Is for strike action 'EVERYBODY DESERVES a place under God's sun', declared Cyril Smith at the Liberal Party Conference last week. He was making this generous concession to black people. But he could have been speaking about the Liberal Party itself. with a rousing call for the politics of coalition. The speech was an innovation for the Liberals, but not an unexpected one votes for the Labour Party since 1931. lowest of this century. The crisis of the two major parties was reflected in the growth of both the Liberal and nationalist votes. After the tumultuous struggles of the working class against the Tories, Labour was not able to offer a programme or a lead for the middle classes in society or rouse the enthusiasm of the working class. policies which would have been forced back down the throat of a Tory Government. The trade union leaders rail against racism and the growth of the far right. They know that the growth of such movements will seal their own fate as well as the organisations that they lead. But none of them will lead mass action against the policies which have stimulated the rise of the National Front to the situation where they will be fielding at least 300 candidates in the General Election - making them the largest fascist movement in north-west Europe.
Vast upheaval in British society. But such an upheaval could be very dangerous for the working class programme or leadership has developed or even begun to develop against the betrayals of the Labour Government. of the trade unions. But the Communist Party has done everything in its power to hold it back, for fear of finally rupturing its relations with the against the Callaghan-Healey leadership in the Labour Party. been blocked by the unprincipled support given to their policies by the left both in the Cabinet and in Parliament. They choose not to launch any Tories. They duck the critical question of what to do when Labour is in concentration on the trade unions and Labour Party. alternative leaders and policies must take advantage of all opportunities to put forward a programme which is directly counterposed to those of elections. and best plattorm for workers democracy has to be at the centre of the electoral fight.
possible audiences. David Steel, the new leader of the Liberals finished their conference The election results of February 1974 saw the lowest proportion of The Tories' proportion was the This failure has been banged home after nearly two and a half years of All the economic and social conditions are present for a vast upheaval Led into passivity by its leadership, no alternative It is true that a feeling of deep hostlity exists amongst the rank and file It is true that, haltingly, a movement of opposition is developing But it has fight until the Labour Government meets a defeat at the hands of the Because of these dangers, it is not sufficient for revolutionary Marxists to confine themselves to the work of building a left wing based on the policies of class struggle rather than collaboration, through exclusive The fight for mass unemployment, cuts and incomes policy. That includes bourgeois The candidature of the far left in Walsall and Stechford will do precisely that. That is why Red Weekly will support the candidature of the International Socialists in Walsall and fight to gain the widest support all those fighting the cuts, unemployment and racism — although we do not anticipate such an approach from the IS. In Stechford, the IMG will try to call a meeting of all those who think that a class struggle intervention in the by-election is necessary, to thrash out who is the best candidate to express that fight. At the same time they will put forward Tariq All as an IMG candidate. We think that this fight for We also ask those militants in the Labour Party who are genuinely interested in fighting the attacks of the Labour Government to support meetings where Labour and other workers candidates can confront each other on the way forward for the whole class in front of the widest We think that it is unlikely that the Liberals will find 'their place in the sun' next to the Tories in the next Government. But such speculation is not the main question today. The main question is starting mass action here and now, using every possible weapon against the policies of this