Evening star., 1936-01-19
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.


rs Europe now to be treated to the
spectacle of another duel recall
ing that famous battle between
L the greater Napoleon and the
younger Pitt, which terminated only
with the premature death of the lat
ter? There is a prospective struggle
between Benito Mussolini and the
youthful Anthony Eden which will be
reminiscent of the combat of CEN
tury and quarter ago.
Actually, of course, Eden is out to
dispose not of one but of two men
his purpose is to drive Mussolini out
OF Rome and Stanley Baldwin out of
lating that If he can smash II Duce,
his succession to the post of prime
minister in England will be automatic
Against both the Italian and the Brit
ish statesman he cherishes almost
equal resentment, for together they
prevented his earlier promotion to
foreign secretary.
If Americans are to understand the
reality as contrasted with the out
ward appearance of the complicated
political struggle now in progress in
Great Britain, they must begin by ap-
preciating the fact that three different
groups inside England have been at
tempting to exploit the League of Ma
tions for their own partisan or per-
sonal profit. These groups are the
Socialists. the Old Tories and the
Young Tories. To the first belong
Atlee and Morrison. who have taken
over the leadership of the Labor
party from Lansbury and Ponsonby.
To the second belong Baldwin and
Hoare; and to the third Eden, backed,
to be sure. by some of the older men
like the Chamberlains
League Seen as Weapon.
Last June the Socialists saw a
chance to turn a political trick by 60
ing to the polls and swelling the to-
tails of League of Nations plebiscite.
Their object was clear. The Italian
campaign in Ethiopia was already
foreshadowed; for them Fascism is
the class foe and Mussolini Public
Enemy No. l. They were satisfied
that Baldwin and his associates who
dominated the Tory party still had no
intention to depart from the course
they had followed in the Manchurian
AFFAIR, which meant that they would
do nothing to hamper II Duce.
Since the Tories had already an
hounced their purpose to hold a gen.
eral election in the Autumn, the So
cialists calculated that if the peace
plebiscite results disclosed strong sup
port for the League. then to win the
domestic election the Tories would
have to take firm line against Italy
at Geneva. And. of course, what the
Socialists were aiming at was the de-
struction of Mussolini and the Fascist
regime; for them the League of Ma
tions was not an instrument of inter-
national conciliation, but weapon for
use in their class warfare with Fascism.
The Socialist strategy worked:
thanks to their Intervention upward
of 100000 votes were cast in the
plebiscite and slightly more than
100000 favored the employment of
the most drastic sanctions against an
aggressor, while all but handful were
for the use of the League. Most of
the votes fol military sanctions had
been supplied by the Labor party itself,
but Baldwin and his associates were
now confronted by II 200. 900 votes for
the League, and evidently concluded
that to win the election their party
must get part of these votes. =
AZ later events were TO demonstrate.
neither Baldwin nor Hoare took the
League seriously. They merely calcu-
lated that to beat the Socialists. who
were quite obviously exploiting the
League for their own special purposes,
1t would be necessary TO make a pre-
tense OF trying the Geneva machinery
when the Ethiopian war broke out.
But once the election was won Bald
win intended to 60 back to the usual
course.
Saw Danger of War.
His reasons for such reversion were
plain enough. He realized that the
attempt to employ sanctions against
italy effectively would instantly create
= danger of war. He saw that once
British naval and military resources
we're concentrated in the Mediter-
ranean, Japan in Asia and Germany
In Europe would have a free hand.
Thus he was bound to drop the pro-
League policy, which was no more
tharl an election dodge, lust as quickly
u he could after 1t had served its pur-
pose.
As q consequence, the British pub
lie were wholly unprepared for the
shift to realism which came quickly
after the votes had been counted and
was disclosed in the Hoare-Layal pro-
posals. Baldwin and his colleagues
had only done what they had always
expected to do. They had, perhaps,
acted . little more promptly than they
would have chosen. But the Ameri-
can Government. BY trying to impose