After the Municipal Elections

Enough has been written about the terrible defeat Labour suffered at the polls last wek for us to assume that our readers are familiar with the main facts, What concerns us is the possible consequences for our struggle to build up a firm, principled, left wing within the Labour movement, Firstly, these results confirm beyond all doubt that Wilsonism is a disaster for the Labour Party. Secondly, we sce that disillusionment with Labour (expressed mostly in the form of Labour voters stopping at home, particularly in safe Labour seats) has not led to a swing to the left. Indeed, the Communist Party lost one third of its 1964 vote in London, dropping from some 90-odd thousand to 66,000, Thirdly, it is apparent that the Wilson leadership shows no sign of having reconsidered its position: Wilson's Fulham speech was not mere rhetoric - it was followed by the presentation of new antitrade union incomes policy legislation, There is now bound to be a deep questioning of the leadership of the Labour Party. Many sections of the Labour Party bureaucracy - the solid base of which is the system of local council cliques - have been structurally weakened, We will be hearing the pitter-pattering of rats deserting the sinking ship. On the other hand, there are bound to be fierces struggles for the few remaining fruits of office in the councils. It would, however, be wrong to think in terms of Wilson being down for the count, That very sly politician has a strategy of waiting until just before the next general election before handing out some concessions, He mst calculate — that the next general election, being some three years away, can still be won. Whether or not these developments (and the further losses Labour will suffer in the borough elections) assist the formation of a big left wing in the Labour Party is entirely up to the left, The left must use the shock of these results to start a great discussion inside the movement, ‘This discussion should be on two levels: the left itself must clarify a strategy of how to fight Wilson, and in every unit the lesson must be driven home that Wilson's policies are playing right into the hands of the Tories. Any talk of pulling out of the Labour Party at this stage is particularly bad, In the absence of any alternative on the left this means going into the wilderness, It further means that one cuts one's self off from the discussion in the Labour Party, Now is the time to fight for the building of a Labour left, THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DATA'S STRUGGLE According to The Times Business Supplement of 13 April "observers are wondering whether this dispute" (the shipyard lockout) "is the beginning of a return to the use of the lockout, which has practically disappeared as a factor in industrial relations for more than a generation...." This is striking confirmation of what DATA's leaders have been saying: it is absolutely essential for the immediate future of British trade unionism that this fight be won, It is very necessary for all trade unionists to struggle for solidarity action with the draughtsmen,