11101L- agreed with this plan. in was It is easy to the wanted Mac Donald to lead the May new attack on the living standards of the working class and wden the unemployed. As a leader of at the the Labour Party for so many MacDonald halt attack, and if the Tories were abour not seen to be leading the fensive they would suffer less unpopulanty. high rs of Handful allics brma- MacDonald agreed to the coalition and. with the support of only a handful of Labour cuts Mrs. he tormed his National government.
SUll. the new leader nounce the 'Whether our colleagues be long or short, said whether it be temporary or percrable manent, it is a direct loss to the Id re- labour movement.
What are the odds that this anley script will soon Michael root when he com on see why they Williams.
company?
Henderson needs wa.)
Drift. 0| - August 1931 conclusion for the previous had turned benches pleaded: wonder possible, Arthur Hender- abandoning Dositiulis refused to desplitters saying:
of willulawal each other in battle.' be re-read by had been practised so is Tories, the Ine departure Owen, Rodgers and As with Foot and Williams, the sorrowful nature of the par- taken ways Detween and MacDonald deen cavalalon.
There was no great ideological MacDonald did in economic the logical was succeed of he and Henderson and the rest of the Labour cabinet had been doing two years. As early as July 1929 MacDonald to the opposition in the commons and how far it is rapidly as any way the any of • party challenges williout lil allyway surrendering any of our party 'mixed principles to consider ourselves more as a Council of State and The less as arrayed regiments facing The 'Council of State' was officially established in August but because its ideology to throw for the ment being the most obvious it made it all the more difficult to alace duv decree dr Bonesl' to subsequent disavowals.
MacDonald, if nothing else. was at least consistent. Indeed, Shirley Williams.
Labour splitters 1981 will not bring about the same result as their trail-blazers half a century ago. MacDonald the and while he sank into oblivion as soon as his patrons felt they could dispense with his This departure from the Labour Party in 1931 had come as a further blow to the labour movement.
Decimate It was over a decade before working Cass was recover from the decimation of ing standards brought about by its leaders and the bosses.
In sheir of to are strength of the working class, rather than its weakness. While the ruling class needs the Tories to impose the policies required to meel ine exigencies or ine CrISIS. cannot be confident that Thatcherism will For that leftinfluenced Labour government would pursue her good works.
Enter the Gang offer what unev nove will be a vladif path to sustained employment and axed living standards. They will not sink into obscurity as MacDonald unless working class leadership the Gang stands for, not excluding the economy' and allegiance to NATO Gang not quite Tories, but their ambitions will certainly help keep the Tories in power. The sure way to relegate Owen & Co LU d footnote in the history books is Margaret Thatcher out of office.
That Labour MPs supported the now Tory Prentice, annieute of Ramsay MacDonald worth ing shows the distance that so many members of the Labour pe they can Travel once are fortunate enough to get a job in the House of Commons.
Undoubtedly becoming an MP must an awe-inspiring occasion. The minute it happens the flattery. the seduction. and the compliments begin sall Very building and conseChris Mullin notes: 'Many come to believe that the Parliamentary Labour Party is an independent institution with a life of its own, with a right to make its own policy decisions and generally behave as it pleases.
Pressure 'To some MPs the Labour Party, to which they owe everything an inconve nient pressure group Chris Mullin's pam. phlet is an aid to trying to stop this process. He sets out to advise on the intricacies of regive that process a real by assuring accountability of MPs to their local party. Mul Party urges Labour members to check what cut #S10 ment, and abolish nuclear weapons are just so much hot air until parlamen tary representatives are made accountable to the party in whose they hold ofTallic fice.' There is no doubt ing the importance of the left achieved at the Blackpool and Wembley conferences.
They brought some cracy to the Labour Party, and to challenge the notion ot the sovereignty of parliament by insisting that members of the Labour Party outside of those who are Giving the trade unions and the Consti. tuency Labour Parties minimal influ ence in the movement or wnica tney are part, is - - if nothing else - a to the civil servants and the media stars Accordingly the Chris Mullin pamphlet Is an essential guide for all Labour Party activists.
How Select O1 Reselect Your MPs, Chris Mullin. Publishea the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and Institute for Workers ' Control, price Available Park Drive, London NWII.