AIR RAIDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 December 1940, Page 6

AIR RAIDS

MANY SOCIAL PROBLEMS RAISED NEW PHASE OF WAR. NATIONAL SCALE PLANNING URGED. Demands in Ihe press for Government planning on a national scale to deal with urgent social problems raised by civilian bombing and an immediate response shown in, among other things, the commandeering of private property for the use of the homeless, are indications of a new phase in the war, wrote John Allan May from London to the “Christian Science Monitor.” The fight to overcome social wrongs is now seen as a vital, perhaps paramount battle for the British people. Prime Minister Winston Churchill's recent appointment of Mr Herbert Morrison, Labour leader of London, to be Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security, has been taken by many as the most significant sign yet that the Government has a real intention of seeking radical solutions to many problems raised on the home front.

The bombing of London has accentuated social problems out of all previous proportions. It is possible that this is just what Herr Hitler intended the bombing of London to do, for it is noted that the German Fuehrer has never yet embarked on a military operation of importance without first having" disrupted the social structure of his intended victim. But the result is far from what Germany expected.

IMPACT ON CITIZENRY. In this light, the attacks on London, particularly on the poorer and middleclass districts, are probably seen in Berlin as an essential prerequisite of invasion—not for its military significance in disorganising so vast an area, but for its smashing impact on the social structure. By producing thousands of homeless and destitute persons, accentuating class divisions and alarming the property-owning class, the bombing of London has been intended to play the part played by bribery, propaganda, and the threat of social disorder in other and more easily approachable victims, such as Poland, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and even France.

But the British are now meeting this threat. The requisitioning of houses of the wealthy for use as hostels for homeless persons of the East End. tiie improvising of a mobile system for the distribution of free or cheap food, and of a series of emergency rest centres, the organisation of a “Good Neighbours” movement to share responsibilities and privileges, the provision of day nurseries in factory areas to relieve overworked mothers, these are among the first swift replies to the German anti-social onslaught. Some of them are, of course, plainly improvisations, but they do form evidence of a growing awareness on the part of the authorities to the urgency and significance of the new phase.

SHELTER PROBLEM. Equally a social problem because it affects almost exclusively the poor, is that of providing adequate shelter, particularly in -London. The opening of parts of London’s underground railway system for night shelter is seen as a tacit acknowledgement that the Government was wrong when it deemed against deep shelters and that the implications of the shelter problem are now better understood. This has become more apparent with the appointment recently of Admiral Sir Edward Eyans as Director of London's air raid shelters with virtually unlimited power to see that everybody The reason why such important social problems were able suddenly to come to the fore is that the organisation arranged to deal with air ralds was set up in the early days of the war before the underlying principles involved in this war were realised, before it had become a war waged with social and ideological weapons. It is understandable that before the revolutionary character of the war became clear there was no apparent need seen for examining social difficulties which might be raised. Consequently the Air Raid Precautions system failed in one way only, in that it had le social considerations out of account.

NAZI PEACE HOPES. So now the light is on to shatter German hopes of securing a speedy peace by alarming the "decadent plutocratic ruling class" or alternatively of securing the right conditions for a successful invasion by causing socia upheaval. . , In this fight the people—and it muM be recognised that so far it is the people who have been pushing the Government and not the Government wno have been leading the pcoplc-haw two significant factors on their side weapons denied to the people oi the countries overrun. First, they w ' recognised the Nazi tactics before u is too late. Second, their Government has had freely accorded to it and lull;/ approved by all the people s representatives all powers necessary lot t speedy handling of the situation There is a third important iaetm in the situation, too. Although tne bombing of London has brougnt socmdifferences to the fore, and has cause., considerable, and sometimes viold t criticism of the Government and Ol that section of the people wno haV'"run away" to look on at the Battlc Britain in the security and comloit of luxury hotels far away Iroin immediate danger, it has paradoxically ai (he same time served to unify - people as a whole. An example of the growing unit, only one of many—is that ol "Good Neighbours” movement, spreading throughout Hie country. While .i spreads it is also spreading an increasing awareness of civic responsibihiy and social self-reliance. The movement, includes the organisation of housewives for mutual help, especially when public utilities are damaged by bombs, as well as the organisation ol die better-oil financially to help the homeless and share privileges that money brings as well as civic duties that war brings.