INCIDENTS
; (the following statement was issued January 20 by the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, ]
* We have been asked to express an opinion on differences which have appeared in the left wing of the British Labour Party over the expulsion from the Wandsworth constituency on December 7 of three followers of Keep Left, a youth paper that has been proscribed by the right-wing leadership of the party because of its — criticisms of their conservative views. The left-wing tendencies as a whole are united in their opposition to this ban, are united in their defense of freedom of expression for all. working-class and socialist tendencies within the Labour Party, and are also wnited © in their opposition to the expulsion of anyone from the Labour Party because of political opinions or a critical attitude toward the
right-wing faction. The differences, which have also found reflection among the Trotskyists, concern the specific case of Wandsworth where S, Mani, a leader in that constituency as well as being editor of the Militant, a newly launched left-wing publication, became involved in the expulsion of the three.
Comrade Mani does not deny involvement; he, in fact, states that he made the motion for expulsion. In our opinion it was a grave error on his part to have had anything to do with these expulsions. This is not his view, however; and in a public statement which he has issued on the Wandsworth incidents, he seeks to justify his action. This does not help matters, as we see it; it only compounds the original error.
Our interest in this situation, however, is not limited to this mistake, In fact we think it would be a gross injustice to single out S. Mani, to heap the responsibility on him and thus seek to convert him into a scapegoat. More is involved than his personal role. From the evidence we have been able to gather, it is quite clear that he did not create the general situation in the Wandsworth constituency nor initiate the immediate events that precipitated the expulsions,
The Wandsworth constituency has been the scene of factionalism in the past several years that has at times risen to a bitter level. The atmosphere in the recent period has been quite charged, Primary responsibility for this lies with the right wing and its efforts to throttle independent thought in the Labour Party but this does not alter the fact of the existence of a tense atmosphere, It was in such circumstances that those associated with Keep Left brought some thirty people (as they describe it) to one of the meetings, claiming that they were all candidates for membership.
Meetings of this constituency are not exactly mass affairs, When the thirty arrived, certain questions could not help but be asked. How did they happen to come to the meeting on the same night and in a group? How did they happen to come to Wandsworth? Did they all live in the immediate area? If Keep Left has such remarkable recruiting powers why were not batches of thirties showing up at other constituencies as applicants? Why the selection of Wandsworth? Had they been recruited to the Keep Left tendency and indoctrinated before being brought down in a body as applicants for Labour Party membership? Who organized all this? Was it done in consultation with the leadership of the constituency? In consulta~ tion with other left-wing tendencies who would most certainly be affected by the move?
We, of course, are not opposed to recruiting to the Labour Party nor to a democratic struggle of tendencies within it -- quite the contrary. In the circumstances, however, the tactical move -which could easily be pictured as a crude maneuver to "capture" Wandsworth ~- could scarcely fail to facilitate the dirty game of
anyone interested in provoking a situation in which the police could be called in and hysteria whipped up for expulsions, This appears to. ‘be what happened.
Thus the most important: question in this situation is the policy that could play. into the hands of the right wing in this way
and also open the way for excited reactions and serious mistakes among other left-wing tendencies who were not consulted either in setting this policy or in applying it.
- - ‘We have as yet been unable to determine individual.responsibility in authorship of the policy. We do not know what individual was in charge of the thirty people who were brought to the meeting a8 candidates for membership. Nor do we know who was charged with seeing to it that they conducted themselves in an exemplary, dis- ¢iplined way. (Certain accusations would indicate that their manner of introducing themselves struck some of those present as going beyond boisterousness.) The least that can be said about the — maneuver is that it was scarcely designed to give any politically conscious person the impression that it was within the rules of normal procedure in the Labour Party.
In our opinion, the decision to engage in this tactic was not unconnected with the following statements in the September 26, 1964, Newsletter, the weekly journal of the Socialist Labour League ‘and an ardent: defender of the Keep Left tendency:
‘Nat the. moment it is imperative that the National Committee majority continue their offensive on the policy decided at their
ton. conference and prepare immediate to continue with the
+ Socialists as an organisation on a national scale, should it be closed down by the right wing. Emphasis in original.
"Those who say that it is not possible to build a Young Socialists movement unless it is tied to the Labour Party talk nonsense. The success of the youth paper, 'Keep Left!, that has now been proscribed for over two years, shows that the main drive must be towards young people coming into politics for the first time,
“Only centrists. maintain that these young: people must of necessity get their experience in and around the Labour Party. youth are a thousand times nearer to the revolutionary movement today than they: are to ‘the right-wing leadership of the Labour Party. e 8
"6. If the Young Socialists do not fight now, then they will be cut to pieces as they were in 1955.
"If they fight, in all probability they will be closed down but with their organisation intact advocating a clear socialist policy, they will be able to organise their forces and train hundreds of new leaders for re-entry into the Labour Party in prepara-
_ =28~
tion for the coming crisis,
The policy clearly implied in this statement is ultraleft; it projects splitting from the Labour Party and preparing for "ren entry" at a later time when, it is hoped, conditions will be more propitious, The initiative taken by the Keep Left followers at Wandsworth appears as a local tactical APP ication of this natior-~. wide ultraleft policy. .
In this situation it was Comrade Mani's duty to find an independent way of expressing his opposition to such an ultraleft policy and (if it was the fact) to any excesses accompanying its tactical application. Instead, he permitted himself to become identified with a right-wing position. At whatever level it occurs, on.a national scale or in a minor situation like the one at Wandsworth, this is a most serious error. Whatever the provocation, or seeming provocation may be, revolutionary Marxists cannot permit... themselves to become identified with a politically alien tendency, whether. of the center or right, even in situations where such tendencies..are. able to seize on- glaring deficiencies, errors or worse, Revolutionary Marxists do not bloc with the right; they find ways to indicate an independent position even in the most difficult situations. This is a principle.
What then is to be said of the more important question involved in the Wandsworth incidents -+ the policy directed at dividing young people from “experiente in’and around the Labour Party"? We hold that it is this policy that should be of main concern to all tendericiés ‘in the. left Wing of the Labour Party, for its practical consequerice © ‘is to give tp any effective struggle against the right wing and to leave the field to them utider the delusion that the Labour Party can sotiéhow be by-passed in. the struggle to build a revolutionary-socialist movement in Great Britain, Variations of this ultraleft course have been tried more than once in the ‘past, each time to the injury of the revolutionary-socialist movement. The end consequence has been political. isolation — if not disintegra~ tion.
We hope that those "in and around" Keep Left will reconsider this. policy. Despite the difficulties caused: by the witch-hunting inspired and fostered by the right wing, the only correct policy: is to remain with the bulk of the British workers in the Labour Party. And, we would add, a by-product ofthis correct policy, applied with due consideration for the relationship of forces, would. be greatly improved relations with other left-wing tendencies and greatly lessened possibilities for such unfortunate incidents and errors as occurred at Wandsworth.
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