There seems to be some uncertainty among some sections of the revolutionary left as to what attitude Marxists should take towards the Labour Party at the next general election. This uncertainty arises out of the Cilemmas and dis-oriented state of the revolutionary left induced by the experience of the present Labour Government. Pre-1964 there seemed to be little doubt as to where revolutionaries should work, and what was the class position to be taken in any contest between the Labour Party and the Tories. Flowing from the class nature of both parties there seemed to be little difficulty in coming down on the side of supporting the Labour Party, despite all its faults as a reformist one. This reformist nature of the Labour Party in no way deterred Marxists from understanding their class duty, even if at the same time warning that the Labour Party could not solve the problems
facing the working class.
Today the position does not seem so clear cut. Since 1964 we have seen the development of a strata of revolutionary youth who completely reject any idea of supporting the Labour Party and some will even see such support as a betrayal of revolutionary Marxism. It can be argued that support for the Labour Party at the next General Election is either a betrayal or is irrelevant. Both attitudes are wrong.
Despite the decline in active membership of the L.P. and the decline in votes that has occurred in by-elections, this party still remains the political express- - ion of the working class. That this is so explains on the one hand the low pol- . > itical level of the class generally, and secondly something that needs to be . hammered home time and again, that is the working class will not abandon its traditional organisations without a tremendous struggle taking place in which a new and authoritative leadership emerges.
The IS group seems to have come to the conclusion of supporting the Labour Party in the coming general election, but in a half-hearted and shamefaced manner. In the editorial of IS 42 it is stated "A Labour victory will indicate support for capitalist policies disguised to varying degrees so as to gain working class votes; a Tory victory will mean support for open and undisguised ruling-class ¢omination +s.eFor these reasons, although our main aim in the election period should be to make propaganda against the policies of the Labour Government and to indicate the source of these in reformist theory and practice, it would be a mistake, although not a major one, for the Left to call for a vote ‘against both Tories' and to urge abstention... It would be to accentuate precisely what differentiates us from most workers, not what we have in common. If there were anything like a credible alternative to offer this would be justified; if there is not it only makes the sf long term task of relating revolutionary politics to the aspirations of ordinary workers that much more difficult." Although, as I have said, this statement comes out for a correct policy, it does so for the wrong reasons, and in a rather shamefaced manner, as well it might considering the way in which the IS Group have abandoned the traditional labour movement over the last year or so in favour of 'rank and file' activity. To realise just how far IS have travelled along certein roads in recent years one has only to compare the above with what Tony Cliff wrote in International Socialism No.9 (Summer 1962) “Marxists should not set themselves up as a party or embryo of a party of their own. They should remember that the working class looks to the Labour Party as the political organisation of the class .-.eMarxists should never forget that consciousness of the aims of socialism on the part of the mass of the workers is a necessary prerequisite for the achievment of socialism."
To argue that Marxists should merely support the 'Labour Tories' because they are marginally better than the 'Tory Tories' is to presume that one should allow oneself to be pushed into a position of choosing between the lesser of two evils. For Marxistssuch a position is ludicrous. If necessary we should say a plague on both your houses and openly stand up and argue the case. But the reality is that even now after all the reactionary measures taken by the Labour Government the Labour Party remains the political expression of the organised working class, and it is on these grounds that Marxists have to make their choice. Of course 6 such support for the Labour Party must be carried out in a manner that indicates our own position on the Wilson Government, and we should state openly that we do not believe that a new Labour Government will solve the problems confronting the working class. But this has to be done within the context of an overall rejection of the Tory Party and the dangers that a new Tory Government holds for the working class. 5
Nor should we do this on the liquidationist basis that Cliff argued from in 1962, we should proclaim the need for Marxists and the Left to organise, while at the same time not allowing ourselves to be isolated from the militants of the working class.
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