A Timely Warning

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 74, 28 July 1948, Page 5

A Timely Warning

Suppression Not Answer To Communism (Special to Beacon) . Wellington, July 27. A timely warning to those who would try to legislate Communism out of existence by suppression of its doctrines and punishment of its followers was given by Mr Kenneth Melvin, Dominion president of the 2 N.Z.E.F. Association at the annual conference which opened here today. “There is no problem of Communism within the 2nd’ N.Z.E.F. Association,” Mr Melvin said. “The record of Kiwi achievement overseas and at home renders derisory any that we should conduct some sort of purge in order to be loyal to the British parliamentary democracy. “Our Association, with its basic crusade for economic security and the integrity of the British Commonwealth stands pledged to prevent any Communist penetration of this country. But because we fought in the war against fascism and totalitarian tyranny we regard with deep concern any proposals for safeguarding civil freedom by restricting civil liberties. . » “We believe in the institutions of Parliamentary democracy and strive to make them work efficiently as the instruments of a fuller, freer form of society than totalitarianism in any form can provide. “Communism must be countered in the free society, and I suggest that it cannot be dealt with by the suppression of opinion. Only by giving our people homes and jobs and the security decent and assured standard of of a decent and assured standard of life can we negate alien political creeds.

“The policy of our Association supports the closer integration and fuller development of the British Empire and Commonwealth as the' most assured United Nations Organisation yet .achieved. Where it can be proven that there are Communists so placed in this country that they could hinder the defence or menace the safety of our country and the Commonwealth, then judicial proceedings should protect us against possible subversive. action. “But we do not need to ape Communist oppression in order to preserve free institutions. “Let us be clear in mind what is involved when a free society begins to surrender its essence—the right of minority dissent within the constitutional framework. It was in the sacred name of ‘security’ that Stalin and Hitler and Franco and Mussqlini embarked. Have we reached the stage where freedom must perish at the hands of its last remain ing advocates—the parliamentary democracies? “I remind you of the danger of fecoil that lies latent in all suppression of opinion. Men of letters and philosophers have approached this problem repeatedly—the restriction of individual freedom in the interests of community—and have retreated, baffled by the moral dilemma involved. “The starry-eyed and the hysterical have been the only ones to venture a positive opinion, and their solution is to take up' the discredited weapons of the adversary they seek to defeat. “Amidst the wave of witch-hunt-ing abroad, I enter this unofficial but earnest plea for careful deliberation before you commit the Association to repressive legislation in this country. “Let us remember that whenever we take away the liberties of those whom we detest, we are opening the way to loss of liberty for those we respect. “The 2nd N.Z.E.F. Association is interested in any plan for safeguarding civil liberties without exposing them to new perils. That, I suggest, should be our policy regarding the menace of Communism.”