Not All Witch-hunts Succeed

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14/2/79 socialism cracy' and bans Party, in reference my own headed No and no demooncerning the of expulsions in the Labour which passing was made to expulsion and re-instatement.

I feel I must take issue with the wholly pessimistic and one-sided slant of this article as I cannot see how THE KEY TO THE CUT ENNALS OUT/ NO MORE HOSPITAL CUTS * WSL pamphiet How to fight the cuts the tale of woe told by Jeff Harris can possibly be of any service to socialists fighting inside the Labour Firstly, it is worth dispelling a few myths about the C.P. application to affiliate.

According to comrade Harris, the C.P. asked to affiliate-but what he omits to say is the manner in which this was done and the The booklet which spells out the policies necessary for all-out struggle against the cuts, drawing on practical experience at the EGA and the Oxford Nursery Occupation.

30p plus 10p p&p from the WSL, 31, Dartmouth Park H Dartmouth Park London NW5 1HR. . don NW5 1HR. the use and and went on to point out that the infant C.P. saw itself as trying to replace the It is small wonder that right wing were able to this to deny affiliation discredit the writers.

Expulsions

Having been rebuffed the C.P. then stupidly provoked expulsions of its leading militants in various constituencies. What Lenin thought about these antics can be clearly deduced from Left Wing Communism.

The C.P. from 1927 onwards gradually swung into supporting the 'Third Period' line of Stalin and actually characterised social-democracy as a greater danger than fascism!

Consequently disavowed all interest in joining the Labour Party-a stupid ultimatism that still to this day characterises British Stalinism.

Bourgeois parties

Equally, throughout the 1930s the push for a popular front including the openly bourgeois parties was used by the Labour ment, the Labour Party and the unions'.

Formally, this was actually to the left of the line pedalled by the C.P., which saw its 'unity' even with progressive Toriesamongst whom it even included Churchill!

Small wonder the movement was thoroughly demoralised and confusedand totally incapable of fighting a principled campaign against the expulsion of left-wingers.

To come up to date, there is really no basis for the profoundly defeatist and sceptical line taken in the article.

Fought off

Expulsions have been successfully fought off. by literally dozens of militants and socialists in the last few years-precisely because the movement is incomparabiy stronger and more combative than it was either in the 1930s or 1950s.

Much of the left is now more sophisticated and aware of the need to fight tenaciously to remain in the mass party of the working class.

To a few quote only votes when he stood for the National Executive a few years later.

The attempted expulsions in Newham South in 1976 were defeated, as was similar moves in a number of other parties.

• Successful Even my own case that you quote proves that a successful fight can be waged even in the most difficult circumstances.

The swing to the left inside the Labour Party has led to class traitors like Taverne, Prentice and Mayhew quitting the partya healthy process if there ever was one. l am fairly confident that the comrades in St. Helens and Oxford recently attacked will also win their appeals.

To sum up, it is important to work seriously and centrally inside-fighting off witch-hunts when they occur without getting hysterical and over-reacting.

Most successful exclusions of left-wingers have occurred because the latter have been devoid of any concept of how to fight and/or have taken a thoroughly sectarian attitude.

The right in the party are Prentice only too happy for Marxists and socialists to isolate themselves: it is imperative that we do not play into their hands.

Trotsky, in his interview with Collins in the late 1930s, correctly stressed the need for revolutionaries in Britain to have a serious attitude to work inside the Perhaps Socialist Press would like to reprint this sadly neglected interview as part of the discussion on this important topic?

Best wishes, Yours fraternally, Keith Veness

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PHOTO: Chris Davies, Report Renoit