The lesson of the by-elections in Gorton, Hamilton and Leicester is clears if someone poisons the whisky in the House of Commons we could have a Tory Government next year, Hardly a Labour seat in the country is now safe from the Tories or the nationalists. The 1931 debacle could be mild compared with what faces Labour unless the present trend is decisively reversed, One would have thought that such a situation would have really led to the left-wing revolt the newspapers speculate about. On the contrary, we find that our left M.P.s support, "with utmost reluctance", the Government's economic policies. The key thing is how to mobilise rank and file opposition to the Gove.nment. Unless this is done there is no possibility of reversing the relationship of forces inside the Labour Party. The present trend is for the left to leave the party, this can only be reversed if militants are convinced that someone is putting up a real fight inside the party. Voting, even "with utmost reluctance", for the Government on the very issue which has disaffected most of its supporters is exactly the wrong way to wage a fight. Putting a hard line might break the ranks of the present parliamentary left, but would this be a bad thing? Wouldn't it be better to have a smaller number of M.P.s who want to fight than a motley alliance? How many of the former lefts are holding jobs in the Government? How many times was it necessary in the past to twist and turn to maintain unity with them? Yet in the end, they made their choice. But it is neither fair not helpful to heap all the blame on to the left M.P's. They are just a few dozen people, trapped in the most sophisticated device for sapping socialist consiousness in the world, The trouble is that the views they hold, the methods they use, also prevail in the multi-million strong labour movement. Moreover, they can justifiably argue that William Warbey proved that a lone figure in the House of Commons, making the most heroic gestures, could not mategially alter the situation, The main force opposing the Government just now is to be found in the trade union movement. It is a force which can and should fight the Government. Instead of urging their members to "go back to work so that negotiations cen begin", leaders of unions which supposedly oppose the Government's economic polity should encourage every rank and file activity. A mood is prevailing in the British labour movement: struggles are beginning, and people are groping towards organisation and a political understanding of how to o.ganise the left. There are tens of thousands willing to go into action around a militant programme. Let our left M.P.'s give a lead, let them call for a united front of all those who want to fight Wilson on Vietnam and the wage free eze, let them demand from the trade union leaders that they, in turn, fight. If a stand like this were made, our left M.P's would be surprised at the response. They would not be alone. In one form or another, the people of this country are going to put Wilson and his Cabinet into the political dustbin soon. Let us all make sure that what follows is a move to the left. It is up to the left, at all levels, to give a fighting lead now. Tomorrow might be too late.
KIKI