7 NOVEMBER 1941, Page 11

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

HOME GUARD AND DEMOCRACY "

SIR,—The reforms in the administration and organisation of the Home Guard advocated by Colonel Sampson in The Spectator of October 24th will be supported by every keen member of the force, but there is little likelihood of their being adopted if one is to judge by the attitude of certain Members of Parliament who, for reasons of policy, presumably lend nominal support to the Home Guard.

On a Sunday not very long ago a section composed entirely of M.P.s held a compulsory (so far as anything can be compulsory in the Home Guard) parade—one member turned up. A company with which I am acquainted has for its battalion commander an M.P. Neither he, nor, incidentally, the zone commander (who is not an M.P.), is known by sight by the men ; neither appears to take the slightest interest in the unit, nor has either given it the least assistance. Their sins of omission; however, could be ignored. It is the things they do to upset the volunteers which make them a menace to the well-being of the Home Guard. On two occasions recently an exercise has been ordered for a week-end. The men of this company, who come from five or six different counties, are exhorted to turn up. They arrange to stay in London instead of visiting their families in

the country, or make such other arrangements as are necessary to keep the week-end free ; then at the last minute and without a word

of explanation the exercise is cancelled. I do not know the cause of the cancellations. What I do know is that nothing more effectively destroys the keenness and interest of the men than this "messing about." How can they be expected to give up their limited leisure in the face of this apathy on the part of their leaders? This unit has not participated in an exercise since August Toth, and on that occasion neither of the worthy commanders was in evidence.

The type of mind of some of those directing the Home Guard is evidenced by such things as the following: r. The issue of pikes! Bayonets firmly fixed into tubes of mild steel, with which Home Guard heroes are presumably supposed to confront the picked troops of the invader.

2. A request for a return showing the number of roller-skaters in the company!

3. The fact that the unit is supposed to get out a defence scheme for its area, although it has not, nor apparently has anybody else,

the foggiest idea of the dispositions of the Regular Army. It would seem that the battalion has not even knowledge of the disposition of adjacent units of the Home Guard, for its Orders, I am told, direct the unit to occupy a building which is the battalion headquarters of another battalion.

4. The appointment as zone instructor of an old regular soldier, whose ignorance and illiteracy completely unfit him for the task (although as a figure of fun he does help to entertain the troops).

One naturally asks who appointed these people and what use are they. Our "democracy " appointed them and keeps them where they are. They would not last a minute under any system where effi- ciency came first. They are our demagogues—the people who govern us—and it is for the system they represent that we are supposed to be fighting. Well, I for one am not fighting for " democracy " as I have known it since I have been old enough to think for myself. The " democracy " I have known means a choice between the tyranny of the vested interests and the tyranny of the trades unions. It means government by the cheap Press ; it means government by fantastically incompetent Government Departments. I am a Liberal. The wel-

fare of humanity at large, and of this count?), in particular, is something I care greatly about ; but what chance has Liberalism in our political racket? If I thought we were fighting for a perpetuation of the things I have just mentioned I would go to America and join the Isolationists.

I mentioned my intention of writing about these things to a friend yesterday. " They will think you mad," he said. " For thinking as I do? " I asked. "No, for writing it," he said. Well, Sir, I am

writing it. I and very many like me are not fighting for " democracy" as we know it ; we are fighting for stark survival. It is our prayer that in the ordeal through which we shall pass the poison will be purged from our body politic, but I fear it is a wish rather that', a hope.—Yours faithfully, G. F. STANLEY JACKSON. 59 Harrington Gardens, S.W. 7.