The Soldier Looks Through the Beveridge Plan to a New World of Wider Loyalties

by Dr. H. W. Howes
MUCH has been said and writ ten about the Beveridge Report, and as a Civilian Lecturer to H.M. Forces 1 know that many soldiers have been thinking about Social Security.
At the outset I would like to make it clear that, so far as my information is concerned, the Report is not allowed to be discussed during the period devoted to A.B.C.A., although there seems to he no objection to the civilian lecture's who are qualified to speak upon the Beveridge Report to do so at times other than the A.B.C.A. hour, They are expected to deal with it objectively and impartially and not to make it a vehicle of political 'propaganda.
This means, in effect. that it is a good thing for men to he apprised of this attempt which is being made to deal with Freedom from Vv'ant. At all times civilian lecturers should be objective and impartial and there is no one more suspicious of attempts at propaganda than the mail or woman serving in the Forces. My recent experience shows that very few men have really troubled to study tac Report, and even in its simplitied feint thete has been little indication of a real attempt to obtain a sound grasp of the facts.
Adventure v. Security
Hov. et et, it is an interesting fact that, whereas social security was one of the keenest subjects of discussion some time ago, it is perhaps not so popular to-day. I think this is due to the fact that men have aeert action taking place with the 8th and 1st Armies, and are looking forward to the day when their training in this country will be translated into action. Therefore, there is perhaps more of the spirit of adventure, and, frankly, this is a good thing.
The war has to he won, but, knowing the interest in social security and economic reconstruction which is deep in the recesses of most men's minds, I feel that when they return they wit] be able to give, and will Main to give, considerable attention to these problems. The point I would make is that men have been trying to formulate, though vaguely, the kind of world they desire after the war, and this long before the Beveridge Report was issued.
If the Editor could giant me this space, which I know he cannot, I would personally enjoy giving some details of the "target for To-morrow " at which men are aiming; but this would take up about two or three articles before it was completed. and even then it would he sketchy ! Mean while, the tollowing points have been stated time and time again during my two-and-a-half years work with soldiers, airmen. and sailors.
Three Points
I. Every man has the right to work and wants it continuously. The most dreaded idea is going back on the dole, and if men feel that Mis is all that is offered them, then the present effort is hardly worth while.
2. A lust living wage should be paid. one which will allow a surplus or personal enjoyment and for saving. On file other hand, many have felt that the real solution—and here the
Beveridge Report helps would be for the State la be completely resamisible for et err. Man and woman in sickness and old age. One reason given to me, on ntore than one occasion, is that this would tend to make men comrades as being full citizens, with a feeling that class distinctions were being tackled along the right lines. Personal's', I believe that men Irate something which they are ever, more anxious about than social security, and that is the feeling that harriers which unnaturally and unfairly keep British citizens in watertight compartments must be abolished. Therefore, anything the State can do to promote comradeship after the war and a sense of community i3 to be welcomed.
3. Men do not want' palliatives. if there is any strong (.4M-ism I have heard of the Beveridge Report, it is that it ought to be placed wit/tin the framework of some major scheme of economic reconstruction: otherwise. sonic say, it is not a real cure for insecurity. I would emphasise , that 111051 /flea are manta, tthout obtaining a cure for our m onortik ills.
Extension of Loyalties Post-war reconstruction is, quite apart from the Beveridge Report, an increasingly popular subject with the men. They do not necessarily know what they want. but certain conditions have to be fulfilled. They desire class and above all the distinction moduced by motley to disappear, and they want to feel that they are citizens who can be proud of their country because it is doing the right thing in the right way.
The men realise that all purely artificial attempts at producing a community sense will fail, and the time has come, I think, to get back to the idea of the extension of loyalties, that is, from the individualin the family. through the locality io the group of free associations which we call the State. In other words. if someone will give us a lead back to first. principles, I believe there would be a very large measure of support among the men and women in uniform.