New Left Review I/16, July-August 1962

Thomas Balogh

Post War Britain and the Common Market

If in the affairs of a man or a nation a time comes when all possible choices appear distasteful or fraught with grave danger, it is useful, indeed essential, to reflect on how one got into the embarrassment. Past choices, past mistakes, may well illuminate the problem more clearly than arguments about the present, for they will show the often unstated premises which brought the situation where it is. In the history of this country the choice, which is now after much prevarication more and more openly admitted, between entry into the Common Market and maintaining even a semblance of a cohesive Commonwealth (beyond Royal visits), is as grave as any. It seems the catastrophic end of disastrous policies. If not remedied, I feel confident that the choice, however it may fall, will lead to further discomfiture and decline.

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