LIBERALISM AND LABOUR
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sirt,—May I commend to your readers a notable article appearing in the current number of the Nineteenth Century, written by. John Scanlan, one of- the younger and more gifted members of the Labour Party? There are probably some sentiments expressed by the writer with which many of your readers will cordially disagree, but the conclusions that he finally arrives at are challenging and worth careful considera- tion from both the political leaders of moderate Labour and the Liberal Party.
He says : (a) That the present Labour Party cannot hope in the near future to secure a working majority in the House of Commons under present conditions.
(b) That this is largely due to the so-called " experts " and " intelligentsia " in the Labour Party who continue to pursue the mirage of Communism or State Socialism.
(c) That the future progress of Labour is to be obtained rather through Trades Union economic pressure than by political intervention.
In expressing these views, which would probably be voiced by many of the younger members of the Labour Party who are also members of the working classes, Mr. Scanlan forgets that there is another factor which might be recognised that would altogether alter the political situation, that is, a working agreement between the Liberal and the Labour Parties. If that could be obtained it would bring under one flag not only Liberalism and moderate Labour, but a large number of voters and some Members of Parliament who are at present supporters of the so-called National Party (which is, of course, almost entirely Conservative) who profoundly distrust the present Government policy of tariffs, quotas and the other nostrums which are making for international economic insecurity.
Liberalism, however, can find no place in its party for a policy of State Socialism, which is the very negation of every- thing that it stands for, and it can only be by the final repudia- tion , of the extreme Labour left-wing, which Mr. Scanlan himself is so dissatisfied with, that a working agreement may be secured between the two parties. - For the next twenty-five years Liberalism and Labour together could work to an.. agreed programme.. of remedial legislation and secure for the great: majority of- our. citizens a progressive programme that would obtain the endorsement of the great mass of our voters.-- It should not-be forgotten that nearly the whole of the Acts of Parliament at present on the. Statute Book which have secured the well-being of the working classes are the fruit of - Liberal, and not Labour, legislation.
Is it too much to ask during the present perilous. tin= which mean so much for the future well-being of our country that these two parties should sink their academic differences and that Labour leaders should recognise that the two parties together can secure in the future progressive legislation that neither of them can obtain separately ?
Mr. John Scanlan is quite right when he argues that the Labour Party as at present constituted will probably remain in the wilderness for the next twenty years and watch with growing impotence the further restrictive legislation of the so-called National Party.—I am, yours faithfully,
ANGUS WATSON.
Sunlight Chambers, 2-4 Bigg Market, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1.
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