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ELLIOTT ELLIOTT
OPTICIANS PI
LLYAR
PEI RTH
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NO. 3,187.
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PERTH,WEDNESDAY,JULY 4, 1946.
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ELLIOTT ELLIOTT OPTICIANS Piccadilly Arcade Perth Tel. B7988
SEVENTY-SECOND YEAR.
PRSOCE THREEPENCE.
Problems Confronting Church Affect Australia,' the Empire and.Civilisation Many Christians Dragooned into Fight on Wrong .Side — Propagandists Prepare Civil 'War' Out of Post-War Chaos Danger of Mob Rule in Our Own Country . . . By MICHAEL KELLY. The great problems which confront the Church differ not at all from those which confront our country and Empire; in fact, the whole of Western civilisation. Almost all that we value in our civilisation springs from the Christianity upon which it is founded: and the Craeco-Roman relics which • had been preserved to live anew in Christian Europe survived only through the efforts of the monastic :eats of learning, those oases in the desert of the Dark Ages. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the powers which successively have threatened the existence of Western culture always have been the avowed enemies of Christ's Church. In the last three decades we have seen a cleav age taking place in the nations of the world, (with the defenders of civilisa. tion on the one hand and its wouldbe destroyus upon the . other. The issue at the beginning of the late Eu. ropean war was perfectly clear; and, by the Grace of God and the wisdom of our leaders, a number of later complicating factors were not allowed to dim the vision of the people. Thus, we acquirer!, before the finish of the :car in Europe, a powerful ally without whose help we could not have defeated the Germans, who fought for her own exi•tencc rather thtn for the ancient heritage which we value. This Great A!ly, in fact, many Mmes has pro , . lnimed 1•crself the enemy of Western cul. tore. It is important now, having triumphed in the European struggle, that we should keep clearly in view the principles for which we fought. and maintain vi3rilant watch and ward against any new cnenn- who might threaten those principles. A second factor which might weak. en our certitude iq this: Though the fight was in defence of Christian values, and our enemies were the avowed enemies of Christianity, yet manv Christians were dragooned or hnodwinked into fighting on the wrong side; and an ancient people, the nursery and storehouse of Christian art and culture, was tempted by the prospect
of loot to throw in its lot with those who 'should have been its enemies. This is a recurrent tragedy of war, the dragooning against their will, of individuals by tyrannical rulers, and of weak nations by powerful neighbours, into taking part in an unjust war of aggression. The horror and devastation of war falls alike upon the innocent and the guilty, rather on the innocent to a far greater degree. Those who suffer most always are the poor, who are least responsible for the shortcomings of their rulers. Even under the worst circumstances, the .well-to-do person may find ways and means of alleviating his distress, but for the poor there is no solace. It is a merciful provision of nature that a human being can become, in a sense, accustomed to hardship, heartbreak and horror; that the soul can he hardened and calloused until the repetition of tragedy upon tragedy leaves it in a state resembling anaesthesia. But for this, surely many millions of people in Europe and Asia would have become insane; sure. lv their minds would have broken for ever under the multiple sufferings they had to endure! The tragedy and .hone of occupation be the enemy; the fearful horror of aerial bombing by freed and foe: the break-up of familieq by vin!tnt death and by conscripv4 ,n fo , lave- labour; the pain of slow gtar-ation, and the triple heart-break of watching one's children starve to death; the tortures suffered in concen. tratrinn rampq; it is impossible even to imagine the suffering, on it colossal scale, endured hy- the peoples of Europe during the past five years. Be. fore the Nazi era, a single case of deliberate torture and starvation would have been regarded as " news": or it single case of political murder or of conscription for slave-labour. Each single act of brutality means tragedy and sadness for an individual or for family; and it is impossible to con• ceive the effect of the manv-millionfold repetition of heartbreak and horror. We see the nations of Europe, which, slowly hit apparently surely, have been groping their several ways towards de-
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mocracy, emerge from the conflict with their national institutions in grave danger of perishing. When men have lived for six years under law that is no law, and when the best of them have joined illegal organisations whose objective is the regaining of freedom, is it not comprehensible that there should be some difficulty in setting up once more the rule of justice and law? Add to this the legacy of hatred left by enemy rule; the cry of vengeance upon those who ` collaborated. How narrow must be the dividing-line between sa-called " collaboration" and that amount of passive obedience which would have been dictated by common prudence! How many weak ones must have broken down under threat of torture to themselves or their loved ones, and through weakness rather than guilt have given away vital secrets! Thus, with malevolence, stupidity or cruelty in the saddle, how easily could the punishment of traitors degenerate into petty perse. cutions and the paying off of grudges! The Classless Society. And here has been a great opportunity for the propagandists of a classless society. Obeying Lenin's slogan, "Turn the capitalist war into a civil war," they have succeeded in a number of countries in'instigating fratri. cidal strife. With their organisation prepared for just such an occasion, in each country they have played a part in developing and assisting under• ground movements for freedom. But at the same time they have taken up arms against the representatives of legal Government of the country, in many cases using methods fiendish in their brutality. Europe, therefore, is in danger of having Nazi tyranny replaced by the tyranny of the mob, with control later to he taken over by the organisers of mob rule. Conditions in Europe are ideal for the rte and the firm establishment of Communism. The plan being followed in each country is roughly the same, with variations to accord with national sentiment or characteristics. With only a minority of its adherents in the National Cabinet, the Partv aims to control the masses, either through the Trades Unions or through rank and file committees. The chief party official thus holds the economic life of the country in his grip, and becomes in fact a dictator. The f'ommunkt Cabinet Ministers take their orders from him, and dictate to the majority of the Cabinet. With so. called " people's Republics" forming in a number of countries, and perhaps coalescing to form larger and larger units, it would not he surprising to find the freedom for which *e fought be.
E. LUISINI
coming a mockery in the greater part of Europe and Asia. Skilled propagandists are at work, too, in our own land and all the English-speaking democracies, whose objective is to capture the leadership of the masses. Thus the main threat to the democratic nations is not military in nature, but rather it partakes of planned disintegration. When the trans port system of Perth is paralysed for a week on end, or when the country comes almost to the verge of rain through the sudden cutting off of electric power, most of us see nothing but "just another labour dispute." But It often is more than that, for in many cases the men went on strike in defiance of their own elected leaders, the union officials. If in a certain case the union leaders did not order the men to go on strike, the question might fairly be asked, " Who did give the orders?" This unknown person must posses's more than a fair share of cunning, for most of these disturbances 6ccur in "key industries," wwhose dislocation, with the minimum effort upon the part of the organisers, and with the smallest possible number of men out of work, is cleverly calculated to bring about the greatest amount of material damage. It cannot have been a mere fluke that in recent weeks 80 men, upon no pretext at all, were able by withholding. electric power, to bold up to ruin and ridicule the economic life of this State, while Sydney and suburbs at the same time were deprived of electricity through a dispute in apower house. I have a feeling that someone behind the scenes was smiling at the success of this double rehearsal; and laughing outright at the meetings between political leaders , trade union officials, and arbitration authorities, hurriedly called together to save the land from disaster. A few individuals, in fact, held the whole community up at the point of a pistol. It is easy to foresee, with a little more experi ence in organisation, such efforts in future being completely successful and heing assisted by civil disorder and mild terrorism. Slogans or pretended objectives would he publicised, in which the public would see a certain amount of justice and consequently }would not he unanimous in opposition to the lawlessness. But the granting of one demvtd in these cases seldom brings peace; rather it leads to greater demands. Thus we could drift into a state of chronic mob-rule, or rule by the masses, while thinking that we still enjoyed the benefits of democracy, or rule by the people. The Masses and the People. In his broadcast last Christmas, His, Holiness the Pope drew a clear dictinc. (Continued on Page 4.)'
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