Mr. Morrison's Socialism
For half a century much of the argument betiveen Socialists and their opponents has been confused by rhetorical and misleading language. What ought to have been expressed in terms of economic expediency has been obscured by an unreal ideology—such expres- sions as the "profit motive" and "capitalistic democracy" have been sticks with which to beat supporters of private enterprise. Happily, Socialist leaders, to the great advantage of their cause, are getting away from that kind of talk, and it is refreshing to hear Mr. Herbert Morrison, who recants nothing of his Socialism, basing the case for socialisation on the ground of " technical " requirements, or on the need of co-operation. It is not with him a matter of righteousness versus wickedness, but of reconstruction in the interests of the highest degree of efficiency, and that, as he points out, may sometimes be so far-reaching and so long-term that it can
only be achieved with the aid of public resources and under the guidance of public policy. This is an argument which can be appreciated by everyone, no matter what his politics, without preju- dice. In many cases, therefore—and in this Mr. Morrison goes not much farther than Mr. Churchill—private management, no longer deserving to be propped up by the State, must go. Socialist as he is, he is practical enough to recognise that universal socialisation here and now would be impossible ; in many big industries he fore- sees in the near future, not socialisation, but a working partnership between the State and the industrialists with a view all the time to increasing production and making more goods available for con- sumption. This approach to the problem clears away a lot of the nonsense which so often confuses ideology with economics.
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