A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK
FOR Western Europe, someone who speaks with authority said privately this week, the alternatives are the Marshall Plan and Communism. That may very well be true. If the Marshall Plan came to nothing anything might happen in Europe. But as things are I find little sign of the growth of Communism either in Europe gener- ally or in this country, There are some signs, indeed, that it is receding rather than advancing. In Hungary rigged elections and the presence of Russian troops strengthened the Communist hold relatively little. A French public man a day or two ago told me he thought Communism in France had passed its peak ; a German friend tells me the same of Germany, though in either country a turn of events might play into the Communists' hands. In Italy the situation is more doubtful. Here, I am told, even in the mining areas, Com- munism is making no progress, in spite of Mr. Arthur Homer, the only Communist holding any position of importance in the Labour or political world. The Daily Worker, the Communist organ, claims a circulation of 121,00o; the other penny dailies range from 1,600,000 to 3,800,000. Only guarded conclusions can be drawn from these figures, and it is true that Communists by their assiduity estab- lish themselves in office in many trade union lodges through the in- difference of the general run of members. It would be a profound mistake to ignore them but an equal mistake to get alarmed about
them unduly. * *
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