LONDON LETTER
They include most of the official and unofficial leaders of the party, and
with them must be lumped the greater part of the younger literary intelli–
gentsia, especially in the universities. As I have pointed out elsewhere,
the "Communism" of these people amounts simply to nationalism and
leader-worship in their most vulgar forms, transferred to the USSR. Their
importance at this moment is that with the entry of Russia into the war
they may regain the influence in the press which they had between 1935
and 1939 and lost during the last two years. The
News-Chronicle,
after
the
Herald
the leading leftwing daily (circulation about 1,400,000) is
already busy_whitewashing the men whom it was denouncing
1,\S
traitors a
little while back. The so-called People's Convention, led by D. N. Pritt
(Pritt is a Labour M.P. but is always claimed by Communists as an
"underground'' member of their party, evidently with truth) is still in
existence but has abruptly reversed its policy.
If
the Communists are
allowed the kind of publicity that they were getting in 1938, they will both
eonsciously and unconsciously sow discord between Britain and the USSR.
What they wish for is not the destruction of Hitler and the re-settlement of
Europe, but a vulgar military triumph for their adopted Fatherland, and
they will do their best to insult public opinion here by transferring as
much as possible of the prestige of the war to Russia, and by constantly
casting doubts on Britain's good faith. The danger of ·this kind of thing
ought not to be underrated. The Russians themselves, however, probably
grasp how the land lies and will act accordingly.
If
we have a long war
ahead of us it is not to their advantage that there should be disaffection in
this country. But in so far as they can get a hearing, the British Com–
munists must be regarded as one of the forces acting against Anglo-Rus–
sian unity.
The Catholics.
There are suppol!led to be some two million Catholics
in this country, the bulk of them very poor Irish labourers. They vote
Labour and act as a sort of silent drag on Labour Party policy, but are
not sufficiently under the thumb of their priests to be Fascist in sympathy.
The importance of the middle- and upper-class Catholics is that they are
extremely numerous in the Foreign Office and the Consular Service, and
also have a good deal of influence in the press, though less than formerly.
The "born" Catholics of the old Catholic families are less ultra-montane
and more ordinarily patriotic than the converted intellectuals (Ronald
Knox, Arnold Lunn, etc., etc.) , who have very much the same mentality,
mutatis mutandis,
as the British Communists. I suppose I need not repeat
the history of their pro-Fascist activities in the past. Since the outbreak of
war they have not dared to be openly pro-Hitler, but have done their
propaganda indirectly by fulsome praises of Petain and Franco. Cardinal
Hinsley, founder of the Sword of the Spirit Movement (Catholic democ·
racy), seems to be sincerely anti-Nazi according to his lights, but repre·
sents only one section of Catholic opinion. As soon as Hitler invaded the
USSR, the Catholic press announced that we must take advantage of the
