Maggie may, but will Labour's left be ready? Will it be June? No time to lose!

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THE PRESS is alive with speculation on the prospects of a June election. Pundits argue whether this is the best time for the Tories to catch the Labour leadership on the goes ahead now, she has a By Harry hop.

But for sure, if Thatcher good chance of catching the Labour left unprepared.

With opinion polls still showing a substantial Tory lead, and gloom, slump and sell-outs on the industrial front, the labour movement is not in a confident mood. And many on the left are responding with a retreat from the last four years' struggles for radical policies and for Labour democracy.

Tony Benn declares that "if you spend all your time niggling away at the difficulties, then you are actually assisting Thatcher's prospect of victory" . "You can't really argue that continued polarisation of the Party would lead to any hope of removing the Thatcher government"

Nigel Williamson in London Labour Briefing argues that warnings about the incomespolicy implications of the 'National Economic Assessment' "are less than helpful.. it is surely the task of socialists now to highlight and campaign upon the positive aspects of the [Labour Party campaign] document"

But why is Labour's support low enough to give demolitionsquad Toryism real prospects of another term in office? Not because working class people are contented with their situation, and want a comfortable business-as-usual message!

Labour's handicap is that after the record of 1974-9 millions no longer believe in Labour's -or anyone else's - capacity to bring progress. It is that sort of despair that has made it possible for Thatcher to retain support while preaching a "return to Victorian values".

The despair can be cleared away only by the Labour Party and unions advancing bold polricies and - just as important -### Sloan Benn demonstrating a will to fight for them.

That cannot be done without mobilising the Left. The Labour right wing is calling no pre-election truce. And if the Left calls a one-sided truce, all it can do is confirm working-class voters in the belief that the radical promises in the campaign document are strictly for show - just like the 1974 manifesto.

The opening of the union conference season has seen drowsy delegates listening to perorations on the wonders of the latter day social contract - the 'National Economic Assessment' Union leaders determined to deliver the goods on wage control to a re-elected Labour government have been flexing their muscles against their rank and file members in the Cowley sell-out.

Terry Duffy and Denis Healey have resumed the offensivé against unilateral nuclear disarmament.

But what of the Left? Where is the organised reply to the tightly knit right wing action that would lose us the election or at best kick Labour voters in the teeth with a re-run of 1974-9?

Nearly two months ago - in good time for any election campaign - an enthusiastic 100strong meeting in the House of Commons set up Socialists for a Labour Victory to offer a rank and file alternative that will turn outwards to link up with struggles in the unions, the mass anti-missiles campaign, and build the broadest possible working class support.

Yet May Day finds the SLV still largely marking time, and still to an alarming extent restricted to existing left wing circles in the London area.

Of course there have been difficulties: the boundary commission changes - which hand another dozen safe seats to the Tories - have forced a number of left-wingers who support the SLV to look for new seats. There have been organisational problems.

But time is running out, and it is reaching the point where the SLV must get itself firmly on the road to a rank and file campaign if it is not to concede complete control to the right wing.

Some of the MPs appear to be getting cold feet on the question of an independent campaign. Tony Benn, who sent apologies to the SLV founding meeting, has made call after call to shelve polemic within the Labour Party, and supported the National Economic Assessment. Perhaps others will follow him in this retreat.

But if we are going to build an anti-Tory campaign that will win the enthusiasm of workers on the shop floor, dole queues and council estates, and at the same time prepare the fight for socialist policies under a Labour govContinued

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Socialist Organiser no.129 April 28 1983 Page 2 celebrated one of the greatest victories since the Russian Revolution. North Vietnamese and NLF forces had finally taken Saigon to end three decades of struggle for national liberation.

In the aftermath of this defeat for the armed might of Ameriçan imperialism, struggles against US-backed and reactionary regimes in other parts of the world received a major boost, while US intervention was severely restricted. Further victories were recorded - the liberation of Angola and Mozambique from coloniai rule, the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, and the ousting But it was always plain that the imperialists would not simply fold their arms and surrender their control over whole areas of the world. Since 1980 we have seen increasingly determined attempts to prevent further defeats, and if possible reverse gains made by the oppressed masses.

In Central America, Reagan is not only seeking to step up military efforts to preserve the bloodstained regime in E Salvador, but also funnelling vast sums into a CIA-run covert operation to harry and if possible overturn the Nicaraguan * * parishit jounce riou Yayc ay and the spirit of Nicaraguan dictator Somoza. HI, 2GаIN - 1 HATE TO TELL YOU THIS.. BUT We WL NeeD THe DESK!

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Bell-to-bell BETRAYAL See certre 4 pages

EDTOR AL of Marxism EIGHT years ago, on May Day 1975 workers around the world