Stand on the line Kinnock!

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rould be arrested.

the camp. 30 afternoon over the camp had protest will continue. early hours of Wednesday morning. BEFORE and since his installation as Labour Party leader, we have criticised Neil Kinnock. We have argued that he is not a man of the left.

Labour needs a leader like Tony Benn or Eric Heffer, who would stand by Party policy and support struggles like the miners' We have been criticised in our turn for not giving Kinnock a chance. Many on the left in the Constituency Labour Parties and in the unions have a strong sense of fairness.

Let's see how he performs, they argued. You are too quick to condemn him.

Perhaps they had a point. But he's now had six months as leader.

The litmus test in recent weeks has been support for Liverpool and support for the miners.

If Kinnock was willing to support Liverpool against Everton (he never supports the underdog) he wasn't prepared to support Liverpool against Thatcher.

The Labour Council, he argued, should increase rates by 60%. He was not prepared to give any expression of support for what the council was doing. It would be "an idle gesture" said the idle jester. He refused point blank to come to Liverpool on the 29th. He said, "It would be pointless"

Criticised by Eric Heffer on the 29th, Kinnock refused to change his position. He still wouldn't support the Council. They should, he argued, do the Tories' dirty work for them by raising rates and cutting jobs.

But he did say, "There other ways of getting over a wall than driving through it." Exactly what he meant by this isn't clear and he refused to elaborate.

A fortnight ago Kinnock stated "when people become violent in the process of picketing, I condemn it." Pressurised by the Tories last week he repeated his condemnation of "violent pickets".

Many of Labour's leaders like Eric Heffer, Tony Benn and scores of MPs have supported Liverpool Council and the miners. Kinnock hasn't. You know why? He thinks they are both vote losers. That is the long and short of it.

He is said to privately want a national ballot to get the miners back to work and for the seven Liverpool scab councillors to pull the rug from under the Council.

("Mr Kinnock is using his influence behind the scenes in an attempt to secure an early meeting of the miners' executive" said the Observer on April 1. That's strike breaking).

So that is his idea of leadership. Like Wilson and MacDonald he'll do literally anything for votes and a few points on the polls as a short and painful glance at recent editions of Top of the Pops testifies.

Oh, and he's been reading his Eric Hobsbawm again. He won't support miners or rebel councillors, but he informed a gathering of small businessmen last week that they had a lot in common with Labour and he supported their efforts.

You might have a lot in common with small capital, Neil, but we haven't. We'd rather have the miners and the Liverpool rebels.