The establishment of the £30,000,000 merger company, in 1929, was carried a stage further in 1945 by turning it into a public utility corporation.

A further indication of the same change of attitude was the widely backed campaign led by Viscount Wolmer, at one time Asst. P.M.G., to take the Post Office or part of it out of the hands of the Civil Service. A memorial was sent to the Prime Minister in November, 1931, signed by about 200 M.P.’s, which urged re-organisation of the Post Office, and contained the following passage :– “Some of us may feel that a public utility company might be the best instrument for carrying out functions that are mainly commercial. Others of us believe that in recent years public opinion has watched with favour the evolution of special machinery for the conduct of essential national services on lines adapted in each case to the most efficient treatment of the particular problem in question” (Times, 25 November, 1931). Although the proposed change did not take place, it is by no means impossible that some such change may occur in the coming years.

What may we conclude from the various developments outlined in this Chapter? Firstly, that as a matter of history measures of nationalisation have been the work of Liberal and Tory Governments and not of Governments which were or claimed to be hostile to capitalism.

Secondly, that the capitalists themselves, both in their separate industrial groups and as a whole, have no deep-seated hostility to nationalisation. Subject to the preservation of their interests as receiver of property incomes they have always been prepared to consider nationalisation on suitable financial terms.

Thirdly, that the attitude of capitalist groups and capitalist governments is based simply on considerations of expediency, dictated by the circumstances of each case. The same group or government may support nationalisation of one service and oppose nationalisation of another, and may support at one period and oppose at another.

Fourthly, that though there is an undeniable tendency of capitalism towards monopoly and the elimination of competition, it is not possible to affirm that there is necessarily a permanent tendency towards strict nationalisation. While the idea of private monopoly was intolerable to the capitalists as a whole in the 19^th Century, later developments have made private monopolies practicable, and tolerable to the capitalists as a whole, provided that they are subjected to some degree of State regulation.

Fifthly and lastly, the various measures of nationalisation have never been caused by any desire on the part of the capitalists to curtail their own property interests for the benefit of the rest of the community, but have been brought about for all kinds of reasons (including military and strategic reasons), all of which are strictly in harmony with the maintenance of the capitalist system of society. When Mr. Churchill in a broadcast said : “There is a broadening field for State ownership and enterprise, especially in relation to monopolies of all kinds” (Times, 5 April, 1943), nobody imagines he, or the Tory party of which he is leader, contemplates abolishing or weakening the capitalist system of society.