King Street has sustcined two nasty knocks 1817 recently which although they may appear to be unconnected are rooted in the basic malaise of the 0,P. -— its political dapendence upon whichever clique is in power in the Kremlin. The first knock was the insignificant vote it received in the Luton by-election, In a situation where thare has bsen a big swing to the left,with a Tory majority of some 5,000 turned into a Labour majority of almost 4,000, the C.F. candidate got a mere 490 votes, Not only in the political field has there been a swing to the left, Luton has been the scene of mech militant industrial action in the last few months since the boom in the motor car industry, ifuch of this induatrial activity has been underthe leadership of members of the Communist Party. Yet tho Comminist Party vote can be scarcely more that from party members, their families, vary close sympzthisers and the 'stray' vote any candidate will get.
It is not a question of the policy advocated which led to this finsco, Tho policy put forward by the ¢.P. in the campsign would have far more relevence to the problems of the workers of Luton than that put by the Labour eondidate. Nor is it «= question of the calibre of candidate, everything indicates that in Rector Chater, the C.P. had a first-rate man (one wonders what role ho could play in the Labour Party left wing).s No, tho explanation is to be found elsewhere. The truth of the matter is—that word has got round: the Communist Party is the Russian party. Against the protests thet it is only because of capitalist propaganda that the workers bolieve this, we must answer: that is only part of the explanotion. The point is under what circum stances is capitalist propaganda accepted and believed to such an extent? Clearly only when the actions of the leaders of the Communist Party takes stops Thich ' geem to confirm the validity of the charge.
Everyone knows that if tomorrow wo opencd our papers and, lo and behold, Khrushchoy had boen overthrown, that if the new leadership in the Kremlin said ™{ao'gs been right all along — K'a o filthy rotten revisionist bastard™, tho next day the Daily Worker would say the some. “hat's more Gollan would prob-— ably be a lot happier. ‘Ye know this and all intellpent workers know it as woll, That is why the capitalist propaganda against the Communist Party seems so feasible. For this reason the workers do not trust the Communist Party politically whilst intheir wisdom they are prepared to use the militant qualities of individual ¢.F. trade unionists in the day—to-day strugele.
One of the accusations the pro-Chinese group make agzinst the Gollan = leadership is that of reducing the Communist Party to a “radical appendage of the Labour Party." “hilst this may be true in the political sense it is exactly the opposite mistake which ia being made organisationally, The decision by the C.P, leadership to contest nearly all the pending by-olections is a sectarian move, In one instance, that of the Dundee by-election, it could perheps lead to a defeat of the Labour candidate. Communists in Dundee have received well over 2 thousand votes in the past, at the'General Blecticn the Labour majority was 714. With a Scottish Nationalist also in the field it is unlikely but not impossible that Labour could lose the seat owing to C.P. intervention, From a class point of view this would be a very Serious defeat. This can have scarcely beon overlooked in King Street.
Most of the document put out by the pro-Chinese group is faniliar stuff. They do give some interesting material on the attempt by the King St. leadership to stifle discussion on their arguments. The Daily "orker has chosen to virtually ignore the affair, merely quoting from a broadcast given by a C.P. official in reply to a previous one by McCreery. Bit they will not be able to avoid the consequences of tho- distussion which is now opened ups The time when the 'party line' could be enforced rigidly in the C.P.G.B, is over for ever. The challenge to cmmiscience of King St. made by the pro- Chinese will help to bresk the mental shackles which thousands of the best Iritish militants weer.