Evening star., 1936-03-19

When Sir John D rsonsur
Simon came
away from his first long interview
with Hitler and met an acquaintance
Of mine in Paris, he remarked, apropos
his meeting with Der Fuehrer,
'These people speak a strange Ian
guage, which I cannot quite under
stand" He did not mean that he
could not understand German. He
meant that the Fascist relationships
have special dictionary of their own.
They use the same words as the
liberal democracies, but they don't
mean the same things with them.
They meet with the democracies in
conference, sign pacts together, agree
on programs, and. then suddenly, the
collaborators find themselves acting in
absolutely divergent directions. Then
each thinks the other liar, a breaker
of contracts, betrayer Of faith. That
is what has just happened in Europe.
And it is probably what Is going to
20 on happening, no matter what new
agreements are made. Because all
these contracts and arrangements pre-
sumo that the parties attach the same
meaning to such words as equality" J"
aggression disarmament etc,
when, in fact, they do not. What is
needed in London and Geneva is a
translator, not only from one language
into another, but from one physchol-
ogy into another.
q
The word equity" is good illustra-
ton. When Mr.. Hitler says that all
that he wants for Germany is
equality" the Anglo-Saxon and
French peoples think of the word
equality" in its eighteenth century
sense, as equality before the law,
equality Of opportunity. But that is
not what the Nazi dictionary means
by 1t. In that unwritten lexicon 1t
means: A share in world raw mate
rials, markets, colonies, and political
power in proportion to the size and
rate of expansion of our population.
Since Germany has a population of
nearly 100000 and France popu-
lation of 40-odd millions. that means
that Germany, to achieve equality
with France ought to have an empire
three-fourthS larger than hers.
Profoundly different meanings at
tach to the word peace" In the die
tionary Of democracies peace is de-
sirably permanent condition of
amiable relations with all other ma
tions. In the dictionary of Dictator
ships peace means: A quiet and un-
disturbed period in which to prepare
for war, either a national war, or in
the Russian case, the international
class war. Mr.. Hitler suggests that
peace is necessary for this purpose, in
the following passage from his book;
"To forge q sword is the task Of do
mestic leadership; to protect the forg-
Ing process while seeking future com.
rades in arms, Is the task Of foreign
policy"
What does non-aggression mean in
the two dictionaries? Liberal democ-
racies mean by it simply the renuncia-
tion of war as an instrument OF ma
tional policy. Both the Russian and
German relationships mean by it the
substitution of revolution for other
weapons. Neither Russia nor Germany
consider the fomenting Of internal
strife in countries which they want
to bring under their influence to be
aggression. The assassination of
Chancellor Dollfuss was not an act
Of aggression, because Il was commit
ted by Austrians under German in
fuenca ana dirertir,f1
There Is a similar disparity in the
conception of war. For the democ-
racies war is armed conflict between
nations. to be avoided as an unmiti-
gated catastrophe. Above all, war is
regarded as an abnormal condition.
In the Russian dictionary war is
either an inevitable by-prodaet Of the
struggle Of espitalistic countries for
markets. or the permanent, unremit-
ting and inevitable struggle between
classes for power. And in the Fascist
dictionary &c is the necessary and
normal condition in which heroic ma
tions and personalities reach their
highest expression. Thus In q Nazi
childrens camp one sees the sign:
You were born to die for Germanyl
The words pact" and treaty" are
subject to divergent interpretations. A
pact signed today by the democracies
represents a recognition in law of a
desirable relationship on the assump-
ton that it will be permanent. A
pact signed today by the dietatorships
Is recognition of temporary rela-
tionship of power which the "dynam-
les OF history" will inevitably change.
It is, perhaps, significant, that whereas
the Locarno pact was made perpetual,
what Mr.. Hitter proposes In its place
Is series of 25-year truces.
The words honor and dishofior have
different coffnotatfons in liberal and
in Fascist minds. Honor in England
means allegiance to accepted stand
ards Of conduct. Honor In Germany
and Italy means prestige. Dishonor in
the Anglo-saxon dictionary is a crime
which one commits against oneself;
in the Fascist dictionary it means a
crime which Is committed against one.
Defense, in liberal terms, means the
repulsion of an enemy invasion and
preparation against such An eventual
1ty. In Fascist terms defense means
the creation of a military position su-