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The Soviet Challenge to Democracy
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11892 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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8 / 1987 |
4,828 Words |
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Jim Courter
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Late in the spring of 1939, Winston Churchill published in one volume the newspaper columns he had written on politics over the previous three years. Their tone was one of gravity. Their titles reflected Churchill's dark view of the unfolding patterns of international politics: "How Germany Is Arming," "Why Sanctions Failed," "Dusk Approaches," "The Rape of Austria," and this one, too: "The Dictators Have Smiled."
The thesis of the book Step by Step, which was bitterly resisted by public figures of the time, was that Germany was preparing for war. Its government had diverse economic, political, social, and military plans whose common themes were territorial expansion and the generation and use of military power. Churchill said that this program, although discernible, had not startled anyone because it was being brought about step by step. While Germany had grand designs, Westerners were intent upon ignoring German actions that were realizing those designs.
When Germany and Japan signed the Comintern Pact in 1936, Churchill was exasperated to see even this being explained away. "So many disastrous things happen nowadays, "he wrote, "that it has become customary for Parliament and the Press to minimize their gravity, or dismiss them with a shrug. Thus we read that 'the announcement adds little to our previous knowledge' and 'the actual terms seem less serious than was supposed.' The public, puzzled and baffled by the complexity of events, is glad to accept these lulling assurances. After all, there will be something new to read about tomorrow."
That was Churchill in 1936. We have problems today that make rereading his book a worthy exercise.
One of them is terrorism. In February 1985, we read that the Red Army Faction (RAF) had just shot down Ernst Zimmermann at his home outside Munich. Zimmermann was the head of the West German Federation of German Aerospace Industries. But then, European terrorists often target big capitalists, and those with military contacts are not exceptions.
On July 9, 1986, a member of Siemens electronics company was killed by a RAF bomb in Germany. Karl-Heinz Beckurts was one of a small group of specialists evaluating the possibilities for German participation in the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Now the first killing, the German Aerospace Industries case, took on a new dimension. But coincidence could still be the explanation.
Two weeks went by, and an unknown terrorist group demanding the release of RAF prisoners bombed Aachen's Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology, which reportedly was doing SDI work. So indeed there was a pattern of attacks against strategic defense personnel and industries. Anyone would recognize it, though only if he had a good memory and some reason to pay attention to details of foreign news.
Almost a year later, in March 1987, a wing of the Red Brigades - which is known to have connections to the RAF - assassinated the Italian air force general in charge of air and space weapons procurement. According to a leaflet left behind, he was killed exclusively for his responsibility for Italian adhesion to the "Star Wars" project. "Exclusively" was underlined.
When was
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