TOWARDS NEW WORLD ORDER

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21248, 19 October 1940, Page 6

TOWARDS NEW WORLD ORDER

As the war progresses, people in every country are hearing and thinking of the “ new world order ” which all the national leaders promise them. Germans and Italians have the doubtful advantage of knowing what their leaders are aiming at. They see a future in which the world will be subjected to dictatorial rule and will pay tribute to Germany and Italy—a brave new world of blood and race in which all people will do precisely as they are told, because, in the words of Hitler, they are like stupid sheep and incapable of thinking for themselves. They will have militarism, pomp, constant labour for the State, “ strength through joy,” and no responsibility but to obey orders. The picture has appealed to them. The other half of the world is following a different light—a light that is still shrouded in the mists of uncertainty. The one great certainty is that the goal of their totalitarian enemies is utterly loathsome and impossible. Their chief concern at the moment is to overthrow the monster that threatens them, and then to clear away the mists and to enjoy the life which they know lies ahead in the direction in which their intuition and their experience are leading them. A goal stark and clear would perhaps be desirable, but it must be remembered that evolution is covering at a single bound the ground that in other times might be covered only in many generations. It is not surprising that there should be some confusion. Faith at the moment is most important.

Mr Churchill has again been asked to define Britain’s war aims. He replied that in the meantime Britain was fighting for its very existence and not merely to maintain the status quo. Everyone in Britain knows perfectly well that the conditions that existed before the war can never return entirely. Probably no one wishes they would. If during the currency of the war the combined wisdom of the democratic countries can evolve an economic and political system that will meet the demands of the “ new world,” so much the better. It would serve as a “ war aim,” a slogan for those who are fighting for freedom and a standard around which other nations could rally. But to ask the British Prime Minister at this stage to name the system at which Britain aims is virtually to ask the impossible. Let Mr "Churchill lead the nation to victory and he will have performed a service to mankind of incalculable value. Not Britain alone but other nations owe an obligation to the world to contribute something to the post-war order.