SYMPOSIUM

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22769, 22 July 1939, Page 18

SYMPOSIUM

SIX VIEWS ON DICTATORSHIP AND DEMOCRACY New Tyrannies for Old, By Lord Snell. Wickham Steed, A. C. Tem- * perley, and others. George Allen and Unwin. 176 pp. (5/- net.) In “New Tyrannies for Old” six writers of repute—Lord Snell, Leader of the Opposition fn the House of Lords, Mr Wickham Steed, the former editor of “The Times,” Major-General A. C. Temperley, military correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph,” Madame' Genevieve Tabouis, editor of “L’Oeuvre,” Mr R. H. S. Crossman, Fellow of New College, Oxford, and Mr Herbert Morrison, M.P., Labour Leader of the London County Council—discuss according to their several interests and convictions the burning question of the"day: democracy and dictatorship. From the title of the book It is apparent that the dictatorships (the “new tyrannies”) find favour with none of the writers, while the democracies, the old tyrannies for which new ones have been exchanged, come in for their share of searching criticism. The attack is opened by Lord Snell. Dictatorship so far has succeeded, he argues, because none of the countries which embrace it has had a full experience of democracy. Of the two systems, democracy with all its weaknesses* he thinks, will prevail, but freedom must be regarded not as something to be inherited but as something which each generation in turn must fight for. Mr Wickham Steed discusses the new technique of conquest, and as he warms to his subject he finds much to condemn in the attitude and policy of the democracies in the postwar years. Major-General Temperlev’s advice is simply: try to establish some agreement with the totalitarian Governments giving security against future aggression, or else prepare for the inevitable conflict.

Madame Tabouis can see no alternative to war except 'a series of concessions by the democracies to the dictatorships. Mr Crossman’s argument infers from the pogroms of Nazi Germany a return to the dark ages, with the distinction that cruelty and intolerance are organised by the State. With Mr Herbert Morrison he shares the view that the only hope for Britain is a revival of the sense of moral indignation. Mr Morrison examines the possibility of a bloodless defeat of dictatorship. This, he states, can be achieved only when the peoples of the dictator countries “see both the danger and the light.” To this end he advocates the employment of every possible means to put the people of Britain and France in touch with the people of Germany and Italy. > .1.... —.