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House of Commons.
March 14, 1938.
The speech of the Prime Minister overshadows the Debate and dominates
all our minds. I do not know when in my lengthening experience of the
House of Commons I have heard - certainly not since the War - a
statement so momentous, expressed in language of frigid restraint but
giving the feeling of determination behind it. I am sure in all
quarters of the House we heard with greatest pleasure his affirmation
of the rights and interest and duty of Great Britain in Central
Europe. He has said that there must be no hasty decision, and
everybody will feel that while our minds are under the immediate
influence of this painful and lamentable event is not the best time
to take fresh resolves, provided that nothing is lost by
delay.
-
- I listened with great
pleasure to the speech of the Hon Member for Sparkbrook I found
myself ready to respond to the appeal which he made that we should
pool our opinions and efface differences as far as possible. Above
all, I agree with him in his statement that the policy to
declared, within a reasonably short time, by this country must be
clear and precise, so that it can be understood, for good or ill,
countries and all parties. Everyone remembers the controversy,
which has dragged on for many years, about whether we could have
stopped the Great War in 1914 if Sir Edward Grey had made plain
declarations a week beforehand. I myself am of opinion that he did
all that it was possible for him to do in the circumstances, and I
doubt very much whether the event would have been averted even if
he had made such a declaration. But still there is a weight of
historic judgment piling up that in all these matters of
international strife and danger it is most necessary that nations
should declare plainly where they stand, and of all the nations
which should so declare itself our country, with her insular
characteristics still partially remaining to her, has an
obligation to give a perfectly plain statement of what she will or
will not do in certain contingencies when those contingencies
approach the threshold of reality. Long delay would be harmful.
Why should we assume that time is on our side? I know of nothing
to convince me that if the evil forces now at work are suffered to
feed upon their successes and upon their victims our task will be
easier when finally we are all united. Not only do we need a clear
declaration of the Government's policy, but we require to set to
work to rally the whole country behind that declared policy, in
order that there may not be shifts and changes, as well as that
there may not be any doubt or hesitation. It will certainly be no
easier for us to face the problems with which we are confronted a
year hence than it is today. Indeed, we might easily delay
resistance to a point where continued resistance and true
collective security would become impossible.
-
- The gravity of the event of
the 11th of March cannot be exaggerated. Europe is confronted with
a program of aggression, nicely calculated and timed, unfolding
stage by stage, and there is only one choice open, not only to us,
but to other countries who are unfortunately concerned-either to
submit, like Austria, or else to take effective measures while
time remains to ward off the danger and, if it cannot be warded
off, to cope with it. Resistance will be hard, yet I am persuaded
- and the Prime Minister's speech confirms me - that it is to this
conclusion of resistance to overweening encroachment that His
Majesty's Government will come, and the House of Commons will
certainly sustain them in playing a great part in the effort to
preserve the peace of Europe, and, if it cannot be preserved, to
preserve the freedom of the nations of Europe. If we were to
delay, if we were to go on waiting upon events for a considerable
period, how much should we throw away of resources which are now
available for our security and for the maintenance of peace? How
many friends would be alienated, how many potential allies should
we see go, one by one, down the grisly gulf, how many times would
bluff succeed, until behind bluff ever-gathering forces had
accumulated reality? Where shall we be two years hence, for
instance, when the German Army will certainly be much larger than
the French Army, and when all the small nations will have fled
from Geneva to pay homage to the ever-waxing power of the Nazi
system, and to make the best terms they can for themselves?
-
- We cannot leave the
Austrian question where it is. We await the further statement of
the Government, but it is quite clear that we cannot accept as a
final solution of the problem of Central Europe the event which
occurred on March 11. The public mind has been concentrated upon
the moral and sentimental aspects of the Nazi conquest of
Austria-a small country brutally struck down, its Government
scattered to the winds, the oppression of the Nazi party doctrine
imposed upon a Catholic population and upon the working-classes of
Austria and of Vienna, the hard ill-usage of persecution which
indeed will ensue-which is probably in progress at the moment-of
those who, this time last week, were exercising their undoubted
political rights, discharging their duties faithfully to their own
country. All this we see very clearly, but there are some things
which I have not seen brought out in the public Press and which do
not seem to be present in the public mind, and they are practical
consideration of the utmost significance.
-
- Vienna is the centre of all
the communications of all the countries which formed the old
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and of all the countries lying to the
southeast of Europe. A long stretch of the Danube is now in German
hands. This mastery of Vienna to Nazi Germany military and
economic control of the whole of the communication of
south-eastern Europe, by road, by river, and by rail. What is the
effect of it what is called the balance of power, such as it is,
and upon what is called the a word about this group of Powers
called the Little Entente. Taken singly, the three countries of
the Little Entente may be called Powers of the rank, but they are
very vigorous States, and united they are a Great Power. They have
hitherto been, and are still, united by the closest military
agreement. Together they make the complement of a Great Power and
of the military machinery of a Great Power. Rumania has the oil;
Yugoslavia has the minerals and raw materials. Both have large
armies; both are mainly supplied with munitions from
Czechoslovakia. To English ears, the name of Czechoslovakia sounds
outlandish. No doubt they are small democratic State, no doubt
they have an army only two or three times as large as ours, no
doubt they have a munitions supply only three times as great as
that of Italy, but still they are a virile people; they have their
treaty rights, they have a line of fortresses, and they have a
strongly manifested will to live freely.
-
- Czechoslovakia is at this
moment isolated, both in the economic and in the military sense.
Her trade outlet through Hamburg, which is based upon the Peace
Treaty, can, of course, be closed at any moment. Now her
communications by rail and river to the south, and after the south
to the southeast, are liable to be severed at any moment. Her
trade may be subjected to tolls of an absolutely strangling
character.
-
- Here is a country which was
once the greatest manufacturing area in the old Austro-Hungarian
Empire. It is now cut off, or may be cut off at once unless, out
of these discussions which must follow, arrangements are made
securing the communications of Czechoslovakia. You may be cut off
at once from the sources of her raw material in Yugoslavia, and
from the natural markets which she has established there. The
economic life of this small State may be practically destroyed as
a result of the act of violence which was perpetrated last Friday
night. A wedge has been driven into the heart of what is called
the Little Entente, this group of countries which have as much
right to live in Europe unmolested as any of us have the right to
live unmolested in our native land.
-
- It would be too complicated
to pursue the economic, military, and material reactions, apart
from moral sentiments altogether, into the other countries. It
would take too long, but the effects of what has happened now upon
Rumania, upon Hungary, upon Bulgaria, upon Turkey, must be the
subject of the closest possible study, not only by His Majesty's
Government, but by all who aspire to take part in the public
discussion of these matters. By what has happened it is not too
much to say that Nazi Germany, in its present mood, if matters are
left as they are, is in a position to dominate the whole of
South-east Europe. Over an area inhabited perhaps by 200,000,000
of people Nazidom and all that it involves is moving on to
absolute control. Therefore, I venture to submit to the House that
this Nazi conquest of Austria cannot remain where it is, and that
a patient, determined, persevering discussion of it ought to take
place and to be pushed forward, first of all, no doubt, through
the Chanceries and by the diplomatic channels, but also and
ultimately it should be pushed forward in the natural place for
such discussions at Geneva-under the League of Nations. We are not
in a position to say tonight, "The past is the past." We cannot
say, 'the past is the past," without surrendering the future.
Therefore, we await further statements from His Majesty's
Government with the greatest possible interest.
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- The serious nature of our
affairs is realised and apprehended in all parts of the House. I
have often been called an alarmist in the past, yet I affirm
tonight that there is still, in my belief, an honourable path to
safety and, I hope, to peace. What ought we to do? The Prime
Minister today has made a declaration upon the subject of defence.
There is to be a new effort of national rearmament and national
service. We shall have to lay aside our easy habits and methods.
We shall have to concentrate on securing our safety with something
like the intensity that has been practised in other countries
whose excesses we may desire to restrain. I think the House will
be grateful to the Prime Minister for that declaration, and I am
certain that he may rely upon all those strong forces in every
party throughout the country to second the efforts of the
Government to place us in a position where we shall not feel
ourselves liable to be blackmailed out of our duties, out of our
interests and out of our rights.
-
- It seems to me quite clear
that we cannot possibly confine ourselves only to a renewed effort
at rearmament. I know that some of honourable friends on this side
of the House will laugh when I offer them this advice. I say,
"Laugh, but listen." I affirm that the Government should express
in the strongest terms our adherence to the Covenant of the League
of Nations and our resolve to procure by international action the
reign of law in Europe. I agree entirely with what has been said
by the Leaders of the two Opposition parties upon that subject;
and I was extremely glad to notice that at the beginning and in
the very forefront of his speech the Prime Minister referred to
the League of Nations and made that one of the bases of our right
to intervene and to be consulted upon affairs in Central
Europe.
- The matter has an
importance in this country. There must be a moral basis for
British rearmament and British foreign policy. We must have that
basis if we are to unite and inspire our people and procure their
wholehearted action, and if we are to stir the English-speaking
people throughout the world.
-
- Our affairs have come to
such a pass that there is no escape without running risks. On
every ground of prudence as well as of duty I urge His Majesty's
Government to proclaim a renewed, revivified, unflinching
adherence to the Covenant of the League of Nations. What is there
ridiculous about collective security? The only thing that is
ridiculous about it is that we have not got it. Let us see whether
we cannot do something to procure a strong element of collective
security for ourselves and for others. We have been urged to make
common cause in self-defence with the French Republic. What is
that but the beginning of collective security? I agree with that.
Not so lightly will the two great liberal democracies of the West
be challenged, and not so easily, if challenged, will they be
subjugated. That is the beginning of collective security. But why
stop there? Why be edged and pushed farther down the slope in a
disorderly expostulating crowd of embarrassed States. Why not make
a stand while there is still a good company of united, very
powerful countries that share our dangers and aspirations? Why
should we delay until we are confronted with a general landslide
of those small countries passing over, because they have no other
choice, to the overwhelming power of the Nazi regime?
-
- If a number of States were
assembled around Great Britain and France in a solemn treaty for
mutual defence against aggression; if they had their forces
marshalled in what you may call a Grand Alliance; if they had
their Staff arrangements concerted; if all this rested, as it can
honourably rest, upon the Covenant of the League of Nations, in
pursuance of all the purposes and ideals of the League of Nations;
if that were sustained, as it would be, by the moral sense of the
world; and if it were done in the year 1938-and, believe me, it
may be the last chance there will be for doing it-then I say that
you might even now arrest this approaching war. Then perhaps the
curse which overhangs Europe would pass away. Then perhaps the
ferocious passions which now grip a great people would turn
inwards and not outwards in an internal rather than an external
explosion, and mankind would be spared the deadly ordeal towards
which we have been sagging and sliding month by month. I have
ventured to indicate a positive conception, a practical and
realistic conception, and one which I am convinced will unite all
the forces of this country without whose help your armies cannot
be filled or your munitions made. Before we cast away this hope,
this cause and this plan, which I do not at all disguise has an
element of risk, let those who wish to reject it ponder well and
earnestly upon what will happen to us if, when all else has been
thrown to the wolves, we are left to face our fate alone.
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