TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/120390/1203002.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.9 KB | 125 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 66

A Legacy of Revolution


Thatcher radically transformed her country in ways that rank
her with Churchill as this century's greatest Prime Minister

By BRUCE W. NELAN -- Reported by William Mader/London


    Before she became Prime Minister in 1979 and for several
years after, Margaret Thatcher's great concern was that decades
of decline under omnipresent and meddlesome government might
have destroyed the British people's initiative. Her passionate
belief, she said, was that "free enterprise and competition are
the engines of prosperity." But she feared that even if her
Conservative government got rid of central planning, high
taxation and other obstacles to economic growth, there might be
no upsurge in response. "Supposing I put the ball at their feet,
and they don't kick it?" she mused. "That was the nightmare."

    The kick came with a resounding thump and set in motion a
profound reversal in national fortunes that became known as
Thatcherism. It is also rightly referred to as the Thatcher
Revolution because the leader of the Conservative Party was a
radical ideologue whose policies turned British society upside
down. In recognition of her 11 1/2 years in office and her
immense achievements, historians will inevitably rank her
alongside Winston Churchill as the greatest of this century's
British Prime Ministers.

    One of her most remarkable successes was challenging Edward
Heath for the party leadership in 1975 and winning. The Tory
inner circle then consisted mainly of consensus-minded
technocrats and clubby squires with no great regard for women.
Thatcher's victory surprised and unsettled the old boys so badly
that some columnists in London speculated last week that her
ouster was in part a settling of accounts.

    For many of the party grandees, including members of her
own Cabinets, her leadership must have felt like returning to
school: she often treated them as if they were errant pupils,
hectoring them and making decisions for them. Leaks from upper
levels of the party accused her of squelching Cabinet debate and
trying to impose a presidential-style system. The combative
Prime Minister put much of this down to male chauvinism, saying,
"When a woman is strong, she is strident. If a man is strong,
gosh, he's a good guy."

    More is written about that leadership style, however, than
about her undeniable substance. Like her good friend Ronald
Reagan, founder of his own ism, she grew up in a small town, the
daughter of a grocer and the inheritor of strong, traditional
values. She saw nothing but infamy in what she regarded as
socialism's sapping her country's strength. She determined to
give enervated Britain a good shake and force it to become an
economic and political world power once again. Arriving at 10
Downing Street, she embarked on policies that would encourage
self-reliance and reward hard work. Her vision, she said, was
"of a free, classless, open Britain."

    In the eight years of her first two terms, she broke the
suffocating power of the trade unions by slicing away at them
with restrictive legislation. She assumed tight control over the
money supply, deregulated industry, built a free market economy
and encouraged foreign investment. Believing personal wealth is
a worthy objective, she cut the basic rate of income tax from
33% to 25% and the top rate from 83% to 40%. To cap it off, she
sold to the public many of the enterprises postwar Labour
governments had nationalized.

    Prosperity, productivity and competitiveness returned to
Britain with the culture of enterprise. Almost 70% of homes now
belong to those who live in them, and 20% of adult Britons own
stock shares, up from just 7% in 1979. There is a price for
this, of course, and Britain pays it in the form of inflation,
currently at 10.9%; unemployment, at 6% and rising; and
disrepair in the social-safety net that Labour had so carefully
woven. Roads and railways are showing signs of neglect,
homelessness has visibly increased, and Thatcher's critics
charge that her kind of individualism implies greed and
selfishness.

    The final challenge to her position arose over a foreign
policy issue: Britain's role in the European Community. But
throughout the years, she benefited greatly from her skillful,
high-profile handling of international affairs. Her re-election
in 1983 was ensured by her unhesitating dispatch of British
forces to recapture the Falkland Islands from the Argentine
invaders.

    Reinvigorating the special relationship with the U.S., she
became Reagan's closest ally in placing new nuclear missiles in
Europe to counter Soviet deployments in the early 1980s. Moscow
christened her the Iron Lady, a title she savored. Playing an
intermediary role between the superpowers, she realized more
quickly than Reagan that Mikhail Gorbachev really meant it when
he called for the healing of Europe. She affixed her seal of
approval during a Gorbachev visit to England in late 1984,
before he became leader of the Soviet Union. "I like Mr.
Gorbachev," she said. "We can do business together."

    Thatcher relinquishes power this week, but her legacy is
firmly in place. Her potential Tory successors proudly describe
themselves as disciples of Thatcherism and pledge to continue
it. More impressive still is the opposition Labour Party's turn
from leftist economics and unilateral nuclear disarmament in the
past three years toward more centrist policies to compete with
Thatcherism at the polls. Even if Labour wins the next election,
the public will not allow it to reassemble the huge governmental
edifice Thatcher pulled down.

    Four years ago, Thatcher predicted, "I think, historically,
the term Thatcherism will be seen as a compliment." As the
proclaimed policies of her potential successors and the
opposition demonstrate, that has already come to pass.