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on Sat. 24 February Rally-Caxton House, St John's Way, London N19-youth akers, film and disco. Tickets 50p (provinces) £1 (London). re details (including transport) from National Secretary, SYL, "never saw more bureaucratic and brutal violations of democratic rights and party constitution than these pious Social Democrats resorted to when they found they couldn't beat us in fair debate. They just framed us up and threw us out." [James P. Cannon: History of American Trotskyism] .

Cannon's words on the actions of the US Socialist Party leaders in 1938 will have a ring of bitter familiarity to all those who have consistently attempted to fight for socialist policies within the British Labour The history of bans and expuisions from the so-called "functioning participatory democracy" of the Labour Party is a long and murky tale.

In Socialist Press in recent weeks we have seen growing witch-hunts in the Oxford Labour_Party, the self-destruction of the North islington branch rather than re-admit left Readmitted-fake left Nye Bęvan winger Keith Veness and the expulsions of left wingers from the Labour Groups in Newham and Southwark Councils.

In addition, the Stockport South party is under examination by. the NEC over the next two months after a right wing campaign of threatened expul. sions and refusals of member. ship against any who oppose the adoption of. Tom McNally (Callaghan's personal adviser) as Parliamentary candidate for the constituency.

Step up attack

As the Labour government steps up its attack on the working class, só the bureaucrats, the careerists and the right wingers increasingly resort to witch-hunting in order to suppress opposition.

Since its formation, the Labour Party has been irretrievably wedded to the politics of reformism, parliamentarianism and class collaboration.

Its noisy left' wing has continuously failed to back up its loud talk with any real fight for socialist policies.

In the rare instances where a stand has been made, usually on a single issue, then the party machinery has inevitably expelled the left wingers.' But the most hysterical witch-hunts have been traditionally reserved for suspected "Trotskyist infiltrators" who "disrupt" the Labour Party by injecting socialism into their political work.

This article does not claim to offer an exhaustive list, but the historical evidence gathered here shows quite clearly the anti-working class; anti-democratic nature of Britain's social democratic prop for capitalism.

In the 1920's the Communist Party made annual applications to affiliate to the Labour Each year it was summarily refused, but many individual CP members continued to work as individuals within the Labour With the rising tide of working class militancy and the growth of the CP in the middle twenties, a wave of panic swept through the Labour Party bureaucrats who vied with the Tory press in their 'Red Menace' speeches.

Mass expulsions

Mass expulsions followed, and where the rank and file refused to cooperate, whole parties were arbitrarily disaffiliated, purged and reconstituted.

By 1927 no less than 23 local parties had undergone this process, including previously strong branches in Hackney North Islington, East Ham, Southwark, Rhondda, Lewisham, Poplar and Camberwell.

Many Trades Councils suffered the saine fate.

In 1928 three more were 'done' (including Kelvingrove in Glasgow). By 1931, after two more purges, the Labour Party could feel that it had satisfied even the Tories on the efficiency of its witch-hunting machinery.

Mosley The irony is however that whilst all this was going on, the right wing was running amok, completely unchallenged by any disciplinary action.

Oswald Mosley was making his way as a bright young party stalwart and gathering a nucleus of support for his infamous Memorandum on Unemployment.

Neither Mosley, nor his wife (also an MP), nor Forgan were ever expelled from the Labour They resigned in 1931 to form the New Party. One year later this became the British Union of Fascists.

Also in 1931 Ramsey MacDonald and 15 other Labour MPs completed their journey of collaboration by joining the 'National Government' Suspended The next major offensive by the bureaucracy came in 1936 when the entire national committee of the League of Youth (thirties equivalent to the LPYS) was suspended.

The Stalinists had gained control of the organisation and over the next three years, a bitter campaign was mounted by Transport House and the NEC, culminating in the disbanding of the League's national committee, the calling off of its annual conference and the proscription of any separate youth branch at national and district levels.

In the face of this massive witch-hunt the Stalinists dropped their militant posture and themselves joined with the right. wing in moves to expel groups of Trotskyists.

"Wreckers"

Ted Willis, leading Stalinist active in the Labour Party at the time, put it like this:

"There is no place for Trotskyist wreckers in a live movement, just as there is no place for boils on a healthy human", • Advance, November 1936).

But this craven collaboration was not enough to save the Stalinists-they too were expelled.

The breaking up of the youth movement was closely linked with . the Stalinists' Popular Front campaign, a campaign which attracted some support from the Labour 'lefts' notably Stafford Cripps. Nye Bevan and George Strauss.

Eventually these three were expelled along with several Parliamentary candidates, and Tribune was subjected to some mild witch-hunting.

Cripps was charged by the NEC as being:

"leader of the Unity Campaign for an alliance on the class war basis of the Communist Party, which stands for Dicta torship, with the Labour Party which stands for Democracy."

Others pulled back vhen on the brink of being expelled (notably the treacherous Will Lowther-President of the Mineworkers Federation).

Cripps, Bevan and Strauss were soon readmitted to play crucial roles for Labour during the forties and fifties.

The late forties and early 1950's saw continuous campaign by the Labourites to ban and expel Trotskyists, many Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 1HR.

MacDonald of whom went into deep virtually somnolent "entry" as a result of internal fissures and the left turn of the post-war Labour Party which had become a mass party with its largest ever membership.

Again the right wing was rampant, with 3 MPs crossing the floor of the Commons to join the Tories.

In 1949 3 left' MPs Zililacus, Solley and Hutchinson. were expelled over arms policies.

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