Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

possibly in the House-his bitter and searching words, his dialectical skill, make him a formidable Parliamentary figure, and the snap of his sharp teeth has left a mark on many a fleshy leg on the Conservative Benches. He treats his followers with contempt; his leader with coldness. Behind him, as he follows hotfoot on the scent of a financial heresy, trots his henchman, Mr William Graham. It seems impossible that these inseparables should be members of the Labour Party. But for both, Socialism means an intellectual bureaucracy and nothing more. They spent nine months in the Treasury during 1924 as high priest and acolyte. That was enough. They are practising Socialists no longer. They are Treasury men now for ever and ever -so much so indeed that sometimes it seems impossible that they are not still its accredited representatives in Parliament and Mr Winston Churchill and Mr McNeill mere squatters. So far as any advocacy or exposition of or any real communion with the Labour Party and its views are concerned, they are like these 'bright and ancient snakes, that once were Cadmus and Harmonia,' for like them they have been rapt far away':

'Placed safely in changed forms, the pair
Wholly forget their first sad life, and home
And all that Theban woe and stray

For ever through the glens, happy and dumb.'

And there with his alter ego the machine will gladly leave Mr Snowden.

Nor would Mr Thomas prove more acceptable. He is the ablest example of the old Trades Union representatives, except that where they were content to be Liberals, Mr Thomas is at heart a Tory. In any case, he does not even pretend to wear the Socialist garment. His zeal for nationalising the railways is, perhaps, as great as is, say, Mr Adamson's for nationalising the mines. If he became leader of the Labour Party, the Socialists would have to form a new one. Therefore, his realism, his common sense, his power of dealing with men, will never be called into play to save the Labour Party. Yet he is eminently well-fitted to be a political leader. He has spent his apprenticeship in dealing with affairs, in

[ocr errors]

negotiating on important practical topics, in furthering the real and industrial interest of his Union followers. He has done a man's not a manipulator's work. And he possesses Parliamentary and public gifts of a high order. Quick-witted, flexible, clear-headed, he is of infinite resource and dexterity both in affairs and in debate. Withal, he never is greatly deflected from his main objects. He is conscious of his ability to ride the storm; for this Mr Pliable has a steel centre.

Both Mr Snowden and Mr Thomas have in fact the same insuperable disadvantage. They are statesmen and 'Parliament-men' first, mechanics only second. Therefore, the choice would fall upon a very different figure. Mr Arthur Henderson is a public nonentity. His interventions in debate are as rare as they are ridiculous. Facing the electorate, he wins seats only to lose them. Blustering, pompous, wooden, he could only be the reductio ad absurdum of a party leader. But he is past-master of the arts of the organiser, the manipulator, the boss. Although he was Secretary of State for Home Affairs in the Labour Government, he is now hardly ever in his place on the front opposition bench: he has already been seconded for the duty of greasing the machine. He is the only man who can make it run, except his leader. It is, therefore, he who would be his successor; for come what may, a machine must be under the control of a skilled mechanic.

The truth probably is that the Labour Party will never have any leader but Mr Ramsay MacDonald. The machine will fall to pieces when the hand that constructed it is removed. Yet while it remains-and the protest it embodies has by no means reached its climaxthe influence of the Labour Party upon the structure of British politics is almost wholly bad. But it can be fought and the organic conception of politics and parties restored to its proper place in the minds of great masses of the population only by infinite patience, great coolness, and, above all, by a steady faith that the British instinct for self-government will prevail. Direct attacks upon the machine would be fatal; nor is it of any avail to try to break it up from without. It is for this reason that any attempt by the Conservative Party to amend,

[ocr errors]

for instance, the law with regard to the political levy of Trades Unions would be a lamentable step. No doubt the Labour Party finances would be crippled. But there is inevitably involved the risk that the country would be convinced that for every party politics is a mere affair of machinery, a battle of caucuses, a duel of Robots. The electors who at this moment are under the control of the Labour machine must learn for themselves all that this control implies. The organic conception of politics will beat the mechanical, if only it does not imitate the tricks of its rival: if it will but be true to itself. Its sole defender to-day is the Conservative Party. Conservatism, indeed, has more to defend than any policy. At a time when Liberalism hawks its money bags and Labour, after more than a generation's stealthy approach, is about to make the last rush and spring upon the Co-operative flock, only Conservatism is left to justify the instinctive belief of the English people that the political life of a nation is the expression of the best and not the worst characteristics of the individuals of whom the body-politic is composed.

NOEL SKELTON.

SOME RECENT BOOKS.

Reality and the Ascent of Man-The Legacy of the Middle Ages-The Stone Age and the Regency-Lady Augusta Stanley-School Health-Epicurus-The Dying Peasant -English Character-The Frozen North-The GalteesMoral Evil in London-Sienkiewicz-Admiral Mark Kerr-Mr Yeats and Dr Barry-' Goodbye Stranger'Epigrams.

If anything is to cure the troubles and infirmities of these dishevelled times it is spiritual courage. Life just now is full of problems difficult and often dangerous; and whether it be in social or political or religious concerns, a frank recognition of truths, a broad-minded resolution in dealing with the issues involved, are equally required. In religion, especially, it seems at present that vision and courage are needed; for the voices of controversy again are noisy, and it would be easy in the discussions over details, alternative forms, and so on, to lose sight of the ultimate essentials. Canon Streeter's work on 'Reality' (Macmillan) comes, therefore, with a particular helpfulness; for he has done what has been required for years past; has boldly faced the consequences upon what he calls popular theology of the recent developments of exact and metaphysical science, and shown that they are compatible with-nay, that even they emphasise and strengthen the inward force and truth of religion. It is a point of view and of reasoning which makes appeal to the intelligent many who, having found the old insistencies of 'supralapsarian preachers' impossible, at the same time were unable to surrender their faith in Christ, because they needed its comfort. Caught in two opposing ways they were unhappy. Canon Streeter in this brave work bridges the divergencies. He recognises that much of the old dogma, an especial basis of past intolerance, was merely a poem'; insists that the personality of the religious man is the only real expression of Religion'; and while confronting the difficult problems of evil and pain, finds them not incompatible with the Love which is the Power behind the Universe and the mission of Christ who also, in an unique degree, represented

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Humanity. Of less importance than the foregoing, but yet of helpful significance in the present pursuit of truth, is Mr Alfred Machin's work on 'The Ascent of Man by Means of Natural Selection' (Longmans). As the title suggests, the book is a challenge to the great theory of Charles Darwin; not as it concerns Evolution but as it affects Natural Selection; for it brings out circumstances which show how Man, as distinct from the other living things of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, displays tendencies which vitally modify that doctrine. Briefly put, this modification is largely due to his ability, through morality and other agencies, to control his desires and faculties for reproduction, and also the influence over him of religion, patriotism, and economic laws. Mr Machin's presentment of the case is worth studying; but his book would have been of greater effect if he had written it more closely and crisply. The argument is often loose, whereas in a work of scientific and social appeal it cannot be too lucid and concise. It is anyhow a valuable stepping-stone to future developments which soon must follow; for to bring out clearly that Love-'the secret of life, the sovereign remedy of all ills, the one key to happiness in this world and the next'-is a force modifying the march of Evolution, and that the reign of tooth and claw is not absolute even among the creatures of instinct, as they are called, is a touch of reality strengthening the new faith in a governing Providence which is the most hopeful development of these times.

And how excellent it is when, possibly in a peroratory mood, we comment complacently on the material success of the present and the extraordinary advances realised in scientific achievement, to return for a while to what, only the other day, we were apt to call the Dark Ages. The dark ages when Charlemagne ruled, or Chaucer wrote, or Florence was a centre of artistic glory, or the cathedral at Rheims was being built! A volume issued by the Oxford University Press, 'The Legacy of the Middle Ages,' to which leading authorities in England and on the Continent have contributed, is, therefore, opportune, and for the good of many conceited souls enlightening. Sometimes the studies are brilliant; they all bring out clearly the debt we owe, and too often

« VorigeDoorgaan »