CHE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

Evening Post, Issue 67, 17 September 1934, Page 8

CHE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —It seems in the final analysis that "Fusionist," "Social Democrat," and I desire very much tho same thing; it is a question of ways and means. I agree with "Fusionist" in opposing the Opposition and with "Social Democrat" in condemning the Coalition. Neither offers hope, but there is another way. Tho correspondents will agree, I foci sure, on- tho organic nature of socioty, that the State is not a welfare organisation, but a moral entity —a clearinghouse for the will of the people—and that tho one function of government is to serve the common good by clarifying tho moral law. The best idea in the world is only as good as the men behind it, and democratic ideals cannot work if facts have no moral significance. Yet the moral law, with its implications, has been entirely forgotten. The working man today is in a worse position than the serf who at least had to bo kept.. He has a formal equality but no real equality. Tho working classes support Socialism mainly because it is the only militant solution | offering them a square deal. Affirming private property in the name of those who do not possess (with clear recognition of moral duty of possessors to the common good), we aro agreed that the way out lies in group settlements and small holdings. Hero thQ middle classes and working classes are on eom(inon ground in combating the status quo and introducing n distributive | State. But the middle classes are little interested in the working classes —wlio ii.lone are really and vitally interested. The problem of co-operation between them is solved by vocational representation, and "Fusionist's" silence on the. subject, rather puzzles me. Tt, is a £uaran±cc gij & ssiuaxg'jtleal SWI & £i^i!£"

cut middle way between tho "hollow mockery" of Socialism and the anarchy of "laissez-faire," with its futile party government.

There is little hope of a spiritual rebirth of tho middle classes. Tho events of tho past three years are grounds enough, for boing convinced that they must suffer a great deal more before a sufficient number of individual democrats .awaken to the fact that there is no Father Christmas. Yet how much longer must the inhuman and unsuccessful treatment of the unemployed continue .before a crisis develops so that a Commission may be appointed to do the Government's work?—l am, etc., B. J. BAHNAO.