BRITISH SOCIALIST ILL-FARE STATE

by Cecil Palmer ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

An unmitigated and seemingly endless diatribe against socialism, written for the most part during the six year tenure of the Labor Party in Britain. Writing, he says, for the Libertarian cause, the author denounces the Welfare State as a ""political snare"" and a ""social delusion"", as an instrument of progressive totalitarianism, under which the individual ultimately becomes the object of the state. Mr. Palmer points out how already lives are circumscribed by state controls, how the socialist government cannot exist with the concepts and practices of liberty and freedom. He discusses the fate of medicine, industry, trade unionism, the cost of living, food, education, and housing under direction of the Labor government, condemning the socialists for Britain's economic distress by unnecessary imports and outlandish expenditures paid for by the taxes of the minority. He sees the socialists as small men mad for power and socialism as ""Communism in adolescence"". An undercurrent of the book is his concurrent distrust of democracy. His identification of private property with individual liberty and leaning toward leadership by the uncommon man suggests his political stand. Mr. Palmer concludes his denunciation with an obtuse and superficial discussion as to possibilities of America's saving civilization which one wonders whether to take seriously. He appends a brief on the potentials of the 1951 election. From the American market angle, this book seems ill-timed, and the facts used to illustrate his theses, which would certainly deserve some attention in themselves, become clouded over by the violence of his attack.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Caxton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1952

Categories: NONFICTION