THE WAR AND THE SPECTRE

Grey River Argus, 1 August 1940, Page 10

THE WAR AND THE SPECTRE

From Week to Week.

By

H. Winston Rhodes.

A short time ago an American cartoonist' drew the Under-Sccretary, Mr Sumner Wells, hatlcss and aishevilleii, rushing into Roosevelt’s office at tne conclusion of his European tour arid gasping out “Know what? A spectre. 1 It’s haunting Europe!” Sumner Welles, as all Americans know, searches foy Reds in every woodpile and very recently he has made a statement on the subject of the Baltic states which underlines this imagined utterance. But the drawing or the American cartoonist is really a very accurate and penetrating commentary on the European situation. The spectre that is haunting Europe is the spectre of capitalist breakdown, of social upheaval and the increasing strength of the Soviet Union. It is a curious fact that very few people care to consider the war in all its aspects. It is common enough to come across exhaustive studies on military strategy and equally exhaustive studies on wartime economics, but it is not so common to come across any real attempts to examine the political issues which are so closely related both to economic and military problems. The reason for this is that especially in time of war people are in the habit of thinking in terms of nations and not of the nations within nations. They have' been unpleasantly impressed by the way in which Hitler seems, to have unified those under his control, and if they think of revolt, they naturally think of disturbances m Holland or Czechoslovakia vvhich they interpret onlv from the national point of view. Also a very important reason for the avoidance of any discussion of the spectre which is haunting Europe is the incessant propaganda which suggests either that the Soviet Union has returned to capitalism, is an imperialist state or is even in league with Germany. If however the war continues tor an v length of time one thing is certain, and that is that the thought; of the masses of the people in the various counties of Europe will turn more and more into channels of Sucial revolt which may have little to do with fervent nationalism and a lot to do with food, land and peace. Coming events cast their shadows before them, and some of the European shadows are worth watching. It was well before the beginning of the war that Stalin said that the big and dangerous political games of European diplomats might end in a serious fiasco for them, and as far as it is possible to estimate what the conditions of life for masses of European* are likely to be in a few months li may well prove that Stalin was right. if -would be foolish for us to jump to th e conclusion that the activity 01 Soviet troops in the East, the changes that have taken place in the Baltic states and in Bessarabia and the ' creasing power of the Soviet Um <n are all directed only against Hitl r.

It. would be truer to say that it is European capitalism which is menaced. The longer the war proceeds the more s urelv will European capitalism even under Hitler and the secret police find itself unable to bring order out of chaos, and in the Balkans where the mass of. the people live on or below the breadline th e situation is likely to deteriorate rapid.iv, especially if the Hungarian and Balkan granary is to be used as it must be used to feed the German peopleThe recent report from Yugo-slavm of the reluctance of the Government to send food to Germany because the supply is not sufficient for its own people is important to note. As Hitler’s domination over Europe increases from above so disintegration sets in from below, the words of the Irish poet W. B. Yeats written about, twenty years ago are perhaps an adequate description 01 what 'is happening now: — “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold Mere anarchy is loosed upon tlie world —” All the nations of Europe are dim- j lv conscious of the spectre which Is haunting them, the spectre of the breakdown of capitalism. Owing _to pressure from below and also owing to a frenzied attempt to preserve their own domination within their countries, the governments of the Balkan state’s are in an unhappy position. The situation ip Roumania is chaotic. Tn Yugoslavia the people turned ouin their thousands to welcome the first Soviet ambassador. Bulgarian J broadcasts of to-day obviously suggest that more care is taken to placate the Soviet Union than to offend Germany. After a tour of Bulgaria a political correspondent of a leading London paper was unfavourably impressed by the extent to which communist ideas had spread among tne peasants even after the Finnish war. It must be remembered that in countries with millions of land-hungry peasants the cry of land to the peasants’ is all. powerful and drowns ail the appeals of a ruling class for na-1 tional unity. I This winter capitalism in Europs will meet it s greatest crisis and although the Nazis will redouble their efforts to bring land into cultivation and although it would be unwise to think lightly of their organising ability or of their ruthless methods, the strength of the Soviet Union will be unimpaired, its comparative strength greatly increased by 7 the struggle m the west and its hostility to capitalism unabated. But the Soviet Union will move only when its leaders consider that, from the political, as well as from the military, and the economic, points of view, the time is ripe. If people remember this, they may save themselves much wishful thinking, and if they remember political factors they may hope to understand the European situation much better.