Soldiers and Civilians
T was useful to be reminded by Lord Montgomery that soldiers serve and don’t rule. Put in another way it is the doctrine that power,-where there is self-government, rests in all citizens, and not in any section of them. Soldiers obey the government because the government speaks for the whole community, including the soldiers. That is democracy and the alternative to it -is tyranny. But one of the consequences often is that soldiers are called on to defend civilians with inadequate or unsuitable material. It happened to Lord Montgomery in the recent war and to Lord Haig a generation earlier, and has in fact hardly ever happened otherwise in the wars of democracy anywhere. Men will nof live hard lives as long as it is possible to live soft lives, and democracy, if it does not directly advocate softness, seldom forbids it until calamity comes. So men like Lord Montgomery spend anxious hours wondering if we are going to do again what has so often all but destroyed us. He does not ask for bigger armies or bigger guns or bigger external bundles of any kind than we can comfortably carry. He asks for better internal preparation — more self-control, self-sacrifice, and loyalty. It is a request that every soldier is en- , titled to make to every govern- ' ment; as he is entitled to demand " good shells and not duds. But it is the autocracies and not the democracies, totalitarian governments and not free communities, that find it easiest to meet this demand. So far democracy has rallied in time to save itself, but it is lunacy to assume that this must always happen, and that a free man without faith will always beat a crazed man driven on by fanaticism. The only defence against discipline in a bad cause is discipline in a better cause, and that is another way of saying that if democracy is to survive it must not merely recapture its faith, but live it. Character without a faith or @ cause is a lever without a fulcrum.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19470801.2.13
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 423, 1 August 1947, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
343Soldiers and Civilians New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 423, 1 August 1947, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in