Soft & Hard, Pink & Red

Britain's new Prime Minister Harold Macmillan prides himself on being a blunt man, and he was blunt when he addressed a Conservative Party political rally at Leicester last week. Said he: "There is no difference between Socialism and Communism, except this: Socialism is soft, Communism is hard; Socialism is pink, Communism is red. Socialism gets you down bit by bit by a kind of anesthetic process. It might be called mercy killing. Communism just knocks you in the head."

The Tories cheered; Laborites replied that anyone who thinks that Gaitskell and Mollet differ from Stalin and Khrushchev only in degree is obviously suffering from the strain of overwork. In two by-elections last week, the voters gave their own reading of the political quarreling. The Tories managed to hold two seats in Newcastle-on-Tyne and Becken-ham, but in both cases suffered a loss of votes to the Socialists. In Newcastle-on-Tyne the Tory percentage dropped by 3 1/2%, in Beckenham by 6%. In all, the Tories have suffered losses or reduced percentages in every by-election since Suez, and since Macmillan succeeded Anthony Eden.

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