The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1943. QUISLING’S NORWAY

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22535, 20 March 1943, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1943. QUISLING’S NORWAY

IT has been the ambition uf Quisling Norway to gain official admission, as a full member, to Europe’s '“New Order.” The elevation of Quisling to the dignity of Prime Minister and head of a National Government a year ago was an important step towards this goal, but, to give their country the outward appearance of an ’’independent allied state,” the tXasjonal Samling Party had to reorganise the Norwegian community on Fascist lines. The plan of a corporative Norway was probably accepted by the Fuhrer on the occasion of Quisling’s visit to Berlin, and the latter’s efforts during the following months were mainly demoted to this end. But the struggle against the regime by Norwegian judges, clergymen, workers, shipowners, and so on in the years 19-10 and 1911 had already proved that the Norwegian population is not prepared to tolerate, even grudingly, an attempt at organised regimentation, and the iVasjonal Sanding movement is not strong enough to subdue the active resistance of the people. In* spite of this, and although the attempt to nazify the teaching profession in the spring and summer of 1912 also failed, the Quisling Government made hasty preparations for the inauguration of a Fascist Riksdag and the proclamation of a corporative order on the occasion of the Party Congress at the end ot last September. Under this draft constitution. the whole population was to be subdivided into corporations, according to the various occupations; the leaders of each corporation were to be appointed by the Quisling authorities, and the representatives of all corporations would be combined in two Chambers, a Cultural and an Economic Assembly.

One important aspect of this constitutional reorganisation would have been lite- further transformation ol the Norwegian trade unions, which had been taken over, about a year previously, by the Quislings, though the shortage of skilled Nazi trade imionists soon resulted in the reinstnllatien of a number of non-Nazi union officials. In some cases, less than half the ordinary subscriptions ucre paid, in spite of the efforts of the new union authorities; but the Hight of the workers from the Nazilied unions, which might otherwise have occurred, was until recently presented by an official ban on resignation. The Free Trade Union Movement. however, appealed to the- workers to desert the Nazified unions when it became clear, in August, 1912, that the Labour Union, together with the reorganised employers' associations, should constitute the new corporations for commerce and industry.

Economically, the non-co-operation of the workers is particularly serious from the German point of view, because of the strained position ol the Norwegian labour market. The local population is hardly sufficient to perform the huge amount of work involved by the Norwegian fortification schemes, especially since the productivity of the average worker is said to have been reduced by 30 per cent owing to food deficiencies and other adverse factors. Already, a large number of German civilians have come to Norway to take up key positions in industry; and workers from Denmark, Holland and Poland, as well as prisoners from Russia and Yugoslavia, have also been transferred to Norway. The Labour Minister in Quisling’s administration revealed last .June that the German military authorities required as much as a third of all Norwegian workers: the number of labourers compulsor ilv recruited may now be in the neighbourhood of 100.000. The majority of them are occupied with fortification work in Norway itself, mostly for a remuneration far below their former wages. The discontent of the workers is also shown in big ar ts of sabotage, which are supported. even according to German sources, by a fair section of the population.

LAURENCE BINYON UVEN in ordinary times the death of a poet does not attract much attention unless he is one of the lew' fortunate writers who have taken strong hold on the public imagination. 11l times like these a poet has greater chance still of dying inconspicuously in the midst of so much destruction ami death. Nevertheless, Laurence Binyon, whose death was announced last week, wrote one poem which has become more widely known than his name. One stanza of it runs: They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. That poem For the Fallen became the supreme elegy for the men who died in the First World War. As one critic has said: “This poem may well be taken out of the immense heap of verse which the Four Years called forth as the most representative expression of the spirit of courage and self-sacrifice of the time.” Laurence Binyon, when he wrote those lines, penned immortal words. They are graved upon stone in every part of the British Empire and they will be used again when the memory of those who have died, and are yet to die. in the present struggle is being honoured.

To the world at large Laurence Binyon would be known for this poem alone, but it was merely one item in a large body of work, the bulk of it excellent. He was also a noted writer on art and he did much to establish the reputation of Wil liam Blake as a painter. Binyon once said: “Many Englishmen take a perverse pride in their inarticulate ness. With them tense emotion brings forth only a stream of ‘dams’ and ’hells’.” He was one Englishman with a larger power of

expression which was used profitably for the delight of those who chose to study the work of a long life.