this growing opposition to the turn it once again into a "mass past decades, such a question is hardly unimportant.
the ability of the "left", in the their rights and living standards against the Tories.
who have drifted out under the forces that a real fight can be roots firmly based inside" DEMOCRACY The struggle for an alternative leadership in the Labour Party is developing against the Tories on The National conference of the SCLV in December last year had, as a major thread running through it, the question of its relation to the newly-formed Labour Coordinating Committee Quite different attitudes were put forward. Some comrades clearly wanted to "ghettoise" themselves from this new formation which is beginning to draw support around the country. Such was the position of those comrades around Workers Action who tended to stress the shortcomings of the LCC rather than its potential for growth. While wanting to work with it, they supported the idea of maintaining a "hard left" in opposition to it.
Other comrades saw the LCC as an important step forward which SCLV members should be a part of in order to participate in an ongoing debate. Comrades from Socialist Challenge - who were denied the right to pose a resolution on this point -advocated this position.
Clearly, the growth of the LCC poses a serious problem for the SCLV at the present time. The SCLV is not a grouping but an alliance of various strands around a limited programme. While winning some support, it clearly does not have the potential of the LCC in terms of a base in the CLPs or -more important - in the trade unions.
In our opinion, the comrades from Socialist Challenge were quite correct to imply that maintaining the SCLV as a "counter" current to the LCC would be a serious error. To compete with the LCC around the country in forming support groups inside the Labour Party would be a disservice to creating a united struggle by the left in the period ahead Far from opposing the LCC, the SCLV members should seek to join it, to enter into dialogue with it and to form joint committees with it (where an SCLV group exists). The aim should not be to hive oneself off into corners but to attempt to build a joint left in which different currents can function and argue for their position in a democratic atmosphere.
Unfortunately, the SCLV conference rejected this orientation and voted to continue to build itself in opposition to the LCC. We would hope that, as time develops, the comrades will rethink this course.
P.B.
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