Labour Party Conference Resolutions Challenge Wilson

The resolutions for the Labour Party conference promise the Labour Party leadership a rough ride at Scarborough in October, The overwhelming number of resolutions are in some way critical of Government policies while many attack the overall direction of Government policy. Resolutions on Incomes Policy criticise the Government for not controlling prices effectively, Salford City, Tottenham, and Liverpool Toxteth Labour Parties completely reject the policy, while others reject legislation against the trade unions and call for a policy based on nationalisation of industry, The Amalgamated Society of Boiler Makers, Shipwrights, Blacksmiths and Structural Workers calls for the withdrawal of the policy and describes it as "the negation of democracy". Resolution economic affairs also include demands for a minimum wage of £15. On Vietnam there are nine resolutions attacking the Government's position of support for American aggression against the Vietnamese. The Bute and North Ayrshire CLP, "recognises that the war in Vietnam is basically a class struggle between the people of Vietnam, through the National Liberation Front, and the U.S. imperialists and the fascist puppet government in Saigon", and calls on conference to pledge full support to the victory of the Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front, Nearer home the NEC comes under attack for its youth policy. Walthamstow East CLP refers to the removal of all forms of democracy in the Labour Party Young Socialists and demands that as a minimum the LPYS should have the democratic structure laid down in 1960, Resolutions on social security and poverty point very clearly to the disappointment that is felt throughout the ranks of the Party over the experience of this government and its unfulfilled pledges, But the key debates at conference will undoubtedly be around the issues of Incomes Policy and Vietnam. Nowhere are the issues clearer, The Government will not easily sidestep these issues and confuse the conference, They are totally committed on both these fronts to policies that are being opposed more fiercely with each bombing raid on North Vietnam, and each cut in the living standards of the British working class. Nor is the government assured of the support of the key trade union leaderships: if the AKU delegation supports that union's national committee policy there is every prospect that Wilson will suffer a big defeat at conference. Such 'paper' victories on Vietnam and Incomes policy could be vital in creating an atmosphere inside the party where oppositionists begin to build an alternative to the Wilson leadership of the party. Not only would this bring back into the Party those many militants who have drifted away in despair, but it would mark the beginning of the long task of undoing the damage that the right-wing Wilson leadership has inflicted on working class politics in Britain,