CONSERVATIVES AND THE STATE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22434, 22 June 1938, Page 7

CONSERVATIVES AND THE STATE

TO TUB EDITOR OT THE PRESS. Sir, —lii reading the report of Mr W. R. Lascelles’s address it would be interesting to know on what grounds he bases his argument that “followers of Conservatism were against large and uncontrolled State action; but the Conservative only opposed State action when it became unjust and oppressive.” When Mr Lascelles discusses the State how does he define the State, and what is the particular function of the State? Failure to comprehend what the State actually is causes statements to be made which are utter nonsense. In short, the State is an instrument used for the oppression of one class by another. Under capitalist society it is the machine which keeps the working class completely subordinate to the capitalist class. The Conservatives, or Nationalists, represent the interests of the ruling class, who own all the means of production; therefore this apparatus, the State, which is of their own making belongs to them; so it is ludicrous to suggest that they oppose the State when it becomes unjust and oppressive. Rather it has been their mission to make the State unjust and oppressive to keep the people amenable to the vicissitudes of capitalist exploitation and to preserve their own class interests. Your readers should reflect upon the measures and conditions inflicted upon them by the State over the last few years when in the hands of the Tories. Mr Lascelles is correct when he avers that the Conservatives do oppose. They oppose most bitterly

when a working class Government assumes State power and proceeds to enact legislation through their own machine, which restricts their freedom of exploitation and concedes to the workers benefits which are a direct menace to their class interests. Perhaps it is under these conditions that Mr Lascelles forsees the Conservatives opposing State action which has become unjust and oppressive.—Yours, etc., A.B.C. June 20, 1938.