correspondent Nora Beloff.
inside the Labour Party weaken the opposition to Wilson's cuts in living standards.
Labour parties began to take similar action.
attempts of the working class to control their own representatives the alliance of the right-wing Labour clique and the ruling class as class measures of this Government.
ers movement. This means nothing more than subordinating that movement to the capitalist state.
our leadership.
be removed from their positions of leadership.
actually encouraging the organisation of the right wing. The Social the right wing fight to carry out the policies of the ruling class.
interests of the working class?
programme and speak to other members of that party to attempt to win them to that programme.
to be fought for.
hunt. In a recent interview in Red Weekly the chairperson of the Trib une Group, Sid Bidwell, said that: "Trotskyists should join the Labour Party...' Nowhe and his colleagues must come to the defence of the Militant. That means they have to support the right of working class tendencies to both join and organise inside the Labour Party. It also means calling for the removal of the right-wing leadership ing class witch-hunt Militant out of the Labour Party, then the squeeze will go on Tribune next. Tribune have already tasted the accusation of being a 'party within a party' when Mellish attacked them for organising to vote against the Healey pay laws of Militant and its supporters It is prepared to work in any joint caminside the trade unions and the Labour Party any attempts to victimise Militant activists. Such a campaign must in our opinion be based on the fight to remove the Wilson leadership, and the right of all organisations which serve the interests of the working class to organise inside Over the last few weeks the ruling class and the media have begun to take up a campaign in defence of the right-wing MPs under attack by Labour's rank and file. This was what lay behind last week's piece of witch-hunting of the Militant comrades by the Observer's political For such a dirty piece of work Beloff was the ideal candidate. She has close connections with the leadership of the Labour Party and is not exactly an outsider in ruling class circles. Her 'expose' journalism had one purpose only. It was written to provide 'evidence' - most of it at least 10 years old - for a kangaroo court to expel oppositionists This witch-hunt has to be opposed by all socialists. Its purpose is to strengthen the agents of the ruling class inside the Labour Party and to In Sheffield Brightside the local party members gave former MP Eddie Griffiths his marching orders and chose the more left wing Joan Maynard as their representative. Of course the process did not stop at Brightside. Heartened by the victory of their colleagues in Sheffield, and furious at the pro-capitalist policies of the extreme right, other Extreme right-wing MPs like Reg Prentice (Newham North East) and Frank Tomney (Hammersmith North) face open revolts inside their own parties. Both look destined to be removed as parliamentary candidates unless the Transport House bureaucracy makes one of its not unusual interventions against the party rank and file. The Griffiths, Prentice, and Tomney affairs have done more than send a shudder down the backs of the Labour right wing. They have also caused consterna tion within the ruling class itself. British capitalism is relying on the night-wing leaders to savage working class living standards and desperately needs the right wing to carry out Wilson's pro-capitalist policies. SUBORDINATION TO CAPITALIST STATE What is more, they have to defend the Labour leaders from the Their position that Labour Party activists represent nothing more than a 'small cabal' or an 'unrepresentative grouping' is designed to present being the majority opinion and consensus. This is intended to put a non-partisan gloss on Healey's pay laws and all the other anti-working The Beloff denunciation of party activists seeking to control their MPs aims to defend the capitalist idea that Labour MPs are only responsible to Parliament and their own'consciences' as opposed to the work.
This deliberately orchestrated attack has to be fought. But such a fight cannot be conducted simply by issuing writs as the Militant leaders have threatened. A successful fight against the witch-hunt is dependent on the working class's involvement in the fight to change the Lab That fight has to be extended into the mass organisations of the working class. It has nothing to do with trying to persuade the Labour leaders to take up more 'left' policies. Wilson and his group are openly acting against the interests of the working class. They have to Prentice has never been shy about his right to organise, nor have his supporters in the capitalist press lacked enthusiasm for defending and Democratic Alliance - of which Prentice is a supporter - is organising The fight is about policy and leadership. Prentice supported the jailing of the Pentonville Five and then of the Shrewsbury pickets. He supports to the hilt the anti-working class Healey pay laws. What rights should he have in a party that the trade unions formed to represent the The Militant comrades have talked about using writs and denied that there is such a thing as the Revolutionary Socialist League. Whether the RSL exists or not is irrelevant. There can be no democracy inside a party of the working class unless the members of that party have the right to organise to fight for their views. That means the right to come together to discuss a common programme. It means the right to circulate that It must also involve the right to finance activities and to organise themselves as a tendency. If these rights do not exist - and they certainly do not at the moment inside the Labour Party - then they have ALL LEFT MUST BE MOBILISED Furthermore, this means mobilising the entire left against the witch There is one certainty facing Tribune. If the right-wing and the rulThe International Marxist Group calls for the unequivocal defence paign to defend Militant. It calls on the readers of Red Weekly to oppose
red weekly 4 september 1975 -SNP's vision of the future