[page 7]
Perspectives for Britain EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was written in October, 1968, republishing it here in its original form because we believe that it retains its relevance as an analysis in Marxist terms of the long-term crisis of British capitalism, its One of the most striking features of the last epoch since the Second World War has been the steady attrition of the power of British capitalism American imperialism and the mighty Russian bureaucracy it has been out- Even in relation to its lesser rivals, France, Germany, Japan between the former might of the unchallenged world power and its present Only very reluctantly has British capitalism been induced to accept a lesser role. The bankruptcy of the power of British capitalism has been partly due to the terrible mis-calculation of trying to keep up in the first division (militarily) with American imperialism and Russia instead of accepting relegation to that of a secondary national power. been a series of defeats which has now extended over many decades. British imperialism was the first imperialist power to understand the impossibility of maintaining direct control over the Empire. Tory and Labour Governments step by step they retreated to indirect and economic means to try to maintain their former domination. Meanwhile, in spite of the sad recognition of her changed role, arms expenditure has still continued to rise even if more slowly than in the past. This expenditure remains as a dead weight on the British economy• The Wilson Government, perhaps even more than the Tory Governments of the past, has remained in the hands of the permanent officials of the Foreign Office, of the Treasury and of other departments. abandonment of the role of British imperialism East of Suez and in the Persian Gulf has been forced by the chronic crisis of British capitalism. effects Labour Movement.
on a world scale.
distanced.
by on class relations, and Italy, its power has drastically declined.
impotence and decay has been emphasised.
TED for the forerunner of M.I.R.
and the developments in the Year by year in relation to its mighty competitors, GRANT are In every field the distance The consequence has However, Both under The reluctant 5.
[page 8]
Wilson and the other Labour leaders have been compelled to swallow their are appealing to the jingo elements in the country and demanding the protection of the massive British investments in S.E. Asia and the Persian Gulf by continuing to maintain the bases in the area. In practice, even if they were in power they would be compelled to act in the same way as Wilson. The economic facts of life and the narrow shoulders of British imperialism are incapable of bearing the heavy burden of the military bases and of naval economic terms but in the collapse of British imperialism's naval supremacy. in the list of World Powers, that of America and that of Russia being twice Before the First World War British Imperialism's navy was equal to that of when Germany attempted to challenge this supremacy and ended with the First After the First World War at the Conference of 1920, Britain had to accept parity with America and a 5.5.3. ratio with Japan. meant the supremacy of America. Now since the Second World War Britain's navy has become second rate and can in not way challenge the mighty navies of Russia and America which have far outdistanced her. always explained, military and naval power is dependent on economic power. The vain endeavour to try and maintain the reverse has ended ignominiously In whatever direction British capitalism turns she finds herself thwarted, because of her weakness. From an imperial power she turned towards Europe once the relative success of the Common Market became apparent only to be contemptuously spurned by her former semi-satellite, The British diplomats have succeeded in getting the worst of all worlds. In politics there is no gratitude, and underlying all the failures has been the slow if relative decline of British capitalism in relation to The attempts of the labour leaders at the dictates of the City of London to maintain the value of the pound in relation to other currencies was determined not only by economic factors but also by considerations of wisp, under the guidance of the "experts" the State threatened to bankrupt itself and the measures of the Government resulted in economic standstill over a period of years; this at the expense of the living standards of the people. It further weakened British capitalism economically in fiery pre-1964 and post-election announcements.
power in these areas.
For three centuries Britannia ruled the waves.
as great. Britain's invulnerability as a sea the next three naval powers together; World War.
for British capitalism.
France.
and allies.
her former rivals prestige and power internationally.
6.
The decline can be graphically expressed not only in Britain's Decline Heath and the other leaders Now her navy is only third nad of power has long been ended.
the military race with Germany began This in reality As Marxists have In the pursuit of this will-o'-the-
[page 9]
Subsidies to industry under the Labour Government have reached fantastic levels, if to this is added the grants, taxation and deprecrecord levels. All the cherished shibboleths of reformism have been comparison with other powers and still did not prevent the second devalbeen the labour Government that has had to do the dirty work of British capitalism and incur the odium from the lower middle class and those sections of the population who invested small sums in "savings". Even in relation to the sterling bloc, which in part has endured since the '30s and was a weapon which British capitalism has used since the Second World War as a means of safeguarding her markets in India on sterling and a new devaluation where not British capitalism but outside "speculators" can call the tune, British capitalism has been forced to borrow yet another loan from international capital, and to attenuate defeat for the policies of the City of London and a loss of the financial pre-eminence which Britain has maintained for centuries. to hold on to all these different spheres of power has further aggravated the long-drawn crisis of British capitalism and the relative decay pre-eminence in all fields of British imperial grandeur, was too weak to been an interaction of these factors to the benefit of British industry, now the burdens were too great and, therefore, as in a "power failure" function of the sterling bloc and of the sterling balances in the event of a new run on the pound will be shared by foreign banks and foreign In the past period, more than even under the Tories in the past, the Government and the State have degenerated into a pliant tool of and finance capital with the State is a process which unfolds steadily. The monopolies are linked with the State and the State promotes monopoly for the purpose of "efficiency" and competition abroad. prevented the monopolies from becoming ever more parasitic and leaning on their "Mid-Term Manifesto" the Labour leaders wag the finger of admonition at finance-industrial capital - in the politest terms possible of course but demonstrate the complete parasitism of finance capital by pointing out that the super monopolies which in fact dominate the economy do not fulfil the function of taking "risks" which was fulfilled by capital in the past. The State provides the money for modernisation, the monopolies take the profits the labour leaders express the interdependence of the monopolies with the State far more than in the past. The Industrial Reorganisation iation allowances.
uation of the pound since the Second World War.
and Africa, the position is changing.
the role of sterling as a reserve currency.
of British industry.
stand the strain.
currencies.
finance and industrial capital.
the State for the finance The expense of industry to the State has reached The latter, which was the basis of the former And on the contrary, whereas in the past there had the British industrialists had to shed the load.
Fusion of the Monopolies with the State needed for necessary industrialisation.
Where there is a loss, that is the State's business. On each occasion it has In order to prevent a new run This in its turn means a The endeavour Thus part of the The fusion of State monopoly capital This has not Both the Tory and 7.
[page 10]
repeated here that one of the reasons for the endemic crisis of British capitalism lies in the massive import of manufactured goods which defeat British capitalism even in the home market, in spite of having, next to uing imbalance between imports and exports, Jenkins calculates that exports in 1969 will increase to such an extent that it will give a It is not impossible that this forecast will be realised. However, this will depend upon the expansion of world trade, and, of course, this is South East Asia, where a continuation of the Vietnam War would put the dollar in jeopardy and threaten to bring on a new financial crisis, is of less in control of world factors than at any other time in history. A new movement of the workers in France would precipitate a devaluation of the franc and in a chain reaction bring down the dollar and at the moment it would seem that the likely course of events would be in the direction of a continuation of the present upswing on a world and One of the outstanding features of the post-war period has been the continuation of the enormous export of capital. drained British industry by the same monopolies which dominate the This year, contemptuously brushing aside the Government restrictions on the export of capital, it is reaching record levels. period, having dissipated a great part of the resources invested overseas, they have now been built up to over £15,000 million, which, ever taking into account the depreciation of money, amounts to a record level, apart at one and the same time extends the economic power of the monopolies The parasitism of the monopolies is now complete. In exports, in in investment, in capital exports, they are inextricably intertwined with the State and the economy as a whole. polies with interlocking directorships with the banks and insurance giants have a greater grip over the economy than finance capital has giant with tentacles like an octupus spreads into every facet of national They now lay themselves open as a tempting target for national- The demand for the taking over of the commanding heights thus At the moment 50% of all investment in inaustry comes from the Government sector which now constitues only about 16% of the The more than 90% of productive manufacturing industry, including steel, in the hands of private capital, together with the dependent service industries, only succeed in investing the other half of Such is the parasitism and loss of function of the so-called America, the highest tariffs in the world.
course one of the factors in the situation.
the pound with it.
national scale.
economy on a national scale.
from America the highest in the world.
and aggravates the crisis at home.
subsidies, ever possessed in the past.
isation.
assumes concrete shape.
10.
in the country.
economy • the total.
entrepeneurs.
8.
favourable balance of trade of up to £600 million. dependent on political as well as economic factors. This in its turn could produce big movements of the working class which would have economic effects.
they have dwindled from over 600 to less than 300. From a position of contin- The situation in British capitalism is far But as things stand This has In the post-war This is one of the factors that The 300 mono- Within the space of less than a decade This interlocking
[page 11]
Wilson and the Government have more and more become the mouthpiece of "efficient", of large-scale organisation of industry, and thus inevitably Wilson's method has been that of changing the name of things in order to cover up the fact that there has been no change in In reality, the policies of the labour Government, like those of the Tory Government before it, have been dictated by "the needs of the economy". But the economy is a monopoly-ridden capitalist one, and therefore any policy is in reality dictated by the needs of Big Business. has to be a complete break with the policy of supporting Big Business and taking to the road of Marxist socialist policies or the road that has been taken by the Labour leaders, that of capitulation to finance capital. The "mistakes" of the Wilson Government have been the mistakes of the "experts", of the capitalist economists and of the professional advisers policies of reformism, of an "independent road" (i.e. independent of the class struggle), with the "government" laying down the law to the classes, who must collaborate for the benefit of all, have demonstrated their Wilson tried to play the role of a "national" leader and in doing so had to separate himself from the working class and put himself on the inevitable, and thus Wilson, with the policies mentioned above, in the early period secured the adulation of the capitalist press and the and the crisis of British capitalist power, forcibly revealed by the move towards devaluation, devalued Wilson in the eyes of the bourgeoisie. adulation, the Press passed to hysteria in their denunciation of Wilson's mistakes. In spite of the attacks on working class standards and the lavish concessions to the capitalist class, they tried to make Wilson a scapegoat for the disease of the system itself. At that stage they were even toying with the idea of a National Government, and even the forced resignation of Wilson, to bring forward as Prime Minister an even more right-wing figure such as Callaghan or Jenkins. up to the labour Party Conference of 1968, a systematic campaign has been ment has been kept in reserve, at the same time the attempt was made to switch Prime Ministers. This failed because it would have meant a split in the Parliamentary labour Party and the premature formation of a of Big Business.
policy.
There can be no middle road.
in the Civil Service, i.e. of the State machine.
futility.
standpoint of the bourgeoisie.
admiration of Big Business.
conducted to unseat Wilson.
The Capitalists and the Labour Government Either there The bankruptcy of the Class attitudes in a class society are The continued ailing of the British economy For a whole period While the suggestion of a National Govern- 11.
[page 12]
"national" government and the driving of the labour Movement to the left. Events at the TUC and the Labour Party Conferences have forced the spokesmen of Big Business to make a re-assessment of the situation. TUC and Labour Party Conferences, have been forced into opposition or semiopposition to the policies of the labour Government. Government's Prices and Incomes Policy, both at the TUC and, by an overwhelming majority of the Unions and the Constituency Parties at the LP Conference, are symptomatic of the situation that is developing. 1969 will see the biggest upsurge of industrial struggles, official and unofficial, involving a wide cross-section of the organised working class, since the war. Engineering, docks, transport workers, clerks, draughtsmen, building workers have all been involved in industrial struggle. The question of equal pay for women has also for the first time in at Ford's has triggered off a whole series of strikes. There has been the beginning of a swing to the left in the union the TUC and Labour Party Conferences, which showed a questioning and critical mood developing among the organised and active advanced sections However, it is again necessary to stress that this is the beginning of the ruling class recognise this process clearly and it could be seen once again in the changed attitude to Wilson in particular, and the right wing leaders in general. Thus a new revamping of the role of Wilson has taken place in the press. They have accepted that while the labour Government last, Wilson will necessarily remain as its leader. They do not wish to open the flood-gates to the militancy and embitterment of the working class by provoking conspiracies against Wilson. ing mood of political and industrial militancy, the labour leaders need The strategists of Big Business have to calculate whether it may not even be better if the economic situation continues to improve in 1969/70 to have a new Labour Government rather than a Conservative one. A Wilson-Jenkins "miracle" in the economic field, with secondary concessions to the working class, would, under these conditions, be better than a decades assumed a burning actuality.
branches and Constituency labour Parties.
of the Labour Movement.
not an active and swelling movement.
received any real organised expression.
of the beginning of the beginning.
especially a former "man of the left".
job than a National Government or the Tories.
12.
The The defeat of the The strike of the women workers A Swing to the Left This mood was reflected at At the present time, this is only a mood and Hence the fact that it has not The spokesmen and representatives With the develop- Wilson would be better for the
[page 13]
Tory Government faced with a radicalised and united and embattled working Thus they are preparing to refurbish the image of Wilson as a If the economy should continue to ascend, they would prefer a labour Government to hold down the developing industrial militancy The labour Government, without real economic slump as in 1929-31, is yet not "exposed" to the organised masses in the labour Movement the next 18 months to 2 years for the bourgeoisie, or rather its strategists, to the leaders of the Labour Government, through the mass media, thus showing that for the period of the life of the labour Government, they have accepted Wilson as the best labour leader they have got. It has always been necessary to understand the limitations of Conferences, whose decisions are distorted by a measure of selected and active workers in the Constituencies, the housewives and working people, have not got the time to follow in detail the processes and decisions of Even the delegates at the Conference are not completely clear Nevertheless, with all these limitations, the 3 million votes cast for the resolution from Liverpool of the Marxist left at the 1968 Conference, represents a modest success for the methods of Marxism, which has always tried uncompromisingly to put forward the issues in a clear fashion in the Trade Union branches, the CIPs, in the factories and among the youth. Une resolution, however, does not make a tendency, and while, delegations, there was a profound disquiet and uneasiness among the delegates, reflecting similar processes in the masses, there was not a sure and certain left current of thought. The basic impression left by the Conference was that of confusion in the minds of the delegates as to where On the one hand, they know what they do not want - the Yet in many areas discontent is already beginning to be expressed. Many rank-and-filers in the CLPs and the TU branches are looking for a Here and there even ultra-left ideas will be expressed as a gesture of despair. All these are portents of the coming developincapable of giving an impetus to the movement. On the contrary, their class.
national leader.
of the organised workers.
as not even completely to the active sections.
to decide on their tactics.
slanted publicity given Conference.
as to the processes taking place.
undoubtedly, both within the they were going.
policies of the policies.
way forward.
ments in the movement.
to its decisions.
Trade Union Delegations and within the CIP present administration; But what to do is not yet clear to them.
The so-called "lefts" are completely blind, and It depends on the events of What is clear is that they prefer to be "kind"
and they vaguely desire socialist 13.
[page 14]
programe is the backvardlooking one of going "torward" to the ineffect. reformist character of the programme, it was sheer utopianism to expect that in the eitostion of British capitation they could implement its Wilson and the other leadere did not abandon the programe out of wickedness, but because the programme was utopian under present day What was instructive, and a portent for the future, was the way in which a short but clear statement of a principled programme secured the massive support of the delegates, inelnding even the trade unton delegations - which showed the pressures seeping up through the ranks. This must have been somewhat of a shock to the purveyors of timid, muddled and watered-down resolutions among the so-called "lefts". Nevertheless, this must be taken in the context of the general level of consciousness of the working class and even of the active Great events, it is necessary to repeat, and the experience of mass movements, are still necessary to educate the masses. to be many great experiences - even for the gathering together of a leftreformist or centrist current, in which the ideas of Marxism will gather In the event of a new economic crisis - which is dependent on world developments - the attempt to impose new and harsh measures against the working class will provoke deep resentment and a tide of revolt - which will have broad echoes in the Parliamentary Tabout Party, especially in question of a National Government. We have had a dress rehearsal of a "mila" nature in the baying of the mass media against the Government at will provoke a split in the Parliamentary Party, and the going over of last National Government was formed more than a quarter of a century ago, and kas not the same connotations in the minds of the new generation as of the old. But it should be stressed that a National Government would only be a reserve weapon to be played reluctantly by the ruling class, electoral defeat on the labour Party; but it would undoubtedly push the Tabour Movement - and, in words, the top leaders of the Trade Unions and Ive programe of Wilson of 1964.
that they did not camy out this programmes conditions.
sections of the organised. movement itself.
mass support.
the Trade Union wing.
the time of devaluation.
the right wing openly to the Tories.
when other means have failed.
I wour sty Labour Party - far to the left.
34.
Their critteism of the leadership is Apart from the purely Future Storms There will have This in its turn would inevitably raise the Any serious national or international crisis It should be remembered that the Temporarily, it could inflict a crushing
[page 15]
If the economic situation improves in the immediate period ahead - and despite the pessimism of the industrialists (interested, of course, only in profit) - this seems the most likely course of events, then the possibility of a further period of office of a Labour Government cannot be excluded. The bourgeoisie is weighing up the mood of the workers, the strength of the Labour Movement, and the prospects after 1970. A Conservative Government facing the forces of the Trade Union movement, psychologically intact and moving to the left, would face great difficulties on the Defeated on the political plane, as the workers would And whereas the labour Government has succeeded in achieving greater results in holding the workers in check, and at the same time has given enormous concessions to the ruling class, it is not certain that the Conservatives could have a like success facing the forces of the workers Under such conditions a Conservative Government would face an entirely different situation than after 1951 and could only impose their solutions at the cost of a heightening of class tension, and of the class struggle splitting the "nation" openly into hostile camps. course, the bourgeoisie are also waiting on events to decide their tactics. For the moment they are extending to the Labour leaders a favourable image A new Labour Government would come to power with an entirely different attitude on the part of the workers than did the Labour Government of 1966. The attitude of the advanced sections of the movement, of the TUs and CLPs, is far more critical and watchful than it has been in the past. more censorious and "waiting on results" than the attitude of the workers in Then, on the basis of the new upsurge in production and of the nationalisations, the radicalisations of the working class was held in check. Now, on the new historical scale, events national and international will be piling one upon another, resulting in the radicalisation of the working class. the beginning. of the process of change in the consciousness of the advanced Labour workers has begun even under the present conditions, a new impetus will take place with a labour Government which does not deliver the goods. The process of radicalisation, of the hardening of the opposition of the flabby "lefts" in Parliament, and within even the top leadership of the trade period, but of open and harsh opposition to the measures of the This will of course be dependent on the economic and world situation. But the present curve of upward development within the framework of the world upswing will not last more than a few years, and will be followed at best by industrial field.
field.
virtually intact.
in the mass media.
1945.
unions, will proceed not in recent Government.
see it, by the renegacy of their leaders, a recession within this broad framework.
the guarded and polite tea-table manners of the they would turn to the industrial It is even If 15.
[page 16]
What is interesting at the same time is to observe the process in the From having been basically the party of Big Business but with the top leadership under the control of the patricians, it has become the part of Big Business now, even so far as the selection of the His mediocrity, his repellent image (which the mass media is trying to refurbish), his lack of impact - all this is a reflection of the bourgeoisie itself at the present period: a mirror which, of course, a great deal of noise, the Conservative Party has in reality nothing to The Labour Government has faithfully, if clumsily and stupidly, carried out the dictates of the capitalist class - much more effectively than a Conservative Government could have done under the same conditions. This has put the Conservatives in rather an embarrassing position. The Conservative victories at the by-elections and the Council elections have been by default of the labour voters, rather than by vative Party is no different to that of the labour leaders - with the difference that against the mass working class opposition they would find against the interest of the working class, in the teeth of the opposition of the labour movement, would provoke industrial upheavals, even possibly a But with the weakened condition of Britain, a new General Strike would have far more catastrophic consequences economically, politically and socialenormously strengthened working class, its results would be entirely different from the General Strike of 1926. Moreover, the white-collar workers now have an entirely different attitude than they had pre-war. Today, the bourgeoisie cannot even rely on the sons and daughters of the radicalisation among the students, which is as yet in its early beginnings. That is why the strategists of capital are as yet uncertain in which In the event of a Tory Government, the masses in the TU and labour Movement will swing massively to the left. its possition, the leadership will be compelled to put forward demagogic slogans, which in turn would feed the movement of the masses. isational differentiation within the Labour Movement might thereby be delayed to some extent: but only by engendering a wave of mass struggles against the Tory Government which would threaten to overwhelm them. Conservative Party.
top leadership is concerned.
bourgecisie.
the bourgeoisie regards with distaste.
"oppose".
enthusiasm for the Tory Party.
it difficult to apply.
new General Strike.
ly than the General Strike in France.
middle class and the ruling class themselves.
direction to turn.
16.
The Tories' Dilemma Heath is the personification of the British In actual practice, while making Basically, the programme of the Conser- Any attempt on their part to carry through measures With a new generation and with an This is evidenced by the To maintain The organ-
[page 17]
A new thirteen-year period of Tory rule seems to be ruled out by the situation on a world scale and the relationship of classes at home. a Tory Government would not be long lasting but would bring to power a Labour Government under aroused mass pressure from its inception. Meanwhile, from the point of view of later developments, the Powell-Sandys wing of the Tory Party is being kept in being, as a reserve weapon. not taking seriously most of the quaint and outmoded economic theories of Powell, at the same time the colour question is being kept in reserve, The tendency will be under these circumstances for the labour workers to move to the Left and sections of the politically backward middle class elements who support the Nabbaros, Sandys, Powells, etc. to move to the From the settled and tranquil Party of Big Business which the Tories have been for generations, they will become instead a party of received from a small section of the dissatisfied and economically threatened sections, traditionally Labour, in their attitude, such as the dockers and Smithfield porters, has been extensively exaggerated and puffed up by the Press and other means of moulding public opinion. Undoubtedly, many of the middle class layers that voted labour in disappointment and frustration will swing back to the Tories. stage, it is on this layer, that a strong right-wing Bonapartist or even Fascist Movement will be constructed. The Tory Party will find itself split from top to bottom in the social upheavals which lie ahead. The Communist Party in the post-war period has suffered one reverberations of events in the Stalinist States have inevitably te tested themselves in their ranks and at each stage caused a crisis. complete lack of theory, with the cynicism of the leadership, and degeneration of the organisation on Stalinist lines, they have been subject like all the Communist Parties in the metropolitan countries, to the pressure of capitalism, caused by the lengthy economic upswing which has taken place in the post-war period. Their influence among the masses has dropped even from the small share they had in pre-war days. Even in the Trade Unions, individual militants have secured support as militants not because of, but in spite of being members of the Communist The latest events in Czechoslovakia have again provoked a crisis Meanwhile, the entire basis of the Party has been changed. small percentage remain from the pre-war period or even the immediate post- The average member of the Communist Party today has no Right.
upheaval and splits.
staggering blow after the other.
Party.
within their ranks.
war period.
for use in the event of social crisis.
The Crisis of the "Communist" Party The support or the alleged support which Powell Dependent on Moscow in the past, the Thus, While At a later Only a 17.
[page 18]
greater understand of the basic Socialist theory than the average have pushed the Communist Party leadership even further on this road. longer under the direct domination of Moscow, with the leadership cynical, and sceptical of the power of the working class, they have inevitably fallen victim to the disease of reformism.. More skilled at deceiving the workers in their ranks than the labour leaders, nevertheless, association with Moscow, at this stage, has repelled the broad masses. Despite the enormous opportunities given by the crimes of the labour Government they have been completely incapable of making appreciable gains. At the same time, no longer having an anchor in the fanatical adherence of the membership to what they considered was the Soviet Union, (in reality the Soviety Bureaucracy), they have been cast adrift. From being a powerful means of maintaining the control of the rank-and-file, the link with Moscow has longer be rigidly held in control by the leadership, but is subject to the blows of events at home and abroad. They are far more subject to crisis by the wall of blood created by Stalin from the ideas of Marxism, and from the The leadership, purely empirical, is now at the mercy of The profound dissatisfaction within the rank-and-file at the antics of the so-called "Communists" in the West, and of the leadership at home, finds periodical outlet in the crisis which beset the Party. It is to be noticed that the swing to the left on the part of the delegates to the labour Party Conference, (despite the fact that the vote for the economic resolution referred to above, far to the left of the propaganda of the so-called Communist Party, received scant mention in the pages of the Morning Star or the other journals of the Communist Party,) nevertheless, forced a change of course on the part of the C.P. leadership. In articles, in material on the front page, and in headlines, for the first time in many years the idea of "Socialism" as a solution to the problems of the British workers is being put forward prominently not as a far off, remote and impractical solution, but as immediate policy. This in turn will produce further contradictions within the ranks of the Communist Party laying During the whole of the post-war period, the "Left" within the Labour Party has remained politically muddled and organisationally chaotic. has been nothing like the left-wing which sprang into existence after the First World War and during the First and Second Labour Governments. member of the labour Party.
the membership on to a nationalist policy.
become an embarrassment.
than the Stalinist Parties were in the past.
wind of events.
events.
them open to the genuine ideas of Marxism.
18.
The Mass Left Wing active Consequently, it has been possible to swing The events in Czechoslovakia No their This in its turn means that the membership can no No longer is the C.P. sheltered There It
[page 19]
has remained amorphous and rather a potential force than an organised The Bevanite movement, even at its height in the last period of the Labour Government (1945-51) and during the years of opposition to the Tories, never reached the stage of organisation or influence of the Clydeside Left, or of the I.I.P. It remained essentially as only a deeper shade of pink reformism than that of the official leadership. At no time did it have any mass influence within the rank-and-file of the Trade Unions. Even in the Constituencies, in which it had the undoubted support of a big section, if not the majority, its conclusions and ideas remained suspended Even at this stage, what is significant about the nascent Left is the support which it is receiving in the Trade Union Movement, and having its reflection even in the top delegations of the really mass unions, of the T. & GWU. and AEF, the NUR and many others; this when the process of the development of the left-wing is really in its early beginnings. there can be an organised left there has to be a movement of the masses All the seedbeds of revolt have been sown in the last period. But it required some disturbance for the shoots to break through over the protective shield established by the Transport House Bureaucracy. this comes about is, of course, dependent on the development of events to hold back living standards, an attempt to force through and apply anti- TU legislation, could provoke a mass movement of revolt in the Constit- Movements from below in their turn will provoke corresponding postures on the part of the TU leaders and MPs, and in their turn be Left, and will be transformed into a centrist organisation, under the hammerblows of events. In this case the extreme right would be vomited forth with the same effect as the neo-Socialist split in the Socialist Party in France in 1934-35. Here it is to be observed that the movement of the advanced elements is not the same thing as the movement of the sincere lefts in the TUs and IP are unclear as to how to achieve the The limitations of the left were clearly expressed at the Conference, which remains as a barometer of the processes within the sciousness of the organised active masses is on a higher level than ever into organised reality requires a movement of the masses themselves. one• in mid-air.
themselves.
nationally and internationally.
uencies and the TU branches.
reflected in the rank-and file.
a mass growth of the Left.
masses, though they are linked together.
of the aim of Socialism.
Movement • before in history.
The process, however, is a contradictory one.
But for this movement of opinion to be translated Before How Big strike movements, and any attempt From one event or another there will be It may be that the IP itself will move to the At the present time, the bulk In many ways the con- 19.
[page 20]
The failured of the policies of MacDonald in 1929/31 in relation to the situation which existed nationally and internationally produced its organised reflection in the movement of the I.L.P. towards Marxism. fact that it remained in mid-way position is not a question that needs explaining here, as it has been dealt with elsewhere. It may require the experience of a new labour Government under really adverse conditons to drive home the lessons to the rank-and-file. As explained previously, these considerations play a role also in the thinking and calculations of the advisers of the ruling class, from their But whichever way events unfold, there is the inevit- The whole situation is such that there can be abrupt turns not only which was precipitated into the May 1968 occupation of the factories is an indication of this process. The molecular process of change and radicalisation in the thinking of the masses is at present developing in all the main capitalist countries. It is in the tradition of the British Movement to transform its organisations themselves, as evidenced by the processes in the ALF, NGA, I&GU, NUM, and tomorrow the GwU. But a hurricane of mass feeling and activity can suddenly change the can suddenly burst forth into active involvement of the workers them- It is among the youth that the ideas of Marxism will gain the firmbeen brought to understand the basic ideas of Marxism, must carry these ideas into the adult parties, into the TUs, into the wards and into the to day, they will receive an ever more sympathetic hearing, as the Those tendencies which have been empirically impressed by the episodic movements outside of the organised Labour Movement will end itself a reflection of the deep-going processes taking place within society. It is an indication of the radical upheavals that will affect not only the middle class, but the working class in the next stage. But unless the best of the students can be convinced of the need to work in the mass organisations, their present radicisation will merely point of view.
ability of the rise of a mass, organised left-wing• internationally but nationally.
outlook in the mass organisations.
selves.
est and most enthusiastic adherents.
are more and more accepting these ideas.
factory committees.
forum of the IP Conference demonstrates.
up as they began, on an opportunist basis.
be a phase of youthful "socialist measles".
absorbed into the milieu of middle class life.
20.
The The mass radicalisation in France The process in its early beginnings The Labour Party Young Socialists But the young workers, having From month to month, from week to week, from day The student movement is in They will tend to be The CND, which had many
[page 21]
links with the Labour Movement, but which, nevertheless, remained separate, but without clear and distinguishable aims, inevitably fizzled The demonstrations on Vietnam and like causes, while attracting the radical elements among the students and middle class, and even sections of the younger workers, will suffer a like fate. replace the elementary movements of the masses in defence of their standards and even for a change of society. Of course, great events abroad would have their echo and would even provoke explosions among the masses But, there are no short cuts to the achievement of the socialist aims embodied in the labour Movement. The Marxists must absorb the lessons of the past and apply these ideas to the situation as it exists for Teachers, School Students and the Labour Movement out.
in Britain.
and as it is unfolding.
MILITANT TEACHER A Journal Produced by Socialist Teachers (Price 9d. Produced Termly) No. 2 The Teachers' Strike Order now!
Obtainable from 197 Kings Cross Road, London, W.C.1.
Nothing can includes:
The Apprenticeship Scandal The Labour Movement and Education Black Paper Iwo: A Marxist Reply 21.
[page 22]