GREAT DECISIONS
WELL might Dr. Wellington Koo describt the Three Power Conference in North Africa as epoch-making. It is the com- ment that springs unbidden to the lips. For there is no limit to the possibilities which the consolidation and perpetuation of the alliance between the British Commonwealth, the United States and China, including as they do between them far more than half the population of the world, open up. The value of the North African meeting is twofold. It must be related to past as well as future. In one aspect it must be regarded as building on foundations already laid, in the genuine, undisguised and deep-seated friendship for China which pervades the whole of Great Britain and the United States ; there could be none better. In another it creates a new relationship, informal indeed but none the less significant. China has been inte- grated into the political framework of the world in a new sense and a new degree at the moment when modern invention, so disastrous to mankind in some of its manifestations, has made the means of communication, by the spoken and the written word and even by physical presence, such than distance is annihilated. Europe and America have gone to Asia often enough in the past, not always for Asia's good. In the person of General Chiang Kai-shek China today has come not indeed to Europe or America, but, what perhaps is better, to the soil of a continent which is neither Europe nor America nor Asia, to set seal with American and European spokesmen to an understanding which will be yielding its propitious fruit long after the dust of sear has cleared and the din of conflict ceased.
That must come first among the results of the recent Conference, for the enduring takes precedence over the immediate. But the immediate consequences will be incalculably great. It is significant of the confidence of the Anglo-American Allies, even though it may be partly accidental, that they should be discussing and planning the war against japan with. General Chiang Kai-shek before their discussion of, the war in Europe with Marshal Stalin. It is certain that the Russian leader, who did not of course go to North Africa because his country is not at war with Japan, fully approves of that. To Japan the Conference is the final death-knell. The Attires have the power to fling back her aggression on her, and she knows now, if she ever doubted it, that they have the will. Military and naval plans of action have been framed, and they will soon be seen in operation. At the end of it Japan will be left with her metropolitan islands. The fruits of her past aggressions, Formosa, Manchuria, Korea, those mandated islands in the Pacific which- she lawlessly converted into stepping-stones for invasion, will be wrested from her. That she will be confronted with a grave economic problem
when her eighty millions are confined to their unfertile islands cannot be disguised. But the number of Japanese overseas was never great, and if Japan is content to engage in honest trade, the .Atlantic Charter has guaranteed facilities for that. Germany and Italy and Japan have all chosen to stimulate their birthrates artificially and then appropriate other nations' territory to make an outlet for their expanding populations. That policy has led them to where they are, and they may perhaps come to realise the folly of it. It is because the unity of Britain, America and China gives new hope for the solution of economic as well as politiCal and military problems in Asia that the North African Conference may well live in history as the most important international gathering in which the head of an Asiatic State has ever taken part.
A League in Embryo
Highly satisfactory decisions of far-reaching importance have been taken by U.N.R.R.A. (the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Conference) at Atlantic City. The Conference has been a happy ,combination of the representatives both of the big Powers and of the other United Nations, with all the delegates working together with the object of arriving harmoniously at agreed conclusions. In sit- tings during a period of nineteen days it has covered the whole pre- liminary ground, and has passed forty-one resolutions defining the methods of work to be adopted in the speedy relief of countries devastated by the enemy ; and with the appointment of four Stand- ing Committees, each of which has now elected its chairman, it has prepared the ground for administrative work. The Council now takes over from the Conference, and Lord Selborne said last Wednesday that it was on that day holding its first meeting and considering the practical question of supplies and distribution. He fittingly described U.N.R.RA. as possibly the greatest international experiment since the League of Nations, aiming at a concerted effort to deal with the immediate aftermath of enemy occupation. It is important to emphasise that the lesser as well as the greater among the United Nations have all been contributing on the deliberative side and will continue to do so on the executive side. Together, the delegates are developing a technique of planning and co-operation and acquiring an experience which should serve the United Nations in good stead when they have to address themselves to the still more complicated tasks of international reconstruction. From Hot Springs to U.N.R.R.A. and from U.N.R.R.A. to organisations dealing with the permanent problems of economics and security is a sequence of which the beginnings at least are being well laid.
The Debate on Mosley
The soundest observation in the debate on the release of Sir Oswald Mosley in the House of Commons on Wednesday was made by Mr. Arthur Greenwood, when he said that while Mr. Morrison had been wrong in releasing Sir Oswald, and unfortunate in his method of announcing the release, the sooner the affair was allowed to drop now the better. Opinions as to whether Mr. Morrison was in fact right or wrong will still vary, and Wednesday's debate is likely to have done little to change them. Discussion of the question of national security and the question of Sir Oswald's health was considerably confused. Though the Attorney-General and others insisted that there could be no justification for detaining Sir Oswald when he ceased to be a danger to the State, Mr. Morrison (who had said plainly in the House a week earlier that while the improvement in our national fortunes had justified the release of some prisoners it would not have justified the release of Mosley ; he would -have been the last to leave) took his. stand almost wholly on medical considera- tions. Indeed, it would appear that by a strange coincidence the fact that Sir Oswald's detention was no longer required .on grounds of national security was only realised on the day when the report of the five doctors on his health was received. All this, however, need no longer be argued over. Sir Oswald has been transferred from detention in Holloway to detention under less rigorous restrictions elsewhere. The House has supported the Home Secretary by 317 to 62. Those who thought his action mis- taken may take leave to think it mistaken still. That will do Mr. Morrison no harm, for no responsible person has suggested anything more damaging than that, like other human beings, he may possibly be fallible. And now to get back to greater matters.
The Crime of Kiev
The victorious Russian armies advancing from town to town, from province to province, liberating vast tracts of country that had been subject to Germany, have had before their eyes foul evidence of the bestial work that has been deliberately carried out by the enemy during two years of occupation. The city of Kiev is only one among many places that have 'witnessed these appalling atrocities ; if the buildings have suffered less systematic destruction than elsewhere that is due only to the speed of the Russian advance. But the treatment of Kiev touches the Russian imagination the more poignantly by reason of the contrast between this ancient and beautiful city, with its historic buildings and shrines, which once attracted pilgrims from all Russia and tourists from all Europe, and its sickening violation. It is reported that of its million original inhabitants only ropoo remained, the 200,000 Germans who took their places having made good their escape. The large-scale massacre, first of Jews, after- wards of Ukrainians, goes beyond other records as yet firmly estab- lished. We hear of so,000 persons shot in a single execution-ground, of prisoners set to make incinerators for the burning of their own bodies, and other tales of horror now authenticated. It is not sur- prising that the Russian soldiers, constantly confronted with the evidence of such things done to their compatriots, are fighting with a fanatical fierceness that comes of burning anger.
Mr. Lyttelton on Conservative Policy
In a speech at Oxford last week Mr. Oliver Lyttelton made a very interesting, reasoned statement of Conservative policy. It is worth noting that he on the one side and Mr. Herbert Morrison on the other both look forward to a certain measure of common ground from which all parties may start ; each makes a good deal of con- cession to what was once the view of the opposite side. The funda- mentals from which he begins are really those of all parties today : this country must be strong to defend itself and defend the weak ; it must use its strength with a view to peace and security ; and first among the conditions it will seek to create is employment for all. "So far, all are on common ground. Mr. Lyttelton goes on, as a Con- servative, to emphasise the importance of private enterprise, but at once qualifies that by saying that there must be some measure of planning and control if we are to secure full employment—for instance, the State will have to influence the timing of new capital issues by large companies as well as local authorities. But he stresses the fact that the Conservative, when he asks the State to limit the individual's freedom, will only do so for the purpose of increasing it. This, which used to be regarded as sound Liberal doctrine, is now, it seems, appropriated by Conservatives. In finance Mr. Lyttelton believes in what he calls an expansionist policy—not inflationary, but at least anything but deflationary—which implies that he recognises the need of increasing the purchasing power of the masses. In fact Mr. Lyttelton favours a progressive, constructive State policy, with the cautionary proviso that Britons were not " born to be slaves of the State," and that we should not promise more than we can carry out. So far as he goes most of us can go with him.
Decisions on Social Security ?
Last Wednesday was the anniversary of the publication of the Beveridge Report. On that, which might have been thought of as an auspicious date, Mr. Lyttelton told the Commons that a White Paper was being drafted, but that he could not give any promise as to the date when it would be laid before the House, because when the draft was complete it would have to come again before Ministers. Proposals, in part of the field, will be definite ; in part the Govern- ment still awaits the opinion of the House. Mr. Lyttelton, excusing the inexcusable delay, spoke of the complexities of the subject Undoubtedly the subject is one of great complexity. That is why the Inter-departmental Committee of which Sir William was chair- man was appointed. That body examined both the material that was available in Government departments and the outside evidence from disinterested experts, and the Civil Servants who participated in the inquiry and have already been over the whole ground with Sir William have been at the disposal of the Government for any further inquiries it may have thought fit to make. Mr. Lyttelton's plea is only valid on the supposition that the Government have thought it necessary to prepare a quite separate report covering the whole ground over again. It is profoundly disappointing that during the past year, when Parliament had time available, no Bill was put before it. Now the question will have to be dealt with in a year with a densely crowded. legislative programme. The delay is having a psychological effect which the Government has insuffi- ciently considered. A quick and sympathetic decision is needed to restore waning confidence in the Government's domestic policy.
Planning Uncertainties
Unfortunately, social security is by no means alone among the urgent reconstruction questions on which the Government has not yet divulged its plans or even made up its own mind. When the time comes for Service-men to be demobilised they will want houses to live in, and they will want them soon. The Minister of Pro- duction last Wednesday said a good deal about labour and materials for building houses, but houses have to be put somewhere, and we shall have confusion thrice confounded if they are run up, with- out consideration, in the wrong places. The construction of houses pre-supposes decisions in regard to the location of industry and town and country planning, and in proportion as the Government delay decisions about these vital matters they are diminishing the pro- spects of the provision of adequate houses for demobilised Service- men and war-workers. Mr. W. S. Morrison has reported some conclusions about minor, or at least non-controversial, aspects of the Scott Report, but in the absence of decisions about the Barlow Report could announce nothing further. In regard to town-plan- ning and reconstruction, the Government have accepted the Uthwatt proposals for the acquisition of land ; but in instructing the local authorities to go ahead in the preparation of plans they have given no indication of their policy concerning the future composition of the local authorities themselves. They have yet to come to a decision about the acquisition of development rights in land and the periodic levy on the increases in site values. No doubt all of these are " complex " questions ; but the war also is complex. We are winning the war because decisions are taken in spite of their complexity, and the peace will not be won without equal resolution.
