21 FEBRUARY 1925, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY

AN OPEN LETTER TO MIL BALDWIN

Sin,—The good sense and good feeling which are your prerogatives will, I am sure, prevent you from thinking that this manner of addressing you could possibly be intended, to be discourteous or wanting in the respect due to you from all your countrymen. I write because of the respect that I entertain for you respect as deep as that I have ever felt for any public man.

TIM VERDICT.

The verdict of the nation last autumn was a rejection of. the policy of Socialism. It was not a vote of con- fidence in the Unioniit Party, or even in you, but a vote of want of confidence, after trial, in the Labour Government and its Programme. At the same time the verdict was not one of acquiescence in things as they arc. The voters are dissatisfied with existing conditions with the unrest, the poverty, and the lack of the things men need in the midst of a vast plant created for the production of these very things. The country longs to - see these evils corrected. Let us never forget that. But, most wisely, the country also greatly dreads a false remedy. Though the country is Wise so far; it would be encouraging a delusion to talk as if it were an easy, or a long-enduring patient. It wants firmness and a sense of confidence in its Physician. Above all, it demands results, and if it does not get them it will; even though suspicious of the other side, change its mind and try some other way. Here is the peril— yours and the nation's.

WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT.

What is it that the majority of the British people want ? In the first place, they want as much freedom, justice and independence in the ordering of their lives as the conditions will allow. Next, they want the maxi- mum of security in their economic existence. They dread accident, sickness, and a destitute old age. They dread, .also, the effects of early death on their wives and children. Against these evils they demand to be insured. In addition, and it is the best of signs, they arc beginning to crave for that special security which comes alone from ownership—ownership of a home, of a piece of land, of savings, i.e., of capital in some of its thousand forms. Ownership gives freedom of action in a way which nothing else does. Unhappily, the British people as a whole as yet have had little experience of this freedom.

The third thing they desire, and they desire it sternly and passionately, is the avoidance of civil strife, dis- turbance, and oppression. They detest revolutionary action, and the use of force. All our history shows this. Their instinct for political moderation, for not pushing things to extremes, and their willingness to compromise, all come from this horror of violence. A wounded soldier in a talk with me during the War stated the following as a proposition of universal acceptance. " In times of trouble follow the good old rule, Grumble and carry on.' " This hatred of anything in. the shape of an appeal to violence and force did more to injure Labour at the Polls last autumn than anything else. The talk of class-war, " direct action " and revolution, and the admiration which was expressed or believed to he felt for the-Soviet Government and Russian methods, indulged- in by certain sections of the Labour Party undid the advantage obtained by the party by moderate action when in office. Reactionaries ignorant of the mind of the People may think it so strange as to be incredible, that the masses do not favour force, pillage, and civil strife, but the facts are as stated. The workers know instinctively that for them the worst of all evils is violence. Besides, the Englishman is by nature not pleased, or excited, or intoxicated by the shedding of blood, but only disgusted.

POLITICAL CA' CANNY.

With these demands, " Liberty, Security, and no Revolutionary Action," I am sure you sympathize wholeheartedly. But you will remind me that it will take time to make them secure by law, and that there are bound to be many slips on the way. I agree ; but that is the very reason why I desire that you should study in every possible way methods of retaining the full confidence of the voters. There are plenty of people anxious to deprive you of that confidence, and in many ways they will have an easy task, for the record of the Unionist Party is here distinctly vulnerable. The Conservatives in the past have proved masters in the art of Political Ca' Canny. They praise Disraeli because fifty years agO he saw the need for ameliorating the condition of the workers- and for humanizing our Indus- trial System. But, instead of decisive action in this field, there has been :a steady determination in your party to limit political production. Where our legis- lators might have laid a thousand bricks, they have only laid a bare four hundred. The Opposition are already insisting on this point—" The Unionists talk of giving you such thing§ as ' ' Insurance, but you will soon find that they are in no hurry about it. ' Wait and see,' is the slogan of all the Anti-Socialist parties."

TIIE UNIONIST AND THE INTERESTS.

There is as great a danger of misrepresentation in the open accusations that will be made in respect of the dependence of your party upon the " Interests." The " Interests " will be represented, especially in the case of the Financiers, as 'restrainers of trade, profiteers, and raisers of prices by joint 'action. The control'alleged to be exercised over your party by the Brewers will be used to point the argument. I do not for a moment suggest that you are under the influence of the Trade. I know that you are not. Yet, unless a real effort is made to prove that your party is not a Tied-House, a terrible loss of confidence may be the result. Again, there will be efforts, not from Labour, but from a section of the Liberals, to show that you are not going to make the country safe for Democracy by a reform of the Constitution which will ensure that the Will of the Majority shall prevail and that the working of our representative system shall not expose us to minority rule. How long will the country take seriously your " Danger ! " call if you will not make it safe by the simple expedient of lodging a veto over doubtful legislation in the People's hands ? You must remember that many of- your chief followers and supporters, and not a few of your colleagues, by their speeches and actions, give ground for the accusa- tion that you do not mean business. I do not believe that these lag-behind deputy-leaders intend to be disloyal, or to betray you, but it would be absurd for me to pretend that there are not " Better-not " men and notable practisers of Political Ca' Canny within your Administration. Unless you are vigilant, their words and deeds Will be used to deprive you of your hold upon the nation.

"ALL-Ix " INSURANCE.

To be specific, what you have to do is to shape your conduct of affairs and your public utterances in such. a way as to give no one any opportunity to misrepresent you. I will take an example. All the "Better-nots " and " Ca' Cannyists " at this moment arc saying that it haS proved impossible to devise any scheme of " Insurance. The only scheme which makes any pretension to practicability is the Broad Scheme, and this, they urge, has been " turned down by the actuaries." I do not believe that you share this view. I feel sure that, recognizing the need for adopting " All-in " and Universal Insurance, and recognizing also the portentous amount of public money now spent, and wastefully spent, on the relief of destitution, you consider that a good contri- butory scheme of " All-in " Insurance ought to be passed. You do not, of course, say " Who cares what the actuaries say ? " for_ a sound financial basis for the scheme is essential. What you, no doubt, desire to give us is as beneficial a scheme as sound finance allows. But that being so, why not kill, by a firm declaration, the whispers that " All-in "Insurance is impossible. Another and even more poignant example of the danger which arises when a man gives his opponents an opportunity to misrepresent Lim is to be found in the suggestion that the Government is behind the proposals for interfering in the affairs of the Trade Unions in regard to the Political Levy. I feel sure that you must realize that the proposed legis- lation would probably be the most consummate blunder in political strategy that has ever been committed. The difficulty of the Labour Party at the moment is to find a point of general agreement. I will not believe without much stronger proof that you intend to provide it for them.

MAKE TILE ISSUE CLEAR.

Good intentions are not enough in life or in politics. You must hammer up to their heads the nails you have as yet only put into their places. You must let people know that you recognize that they are not content with the present state of things and that you propose, not to stop at opinion, but to take prompt action in the following ways.

(1) You mean to make the majority of the British people not merely wage-earners, but owners. Your substitute for nationalization of the sources of wealth is ownership by individuals.

(2) You mean to give Security by " All-in " Contributory Insurance and to stop for ever the running sore of the Poor Law.

(3) You mean to free the Unionist Party from the accusation of being under the control of the Interests. Though determined to prevent pillage, you have no intention to tolerate privilege or political predominance in. wealth.

(4) You mean to safeguard the Constitution by some such means as the Referendum, and so secure that the Will of the Majority shall prevail. You will yield nothing to force or revolution, whether it is proposed by the Socialists or the Reactionaries. If you will only make your determination on these vital matters clear to the country, you will keep its confidence. If you do not, but let your intentions and desires be misrepresented, your Government will fail—and by that failure will expose us to the supreme evil of power placed in the hands of Socialists, not because the voters wish them to have it, but because they hold the Unionists to be incapable of governing. You can, however, maintain the confidence which you already have if you go the right way about it. I pray that you may. If you do, I shall be perfectly content to be accused of having been frightened by vain shadows into doubting the firnmess and activity of a statesman as distinguished for sincerity of aim as yourself.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

T. ST. LOE STRACHEY.