A DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 800, 19 November 1954, Page 13

A DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

FREEDOM, LOYALTY, DISSENT, by Henry Steele Commager; Oxford University Press, English price 8/6. ‘THE general theme of this little book | ‘" is a warning to Americans against allowing so-called .guardians of liberty to employ for its preservation methods that must in the long run defeat their own object. Besides being a moral right, freedom is, at least for the United States, a pragmatic necessity since the spiritual forces that have built up American civilisation cannot flourish if denied the right of free inquiry and criticism. When scientists grow weary of being impeded by the toils of security, when civil servants play safe for fear of being "smeared," when scholars and artists hesitate to incur the charge of expressing un-American sentiments, and even ordinary citizens shrink from joining free associations which might one day be labelled as subversive, there exists the direful possibility that America

may succumDdD- to the very dangers against which she strives to protect herself. What is the new loyalty? Professor Commager goes on to ask, and by whom should it be defined? By radical new dealers, or by

Daughters of the American Kevolution?’ Political rights and wrongs vary from one age to another, and many great Americans of the past, from George Washington onwards, would fare badly before an: un-American Affairs Committee. Is it wise to equate loyalty with the unquestioning acceptance of existing standards? And what of guilt by association? The author revels in condemning a doctrine that was doubtless a symptom of tyranny long before the Pharisees inquired of Christ’s disciples "Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners?" To accept the view that membershin of an organisation containing subversive elements is an incriminating circumstance is to place not only individuals but also organisations of every description in an impossibly awkward situation. Either the Republican Party or the American Legion might be deemed to have suffered corruption if a few crypto-communists should succeed in joining them. Professor Commager makes his points with logic that is not easily refutable and with a sense of humour that makes his book a pleasure to read.

R. M.

Burdon