YOU and the PEACE

Cue (NZERS), Issue 23, 15 May 1945, Page 16

YOU and the PEACE

r» HE war in Europe is over. The L German nation lies crushed and broken. In its mad bid for power and its ultimate plunge to destruction it has carried with it into lesser degrees of misery and chaos many of the European countries. On the other side of the world, the Japanese await a fate no less terrible. For a brief moment the forces of Britain and America in Europe pause for breath before turning their faces to the East. And, in pausing, the thought returns more forcibly than ever: such a war must never again occur.

The reader of the above paragraph has probably felt already a wave of mental nausea, and no doubt a cynical smile curls his lips. He has heard similar sentiments expressed before. It was all said after the last war. Was It not a war to end war ? And twenty years later it was all happening again, on an even more devastating scale. Cynicism in this case is surely understandable. The last war as a war to make the world safe for posterity was fought in vain. No one had learned the lessons it taught. The League of Nations had failed, German militarism had been allowed, even encouraged l to revive, and nations continued to distrust one another on every hand. Where did the blame lie? Was it in the much maligned Treaty of Versailles? Had the League of Nations given a sense of false security? Had

the weakness of Britain’s foreign policy and America’s failure to face the realities of her position in the world scene allowed the militarists to pursue their evil way unchecked? Who was to blame for it all? Baldwin? Ramsay MacDonald? Mussolini? Hitler? In the answer to every question can be found but a portion of the blame. But the real answer is that it was the people of tire world who were responsible for the catastrophe of September, 1939. Everyone who drifted along in smug complacency, denying the responsibility of citizenship, forgetting the principles of government by the people for the people, and [following, blindly where others led cannot be free from blamefor what has happened. Those who had known the war were keen to forget its horrors and the social disorders which followed in its train. Pleasure was the first and last thought for most people; and even if they paused in the thirties to think of the trend of international affairs they immediately shrugged the whole depressing subject off their shouldeis and turned their thoughts to happier matters. It r as too late when Chamberlain went to Munich. It was too late when Hitler marched on Poland. Will the people-— ordinary man and woman throughout the world—allow the same thing to happen again? WUI they be too weak and indifferent o win the peace not for their own inci-

virtual countries alone but for the work! and posterity? After the defeat of Japan when the world can settle down to the ways of peace, the men and women who have fought for freedom can form, if they have the desire, the most powerful force in shaping the post-war life. Millions of servicemen and war workers have made substantial sacrifices in the service of their countries. Most have learned! to place new values on various aspects of life. Most have learned a greater degree of tolerance, and understanding and gained a broader outlook than they had known in peace-time life. Most have learned to see the other man’s point of view whether in. domestic or international politics and economics. If they do not allow themselves to slip back into old rats, they will continue in the postwar world to view more clearly the difficulties that confront the person across the street, across the border, across the sea— the case may be. They must remain clear-eyed and clear-headed if they are to build well in the years ahead. No one can or should allow the other fellow to do the job of making the world a satisfactory place in which to live. Not all can be leaders. But it is not the leaders alone who can bring about the life man should lead. They are there to carry out the wishes of the people, to act at the dictates of the combined wisdom of the people.

Vast problems face the world. There is a continent to be rebuilt, millions of semi-starved people to be fed. There

are territorial disputes, racial hatreds, and trade problems to be overcome. A common understanding on political beliefs and ideologies hais to be readied and a new basis of friendship among the nations achieved. The four freedoms must be assured for all mankind —freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. There is much to be done, and every person has a duty to himself and to his fellows. He must do his share in forming the peace. He must learn to think clearly, to sift in what he reads and hears the truth from the propaganda, and to appreciate the other man’s rights and opinions. The world promises to be a people’s world. The tendency in recent years in politics and economics is for more power and responsibility for the people. No greater task has ever confronted the world than the shaping of a lasting peace and the establishing of international concord. It is a task not for a few but for the people as a whole. It is a task for every soldier who returns to his country with the memory of death and devastation fresh in his mind. There must not be another world war. It was said, in 1918 and the people failed to fulfill the vow. That is no reason why the people should tail again. There must not be another world war. Men and women must fight for victory in peace as they have fought for victory in war. The future of the world lies in the hands of the people, in particular the hands of the soldier and the worker.