LEADERLESS YOUTH
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—As one of the " leaderless youth " of whom Mr. Joad writes so perceivingly in your issue of February ,7th, I should like to stress the dangers of the revived appetite for authority and national effort. Side by side with the era of " debunk," whose philosophy might be called the doctrine of random stimulation, there has been Utopianism of an unparalleled intensity, attached to ideals as various as the League of Nations, anarchism, monetary reform, international Socialism, free love, art for life's sake, and all the other slogans which have brought groups together and divided parents and children. We have got fed up with these because they show no likelihood of working out in our time, and we think there may be some more immediate and satisfying goal to which we could lend energies that may soon be snuffed out anyway.
England as at present constituted is a pretty sorry affair for the majority, and hardly worth defending ; but we dare not abandon hope of making it into something tolerable, for we find its muddle-headedness thwarting us at every turn. How many of us have got work equal to what our education has fitted us for? How many of us are willing that our own children should suffer the same uncertainty and neglect, the same subservience to a feeble tradition that we cannot replace? There is a sickness in youth today which is not disguised by creeds and banners, though these may be a fatal obstacle to building a solid future. We feel that the older generation almost enjoys making crises, as a secret revenge on life for not giving it all it hoped for. We are not in a position to affect the international situation much, but until this is settled some- how there is no space or peace of mind in which spiritual problems can be properly considered or material welfare improved. A quarter of our resources now go up in smoke or the preparations for it ; perhaps in a few years it will be half or three-quarters. What kind of life does that leave? No wonder some are desperately turning to leaders who wish to exploit impatience and frustration.—Yours faithfully,
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