FIGHTING FOR BRITAIN

Grey River Argus, 18 March 1941, Page 5

FIGHTING FOR BRITAIN

The Principle of Democracy WILL BEAR DOWN ENEMY. RUGBY, March 15. The value of free speech in the war effort was stressed by the Joint Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Home Security,. Mr. Mabane. Speaking at Huddersfield, Mr. Mabane said that Britain claimed to be fighting for democracy, but it wa's .no less true that democracy, a live principle of government, was fighting for Britain. “Ships, guns, aeroplanes, all munitions of war an,d the men to use them are tangible material things of war,” he said. “Democracy is a great intangible, a great imponderable thing, that we can throw into the scale inevitably, and certainly bear the enemy down.” Democracy in action has amazed the world. I have seen battle in cities. I have not heard a' whimper. I have seen women, old men. and boys facing danger and carrying on with their duties with a dauntless resolve. If help comes we shall welcome it. If it does not come, we shall carry on. Hitler, with his bombed cities shaking with unexpected terror, would be a happy man if he could say the same.” Free speech and free criticism as an instrument of democratic government was a spur to action. The rulers of Germany, on the other hand, were groping their way in a blackout of opinion which they had themselves created and imposed. In Britain, if an audience did not like a performer, they hissed him off the stage. In Germany if an audience did not like a performer, he was put into a concentration camp.