Europe: Toward a Farewell to Arms

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A growing mood of antimilitarism—and a cult of détente

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain emerged from the 1938 Munich Conference, having ceded a slice of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, and made his slogan "peace in our time" synonymous with disastrous appeasement. Chamberlain's policy was largely a reflection of the popular pacifist sentiment in prewar Britain. Only a hopeless alarmist would suggest that such calamitous history might be repeating itself today. But Western military experts and policymakers are undeniably concerned by an increasing reluctance by Europe's man-in-the-street to accept the necessity of self-defense.

Call it pacifism, call it incipient neutralism, call it complacency born of three decades of peace and prosperity, but across Europe today an antimilitaristic mood is spreading through the body of public opinion, this time under the shadow of a growing Soviet arsenal. From Amsterdam to Bonn to London to Rome, marchers with BAN THE BOMB banners and antinuclear badges are loudly protesting attempts to reinforce Europe's nuclear deterrent forces. What is perhaps most remarkable about the phenomenon is that it is no longer seen only in traditional radical and leftist circles. TIME Senior Correspondent William Rademaekers reports that it is creeping into the ranks of major political parties, youth organizations, church groups, ecology movements, even into Chambers of Commerce.

In this popular consciousness, detente between the superpowers is often considered to be the prime value, and many Europeans have come to take it for granted as a permanent condition. Complains NATO Secretary-General Joseph Luns: "There is the impression among the Western European public that detente is an irreversible process. This attitude is undermining the Western Alliance."

Inevitably, that détente-at-any-price attitude is making itself felt on European governments. In a butter-over-guns decision two weeks ago, West Germany announced it would delay a number of planned defense development projects. In Britain, the opposition Labor Party has officially endorsed a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament. The Dutch Labor Party has voted to reduce sharply Holland's nuclear role in NATO. So far, European leaders have managed to hold the line against this current and maintain a pro-Alliance course. But if the antimilitaristic mood continues to grow, it will hamper the ability of NATO governments to carry out their December 1979 pledge to deploy 572 U.S.-built cruise and Pershing II missiles on their soil.

In the Benelux countries and in much of NATO's northern tier, student activists are encouraging "citizen initiatives" and petitions in areas designated for the deployment of U.S. missiles. Explains one student leader: "There is a moral right that supersedes the rights of the state."