The Dominion. SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1920. NEW YEAR HOPES
In a message to the nation, Mr. Lloyd Geokge has said that it depends upon ourselves whether the New Year is rich with promise or laden with despair. _ This is wholly [.rue as regards thc_ internal affairs if the British Empire, but no such jonficle.nt declaration can be mule in regard to the issues of world peace which bear vitally upon the future >f our own ind other nations. In the conditions which have been sharply defined by the war and its outcome it is evident that there is 110 such thing as isolated security foi my nation, and that even the British nation will hardly be able to look Eorward in assured confidence until the establishment of world peace is in nearer prospect than it is to-day. The cablegrams of the last few days show,' it is true, that in some directions appreciable progress is being made towards the goal of peace. In particular it now seems certain that the Treaty with Germany will be ratified before many df-.ys have passed. The value of this settlement and its effect on world affairs *rc very largely contingent, how;ver, upon factors which as yet are more or less uncertain. The chief :|Uf!S*tion awaiting an answer conlerns the attitude and action of the United States. Apparently the discussion on the Treaty in the Amevijan Senate is still proceeding, on lines that have become familiar, and tedious, but the one vital issue raised is whether or not the-United States is to combine with other democratic nations in an effort to reestablish peace in the world. How mperative the need for such a united effort has become is best exemplified in the later news from Russia. It is news which declares in effect that ■lie native Russian forces which have 'icon endeavouring " to make head irai.nst the Bolshevik armies arc falling to pieces, and that the Allies are more than ever perplexed md at a loss as In the line, they should take in dealing with the [tussian nation. Much of the discussion which lias extended over months in the American Senate has turned 011 hypothetical mirations and on the declared unwillingness of Sknatok Lodge and iiis supporters to commit their country to a "blanket obligation." No 'i,mount of evasion or side-stepping, however, ( can obscure, the concrete issues that are really raised. In eastintr its final decision tor or B.eains_t co-operation with other nations in establishing the League of Nations, the Senate will be dealing not with vague uncertainties hid- ] den in the mists of the future, but ; with existing problems of world- j welfare and security. The League of Nations, with power behind it,. ; is needed to hold Germany to the : terms of the_ Treaty about to be. ' ratified. It is needed also to establish such a regime at Constantinople, and in other centres of influence in the Moslem world as will make, for stability and peace. Above nil, it is needed in order that some limits may be set to the spread of the forces of disintegration wbieh meantime are mnning riot in Russia. These are actual problems with which the democratic nat •nils of the world must' deal unless they are prepared to allow their own 'se.euvitv to be undermined, and the establishment of the League of Nnt.inno with the united supnort of all free, nations is the one' hopeful sten that en.r taken the solution of these problems. Tt is in the disastrous turn of events in Russia that the urgency of united international action is meantime most pointedly emolmsised. The apparent collapse of the anti-Bol-shevik forces is not altotrcther unexpected. The truth senilis to be that in the awful conditions of disorganisation that obtain attempts to rally the moderate and constructive eleiup.ilts of the-nation arc nv'-de against almost boneless odds. The fearful .disorder that is reported in Siberia is accounted for in part by an enormous influx of all «orts and eonditionsof refugees, an influx that according to Colonel John* '\V»«n has much more than doubled the population of Asiatic Rus.v'''. at the time of the revolution. It is by this time miite clearly established that the Bolsheviki owe their continued domination solelv to their methods of terrorism. Thee is uoi a particle of evidence that they are obtaining increased popular sunport. They opened ''their active career by suppressing a democratic Government and dispersing an elected Assembly, and have mainti'iperl themselves in p'>wer In' uliolesal" murder and outran, and 1,-- i.,.ssinr' F-enrtom of speee'i and freedom of elect ion. There is conclusive evidence also that they have to a frightful extent
intensified the evils of famine and economic disorganisation. Sooner or later their abominable despotism must break clown by iU own weight, but the immediate prospect raised is that they will bo enabled to extend their baneful inllnence, not only in European .Russia and Siberia, but into many parts of Asia beyond the Jiussian frontiers. As a demonstration of the possibilities of organised terrorism by a minority, Bolshevism is a direct and deadly menace to backward and weakly organised countries open to its approach, and if its inroads are not checked may yet cast a great part of the world back into conditions of medieval barbarism. Apart from all the problems that are raised in Asia the continuation of the Bolshevik regime perpetuates the conditions which arc "most favourable to the- penetration and exploitation of Russia by Germany. At the moment it is easier to envisage such perils than to s?e how they are to be overcome. But the first great Jtcp at least is clear. Standing unitedly together, the democracies of the world may hope to overcome the dangers that threaten their future, and do something to uphold and support weak nations. They may even hope to promote an ultimate restoration of the .Russian nation, which is now reduced almost to the last extremity. If on the other hand national selfishness and prjjuclicc are allowed to impede effective international organisation the problem of counteracting the forces of disintegration will hardly admit of solution.
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Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 84, 3 January 1920, Page 6
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1,014The Dominion. SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1920. NEW YEAR HOPES Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 84, 3 January 1920, Page 6
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