A valid arena for work | IMGpapers 1980

Uncorrected machine reading. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from a scan of a newspaper page, and the page was cut into articles by machine, at the headlines found by their type size. Nothing has been corrected: expect misread words, text from a neighbouring article, and titles that are the machine reading of the headline, some of them only fragments. Quote from the scan, not from this page.
How this article was cut and titled: headline found by type size in the OCR geometry (split_tabloid.py); 5-7 of 7; machine-segmented newspaper page; uncorrected Vision OCR.

page 11 of the scan

I HAVE read with interest your recent articles by Bob Pennington and Chris Harman on the Labour Party.

It was a pity that the Socialist Workers Party didn't volved the Socialist Unity of Marxist Group, especially WIll regard to standing left canOne of the lessons to be learnt from experience was the extent of the hold of reformism over the vast majority of the workClass would be opposed to the standing candidates at torthcoming loca or general elections Many socialists have recently recognised the need for us to modify our towards the Labour Party in the light changing circumstances.

This, in my opinion, is much better than adopting rigid postures of the *TIl have no truck with reformism' variety. The working class wants to know what we have to say about the maior issues of unem ployment, , cuts, the threat of nuclea war, and so on, rather than abstract debates on reform revolution.

And, to be honest, the Labour left is at least talking in a language that the working class stands.

A memorable headline « one OT year's issues of Socialist Worker 'Learn Polish'. seems to me, witnessing the struggles going on u the Labour Party, that the Labour left has been doing just that. One thing that the SWP should begin to accept is that the Labour Party is a valid arena for political work.

Whether it decides to have people on the inside or not is a question strategy and tactics, not of abstract principle.

Big Flame (personal capacity)

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far left