One could almost feel sorry for Harold Wilson, immediately following the massive defeats he suffered at the Brighton T.U.C., he has seen the outbreak of a whole series of industrial struggles. On top of that have come the latest trade figures which, while they are distorted by the Arab boycott of Britain, demonstrate conclusively that no real break through has been made on the exports' front, The final "twist of the knife" (from Wilson's point of view) must be the latest public opinion poll figures which indicate an 8% drop in Labour support since the last General Election. The most important feature of all this is the upsurge of industrial struggle, rang-= ing from the work-to-rule at Vauxhall factories to the decision by the N.U.R. to place restrictions on one-man guard duties. Alongside this we see the militant action of the teachers and the threateried strikes by dockers which will greet the application of the Devlin report (the Government's quarrel with the port employers may give an entirely new twist to the whole docks' situation, too). As this journal has maintained consistently, at this stage of development a key role is played by the attitude of the leaders of the wmions: the fact that the T.U.C. came out against the Government is a powerful stimulus to struggle, both official and wnofficial. Now, from all over the country, there are reports that the left, encouraged by the results of the T.U.C., is organising itself for Scarborough. Already, arrangements have been made for many activities at Scarborough: the VFS meeting Sunday morning, the C.N.D. march and "five unions" meeting in the afternoon of Sunday, and the big teach-in on Labour Party policy (advertised elsewhere in this issue) from 5.00 - 12.00 on Sunday. Also underway are plans for Briefing, the daily bulletin which is published by a broad spectrum of left organisations and journals to assist delegates to oppose nidtewing policies. The Week will support and publicise all these activities. The left has the overall task of defeating the present policies of the Government at Scarborough, But, in addition, it has to fight for two other principles: firstly, that the present leadership of the Labour Government consists of people who have broken with working class principles and who need to be fought and replaced; secondly, that the left must ensure that the victories gained at the T.U.C. mark the beg-= inning of a consistent evolution to the left, to merely fight for the victory of T.U.C. policy is to mark time and, perhaps, unwittingly help Wilson and co. to make a phoney left turn, We must strike hard and in a determined manner: the present situation is one which is extremely favourable for the development of a mass left wing, based on a prog-= ramme which is a real alternative to that of the present Government. Confusion and hesitation must be overcome; tactical adroitness must be combined with a principled opposition to the Government, The left has many allies: the motorcar workers, the teachers, railwaymen, etc., and it will only be able to mobilise these allies by decisiveness and boldness. If we don't rise to this particular situation it may be a long time before we have another opportunity, Let us go all out to defeat the Government at Scarborough.
TE HE