"That Is Their Strength"

TIME'S London bureau head, John Osborne, sent this summary of The Crisis:

The most terrible of human forces--fright--was abroad in Britain. The people were frightened, as Dunkirk, blitz and buzzbombs had never frightened them.

Politically, anything might have happened if a strong, vital alternative to the Labor Government had been at hand. But the Government was in no danger of falling; the blackout was even more of a catastrophe for the Conservative Party than it was for the Laborites. It was indeed the final evidence and confirmation of the catastrophe which the Conservatives have been undergoing for years.

The fact that the Tories had nothing to offer in The Crisis was evidence enough. The fact that Britons did not expect them to have anything to offer is more significant. When Tory Members of Parliament were asked what they proposed to do, the best answer was: "Wait until the people get their senses back." A factor of the Tory futility is that, to all effects, the Party is Winston Churchill--and last week he fiddled with tactics while the United Kingdom froze. If, as many Conservatives say, he is convinced that the people will summon him to power again, he has offered them nothing but himself on his own terms.

Something besides fright and disillusionment was abroad in Britain. This disaster gave neither call nor lift to the human spirit, as had Dunkirk and the bombs. But one quality of the people stood out: Britons blamed only Britons. Gone was the cloying tendency to blame everything on the war and bad luck. Britons looked to themselves as they had not for a long time. That is their strength, and it may be their salvation.

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