LIBERALISM SIR,—" Nothing succeeds like success " and, conversely, nothing
fails like failure. I suppose, in the circumstances Liberals should not expect much sympathy, even from the liberal-minded Janus. Maybe he considers his remarks on the subject constitute advice rather than criticism, but they read more like an epitaph than an exhortation. Janus argues that as the moderates of both Labour and Conservatism are, in effect, advocating liberal policies there is no room for a Liberal Party. It would seem to me that in these circumstances there is a very urgent need for such a party. The policies and beliefs of the moderates of both Right and Left are used by their respective parties merely as a sugar coating on a pill.
Liberals undoubtedly feel that the election results were very disappoint- ing. They feel that their failure was due more to their own inadequacy in numbers, funds, political tactics and publicity than to any inherent genius of their adversaries. At the same time they feel (as Britain felt after Dunkirk) that they have a faith which is worth fighting for. They believe fundamentally that man can only progress in freedom ; that liberty is essential to the development of the individual and that it is the individual that matters. It seems obvious to the Liberal that his opponents on either side are vying with each other to bribe the electorate with material advantages and threatening them with dire material terrors in their efforts to attain power. The only result of their actions (as distinct from their words) is to reduce and finally to abolish the liberty of the subject. Liberalism is a concept which is not easy to sell against the loud-mouthed cheap-jacks of State-Nursemaidism and Something-for-Nothingism.
Liberals are Liberals not because they hunger and thirst for the fruits of office—those of them who did have long ago died of starvation or defaulted—but because they honestly feel they can belong to no other party. That is the strength of the Liberal Party now ; such strength is not to be despised. More than this, they believe that the nation is in sore need of the very ideals they themselves profesi and they intend to preach their gospel till the electorate realises where it is being led by the opponents of Liberalism. This is not waiting for adversaries' mis- takes, it is allowing the inexorable consequences of illiberal policies to become apparent.
True Liberalism can only be enshrined in a party basing its beliefs on the supreme value of individual liberty. It is now the duty of that party to work out a practical policy implementing its ideal and to explain itself and its policy in plain unambiguous terms to the electorate. There is no catch and there can be no compromise. If the electorate, with its eyes open, rejects liberty the Liberal Party will fail again but at least it will be able to say with truth that it has had the courage of its convictions and has, for them, suffered political martyrdom. Perhaps it will not fail.
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