Nowohn-ln

There are several lessons from the victories at Brighton: firstly, we must now go all out to ensure that similar victories are achieved at Scarborough. No doubt the arch-manipulators of Transport House will be looking for formulas to block such victories by the use of procedural measures, we must be equipped to deal with any attempts of this nature. Secondly, the change in line by the official trade union movement is an answer in and of itself to all those who have argued that the official trade union movement is finished or inevitably doomed to evolve farther and farther to the right. Thirdly, the Carron issue demonstrates the importance of a firm struggle for trade union positions: we must go all out to make sure that similar people are not elected in future union elections, Of course we can find many faults with the text of reselutions passed at the T.U.C. The fact that we greet them as victories does not mean that we agree with the letter of these resolutions or that we intend to abandon the struggle for political clarification. We should view these events from the point of view of the development of class consciousness in the working as a whole, The most distressing thing about Wilson's manipulation of the Labour movement has been the way rank and file struggle has lessened. Despite heroic struggles like the seamen's strike and the protracted strikes at Roberts-Arundel and C.B.R.the general picture has been one of decline in struggle: the number of days lost in industrial disputes has declined dramatically since Labour took power. Now the left has a chance to change this situation. In the eyes of the mass of the working class the Labour Government has received a severe defeat at Brighton, The British worker, who is by-and-large very loyal to his organisation, now thinks of his union as being in opposition to the Labour Government. Nn loager can ‘Jilson use the traditional loyalty of the British workers to emasculate them. This is why we greet the Brighton resolutions as victories. We are, of course, quite convinced that the majority of trade union leaders - even those who voted left at Brighton - are incapable of leading struggles. We do not regard them as a subsitute for a firm and well-organised left in the unions and the Labour Party, However, events at Brighton, if we can organise properly and shed the twin errors of sectarianism and adaption,will make the task of organising the left wing much easier, We must go all out to ensure victory at Scarborough as part of the process of building a mass left wing alternative to the present leaders of the Labour Party and trade unions.