THE INSTRUMENT OF PROGRESS

Southland Times, Issue 24153, 15 June 1940, Page 15

THE INSTRUMENT OF PROGRESS

DEMOCRACY, TODAY AND TOMORROW.—By Eduard Benes. The Right Booh Club, London. Price 2/6 to members.

This book is the work of a man who has shared in the making of great events. Many people know him only as the tragic figure who opposed Hitler with courage and self-control during the days of strain which preceded the Munich Agreement. But although that may have been the crisis which brought him under the attention of the world, it was by no means the only struggle in which he has made his stand for democratic freedom. As the associate. and successor of the great Masaryk, he shared the exile of patriots, the building of a nation, and the losing fight for peace at Geneva. Few men are better fitted than he to write of democracy, for he has helped to establish -it in a country now enslaved by Germany, and he believes with a passionate faith in its ultimate survival.

In a chapter which reveals his sense of history Dr Benes traces in broad outline the evolution of a feudal society into the modern democratic state. The effects of the first world war on political structures that lacked the strength and resilience of English democracy are discussed with a clear insight into the difficulties of post-war Europe. It is chastening to read these pages and to realize the clash of interests, racial and social, beneath the surface of European politics. The truth seems to be that, for many countries, democracy was merely a facade behind which the old, reactionary traditions and methods continued to exert a disruptive influence. When these facts are grasped it is easier to understand why the Nazi and Fascist doctrines spread so rapidly and gained so many “fifth column” adherents.

“This philosophy,” writes Dr Benes, “. . . meant the application of fnodern vitalistic philosophy in international politics. Life is a struggle, and therefore the life of nations is also a struggle, a struggle for predominance, for prestige, expansion, and a voice in deciding the fate of the whole world.” The rise of the new political dynamism implied an inescapable conflict with democracy: it is being decided today on the battlefields of France. Dr Benes knows the danger, and does not under-estimate it. But he believes that democracy cannot die, for he sees it as the only true instrument of human progress. The crisis which has now culminated in total warfare is a continuation of the fight for a better society. Only if democracy prevails can there be any hope of social justice for the future generations.

A Prodigal Father

NEXT TO THESE LADIES.—By Margaret Hassett. Longmans, Green and Co., London. Price 8/- net. Mrs Burbidge had her large house converted into service flats after the disappearance of her husband in a trackless part of South America. With her daughter Pat, she has lived comfortably enough for a number of years. But the loss of her husband has made her sentimental, and inclined to fits of melancholy. And the flats which supply the family income are all occupied by women, mostly middle-aged. Pat finds her environment rather depressing. Like everyone else in the rouse, from the elderly Miss Peerless in the top back room to the garrulous cook-housekeeper in the basement, she begins to long for the sight and sound of a male presence. Suddenly the secret longings are answered. An eligible bachelor comes to stay with his sister in one of the flats upstairs, and after a first disappointing encounter Pat finds a new interest in life. But this is only the beginning. One night she is summoned home with the news that her father has

returned, as if from the dead. Pat soon finds that her idealized memory of the missing parent has been remote from reality. “Noble” Burbidge is a charming but worthless person. His wife has built around him a legend which dissolves under the candid eyes of the daughter. Pat’s disillusionment, and the recompense she finds in a healthy romance, are described in chapters which carry the reader at an easy pace towards the happy ending. This book may have an unpretentious theme; but it is a pleasant story about people who are worth knowing. The characterization is deft, and there are irrepressible undertones of humour.