Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1942-07-30
That International
Police Force
BY Frederick ]. Libby
In Peace Action.

By Frederick j. Libby
In Peace Action.
An international police force of
Irresistible" strength to enforce law
and order in the postwar world is
as intriguing an idea today as it
was twenty-five years ago in the days
> of the League to Enforce Peace To
many it looks like a short cut to
the ordered and peaceful world we
all want. 1t inspires almost passion
ate enthusiasm in the minds of those
who are caught up by the idea just
as the Union Now plan has done
with others and as the outlawry of
war set men on fire fifteen years
ago. Like most short cuts, however,
we believe that the theory of the in
ternational police force is impractic-
able and basically misleading as to
the real nature of our job, and we
{ will endeavor to show why we
think so.
Neither 'Tnternationale &C. 4
Nor Policing"
In the first place, no proposal that
we have heard yet from influential
sources contemplates the setting up
of force that would be truly in
ternational. All of the plans now
current that we have seen provide
merely for the domination of the
world by coalition of victorious
nations, whose will is to be enforced
on the vanquished. A more accurate
name for this approach to claw and
order" would be world conquest and
control by a military coalition of
nations. It is neither international
nor does it possess the elements of
true policing, since there is no neutral
judge back of the force used nor
has the consent or support of the
majority of the people 'policed" been
obtained. 1t cannot, therefore, pro-
perly be called international policing.
Another weakness of the prevail
ing theory is that it requires total
victory of our bloc of nations over
the opposing bloc as a preliminary
requisite. Such victory is highly
uncertain, and without victory the
whole plan collapses.
Even a Benevolent Tyranny
Is Irksome.
A third criticism that must be
made of the notion that is currently
popular is that this world domina-
ton by one group of nations, how
ever benevolent the purpose of the
dominating group may be, is form
Of tyranny at best which all freedom
loving peoples will abhor. Tiny
Nicaragua resisted our attempt to
dominate it by force so successfully
that we finally abandoned the effort
and abandoned at the same time our
attempt to dominate Latin America
with our Marines. Just as Germany's
domination of Europe is being resisted
with every form of sabotage, so, it is
safe to predict, our attempt to DOM
mate Germany would be met with
every form of sabotage. In both
cases and owing to the same causes,
measures increasingly repressive and
increasingly cruel are bound to re-
suit. The rule of brute force in a
free world has become intolerable,
however benevolent the tyrant. Wit
ness the end of British Imperialism
in Burma, India and China.
Russia as an
International Policeman.
= It should be observed in passing
that we have no ground for anticipat-
ing that the United States and Great
Britain would be permitted by our
ally, Soviet Russia, to control the
policing of western Europe in case
of an Allied victory. Nor can we
afford to forget that there are prob
ably in Europe many millions of
underground adherents of the Com
munist theology, particularly in cities
and even including Germany,
where there were more than four
million that voted the Communist
ticket at the time Hitler acquired
control Their leaders were put in
concentration camps or executed but
the rank and file are in all probable
ity awaiting their turn to be on top
The same is true in France, where
a few years ago the big Communist
party was represented in the Chamber
of Deputies by more than eighty
elected delegates. Since Russia has
carried the heavy end of this war
so far and since without Russia the
conquest of Germany by Great Brit
ain and the United States would be
difficult indeed if not impossible
we would better not ignore Russia's
claim to leadership in postwar