LONDON LETTER
319
it began, it is much more democratic and consciously anti-Fascist than
some of its commanders would wish.
It
has several times been rumoured
that the government was growing nervous about it and contemplated dis–
banding it, but no move has been made to do this. A very important point,
technically necessary to a force of this kind but only obtained after a
struggle, is that the men keep their rifles and usually some ammunition in
their own homes. The officers wear practically the same uniform as the
men and there is no saluting off parade. Although the class nature of the
command is widely grasped there has not been much friction. Within the
lower ranks the spirit is extremely democratic and comradely, with .an
absence of snobbishness and class-uneasiness that would have been un–
thinkable ten years ago. I speak from experience here as I serve in a
mixed residential area where factory-workers and quite rich men march
in
the ranks together. In general the political outlook of the men is old–
fashioned patriotism mixed up with ill-defined but genuine hatred of the
Nazis. Jews are numerous in the London units. In general, I think the
danger of the Home Guard being turned into a reactionary middle-class
militia still exists, but that this is not now likely to happen.
5.
How aggressive and articulate is big-business reaction today (not
Mosley's black shirts, but the more solid and serious forces of big capi–
tal)
?
You mention a political swing to the right in the Churchill govern–
ment of late months. Does this mean the forces of organised business are
climbing back into the saddle?
I don't know what is going on behind the scenes and can only answer
this question very generally, thus: Laissez-faire capitalism is dead in
England and can't revive unless the war ends within the next few months.
Centralised ownership and planned production are bound to come. The
whole question is who is to be in control. The recent rightward swing
means that we are being regimented by wealthy men and aristocrats rather
than by representatives of the common people. They will use their power
to keep the structure of government on a class basis, manipulate taxation
and rationing in their own favour, and avoid a revolutionary war-strategy;
but not to return to capitalism of the old chaotic kind. The swing of the
past six months hasn't meant more economic freedom or profits for the
individual business-man-quite the contrary; but it has meant that you
are less likely to get an important job unless you have been to one of the
right schools. I have given elsewhere my reasons for thinking that this
tendency will change, but that
has
been the tendency since last autumn.
6.
Would you say that Bevin and Morris on still command the support
of the British working class? Are there any other: Labour Party politicians
who
have taken on new &imensions in the course of the war--assuming
those
two have? Is the shop steward movement still growing?
I know very little of industrial matters. I should say that Bevin does
command working·class support and Morrison probably not. There is a
wid~spread
feeling that the Labour Party as a whole has simply abdicated.
The only other Labour man whose reputation has grown is Cripps.
If
