-2- The more I think of this problem, and the more I hear and read discussions of it the clearer it seems to me that the real motive of most of those who oppose a weak Germany is not actual disagreement on these three points. On the contrary, it is simply an expression of fear of Russia and communism. It is the twenty-year-old idea of a "bulwark against Bolshevism" -- which was one of the factors that brought this present war down on us. Because the people who hold this view are unwilling (for reasons which, no doubt, they regard as statesman-like) to come out in the open and lay the real issue on the table, all sorts of smoke screens are thrown up to support the proposition that Germany must be rebuilt. Examples are: (a) The fallacy that Europe needs a strong industrial Germany. (b) The contention that recurring reparations (which would require immediate reconstruction of the German economy) are necessary so that Germany may be made to pay for the destruction she has caused. (c) The Naive belief that the removal or destruction of all German war materials and the German armament industry would in itself prevent Germany from waging another war. (d) The illogical assumption that a "soft" peace would facilitate the growth of democracy in Germany (e) The fallacy that making Germany a predominantly agricultural country, with light industries but no heavy industries, would mean starving Germans. |