THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE. JANUARY 24, 1943. 5 Who Are the Real Rulers of Britain? Who are the real rulers of Britain Professor Laski offers an answer to the question. He holds Common cannot avoid the conclusion that Professor Harold J. Laski, of the Uni- its essential purpose is the protection of versity of London, here offers an an- that the propertied class, not the masses, actually rule. the interests of private property in the swer. In next Sunday's Magazine means of production. Forty-four per cent Captain L. D. Gammans, Conservative of them are directors of public companies; member of Parliament, will take issue can, I think, be no doubt also that the old aristocracy, whose power in the first between them hold nearly 1,800 director- with Mr. Laski's point of view. ambit it covers is narrower than is place was based on the possession of land. ships. All important economic interests There are families like the Cecils, Stanleys are represented there-banks, insurance, By Harold J. Laski usually admitted. For the authority of and Churchills who, generation after gen- railways shiping, iron, steel, engineering, the tradition has been in considerable LONDON (By Wireless). part maintained because it is only in very eration, have helped shape the purposes textiles, electricity supply, coal, oil, tobac- HO are the real rulers of Britain? W recent times that the law which deter- of state power. There are elements pro- co, foodstuffs, newspapers and so forth. "The law which constitutes the mines the rights of property has become vided by landowners in the rural areas, The main banks, including the Bank of form of government," wrote descendants of the old squire-archy, who England, have their members, so have the in any serious measure a matter of de- Saint-Simon nearly a century and a half bate. The masses chose their rulers; but still dominate, in alliance with the influ- main insurance companies, railways, and ago, "is less important as it touches the they were selected from among men who ence of the Church, the life of the British so on. happiness of a people-far less-than the largely took for granted the idea that the countryside. There is the business com- law which constitutes property. It is the main lines of the property system were munity, a pyramid of interests at the apex N the Ministry of Food, the big trade law of property which determines the real part of a fixed order of nature. of which stands finance, great corpora- associations are employed by the govern- character of a people." tions, whether manufacturing or commer- That meant, in essence, two, things. ment as agents in handling the distribu- We shrink from the truth implied in cial; and peripheral to them, but taking It meant, first, that the main character tion of foodstuffs. An eminent cotton Saint-Simon's aphorism just as we shrink the main character of their outlook from of social and economic legislation should spinner is Director of Civilian Clothing; from facing the grim realities implied in not overpass the boundaries of that action purposes in large part given by the char- the Petroleum Board is composed of ex- Machiavelli's philosophy of power. Britain acter of the property system. There is which is required by the nature of the ecutives of the large petrol combines, and is a country of universal suffrage; the the professional community, lawyers, en- property system. There could be conces- regional boards of the Ministry of Produc- masses choose their own rulers. We argue sions to the masses; there could be im- gineers, doctors, architects and higher civil tion are so wholly staffed by chairmen from this that the government of Britain service. As these are successful they tend provements in the standard of life. But representative of big business as to evoke is a democracy. We draw attention to the increasingly to accept the half-conscious neither one nor the other must touch by ironical comment on their composition freedoms enjoyed by the people-religious philosophy of the landowner and capitalist, its consequences the imminent logic of when Mr. Lyttelton announced their freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of to make their premises of action those names in the House of Commons. the system. And in order that the boun- which will not disturb the confidence of association. We emphasize-we are en- I do not for one moment doubt the will daries should be safeguarded against in- titled to emphasize-the remarkable de- the ruling class in the power of the sys- of those who direct this immense machine vasion it meant that all the vital controls gree to which even in a period of extreme tem to remain a going concern. to win the war. That was, I think, proved of State power should remain in the hands crisis they have been maintained. We say, of the propertied class or their representa- by their abtitude-above all, by Mr. I think quite fairly, that in no country in tives. They were, in fact, the real rulers POLITICALLY the ruling class ex- Churchill's attitude-in the year when the world has the tradition of political Britain stood alone. I do not doubt either of Britain. presses its purpose through the Conserva- freedom been more constant and more A long and complex history has, of tive party; and it is through the skill and the anxiety of politicians and industrial- ists in this massive combination to maxi- profound. For more than two centuries course, gone to the making of this situa- insight with which this party maintains its now all our political differences have been tion. The ruling class of Britain is not hold upon the masses that delicate equilib- mize war output. As a system it is never- theless fair to make three comments upon settled by discussion. Compare that rec- a simple thing. It is a fusion of interests rium of a capitalist democracy is kept in it. ord with the history of France, Germany, brought about by three centuries of stress balance. It must give enough to the Russia or even of the United States-in and strain, during which alliances have Firstly, it is directed overwhelmingly by masses to prevent a shock to that equilib- men who think out of their experience in- whose life the impact of the Civil War can been made and broken according to the rium from below, without ever giving so swaying needs of battle. But if we take evitably in terms limited by the status still be traced-and British tradition much that the privilege associated with it in its present phase, the main elements quo which they have inherited and con- emerges strengthened by the comparison. in that ruling class can be distinguished the ownership is in jeopardy. trolled. There can be no serious doubt that this with some certainty. Any one who analyzes the composition Secondly, it is overwhelmingly adminis- British tradition of political freedom is on There is the element provided by the of the Conservative party in the House of tered by interests Continued on Page 32) any showing a remarkable one. But there