London Letter
T
HERE Is
very little political news. All the currents seem to be moving
in the same
direction~
as when I wrote to you last-public opinion
moving leftward, the Right nevertheless consolidating its power owing
to the weakness of the Labour leaders, and the minor left-wing parties
quarreling among themselves.
It
seems to be taken for granted that there
will be a general election before the end of the year, and most people
assume that the Labour Party is going to fight the election independently,
which I cannot believe:
a~
least I cannot believe that they will make a
serious effort to win it. The Conservatives, though continuing to disil–
lusion the public by their every act, now feel strong enough to disclaim
responsibility for their past mistakes. Many books and articles partially
rehabilitating Chamberlain are being published, and a section of the
Conservative party, probably financed by Beaverbrook, has started a new
paper which appears three times a week (in theory one is not allowed
to start new periodicals but there are ways of evading this) and is tak–
ing a militantly anti-Socialist line.
There is violent competition by all parties to cash in on the popu–
larity of the USSR. The pinks deprecate any criticism of the USSR on_
the ground that it "plays into the hands of the Tories," but on the other
hand the Tories seem to be the most pro-Russian of the lot. From the
point of view of the M. 0.
I.
and the B. B. C. the only two people who
are completely sacrosanct are Stalin and Franco. I imagine that the Rus–
sians themselves regard the Tories as their real friends in this country.
It may possibly be of some significance that the Soviet press recently
made a sharp attack on a group of very Russophile leftwing M .P.'s who
had made the suggestion that the flying bombs were manufactured in
Spain. These M.P.'s included D. N . Pritt, the alleged ."underground"
Communist who has been perhaps the most effective pro-Soviet publicist
in this country.
Common Wealth continues to score impressive votes at by-elec–
tions but is not gaining much in membership and seems to be less and
less definite in its policy. It is not even certain whether it intends, as
previously advertised, to fight
150
seats at the forthcoming general elec–
tion, or simply to make local arrangements with acceptable Labour can–
didates. People inside the party complain that it is infested by middling
business-men of the "managerial" type who are resigned to a centralised
economy and foresee good pickings in it for themselves. The Com–
munists, who for a short period were opposing the Government and even
collaborated with Common Wealth at one or two elections, seem to be
swinging to the support of the Conservatives. There have been some
faint indications that attempts may be made to revive the almost-extinct
