Europe a Nation
Machine of Government
Modernise Britain
Wage-Price Mechanism
Frontiers
Guerrilla Warfare
Spheres of Influence
Labour Crisis
Cheap Labour
Unemployment
Balance of Payments
Coming Crisis
Law and Order
Higher Forms
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Crisis and the way into Europe
 The
very severity of the coming crisis will bring a new clarity and sense
to a people whose finest qualities are always shown in emergency. It may
be thought that I desire this economic crisis to come, because I originally
staked my political life on the belief that it would occur in the end.
Yet I gave my whole life to the effort of ending the grinding misery of
poverty in my generation, and cannot therefore wish to see even a temporary
interruption of the affluent society for the present generation.
Probably the more advanced measures I believe to be ultimately necessary—notably
Europe a Nation—will not be accepted until the necessity arises
with the stimulus of crisis. Yet I have rebutted the suggestion I desire
this to occur; it is no more true of me than of the doctor who diagnoses
the need for an operation. It is my duty to state my opinion that more
drastic measures will be necessary, but I still may Lope to be proved
wrong in the view that so serious a crisis will happen. It would mean
a hard, tough time for all of us. No one but a fool will choose the hard
way if easier means are available. As for my personal position, I may
be forgiven the claim at this stage of my life to have been proved right
so often by subsequent events that I can now well afford with some content
to be proved wrong in this particular respect. Like everyone else, I would
rather continue in a happy life than have the barren satisfaction of being
proved right by adversity.
Nevertheless, it is clearly my duty to warn that we may come in the end
to a supreme national crisis, for the basic reason that this island will
not be able indefinitely to export nearly a third of its total production
in face of all the factors already discussed. Our long delay in entering
Europe and the missing of so many opportunities gives us no easy escape
from this situation. We shall certainly find the door of Europe closed
to us until we can produce real evidence that we enter as good Europeans
and not as American agents, and we may even then find considerable reluctance
to open the doors of institutions which have learnt to get along quite
well without us. We could have led to almost any conclusion in 1948, when
I first said Europe a Nation—France and Germany were then divided
and both looking to Britain for a new inspiration —now we stand
instead at the end of the queue.
It is possible that the result of so many errors and this long neglect
of action may finally produce such a crisis that Britain must live for
a short time on a siege economy, a system very close to that employed
in time of war. The period must be limited and the operation clearly defined.
I am convinced that our people would support such an effort as in time
of war, if they understood it was necessary both to get Britain on its
feet again and to secure its entry into Europe. The end would be not destruction,
but construction of the highest standard of life and the finest civilisation
we have ever known. In a grave crisis all purchasing power may have to
be frozen above the level necessary to give everyone just an adequate
standard of life; wages, profit, interest, rent and everything else, while
we sell the large surplus of our production thus created on foreign markets,
not only to pay for our essential imports but also to achieve our objective.
In this event we should be such a nuisance to other trading countries
that a good many doors would be open before long rather than allow the
process to continue. Britain can, if necessary, operate effectively not
by political withdrawal but by economic dynamism, and our impact on world
markets could then be considerable. One thing is clear: Britain will go
into Europe when this nation is awake and means to go there. We belong
there and no power on earth can stop us; also when we are truly Europeans
we shall be welcome. Naturally we do not want to do anything harmful to
others, but we should take vigorous action if necessary, rather than have
Britain go under. Strong will in leadership evoking the strong will latent
in the British people could in a relatively short time transform the European
and world situation. Our great people should always be gentler and more
patient than other peoples in trying to obtain our necessary ends by persuasion,
but should be firmest of all when gentleness will not work; when will,
strength, vigour are the need of the hour.
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