A VIEW FROM ENGLAND
Lewis Coser
Writing from Britain, I may be more acutely aware of the
European crisis than I would be on the continent or back home . The
symptoms of that crisis are more pronounced here than elsewhere ,
but the underlying sickness seems to be general.
"What do you think? What do you think about England, this
country of ours where no one is well?" asked W.H . Auden in
The
Orators
in 1932 . The poem was published at the bottom of the Great
Depression when decline and decay were plain to see all over the
urban and industrial landscape . This time around, the crisis is less
visible even though unemployment rates are highest since the
thirties, many empty storefronts can be seen on London's Oxford
Street , and the British GNP translated into wealth per capita of the
population, formerly near the top of the European community, has
slipped toward the bottom, with only Italy and Ireland below.
The mood of the people one meets seems to swing rapidly from
dyspepsia and depression to a kind of feverish gaiety. c.P. Snow's
Cambridge dons now serve tiny glasses of sherry or pints of Lager;
the liberal flow of Scotch of yesteryear has all but ceased . Yet they
also talk enthusiastically of forthcoming vacations in Italy and Spain ,
though in tones that suggest they may be permitting themselves a last
fling before it is too late . The unions, in a fine gesture of solidarity,
decided on a boycott of Spanish goods after the recent beastliness of
the Spanish dictatorship, but they already seem to have had second
thoughts when they realized that such gestures might endanger the
cut-rate holiday excursions to the Spanish seacoast that have become
routine for the better-paid union members. Yet even the union
