AID TO RUSSIA

Grey River Argus, 10 September 1941, Page 7

AID TO RUSSIA

(By

"Jackhammer”)

People from all walks of life and with divergent political creeds on the West Coast, will no doubt be grati[fied to see that initial moves are being made to set up “Aid to Russia Committees” throughout the district. The purpose behind the setting up of these committees throughout the country, notwithstanding the fact that the idea is to obtain material aid as quickly as possible for the Soviet Union, will be to render moral aid, which is just as essential. The Government will be urged to seek closer cultural and trade relations with the Soviet Union and also arrange for an exchange of government representatives.

The value of this moral assistance is that it will tend to offset and negative the opposition and antagonism shown towards our ally in certain quarters. This antagonism is but thinly veiled, as is shown by articles in sections of the press, the refusal by a Muncipal Council to rent a hall for an Aid to Russia meeting, and in the attitude of many people who are still in important and influential positions 'to-day. The proposal in Australia by Dr. L. W. Nott, of Canberra, to send a field ambulance and medical unit to Russia was rejected by Mr Menzies’ War Cabinet (from Magazine Page 20/8/41); the recent statement by a British Cabinet Minister (Colonel Moore Brabazon), who expressed the hope that the German and Russian armies would exterminate each other, leaving Britain the dominant European Power. This type of sentiment is the more prevalent in the upper strata of society. We should welcome the people who give their whole-hearted support to aid Russia, although their politicsand ideals do not conform to the Soviet ideal and may even be antagonistic to that idea; the main issue is the crushing of fascism.

Why some people go to great pains to explain (especially in Labour circles) that, while they welcome the Soviet as an ally, it does not mean that they are in sympathy with its form of society, is difficult to understand. When Greece became an ally of Britain’s, although it was under a dictatorship, there was no hesitation in welcoming and aiding Greece without any stipulations re the Government in power. The Greeks fought heroically; it was also our fight and we aided them; the Red Army also is fighting heroically, and it is still our fight. We must aid the U.S.S.R. Business men, workers, employers, clergymen and tradesmen—they are all represented in some of the Aid to Russia Committees that have been set up, typifying all shades of political opinion. The more aid w'e can give to Russia and the quicker we can give it, will to the same extent remove the quicker, the menace on New Zealand’s threshold.