A MAN OR A CAUSE?
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
Sut,—In your paragraphs under " The Week in Parliament," in your last issue, you write: " It is a sad commentary . . . that policy is so closely bound up with a personality." It is more than a sad commentary ; it is a national danger, all the greater for being insidious and unperceived. One of the fundamental differences between Fascism and Democracy is that under Democracy the people choose through their elected representatives the policies which they favour, while under Fascism the people appoint a Leader, whom they bind them- selves to follow, whatever policy he may pursue.
In this country today we are living under a form of incipient Fascism. In this respect the danger lies, not so much in the policies with which successive Prime Ministers have experi- mented, but in the readiness of their followers to follow them wherever they turn. The modern Conservative seems to be interested more in the persons who form the Government than in the policies which they pursue ; it matters less to him what they do than who they are. In this he shows a family re- semblance to the Fascist, and, though he declares his devotion to Democracy with tireless eloquence, and with evident sincerity, his actions belie his words. It is ominous to hear the repeated cries for a " Leader," and the frequent question, " Whom, then, would you have in his place? " When did leaders fail to emerge, when the country was determined on its policy?—Yours, &c., Manchester, 20.
Previous page
