The Common Market Debate

Wilson has taken the plunge on the Common Market, It would appear very likely to us that he does with the knowledge that Britain's chance of being accepted is quite good, He must realise that an unsuccessful application would further tarnished his already badly shaken reputation, It is obvious from the spoeches in the House of Commons that there is going to be a big fight in the Labour Party on the question, despite the fact that so far no member of the Government has resigned, The division on this question does not follow the traditional left/right lines, Elsewhere in this issue we have printed a letter from a very good friend of ours, Stan Newens, who is strongly in favour of entry into the Common Market, On the other hand such right-wingers as Shinwell and Jay are opposed to entry, How does one get one's bearing on this subject? Is it true that the main division is between the little-Imglanders and the go-ahead modernists? Stan Newens, whose integrity none of us have called into question, speaks of a Marxist approach, With that we readily agree. However, for us the key to the Marxist approach is taking a class position, Taking a class position means no collaboration with big business and its representatives in rationalising capitalism, It is true that we can talk of the objective effects of concentration of industry, It is true that British independence is anyway illusory, But objectively progressive effects depend upon the subjective factors: concentration of industry lays the basis for making the working class more powerful but only if the working class behaves in a certain way. For us the question of Britain's independence is also secondary: what we are concerned with is the independence of Britain‘s working class from capitalist policies, We welcome Stan Newens' letter and hope it sparks off a lively discussion, It would, in our opinion, be utopian to think that the left can prevent or expedite Britain's entry into the Common Market, The important thing is certain lessons must be learmmt: the necessity of complete independence of working class politics, and the need for internationalism, As we have stated many times before: the real answer to the Common Market threat is the calling of all-European conference of labour to work out a strategy of opposition to capitalist rationalisation and its political ramifications, If the debate on entry facilitates that conference it will have not been in vain,