Britain Must Plan for Future of Europe

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 259, 1 November 1940, Page 8

Britain Must Plan for Future of Europe

ROLE OF LEADERSHIP (By Telegraph—Press Awra.*—Copyrlgnf) LONDON, Oct. 29. The Manchester Guardian points out that “among the friends of Europe must also be counted Germans, Austrians, and Italians still eager to serve. Some have already been recruited in the Pioneer Corps, and thousands are now being mobilised for technical services through Mr Bevin’s international labour branch of the Ministry of Labour.” The Guardian adds: “England is willy-nilly involved in the problem of Europe’s future, and our contribution to the design for future living must be a pattern of democracy and freedom which has substantial meaning for Continental peoples under the harrow of the Nazis. “Against the specious talk of reconstruction with which Hitler is deluding those Germans he has enslaved, we should set to work to think out the outlines of a positive programme to give an indication that responsible quarters here are planning ahead for Europe as a whole. We must not shirk the responsibility of leadership. There is a big interim job of thought and discussion to be done by means, it might be, of an inter-Allied council.

The Guardian commends the recent speech by Mr Bevin, the Minister of Labour, and remarks: “He said well that post-war reconstruction cannot be thought of only as affecting these islands but as an international reconstruction which will take into account, not only industrial interests but those of primary producers—the agriculturists and peasants of the world. “The war itself is bringing developments that, as he said, must profoundly affect the conditions of peace—collaboration between the Dominion and the United States, the leasing of American bases, the weaving together of American and British interests, the defence of China, and the survival of the spirit of freedom in peoples enslaved by Germany. It is extremely important that we should encourage, as Mr Bevin is doing, right thinking about the economic foundations of peace.”