Sut,—Your leading article on the present spiritual sickness of this
country during the greatest crisis in her history is certainly a candid statement of fact. But are the causes so mysterious and the reasons so obscure?
There are too many people alive today who remember the million dead in the last war, the idealistic promises of a world fit for heroes which were not kept, and the long years of unemployment for millions and the disillusionment and starvation that came with it. There are too many miners alive today who remember that a million of their men and families were starved for nearly a year when they were fighting against a reduction of their meagre wages. And there are too many people who are aware of the fact that the pre-war policies of this country in international affairs were those of co-operation with the anti-social forces in Europe and Asia, of appeasement towards Japan against China, and friendship with the Nazis against Russia. Indeed, it is not so long ago that Hitler and Mussolini were the darlings of our upper classes.
All these things belong to the past, but have not been forgotten. The soul of our people is sound and they will fight like heroes for a cause in which they believe. The basis of your article is the assump- tion that we are all of one family which is being attacked, and that if there are differences between rich and poor they are not so impor- tant in view of the great danger facing both. But most human beings do not accept a philosophical-idealist conception of life, and it is absurd in any case to suggest that only a few are making money out of the war. You will not find it easy to convince a workman earning £4 a week and having weekly deductions for Income Tax purposes that his .position is comparable to that of his employer earning ten times his salary.
Only a complete overhauling of our social organisation on a collecti-
vise basis and an attempt to materialise our ideals now, will give the common man the feeling that he will not be cheated after this war as h.: was after the last.—Yours, &c., J. DEANER. 68 Bethune Road, N. 16.
Previous page
