Anarchy 31/The spontaneous university

293

The spon­tan­eous uni­vers­ity

ALEXANDER TROCCHI

In a recent essay Arnold Wesker, con­cerned pre­cisely with the gulf be­tween art and pup­ular cul­ture and with the pos­si­bil­ity of re­inte­gra­tion refers to the threat­ened strike of 1919 and to a speech of Lloyd George. The strike could have brought down the gov­ern­ment. The Prime Min­is­ter said:

  … you will defeat us. But if you do so have you weighed the conse­quen­ces? The strike will be in defi­ance of the gov­ern­ment of the country and by its very suc­cess will pre­cip­it­ate a con­stitu­tional crisis of the first im­port­ance. For, if a force arises in the state which is stronger than the state itself, then it must be ready to take on the func­tions of the state. Gentle­men have you con­sidered, and if you have, are you ready?

The strikers, as we know, were not ready. Mr. Wesker com­ments: