Cont'd.)
When the leadership could rely on an Ernest Bevin or an Arthur Deakin to swing the massive trade union vote behind the platform they could afford to permit Conference the luxury of imagining that it was the fount of power, Those days are gone. There is a ferment in the Trade Unions, exemplified by the rise of Frank Cousins in the T. & G.W.U. and the support for Scanlon in the A.E.U. elections, which the leadership must take note of, Conference must, from Wilson's point of view, be transformed from a Parliament of Labour into a national demonstration of support for the leadership. This is perhaps the main issue which faces Conference in 1967. There will be heated discussions on the economic issues and foreign policy. But perhaps the most significant fight will be waged round the resolution which will emerge from those submitted by Lincoln C.C.P., Newbury C.L.P. and others. They all call, to greater or lesser degree, for more real power for Conference. That from Newbury ends with:
"Conference further declares that unless the Prime Minister
and the Government pays greater attention to Conference decisions
and arrests the growing disillusionment of the electorate and
active Party members, we shall be in grave danger of losing the
next General Election." These words are a challenge which must be taken up by the whole Conference, Scarborough's Spa Grand Hall is the historic place where the platform was defeated on the issue of nuclear disarmament. At Scarborough and after Scarborough Labour's rank-and-file must "fight, fight, and fight again" to save the Party from the dustbin of history into which it will inevitably be cast unless it becomes again the party of the working class; and the Labour Government becomes the conscious servant of the movement working with it for the socialist future of Britain and the world.