§ 12.16 p.m.
§ Mr. A. Fenner Brockway (Eton and Slough)It is appropriate that we should begin our debates on the Christmas Adjournment by discussing the Colonies, and particularly the situation in Kenya.
It is our duty to remember that, while the House has responsibility for the welfare of 50 million people in the United Kingdom, it also has responsibility for 77 million people in British Colonial Territories. In Britain, we are aiming at a good life for our people, good social standards, good educational opportunities and health. Those matters are also of very keen importance in the Colonial Territories, in some of which there are places in the schools for less than 50 per cent. of the children, and only one doctor for 50,000 people, and where millions of people have a standard of life which is little above animal existence.
In the case of the Colonies there are wider issues, also. We have just been listening to a statement about preparations should war come. That is the biggest issue before the generation of the last half of this century, because if war comes with nuclear weapons it will be human suicide on a broad scale.
The second great question-mark over the second half of this century is racial relations. The white race, to which we belong, is only one third of the world's population. The races of Asia and Africa are moving forward towards an equality. If there is to be harmony in the world, we must begin by having good race relations. It is particularly the responsibility of this country to begin by establishing good race relations in our own Colonial Territories.
When one looks at this problem one can see that we are on a razor edge between the tendencies which are making for co-operation between peoples and the tendencies which are making for antagonism. If we look at our own Colonial Territories, we see that the tendencies making for co-operation are now strongest in West Africa, in the West Indies and in Tanganyika.
In some territories the position is uncertain; the tendencies for co-operation and for antagonism are equally balanced. 2770 I put Malaya and Uganda in that category. Whether they advance towards co-operation, or deteriorate to an antagonism, will largely depend upon the policies which are immediately to be pursued. But I fear that in many of the Colonies the tendencies which are making for antagonism are greater than the tendencies which are making for co-operation. That is true of Kenya, Central Africa, Bechuanaland, British Guiana and of Cyprus.
I want to deal with three areas where recently there has been violence. One is Cyprus where we have had a warning during this week and the others are Malaya and Kenya, where violence has been continuing over a period of years.
It has frequently been said in this House that all of us have one objective and that is that these territories shall move towards self-government and after self-government shall have the right of self-determination. In the case of Cyprus that view has been repudiated by Her Majesty's Government. Her Majesty's Government have declared that considerations of strategic importance come before the right of the people to decide their own fate. I hope that every democratic influence in this country will protest against this cynical repudiation of a right which has been guaranteed by our Governments ever since the time of the Atlantic Charter.
Secondly, the strategic argument does not bear a moment's examination. The experience of British troops in the Suez Canal Zone shows that it is impossible to maintain a base within an unfriendly population. The population in Cyprus is now being made unfriendly towards us. What happened last week is a warning. We have an assurance from Greece that, if the people of Cyprus decide that they desire to unite with Greece, British bases would be permitted in Cyprus. The troops would then be surrounded by a friendly population. I submit to the Colonial Secretary that that ground for the refusal of an elementary democratic right to the Cypriotic people cannot stand.
Thirdly, there is the issue of the Turkish minority. I believe that we have a right to see that the claims of the Turkish minority are met, but, once again, the Government of Greece and the leaders 2771 of the Cypriots have assured us that the rights of that Turkish minority would be recognised in the most generous manner.
Lastly, I want to put to the right hon. Gentleman this consideration. Many of the British soldiers who are in Cyprus—I expect many of those who were called upon to suppress the violence last week—are National Service men. They represent our broad community. Many of them are from families which are deeply critical of the policy which Her Majesty's Government are pursuing in Cyprus.
I know from my own correspondence how many British soldiers hate this kind of job in the British Colonies. I suggest to the right hon. Gentleman that, when he applies conscription to boys from all kinds of communities in this country, he should be very careful indeed that the policy which they are asked to implement should be one which has the general support of the nation and not the criticism of a large part of the nation, as has his policy in Cyprus today.
I want to spend the major part of my time in considering the two territories of Malaya and Kenya, particularly Kenya, where there have been hostilities over a period of years. In Malaya, we are now in the seventh year of the jungle war. There are in that Colony two problems; one is military and one is political, and I want to put considerations about both.
During this coming year—I am not sure whether it will be in April, or in August; perhaps the right hon. Gentleman will be axle to tell us—a great experiment is to be made in Malaya. For the first time there will be a Parliament with a democratically elected majority, and an arrangement that, with the nominated members, the majority will have 60 per cent. of the power in that Parliament. Whether this new Government fail or succeed is not only of the greatest importance to Malaya itself, but of the greatest importance to the whole critical area of South-East Asia.
Today, that is perhaps the key area where there is a conflict between democratic and totalitarian ideas. If the new Government in Malaya fail, the whole conception of democracy will have a severe setback. How can that Government possibly succeed in a policy of education, of social reform and of economic advance if they must continue to bear the 2772 heavy expenditure which is now directed towards the jungle war?
I believe that I am correct when I say that 50 per cent. of that expenditure has to be borne by the Malayan Administration. I want to put to the right hon. Gentleman that, if that new Government are to have an opportunity for success, we must make some arrangements by which there can be reconsideration of this present financial expenditure.