The right wing has always justified its policies by calling itself democratic. They have said that the aims of the left wy be alricht in theory but that the drastic changes which 3 Lett advocates could not be brought about democratically. A more gradual? r $s right wing have argued, is therefore necessarye we have learned that this gradualism is so gradual that usually ends up by going backwards. Moreover, during the process, democracy becomes one of the first ‘victims. This experience has again been repeated in the recent events in Parliament,
It is the M.P.s who abstained who are most consistent with Labour principles, to the dlection programmes of 1964 and the 1966 General flection. Yet the fact that they took the mild step of abstaining is most likely to lead to them being suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party, There is no justification whatsoever for this step; by no conceivable stretch of the imagination was the Government's majority threatened -- the Tories abstained, with only 9 Liberal votes against. ( In fact we feel that the abstainers would have done much better to have voted against.) The left M.P.s should stick to their gums and all those loyal to Labour Party policies and decisions should support them. The fact that the right wing is in confusion over the discipline issue should encourage everyone to fight all the harder. Uarold Wilson is not so ommipotent after all.