THE STRUGGLE FOR OPPOSITION
THE LIBERAL-LABOUR WAR ACURIOUS situation has once again arisen in the polities of the country. Politics are always the story of a struggle and almost always the story of a struggle for power. But at this moment that direct primary struggle has been decided: The Unionist Party has secured office and power, probably for at least four or five years, very likely for eight or ten. But, hoWever long that period may be, it must have an end. The Unionists must some day be succeeded in office by some other political party. So now the significant struggle in British politics is concentrated on the question of which of the two other parties in the State shall some day succeed the Unionist. The scene has changed. The struggle to-day is not for power but for opposition—a struggle for the right to be the recognized " alternative Govern- ment."
Whatever mistakes Mr. MacDonald made during the election, and they were many and grave, his analysis of the situation was right. The struggle between In- dividualism and Socialism was decided in favour of the former at the very outset ; there remained, however, a bitter and most important struggle. It was between the Labour Party and the Liberal Party, and the prize at stake was not the mere opportunity of office on one parL ticular occasion.. It was much greater than that The prize was nothing less than the right to be the recognized " Progressive Party " of Great Britain—the right to the inheritance of the tradition of Cromwell, of Fox, and of Gladstone. Mr. MacDonald 'seems to have felt this great issue. When he showed his hatred of the Liberals, he was expressing, perhaps untactfully and undesirably, but in his own instinctive Highland way, his acute realization of the gravity of the crisis.
One election has not and could not decide so great a question as this, but on the whole Labour has gained ground on the Liberals. In the years immediately following the Armistice the battle by which Labour established itself as one of the great parties of the State was fought out. The result of the 1922 election marked the Labour gain in the first round. The result of the 1923 election, by which it was seen that Labour profited slightly more than the Liberals by the anti-Conservative swing, and the assumption of office by Labour, marked the end of that first battle. The fall of the Labour Government marked the beginning of a new and decisive war between the rival " forces of Progress," a war in which quarter is neither asked nor given, and which can end only in the practical elimination from politics of one side or the other.
The recent election was the first engagement. It may be said to have resulted in a costly success for Labour. At the price of 40 seats, nearly a quarter of the Party's total of seats, Labour saw its rival reduced from 150 to.40 seats. This was undoubtedly a great success. It pre- vented the reopening of the question of which party was the official Opposition in this Parliament. It has affected the prestige of the Liberals very severely. Indeed, at first sight it might be assumed that this one engagement had settled the whole war, and that there was nothing left to do but to round up the stragglers. On paper the position which Labour has secured seems impregnable. Its five million supporters in the country form what is undoubtedly a very solid block of opinion which sincerely believes in Labour doctrineS. In its Socialistic proposals, however mistaken they. are, the party undoubtedly possesses a coherent prograninr..: which it 'can put before the country. And it haS been able to show that it possesses leaders who have the rapacity to play a great part in public life. Against this the Liberals seem to have little to offer. Although they have many extremely acute brains which can think out and expound able schemes for the amelioration of some of the ills of to-day, it is extremely difficult to display these schemes as a coherent whole with a guiding principle, such as Socialism, running through them. Thus, it is difficult to catch the imagination of the electorate with Mr. Keynes's currency reform, or Mr. Lloyd George's policy for the mines. They may both be excellent proposals, but they do not appear to form integral parts of a new doctrine. It is true that the Liberal Party still commands great financial resources, and may be able to put into practice Mr. Asquith's threat of placing a candidate in every one of the 615 constituencies ; but, after all, the effect of this would in very many cases simply be to secure the return of a Labour member. At the last election the pact between the Liberal and Unionist Associations cost the Labour Party at least 25 seats. If not only this pact were broken, - but a new Liberal candidate appeared in every other constituency, a great number of Liberals would almost certainly only succeed in splitting the anti-Socialist vote and giving the seat to Labour.
These calculations, however, are all based on an assumption that the Labour Party is able to show itself to the country as a genuine, constitutional political organization, not differing in kind from those with which the British people is familiar. In particular, Labour must be able to demonstrate that it has no con- nexion with the Communist Party, and is not in any way subject to foreign influences. You cannot inherit the tradition of Cromwell if you are suspected of the foreign policy of Charles II. However unfounded these suspicions of the Labour Party may be, they undoubtedly exist in the minds of a considerable part of the population. And it is not enough for the Labour leaders to know that they are unfounded. They must by their actions be able to demonstrate conclusively that they are unfounded. We do not pretend that this is an easy matter, but suspicion has now been aroused, and the only way that the Labour Party can allay it is by proving itself as patriotic and essentially British as any other party. We are inclined to believe that if it can do this the attempted Liberal resurrection is foredoomed to failure. But it is a large " If." The Labour Party, by its very constitution, by the rapidity of its growth, and the consequent lack of cohesion in its elements, is extremely apt to do—and what is almost more important, to appear to do—very foolish things. Was it not Lenin himself who spoke of " the infantile disease of Leftism with which political parties are infected " ? The Labour Party must get over this infantile disease, but in doing so it must not kill its own soul. The problem is not an easy one, and it can be solved only by the wisest leadership. If it is not solved, then the Liberal Party may still have a brilliant future before it. We can easily imagine a great Liberal revival based on the natural swing of the pendulum, but a swing of opinion unwilling to support a Labour Party which appeared to be compromised with extremist and foreign influences.
Another factor in the situation will, of course, be the success of the Unionist Government in evolving a genuine constructive programme. If they succeed, the swing of opinion, when it comes, will be both gentle and short, and will benefit a Liberal Party or a moderate and con- stitutional Labour Party. If, on the other hand, the Unionist Government were to relapse into torpor, then the extremists might be given their opportunity for harm.
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