Evening star., 1932-10-30

Premier
TWELVE months ago the world
witnessed not only a complete
revolution in Britain'S economic
i life. but a consequent over
throw of all her party habits
and alignmentS. The Labor party
was reduced to virtual annihilatiOn
after it had surged up swiftly in the
short space of 80 years from having a
membership of one in Parliament TO
becoming the government Of the day
with a membership OF $50 Observers
from overseas then saw the man who
was the first secretary of the Labor
party and its first prime minister, head
ing a national government, in which an
overwhelming Conservative majority be-
came associated with Labor and Lib
eral colleagues.
The world stood 2ghast both at the
spectacle of Britain in financial dlt-
ficultieS and at the sight of her most
famous Socialist allied with his former
political enemies and leading the whole
nation, which only few years pre-
viously had almost driven him out OF
public life.
Observers were amazed and perhaps
little skeptical. Their feelings were
mixed The vast majority were stirred
by admiration a few were inclined 10
whi, per: What a great betrayal"
Quite naturally. Labor publiCistS who
went down before the overwhelming
public opinion which swept their party
out of office, have done everything they
could to malign and misrepreSent both
what was done and the men who did
it. 1t may. therefore. be of some in
terest to attempt, after a years inter-
val, to take stock of the result Of that
political upheaval and of the present
position of its chief actor, Mr.. Ramsay
Macdonald.
In other words was the dramatic po-
litical coup an act of betrayal, which
would soon be shown up in all its hol-
lowness by the swift failure of the
policies adopted? Or was in a great
act Of political courage. insight and
craftsmanship? Further is it true that
the Labor support given to. Mr.. Mac
Donald. which numbered nearly 2.000,-
900 old Labor voters was pledged only
in moment Of panic? Is there now
feeling of revulsion SO that We must
admit that he is forever lost to the
British workers and Socialists and
ought to be written off as a traitor and
dubbed a Conservative?
In order to indicate what my reply
will be to these questions let me say
at once that 1 am convinced that
completely impartial observer of the
state of Britain and of her political
emotions today can give only one an
SWer if he be entirely honest. At
| the end of this dramatic year the po-
sition of Mr.. Macdonald is, if any
thing, stronger than it has ever been;
and this is true not only with the cOun-
try at large but alsO-WhlCh is even
more interesting the working
classes.
Quite naturally the Labor machine
has exerted every nerve to hold him up
to obloquy; nor indeed can We blame
those who think chiefly in terms of
party politics for so doing And yet this
attack has made practically no impress
sion whatever on the mans prestige,
even among the class from which he
sprang If for any reason a general
election had to be held now in Britain
the workers would once more give an
overwhelming verdict in his favor.
Succeeded in His Task.
The explanation of this state of af-
fairs, so amazing when We remember
that there are still nearly 100000 un-
employed drawing a reduced dole, IS to
be found in the fact that Mr.. MacDon-
aid has succeeded in the task to which
he set his hand and has by that sue
year ago was not an act CT individual
ambition and treachery, but was in
spired by creative and constructive
| craftsmanship in exact accord with the
! whole tenor of his political thinking,
! from which he has never departed, dur
! ing or since the war.
The British public and even the un
employed and the working classes see
perfectly clearly that he has saved the
! credit and prestige of his country given
| it new power and influence for good in
! the councils of the nations and set its
| face on the road to economic recovery.
, Moreover-and this is most significant
| of all-he has done all this with less
| waste and with far less human suffering
| than is the case in any other country
which has also had to pass through the
greatest social and economic crisis in
! history.
When so many nations in Europe have
been shaken ard torn by civil strife or
revolution. when the Far East has been
riVen by crisis and war and the West
has had to carry great burden OF
poverty and suffering, Britain has
emerged without strife, with less waste
Of economic resources; and she is likely
once more to offer the world a new ex-
pertinent in the art OF political govern
IllcIlG dl-u tIOlILIlliC ,lCCOllSUl Az
this may be added the almost certain
solution of India's constitutional prob
lem and, above all, conspicuous part
; in helping to Straighten out the world
economic and political crisis.
It would, of course. be asburd to say
that every vc.er sees all this clearly: aHG
it would be equeiiy aos.:rd to pretend
that within a slcy5s - months pro
Dcrity has returned unemployment ha'
been cured and poverty or sufiec.nT
craG!cated But what the electors and
the wor..;:o;e.5 do realize in quite in
stinctive manner is that there already
has been fine achievement in two re-
spects. First, their share of suffering
has been less than elsewhere-however
tragic 1t may have been-and, secondly,
the prospect Of recovery and Of sarer