Evening Post. MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1936 ANOTHER POPULAR FRONT

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 12

Evening Post. MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1936 ANOTHER POPULAR FRONT

Election successes .of Popular Fronts on the Continent have inspired new efforts for similar unity in Great Britain. The first achiever ment, announced by the "Daily Herald," is the official signature by Mr. H. Pollitt,. Mr. J. Maxton, and Sir Stafford Cripps of a joint document creating from the Communist Party,, the Independent Labour Party, and the Socialist League a United Left Front. The purpose is to oppose the official Labour Parly and the Government and to resist Fascism. Otlier objects, according to the "News Chronicle," include unrelenting opposition to the new unemployment regulations and the means test and the speedy establishment of a Socialist State. All three of the component bodies maintain their existing independent identity, but it remains to be seen whether the individual membership will endorse the new alignment. The "News Chronicle" expresses the opinion that, if this endorsement is given, it may have an important effect on the future of British politics.

The most important first effect, one would surmise, is to put all the political bad eggs in one basket— as a sarcastic political writer commented when a Lloyd GeorgeChurchill combination was suggested. This would probably be of great convenience to the Government, the Labour Party, and the Liberal Party, What further effects there may be is wholly a matter for speculation; Such speculation will be guided by individual opinion of the prospects of the new organisation remaining united, becoming popular, or presenting a front. At present it cannot aspire to the importance implied by the terms.. It is a long way from the front. f Some would say it is not even a side, and has more of the appearance of a straggling fear, though its ambition may be to become a great advance guard. We are not given the clue which, more than anything else, would help us to decide the United Front's direction and prospects —who is to lead. Sir Stafford Cripps is a clever man, but he has not disclosed leadership qualities. His brief term as spokesman for the Labour Party in the House of Commons was remarkable for its disturbing effect upon the party. He was, so to speak, continually tripping over his own feet, and having to be helped back into position by, the party. When he left, on the same cause as Mr. George Lansbury, there was mourning for Mr. Lansbury, but Sir Stafford went dut "unwept, tinhonoured, and unsung."

, Of Mr. Maxton and Mr. Pollitt little can be said except that Mr. Maxton is fierce hi debate and uncompromising and that Mr. Pollitt leads a parly which knows no comprofnise except as a means to its own end. The conclusion to which one is led by knowledge of the parties and the leaders is that compromise has been effected by the Communists in this instance in the expectation that it will prove the means to domination of the other sections in the meantime, and ultimately to their complete, absorption. That method and that type of front is of the essence of Communism. Probably Mr. Maxton and Sir Stafford Cripps have much the same idea. . They do not contemplate joint leadership, with three parties pulling in three directions, but each hopes to establish his own parly as I ho dominant partner and to give the marching orders. Briefly, it is-the old story of the tiger and the young- lady of Niger, with a present doubt as lo which parties arc being taken for a ride and which will return as the satisfied and smiling tiger. •

There is', however, another interesting side to the formation of this Left Front. A few Liberals and, though secretly, some supporters of Labour have been hoping for a Popular Front of another kind, one which would give'a jleVv unity lo the less extreme forces opposed to the Government, and ttiarshal all advanced opinion against an ■• Administration which has come more and more under Conservative control. One of the advocates of such an understanding, Mr. A.. L. Rowse, discussed the possibilities in (he September "Fortnightly." He dismissed* "these croups on the Left" of ihe Labour Party rather summarily. "To Labour, they are. but jrroußs .aracLiiot parties,-

There is no question of three equal parties entering into an agreement." All that could be allowed was an understanding as lo scats.

But the really essential part of a Popular Front in this country has nothing to do with this. It is concerned rather with the Liberal Party, and whether a Liberal-Labour understanding can be reached. That would be worth having: it would be not merely a superfluous bargain with al, few recalcitrant and fissiparous groups on the Left; it would be an understanding between two parties, independent of each other and separate rr.om each other. That would be a Popular Front, an understanding between the progressive parties. It would be a matter of outstanding importance if achieved; it would remake the political map of the country.

An electoral understanding would be the main feature of the Progressive Front, but no doubt it would need to be preceded by an understanding as regards policy, at least for the immediate future. This might be reached through the "Next Five Years Croup" of Sir Arthur Salter, Sir Walter Lay ton, and others. What might be- considered an answer to this proposal was given in an article in the November "Con* temporary Review," by Mr. J. H. Harley, on "Labour's Divided Mind" as revealed at the Edinburgh conference of the party. The burden of the article was Labour's difficulty in secut'ing i agreement within its own ranks, and he concluded:

, The Labour Party is going to take its own lone path, and that there can be no Popular Front who can doitbt after the discussion on the subject at Edinburgh? The party has many elements of goodness in it "which warrant'great hope for the future, but/it sadly needs leadership.

A Popular Front on the Left -\viih Lhe Labolir Parly in the lino is out of the question now that the three Left groups have declared war, and put lhe official Labbur Party in the same position as the Government, as a target for their enthusiastic and erratic fire. But this may help the Labour Parly to make up its mind. The "Daily Herald" predict!? a split in the Socialist League "which contains many loyal members of the Labour Parly"; bul without- this llie new movement must give more weight, to tho, views of ihosc members of the Labour Parly whose inclination is away from the Left. It may even help to determine the direction.till it becomes almost parallel with Lib-

eralism.