ANGLO-FRENCH COLLABORATION

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20989, 16 December 1939, Page 6

ANGLO-FRENCH COLLABORATION

That France and Britain are acting in the closest possible harmony in their great joint undertaking is further demonstrated by the fact that the trades unions of both countries have thrown in their lot together and are holding joint meetings in each country alternately. This, following the recent financial “amalgamation,” must destroy the enemy’s last hopes of separating the two nations. The movement is of perhaps deeper significance than is generally realised and goes beyond considerations of the present war crisis. The future of Europe undoubtedly lies in closer co-operation between the national units. If France and Britain prove that such harmonious relations are not only possible but mutually beneficial, a step will have been taken towards the realisation of a United Europe. Germany has used every possible means of setting the people of France against those of Britain. Workers in both countries have not been slow to recognise the danger, and their reply to the German intrigue is convincing indeed. German meddling has, in fact, resulted in the cementing of the union more closely than ever. The Nazis are utterly opposed to the trades union movement, but they have not been above attempting to use it to gain their own ends. Workmen of Britain and France are well aware that victory for the Nazis would mean the loss of every privilege the workers have gained in years of peaceful evolution, and it is with a determination to protect those privileges and the freedom of the countries willing to grant them that they have joined forces. The Anglo-French financial collaboration recently announced also looks beyond the immediate emergency to the days of necessary reconstruction. While financial co-operation offers immense advantages in the more efficient prosecution of the war, it is designed also to cushion the shocks of peace and the return to normal conditions. Other wars have proved that the aftermath is often almost as tragic as the conflict itself, and those nations which prepare carefully for a return to a peaceful basis will have an enormous advantage when the time comes. In the democratic world of the future workaday men and women will have an important and responsible place, and it is good to see such people in Britain and France working for that future in a commonsense and co-operative way.