by-elections in Walthamstow and Cambridge September 21 gave further evidence of working class disaffection from Wilson's Labour government. The critical temper of British workers was reflected by the rejection of Wilson's policies at the Brighton Trades Union Congress earlier in the month.
Walthamstow is an industrial area within Greater London. It has always been considered one of the safest Labour parliamentary seats in Britain. Indeed, for many years it was represented by Clement Attlee, the longtime Labour leader and former prime minister.
Even in the darkest days of Lapour's fortunes, when Ramsey MacDonald was saving British capitalism at the depths of the depression in 1931 through stringent antilabour measures, Walthamnstow remained faithful to Labour.
This is the seat which the Labour party has just lost to the Tories ina by-election. A comparison of the voting figures with the general election results is revealing:
General Election By-election
F.Silvester (Conservative ) 5,940 6,652 E. Deakins (Labour 14,665 6,590 M.Wingfield (Liberal ) 3,370 4,105
The Conservatives won the seat by 62 votes. In 1965, Labour romped home with a majority of 8,725. This is almost exactly the number of voters who failed to vote this time.
The working-class voters of Walthamstow, true to themselves and to their class, have refused to vote the Tory ticket. But they have also expressed in no uncertain measures their complete lack of confidence in Wilson's Labour government by staying away from the polls.
Something similar happened at the Cambridge by-election the same day. Here, the voting was as follows:
General
Election By-election
D. Lane (Conservative ) 20,972 20,488 G.Scurfield (Labour ) 21,963 14,510 D.Spreckle (Liberal 4,928 4,701
The Tory vote, according to these figures, remained almost stable while the Labour vote fell by a disastrous 7,000. Again it was abstentions which brought about the Labour debacle.
In the past, a Labour victory at the polls has generally resulted in a fall in share prices on the London Stock Exchange. The reverse has been the case when the Tories won. This time share prices started falling after the byelection results were declared. A stock exchange dealer was asked by the London Daily Telegraph September 23 why the prices had fallen. He replied, "fears of a Conservative government."
FROM BRIGHTON TO SCARBOROUGH
By George Cunvin
Left-wing delegates to the sixtysixth annual conference of the Labour party, which convenes at