A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT

Abstract

“SOMETHING to Look Forward To” is the title of an ingenious pamphlet by Lady Rhys Williams in which a new form of social contract is outlined, capable in her view of providing security and a fuller home life for the ordinary men and women of Great Britain “within the framework of our democratic constitution, and without destroying or even greatly altering the present organization of industry, finance, and the machinery of Government”, She does not agree with those who maintain that economic security for the worker is only possible subject to the nationalization of the chief sources of production. If it can be proved that, under private enterprise and the profit motive, the system which has prevailed and made Great Britain relatively rich in the past, it is possible to preserve liberty and to banish want, then it would be unwise, argues Lady Williams, to scrap this old system and substitute a new one which at best is bound to be a gamble. She offers such a proof and supports it with statistics. While it is possible to check her arithmetic-one error may be noted in the total under A(4) on p. 40- the fundamental figures on which her estimates of cost are based are given in the form of averages and it is not clear how these have been determined.