HITLER AND HACKNEY

By 11. POWYS GREENWOOD

ON the Sunday before the " liquidation " of Czecho- Slovakia I attended the ceremony of the Day of Re- membrance for War Heroes in Berlin, and heard Admiral Raeder addressing the Fiihrer and the assembled leaders of the German people. His main theme was that the might of Germany had risen again out of defeat and humiliation and had made possible the Fiihrer's realisation of the ancient dream of German unity, so that those who had died for Germany had not died in vain. Listening to the speech, with its implication of something final accomplished, an implication which seemed to represent the feeling of the vast majority of Germans and was symbolised by the flying of all flags at the mastheads instead of at half-mast, listening above all to the Admiral's words about peace and of respect for those on the other side who had laid down their lives in the great and futile struggle, one could not but be filled with hope. Yet two days later the march to Prague began, open- ing a new chapter in the history of the Nazi Revolution, and probably in the history of the world. What exactly has happened?

No one who has really studied the inside workings of the great movement of which Adolf Hitler is at once the creator, the symbol, and the leader, can fail to realise its dynamic force. As I wrote in The Spectator some five years ago, what is generally called the Nazi, but should really be called the German, Revolution represents just as fundamental an upsurge of feeling and reversal of values as was the case with the great French Revolution, or the Communist Revolution in Russia. Thus the possibility always existed of the Ger- man Revolution sweeping across Europe and indeed attempt- ing to conquer the world in the same way that the French Revolution did under Napoleon.

But the challenge of the German Revolution is not purely military. It is also the challenge of achievement. Under the impulse of the Revolution a defeated people, torn by political dissensions, rendered despairing and prostrate by the impact of a great economic and social crisis, has within a few years organised itself into the most formidable political, economic and military striking force the world has yet seen. In so doing it has tackled, and for the time being at any rate mastered, many of the most acute social problems of the age. While free countries like Great Britain and America are letting millions of men run to seed in idleness, Germany is crying out for more workers. While democratic nations were bemoaning their empty cradles and setting Commissions to study population problems, Germany succeeded in raising the birthrate from 15.1 to 19 per thousand. In a world where differences, inequalities and misunderstandings be- tween classes play a considerable part, Germany has taken by no means ineffective steps to bring the classes together. And these examples do not exhaust the list.

It is often supposed that in doing all this Germany has imposed such a strain on the financial and economic system, and above all on the standard of living of her people, that the system is bound to break down internally. I do not believe it. Ever since the Nazis came to power the pundits of orthodoxy have prophesied rapid collapse, but I have seen no signs of it. On the contrary, Germany today appears on the surface by no means unprosperous and certainly busy and active. Real wages per hour of labour may have fallen, for though prices are comparatively stable, the quality of many goods has deteriorated and there are occasional short- ages, but from the point of view of working-class families the increase in employment and hours worked has more than made this up. In the last analysis the only fundamental sacrifice imposed by Nazi Germany on its population is that of freedom--the freedom of the human mind. In the long run that sacrifice will have its inevitable cramping effect. But it will be a very long run.

The achievements of dictatorship are a challenge to free- dom. Unless the free countries can do better they will not prevail. Their failure to cope with their problems In time of peace fatally weakens their propaganda ; as a writer in The Spectator recently pointed out, a German worker hear- ing of the benefits of freedom would probably retort that Hitler at any rate gave him work. And if they cannot organise their much greater resources into a more effective striking force than that of their potential opponents, if they cannot inspire their peoples with a spirit and a purpose equal to the great drive of the German Revolution, there will be little chance of avoiding war and a serious possibility of losing it.

I believe that the spirit is ready to be aroused if the leader- ship can be found. There seems to be fairly general agree- ment that the one thing which would impress Germany and Europe today would be the acceptance of the principle of compulsory service by the British people. At the same time, many feel that conscription would split the country at a time when national unity is the most essential factor of all.

Through the Association for Service and Reconstruction I attended last Saturday a meeting of the Hackney Wick branch of the Transport and General Workers' Union to discuss the situation. It is perhaps significant that the first essential was to dispel the general impression that Nazi Ger- many was riddled with Communism and internal dissension and tottering to its fall. Once that had been cleared away by the arguments set out above and the full magnitude of the challenge explained, the whole tone of the meeting changed. The following policy, which nobody had prepared in advance, was hammered out in general discussion and unanimously accepted except by one pacifist present.

1. Compulsory national service for all citizens.

2. Compulsory national service for capital, i.e., the control (but not the expropriation) of all productive resources in the national interest.

3. Limitation of profits, particularly armament profits.

4. Fixed Trade Board wages and abandonment of the right to strike.

5. Full co-operation between trade unions and employers on working conditions and to secure increased output.

6. The whole system to be directed to the rapid training of unemployed and abolition of unemployment.

7. Surplus resources after providing for armament needs to be used to maintain and improve social services and amenities.

8. Citizen rights for those serving in the forces.

9. The new armed forces to be citizen forces with officers from all classes, notably the working classes.

o. A progressive but non-Socialist Government the workers can trust as a guarantee that the system would not be used to impose Fascism, and that in the event of a war the rank and file would not be let down again after it.

Admittedly this only represents the views of one trade union branch out of thousands. But those present were mostly representative and active shop stewards with long experience of the working-class movement. It was evident that the two main points without which no aporoach to agree- ment would have been conceivable were the compulsory service of capital and the question of unemployment. Stress was also laid on the officering of the forces. The whole received the appropriate name of " Community Conscrip- tion," and it was decided to press the trade unions to come out with the policy. Whatever the result, the meeting was surely some indication of the underlying feeling in the country.