The Left and the Disaffiliation of N.a.l.s.o

The scan: The Week v7 no7.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

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As last week's issue of this journal showed, the action by the N.E.C. of the Labour Party in disaffiliating N.A.L.S.0. was extremely crude and very bureaucratic. Yet it mst be said that the response from the left on this question has been minimal. ‘Some sections have even suggested that no fight be put up because the S.L.L. obtained a number of seats in the extraordinary conference, This argument is both unpriticipled and illogical. Cowardice in the face of the right-wing or the hiding behind the argument of other people's sectarianism is self-defeating. Any defeat on the left (no matter how bizarre this left may be) is a defeat for the whole left and changes the relationship of forces in the Labour Party in favour of the right. If one wishes to fight sectarianism - and I think that this is very necessary - one must do so politically. Failure to fight politically is an indication of a lack of confidence in one's ideas. There is a another very real reason for defending N.A.L.S.0.: just now there is a ferment in the universities. The creation of the Radical Student Alliance/the protests against the raising of overseas students' fees will bring thousands of students into action. If there is not a radical body to attract them to the left wing of the Labour Party they will go off into the wilderness: either to the Y.C.L. or Young Liberals. The left in the Labour Party is in urgent need of reinforcements: N.A.L.S.0. could really helps