GREAT BRITAIN . . . . . . . . . SUPPORTED 309
Menace To All Nations
The Independent Labour Party has taken into consideration all these grounds of hesitancy. It cannot be denied that they have considerable weight in them. If the war was being fought just to save Poland they might have acquired more decisive force. For in the opinion of the Independent Labour Party there is not much virtue on the side of Poland. Poland has put democracy to death long ago. The treatment of Jews by Poland was not less cruel than the treatment accorded to them by the Germans. Poland, even in this emergency, was prepared to die rather than be saved with the help of Russia. But as the Independent Labour Party sees it the war is not fought merely for the sake of Poland.
The Polish issue is only an incident in the war. Nobody can deny that the war between Germany and Poland has a deeper significance and a wider range. It is a war in which ‘Germany claims that she is not merely a nation, one among many, but that she must be acknowledged as a superior nation high above and over the rest, whose will he obeyed without question and that in case of disobedience she has the right to impose her will upon those who disagree with her by means of violence. Such a claim is a menace to all nations and not merely to Poland.
Insult To India
In a situation like this it is obvious that those nation who believe that all nations are equal, that each of them has equal right to live, pursue its happiness without being hampered by its fellows and * total of human civilization must combine to resist this preposterous claim.
The claim made on behalf of the German nation is an insult to other nations. But it is particularly obnoxious to India. It runs counter to aspirations and ambitions of the Indian people and is calculated to defeat and destroy them. India is aspiring to be a nation of self governing people and her ambition is that in spite of all difficulties she will not only attain that status but will strive to maintain that status.
When Germany insists that the Nordic race alone must dominate the word and that every other nation of another race must take a subordinate place, she throws a challenge to all other races.
- Few words are illegibles.