Orthodox at Last
BY LORD ATTLEE 0 NE always looks forward with the anticipation of find- ing something new in the writings of Mr. G. D. H. Cole. I have always felt that age could not wither him nor custom stale his infinite variety. In this his latest pamphlet.* however, there is nothing very new or startling. It is for the most part a plain statement of the views held by the ordinary rank-and-file Socialist. Mr. Cole is at pains to stress that he is a Left-winger, but it is difficult to find anything specific to differentiate him from the rest of us.
He states very well the essential divergence between the tenets of the Communist and the democratic Socialist and affirms his robust faith in democracy. He makes the familiar and sound point that where Socialism is established by violence it will carry the marks of its origin upon it and will need a great purgation before it can free itself of so evil an inheritance. It would have been interesting if he could have indicated how in his view such a purgation is likely to come about, for as he says the recent attack on the personality cult in Russia is no indica- tion of a change of view in essentials.
Here is, I think, a weakness in his analysis. I do not think he appreciates enough that the Communism which we are facing is the product of Communism plus Russian civilisation, very different from West European civilisation with its long cultural tradition. Hence there is a blend of imperialism with Communism in Russia. He makes the curious remark that the national question has almost ceased to be heard of in Europe. Does he think that the Poles. Czechs, and the rest are silent because they willingly accept their satellite position? Does he think that German nationalism is not very much awake? His general view that democratic Socialists should try to get on terms with the Communist world is, I think, generally accepted by all Socialists. I have not, for instance, heard any voice raised against getting the closest relations with Yugoslavia, yet one would gather from Mr. Cole that this was a special policy of the Left.
Mr. Cole's general views as to the need for the acceptance of complete equality between peoples of European stock and the Asians and Africans are again the orthodox Labour Party views. The matter, however, is not so easy where you have, as in Malaya, a rivalry between different Asiatic races. I think, also. Mr. Cole's support of nationalist movements is rather undiscriminating. Nationalism so easily becomes imperialism as one may see from the present condition of affairs in Tibet. Mr. Cole seems even to think that Mau Mau is an expression of nationalism. I should have thought it rather a relapse into primitive barbarism, even though it may owe something to revolt against colonialism.
There is a good deal of easy thinking about the less de- veloped countries generally. While Mr. Cole states quite rightly that peoples should have the right to choose their own form of government and social and economic system, he does not indi- cate how this right is to be assured. For instance, while I believe that the majority of the Chinese people support the present regime, there has never been an opportunity for a democratic decision by the people any more than there has been in North Korea.
One would rather gather from Mr. Cole's pamphlet that the world was now satisfactorily demarcated into areas where each separate people could achieve independence and live happily ever after. He has nothing to say on such a major question as that of the pressure of populations, which is a very live issue, especially in the Far East. What is to happen if the Chinese continue to increase at the present rate and infiltrate into adjoining areas? What is to be the future of the Japanese penned in some small islands with an expanding population? In trying to raise the standards of the less-developed com- munities at some expense to our own, are Westerners to accept an unlimited liability for the fecund millions?
It is curious that in a pamphlet dealing very largely with the future of Socialism as a world movement Mr. Cole should have practically nothing to say on international organisations except for a brief notice of the existence of UNO and a demand for the abolition of NATO and SEATO. The whole emphasis is on independence with no reference to interdependence. Yet if we are to have a world based on peace and social justice we surely need organisations, both political and economic, to pro- mote these ends. Mr. Cole seems to be an old-fashioned Cobdenite in his faith that a number of independent units, given good will, can peacefully coexist.
It would have been interesting if Mr. Cole had discussed from the Socialist standpoint what are the rights of particular peoples to the whole of the resources of the region which they happen to inhabit. Should, for instance, the oil resources of Arabia belong solely to the Arabs? If some essential mineral were to be discovered in a particular country, should the people of that country be entitled to hold the world to ransom? Mr. Cole advocates disarmament, but has nothing to say on the problem of control of armaments, which involves the whole question of limitations of sovereignty.
Mr. Cole has some sensible remarks on the need for equality. recognising the need, at any rate for the present, for differences of remuneration, but he does not give any guidance except for some amiable generalisations. I am a little surprised in view of his past opinions that we are not given more light on the problem of democratising industry and of dealing with the problem of the managerial society. In his passage on Socialism and Fraternity he makes a statement with which I thoroughly agree. 'The establishment of a Socialist framework of social ownership and the ending of class exploitation are not the making of a Socialist society but only the foundations for it.' I have often encountered Left-wingers who made the amount of nationalisation in a programme the test of whether it was or was not Socialist. I am happy to stand with Mr. Cole in averring that 'the proper aim of Socialism is to set the human Personality free and not to shut it up in a new collective prison.'
Mr. Cole was, like myself, first drawn to Socialism by the Writings of William Morris. I wish that he had had more to say as to the problems that face us in the age of automation and of mass suggestion by radio. For here, I think, are problems Which the younger generation of Socialists will have to face.
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