Free Men and Fascists

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 87, 21 February 1941, Page 5

Free Men and Fascists

| SEs is a line of argument which you probably come across as often as I do. It suggests that democracy has many weaknesses, that it has much to learn from the Fascist States, that, in fact, we need a little Fascism in our own country. The corollory of this is that Fascism is strong, democracy is weak, and democratic countries can only defeat Fascist states by adopting a certain amount of Fascism themselves. This argument, of course, is thoroughly false. But its falsity is not always apparent at first sight and any book which helps us to a sounder understanding of the matter is to be welcomed. Three such books have recently been published, "Armies of Freemen" by Tom Wintringham, "Dynamic Defence" by Liddell Hart, and "Warfare" by Ludwig Renn. The same theme runs clearly through them all. Briefly, it is this: democracy is strong, Fascism is weak, using those adjectives in their practical sense. It is the freedom of individual men that gives strength to its armies. For free men cannot be beaten. They have qualities of enterprise, initiative and endurance which cannot be bred by dictatorships. Each book tackles the problem in a different way. Tom Wintringham in "Armies of Freemen’’ goes to history. He relates how, at different historical times, fighting against seemingly impossible odds, armies of free men have beaten highly-disciplined’ crack military forces. His examples are the Greek defeat of the Persians, the war of Spartacus against the Roman Legions, the British victory at Crecy, the American War of Independence, and the British victory in 1918. The

book is highly stimulating. Its concern is with the present rather than the past, with freedom and the defeat of Fascism rather than the elaboration of historical research. And for this very reason, his history comes to life in a most exciting manner.(Book Talk by John Harris, 4Y A, February 5.)