THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1934. ANOTHER DICTATORSHIP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22293, 20 June 1934, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1934. ANOTHER DICTATORSHIP

The establishment, as reported by cable, of a dictatorship in Bulgaria, —for that is, of course, the meaning of the Prime Minister’s announcement that he proposes to govern by decree for a year—will create no astonishment. A month ago the city of Sofia awoke to find; a coup d’etat completed, and the streets in possession of troops with fixed bayonets, bombs, machine guns, and other such instruments of persuasion. : Thus was a new regime introduced in ; a simple and indeed almost time-honoured manner. -It has become increasingly the fashion of late years among European States, when in serious difficulty over domestic problems, to settle matters by adoption of the drastic method of setting up a so-called national government relying upon the military for its support. All troublesome organisations are suppressed, and, if disaffection lifts its head, a bludgeon awaits it. The monarchy, if there be one, may be retained, provided it be amenable to reason, but Parliament and democratic institutions are treated as so much hampering litter. One of the first acts of‘the new regime at Sofia was to order the suppression of all political parties and organisations and of the newspapers. The inspiring force of example is no doubt discernible in this tendency. The achievements of the Fascists in Italy and of the Nazis in Germany have lent much encouragement to similar movements among other peoples. Hence the march of dictatorships still goes on. The infection has spread in some degree even to the great strongholds of democracy. It has touched the United States. There are those who make little secret of their desire to establish a dictatorship in Great Britain. It has been pointed out time and again that democracy is at stake' and that the world is confronted with a wave of violence in political thought and action. Needless (o say, the symptoms have created some uneasiness among those avlio visualise the possibility of a serious attack upon the whole structure of British liberty, the product of

centuries of effort and advancement. “ We are almost the last country standing for freedom of speech and conscience,” declared Mr Baldwin somewhat recently, but Britons, he philosophically observed, were not made for dictatorships. The assurance that Great Britain will continue to stand for these rights which her people have won for themselves is, as was indicated by Professor Lawson yesterday in a speech to the young farmers now visiting Dunedin, offered in a well-founded belief that the idea of dictatorship is alien to the British genius. Other countries lack a similar tradition. In them political movements may be permitted to gather such momentum that their leaders are able to seize power and hasten change by forcible means. But there seems little possibility of movements of a similar character making serious headway in a country fortified by the deep-rooted regard which the British people have for their heritage of liberty.