WHITHER GREAT BRITAIN?
Hanighen, Frank C.
Whither Great Britain? By FRANK C. HANIGHEN Washington, D. C. WHAT IS RUSSIA going to do? There are agonizing questions which remain unanswered even now. Yet, at times, it seems better to explore...
...If Russia realizes these aspirations, she will, in time, "be master of Europe, perhaps in association with Germany...
...The Shipyard Workers union hasn't learned to calk all the leaks in its vessel...
...After a triumphant fight, at their recent convention, over the Communists in their ranks, which ended by expulsion of a prominent Communist from the executive committee, the boys went to sleep...
...There looms, for instance, the significant pronouncements of Mr...
...She wanted to be a World Power, but World Power and World Domination are not the same thing...
...He expressed Vansittart's views in the years preceding the outbreak of the war, when this man, then known as "the brains of the Foreign Office", clashed with the "appeasement" policy of Chamberlain...
...Some observers feel a combination is in the cards...
...Better a despotically governed Germany that is not too strong than a liberal Germany that is too strong...
...In short, the line has obviously switched from the "destruction" of Germany to her "maintenance" as a fairly strong power in a "free Europe...
...Any power that becomes undisputed master of the European mainland, can become the master of the British Isles...
...Voigt himself is well-known as the spokesman of Lord Vansittart, who was long Britain's influential permanent undersecretary for foreign affairs...
...The phrase means a new line-up of nations, quite different from the picture presented so often to us, these last few months, by the Moscow Pravda...
...Why England Went To War Voigt edits the austere magazine Nineteenth Century-And After, a review of impeccable respectability...
...England fought to preserve the Balance [of Power]—for that reason and no other...
...The balance of power, he says "is, for Great Britain and the Empire, the immutable condition of survival...
...Not at all, says Voigt...
...They are the only nation for whom he had any deep regard...
...Not for him the equivocation of Lippmahn, advocating the balance of power and alliance system one day, shying away from such crude expressions the next (when he lectures Alf Landon...
...The political complexion of those that threaten the balance is quite irrelevant...
...No, Voigt comes clean...
...For then England would have been at 1-itler's mercy, or at the mercy ofchis successor...
...It was to avert this fate that England went to war in 1939...
...And who today presumes to throw down this challenge...
...Nevertheless, informed quarters express apprehension about progress of the campaign up "the leg of the boot...
...In rich tones, but civilly, as befits a citizen of one Power allied to another, Voigt shows how Russia, through her pretensions so vocally evident in the past few months, has become the danger...
...While they slumbered, the Commies put through a resolution ordering all locals to distribute George Seldes' Communist news-letter, In Fact, to members...
...Whoever holds these, Voigt declares, challenges the security of the British Empire...
...It might, also, in time become stronger than the "reduced power" of Germany...
...Whatever Power is master of that region is master of all Europe," for this region includes the industries of Central Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean...
...Far more important than the forcible disintegration of Germany is the free integration of Europe as a whole...
...He says, "England has no one permanent foe in Europe...
...Colliding With Red Plans Voigt then underscores the view that no matter whether Germany had been Nazi or democratic, England would have acted the same...
...Voigt projects a "Middle Zone," from the Aegean to the Baltic, of free but "integrated" nations—probably the Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Balkan States...
...But, of Britain's intentions, we can better judge, thanks to what key British leaders are saying...
...Hitler would have been glad to share the world with the English...
...Hence, the "now it can be told" revelations about Germany's real aims, hence the "relative" rather than the "absolute" reduction of German power...
...For, its rapid growth has carried with it the danger of "soft membership," easy to wean away to some other banner...
...To the realistic Voigt, one need hardly stress, "free Europe" does not mean the greener pastures of Henry Wallace, nor the expanded USSR of Earl Browder...
...His leading article in the current number of his magazine, therefore, assumes special significance today...
...If Germany changes her political complexion, that will be no reason for modifying the prospective terms of peace . . . the exorbitant strength of Germany must be reduced and it must be kept reduced...
...Voigt plumped for a strong stand against the Axis before, during, and after Munich...
...But didn't Britain go to war, as we have so often heard, to crush Nazi-ism...
...He affirms, "The commonly accepted view that Germany made war to dominate the world is, in our opinion, mistaken...
...Wickham Stead, formerly editor of the London Times, preceded Wilson...
...Also, its policy of "hold the line" with the Roosevelt Administration renders it vulnerable to the temptations of higher wages offered by the anti-Roosevelt Lewis...
...Voigt never minces words...
...Hence, also, the statement that the "German problem" is not the solution of the European problem...
...The Balance Of Power With the memory of Voigt's fulminations against Germany as the "barbaric enemy" to be destroyed, one might expect that he would next launch into a further elaboration of Vansittartism...
...F. A. Voigt...
...Authentic reports from Italy tell a welcome tale— that American soldiers now show better drive and aptitude on the field of battle than their British comrades...
...But how can we avoid this dire eventuality...
...Voigt believes in letting the Russians know just where Britain stands on this matter...
...His main purpose in going to war was to subjugate the European mainland and then to open up Russia for German colonization...
...Whatever may be the interpretation of this week's developments, however, an important portion of the British ruling class has, through Voigt, spoken solemn and portentous words...
...Well, Voigt sketches the importance of the "nations between the Baltic and Aegean," without naming them...
...Time was when J. L. Garvin of the London Observer offered weekly the most significant indications of the coming currents of British policy...
...Thus, Voigt with the same refreshing directness as Churchill, when the latter speaks of maintenance of the Empire, lays the foundation for any discussion of British policy...
...They liken German strategy to a "coiled spring...
...The foe of yesterday may be the ally of tomorrow and the ally of yesterday the foe of tomorrow...
...Germany, they say, is fighting a delaying action with minor forces at the front...
...After 1939, Voigt advocated the well-known Vansittart policy of "treating Germany rough" after the war...
...This, he urges, would form a security belt for Russia against a renaissance of German power (Shades of the "cordon sanitaire"7...
...Free Europe"—there lies the key to the mystery of this interesting change (whether it be an abrupt right-turn, or merely a swerve, remains to be seen) of the British line...
...Yet, at times, it seems better to explore what Germany or Britain will do, to find the real trend of history as it will be played in the next year...
...And he called for Winston Churchill to lead the nation...
...Some of these German divisions held in reserve are believed to be, not defensive units, but strongly prepared offensive units...
...The obvious focal point of such strategy, all observers agree, lies in the United Auto Workers Union, the largest of the CIO unions...
...Or will Lewis try to bridge the gap between the two great federations by vigorous diplomacy...
...In short, Voigt has served as a very reliable weather-vane of rulingvclass thinking...
...her only foe is that power, or that coalition of Powers which may endeavor to dominate Europe...
...But, no...
...He obviously means the Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Balkans...
...He hailed the Anglo-Polish pact as a cornerstone of British policy...
...But when the victorious Allied troops reach some line north of Rome, they will encounter strong German forces—perhaps numerically stronger than ours...
...Russia Becomes 'The Danger' Why...
...No, "the European problem cannot be solved unless the Eastern European problem is solved...
...Speculation, therefore, centers on what may follow such a massive accession of strength to the AFL...
...Sir Arnold Wilson, who voiced well the Neville Chamberlain mind, preceded Voigt as editor...
...In any event, observers report that the relations between Lewis and the George Addes "left wing" faction of the UAW have recently appeared warmer...
...It is too early to evaluate clearly the effect of the Moscow declarations on the policy presented by Voigt...
...This dogma must rule the coming of peace as it did the coming of war in 1939...
...Before you can catch your breath, Voigt charges forward more boldly with opinions that would have brought an American writer under the purview of the Department of Justice...
...For "the immutable condition of survival," the Balance of Power, has collided with the aspirations of Russia...
...Will the Federation, via Lewis, then try to raid CIO unions...
...Whatever drama is being enacted in the Wilhelm-strasse remains so obscured that speculation about German internal affairs enters the realm of fantasy...
...Mark the change of tone from the ferocious Vansittartism of yesterday, "It is far more important that the weakening of Germany be relative than absolute...
...As her foe varies, so her allies vary...
...Finally, these aspirations "would, in the end, compel Great Britain, whether she liked it or not, to modify her attitude toward Germany...
...But England, Voigt points out, could not tolerate that...
...He reminds us that these aspirations contain "the stuff of all Anglo-Russian tension for the last 100 years...
...The Washington Parade All informed labor circles believe that the entrance of John L. Lewis' Mine Workers into the AFL is imminent...
...The German High Command, it is feared, might then seek to "catch us off balance" with a ferocious counter-attack...
...The reverse was true during the Tunisian campaign...
...It is recalled that Addes avoided following the anti-Lewis line of the other CIO leaders...
...But, in recent years, keen observers have turned for the lowdown to another writer whose views possess authority and have found confirmation in events...
...Entrance may merely remain subject to a give-and-take arrangement on jurisdictional matters, which, it is believed, offer no serious obstructions...
...Some pessimists fear that such a counter-attack may not wait for retirement north of Rome...
Vol. 7 • November 1943 • No. 45
