388 A Short History of the Middle East
changed by the Russians' support of the partition of Palestine
and their apparent solicitude for the embryonic Jewish State. The
changes of Soviet policy are apt to be so abrupt and radical that
the Zionists are liable to be dropped as soon as they have fulfilled
their purpose in the devious tactics of Soviet foreign policy.
Meanwhile, it is probable that the U.S.S.R. has lost a considerable
proportion of its support in Arab left-wing circles, which are in
general just as anti-Zionist as the rest of politically-niinded Arabs;
and even if (or when) Soviet policy is subsequently reversed, it
will be some time before the loss of confidence can be repaired.
This gives the U.S.A. and Britain a short respite in which to assist
and encourage Middle Eastern governments to develop their
economies for the benefit of the mass of the population. Not that
the financing of ambitious plans is an infallible or short-term
instrument of economic and social betterment, since 'sums of
money starting on a highroad with a definite journey's end in view
have a nimble trick of slipping into by-ways'1 in the Middle East.
, The longer-term goal is the orderly and evolutionary extension
> of economic and political power from the present narrow ruling-
class to a much wider cross-section of the population, with the
5 urban and rural masses being fittingly educated to fill a more con-
structive role in the economic life of their communities, and
eventually to assist in shaping their political future also. But the
process of social change by evolutionary means is inevitably a slow
one: Lewis Mumford likens it to "a geological process of leaching
and displacement'2; and to accelerate it by impulsion from outside
is liable to produce reactions disadvantageous to the impelling
Power. Never perhaps has either the American or the British
government been required to display a more delicate combin-
ation of sensitive understanding, firmness and suppleness of pur-
pose, and tactful handling of personalities, than the situation in
the Middle East will demand in the years to come.
In the longer perspective, however, nothing would be more
erroneous than to suppose that the development of an economy,
the improvement of a social system, the spread of democracy or of
socialism, or any combination of these things, will of itself radic-
,ally improve the condition of man, in the Middle East or else-
where. After some three centuries of increasing complacency in
1 Times Tehran correspondent, 11 July 1947.
2 The Condition of Man (1944), 335.