JEAN JAURES'S "ARMEE NOUVELLE."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12063, 19 July 1917, Page 8

JEAN JAURES'S "ARMEE NOUVELLE."

DEMOCRACY AND MILITARY •SERVICE.

From Messrs Simpkin. Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., through L..M. Isitt, Ltd., Christ church, comes an abbreviated translation of the la.te.U. Jean Jauros's famous " Armco Nouvelle," under the Title of " Democracy and Military (service.ln a, preface M. Pierre Renandel. editor of " T.'Humanite,'' declares that had Jean daurcs lived to face the conditions of to-dav in it, certainly would have given him great, pleasure to have seen his " A,mice Nouvelle " translated into the language of democratic Britain.

" The groat, and terrible lessons of war, so far from rendering Jaures's military ideas obsolete, have on the contrary threatened them and given a more living actuality. It. was noUiiere. move in tho political game when .Inures brought, before our Parliament has Bill for tho military reorganisation of France- To him, the Nation, in Arms represented■ tho system best emulated to realise national ' defence in its supreme and fullest form. At the. same time, he looked upon it as the only military system possible for a country which wishes to gain nothing by aggression. but, which is resolved to defend itself to the death against any unjust attack. 'The Nat.on in Arms,' wroto Jaures. ' is necessarily a nation actuated by .justice.' That, in why this great, iSocialist- statesman insisted so forcibly on the connection between the mililary torce of the nation and the organisation of Int'"Tnational Arbitration; the one, he held, is the guarantee of national independence, while the other guarantees international justice. .Hence it was his constant,.,preoccupation to associate National Defence with International Organisation. Moreover, it must not bo imagined that the system which Jaures advocated was. m his eyes. a. system involving Jess effort than that.'which it would have replaced. AYheu ho. insisted oil the d'.rninuation of barrack training, it was less for the sake of relieving tho people from a long sacr lico of time, than because barrack f.nning sPCTiied to him ineflieient and wasteful. He know that his own proposal lor drilling and training the. Reserves woniu' involve, in peace, tunc, au unselfish effort renewed irom yea-.- to year; and ho Knew that this effort, would not be heartily made unless the citizen soldier telt sure thai, l'ranace was following a. settled policy of peace.'' fn ;\f. Renaudel s view this .book of Jaures's may teach British d"mocrat,s how the noblest, traditions ol liberty can be reconciled with the organisation necessary tor national defence.

Ibe authors main contentions, nd- \ a need with irresistible force in his great, book, ma.y be summarised as follows :

L I bat. disarmament being outside practical politics tor the present, all countries must be adequately defended; for this purpose the only just and Efficient, system is that of'tbo nation in arms. "So long wo have any army at all." he writer, " if, would bo a crime against, France and against the Army itself to separate the Army from | he nation. It, is the workmen,, the Socialists, who • demand that military service shall he universal. The final effect of such a. National Army will be, not 10 militarise the, democracy but 1u democratise the. military system. Democracy need not fear contact with militarism; here, as everywhere, the juster principle will prove the stronger, the good will finally drive out the. evil.

•1. Since modern invent ions givo such •in enormous advantage to the defensive, a great nation may ensure peace by foresight' nnd self-control. By adopting a. consistently defensive policy, both in diplomacy ond in war, it. may arm so carefully as to secure a real balance ot forces. A France thus armed would have been far loss tempted to follow any policy of adventure than the I'ranee of 10!,'!; and, on the other bund, far better prepared for such a defensive campaign as we are now seeing.

•1. Wi th such a nation in arms, with such a defensive policy and strategy, n country can always bring its older men into the field simultaneously with tho younger ; for the married men, though less useful for an aggressive campaign, arc even better than the younger men for borne defence. France, if she. had boon prepared after the prescriptions of James, would have faced tho German invasion with 700,000 men moro than she actually bad in August., 191-1; and one distinguished expert has already emphasised the supreme importance of this one consideration. •fauces is truly described as by far tho most distinguished statesman who' in this generation has worked out a complete and serious theory of national defence in eonnev'tion with social progress, and his work Reserves study by every British citizen, ami particularly by those people, who talk ftildly about the " curso of militarism'' as exemplified in the universal training; and de-ft-nee system, the only democratic basis of an arm v.

This ha nd v translation is sold at Is -Id.