"You can get into pawn, but don't then talk about independent
foreign policy, or an independent defence policy..If you
borrow from some of the world's bankers you will quickly find
that you lose another kind of independence because of the
deflationary policies and the cuts in social services that
will be imposed on a government that has got itself into
that position,"
The speaker is Harold Wilson, in his widely reported statement to this year's TUC., Since these words were uttered, the crisis of the pound has compelled Mr. Wilson to borrow no less that 3,000,000,000 from the U.S. Federal Reserve System, the Bundesbank of the German Federal Republic, the Banque De France, and other leading European national banks. Last week's Economist speculated that Mr. 'ilson now faced two major dangers: the danger that the foreign bankers wouldn't realise what problems he was up against, and the danger that the left wing MPs would tumble to them.
Now Mr. Wilson is in Washington. The television commentators tell us that of the whole hundred days, the past two have been the most pregnant with consequences. No-one has yet told us what has been decided: but the line-up prior to the talks has been ugly in the extreme. In the same week of the bankers! handout, the Governnent lent Ascension Island to Belgian paratroopers for intervention in the Congo, decided to deliver the Buccaneers to South Africa after all, and reversed its position on the MLF, in spite of all the promises of the election campaign. ("There will be no German finger on the nuclear trigger") The Government, before the Washington talks began, had already agreed to continue with the construction of the 3 Polaris submarines, to consider a joint NATO nuclear fleet, and to integrate the Bundeswehr (Nazi commanders and all) into the proposed nuclear force.
Let no-one believe that it is possible for Labour to carry outa. schizophrenic policy, radical at home, reactionary abroad. Mr. Wilson was right when he talked to the TUC: the bill for tailing behind the NATO politicians will be presented to the working people, the aged, the school children, and all the other social groups Labour is pledged to protect. In Washington, as far as we can tell from the press, even more terrible retreats are being considered. There is even to be discussion about Britain's role in the war in Vietnam according to Mr. Wilson. At the beginning of the life of the new Government, we said that CND was still needed, as it never has been before. Our fears have been realised sooner than most of us anticipated. The protests must be immediate, and strong. Mail copies of Connor Cruise O'Brien's excellent article in last Sunday's Observer to Anthony Greenwood, asking him to think about it and act on it!. ‘Write, phone and wire your MP about the Buccaneer deal! Above all, get organised to bring the maximum pressure to bear against the Multi-Lateral Force! All criticism of Labour's government should, of course, be constructive and helpful: but to abstain from criticism on these vital questions would be to sell the pass.
Too much progress has been made, in one way only, in involving CND activists in Labour Party work. ‘:¢ complementary work must now begins CND must be reactivated, if necessary re-staffed, and set to work in preparation for an enormous revival. The Easter march must be prepared now, in a series of key demonstrations, which will ensure that all those who think Labour's commitments to peace and against Atlantic sabre-rattling are dispensible are quickly convinced of the contrary.