sive issue. ence.
The open alliance of these 'lefts' was designed to present an aura of unity, and they were put up to argue for policies that the right-wing leaders would have found far more difficult to sell.
Nor did Wilson actually lack support from Benn despite his Attlee inspired rhetoric on the Wednesday - a strange source of inspiration for socialism. Alter making generat points about the need for socialism, always a sure-fire winner at a Labour Party Conference, he made one practical point. He paid tribute to the trade union leaders for endorsing the E6 pay limit, which Benn in the midst of his enthusiasm for socialism perhaps (?) forgot was reducing the value of real wages. He also urged Conference to vote down proposais on namonausanion.
'LEFT' COVER
Later on TV he stressed his loyalty to the Wilson Government, glossing over Labour's anti-working class policies and providing the grateful Wilson with another "left" cover.
Even Mikardo, who disassociated himself from the Wilson-Jones policies, took great care to do unis at une aroune meeting - al ways a good place to reveal bleeding hearts and 'left' consciences. His attack is to be welcomed; but like the other Tribune MPs, Mikardo has not associated himself with any of the workers' struggles against the Healey pay laws. In fact he presented the Labour Party Manifesto as the alternative to the Wilson-Jones policies. Unfortunately for Mikardo, When the Labour leaders clambered into their first-class compartments on the trains home from Blackpool last week they wore the smug expressions of contented bureaucrats. The Annual Conference nad supported their policies on nearly every deciEx-darling of the left', Employment Minister Michael Foot, had employed his nypocritical oratory to pull Conference behind the Government's policies. Jack Jones, another erstwhile 'left', nad marshalled the block vote behind Wilson. The Government's policies - which mean lowered living standards, fewer jobs, less homes homes and bigger cuts still in the social services - nad been sanctioned by Conferthe cornerstone of the Manifesto is the social contract, the brainchild of these very same The outburst from the Social Democratic Alliance against 11 members of the National Executive for identifying themselves with the Communist cause had been dealt with effectively.
Jenkins and Shirley Williams to cut out these attacks or he will lose their support.
The all-important image of unity" must be preserved in order to go for the activists who want more revolutionary policies. Wilson wants to deal with the revolutionaries now and come back to the Tribunites later.
The SDA witch-hunt, he fears, could have the effect of uniting the Tribunites with the 'extremists' - and that is the last thing he wants.
After delivering a side swipe at the SDA, Wilson's main complaint in his Tuesday speech was 'that too many constituency parties were being dominated through apathy or infiltration by the left-wing extremists.
To put the effective seal on their bureaucratic domination, the right-wing ensured that the more 'dangerous and divisive' issues were not put to Conference. resolution on abortion was removed from the agenda. was ditched. The Transport House compositing machine also made sure that the issue of Ireland did not come before Conference.
NO STRATEGY But all was not as it appeared on the surface. The unceremonious bundling off of Healey from the executive, and his replaceal of troops from Ireland. plement 'socialist' policies.
Prentice has been told by Roy Wing class.
The Dulwich The York resolution on Portugal the Conference. wing representative, has nowretired and been replaced by Emlyn Williams, who is part of the NUM left wing. Both these elections are steps forward, but the question remains -have the lefts' any intention of using their position to fight the present leadership?
What is glaringly apparent, and this stood out like a sore thumb at the Conference, is the total lack of any coherent strategy by the "left" in the fight against the right wing. Ins is illustrated in the attitude of supporters of the Militant, which is the most influential of the far left currents inside the Labour Party.
Despite the fact that they had a whole ser- ment. ies of resolutions on the economy from diverse Labour Parties, they had not put down one single resolution calling for the withdrawTheir resolutions -many of which took formally correct positions - singularly failed to suggest any concrete action which could be taken to fight Wilson. Although taking positions to the left of the Tribunites, their solutions resolved into nothing more than one day winning a majority which would force the Government to imThis 'Marxian' Fabianism is disastrous. It limits the struggle simply to the narrow confines of the Constituency Labour Parties and the trade union apparatus, instead of choose. linking the Labour Parties and the trade unions with the mass struggles of the workSECTARIAN Although they supported the York resolution against Mario Soares, they restricted their opposition to its removal from the agenda simply by trying to move the reference back of Standing Orders. They would not join a picket of the Conference calling on the delegates to refuse to hear Soares. Nor were they prepared to hold joint meetings with other organisations to try to build up a broad opposition to Soares's presence at What confronts the Labour 'left is how to organise those forces which are defendng living standards and jobs. It has to face up to the fact that there have been movements built around the fight to release the Shrewsbury pickets. There is a Troops Out Campaign. The issue of women's liberation and the question of the Abortion Bill have attracted thousands of women into activity. Whilst the Labour leaders are conniving with international capitalism and its catspaw Mario Soares, a campaign of support for the Portuguese But such movements and issues hardly saw anathema to the right wing, who are determined to exclude any suggestion of independent working class activity from either Conference debate or Labour Party activity.
But if the left is to fight back it cannot afford to rely just on manoeuvres and resolutions. It has to involve itself with these social forces. It is these sections of the working class in struggle on a whole range of issues, which constitute the elements that can be grouped together to form the basis for challenging the right-wing domination of the labour moveBEGINNING Even those successful resolutions which did oppose the right wing will only gather dust in the filing cabinets at Smith Square unless a movement is built to force their implementa-tion and to sweep away the pro-capitalist leaders who will never put them into practice The present challenge to the right wing MPs.
of which Newham is an excellent first begin ning, cannot be maintained unless it wins the support of trade unionists, the homeless, the tenants in high-rented over-crowded accommo dation, and women who want the right to These people can only be won over to fighting the Prentices and the Tomneys when they see in practice that the labour movement supports their struggles and is on their side against wage cuts and the dole queue In drawing the balance sheet to date one must record that the 'left' have completely failed to do this. Some Constituency Labour Parties, certain individual MPs, and some of the trade union leaders have taken stands on particular issues. People like Syd Bidwell and Arthur Scargill have openly come out for the removal of the Wilson leadership. But there has not been a co-ordinated campaign throughout the paliamentary, trade union and constituency left to openly challenge that leadership and its policies.
There is an urgent and pressing need for such a campaign. If it is not mounted, the working class faces defeat and demoralisation and the way will be opened up for another long period of Tory rule.
UNITED CAMPAIGN A united campaign around the demands No to the £6 pay limit; for a sliding scale of wages and social expenditure; for free abortion on demand; against racism and fascism; for solidarity with the Portuguese and Spanish workers; for troops out of Ireland; and for an end to all conspiracy trials and repressive legislation - this could bring together people fighting on these issues. But more than that, it could and would inspire hundreds of thousands of other workers and militants to join in that fight. The power of the British working class could be turned effectively to smashing the capitalist counter-offensive and taking a big step towards a socialist solution.
The right-wing leaders successfully stage. managed last week's Conference, ably assisted by a number of the left' MPs and union leadBut the strength of that right wing rests on the shaky foundations of an ailing and chronically sick capitalism. The left forces in the labour movement can rest on the powerful undefeated forces of the working class. They have the most powerful weapon, and that weapon can remove both the Wilson leadership and the capitalist forces he represThe forging of working class unity in the next period around these types of demands is the most pressing task facing revolutionaries and all those other militants in the broad I lahour movement who nut the worker' in.