THE TABLET June 29th. 1957. VOL. 209. No. 6110
TH E TABLET
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW
Published as a Newspaper
Pro Eedesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria
FOUNDED IN 1840
JUNE 29th, 1957
N1NEPENCE
Communism Without Moscow : 'M ao Tse-tung as the W orld’s Chief M arxist
Rome in June : The Polish Cardinal, and Other Matters. By Douglas WoodrulT
The Student Rising : An Historical Enquiry. By Bela Menczer
A Church Failtastick : The Cao-Daiists of Viet-Nam
Greyfriars, Oxford : The Capuchin Hall. By F a th er Peter, O.F.M .Cap.
'"The Tichborne Claimant ’ : Reviewed by Sir Compton Mackenzie
Portrait of Grenada: A New West Indian Diocese. By Dominic Devas, O.F.M.
Critics’ Columns : Notebook : Book Reviews : Letters : Chess
THE NEW COMMONWEALTH
'T 'H E presence of Dr. Nkrumah at the Commonwealth where a lifetime ago the creditor Powers would have inter-*• Conference and the absence of Mr. Bandaranaike, vened in a way that has ceased to be politically possible. because of internal preoccupations in Ceylon, both emphasise the changing character of the Commonwealth. As new countries emerge, the great question that emerges with them is whether the statesmen who lead them, because they led them to independence, can keep independence at the point at which they like it. Both Dr. Nkrumah and Mr. Bandaranaike will find in membership of the Commonwealth a certain guarantee against that fragmentation which in great countries like India or small ones like Ghana is always latent, to show that independence can be won against those who have won their independence from Britain. The unity of the subcontinent of India is the result of the British Raj. It is is in no way inherent in the compo|ition of the peoples of India and their races and creeds, *.syid in the case of Pakistan it was not even attempted to
The world will be full of little sovereign States who dare not practise liberal economic policies because their revenues are too precariously dependent on a few industries which they must try to protect or a few commodities which they must try to keep valuable. There is a striking contrast between the political movement of our time, which is towards the multiplication of sovereign bodies, and the economic movement, which is towards the larger groupings which are only effective in proportion as their members waive their sovereign rights for the sake of access to larger markets, with all the advantages that mass markets can give.
preserve it.
Wc should be sorry to see the multiplication of political entities in Asia, if only because separate Governments are expensive luxuries for exceedingly poor peoples. But none of these new Premiers can expect to escape the challenge of those who still want to force the pace of separation. They are on the defensive in maintaining the Commonwealth connection, and will continue to remain so. Yet they have a wealth of solid argument in the greater credit they can expect to enjoy, especially in the London market, for membership of the Commonwealth is itself a proof of level-headedness and moderation, reassuring to investors.
It becomes increasingly clear every day that the next decades are going to see the demand for capital everywhere growing faster than capital is allowed under modern conditions to accumulate ; and the disappointed countries will be the bad-risk countries. It is an unexpected by-product of the United Nations that there is now more and not less risk of gross internal mismanagement of a country proceeding unchecked under the protection of its sovereignty,
The thirst for ever more capital comes from the universal desire to industrialise, which always means also the desire to find export markets for manufactures; and the new Commonwealth countries, which may find the British connection useful for obtaining capital, are less likely to find it helps them when they come to market the things the capital has enabled them to make. In the mercantilist period colonies could be kept forcibly as markets for the manufactures of their mother country and as sources of cheap raw materials. Even in the liberal era the complementary picture remained true for a long time; the colonies wanted manufactures in exchange for raw materials and food. It is because that rough equation is becoming less of a reality with every decade that the attempt to treat the Commonwealth as a natural trading unit has less and less cogency. Great Britain lives by quality exports which need the large markets of the relatively rich countries.
Mr. Macmillan will not find much opposition from the Commonwealth to his plans to make a free-trade area with Western Europe, largely because all the Commonwealth countries are anxious to safeguard their own right to make what trading arrangements will suit their people best.
