PROBLEM OF PEACE

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20262, 3 August 1937, Page 3

PROBLEM OF PEACE

“IMMORALITY” OF STATE. LECTURES BY MR W. T. G. AIREY. “In my opinion, the League of Nations was founded to preserve capitalism; 1 am driven to that conclusion by my readings on the subject,” was one of the striking remarks made by Mr W. T. G. Airey, lecturer in history -at Auckland University College, in the course of last evening’s university extension lecture in Hamilton, in which he dealt with the problem of peace, as affected by economic rather than political considerations. Mr F. A. de la Mare, president of the Hamilton Branch of the League of Nations Union, was in the chair. In introducing the speaker, the chairman said that the problem of peace was one very much in the public mind at the present time. The international atmosphere was strained and Europe again appeared like a powder magazine. Unless people became more internationally minded there seemed to be little hope for democracy or the future peace of the world. “ It is difficult to find many people who prefer war to peace, or who are anxious to force others into war,” said Mr Airey, in opening his address. The fact remained, however, that wars continued to occur, in spite of the general antagonism to them, and the key to this problem was one of the keys to the problem of peace. Many people were only too ready to fight for an ideal, for what they believed to be right. During the Great War, men had fought “ to make the world safe for democracy,” they had fought a “war to end war” and “to make lands fit for heroes to live in.” In spile of all these aspirations, however, democracy, far from being safe, was more threatened to-day than it had been before the war, wars were still •occurring and many lands which were to have been fit for heroes were spiritually and economically depressed. State An Immoral Institution. The fundamental cause of these Inconsistencies, the speaker said, was to be found in the working of the Institution of the State, and of the idea of nationality. Differences between nations tended to be regarded a-s the most real of all distinctions and the bond of nationality was regarded as the strongest bond of all. “ While I do not want to disparage the strength of that bond,” he said. “I* do want to suggest that it is an idea and not a reality.” In the real world there were more important lines of division, such as those which arose Ifrom ecorjomio considerations, than those of nationality. The class basis of society, though it was not easy to perceive in New Zealand, was a far more real thing and a far more important factor than nationality. The speaker dealt at length with the organism of the State, which, he contended, was fundamentally immoral, since every State depended upon force for its existence, direct force or the threat of force. The only way In which to secure a moral basis for the State was to deify it, lie said, by which it would, be recognised as the source of morality. The only true moral guide to action, however, was the ruling of the individual’s own conscience. The rule of the State was an Infringement upon individual freedom and there oould be no complete freedom until there developed a free community relationship among all men. Struggle for Raw Materials. The post-war struggle for means of access to the raw materials necessary to existence was also traversed by Mr Airey, who pointed out the major part played in recent years by the “ have-not ” nations, Italy, Germany and Japan. These Fascist powers were at the same time a bulwark against communism and a menace to the other capitalist Powers possessing greater wealth than themselves. So long as the Institution of the State persisted the securing of peace would be a problem, because the State existed to preserve the interests of a group. National barriers’ were barriers to peace and there could be no hope of permanent peace until nationality could be dispensed with, and until men could develop among themselves a free community of relationship. At the conclusion of his lecture, and after answering several questions, the speaker was accorded a vote of thanks on the motion of Mr de la Mare.