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A Commentary (Apr 1931)
- Johns Hopkins University Press
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The social and political situation in England is such that we now hear from the most orthodox editorial pulpits in the country that something must be done – something, that is, better than merely turning the present Government out and putting the last one back again. For example, in
If on the other hand, it be admitted that the present system not only does not work well now but probably will never work well again, then something more stable than an emergency government must be envisaged, before we proceed to so serious a step as the formation of an emergency or coalition government at all. For our part, we think that a coalition government, at the present juncture, would be only one kind of deathblow, and that the most reckless, to the party system. It would mean that a number of eminent politicians of three parties would weaken their prestige by surrendering some of their convictions, or else weaken it still more by admitting tacitly that their convictions were only prejudices or party creeds. It is too much to expect that men whose careers have been made by opposing each other should suddenly and openly fall into each other’s arms, and kick away
Even, however, should the coalition thrive for a time, it would probably not thrive as long as the “emergency,” and its disruption would probably leave the country in worse case than before. For there is no question of “tiding over” or “weathering” or “stemming” anything; the matter of it is not even merely to adapt the country to world conditions which have changed, but to adapt it to world conditions which are going on changing. It is very depressing to find that the Labour Party in office has proved not only conservative but reactionary. The one most rational form of representation in the House of Commons, the representation of the Universities, is, if the Labour Party has its way, to be destroyed.