PACIFIST ATTITUDE

Southland Times, Issue 24184, 22 July 1940, Page 9

PACIFIST ATTITUDE

To The Editor Sir, —With all proper modesty I venture to put into words the thoughts of our pacifists. The pacifist speaks his thoughts thus: “I belong to the noble land of pacifists. We pacifists are not exclusive. Any one who will preach disarmament and submissiveness we gladly recognize as one of our noble band. No man who points to that powerful and warlike nation to the north, that' nation which has conquered vast provinces and is still conquering, no man who suggests that there is any danger to us from that quarter, is a true pacifist. For while we pacifists are not exclusive, we have to draw the line somewhere. We pacifists welcome those who refuse to see any danger, those who are prepared to run all risks in the sacred cause of disarmament.

“But while we are prepared to run all risks we prefer to do so by proxy, vicariously. Not for us the martyrdom of a Latimer or a Servetus; de do the preaching, the young fighting men of the Air Force, the Army, the Navy, they suffer the martyrdom. Why not join us, you others? In peace time, we are praised as holy protagonists of a noble cause. We enjoy the favour of God and man, and, above all, of our own consciences. What bliss it is to pat yourself on the back and think that you are a little saint! The long years of peace glide by in this atmosphere of selfapproval and public praise. Then when war comes you are still better off than those you have condemned to wounds and death. Your principles will not allow you to join in the game of war. Even if your unpopularity grows, you can always, for the time being, renounce your noble principles, and say that you are still consistent but that this is a particular kind of war, a war against Satan, a Holy war.

“If the desired convert hesitates to join us, we can point to the historical fact, that after the Great War, it was the pacifists who rose to the highest posts of honour, not the fighting men, not the so-called heroes who suffered and bled. Clearly, if you want to enjoy a good time after this Greater War is over, you must now side with us, you must prate about your sacred forty-hour week, your claim to a higher civilization, consisting in more pay and less work. Clearly such are the true marks of a high civilization, plenty of pay and precious little work and a jolly old strike when you want a little excitement. We pacifists have the best of this world and the next. Join us.” And be one of the vilest crowd on earth.— Yours, etc., J. P. DAKIN. July 20, 1940.