Wsl: a Step Forward

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At the weekend of 18-19 February, the Second Annual Conference of the Workers Socialist League adopted perspectives for the development of its political line and intervention both in Britain and internationally. Details of these decisions and their implementation will be published in due course.

This conference was preceded by a lengthy period of preconference discusion within the League. During this period many fruitful debates took place on such questions as the nature of the call for a workers government, on the struggle against Social Democracy and on our attitude to the national question.

During the course of this discussion there emerged within the League a group, entirely petty bourgeois in composition and led by refugees from factional intrigue in every other left wing tendency, who-against ail their previous attitudes-called upon the League to liquidate its consistent proletarian orientation in favour of "exemplary trade union work" and to abandon its struggle for the Transitional Programme in favour of discussions with the ultra-left sectarians of the international Spartacist tendency, aiming to "explore the possibilities of reaching programmatic agreement and moving towards fusion"

This grouping won to its ranks number of new and naive members of the movement as well as a few who have grown tired of the consistent struggle of the WSL to turn away from the circles of petty bourgeois debate and into the fight for revolutionary leadership in the class struggle.

By the time of the conference this grouping, by largely abandoning political work and adopting methods reflecting their petty bourgeois politics, in secret meetings and backstairs intrigue, had recruited about 20 members of the WSL to a faction which declared that the main political task in Britain was to "smash" such roadblocks" WSL.

Despite severe provocation, including numerous breaches of the WSL constitution by this grouping and the loss of one or two members who might otherwise have been able to make a contribution to the struggle for Trotskyism the WSL leadership fought for this discussion to go through to the end.

The development of a petty bourgeois ultra left tendency at this stage in our history was an inevitable part of the fight which the WSL leadership has taken up to turn its members into the working class.

Necessary

The fight against this tendency was a necessary part of steeling our members and developing the understanding of our members of the method of the League in fighting within the working class against its bureaucratic leaders and for the policies and principles of the Transitional Programme.

The discussion-unlike that in many other movements-was however allowed to run its course until it was abruptly ended when the defeated Spartacist supporters announced their resignation from the Workers Socialist League and deserted the movement.

Strengthened

The membership of the WSL emerges much strengthened by this experience and more than ever determined to continue the basic proletarian orientation of the movement to build on the qualitative gains of the recent period, and to develop the theoretical work necessary for. the reconstruction of the Fourth International.

We will publish further details both of this fight and of other issues in the development of the WSL in subsequent issues of our paper and of our theoretical magazine. failed in major articles ever to criticise the Miller leader ship of the UMW-let alone tr link support to the miners ti to call for a Labor Party.

Independence

In this they have aped thi position of the Communis And the sectarians of th Spartacist League, whil calling for blacking and fo elected strike committees, fai to put forward any call fo US workers to assert thei political independence of th bosses' parties.

Yet for all the impact miners' victory would hav on the powerful US labou movement, by far the mo: important political questio is to turn the mass forces c the US trade unions awa from seeking concessior from Carter and away froi his allies in the bureaucrac and towards the fight t construct a party capable ‹ representing the independer interests of the working cla as a whole.