Two Tactics for Fighting Wilson

The picture is not yet clear about events in Parliament on Tuesday. Some 26 Labour M.P.s are reported to have abstained but on the basis of not “making a public display." We hope very much that these reports are not correct for they show, if they are true, a very mistaken attitude towards the problem of fighting the Government's right wing policies, As we have pointed out before, the question of voting against or abstaining is secondary to what will do most to mobilise and inspire opposition to the Government's policies, We believe that the militant trade unionists who are fast becom= ing disillusioned with the Labour Government, and are thus in danger of rejecting political means of struggle altogether, would be stimulated by a vote against the Government. This is a matter of opinion, but what cannot be doubted is that secret opposition, behind closed doors, is the least likely way of winning their support. The problem is not to win concessions as the result of "horse-trading" but of fighting to build an alternative leadership to Mr. Wilson and his team. Such an alt ernative leadership must rest on mass support and a clear understanding of the deep and irreconcilable differences that exist between the present leadership and that which seeks to replace it. Mass support and political understanding of the nature of the differences and the need for a veal socialist policy and strategy will only come about as 2 result of a fight. Those who seek to gloss over the differences by concessions, by "give and take" are, regardless of their intentions actually harming the struggle against the Government'« Tory policies, Their “objective” role is to make it easier for Mr. “ilson to put across his policies. These are hard words but they express a spirit of regret rather than denunciation. We are not concerned with exposing "fake lefts" in order to justify ourselves. We are concerned with building, by' the process of frank and honest discussion and a lot of hard work, a left which will be able to stop the present rot. The question of whether or not disciplinary measures will be taken against the abstainers is still open. Let the whole of the left unite on this issue: any move to expel, or withdraw the whip from, the rebels must be fought all Waye