Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1939. THE CHALLENGE TO DEMOCRACY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 March 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1939. THE CHALLENGE TO DEMOCRACY.

COMMENT in the House of Commons and elsewhere _on the C events that have taken shape in Central Europe the last few days fall into two broad divisions. In the there are expressions of shocked amazement at Geimanj s flagrantly unscrupulous aggression, carried now to epo t depriving the Czechs of their national existence which Geimanj nledo'ed herself six months ago to maintain intact. loi they°are worth, the cries of anger and protest that are bem to raised are well’warranted. It is not to be expee ed, however, that they will make any particular impression on Hen 11 ei and those who support him in a policy o±t mternatioiialthose' age The only practical comments on the situation die those in which it is urged that positive efforts should be made to mobilise effective resistance to totalitarian aggression.

An effort on these lines is now apparently advocated at least by some members of all parties in the House ot Commons. It is possible that the hour of opportunity has already passed. In any ease democracy is menaced, not only in Europe but throughout the world, and if any purposeful action l is tcbe taken in its defence, an end evidently must be made foithwith of the policy of almost incredible feebleness and fatuity lately pursued by the British Government under Mr Chambeilain s lead.

What the British Prime Minister and his colleagues are pleased to call a policy of appeasement is now demonstrated to be nothing else than a nerveless and demoralising surrender to forces of evil in the world. The facts are written large ioi a. to see. Even at the most immediate view, Nazi Germany is verv much more formidable, and a far greater menace to the. peace of the world, than when the Munich Agreement was signed. In annexing Czechoslovakia, it was mentioned in one ot yesterday’s cablegrams, the Germans have taken over at least two thousand modern military planes, as well as the famous Skoda munition works, hundreds of tanks and other military material. Here is an accession of strength that will offset much of the splendid progress Britain has lately made m rearmament.

Far as thev are from being negligible, these seizures .of Czech war material are only details of Germany’s gains during recent months in Europe. The policy of appeasement has gone far to place every small nation in Central and Eastern Europe at the mercy of the Nazis. Forces, bulking considerably m the aggregate, that might have been opposed to Nazi aggression, have thus either been absorbed by the Reich or are left with poor prospects of resisting it. The events of the last day or two make it plain enough that Hungary, like Austria and Czechoslovakia, must now be regarded as a province ot Germany.

Thus far, the Nazi dictatorship has prospered wonderfully in unscrupulous aggression in which it lias made a mock of its own pledged word.' The actual course of events gives full point to the observations of Mr Anthony Eden in the House of Commons, on Wednesday, that

no one could doubt that there would be only a brief respite before further demands were made and another victim arraigned which like its predecessors, would be confronted with the alternative’s of resistance or surrender. What they saw in the world today was a rapid deterioration of international authority He was convinced that if these methods were allowed to continue unchecked they would be involved in a universal tragedy.

It is painfully clear that in abandoning Czechoslovakia to her fate, Britain and France have undermined their own security, and’that if they wish to re-establish that security they must abandon the policy of standing tamely by and allowing German aggression to proceed unchecked.

The only hopeful course in these circumstances is that of making common cause with every nation prepared to co-oper-ate courageously in restraining German aggression. Adopting that policy the European democracies no doubt will get some material support and assistance from the United States, but the immediate problem raised is that of establishing a working understanding with the Soviet Government. During the debate on the Central European situation, we are told, speakers on both sides of the House of Commons dwelt on the need for closer relations with Russia, and the Russian Ambassador to Britain, M Maisky, is reported today as declaring that the question of peace or war depends in the last resort on the nature of the relations between London and Moscow.

An abandonment of what Mr Eden lias called “one-way traffic down Appeasement Avenue,” and a. working agreement with Russia, capable at need of becoming an alliance, suggest themselves as essential elements in the policy that is demanded if democracy is to be upheld and limits set to the .extension of lawless and unscrupulous aggression in the world.