W FOR WORK

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 181, 2 August 1941, Page 9

W FOR WORK

AUSTRALIAN VIEWPOINTS Australia's Defence Minister, the irrepressible W. M. Hughes, has given his vivid appraisal of the "V" campaign as far as it affects Australia. He said that there was a time for action, not slogans, and that people would be better employed in concentrating on the life and death struggle ahead instead of wasting their time on slogans and jokes. The "Sydney Morning Herald" takes a similar point of view. In a leading article it says:— "For millions of suffering and silenced inhabitants of Germanoccupied Europe, the V for victory" has been a gesture of defiance flung up in the face of the conquerors, and a message of encouragement to fel-low-prisoners. What precisely is the meaning of the symbol for Australians? Our part in the. war is utterly different. We are still free to organise and work to build up our arms for the battle against Hitler. The V has captured the imagination of the public, but a phrase is no substitute for action, and there is a danger that it may actually distract people's minds from work, that the formula may be endowed with mystic qualities, so that some of those who shout it or flourish a bit of paper bearing a V may feel satisfied that they have struck a telling blow against the enemy. The symbol for Australia must signify toil and sacrifice.