WORLD PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 63, 12 September 1938, Page 8

WORLD PROBLEMS

THE OUTLOOK FOR FREEDOM

SUPREME EFFORT FOR PEACE

(By the Rt. Hon. Anthony Eden, P.C., M.P., Former Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Great Britain.)

World Copyright 1938 by Co-operation,

This is the first of a series of ] articles by the Rt. Hon. Anthony Eden, former Foreign Secretary, on international affaiTS. The Great "War was a period of intense suffering, of material impoverishment and spiritual loss. Yet out of it was reborn an ideal, that henceforth the nations of the world, renouncing war as an instrument of national policy, should seek to settle their disputes by peaceful • means, that the rule of law should be recognised and accepted by all Governments and peoples. With the advent of peace the nations determined to make a supreme effort to translate this ideal into a reality. Their determination was based upon a sincere conviction that the alternative to some form of accepted international order was a race in armaments and another world war which must finally destroy such civilisation as still survived. Today we have to face the tragic fact that their attempt, if it has not completely failed, is in everincreasing jeopardy, while the doctrine of force is once again openly avowed, and wins fresh champions or apologists with, every success it can proclaim. Truly a tragic outcome of twenty years' endeavour. MISTAKES IN PLENTY. There have been, of course, mistakes in plenty, mistakes by which it is to be hoped others will some day profit. One or two of them can be set down now, even though ,we do not yet at- w tempt their detailed discussion. When the United States at the close of the Great War finally felt unable to join Great Britain in a guarantee to France, Great Britain should, none the less, have given that guarantee. By so doing Britain would have re-

lieved French policy at an earlier and more hopeful time from the greatest of the preoccupations that beset it in the immediately post-war years, that of being left in the lurch to face a maybe vengeful Germany. A more constructive European policy would then have been possible. Another mistake was the Association of the League with the peace treaties. There were good reasons for this at the time. Yet there can be no doubt that the League ideal suffered in consequence from being associated in the minds of the nations vanquished in the Great War with peace settlements which they regarded as punitive and harsh. Geneva in consequence came to be looked upon by them as the obdurate guardian of certain definite clauses of the peace treaties instead of as the means of applying methods of arbitration and negotiation for the peaceful settlement of international disputes. But these were not, of course, the only errors, nor was the lack of universality, serious as this was, the only'limitation imposed upon the \ League. Yet no one should doubt that the j British people believed sincerely in the ideal which found expression in the Covenant of the League and in the Briand-Kellogg pact. Despite all disappointment and disillusion the great majority of them are still convinced that until a rule of law is generally accepted there will be no lasting security for their children or their children's children. Though the League has lost both authority and popularity the alternative to international co-opera-tion in some form is revealed in harsher light with each day that passes. All around us present world conditions emphasise this truth. What is the cause of the staggering figures of mounting national armaments which today threaten the standards of national life, of the revived dread of war but that the rule of law has been gravely weakened and the use of force is now once again the deliberate policy of certain States? Moreover there is a growing consciousness that the modern methods of communication, constantly improved by< the discoveries of science, have reduced geographical distances and increased the interdependence of nations. These and other forces have further emphasised the need to establish and maintain a rule of law; for are not conditions of peace and respect for engagements entered into, a prerequisite of confidence in commerce no less than politics? REALITIES MUST BE FACED. These and many other reflections could be set down about the post-war period, but even they are not what matters most today. The essential is that British democracy should face the realities of the situation that confronts it. In the autocratic States there is a vitality and an enthusiasm on behalf of- the faith that has been fostered among them which it would be a grave mistake to belittle. We may dislike the methods, the-suppression of criticisms, the ruthless use of propaganda, and deplore the loss of individual freedom of thought and action; yet the results are there in mass enthusiasm and national fervour, and they are very formidable indeed. From the earliest years a child, if living under a dictatorship, is trained to dedicate his or her life to an ideal of nationhood constantly placarded and paraded. No room or opportunity is left for doubts or questions. The propaganda machine and all the resources of a highly organised State are there to see to that. He or she is a cog in a machine and in most cases is well content to be so. Physically and mentally young men and women in these countries are trained from their youth up with a thoroughness which can have no parallel in history. •Whether in youth movements, in the Labour camp, or in the army, the I process of moulding is never relaxed. Nor is any individual, caste, or even I religion allowed to stand in thy way.

Generals.or clergy, men of: letters, poets ox' painters,- each has to conform to the limitations imposed, to co-oper-ate in achieving each successive objective that may be set before the State. Woe betide any who will not accept these conditions. And so gradually by the elimination of all criticism and by the intensive training of the younger generation a national unity is being created in the totalitarian States which is far in excess of anything that existed in pre-war years. If, in contrast,, we turn to Great Britain, we have to admit that at the present time nothing . comparable exists there. The English people maintain their pride in their traditions. They hold to their faith in their free institutions, but their national unity finds no such marked expression. They have not, for instance, that national unity to which without doubt they could attain in an instant at an outbreak of war. On the contrary, they seem to be moving ever further from the attainment of such unity. The result is that some, perhaps not very observant persons, have come to think that a free people working by voluntary methods cannot attain a measure of national unity such as that which exists in the autocratic States. We begin to hear the comment that a democracy, such as Britain, cannot realise, for example in the field of armaments, the stupen-, dous effort of which the autocratic States have proved themselves capable. If the argument is that we cannot, under democracy, obtain the results that dictatorships obtain, then I profoundly disagree. In the Great War it was those nations which had been trained in the democratic tradition which best withstood the strain. The whole meaning of confidence in freedom is that we can do better thus. NEED OF A COMMON IDEAL. Today Britain requires national unity" in policy and practice, the inspisation of a common ideal. Idealism, is out of fashion in some quarters in these days, yet it remains true that the dictatorships make no small use of an idealism of their own. Unless the democracies of Western Europe can revive their own faith, they cannot hope either to achieve a national unity within, or to uphold their point of view with such courage and steadfastness as to ensure that it shall prevail. There is in Europe today probably less personal freedom than there has been at any time in the last thousand years. That is a depressing reflection,,but it should be a stimulant also. Nor is there time to spare. A growth of national unity brings with it increasing national confidence. These are the elements of a stronger policy pursued not to impose our will or our methods upon others, but to ensure ] that those idealsof freedom, toleration, and peace which are the inspiration-of true democracy, are not swept away by the more ruthless doctrines now so stridently proclaimed. On this stronger fcasis a more enduring international order" can be built. The broad facts of the world situation remain sufficiently clear. Without the establishment of some rule of law nations will not attain to the measure of prosperity which would otherwise be within their reach. If present tendencies persist the nations will continue to move with ever-in-creasing momentum towards another world conflict. Some day an international order will be established. Will it form part of our present civilisation, or will some later generations have to build it afresh upon the devastated ruins of the modern world?