Evening star., 1945-07-27
Turnover in Britain


Very few people in the United
States will experience any feeling
of elation at the political upheaval
in Britain which has swept from
power the man who, through quail
tiles of personal courage and shining
example, was able to keep alive the
hopes of free men during the darkest
days that our civilization has known.
Winston Churchill was well liked
in this country. There was dissent
from some of his policies, but there
has been no disposition to minimize
the fact that when nothing more
than faith and courage stood be-
tween our free world and destruc-
ton, he was the man who supplied
the symbol and the rallying point
around which were gathered the
forces which eventually were to
check and then cast down the armies
of aggression. Without him, Adolf
Hitler might have conquered Britain
in the year following the collapse
of France, and with Britain gone
it is not easy to see how this war
could ever have been won. Because
most Americans recognize that this
Is so, 1t Is with regret, and not
with rejoicing, that they mark the
passing from the world stage of a
great man and a great leader.
If the decision of the British elec-
torate had been timed to humiliate
Mr.. Churchill, which, of course, was
not the case, better moment could
hardly have been chosen. His
crushing political defeat denies him
what would have been the personal
satisfaction of continuing in power
until Japan has been beaten. The
military defeats in the Far East were
a bitter dose for the Prime Minister
to sWallow-the more so because the
grim necessities Of the war with
Germany precluded opportunity for
effective retaliation until the present
time. Another, and perhaps larger
disappointment, lies in the fact that
his party's reputation comes in the
midst of the Potsdam Conference
the first meeting of the Allied lead
ers since the victory over Germany.
1t might seem that gratitude for
what he has done, If nothing else,
would have spared him these rebuffs.
But gratitude is an uncertain thing,
as Mr.. Churchill well knows, and
after six exhausting years of war it
is perhaps not altogether surprising
that the British people have de-
manded change.
What this change implies for us,
in the longer view, is uncertain. Mr..
Clement Attlee, who has taken over
from Mr.. Churchill as Prime Min
lister, has promised that his Labor
government will continue with us in
full and vigorous prosecution of the
war against Japan, and there is not
the slightest reason to doubt that
this is so. The Labor party also is
committed in the main to the foreign
policies laid down by the Churchill
government. With respect to par
ticular matters, there certainly will
be variations in emphasis, method
and objective. But in the case of
the larger questions-world security,
international prosperity, treatment
of the vanquished aggressors, ETC.
it is to be expected that the Labor
government will follow at least the
broad outlines of Churchillian policy,
because, if for no other reason, it
is in Britain's interest to do so.
The greatest uncertainty is con-
cerned with the implementation of
the Labor partys domestic pro-
gram. 1t has promised reaching
changes-the socialization of Bri-
tain's heavy industry, of her internal
transport and of the Bank of Eng
land. The people of Britain have
clearly shown that they want these
revisions, that they are determined
to attempt improvement of their lot
by pursuing a course that is quite
far to the left Of center. 1t is not
for us to question the wisdom of that
decision, our legitimate concern be-
ing confined solely to the question of
the possible effects of these domestic
changes in the areas where our in
ternational interests and those of
Britain meet. And as to that, we
shall have to wait and see what the
future brings.