To attend the Labour Party Conference is resolution on behalf of the National Executive target growth rate of 6% was passed. The same The big story of the week was of course the of debate, characterised the whole week's the weekly "Tribune'. This group, whose meagre thousand odd delegates discuss, with tremendous intensity, a great variety of political issues, vet evervone knows that if the Government Is defeated it will continue on its course irrespective of Party opinion. Trades Union leaders vote on behalt of hundreds or members, une mayonly of whom take no part whatsoever in determining policy. 1 mysell wielded 1000 votes on behalf of a Constituency Party which This year's conference was unreal in another sense too. The platform appeared to be totally unaware of what was happening outside Ene narrow confines of the Conference hall. A carelul and systematic attempt was made to create an aura of optimism, which rapidly turned into euphoria. A marginal swing towards Labour in the opinion polls plus a single month's favourable trade and reserves figures were seized upon by Wilson & Co. The speeches from the plattorm relations stunt designed to ensure that the average delegate completely forgot that if a General Election were to be held tomorrow the Party would lose over 200 seats. It quickly became clear that Wilson is hoping for a rapid recovery of his political fortunes, and that he will stage a snap election as soon as ne sees tne chance of being returned for another five years. The quite deliberate calling to the rostrum of huge numbers of prospective parliamentary candidates added weight to this view.
The vast T.V. and press coverage given to the Conference of course makes it an ideal opportunity for the leadership to project itself on a national scale. The amount of time devoted to speeches by major figures in the Government indicates that the Party bureaucrats see this aspect as more important than allowing participation by the rank and file. Thus, on top of two knock about turns from Wilson, we had to tolerate lengthy interventions from Castle, Green wood. Brown. Stewart, Jenkins and Callaghan. Wilson's contempt for Conference was crystal clear on Tuesday morning. Billed to give the report of tne rarnamentary Labour Party, he devoted most of his time to a lengthy joke about Edward Heath and the Tories, which succeeded in getting most of the delegates run-up to the General Election. rolicking in their seats. The ritual standing ovation followed.
confrontation between the Government and the leaderships of the Amalgamated Engineering and Foundry Workers' Union and the Transport and General Workers' Union. TWold DE difficult to imagine more of a non-event. The came from the T & G.W.U., and began b congratulating the Government and the Trades Union Congress on the agreement made earlier in the year whereby Vic Feather would do the dirty work for Wilson by acting as policeman of sectarian Stormont regime at all costs. industrial disputes. The fact that Jack Jones' Committee, Barbara Castle chanced to mention that the Government intended to go on with the re-implementation of Part 2 of the Prices and Incomes legislation providing for a statutory delay on the paying of wages increases the Government considers excessive.
reacted violently.
Midnight meetings with Wilson added to the monopolies. drama. The argument began to revolve around the section of the N.E.C.'s general policy statement "Agenda for a Generation", which dealt with the desirability of a prices and demanded an assurance that this would be revised in the light of the previous resolution. When that assurance was not given tney voted against the policy statement, which nonetheless was passed by 3½ million to 3¼ million votes.
The real point about all this maneouevning, was that it took place on a bureaunowever. cratic, almost personal, level. It should be self-evident to socialists that it is not logically possible to question the Government's incomes witnout makig thorough-going analysis of its whole commitment to the maintainance of capitalist economic policies. But Scanlon and Jones were prepared to swing statement. which IS fundamentally a recipe for the continued modernisation of British capitalism, if just a This was gladly accepted by the N.E.C. few words in it were changed. There is no doubt that when the Trades Union leaderships indicates that they are feeling the pressure of increased rank and file militancy, but it would be the utmost folly to stimulate any illusions that these "left" bureaucrats will lead a real fight against the Wilson leadership of the Party.
This point was well substantiated in the debate on "the Labour Government". Moving the resolution pledging "all possible assistance to th Government in their efforts to overcome the balance of payments deficit and create a strong economy was Hugh Scanlon. It was of the last day, ble on in his scin speech on repres dear that the oce own pleas for unity and endeavour in the This failure to provide any effective proceedings. On Ireland, only one speaker raised the question of British troops, while the sole resolution calling for their withdrawal was dropped from the agenda. Callaghan's speech in reply to the debate, with its demands that the main resolution on Trade Union legislation Catholics must now "make a gesture", was an absolute insult to the people who had fought for their lives on the barricades. At least he made it absolutely crystal clear that the British Government is determined to maintain the One morning was devoted to foreign policy.
The Iow nolitical level within the Party was (it did the same last year to no effect) and to the Smith regime in Rhodesia. (Again the strongest resolution, calling for support. for the armed freedom fighters was dropped.)
The National Executive suffered its only defeat of the week on Wednesday when a resolution calling for an economic policy based on the T.U.C.'s 1969 Economic Review with its an abortive attempt to get the _ FRA.E.. merger and the 17,000 resultant redundancies cussed, and a narrow victory for the N.E.C. which opposed a resolution from the Draughtsmen's and Allied Technicians' Association calling for public ownership of the big Housing was the subject of a larger number of resolutions than any other single subject. Yet so limited was the time allotted to it that only two speakers were allowed from the floor while Tony Greenwood was given half an hour to try and explain away this year's fall off in housing construction. Social security and and education were the otner two items attracting large numbers of motions. In both debates fairly innocuous composites were passed and any attempt to link the Crisis in the social services to that of the capitalist economy itself was The debate on the Common Market, with Brown speaking on behalf of the predictably pointless. amendment from D.A.T.A. which called for a withdrawal from the negotiations for entry was inexplicably withdrawn at the last moment, leaving a mild composite moved by the T& G.W.U. calling for "adequate safeguards" for the balance of payments, standard of living, etc.
I said at the beginni of this article that there begin to declare opposition in this way, it was a great deal of unreality about the Labour Party Conference. In another sense, however, the low level of debate, the failure to raise the fundamental political issues, does reflect a reality which poses revolutionary socialists in Britain with their most acute dilemma. For the Conference reflects the abysmal level of politics current in the British working class movement. This is reflected, too, in the fact that affiliated and individual membership of the Party is down this year to its lowest level for nearly 20 years. Only 320 out of 630 Constituency Parties were It is clear that the low level of activity in the about family arguments etc., to support his Party is a combination of disillusionment with the Government and a failure to find any real alternative within the Party. For the latter situation the main blame must fall upon the challenge to the Government, even on the level traditional left wing, especially those around ideological heritage goes back to Aneurin principled opposition to drill Bevan, have completely failed to put Government policy. They still go in for the same old rhetoric of left-reformism, completely failing to see that present developments in the world economy pose a stark alternative. Either reactionary capitalist policies or the Wilsonian variety or thorough-going socialist measures which would involve the mobilisation of the working class.
The Socialist Charter group which is closely associated with "Tribune' issued a daily conThe Black Dwarf 26th October - 15th November 1969 Page 3