LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
4, BRACED AND COMPACT ? "
Sot,—The majority of your readers must have been roused and shaken by your leading article " Braced and Compact? " The sternness of its tone and the forthrightness of its language are what are called for today as never before in our history. It has rightly been said that the nation will win whose morale outlasts that of its opponents. What has gone wrong with our morale?—for that is the central question. It is not braced and it is not compact. Our inherent thoughtlessness and selfishness are much to blame, but the following facts are indubitable: Many of us have lost faith in the judgement and courage of our leaders. We have lost faith in their judgement because so many of their public statements have matched very badly with events. To give but one example: months ago we were told by our supreme leaders and their spokesmen that German war production had reached its peak. At the time that statement made no sense to the average drizen. Events have proved the judgement of our leaders to be wrong, in this matter as in many others, and that is very bad for the morale of the people. We have lost faith in our leaders' courage because there have been all too many signs of an infirmity of purpose ; too many changes of Ministers which seem to have been changes without object, or at any rate without effect ; a passing of laws, but an evident lack of courage in enforcing them against, for example, racketeers, strikers and slackers ; a want of courage in failing to force us to face the grim and gruesome facts of our situation, and in failing to disci- 7Iine us to a way of life to match that situation ; and one final sign of infirmity of purpose, the weakness of our aggressive efforts against me common enemy. We have shown by our bombing attacks and by our raids that we are not impotent to harm the enemy, but so spasmodic have these attacks been and so widely spaced that when we are told about one now we shrug our shoulders and say: " Another publicity stunt." Think of the bracing effect on public morale of a steady run of aggressive actions, like the recent raid on the French coast or the attack on the Renault works—done, well done, announced, but not talked to death, as have been most of our past efforts.
We are needing to be braced and disciplined to meet the awful struggle ahead, but smooth words, sugar-coatings on the bitter pills we have to swallow, a lack of ruthlessness in punishing offences against our war effort and in casting out inefficiency wherever it is found, and a want of the aggressive spirit all round, these are making us slack, indifferent and cynical. It is bad for morale, too, that men and women have to sit about in their works and twiddle their fingers at one time and are driven to the last gasp at other times, and there is appalling evidence of this. In a word, as you suggest, we should not need the curtly to bomb us into a warlike spirit. Our leaders, by their precepts and by their acts, should instil that into us, in place of the present feeling of frustration so many of us have.—Yours, &c.,
Previous page
