Freedom in the West

BY L.V.B. CHOWDARY, B.A. (Oxon.), Bar-at-Law

Many, if not all, of us are agreed that we understand what is meant by ‘freedom.’ Some at least of us realise that freedom is relative. If it is not relative, it will either degenerate into chaos or rise to perfection. We also know that freedom is a manifold thing. It may be of thought, of speech, or of action. There is freedom of political convictions, of economic remedies, of social ideals and of self-development. Freedom in many of its aspects has, for some time past, been gradually developed in the West. Today we see in most of the Western countries, life born of and nurtured by freedom very much active and knocking against the yielding disabilities, barriers and even fates.

Political freedom in England is manifest in the working of its political institutions. England's polity is monarchy, but it is a constitutional monarchy and is worked on the basis and in the spirit of a true democracy. There are political opportunities in England for every man and now for every woman as well. Little Jim Thomas, a coal hewer of a few years ago, became one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State in the Labour Government of 1924. He is never tired of telling the world of his joy at having risen from the dust of a coal mine. The Duchess of Atholl is today a Minister in His Majesty's Government.

There is also social freedom now in England to a large extent. This social freedom is of recent origin and has chiefly come into existence owing to democracy and what it stands for. When you go a-begging for a vote to a man of whom you may feel in your heart that he is your social inferior, and tell him that he is as good as you yourself are, and assure him of your interest in his affairs, your affection for his children, and your support for getting his things done, you cannot very well show him that he is only your inferior. The vote-seeking has greatly leveled up things. Labour and socialism have made matters easy for the conscientious snobs to mingle with the commonalty. When Jim Thomas, the coal hewer, could dine with their Majesties in their own home as their guest, class snobbishness is bound to disappear.

There have been great efforts made in the Western world to secure to the masses some sort of economic security and to obtain freedom for them from economic domination. In England such measures as the Old Age Pensions, Un-employment and Health Insurances, and the War Widows and Orphans Pensions, have eased and are easing the economic situation there. Trade Unions allover the world are fighting for the economic betterment of the masses. There is plenty of freedom of speech and of writing in Great Britain. The blighting vapourings of Mr. A. J. Cook, the Miners' Secretary, are allowed to continue without let or hindrance. Margot Asquith, the wife of an ex-premier of Great Britain, is an illustration of the freedom of writing in that country. But in some respects, such as purely social, hygienic or sexual matters, England does not allow so much freedom either in writing or in speech as, for instance, France. There is also freedom of gatherings, and Communists can meet and discuss matters at any place they like.

Men and women partake of this freedom in the West. Formerly man only had freedom, and his freedom was of course very limited and woman had been kept in the ground. But now she has come to the forefront. She had been the Queen of the Home, but she only reigned and never ruled there. She presided over social functions, but always with the permission of, or on sufferance by, the husband. She had been hopelessly dependent on her husband for sustenance. And she had no political rights. Now she rules the home, heads and conducts the social functions, is getting out of economic dependence by earning herself, and above all she has the vote now. She does partake of freedom now nearly as much as man does. She has come into her own. Some people even in the West bemoan that she is overdoing it. They complain that she is challenging man on his own ground and that she is usurping his place, position and rights. Some fear that she is going to upset the equilibrium between man and woman. But we may be sure that all thinking men agree that these fears are unreasonable and unfounded, A nation of free men and women is a great nation, If only men are tree and women are in bondage, unable to think, speak or act for themselves, the latter will be a drag on the nation's life. A nation has every right to get for its service the best out of everyone of its nationals, and every national owes a duty to the nation to give it the benefit of his or her talents and abilities to the fullest extent. A woman who is not free intellectually, socially, politically or economically, cannot give her best. It is a glorious thing and it speaks volumes in its favour, that woman has found emancipation at least in the West. The future world would be better and happier for the advent of woman into its manifold activities. Man and woman in perfect unison will really make the world worth living in.

Now, the people who have grown in this free and wholesome atmosphere are bound to have a strong, healthy and successful national life. Whatever merit or greatness there is in the Western nations today, is to a large extent due to the many achievements they have had to their credit in the varied field of freedom.