Book Review: For all Mankind
| Author | S. Mack Eastman |
| Published date | 01 September 1947 |
| Date | 01 September 1947 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070204700200311 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book
Reziews
should
be
most
helpful
since
it
enables
one
to
view
the
problem
as
a
whole,
as
well
as
each
particular
aspect in its
proper
perspective.
In
Eggleston's
opinion
the
deadlock
in Dominion-Provincial
relations
must
be
broken and
the
"fatal
disparity
between
constitutional
authority
and
fiscal
capacity"
must
be
resolved
unless
we
want
to
face
a
recurrence
of
the
"constitutional
paralysis
of
the
'30s."
The
solution may
lie
in
a
return
to
the
aims
and
intentions
of
the
Fathers
of
Confederation,
rather
-than
in
any fundamental
change
in
the
constitution
or
in
any
centraliza-
tion
which would
deprive
the
provinces
of
their
liberty
of
action.
Those
intentions
were
the
establishment
of
a
"strong federal
union
with
most
of
the
advantages
of a
legislative union,
in
that
there
would
be
no
question
about
the
supremacy
and
power
of
the
central
govern-
ment"
and
that
eventually
through
the
experiences
of
living
together,
there
would
be
a
merger into
a
legislative
union. However,
as
Eggleston
points out,
relations
between
the
federal
and
provincial governments
were
not
determined
by
"intentions"
but
by
the
division
of
powers
written
into
the
B.N.A.
Act.
In addition,
actual
events
have
produced
further
modifications
through
decisions
handed
down
by
the
courts
interpreting the
Act,
and
through
new
attitudes
towards political,
social,
economic,
and
fiscal
developments.
This
book
fills
a
significant
gap
in
the
literature
of
Dominion-
Provincial
relations, although
it
is
unfortunate
that
it
was
not
published
after
more
recent
developments when
it
might
have
closed
on
a
more
encouraging
note.
Toronto,
March
1947.
J.
E.
Potts
FOR ALL
MANKIND.
By
Leon
Blum.
1946.
(New
York:
Viking.
Toronto: Macmillan.
186pp.
$3.00,
members
$2.50)
The
brilliant
achievements
of
L6on
Blum's
recent transitional
cabinet
lend added
interest
to
this
series
of
political
and
moral
discourses,
composed
chiefly
during
1941
in
chilly Vichy prisons.
The
Socialist
leader's
prose
is
dignified
and
learned
(reminiscent
of
his
master,
Jaur~s),
moving in
leisurely
periods
towards
a
frank
and
fearless
interpretation
of
his country's
tragedy,
appraising
the
respective
responsibilities
of
a
high command
resting
on
its laurels,
of a
conserva-
tive and
lethargic
bourgeoisie,
of
the
individualism
or
"personalism"
of
parliamentarians,
of
a
Civil
Service
less
virtuous
than
of
yore,
and
even
of
sections
of
the
Socialist
Party
and
the
trades-unions
abandoning
healthy
patriotism
for
a
non-resisting
pacifism
or
a Moscow-directed
Communism.
Undaunted
by
adversity
and
confident
of
the
future,
-the
veteran
philosopher-statesman
launches
a
passionate
appeal
to
French
youth for
the
purification
and
rejuvenation
of
democracy
and the
final
realization
of
social
justice
within
a
revivified
State
incorporated
into
a
sovereign
world-organization
founded
upon
concepts
of
human equality.
A
typically
French
censor
morum
and
social
idealist,
LCon
Blum
con-
centrates
his
criticism
almost exclusively
upon
internal
weaknesses,
largely
ignoring
external
environment
and
even
the
obviously
debilitating
265
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