Jan. 18.
The Labour Party in Britain has recently made a most important move to-widen its mem~ bership. It proposes to. enroll what are to be called National Associate Members. These need not be trade unionists, but they munist'body nor to the Minority movement. The idea is to make it easy for the respectable and slow-moving middle classes join the Labour Movement, Certainly Mr. MacDonald seems to desire to cast a wider net, 20 that he may draw into his own party those who, although Liberal at heart, feel that Liberalism as a party cry is dead. and that it would be better for them to link up with one or other of the living divisions of political thought. In many respects the Liberal feels that he has more in common with the Labour Right than the Conservative Left, and thus we have this ingenious proposal to admit him into the ranks of Labour. The genuine Liberal is no more a Socialist than the most hardened old Tory. But he may believe that, Socialism apart, the Labour programme contains something of that humanitarianism foe which he persuades himself that Liberalism has hitherto stood alone, It looks as if Labour regarded itself as the heir to the old Liberal Party and would declare itself as neither an anti-constitutional nor a revolutionary organization, Theye axe those who say, whether rightly or wrongly tue will show, that the Labour Party is angling for the mea with the big cheque books, If this is indeed the case, the as it is scarcely to be suppose that people who are able to giv away large sums of money will be devotees of socialism, the latter doctrine appears likely to get another kick down hill. If this new plan is meant to deal blow to Liberalism, it is none the less an attack on the Independent Labour Party. It is in fact a very shrewd attempt to strengthen the moderate party against the extremists. All the present indications are that the latter will presently split. of from the parent body and set up house for themselves, though the logic of circumstance may induce the red-raggers to remain in the official party in the hope, by clever intimidation, of getting more of their own way than if they stayed outside, The Labour Party in Britain has travelled a long way during the past decade and especially during the past year or two. The Gisastrous coal strikes and the huge blunder. of the General Strike of 1926 have had a sobering effect upon the leaders. One could no more imagine Mr. Ramsay MacDonald now singing the Red Flag than one can picture Lord Birkenhead joining in that classic ditty. Mr. Snowden may believe in the universal brotherhood of man as a matter of philosophic amusement, but at the same time when it comes to business he has no hesitation in telling other nations that they must pay their just debts to his country. No doubt the leaders have come to realize, if indeed they ever had any illusion on the matter, that the term la-Dour-has " much wider meaning than merely manual work. They are beginning to see that polit are largely dependent upon economiies arid that no amount of tub-thumping and soap-box ora tory will make a pound grow into two or coax sixpence to do the work of a shilling.
Most' cogent-argument of all, the leaders of Labour are discovering what the other parties found out long ago, namely, that, to be in office is a vastly different affair from the free and irresponsible wilderness of opposition. Problems do not mira culeusly disappear at the sountl of party cries, and programmes: which appeared so easy when announced on_ the platform assume a very different shape when their sponsors are faced with the cold logic of facts. If one might venture on a prophecy it would be that before long the Labour' Party will drop so many of its socialistic ideas that it come practically the same as the old Liberal Party. Such backsliding will be anathema to the Mr. Maxton, But facts are stubborn things, and when they are honestly faced, the viewpoints of individuals, community ies and parties have to be altered to meet them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.