The old couple are in a very pessimistic mood, politically speaking. The latest events have consolidated their belief that England and France are in steep decline. France has already become a minor power, and England has embarked upon the road that will reduce it to the same status. In a historical perspective, the great dispute about the advantages of capitalism and socialism will be resolved through the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States. England will quit the scene as a possible rival much earlier. As for the fascist states, such as Germany and Italy, the Webbs dismiss the possibility of their return to bourgeois democracy, but they do not exclude the possibility that they will develop into communist powers. Organizationally, and in part also mentally, they are better equipped to turn to Soviet planned economy than to capitalist anarchy.

The Webbs take a gloomy view of Britain’s immediate prospects. Chamberlain will hold out until the next election, which will return the Conservatives to power. However, when I told them about Chamberlain’s plans for a colonial deal with Hitler, of which they knew very little, the old couple came to the surprising conclusion that the Conservative Party as a whole would not accept it, that a split in its ranks would be inevitable, and that it could all end in an Eden–Churchill cabinet coming to power.