Liberty and Violenc,
The Roots of Violence. Men tens Lecture, 1934. By S. K. Ratcliffe. (Rogan!' Press. Is.) Liberty Today. By C. E. M. Joad. (Watts and Co. 2s. 6d.) THE contrast between democracy and dictatorship is not a question of abstract definitions. It is best understood by reference to what is actually done by those in control of government and to what has been recently done by certain groups in taking control. Mr. S. K. Ratcliffe describes the situation in the world at present most vividly—the continu- ance of the belief and the praet k-c of violence since the Great War, murder as a method of destroying political opponents, and race-persecution in Germany ; but he is not concerned with the alternative policy which would make violence unlikely or impossible. His short study, therefore, is mainly a state- ment of what is evil in the more primitive forms of govern- ment, which have been revived to meet exceptional needs in certain countries.
Mr. Joad is concerned rather with the principles upon which civilized government should rest. He, too, describes the political situation today ; but in more philosophical terms. He states the arguments, for example, both in favour of rule by " experts " and against it. He writes well ; and his whole treatment of the subject is vigorous. But a philo- sophical discussion of liberty seems to over-estimate the importance of argument in the art of government. He follows Mill ; and he could not have a better leader. But in all discussions of liberty and violence today, there is a danger that the older terminology may have no force in practice, against the emotional currents of an entirely new situation.
Certainly reason is the only means of obtaining truth ; but the fear of emotion and the false belief that all emotion disturbs or obstructs reason are unfortunate survivals of eighteenth century intellectualism. Indeed, it is possible that the failure to maintain or to improve civilized government is largely due to our lack of emotional training. The emotions can be trained, as well as the intelligence ; and there are emotional needs in politics as well as in general culture, which will be satisfied crudely if they are not given a more civilized expres- sion. The democratic and libertarian tradition has been too highly intellectualized. Again, it is dangerous to speak of the " limits " of liberty or to argue that " scepticism " should be the final result of education. The tendency to believe what one is told is not object ionable. The alternative to a dictator's dogma is not the rejection of all enthusiasm, but the generous acceptance of a nobler cause. Indeed, the best service Mr. Ratcliffe and Mr. -load have rendered in these two small books is that they urge the reader to go further. It may be true that dictatorship is a form of barbarism ; but the alter- native is not a return to an old faith. The needs which arc supplied, in a crude form, by dogmatic authoritarianism and the emotional satisfaction it gives both to the " leader " and his followers, should be supplied by something quite new in the democratic tradition. There is new good as well as new evil
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