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PARTISAN REVIEW
I haven't space to answer this question properly, but I think you can
take it that the Labour Party, as such, has now no policy genuinely inde–
pendent of the Government. Some people even think that the left Con–
servatives (Eden, and possibly Churchill) are more likely to adopt a
Socialist policy than the Labour men. There are constant appeals to the
Government to declare its war-aims, but these come from individuals and
are not the official act of the Labour Party. There is no sign that the
Government has any detailed or even general post-war plan. Nevertheless
the feeling that after the war "things will be different" is so widespread
that though, of course, the future England may be
worse
than that of the
past, a return to Chamberlain's England is not thinkable even
if
it is
technically possible.
10.
Would you say that the masses, working-class and middle-class,
are more or less enthusiastically behind ·the present Government than in
May 1940? Are they more or less behind the war effort in general?
So far as the Government goes, less enthusiastically, but not very
greatly so. This government came in with a degree of popular support
which is quite unusual.
ln .
its home policy it has disappointed expecta–
tions, but not so grossly as governments usually do. Churchill's personal
popularity will have waned somewhat, but he still has a bigger following
than any premier of the last twenty years. As to the war, I don't believe
there is much variation. People are fed up, but nothing to what one might
expect. But one can't speak with certainty of this till after the coming
crisis, which will be of a different nature, less intelligible, perhaps harder
to bear, than that of a year ago.
I hope that answers your questions. It is a bit over the length you
allowed me, I am afraid. All well here, or fairly well. We had hell's own
bombing last night, huge fires raging all over the place and a racket of
guns that kept one awake half the night. But it doesn't matter, the hits
were chiefly on theatres and fashionable shops, and this morning it is a
beautiful spring day, the almond trees are in blossom, postmen and milk–
carts wandering to and fro as usual, and down at the corner the inevitable
pair of fat women gossipping beside the pillar-box. The best of luck to
you all.
POSTSCRIPT (May 15, 1941)
The chief events since I wrote on April 15th have been the British
defeats in Lybia and Greece, and the general worsening of the situation
in the Middle East, with lrak in revolt, Stalin evidently preparing to go
into closer partnership with Hitler and Darlan getting ready to let German
troops into Syria. There has also, within the last two days, been the mys–
terious arrival of Hess, which has caused much amusement and specula·
tion but which it is too early to comment on.
The question that matters is whether the disastrous turn the war has
taken will lead to a further growth of democratic sentiment, as happened
