Evening star., 1935-12-01

1t is at this point, moreover, that
the whole experiment in coercion
against Italy breaks down. Conceiv-
ably by means of an economic en-
barge, by reliance upon measures to cut
off food, fuel and clothing, the Italian
people can be starved and frozen into
surrender. The same means brought
about similar collapse of the Ger
mans during the World War. In the
end the miseries and agonies of the
women and children behind the front,
due to the blockade, broke the morale
of the fighting men at the front. The
result was the revolution of November
9, 1918, the overthrow of the imperial
regime and the establishment Of the
republic
Nevertheless the bulk of the German
people refused to accept either the
moral or the legal assumptions of the
allied peoples which had conquered
them. They signed and ratified the
treaty of Versailles to escape from the
continuing rigors of the hunger block
ade. They set their hands to the con-
fession of guilt embodied in that treaty.
But, nevertheless, they continued TO
regard themselves as the victims of
British jealousy and French hunger for
revenge. While they were still weak
they submitted; once they recovered
their strength, however. they overthrew
the republic, tore up the military
clauses of the treaty and are now pre-
pairing by force to abolish its territorial
provisions.
Germany Made Desperate.
All that was accomplished by victory
in war was temporarily to compel the
German people to abandon purposes
and methods to which they have now
returned. They have already made
scrap of paper of one part of the
treaty law of 1919, they presently mean
to reduce other portions of it to SINH
lar condition. So far from converting
the Germans to allied opinions, the
war and the postwar coercion simply
transferred them into despairing peo-
pie. dominated by convition of per-
secution and ready to throw themselves
into the arms of Hitler.
Now the same experiment is to be
tried with the italian people. They
are to be bludgeoned by the same sort
of tactics into rebelling against the
present dictator and overthrowing the
Fascist regime. Reduced to helpless
ness, they will have to abandon their
imperialiStic adventure which has
aroused British apprehension. In all
human probability what follows Fas-
cism will be some form of bolshevism;
hungry and desperate people will
certainly throw themselves into the
arms of some extremism-and Com
muniSm is the natural reaction from
Fascism.
For a considerable period Of time,
doubtless, Italy, thus sunk to anarchy
and weakness, will be unable to
threaten British imperial interests in
the Mediterranean. Great Britain
will thus enjoy exactly the same Sc
curity in the face of Italy that France
enjoyed in the face of Germany dur
ing all the years from the Paris Peace
Conference to the coming of Hitler.
All Italians, like all Germans after the
war, will, however, continue to be
dominated by sense Of injustice and
by a delusion of persecution. In the
long run there will emerge a new
leader who, like Hitler, can give ex-
preston to national resentment, per-
haps also give effect to national pur-
pose.
Inspired to Sense of Injury.
Today all the population of Italy
is drawing together as Italians. they
are inspired by sense of injury, they
are united by conviction that what
is being attempted is to crush them
because they have entertained dreams
of national greatness which have
proved inconvenient for British i'm
perialism. Any one who remembers
the state Of mind of Germany, once
the World War had broken and she
found herself surrounded by foes, can
understand what is taking place in
the peninsula.
That rally of the italian people,
prince and peasant alike, to the sup
port of their government will insure
that the process of coercion will be
long drawn out, if no compromise can
be found and that the government
will not surrender until exhaustion
and misery finally precipitate a do
mestic upheaval. One year, two years
hence, another ruined and revengeful
people will be added to those already
enduring perils to world
peace. Whatever happens now, moth
ing can convince the italian people
that they have not been the victims
IF deliberate and concerted injustice,
and therefore they cannot be brought
to respect the law which is to be en-
forced against them.
It is this circumstance which con-
stituteS the fallacy of the idea Of
coercing whole nation. At the bot
tom of this theory lies the assumption
that coercion will not merely halt an
but also exercise aggres-
sive purposes from the minds of those
against whom coercive methods are
But 1t never does. The |
military coercion employed against the
Germans in the World War failed
Utterly. The attempt to employ moral
coercion against the Japanese in the
episode was equally futile. |
viii Appear as Tool of Britain.
The reason for this is, moreover,
1t is implicit in such |
Incidents as the present British per-
Torrance in Egypt. You cannot con-
vince an Italian that shooting stu
dents in Cairo is moral and legal,
while shooting natives in Makale is a |
sin against civilization. You cannot |
make him believe that an interna-
.ional institution which either cannot |
Or will not act to restrain British i'm
oerialism In Egypt while undertaking |
% punish Italian imperialism in Ethio-
pia is animated by a sense of justice |
,r impartiality. The League will not |
appear in Italian eyes as an instru-
nent of world opinion but only a tool |
If British policy.
The more completely Italian power
If resistance Is broken, moreover, the |
,,nra will kxn T%oJ;z,.