'Left' cynics revel in post-poll blues

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and speaking rights from LPYS National Chairman Phil Frampton at antibeing excluded from platform for shouting anti-Callaghan slogans.

Southall demonstrators mourn Blair Peach Callaghan on his ill-starred campaign trail For a party whose whole motive for existence is to participate in elections, the loss of one is a traumatic experience.

Hence the gloomy soul-searching of Labour's housejournal Labour Weekly, which this week searches in , every direction except a serious examination of the record of Callaghan's government in the hope of explaining away the General Election defeat.

The reality is of course that while hostility to Thatcher's anti-working class campaign ensured that the Labour vote actually increased-from 11.46 million in 1974 to 11.5 million in 1979-the lack of any serious Labour answers to the problems of plunging living standards, mounting unemployment and crumbling social services allowed the Tories to scoop up an additional three million votes.

One million of these came from the wilting Liberal which lost 20% of its 1974 Others doubtless came from among the 2 million inexperienced new voters added to the electorate since 1974, many of whom would only • dimly remember the horrors of the Heath government, but be all too aware of the bankruptcy of _Cailaghan's right wing policies.

Devoid of socialism Labour's campaign and manifesto-totally devoid of anything resembling a socialist policy -offered young voters no prospect of a change in the miserable future laid before them by five years of WilsonCallaghan government.

But nor should . it be forgotten that 1½ million Tory voters stayed at home in the October 1974 Election having failed return Heath in February of that year. Many of these forces no doubt came out again to put Thatcher in office. When confusion, the impact of massive Tory press propaganda and demoralisation of Labour supporters are taken into account, the General Election result can be seen very much as a statement of the class polarisation brought about by crisis-ridden capitalism.

11½ million workers have stuck behind the Labour Party despițe the betrayals it has carried through.

As opponents of Toryism they will be rapidly joined by hundreds of thousands of people that will be alienated by the actions of the Thatcher government, and rapidly realise how they have been duped by soft-soap about tax cuts into voting for the scrapping of their hard-won social services, and for the closure of their own workplaces.

But this does not mean that the Labour Party in search of these supporters, will not, under Callaghan and the right wing, swing even further to the right in search of "the middle ground"

Weekly declares that:

"The party must strengthen its base, broaden its appeal, and win back those missing 1½ million voters who are needed to give the party a mandate to govern"

Tory policies

When nght wingers talk about "broadening appeal" they invanably mean a lurch towards more Tory policies.

.But the other danger in the aftermath of the Election is the re emergence of the left' fakers.

They will set out consciously to disguise their own wretched past compromises with Callaghan's rightwing policies, and in campaigning for 'socialist' policies, will aim to restrict Labour's programme to the Tribune group's nationalist line of seeking import controls and increased government investment in private industry.

Foremost among them is of course Benn, who in the latest :. = 302 SYL youth dem SUS demo after PHOTO: Laurence Sparham, IFL Benn attack for his scurrilous role as a servile, if left-talkir g* hodcarrier for the Callaghan cabinet and its reactionary policies throughout its period of office.

Laughable

Laughably, only days after being thrown out of his office in Callaghan's strikebreaking, wage-cutting, job slashing Labour government, Benn announces that:

"First, we must defend the interésts of working people and their families against any policies-at home or abroadwhich would threaten world peace, restrict our democratic rights, reduce our living standards or undermine our civil liberties."

Such cynical posturing by Benn will be facilitated also the tame cat "Marxists" Labour's 'Militant' group.

Their post-election editorial article limply describes the Callaghan government as "failure"

Climbing down to right wing attacks on the winter's pay strikes, 'Militant' even lashes out at what it astonishingly describes as:

"the unskillful tactics occasionally adopted by some of the public service workers-who had little or no previous experience of strike action"

Are we to believe that the subtle manoeuvrers at the 'Militant' editorial offices could have found a way to take strike action in a hospital without a frenzied Tory press witch-hunt?

Or isn't this rather just a back-stabbing attack on the strikes that: did occur, tor supposediy damaging Labour's • election chances?

'Militant' says nothing of the importance of these strikes in preparing the basis of a fight • against Tory attacks.

Indeed it is back to the parliamentary arena and the inner-party debate, rather than to political developments from such mass struggles, that 'Militant looks for hope in the future:

«Tony Benn and the Tribune MPs have rightly called for a return to fundamental socialist ideas.

Regrettably, [!] the parliamentary left's opposition to the leadership's policies was muted [!] during the campaign"

Again Militant' distorts reality and covers up for the lefts' Not only was the opposition of the Parliamentary "lefts' non-existent during the election campaign, it had been all but invisible for the preceding five years!

But 'Militant' has no desire to challenge this record.

Like the lefts' themselves, the Militant' leaders also oppose the demand for a fight to. kick out the Callaghan-Healey leadership.

Their call for a return to "fundamental socialist principles" takes place in the context of accepting continued right wing leadership of the Labour Party, and covering up for the continued retreats by the Tribunite left' Socialist Press calls on all its supporters in the Labour Party to redouble the fight for the removal of the Callaghan right wing whose policies stand utterly discredited.

This fight will expose the real position of every variety of left faker.

It will open the struggle for a l •programme capable of mobilising the working classnot as pure election fodder for the Labour machine, but in mass action to defend its independent interests against the Tory enemy.

*Defend the unions!

action to defeat anti-union Reject the Concordat!

*No wage controls! For increases protected against inflation through cost-of-living clauses!

*No sackings! Demand work sharing on full pay! Open the books of the employers that threaten redundancy or closure, to elected committees of trade unionists!

*Nationalise the major industries, banks and trusts without compensation, under workers' management!

*No: cuts! Occupy threatened facitițies and fight for supporting strike action.