Six charlatans in bid for Prentice's old seat

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Labour Party has finally completed the process of reselecting its parliamentary candidate, begun over three years ago in the fight against the turncoat traitor Reg Prentice.

The result of the apparently endless political battles, manoeuvres, witch-hunts and court actions is that a certain James Dickens, (previously an MP in South London in the late 1960s), has been given a ticket to renew his parliamentary career.

On the final short-list the Party General Management Committee interviewed six contenders; every one a Labour left' Dickens emerged as the most competent charlatan of the evening.

Like all the others he had nothing to say about the role of the 'lefts' in the Parliamentary Tribune Group who have accorded consistent, grovelling support to Callaghan's attacks on the working class.

He made no mention of the treacherous coalition "pact' with the Liberals except in so far as he made excuses for the Labour leaders betrayals, pointing to their "difficulties' in not having parliamentary majority.

Boasts of his militant record opposing Wilson's policies on Vietnam and spending cuts during his previous sojourn in the Palace of Westminster failed miserably to disguise the fact that here was another fake "left' looking for a career on the backs of the working class and its labour movement.

Undeserved

His most radical opponent among the sorry crew was Nick Bradley, Young Socialists representative on the National Executive Committee and supporter of the 'Militant' newspaper, which has a spurious and utterly undeserved reputation as 'Trotskyist' Though differing with the others on the question of import controls, there was little else to distinguish Bradley save his more 'Marxist' vocabulary.

He too avoided the central question of the need to begin purging the Labour Party of the traitors in the leadership, to break the Lib-Lab coalition, and to base the perspective for about pressure ducing through ment.

It is these capable Prentice socialism on the struggles of the working class itself.

Rather he announced that if elected he too would join the "Tribune' group "to ally myself with those on the left". , and in reply to questions about his supposedly revolutionary' outlook declared once again his centrist delusions that socialism can be brought by working class backing up Government introan Enabling Act capitalist parliaclear that none of elements will be of giving the deterleadership SO desperately needed by British working class.

The fight must be redoubled in the unions and the Labour Party against the coalitionists, for the driving out of the Tory stooges in Labour's ranks.

The demand that Dickens and the rest of the 'left' pretenders turn their words of sympathy for the workers into action can do nothing but expose their utter bankruptcy. LEWIS RIRDS Of were out in force asking people not to cross their 'picket line' and giving out a leaflet which argued that any result of the vote would be a 'hollow victory" and would deliver to the party, a "mortal blow from which it may never recover"

Questions

The leaflet contained no policies for fighting the right wing, and Jack Finestein who led the forces against the right wing did not even turn up.

However, many left wing delegates, were persuaded that a fight against the right wing had to be taken up, enough to get 16 votes against proceeding with the ballot and only 25 for.

In the selection meeting, many important questions were raised particularly against Dobson, who was compelled to express opposition to the Lib-Lab Coalition and to troops in On this basis, he received 23 votes in the final ballot.

The second highest vote of 10 was obtained by 'left' candidate David Offenbach.

Impotent protests

Since the selection conference, further impotent protests have been made.

sparsely attended meeting of the St. Pancras branch the following week sent a resolution to the GMC merely protesting about the 'undemocratic' procedures which had been followed and announcing its intention of canvassing in any General Election for 'left' candidate Ken Livingstone in Hampstead, two constituencies away.

Invited Tory An even more dangerous form of protest came from a meeting of the Central Camden Tenants and Residents Association which refused to invite Dobson to a forthcoming meeting and instead asked his Tory opponent Robert Key.

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mined PHOTO: Chris Davies, Report