were signs that others on the Right wing were in
danger of succumbing to it as well. But now? Here is Mr. McNeil writing that, after the eclipse of Mr. Malenkov, `the probability must be that co-existence at this moment in Soviet policy is on the shelf.'
The Left wing are trying to rescue what they can from the ruins of their illusions, and no one should underestimate their skill at finding a favourable interpretation for even the most unpalatable facts. Mr. Bevan, for example, whose subtle mind would not be hard put to it to prove that Genghis Khan was set on his aggressive path by the refusal of the Kin Tartars to hold high-level talks in 1207, has come to the happy conclusion that it is the 'lunatic foolishness' of Western diplomacy which has been responsible for Mr. Malenkov's removal. There is enough plausibility in the argument to hold together his band of fol- lowers, but the Parliamentary Party as a whole will not be so easily led up the garden path. They have been given a timely reminder of the untrustworthiness of Soviet declarations. Many who have recently been joining in the parrot cry for high-level talks were remarking on Tuesday evening how disastrous it would have been if at any time during the past year these talks had taken place and the West had reorientated its policy to lit Mr. Malenkov's apparent desires and intentions. There was even a feeling of shame that they had allowed Mr. Bevan to seduce them so far.
•• • Mr. Malenkov's resignation, in fact, could scarcely have come at a more opportune moment. The Labour Party has been steadily moving towards a foreign policy which would have betrayed all that it did while it was in office under the un- bemused guidance of Ernest Bevin. Two factors have assisted the movement. In the first place, the visit of the Labour Party delegation to Moscow and China clearly had a more insidious effect than one would have expected. After all, it was reasonable to assume that former Ministers like Mr. Attlee and Dr. Summerskill were grown-up, and that they would not be taken in by party presents and party speeches. But the whole thing went to their heads. In a short time, the full-length report of Mr. George Gale, the Manchester Guardian correspondent who accompanied the delegation, will be published and by itself it would have blown the gaff on the delegation. ' But the resignation of Mr. Malenkov has done it sooner and even more effectively. From now on, when Dr. Summerskill or Mr. Bevan preaches co-existence because of what Mr. Malenkov said to them in Moscow they will be met by wry smiles; and the same smiles will meet their accounts of their talks in Peking. head and the doodles is the most calculating mind in politics today, and it calculates to one end : how best can Mr. Attlee become Prime Minister again? The policies to which his party became committed between 1945 and 1950 and the health of his party are, beside this, of secondary importance.
There is an attitude in this country which regards it as bad taste to say these things about Mr. Attlee. One can talk openly of other politicians' ambitions for power—Sir Winston Churchill's or Mr. Bevan's, Mr. Gaitskell's or Sir Anthony Eden's—but it is not done to ascribe such base motives to Mr. Attlee. But barely any of his colleagues in the Parliamentary Party would, in private, dissent from what I have written. It needed to be said publicly, because Mr. Attlee until this week was using the legend which has been built up about him to lead the Labour Party into a course of action which would have been disastrous for the country. The men of ballast on the Right wing of the Labour Party have now been given the opportunity to assert themselves. The statements which Mr. Wilfred Burke and Mr. Sam Watson—two trade union leaders who are never willing to let wool be pulled over their eyes— (and they went to China, too !) have made about Mr. Malenkov's resignation suggest that they will now do this. Mr. Attlee had tipped the balance in the Labour Party to the Left. The result of Mr. Malenkov's resignation will be that it will be tipped back again to the Right, and the faint-hearted who were wavering will be strengthened again. TRIMMER
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