SIR,—Democracy based on a two-party system is like marriage: the
partners can only grow closer together by learning to quarrel con- structively. If disagreement is not to paralyse and destroy their affection by driving them farther and farther apart, they must learn to clash with a purpose, believing that the point of view of the opposite partner is not crazy or diabolically motivated but has in it some- thing of lasting value which can only he brought out by constructive criticism. Criti- cism is constructive when it exposes the uncon- scious assumptions on which an attitude is based without pretending that one's own attitude is free from falsity.
There are, and always will be, Conserva- tives whose opinions and manner of expressing them rouse violent antipathy, and Socialists whom others besides their political opponents will find hard to Accept. But large numbers of us who believe that a party system is essential to our political life must be anxious to find a new political 'know-how' which will avert constitutional breakdown. Could you carry your 'Return to Realism' a stage farther by giving us a strong lead in this direction? It is urgently needed.—Yours faithfully,
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