An Anti-Conscription Campaign

Northern Advocate, 9 May 1939, Page 6

An Anti-Conscription Campaign

THE effect of conscription on the British political situation cannot be accurately gauged until the elections, when the public will have an opportunity of endorsing or repudiating Mr Chamberlain’s policy. In the meantime the British Labour Pnrtv is actively opposing conscription, but it has very little offer in its place, except suggestions which would not contribute 0116 Aifthe latesUnove in the anti-conscription campaign, 40,000 people paraded in London, and were addressed by Labour members including Miss Ellen Wilkinson, Dr. Hugh Dalton, and others. Apart from suggestions for the encouragement of volunteers, which was proved during the Gieat Wai to be inadequate to meet a national crisis, the principal suggestions made at this rally seemed to be that Britain should take steps to form an alliance with Russia. Among the several objections to this are the fact that so far Russia has not expressed willingness to accept an alliance, and that her war records in the present century are not such as to inspire confidence in her as an ally. More than 30 years ago Russia was utterly vanquish both on land and sea by the Japanese. In the Gi eat Wai, although her soldiers fought bravely on their own soil, they often degenerated into a rabble when faced by the trained and disciplined forces of Germany and Austria. After the war, such were P the soldiering qualities of the Russians that bands of Czech prisoners were able to defy the whole Bolshevist regime, and set upTn Siberia an amazing republic, which endured for several months. Eventually, when the Bolsheviks had c °"f'‘ d^® d it th h e position, a huge military machine was created, but so : ftw )‘t never been tested, and no one can say whether it will be any more effective, on the field of war, than the unreliable Russian armies ° f 1 Nothing would cause greater consternation among Britain s enemies or greater jubilation among possible foes, than news that the Labour Party’s anti-conscription campaip had been successful. But the British public, realising that its; own _ safety and security may depend on adequate mihtaiy piotection, likely to be hoodwinked by a campaign in which motives of genuine patriotism are apparently being subordinated to political ends.