IT HAPPENED IN ENGLAND!

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 14 September 1940, Page 1 (Supplement)

IT HAPPENED IN ENGLAND!

OF all the unexplainable features of this war, probably the most exasperating is how in the name of commafti sense England could have been so blind to her peril. It is an actual fact that for the past seven years no hint of impending calamity ever seriously disturbed the sweet serenity of the public conscience. "I happen to know, to my everlasting regret and mortification. For during all these seven long critical years I, personally, was as much asleep under that blanket as anybody in England. This is a charge levelled against most British journalists, like myself, who were actively engaged in reporting during this time. Offers No Excuses. Certainly, we may blame the statesmen of Britain. Yes, we may and we do, and with justification, as men hopelessly out of touch" with reality, blinded to the ever-growing peril of war by their own ineffable smugness and conceit. But the fact remains, all England is to blame.

"There is, of course, a thoroughly understandable explanation for this curious British apathy that was. One hears it expressed variously and frequently all lhe way as sheer idiocy to a downright national decadence. However, I dare suggest it is nothing of the sort. The real cause of John Bull's present afflictions has been merely that gentleman's sublime opinion of his own great strength, his self-complacency.

"For the preservation of democracy we relied upon our great Ally, the Republic of France, and her much publicised Maginot Line; we relied also upon Belgian loyalty, and the Netherlands status quo; we relied upon the British Navy, the Nazi-Communist reciprocal antipathy, no less upon United States support in time of crisis; and, finally, we relied on the ultimate good sense of the German people to revolt. Pipe dreams, all!

Mr. J. P. Lazenby to an English aewapaperman whose career be ran In the Provinces and ended in London's famed Fleet Street, at least. It ended In the sense that he resigned to go to the United States to establish his home a year are. Until that move, he says. "In London I stayed pmt in pretty rnneh of a routine Job as featnre writer, complete with striped panta and umbrella." In the World War he served with the Boyal Naval Service as a can-layer on the airship N.B.U. on the North Sea patroL After the war he toared Sonth Africa, the Transvaal. Mozambique, Rhodesia, the Beldan Congo, and eventually * went to work In Australia. In the Las Anteles

"Sunday Time*" magazine he tteinei America's unpreparedness wider the caption: "It Happened in England Will It Happen Here?"

By ]. F. Lazenby

"For example, 'way back I recall the modest arrival of 'Mein Kampf' upon the bookstalls of the kingdom. The work inspired much comment, scholarly and otherwise, albeit I judge about as far as most people got to reading it was the publishers' blurb on the cover I imagine very few took the book seriously. In fact, such writing seemed altogether too frantic and far-fetched to be taken seriously.

"The author himself some regarded indifferently as a radical and somewhat hazy-minded patriot, others were frankly admiring, others again thought of Hitler abstractedly as a character vaguely pseudo-comic, a circus counterpart of Mussolini. Even first-hand information failed to register. It seemed incredible but true.

"I realise the significance of that enormous relief map of Mercator's projection that was displayed in the administration building of the Berlin Exposition some years back. The mural depicted the Nazi swastika aB covering more than 80 per cent of the world's surface; the balance of territory being accounted for in the form of buffer states, or 'protective zones.' Frankly, could one reasonably visualise such a programme of conquest? "Great Britain was much too confident, too trusting. The people's wits were dulled by patriotic lip service to old, familiar and totally out-dated notions of national security. Vasruely, as an echo far away, we* heard the

first tortuous creaks and groans of the Nazi war machine, we heard uncomfortably its increasing speed, gradually settling into a rhythmic clangour, growing louder and louder, finally deafening!—until, suddenly, the whoje colossal engine thundered murderously into action over the Continent.

"What had been considered impossible had happened. Then follows shock after shock'as cherished convictions, national hopes explode contrariously. Until now, as if to cap this nightmare wonderland, the French turn enemy. This is necessarily a criticism of the ostrich-like attitude that was Great Britain's. Whether she could have prevented the war is extremely doubtful. Problematic. At least, the people might have been realists. And that is the lesson of what happened in England. "On this basis then we may judge by comparison the safety of the United States of America. One conclusion is instantaneous, and positively unassailable. From the picture of war-torn Europe, we discover here in the peace of this land the most amazing example of a paradox. Let us consider. Here you have a gigantic country with a gigantic population, the whole vigorously proud and jealous of its hardwon democratic principles of liberty, fraternity, justice and equal opportunity. Here you have the richest country in the world; in human talent and achievement, in natural resources and in possession of more than three-quar-ters of the world's gold supply. "All this just hasn't happened. The wealth of America has been built up gradually, with a great deal of effort, wise leadership and certain sacrifices. To-day, socially and economically, the United States claims an absolute preeminence, distinction in world orders. In all respects, in fact, does this country represent an astounding triumph for democracy. Watch Friends Suffer Defeat Yet these same American people, fully awake presumably to the stupendous extent of their possessions, spiritual and material, entertain only the most casual thought for their protection, or so it appears to such as me. Surrounded on all sides, more or

less, by bandit nations, crazy with the lure of loot, and revolution, the people merely cry "Peace 1" and quote a doctrine of 100 years ago. No fear disturbs the even tenor of their ways. They calmly watch their democratic friends abroad Buffer defeat and fall subject to the Nazi tyranny .of death and concentration camps, the brutality of the Gestapo.

With all her friends lost, with all her national dignity and world influence sacrificed for peace, the people of this country might well stand alone to cope as best they can with the grinding greed and ruthlessness of the Axis Powers, burning in the smiles of their contempt, until they are stripped completely of everything generations have accumulated, not in honourable battle—but by blackmail.

The strength of the nation is in the mind of the individual. It is the fearless, man-in-the-street opinions of the nation that actually constitute the nation's preparedness and security, providing those opinions are patriotic and unselfish. Otherwise we have the flaccid mind, as exampled so tragically in France, Belgium, Norway and the rest of them; minds befuddled by vital issues and influenced all ways, swayed by emotions, a prey to the demagogue and fifth columnist preaching the line of least resistance, cowardice and treason, afraid for his own safety and not knowing whither he goeth. The Dollar Sign We have been hearing a great deal lately abouj, the United States' programme of preparedness. We are told of billions of dollars to be spent on the navy, on the air force and the army, more billions for home defence, etc., etc. The commotion assumes all the proportions of a panic. Yet what, in sober reality, does this gesture of preparedness signify, save so many naughts after a dollar sign? Armaments are no use without patriotism— courage. Without that national spirit such an extravagant bid for security is almost certain to prove futile, a sheer waste of monev.

Let us remember: The follies and mistakes of individaals are the mistakes of nations. If we will cloak our minds to rijrht and reason, we cannot whimper at the prire. be that as heavy a3 it may. Br the same token, to dob all thought that doesn't suit our mood as propaganda is no less dangerous.