Books In Review DICTATORS AND PEACE

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 286, 3 December 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

Books In Review DICTATORS AND PEACE

[ A LARGE-SIZED note of inter- [ rogation stands at the end ol | Sir Norman Angell's "Peace With i the Dictators?" (Hamish Hamilton). Before t !u> reader luis lin veiled fnr lit- begin* to renlise Ihe ini port of tln» i|iie*tion nuirk. to ask himself ii whole series of when* and whore* and hows. and. remonil>eriiig that, time ha* proven more t lin ii enough of the prophetic* of " The I! ion t I llii"inii." ho seek* for the iiiiswiti both in the hook and in hi* own inner consciousness. In day* when democracy i» dead in half tin- world an<l sore heset other nation-;, t li<*v who live where freedom i* *t ill a u ima t e ha \ e more concern with tli<» j»trnfiltlintentm'le* of dictritorsliif» than most realise. Tliiim the of ♦oieh hti analvstM of "a mad world, my master«*/ mint not Im» left unregarded, and though one may <leeline to a< , « , e|>t Sir Norman h nummary prophecy, none will drop the volume without a clearer understanding, even though it eonie from within, of the f>roh!ems facing t)ie frep nation-*, Thp issue i-* fairly and squarely faced, boldly and from every throiiy:h t lie medium of a *yrnpo*ium of the opp(hsiny view^. Other Nations' Case I lie iiimwei's to the riddles thus propounded me left with the render, but there nre iriiidepoxtM mid siifn truinunls enotijih to eiuiMe h r.-itiomil np[>ro;ii-h to lie uinde. Ihe lesson Is perhaps that it is useless to attempt to iK-liieve peaee I'.v ijrnoi the other mit ions' point <if view or In -ujjyesl in«r that only the tilings each individual regards as* relevant are really important. The only way. lie i« to fare up to the realities of the situation and adjust the differences. 'I hat, of course, is possible, in the lina| outcome, only if the partv of the second part i« equally reasonalile. Settlements ran lie made under other conditions, but if they are to be dictated set t lenient*—well, the world has had one experience since Sir Xorman Angell wrote his book. In the sy in pos ill 111 which forms the first part of the volume some very plain spanking is offered on both sides. The (■erinan has first sb.v. He. tries to show that the saine ideals inspire the (ierman •s went into the upbuilding of the British Empire, tlwt (Jermanv is applying economies and political beliefs which many Englishmen hold as good for Britain. "Of course." he said, "you can have friendship, on terms, and there can be peace between us. it is what we have been begging for all nlong. And the price of peace with us ought to be clear enough to you English, a people so much of our race and blood that everv

homely word you use—fle»li and blood, father and mother, son and daughter man and (!od. and a thousand others— are < let-man words; you, whose Royal line, whose Reformation, whose organised social services, whose physical science, educational methods, come so largely from us. What we want should to you be manifest in what we are. "What, we want is first of all. of course, what every living tiling wants — the coudit ions of self-preservation, the means which will enable us to live and grow, to expand. We want our fair share of the earth's resources; a secure physical basis of existence. You and your allies have proved to us by your behaviour during this last 2"> years that we shall never lie assured of even this mere physical basis of life unless we are able to take it and guard it by our own strength. That strength we mean to have; and are getting. "But there is something more. We see much of the world around us in utter chaos, the victim plainly of some proces« or principle of degeneration, disintegration. We must either dominate that chaos and disintegration, orshare it, become one of its victims. We do not intend to share it or become one of its victims. We intend to dominate it. As between control or chaos, we choose control; it was the Roman choice, as it is now ourt». "We are pushed t<j that role also by deep instinct, an impulse to satisfy spiritunl needs as real and definite as the physical need for bread, as a woman's desire for children. We believe and the fuehrer has never hid-

Famous Author s Summary Cum Prophecy den that lielief—that the German race has certain moral values, alisolute virtues. peculiar to itself, inherent in its Mood. It is a race which by virtue of those very qualities of the blood, feels an irrepressible urge, a moral hunger, to lead, to rule, to civilise. It has never vet enjoyed its right to fulfil that destiny, to take its due part in the world's government. It has not yet played its role. What we ask is power and freedom to till that role. We now «*k it in the sure knowledge that we shall pet it; that you are powerless to prevent us. and we hope sincerely that you will not try." The Englishman's reply is direct and virile. Me point* out that while Germany is .claiming colonies Britain is giving thern up. that the greateT part of the Kmpire has been surrendered to the only jieople to whom it ought to be surrendered—the people who live there; that the British Kmpire Ims ceased to be an empire, and that Britain is getting farther and farther awav from the kind of thing that Germany proposes— the domination, political and economic, of subject States by the flower of an Imperial centre, with politics directed from that centre. Might of Propaganda f the proclaimed principles of the I bird Kcich, the principle* of 'Mein Kampf,' the expressed convictions of Goering and Goebbels, are acted upon," he adds, "civilisation will be destroyed. Our hope in the West is that Britain will act upon her proclaimed principles and that Cermsiiy won't; that German conduct will be better than German theories; and British conduct a« good; that Britain will keep her word and Germany break hers. lhat is a slender hope when we recall the mountain might of the German propaganda machine; the complete and absolute power of the totalitarian State over the very minds and souls of its people; not alone over the printed word — books, newspapers, reviews, school primers; not only over broadcasting, films and theatres; and not only over the schools, the universities and tlie very nurseries, but over everv form of organised religion. God Himself has been made an adjunct of the totalitarian State, subject thereto, in

that what men believe to be God's Word must be approved by Mr. Hitler or Mr. Goebbels." From that point tlie writer proceeds to an examination of the psychology of dictatorships, accepting the thesis that the dictators really believe their own . doctrines—or that their peoples <1,, i peoples "conditioned" by a universallv [ controlled Press, a universally heard wireless and a universally seen cinema, to respond intensely to convictions which are never allowed to be questioned, and which therefore have a fanaticism com- : parable to that of Islam i„ a Holv i War. He then discusses the question of what Germany wants and how she will go about getting it. following this up by analysing the resultant questions of whether Britain will surrender those points or not. ]t is a sincere and impelling analysis, —lime that shocks complacency, quoting as it does what so many responsible Englishmen ha v already written and said, things which have heartened Germany and led her to that she could "divide and conquer." Sir Norman contends that isolation means weakness, that freedom from commitment will not keep the Empire out of war, but that a certain rule of international life or a covenant resolutely upheld would ensure the defence of those party to it. That is to say. Fascism and war can onlv be averted by a union of non-Fascist States strong enough to redress «rievances and to overcome aggression. Many of the author's conclusions ap; dogmatic or arguable or both, but the force, courage and clarity of his exposition of the international situation are alike undeniable and impressive. He patiently ensues the truth as he sees it, and by his grim sincerity demands and commands the attention and respe.-t of the reader.