TURNING NAZI TABLES

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 December 1940, Page 8

TURNING NAZI TABLES

REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGY. LONDON, October 23. Revolutionary anti-Nazi forces in all subjugated territories in Europe are recognised by the British Government as being with the R.A.F. in the vanguard of the units striking to loosen the grip Germany has imposed on the Continent. Diplomats agree that the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, admitted this when, in his broadcast to France, he openly encouraged secret resistance to the Germans.

Mr. Churchill declared: “Those Frenchmen who are in the French Empire and those in so-called unoccupied France may see their way from time to time to take useful action?’ - .

Th s statement is causing tremendous satisfaction in London, where it is interpreted as marking an important turning point in the Government’s attitude towards the war. It reveals that the Government has decided upon its political strategy. It is recognised as clear from Mr. Churchill’s suggestion to Frenchmen to seek ways and means of hindering the Nazi’s efforts to consolidate their position on the Continent and in the French colonies that Britain intends that the purely military conception of the struggle for the British Empire shall be supplemented by a revolutionary one.

In other words, the decision means that Hitler’s weapon of working inside a country to bring down those holding power over it will be used against himself with the British Government’s approval and encouragement in every enslaved State in which groups of men and women can be found to act as instruments for the overthrow of Nazidom.

WhAt those applauding Mr. Churchill’s encouragement of the fomenting of revolt and sabotage in France say is: “Hitler‘s whole career has been a challenge to civil war in Europe. His campaigns amount to revolution rather than .imperialism. We should wage civil 'war on the Continent as resolutely as Hitler has done. If Hitler could stage a war, which, with its Quislings and other notorious Fifth Columnists, was more than half a civil war, it was because of divisions of opinion all over the Continent.” NAZIS ASSAILABLE. If that is accepted as being so, it is pointed out, German-occupied Europe is far more assailable by that very method, since it is more than divided. All neutral observers arriving at Lisbon support this view. There are millions who would respond to a revolutionary movement that would hold not only the promise of security and liberty, but also the prospect of armed intervention from a powerful alliance from without. Mr. Churchill’s expression of his desire that Frenchmen should secretly plan and work for the downfall of Nazism from inside, while’out- ] side Britain continues to amass her

offensive striking power against the hour when she will be ready to strike with her full might at the Nazi tyranny, is an expression of what is already in the hearts of many, and it gives form to the ideas in the average man’s mind. Almost simultaneously with Mr. Churchill’s intimation of the Government’s political strategy is the publication of a book urging the practice of this strategy, entitled “War by Revolution.” The, author, Mr. Francis Williams, states: “The military alignment of the forces now is such that, although Britain’s naval and air power may prove to be enough to prevent a serious invasion, and her Army is great enough to destroy such forces as may get past the naval and air guards, it is difficult to see how, so long as the war is fought according to purely military

strategy, there can be any hope of a decisive defeat of Nazi Germany.” Mr. Williams believes that a revolutionary movement that would promise security and liberty, and at the right moment tremendous and successful armed support from Britain, could be instigated, fostered, and led to final achievement Joy a Britain that had abandoned plutocracy and class leadership and relied on the spirit of her people, as revealed at Dunkirk and in London to-day. Some observers believe that, by his recent Cabinet changes, Mr. Churchill has indicated that his Government already is prepared for the task of fostering such a movement in Europe. While travellers from France continue to say that the French nation is becoming more and more pro-Bri-tish and that we have friends even

among high officials of the Vichy Government, all agree that much preparation will be necessary before any movement can be seen for liberation from the Nazi yoke. It is stated that the civilian population has been looking for a long time for a lead from the 8.8.C.’s French broadcasts. Mr. Churchill’s speech is expected to give these broadcasts a great fillip. Commentators urge that the best brains in Britain should co-operate to make these nightly broadcasts a powerful weapon. They say that the broadcasts were being neglected until the Prime Minister announced that he would talk. The hope is expressed, therefore, that the broadcasts will not slip back into the desultory talks, since they must, for the time being, be the inspiring link between free Britons and imprisoned Frenchmen struggling to be free.