we fight till Prusfuaniam is absolutely overthrown, the world must face the certainty of a renewal of theso horrors within a short time, and any "peace" -which leaves Germany still potent for evil will contain the seeds of our own enslavement and destruction in "the final struggle."