OUR POLICIES C'apitalism is in crisis. The leaders of the Labour Party and the trade unions offer solutions that are in the interests not of the workers but of the capitalist class.
Socialist Challenge believes that the two vital lasks confronting revolutionary socialists are:
• To build broad-based class struggle tendencies in opposition class-collaborationism in the labour movement.
non-exclusive in grouping together militants holding a wide range of political views.
• To begin to fight for the democratic revolutionary socialist organisation which can, through application begin lo be seen thousands workers engaged in struggles.
Such an organisation should be based on the understanding that:
struggle for seeks to unite the fight of wOrKerS with that of other oppressed layers of society - women, black people. Cats struggling for liberation. This socialism can only be achieved by creating new organs of power and defeating with all necessary means the power of the capitalist staie.
Our socialism I than what exists in Britain todar. full rights for political parties and currents that lo not lake up arms against ine These should Claratics and rightly been challenged — united front of socialisin bosses their ard THE report of Labour's Commission of Enquiry on the election of the party leader and the drafting of the manifesto is the result of the massive campaign which has been waged by constituency activists for more democracy in the party. monopoly of effective decision making by the predominantly right-wing parliamentary party has the victories at last year's conference are reflected in the report of the enquiry. But it would be a mistake to believe that the recommendations of the report are anything like a total victory for the left and democracy.
In the first place, the electoral college recommended by the enquiry still gives 50 per cent of the the election of the leader to the parliamentary party — in other words they would still have a decisive say in who was Moreover, the enquiry recommended that this same electoral college should sanction the party's election manifesto. This is of course a step forward over the position of leaving the final say on the manifesto to the party leader alone. But it is less democratic than having the manifesto sanctioned by the NEC, and even less democratic than leaving the final manifesto to conference.
The recommendations of the enquiry represent a compromise — an unsatisfactory compromise which leaves a lot to be fought for. The architect of this compromise, not surprisingly, Evans of the Transport Union JIt was Evans who, as Benn openly challenged for the leadership of the party last week, came out in support of Callaghan The elected. as leader of the party.
manoeuvering and leaders.
was Moss Whatever Machiavellian plans are in Moss Evans' head, whether or not he thought that support for Callaghan now meant less chance of Healey replacing him, this kind of horse-trading will neither achieve democracy nor defeat the right.
On the contrary, the decisive way to undermine the grip of the parliamentary party and the right wing is an open fight to defeat their crucial base -their alliance with the right-wing trade union It is the block vote of the right wingdominated unions which continues to ensure the predominance of the right. That's why the light to rebuild the left in the unions remains decisive, not only for the unions but for the struggle in the task of dislodging the trade union right. makes the decisions as well.
The first initial steps which have been taken to organise Labour supporters in the unions — for example the forthcoming LCC conference for trade unionists — are important for beginning the The recommendations of the commission now go to the party conference. Socialist Challenge believes that these recommendations → with the exception of the proposal on compulsory reselection of MPs — should not be accepted by the conference. What we need is to step up the fight for democracy in both the unions and the Labour Party, so that the party conference is the final arbiter. The conference is the most representative gathering of the party. Now we have to ensure that it