-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.