COMMUNISM AND THE EAST

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26886, 12 November 1952, Page 8

COMMUNISM AND THE EAST

DEMOCRACIES URGED TO ACT ADDRESS TO ROTARY CONFERENCE (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 11. If the spirit of philanthropy, internationalism and service did not force democracy into action in the East, the need for survival must, said Mr T. Wilson, principal of the Ardmore Teachers’ Training College, in an address to the thirty-ninth Rotary District Conference in Auckland today. Mr Wilson returned some months ago from duty as leader of the UNESCO Thailand Educational Mission. “If democracy is going to survive it must do something about it,” said Mr Wilson. “Communists suggest a form of autocracy and the holding under of dissident groups. They further suggest that by major ex‘periments such as they have conducted in their own country—considerable land reform and the movement of workers into farming—they can help the people to fill the rice bowl of the. East.

“That is something very practical and realistic, and something that the East understands.

“We of the democracies, on the other hand, suggest in rather idealistic terms that we are fighting for the freedoms,” Mr Wilson said. “These people do not know what freedoms are, either in theory or in practice. When we offer idealism, the Communists offer realism and a full rice bowl.

“Establishing a bastion will get us nowhere.” said Mr Wilson. “Whai we must do is establish bridges. If we do not I feel we will miss our last opportunity in Asia. New Zealand is too complacent and apathetic. We are living in a veritable paradise on the periphery of the world, but to maintain our conditions we must assist the East.

“If we bridge with understanding and human relationship I still think we can save the day—although it is getting late,” said Mr Wilson. “If we do not, in 50 years’ time the 'Commonwealth might be a group’ of inconsequential islands with a glorious history which is thought of with affectionate reverence. America might be regarded as a museum piece which had made some contribution to democracy. “It happened to Greece and Rome, and it could happen here if we remain complacent and prefer to establish bastions rather than bridges,” Mr Wilson said.