Socialist disappointed.
The discussion at the conference will be entirely around the draft NEC policy declaration which manifesto for a future Labour government. There are no proposals for action now to roll back the Tory offensive.
conference has blunted by the decision not to allow SICW amendments to the NEC policy document. This on the part of the 'lefts' will make the conference even less likely to rise above the level of "talking shop'.
Of performance Callaghan/Healey question of in the last Labour government there is a pressing need for a full discussion of Labour's prohealth gramme. This is not in dispute But by concentrating solely on burning political leadership in the struggles ment today. AFTER a year of Thatcher's scourging attacks on working economic defeat. seen as the 1984 would arily win an The possible impact of the these circumstances?
also been resolutions coses. compromise Tories.
after the of the leadership of Commons.
manipulated need for clear against the Tory governmanipulate the Waiting for the possibility being returned to to court That's on democracy to create barons make a ruling class the solution the labour movement will have chose suffered a massive political and arrive with a major shift in the balance of power in favour of the bosses Tories and would Labour necesselection under The timid policy of waiting "constitutional' propursued by the entire Labour left, is not an effective method of dealing with the The Tories were not given a mandate to take-the British working class back Socialist Sports the horrors of the 1930s. Recent by-elections have already which revealed a swing away from the Tories that could give Labour a 100-seat majority in the House democratic The ruling class has always and subverted government through economic blackmail, both nationally and view. on an international level. It exercised pressure and constraint through the various institutions And on a world scale we know that if manipulation and pressure fails to work, then the is not afraid to abandon all idea of 'democratic processes' and turn to force -that the bosses LICW in Chile automatically confined to other parts of the world! fend That's why it's not good enough to wait until 1984. The have already • lost • the support of the mass of British working people, so we have to rely on our own strength and ty organisations to call a halt. The Party particularly those leaders of the Labour Party who consider themselves 'lefts', has a big responsibility to lead and organise the fight against the Tories Challenge the lobby of this weekend's special conference calling joint Labour Party and trade union action against the Tories now. What is needed is an open and conference to organise and plan this action, May. where all sections of the move. ment can put their point of pushed aside and replaced with those more willing to lead a consistent fight in defence of working class interests.
That's why a central task today lies in drawing together a left-wing in the labour movement that is prepared to take on that fight now - to dejobs, wages, and the welfare state against the Tory attacks. Links Activists in the Labour Parneed to build links with militants in the trade unions who are prepared to fight. Such an organised left wing would have to fight to replace the right-wing leadership at every level of the labour movement.
Any serious attempt to rebuild the Labour Party as a mass, fighting organisation of the working class has to start with the minority of militant workers in the trade unions who want to start fighting back now; like the 250,000 who marched against the Tories on 14 Moreover it's only through organising a broad-based left opposition in the unions that the Labour left can successfully combat the right-wing trade union block votes at annua It's those Labour Party militants who are interested in taking their politics into the broad labour movement, bas.
their activity on that of trade unionists, who can break of the vicious circle of Labour Party politics. They can use this conference as a springboard to extend the fight for a left wing that really is ready and willing to take on the
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the question of the next Labour So burning need for steps
class living standards, the special Labour Party conference this weekend will be greeted hopefully by many militants. But if they expect this conference to begin a real fightback against the Tory government then they are likely to be