THE WAY TO PEACE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 134, 3 December 1936, Page 28

THE WAY TO PEACE

LANSBURY'S IDEAS

DESTROYING BARRIERS

Every day . . ..shows . . . war a more terrible master than ever before, writes George Lansbury in the "Forum." We pacifists refuse to sit ■ down quietly and allow this process to continue unchecked and without a protest;- -We refuse to believe the fatalistic theory that, because all other civilisations have '. decayed, so also must. ours. Neither do we think that force', and domination, greed and avarice, and all the evil which the present-day world gives us are incurable and an integral part of our human nature,, ~ ,\ '

Those who support war claim to be realists. 'They speak of pacifists as cranks and sentimentalists. But, judged by the standard of success, it is those who support a society based on force and war who are the sentimentalists. We need not ransack the pages of history to prove this. The Great War which in Europe almost wiped out' fi generation of our youngest and best "and which took a heavy toll from the young manhood of the United States and British Dominions, was/fought: to abolish militarism and autocracy and, ;

to make the world safe for democracy. We have only to look around the world and see what a foolish, sentimental dream that was. Humanity paid a terrible price in human suffering, sor.row, and death, and it never received what it paid for. . PRACTICAL PEOPLE. No: we Christians, like, all other pacifists, are in fact practical people. Our •way of life is very simple. We are neither theologians nor mere word spinners. Mankind does suffer very much from natural causes, such as floods and earthquakes, and we sympathise deeply with the victims of such catastrophes. But taking tho world as a whole, most of the sin.anil: suffering, destitution, and sorrow.which.; daily afflict many millions in all lands is man-made. ' V :

■ This is especially the case when' we are at war. Then we are told thai every scrap of energy, ev::-y. ounce of our resources must be organised to destroy our enem}. Great nations plan mighty engines of battle, creat? poison gas, and marshal millions of men and women in their service. Have you ever asked-yourselves why sim: lar efforts cannot be made to remov 1 the causes of w.ar and organise the world for service, and peace? From i 1914 to, 1918 "the whole world was' divided" in two divisions * for the^sole' purpose, of winning peace througVTunl-' vfer'sal ■ slaughter. Given the will to dp so,, nations could be even mors .■ i

easily organised for co-operation and mutual service. ... During the past few years, in company with my colleagues . . , I have been advocating a policy which, if. followed, would at least start ;us on the road along which we must travel. Sir Samuel Hoare, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Mr. Cordell Hull have both borne testimony, to the need for action such as my colleagues and ■I have discussed^ CONFERENCE PROPOSED. With these thoughts in mind 1 proposed recently in the British House of Commons the calling of an international conference to ... arrange for a fairer . access to. raw materials and colonies by-all nations.- .'. . 'The proposal' r made' was fairly widely supported, but it was also attacked as an attempt to "give the British, Empire, away." That was not what I proposed, as ...I. shall explain later; but if the nations are expecting to secure peace on a basis of giving nothing away (as my critics seemed to hope) they will secure not peace but war. In wartime we call on all citizens to make sacrifices of money security, and life itself. We cannot' expect to win peace without making certain ~ sacrifices. . . . What I propose is ...

A-conference/ofi all-nations . ._ to ari-anee to make impossible any discrimination ' between one '^country's trade and another's in colonies and

dependencies. Every signatory shall be bound by treaty to outlaw any distinction of nationality in Customs duties, bounties, or other financial ar ,rangements. ;> ;.'^.;; .ia ~.; :.;;■>':■, i.\ The end-we;should 'seek to attain is one which will; bring;under international control'tile vast'resources-: ana markets of the world, together'with such stabilisation of methods oi exchange as will eliminate speculation in money values, in order that currency will not fluctuate in value froim day to day; finally, the establishment of another commission to enable the 'present unoccupied portions of the world to be opened' up'for'those nations needing room for growing populations; .■■ ■ ■ , i

This is not a cut-and-dried • programme, but only a suggestion for the start of a discussion. The world has waited a long time to learn wisdom ■Purely it is not too much to say that here, under our very eyes, is the power which, if we possess wisdom md understanding, can be used for the service of all. We need most the humility to acknowledge our past failures and, the spirit to enable us to see ourselves and to believe that love is the! one great solvent for all our ills and that • love must be expressed •. in action through individuals and 'nations. This, is true, because from'-us must come'the faith which will remove mountains arid, the action which will demonstrate our faith. '