supported.
The decision by national executive of Labour Party to hold a special day conference prompted by transport Union leaders *join together all factions of the party to go forward united with alternative policies to those currently being pursued by present government.
At first the conference decision was regarded as a victory for the left. The media said it would embarrass Callaghan in the run-up to the annual conference, and marshal the party membership policies counter to those which leader advocates Even such a small victory would be welcome. shadow cabinet has fought the Tories with all the verve of a wet jelly.
During the steel strike, for SOCIALIST Challenge is backing a campaign for a trade union lobby of the 31 May special Labour Party conference, calling on the party to commit itself to build and support mass action to remove the Tory government.
The proposal at the Labour Co-ordinating Committee to organise direct links between Labour Party and trade union activists to plan united action should also be To explain why, ALAN FREEMAN looks at the party's left-right battle and the limitations of the strategy put forward by the left on the party's national executive.
the 'free-spenders', leading to a cut the in the rate support grant later this year. was This spinelessness isn't surprising. The Tories are pushing. to policies which were initiated by Callaghan.
The Steel lay-off plans were under Labour. Edwardes, the BL boss was brought in by the Labour Employment Bill merely puts 'Code of Conduct' into law. And Callaghan and Wilson more or less invented cuts.
James Callaghan the disaster in government. opposition he all And stil want tot sit be tornd will hoping obligingly let them back in four years' time Meanwhile the trade unions will half welfare unemployment in the millions, workers' demoralised and split.
The Labour Party has half a million individual members. It is tied into the unions at every level. The party, especially its MPs, has media, unlike If it behaved as workers' party threw its weight behind even a single struggle, Corporation's tight to hatched government's action, the Labour Party would transform the relation of forces in Britain.
The Cuts If it broke down the barriers between the union rank and file and the constituency ghetto; if was it committed its councillors tc refuse any collaboration with encumTory resources of the town halls and local party disposal of anti-cuts activists. the Tories would be unable to carry out such policies would undermine the bureaucrats. Their argument is that we have to be realistic; we have to deal with the government in ottice. stitutional means, and so on any excuse to avoid a fight. If the movement were fighting to remove the Tories, this argument would collapse.
But will the 31 May and the annual Ierence, ference to follow, difference? Will the left win Can they promise any better?
The run-up to the special conference doesn't bring much fighting for.
ranks in promises wrecked, the in Tulls. the movemen nothing.
access to the mass struggling real should, and let alone defeat the policies rejects the idea abolishing them.
Mess offices the their plans.
trade union — it has to be taken needed: the defeated stick to conabortion Bill demands.
in parliament.
CUlT actating OHI conmake the its demands. resolution une but on examination The And because the Ich won mobuise tae party an open fight, they have made a series of com- million Perhaps the best judgement that vote for them.
Callaghan felt free to,sign it.
He could do so for a simple reason: it commits the party to He will stay free to It isn't surprising that this small band of representatives dictate policy, not just to half a Labour Party cardcarriers, but to millions of trade who pay them and A serious challenge to the Labour Party and its right wing will only the emerge when a section of the party begins to base itsell on would then be for backstage deals to 'party unity' this phrase always seems to mean of the leaders' because the goal of class struggle leaders would be unity of the working class; unity in the streets and factories, not in the corridors of power.
the They would take their lead from ordinary working people, Whitehall But this is not the whole The PLP solidly the • trade union swings the block vote. It packs selection conferences. It acts as a buffer ordinary and the party The bureaucracy is solidly parliamentary reform. Its business is to com between labour and capital. It always intervenes just as the Transport Union is doing in calling for the special conference preserve LIk unity and stability of the PLP and the leaders, and to bolster policies of 'moderate reform without risking a head-on clash with bosses This is why the lefts have such a hopeless job. They base themselves on the constituen cies — the weakest section of in all internal Wall l disputes; doorster army, endlessly collecting the 'pensioners' two bobs, building the 'next big conference fight', leaving conference sick compromise. Hook To win anything they hav to find a formula that the unior heavies will accept whick always means a compromise te let the right off the hook. headlay ten illooks out will make constituency ghetto begins to organise where the working class's battalions organised for struggle union rank and file.
This is why socialists shouk support proposals, such of Labour Co ordinating Committee, to tun the Labour Party outwards, to develop .it as party based _on mass action and to establish direct link with the trade union rank an file.
This strategy will work onh if the links are formed fo and not mere discus sion: and if the als organise the trade union ran and file, and not to court very officials and bureaucr who form the collar of PLP's dogleash.
This is not an issue just fo the party faithful. It is a matte concern all whether the Labour Part stands in the words steelworkers to the ISTC our backs or by our sides.
The problem we face is this how workers discipline even partially and temporarily a party that is built to betra them?
Socialist Challenge 1 May 1980