Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1939. THE FIRST ECHELON.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 December 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1939. THE FIRST ECHELON.

WHATEVER may be thought, of the controversy that is W developing on the subject of future recruiting polio) ad methods in this country, only one attitude is possi i e, on part of any New Zealander worthy of the name tow rds Ihe men of the First Echelon, who were larewelled P ubhcl > Masterton last evening and their comrades Irom e'Plof the. Dominion. These men are the pick ofth Int ) • manhood, giving freely of their best-o ering lifeuts f ne be-in a time of supreme emergency. + Php \f i e the gratitude their country can give them, but t < e < . will be expressed better and more appropriately in deeds than in words. Methods and details of war organisation are in a ' fairly open to discussion, though mere talk mus not 111 " to stand in the way of effective action, but. a bounden obligation rests upon the’people of New Zealand to see to it that the Xn now going forth io war ore odegnalely re.nforee, and are supported lovallv and faithfully in every othei uaj whirl, the country is capable. In the extent to wind, we. ate worthy as a people of the servvice and sacrifice of oui solebets we shall not only honour the obligations we owe to them directly but shall find in their action an example which should be brought as completely as possible to be ‘ ir "P 0 tIP "Xrmd life of this Dominion and upon every detail ol its nite nd affairs. Needless and sectional, controversy must P lpspni , * mean appearance indeed in contrast with the of the men who have set aside everything else in oiclei to defeiid their country and the Empire and are accepting cheerfull) whatever burdens or sacrifices their endeavour may entail. The impending departure of the First Echelon most assuredly is not an occasion for joy but it is an o ec « sl( ? n fo J pride—an occasion, too, to steel, m the hearts of all good Ne \ Zealanders a determination that, in the extent to which hones intention and endeavour may prevail, the cause of justice anc liberty to which our own soldiers, their kinsfolk and allies aie dedicated shall be sustained worthily in any ordeal that may be in store. an advertised dictator. WITH the. fact well established that the Russian dictator, VV M Stalin, carries a bigger share.of responsibility than any other man for the present invasion of Finland, there is rather sinister significance in the report transmitted yesterday that the Moscow newspapers devoted five-sixths ol their space to the celebration to Stalin’s sixtieth birthday and did not mention the Russian-Finnish war. This of course, is in keeping with much that has gone before, but in spite of all that is known about Stalin s unquestioned domination in. Russian internal affairs, it might have been hoped that some elements of opposition would have appeared to the policy of external, aggression into wmeh he is now leading the Soviet Union. Any substantial foundation for hopes of this kind, it must be admitted, has yet to appear. There have been some uncertain stories of mutiny by Russian troops in Finland, but the weight of available evidence is that Stalin is still leading a subservient nation in his new policy ol adventurous aggression. The report, mentioned implies that the Russian dictator is continuing to make the full and entirely successful use he has long been accustomed to make of propaganda, and mass suggestion in furtherance of his ambitions and designs. In that notable book “Inside Europe,” Mr John Gunther observes that Stalin makes an occasional pretence of humility, but adds:— Stalin has, however, permitted and encouraged his own virtual deification. Pictures of him share the place of honour everywhere with Lenin. His photograph leaps at one from buildings in Moscow, illuminated at night like theatre advertisements.- Wotship of him is Byzantine. Obviously he could stop the public expression of edulation very easily. He does not do so. One reason may be his shrewd Orientalism; the flattery, the pictures, are a good political weapon; he knows the Russians understand a master. Or perhaps he likes them. Widely different estimates have been offered of the personal quality of the Russian dictator and the extent to which he is animated by honesty of purpose. Even those, however, who credit him with a sincere pursuit of political ideals, some ol them classing him as “the man who, by industrialising Russia, made socialism possible in a single State,” are constrained to admit that in his ascent to power he has ruthlessly slaughtered and swept from his path all who attempted to question or set limits to his authority. Tn an article in the “New York’ Times, ’ a correspondent lately in Moscow wrote recently that the real source of Stalin's power was the police, and he had been consolidating that power for years. The scope of police power in Soviet Russia (the correspondent went on to observe) is simply incomprehensible _to Western minds. It is only as one lives in Russia that the übiquity of the political police becomes apparent. In addition to the myriad professional secret agents of varying degrees of skill and decency, there is a vast army of coerced or voluntary secret agents. The Soviet authorities even have encouraged private individuals to spy on their neighbours, and even on members of their own family. These police and spies report, and sometimes invent, any chance remark that could be interpreted as critical of Stalin or his policy of the moment. The result is arrest or worse. Every man now in a key post in Russia, the “New York Times writer goes on to observe, is, or is believed to he completely subservient to Stalin. The moment any man in such a post is suspected of any deviation from complete loyalty, he disappears. The dictator, at the same time, has no need to worry about public opinion. Controlling completely the Press, the radio, the drama, the cinema and all other forms and channels of expression, he is in a position to manufacture public opinion and to secure al will such demonstrations or resolutions as he desires. Most of these claims have been substantiated in the shaping of Russian policy during the last, three months and not least in the invasion of Finland and in the developments in Russia that preceded it. At a long view, it may be hoped that the type of rule Stalin has developed contains the seeds ol its own disintegration. For the lime lining, however, Stalin’s dictatorship over Russia is unchallenged and the menace his rule otters, at the moment to Finland but, not by any means only to that country, is to be measured accordingly.