SMUTS: 'FIXER' FOR THE EMPIRE
Hanighen, Frank
Smuts: Fixer' For The Empire TOWARD A BETTER WORLD, by Jan Christian Smuts. Duell, Sloan & Pearce. $2.75. Reviewed by Frank Hanighen THIS IS NO RECENT expression of the thoughts of the famous...
...The editors, however, do introduce some rather in-teresting exchanges in the Afrikaan Parliament in 1943...
...Estorick is probably responsible for the inclusion of a very interesting speech on the Statute of Westminster in which Smuts argues that the British Dominions are sovereign, international independent states, and that under that Statute, Great Britain is "equated" with them—"the great equation of our commonwealth, upon which our commonwealth rests...
...They are worth reproducing...
...I would be surprised if his gutta-percha mind doesn't go to work on some imminent international situations in a way that may puzzle readers who take too literally the oratory in this book...
...Indeed, the Union of South Africa entered this war in 1939 by a rather narrow margin—a fact that the editors of this book gloss over...
...Also, Smuts always has to take into account the feelings of a lot of his fellow South Africans who do not by any means unanimously approve his "collective Empire security" ideas...
...G. R...
...To readers of this volume, then, it is well to emphasize that Smuts' career examined in detail, and not in a selective volume, reveals a much more empirical and resilient politician than here projected...
...I also understand that the Marshal is slated to play a big role at the forthcoming Empire conference" in London—which many experts expect will turn out to be a most historic occasion...
...As such, he was obviously the man to break the polite, but ominous, silence of British politicians about what Smuts described as the weakening status of the Empire in view of the rise of the American and Russian Empires...
...Reviewed by Frank Hanighen THIS IS NO RECENT expression of the thoughts of the famous South African statesman, now first published...
...For Smuts, as I see it, is the super-Empire ideologist—at once the voice of the interests of the Empire, and the honest broker who seeks to weld them, and keep them welded into a going concern...
...Mr...
...In this role, it seems to me, Smuts must necessarily be more sensitive to the interests of the far-flung enterprise than to the particular problems which afflict the center of the Empire—the shifts in the balance of power in Europe...
...Dr...
...The British Empire has in Smuts an extremely able and elastic "fixer," highly valuable in a time when that lovely word "adjustments" is in order...
...Louw: "You will lose your shirt to Stalin...
...Jt is also a "World Book Company" publication, "distributed" by the American publishing firm of Duell, Sloan, and Pearce...
...The menace of Russia, which Smuts underlined in veiled phrases, was a menace as much to the Empire at large as to the island of England...
...I merely wish to suggest that it may prove a part of a synthetic picture which may be of international value in months to come...
...nor an unabridged collection of his speeches, writings, and public statements...
...No rigid "unconditional surrender" formula ever tied Smuts' hands...
...Smuts: "I certainly take off my hat to Stalin...
...For, I learn that typewriter brigades in propaganda offices are now busy turning out reams of copy "for future release" on the great South African figure...
...All this may have some importance in indicating that one should not take at permanent, face value all the ringing phrases in these passages of Smuts' oratory...
...Mr...
...Mr...
...The Minister of Justice: "What a wise word was spoken there...
...It therefore represents, apparently, the selective tasts of the two editors, and possibly, the harmonizing of the philosophy of a very elastic thinker and politician with current trends and plans of the British Empire...
...These experts believe that Smuts may emerge as a dominating figure in the shaping of both British and Empire policy in the near future...
...Bremer: "Very amusing indeed...
...Smuts taunts members of the Opposition with betting on the Germans winning, saying "their anticipations . . . thank God, have turned out wrong...
...If so, the propaganda copy—and books like this—will serve many purposes...
...Swart: "The anti-Christ fighting for Christendom...
...It is, I find, a compilation of statements, speeches, etc., selected by two individuals—Henry M. Mool-man, described as director of information of the South African Legation in Washington, and Eric Estor-ick, "author of numerous British Commonwealth studies...
...That is not to say that the book is a mere propaganda tract without value...
...Louw, retorted, "You mean, thank Stalin...
...That astonishing speech of last November (not, it is noted, included in this volume) dwelt far more extensively on the problems of Africa, Asia, and the whole Empire than the excerpts published in the press indicated...
...Louw: "And you will live to regret it...
...An Opposition member, Mr...
...It should be recalled that the fighter against the tyranny of the Hohenzollerns and Hapsburgs in World War I interrupted his struggles long enough in the Spring of 1918 to make a speech in Glasgow, suggesting it might be just as well to find out what terms of peace these tyrants might offer...
Vol. 8 • May 1944 • No. 18
