Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Article for Conservative Monthly News

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Source: Conservative Monthly News, September 1975
Editorial comments: Item listed by date of publication. The article was paraphrased in a press release (734/75) embargoed until 2000 31 August 1975.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 612
Themes: Conservatism, Foreign policy - theory and process, Science & technology, Society, Social security & welfare

THE SOCIETY WE SEEK

As Conservatives we have a strong philosophy on the society we seek. While we wrestle to prevent our society from changing beyond recognition into a Socialist state, this is the time to spell out our beliefs. We must not allow the immediate problems of politics to obstruct our search for the Britain that we know we can attain.

WE SEEK A FREE SOCIETY. That may sound trite. Not so. Freedom is not a right. To most of the world it is a luxury dreamed of, but not attained.

And who can say that freedom of speech, freedom from bullying, freedom from envy, freedom of choice, freedom of the market-place do not all seem to be diminishing in our society?

We believe that in a free society—in which the State is not forever interfering—we will obtain the greatest efficiency, prosperity, care and responsibility.

The State already takes 60p in every pound that Britain produces. We would seek a society where freedom from the encroaching power of the State in every walk of life was a high and conscious priority.

WE SEEK A MIXED SOCIETY. Individuals, not the machinery of State, set the pattern of our society. And individuals—55 million of them in Britain—can never be the same.

Our society must be an amalgam of their interests, permitting the maximum variation in its patchwork. “Do your own thing” is as much a tenet of Conservative philosophy as it is a modern catchphrase.

Private enterprise, from the big company to the self-employed shopkeeper, must be encouraged. Competition, diversity, a range of choice are as important in our society as a whole as the housewife finds them on the supermarket shelves.

WE SEEK A CARING SOCIETY. No matter how well we succeed there will always be those in need of help. Our society must be able to provide it generously and swiftly.

The welfare state has grown so large and indiscriminate that it is no longer able to give proper assistance to those most in need.

We seek a society where those in distress get full and detailed care from the state; but not one where grants and hand-outs are given round as a matter of right to those who neither need nor ask for them.

WE SEEK A MODERN SOCIETY. Great changes are certain over the next 10 years—many of them for the good. Our society should be receptive to new ideas, new technologies and the opportunities opened up by the startling progress of science and culture.

Our Britain should be exciting, adventurous, searching. I should like Britain—while preserving its traditional values—to be the most modern country in the world. We used to be. Progress must not pass us by.

It is tragic that when we should be wrestling with the problem of the 1980s, so much of our political [end p1] debate and our society seems stuck in the 1930s.

WE SEEK AN INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY. Britain has always played an active and responsible part in world affairs.

As the world grows a smaller place, our society must be increasingly aware of the world's problems and aspirations; they are ours.

We seek a society that the rest of the world will look up to and seek to imitate, a society that is a good neighbour not only to the Common Market, but to all our friends and allies—active, confident, helpful.

There never was a time when we could less afford to turn our back on the world.

WE SEEK A CONTINUING SOCIETY. Societies will always change; so indeed they should.

Our ancestors would have looked at modern Britain askance—and we find it hard to understand their intolerance and prejudices. But the success of Britain has been its continuity.

We seek a society where each generation feels that its labours and achievements can be passed on, where the sacrifice of a parent can benefit a child; a cohesive society, believing in itself and in its next generation.