Dismantling and Democracy
The German resistance which greeted the beginning of the dis- mantling of various synthetic oil plants in the Ruhr this week was fortunately not pressed to the point of open disturbance, thanks largely to the attitude, at once firm and conciliatory, adopted by the Regional Commissioner for the Land of North Rhine Westphalia, General Bishop. That Belgian troops (because Belgians happen to be quartered in the area affected) had to be called in was significant, but, fortunately again, there was no call for their active services. The dismantling of the oil-plants will probably be carried through without incident, though in one or two cases, such as Gelsenberg, where reconstruction was actually sanctioned by British Military Government, opposition will no doubt be bitter. The major dis- mantling, of the great Thyssen steel-works at Hamborn and else= where, has yet to come—if it does come, for there is still time for
wiser policies to prevail. It will be deplorable if Allied statesmen are incapable of learning from the past. There was substance in the de- claration that the Weimar governments failed, in part at least, because the Allies of that day failed to support the German moderates. Are they going to support the German moderates today ? How, with an election for the first West German Parliament pending, can the mcderates remain moderate when every German expects them to protest violently against demontage ? It is not possible for Mr. Bevin and the other Allied Ministers to run two German policies at once. Mr. Bevin has defined as his aim the creation of an independent and democratic Western Germany within the framework of Western Union. That, beyond question, is the right ideal, and the adoption of the Bonn constitution is a substantial first step towards its realisation. Another aim is the economic restoration of Germany within the framework of the Marshall Plan. That cannot be reconciled with the dismantling of production plants. Germans habitually complain and protest too much, and they may be doing so now. But what they may say or may not say has no bearing on the, hard facts of the situation. A democratic Germany may be heyond hope. If so, the Bonn constitution can be scrapped or disregarded. If on the other hand Western Germany is evolving, as to every appearance it is, as every serious person in this country would wish, then it is of capital importance that its leaders should be able to count on all reasonable support and co-operation at the hands of the Allied leaders. The dismantling policy is completely incompatible with that.
