Demolishing Dogma

THE CONSERVATIVE ENEMY (251 pp.) --C.A.R. Crosland--Schocken ($4.95).

Many British socialists are profoundly put out. In today's affluent society, working-class people seem to care less and less about socialism. But one socialist, Labor M.P. Anthony Crosland, 44, could not be happier: "I rejoice [in the affluent society] as the most beneficial social development in world history; and I detest the grudging reaction of those who have never themselves known poverty . . . Why, the moment that the workers acquire the cars, the holidays and the gadgets which the critics have been enjoying all their lives, should they be condemned as 'fatty' and 'degenerate'?"

This piece of heresy is nothing new from Crosland, who infuriates socialists by demolishing party dogma. In these engaging essays Crosland leaves very little dogma standing. His own socialist credentials are not in doubt; among other things, he favors nationalizing all British land, if necessary, to stop the spread of urban blight. But he appreciates the modern "mixed" economy and even has some good words for capitalism. He charges, in fact, that the "Conservative Enemy" is not just the Tory opposition, but also the doctrinaire socialist leftists of his own party who have failed to keep up with the changing times.

The New Villain. The left traditionally wants to abolish economic inequality, writes Crosland, but some inequalities are necessary for an economy to function. People need incentives to produce, no matter whether they live under capitalism, socialism or Communism; hence different rates of pay are a necessity. Socialists argue that top executives earn too much in Britain; but if their incomes were much less, writes Crosland, they would emigrate to another country. According to standard socialist doctrine, this would not matter; any amateurs can take over their jobs. But the results, Crosland points out, are usually disastrous. The cure for England's economic inequality is not to impair production but to educate more people. Then the price of talent will drop, and incomes will even out.

Too many socialists are convinced that the mass media are corrupting the masses. "The Madison Avenue executive," writes Crosland, "has succeeded to the allegorical role of villain previously played by the Finance Capitalist, the Oil Magnate or the Armaments King." But Crosland finds no evidence that people are unhealthily swayed by advertising: "We have had many examples of new tastes spreading by word of mouth and informal fashion leadership without any help from the advertisers--coffee-bars, skiffle, beards, Scrabble, pep pills, French cooking . . . and even the Liberal Party."

The Old Cause. Socialists complain that there are no longer any great issues separating the left from the right. But this is a convergence to be welcomed, argues Crosland. Democracy functions well when parties battle over concrete issues such as pensions or taxation. "It is an illusion of some intellectuals," he writes, "to think the public will grow dangerously apathetic unless presented with starkly opposed alternatives." Socialism can prosper, he concludes, without "a Cause, a militant Battle Cry, an ecstatic Struggle against prodigious evil."

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