Discussion Article Whose Victory?

After a major battle a wise general consolidates his territory, counts his casualties as compared with the enemy's, looks to the morale of his troops and starts to plan his future dispositions. How does the field look after Blackpool? First, some significant advances were made, The left showed itself capable of united and disciplined action, The well-planned campaign on steel - starting with Tom Driberg's courageous lead on Tuesday when speaking on the Government's record, and mounting throughout the week to its climax on Friday morning when the NEC accepted the principle of workers! control in a nationalised steel industry - is going to make it very difficult for the Government to omit the nationalisation of steel from the Queen's Speech, The campaign on union rights is also gaining momentum. George Brown won 6.6m. votes in April for his policies, 5.2m. at Brighton and only 3.6m at Blackpool! That ASSET, working over some two weeks only, should chalk up 2.5m votes for a motion against the Brown policy ~- even when moved by Clive Jenkins, one of the most able but unpopular men in the trade union movement - is little short of a miranje. On Vietnam, too, the Government modified its policy considerably under pressure, but failed to win over a minority of some 24m, After 13 years of Tory rule, a Labour Government should rightly expect overwhelming, if critical, support at its first conference. The working class movement would never forgive any section of the Labour Party that brought about its downfall, The task of socialists in the Labour Party is to bring the Government round to their point of view. This must be done in three ways: (a) by developing the right long-term policies; (b) by contesting and winning all positions within the party and the unions as they become available; and (c) by building up a militant but broadly-based rank-and~file movement. Committe. socialists form an extreme minority of the population in this country. We can only take power by careful attention to the following tactical principles: (1) concentration of effort on agreed objectives; (2) perpetual vigilance to exploit "chinks in the armour"; (3) avoidance of outright defeat by tactical withdrawals; (4) conservation of personnel by avoidance of exposure; (5) consolidation of limited gains; and (6) self-discipline and the avoidance of extremism, hysteria, self-immolation and unilateral action. What of our attitude towards Harold Wilson? Harold Wilson is the instrument by which Labour came to power = he is undoubtedly the 'bestt leader the Party has ever had in terms of parliamentary performance, public image and the conventional dog-fight with the Tories. But he is almost totally irrelevant to the struggle to keep the Labour Party to its socialist principles, As long as he is at the helm, Wilson will steer the ship whichever way the wind is blowing, and its up to us to see that it is blowing from the left. Effort to "removing" Wilson from the leadership is not only futile, but even at the best would only replace him by Brown or Callaghan, or at the worst by Ted Heath. The press is taunting the left with lack of leadership: but what is needed is a mass movement at the roots, not another father-figure to solve all our problems, For all his political power and personal magnetism, Bevan was unable to create in the 50's the sort of united action we new find arising spontaneously on the left without any overt leadership. Every genuine movement throws up its leaders when the time is ripe ~ and we have no shortage of good material. For the time being our leadership must be collective and we have little to be ashamed of. Tom Driberg, Ian Mikardo, Michael Foot, Frank Allaun, Sydney Silverman and many others kept their faith with socialism - Harold Davies and George Craddock sadly fell by the wayside.