THE LABOUR PARTY'S SOUL
SIR,—It is quite true that the parties in Britain are 'converging towards a common denomi- nator'; but it is surprising that Henry Fairklie,
who discusses this so interestingly, does not
realise that this fact supplies the whole raison d'etre and significance of Bevanism. He invari- ably tries to account for Bevan's actions in purely personal terms of ambition and so on. The truth is that on the domestic front most of Bevan's acts of rebellion have been protests against the tendency to reduce the two parties to mere 'ins' and 'outs' with the main argument between them concerning only the level and incidence of income tax.
Bevan's support comes from that substantial section of the Labour Party that regards this Twcedledummery with dismay. Most of the economic arguments for public ownership have withered under the impact of Keynesian- ism, but the views of the 'idealists' have acquired new relevance. These are the people who loathe the whole system of values of a capitalist society as morally corroding, and indeed who dislike capitalism even more when it appears to be working than when it does not. They believe that the sort of society that takes self-interest as its mainspring is indescribably ugly, and view with horror the prospect of drifting into a world of purely advertising values, with each rise in the standard of living offset by the arrival of some still more expensive gadget for the masses to covet. This group, deriving its views from the Christian Socialists, and from the 'William Morris school' has always been vocal in the British Labour Party, but in the past the Morrisonian managers have usually won the day. After the experience of the post-war years the managerial sort of Socialist is at a discount now. Hence the attempts of Mr.
Gaitskell to provide a new rationale in 'equality.' Hence the attempts of Mr. Bevan to reassert a very old one. And hence his support in the constituencies.
The battle for the Labour Party's soul is an enthralling one. May I draw Mr. Fairlie's attention to the fact that it is going on?— Yours faithfully, PATRICK HU1BER 2 Guilford Street, WCI
Previous page
