IS NOW THE TIME TO STEP UP THE OFFENSIVE? "Radical policies are ahead of mass support"

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In the weeks since the Brighton conference Socialist Organiser has given space to the debate taking place in Labour's left wing on the next step:

Socialist Organiser of September 1 printed an open letter to Tony Benn entitled 'Time to Organise the Left!' and an article by Nigel Williamson se out one possible form of a new move ment of the Labour left. Reg Race M and Bob Cryer MP have also argued (SO October 8 and October 1) the necessity for a new left group of Lab

But many on the left of the Party disagree. In particular Vladimir Derer of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy inas argued (October 15 and 22) that now is not the time for new offensive, which would, he

Anne Pettifor (October 29) arguer against Vladimir that it is vital to tak the fight into the wider labour

This week (below) we carry Vladimir's reply, together with a further contribution to the debate

ANN PETTIFOR (Socialist Organiser no.59) is critical of some aspects of my assessment (SO 57) of the situation arising out of the Brighton conference.

According to her, they are based on two talse assumptions.

First, she claims that ! erroneously assume that it has now been widely accepted that unless there is more accountability within the Labour Party, the PLP will merely continue to uphold the status quo.

In fact I have made no such assumption. What 1 said, possibly with insufficient emphasis, is that because mandatory reselection is now widely accepted may have seemed that the principle of greater accountability per se was equally widely accepted.

One agrees with Ann Pettifor that this is far from being the case, since there is still widespread ignorance of the important role of the PLP in relation to Labour governments. Our disagreement, therefore, is not due to any underestimate on my part of the continued need for CLPD 'to do a lot more work in broadening support for constitutional issues' Where we differ is the method that is to be adopted to achieve this aim.

Ann suggests that the supper for constitutional reis = sould be bruatened if ETES I is ianou mere I* I taroa: a: sudez +7.30 7*2 tom Erape. 20d te 2ie:

0. 50208I $7:E In fact, CLPD's success in the past was largely due to the separation of our advocacy of democratic reforms from that in favour of any particular policies. This enabled us to receive support from those who might in fact be opposed to any of these policies.

Ultra-left

If CLPD were associated with, say, the proposal to withdraw from the Common Market, this would be unlikely to induce MPs andothers who wish to see Britain out of Europe to associate themselves with constitutional reform.

What Ann is proposing is that CLPD should adopt what is at present the conventional left wing Perhaps she, and others who share her view, should ask themselves why the conventional left, whether of the Tribunite or ultra-left variety, was so singularly unsuccessful in achieving anything at all, while CLPD, with its much smaller forces, managed significantly to contribute to major victories.

Genuine Ann's second proposal, in favour of what amounts to reorientation of CLPD policy, is a variation on the same theme. Once again she advocates a course of action which was pursued often enough in the past, but with negative results.

She is critical the our but activity strategy to the tramework which limits our we know and understand well - the party, its constitution and procedures' Such a strategy, she concludes, will merely further entrench the left's permanent minority status in the Instead, she advocates 'mobilising outside this narrOnce again she disregards the positive experience of the recent past (the achievement of mandatory reselection and the electoral college) and overlooks that mobilisation for the purpose of attending mass meetings is not a genuine mobilisation, but merely a phony substitute for it.

• Narrowness It is simply an illusion that lack of success in mobilising a mass. support for further democratic reforms in the Party can somehow be overcome by seeking support outside it.

The Party may offer us today no more than a 'narrow base, but it is the only base (this base, incidentally, is not as narrow as that to which the 'left' is habitually reduced when mobilising forces for any of its ritualistic protests, e.g. anti Common Market gatherings or Debate of the Decade).

We may, of course, regret narrowness of the LabParty membership base. a wider participation in Labour polities will not be produced by an appeal to Labour voters over the heads of the Party' 's members. In order to obtain "greater involvement in Party activities on their part, it is necessary for Labour to regain its credibility as the champion of the interests of the working class and other disadvantaged sections of our society.

Genuine changes in that direction can • only. be brought about by patient work within that framework which, at any given time, is central to the existing political struggle.

This at present means the existing political structure. It is the failure to identity this framework as the only relevant one, and not as Ann suggests, the circumscription of our activities, which is the one sure way of courting defeat for democratic reform.

Sects ranging from the CP to WRP are forever appealing • directly' (i.e. not through the Labour Party) to the 'wider labour movement'. . We all know just how successful they have been.

Critical Such direct appeals are generally made on the assumption that the 'masses" are more radical than the Labour Party. There is, of are critical of the pertormance of past Labour governments.

However, when it comes the advocacy of any specific radical policy, it is the 'narrow base' which in terms of its views is ahead of the mass of actual or potential Labour voters.

The reason why most trade unionists expressed their preference for Dennis Healey rather than Tony Benn was that Tony was identified with more radical policies. The reason why the majority of CLPs opted for Tony was precisely due to their more direct involvement in Labour Party work.

The basis for their judgment was therefore, at least to some extent, their own experience, rather than the 'information' disseminated by the media.

Healey The reason for the Brighton setbacks is not to be sought in the fact that the campaign for policies and reform was too restricted. In the immediate sense, probably the reverse is true: without wider consultation, NUPE would have voted for Benn instead of Healey.

This, ot course, Is no reason for not consulting the trade union rank and file members. It only means that their involvement in Labour Party politics will be a lengthy process, and in the short run is unlikely to benefit the radicals' This is why it is important that such involvement should become part of routine trade union business — a suggestion deplored by Ann - rather than a rare event highlighted by hostile media coverage.

It is important that after each setback one should critically review the situation. It is clear enough that more work needs to be done if the Labour Party is to adopt socialist policies, but there are no short cuts.

Many Labour Party members - and trade unionists -now feel that democratic reand that it is necessary to anu lal concentrate on fighting the Thatcher government. The inroads made by the SDP into the two-party system make party unity seem even more imperative.

To ignore this mood would be a grave mistake.

In the long run, democrparty greater way to any atic reforms will give the be idle, however, to deny that in the short run the struggle for reform exacerbates divisions.

This is not so important so long as the tide is in our favour, and so long as the reformers can carry the majority of the party with them, divisions can be contained.

To persist with an offensive tactic once the majority perceives further reforms as a major threat to party unity and hence its credibility as an alternative government, is to exhibit indifference to the outcome of such political struggles as are being fought out at present.

Since the great majority of members

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victories won - or to right wing sday 12 November 1981 Page 7

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ow base, either in the unions wider poitical arenad, in the

course, some truth in this assumption: Labour voters