By Sir LI1     Li    B 5, K; B. B*
Continued from  P   ;      Dm
by those especially—the elder minds
—who are thinking in terms of prewar mentality and believe that
when they give the orders to march
their peoples will obey. I am not
so sure of that. I believe that the
younger mind in many countries
has different ideas, different visions, different ideals of life. It is
possible that when the commanders
issue their recruiting papers there
will not be the same rally of youth
as in the days of August, 1914.
There may be civil war when international war is declared.
Certainly in England there is a
strong pacifist movement led by
youth itself, and cutting across all
j social strata. I know some of those
] young men who shocked their elders—deliberately—by that vote at
Oxford in which they registered re«
fusai to fight for king and country,
The Revolt of Youth.
What they had in their minds,
and expressed crudely, was a refusal to be stampeded into war by
old slogans such as the famous poster issued by Kitchener—"Your king
and country need you"—when the
action of old statesmen, obsessed by
fears or believing war to be an admirable discipline for youth, would
lead, most likely, to the utter ruin
of the country and to the downfall
of the king. They lppfuse to be
bound by secret, treaties to which
they5have not consented or to. ancient pledges made by old gentlemen who, in their opinion, ought
to be dead and buried.
In the last war maiden ladies
handed white feathers to young
men not in uniform—some of whom
had just come from the front!
There is now a society of young
men who distribute white feathers
in advance and wear them as ,' a
badge of courage because they are
convinced that plots are afoot to
jockey them by appeals to false
sexitiment into war against people
'with whom they .wish to link up in
a comradeship of youth determined
to make a decent kind of world.
There is, of course, a lot of youthful braggadocio about these' gestures of defiance.' They are not to
bft|taken too seriously; but what is
very;'.serious and quite important
Is the belief of large numbers of
young men in England today that
mechanized and chemical warfare,
in whatever cause, is a betrayal of
civilized ideas, and that the intelligence of the modern mind is capable of abandoning that way of
argument if the old men will only
die off before they have quite arranged the new inevitable war.
They may be overestimating the intelligence of their own generation.
Labor Against War.
Labor groups in England and the
Trade Union Council have pledged
themselves utterly to resist any cooperation in a new European war.
They will declare a general strike
if it is forced upon the nation by
any treaty or alliance calling youth
to the shambles in. some quarrel
between France or Germany .with
which they are not concerned, as
they believe.
Labor leaders are in desperate
earnestness about this, and it is
perhaps the one passionate conviction which is shared by all the Left
parties in England which otherwise are much divided by political
differences and methods."
On the other hand, the Labor
party in the House of Commons
and many labor men outside, including intellectual pacifists like
Professor Laski and- Sir . Norman-
Angel 1, would and' do advocate a
resort to arms, as far as I understand theia, in a preventive war in
which all peace-loving nations would
join up to restrain any other nation
'from disturbing the peace of the
world by mad-dog action. They are
advocates of an international code
of justice with an international police force behind it—an ideal from
which we are still distant.
In addition to pacifist and political groups in Great Britain there
is an immense body of public opinion which has sworn allegiance to
the principles of the League of Nations and regards with horror any
combination of circumstances which
would drag young men to the same
battlefields in which a million month eir fathers or their elder brothers—lie buried in recent graves.
England is at the present time hostile to any war adventure.
The Situation in France.
What about France? Most people outside France imagine, without evidence, that the French nation is almost eager to invade Germany if a good pretext arises for a
"preventive" war. That may be
true of French Generals, who believe that if a war must come with
Germany, as they think it must,
now is a better time, than later.
That opinion is shared, no doubt,
by traditional minds and by a considerable body of public opinion terrorized by their newspapers into the
belief that^ Germany is getting
ready for a .iew invasion. ^
But it is certainly not shared by
the . radical and socialist groups,
who are followers of M. Herriot, M.
Daladier and M. Blum. Nor is it
shared by masses of young men in
France who remember the sufferings of the last war.
It is very remarkable that during
the last few years, under the leadership of M. Herriot, French public
opinion has swung steadily toward
a more liberal attitude Jo Germany.
They were prepared gjyii cuss on
merit even such a th question
as the Polish Corrici
M. Herriot's plan of' • i lament,
fantastic in some of its details, but
bold and courageous in its scheme
of general security based upon an
international army under the control of the League, would have
been regarded as treasonable some
years earlier, but was accepted as a
reasonable plan ..by thn. nations as
a whole. At lealst it was not denounced outside the ranks of his
political opponents.
There was a steady advance in
the desire to meet Germany with
reason and justice until public
opinion was shocked .by the triumph of Hitlerism and the brutal
speeches of its leaders. There was,
of course, an instant recoil. The
militarists said "We told you so."
Old fearg and hatreds rushed back.
Propaganda Again Active.
Many papers began a new propaganda dictated by the Foreign Office or, worse still, by the steel industries. Fear of a new war is
dominant in the French mind today,
and nothing that Germany says or
does at the present time toward
friendship and reconciliation will
have any effect upon minds obsessed with the need of additional
security.
France as a whole is not prepared
to grant Germany equality of status
in armed power. That disarmament
conference was bound to break
down on that point, having regard
to the spirit in, Germany which
would no longer tolerate continual
delay and further humiliation.
But even in France—especially in
France—the younger mind is at
work. Every month lately there
have been courts-martial of young
men of good class refusing military
service. They give their reason as
a. moral gesture against politicians
who fail to establish peace. They
avow themselves to be pacifists
looking forward to a comradeship
of youth across the frontiers. There
are groups of these young men who
even since the arrival of Hitlerism
endeavor to understand the minds
of German Fascists and to thrash
out in debate the problems and passions which may lead to war again.
When the bugles call, there will be
absentees. An unnecessary war,
concocted by politicians, would be
resisted by civil strife—though all
men will fight for their own homes
and hearths if it comes to that.
Fanaticism In Germany.
And now in Germany, what of
this marching, singing, shouting
youth? Are they out for war? Do
they want it? Are they eager to
invade France again? I think that
if they were called upon to do so
by their leaders in their present
mood they would do so, even if they
know that death was certain. They
are in that mood of exaltation. They
are ready for sacrifice. They would
march, singing, into furnace fires.
They are intoxicated with patriotism, racialism, Hitlerism.
But it is false, I think, to suggest
that their minds are bent upon war
with France. As a matter of fact,
they are not thinking much of
France and foreign countries. Their
minds are turned inward upon the
German Reich and this astounding
revolution, this renaissance of the
German soul, as they believe it to
be, which has for the first time
in history given them a racial and
national unity.
We forget .many people do not
know—that until Hitler came Germany was divided into separate
States which had their own rights.
We forget that until the war it was
still further divided by kingdoms
and principalities. We forget that
until Hitler preached and won, Germany had five private armies preparing for civil war on the grand
scale.
The German people, desperate by
long suffering, outlawed by the rest
of Europe, suffering a deej) sense
of humiliation and convinced that
they were the victims of gross' injustice by the peace treaties, were
seething with political strife and
hatred.
Then, by some magic of the spellbinder, Hitler gathered under his
strange device the younger, most
ardent and most vital crowd. He
gave them new hope. He killed
their inferiority complex. He promised them a new heaven and a new
earth. Now by his triumph Germany has for the first time in his
tory a sense of unity, a kind of
mystical joy in its brotherhood of
race. ' There is something noble in
this as well as something dangerous
and brutal. . The brutalities are
known The nobility is not admitted
by foreign countries.
These German Fascists are living
on emotion* They are not guided
by reason. They even despise the
intellectual. They are in a state of
self-intoxication. But they are
ready for generous emotion if any
nation will hold out the hand of
generosity toward them. Their leaders have made offers of friendship
to France. They were made within a few hours of leaving the
League and refusing the terms of
disarmament.
France replies with accusations
of hypocrisy. I am inclined to
think they may be sincere. Hitler
in power is not the same, man as
Hitler, the builder's laborer and the
author of "Mem Kampf." Mussolini in power is not the same man
as when he was hauled off to prison
by Italian police.
*   War Hot Desired.
These German leaders, sincere or
insincere, know that Germany is
isolated and surrounded by heavily
armed nations. They are not going
to declare war. They don't want
war—for a long time anyhow. They
have many internal problems to
keep them busy. They will find no
credits from any bankers in the
world for war purposes. They are
already on the edge of financial
catastrophe.
But the rank and file are eager
for friendship with the same emotions they are ready for death on
any battlefield, Germany wants to
be loved, and is surprised and hurt
that nobody will give it a civil
word. Even now a generous approach by France, an offer to bury
the hatchet, a proclamation of comradeship for the building of a new
world, by youth would have an
enormous and spiritual effect in
Germany. It would disarm the bully
spirit. It would, I honestly believe*,
lead to the real peace of Europe.
If only France would do this! If
only they would take the risk of
it! Or is that expecting too much
of human nature and of Frenchmen?
We have a respite for several
years. There is still time to make
peace. There is still time for a
younger generation to turn its back
upon jungle law and a deaf ear to
the incantations of the old witch
doctors. That "next war" may
never happen in Europe, though -I
am less hopeful of the East,,   . ,_,. „