| Glasgow Digital Library | MAXTON PAPERS | 1900-1920 | 1921-1930 | 1931-1940 | 1941-1950 | INDEX |
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By James Maxton, M.P., and Fenner Brockway
To JAMES MAXTON, M.P., and FENNER BROCKWAY
Dear Comrades,
The workers want a clear lead. Can you give it to us? I'll put the position as I see it.
Conditions become worse. Unemployment figures may go down a little, but the struggle is becoming harder all the time. Under the Means Test it's not much more than starvation. When we get jobs we can hardly live on the wages, and the speeding up in the works is wicked.
Our children are growing up in a world that promises them nothing. Sometimes they get jobs when they leave school, only to lose them again when they are nineteen or twenty. Sometimes they go years without a job.
For our women it is hell. The struggle to make ends meet wouldn't be so bad if they could see the end of it. They can't. It's always anxiety and worry. No feeling of security. This has gone on for years, and it looks as though it will go on for years more.
What are we to do about it? We used to look to the Labour Party. But what hope is there in it now?
The Labour Government was a bitter disappointment. Under it things got worse instead of better. What about the Anomalies Act? I know the excuses, but every member of the Labour Government should have resigned his seat rather than accept responsibility for that Act. A quarter-of-a-million unemployed have been refused benefits under it. No Benefit - by order of the Labour Government!
And what about the Means Test? Greenwood, who was Minister of Health, protests that the Labour Government was not responsible. But he cannot deny that the Labour Government appointed the May Committee which was responsible for it, which recommended it. Why did the Labour Government pack the Committee with representatives of the Boss Class? What other recommendation did it expect?
The Means Test and the Anomalies Act are two of the things we are suffering from worst. How can we have any faith in the Party which brought them on us?
Then there's Fascism and War.
War and Fascism don't seem very real. Not real like the Means Test and the Anomalies Act, or low wages and speeding up, or rent increases, which are part of our daily lives. But we want none of the Hitler business here. And we don't want another War.
But it looks as though they will come - unless we begin to do something about them.
But what are we to do? What can we do to give some hope to our womenfolk and children? What can we do to stand up to the Fascists and War-mongers?
The Working-class Movement is all at sixes and sevens. MacDonald and Snowden have quit - thank God! - but the crowd which still leads the Labour Party were their colleagues in the Labour Government and must share responsibility. As one of you has said, if they couldn't stand up to MacDonald and Snowden, what hope is there that they will stand up to the Bosses and the War-mongers?
There's the Trade Union Movement. The Trade Unions seem to have crumpled up with Capitalism. They haven't been able to stop Wage Reductions or Speeding-up. They've been uniting with the Bosses instead of fighting them. First it was "Mond-Turnerism." Now it's "Rooseveltism." We want to fight the Bosses, not help them to make Capitalism safe for profits.
There's the Communists. I take off my hat to their fighting spirit, but they get nowhere. A few of them put up a case; but as for most of them - personal abuse and wild talk and no way out but bloody revolution. We don't want that if we can avoid it.
Then there's the I.L.P. I don't think you realise the chance you have if you will rise to it. You stood out against the betrayal of the working-class by the Labour Government. You put loyalty to the working-class before loyalty to a Government which attacked the working-class.
Some workers blame you for splitting the Movement, but it was the Labour Party which was responsible. The Labour Party struck you off its list of candidates because you refused to sign an undertaking not to do the same thing again.
You have proved that you can be trusted; but what are you going to do now? The workers are waiting for a lead. Can you give it? Can you give us hope? Can you lead us to action?
There are two things the workers want. They are sick of compromise in the Working-class Movement. They want a fighting policy. They are sick of the divisions in the Working-class Movement. They want unity. If the I.L.P. will give a dear lead for these two things, thousands of workers will follow. Fraternally yours,
STILL A SOCIALIST
The reply to this letter will be found in the following pages.
We believe that the letter printed on the previous pages says what thousands of workers are thinking. It challenges us to give a clear lead. In this pamphlet we respond to the challenge.
But before we can decide what is necessary in the present situation we must understand exactly what the situation is.
The writer of the letter has described the conditions of the working-class. The low wages and the speeding-up of those who are in jobs. The hopeless existence of those who are out of jobs. The never-ending anxiety of the womenfolk.
He has referred to the dangers of Fascism and War. He has not exaggerated.
But the poverty of the workers and the dangers of War and Fascism are not separate evils. They are parts of a deeper evil - the evil of Capitalism.
The workers have a harder struggle each year to live, because the present economic system of Capitalism is breaking down.
The ruling class of one country after another is throwing over Parliamentary democracy for a Military Dictatorship, because the present economic system of Capitalism is breaking down.
National antagonisms threatening us with War are growing in the world, because the present economic system of Capitalism is breaking down.
If we are to give a lead, it must be a lead not against one or another of these evils, but against the cause of them all - the system of Capitalism.
There is no doubt about the breakdown of Capitalism. In the industrial countries of the world the unemployed number thirty million. If the agricultural countries be added, the total number of unemployed must reach something like a hundred million. They are everywhere existing in a condition little removed from destitution. And millions more, even though they are in jobs, are getting wages so low that their position is not much better.
That is one side of the picture - the mass poverty of the millions.
And the other side?
At the very time that there is this wide want, food is being destroyed in large quantities, all kinds of crops are being restricted by thousands of acres, and the productive system is being used only about one-fourth of its possible extent!
Is it not clear that the present economic system has failed? The natural resources of the earth and the productive capacity of modern industry could wipe out poverty. Instead of being used to do that, the natural resources of the earth and the productive capacity of industry are being allowed to go to rot and waste. In face of such facts, it must be evident to everyone that Capitalism has broken down.
No one can dispute that Capitalism has broken down. But can it recover?
Will Capitalism continue to decline, resulting in still lower standards of life for the workers, or will Capitalism stabilise itself again, leading to an improvement in conditions?
We have definitely come to the view that all the probabilities are on the side of the continued decline of Capitalism and a worsening of the conditions of the workers. There may be periods of improvement, but they will be followed by deeper economic crises, more extensive unemployment, more general poverty.
We give some of our reasons for this view.
1. The present economic crisis of Capitalism is not like the trade slumps which we have had previously. Before the War a slump began one year, the next year things got worse, the third year they reached rock bottom; but by the fourth year the boom began again. The "depression" through which we are now going has lasted six years in Britain. It has brought unemployment to one worker in every four. It has spread with similar seriousness all over the world. This is something more than a temporary depression. It is the deterioration and decay of the whole system.
2. The world has become one vast market for which the industries of all nations compete. In one store you will find British goods, German goods, American goods, Japanese goods. The economic crisis has meant a far keener competition for this market, with the result that the standards of the workers in countries with higher wages are falling steadily and surely to the standards where the worst wages are paid. Tariffs cannot meet this problem, because nearly every country has vast quantities of unsaleable goods which it is prepared to get rid of at almost any price. Consequently, the general tendency under Capitalism is for working-class standards to go down.
3. Every day more workers are being made unnecessary by the introduction of labour-saving machinery. Electricity is being harnessed to industry in such a way that power to produce is being multiplied a thousand times. Wonderful new machines are being constructed which make it possible to create wealth with an ease that is almost miraculous. But the more easily wealth is produced, the less demand there is for labour - the more unemployment grows.
This process must go on until the workers receive in wages sufficient
to buy back the wealth which they create. But instead of getting higher wages, most workers under the stress of the Capitalist competition are getting lower wages. Thus the economic crisis of Capitalism deepens.
4. Except in America (with which we shall deal later), no Capitalist Government has produced any plan to bring about the recovery of Capitalism. Indeed, all have been driven by the pressure of competition to adopt policies which have made the situation worse. Although there has been a glut of goods in nearly every market, the Governments have said: "You must tighten your belts." Although increased employment has depended upon a greater demand for goods, the Governments have reduced wages, unemployment benefits, and social services and have thus lessened the spending power of the workers. These policies have intensified the crisis of Capitalism. The Governments have shown that Capitalist policy is bankrupt.
5. It is not only each separate Government which is failing to deal with the problem. When International Conferences representing all the Capitalist Governments meet, the failure is even more marked. The World Economic Conference was an example. It showed the complete incapacity of Capitalist Governments to do anything to remedy the situation. The only outcome of the Conference has been a proposal to reduce the production of wealth by restricting wheat, cotton and sugar crops, rubber production, oil and coal supplies, etc. At a time when there is dire poverty everywhere, the Capitalist Governments say: "The remedy is to produce less wealth!" This is the solution of the wisest rulers which Capitalism can find!
But what about America? Isn't Capitalism recovering there under President Roosevelt's scheme?
This suggestion reminds us of another argument about America used a few years ago. The opponents of Socialism then pointed to America as proof that Capitalism could provide work and high wages for all. Then the Capitalist crisis hit America - and wages fell to a semi-Starvation level and it had fifteen million unemployed!
All the signs are that the same thing will be repeated now. America's "Recovery" will probably be followed by a crash and a crisis severer than ever.
Look at what is happening. Wages are going up, but prices are going up more. The people have more money to spend, but production is increasing far more rapidly than purchasing power. Already there are gluts of goods in many trades. Unemployment still stands at twelve millions, and before long it is likely to mount up higher than it was before the "Recovery" began.
One of the first results of the higher wages demanded by the American "Recovery" codes has been the introduction of still more labour-saving machinery. The employers want to avoid paying the increased wages whenever they can! The effects of this are shown, ironically enough, by one of the machines introduced in the "Recovery" Department at Washington. It is described by Bruce Bliven in the "New Republic (Aug. 16th, 1933) in this way:-
"One of these machines in particular caught my eye. It was solemnly writing on a long and wide sheet of paper, all by itself, the names and addresses of cotton planters, their acreage, crop yield and other pertinent data - and then adding up the totals at the bottom of the page. This machine can write cheques, all but the signature, address and amount accurately filled in - at the rate of 150 a minute.
How many clerks in America will lose their jobs when such machines extend to the large offices? How many workers will lose their jobs as equally "cute" machines are extended to industry generally?
A moment's thinking makes it as clear as noon-day that the problem of unemployment can only be solved when the mass of the people are paid enough to purchase back the wealth which they create. Otherwise gluts of unsold goods will accumulate upon the markets, orders for further goods will cease, workers will be discharged, and unemployment will begin to mount again.
But if the mass of the people are to be in a position to enjoy the national wealth, then the national income must go to them. The unearned income which now goes to the privileged possessing class must stop. Rent, Interest and Profit must stop. CAPITALISM MUST STOP!
But Capitalism is not only the cause of poverty. It is, as we have indicated, the cause of the other evils which the writer of the Open Letter to us has referred to - the evils of Fascism and War.
It is the crumbling of the Capitalist system and the threatening revolt of the workers against intolerable conditions which are leading the Capitalist ruling class to resort to open Dictatorship.
Fascism is not something foreign - something which may happen in Italy or Germany or Austria, but which could not happen in Britain. It is a device to which the Capitalist class turns when it can no longer control the situation by the method of Parliamentary Democracy. As the crisis develops, so will the danger of Fascism grow everywhere.
The same with War. Modern wars arise mainly from economic antagonisms. But we have shown that economic antagonisms between nations are more intense now than they have ever been. The nations fight for markets; they shut out each other's goods by tariffs and quotas. This intensified economic antagonism is leading to an intensified rivalry in armaments. It must lead to War unless it is stopped.
The danger of War is increased by the aggressive Nationalism of Fascist Germany (for which the Capitalist Treaty of Versailles is largely responsible). Fascism represents not only Capitalist Dictatorship in an extreme form, but also the Menace of War in an extreme form. The danger of War is also increased by the enmity of Capitalism to the successful construction of Socialism in Russia. Capitalist Governments will not hesitate to seize an opportunity to attack Soviet Russia if they think they can do it successfully.
It is clear that Capitalism has gone so far in decay that it means increasing poverty and misery for the workers. It means the menace of Fascism. It means the danger of War.
To an economic system which involves such suffering and disaster the workers should show no compromise. It is diseased and rotten It has lived its day.
It can no longer be a question of transforming Capitalism into Socialism by a series of gradual reforms. The decay of Capitalism has gone too far for that. Every day that it continues it means more suffering to the workers. There is only one thing to do, and that is to overthrow it entirely and to replace it by the new Workers' System of Socialism.
This decision means that we must give up the policy of Reform and adopt the policy of Revolution.
There is a lot of misunderstanding about the word "Revolution." A great many people immediately think of barricades, shooting, bloodshed and executions! That is not the meaning of the word "Revolution."
Revolution means a complete change. A Social Revolution means that the working-class becomes the ruling-class (instead of being the subject-class). That the working-class owns and controls industry (instead of being the tool of industry). That the working-class has the first claim to wealth (and not the last, as now). THAT is the Revolution the I.L.P. wants.
A revolution should be measured, not by the violence which accompanies it, but by the extent of the change which it accomplishes. We abhor bloodshed. We are certainly not going to advocate a policy which will bring the working-class, unarmed and weaponless, into the streets to be shot down by the armed forces. The possessing-class may attempt to maintain their position by violence. But if the workers will realise their unity and express it in organised strength, their power will be so overwhelming that no resistance by the possessing-class will be of avail.
The next question is: How is the Revolution to be carried through? How far can Parliament be used?
There is not the least doubt that Parliament is a valuable instrument for Socialist agitation and action. At the present time the I.L.P. has only three M.P.s. If it had thirty-three men and women, fearless and tireless, always attacking the Capitalist policy of the Government, always voicing the protest of the working-class against injustice - the effect would be tremendous. A fighting Socialist minority in the House of Commons could give an inspiring lead to the whole of the working class.
We go further. If a majority of Socialists, revolutionary in spirit and action, could be secured, it would be well worth getting. We should gain a position of great strategic advantage in the change from Capitalism to Socialism.
We should have behind us the mass working-class opinion which returned such a majority. We should have control of the State machine. Even if a section of the higher ranks of the Civil Service and of the Officer Class in the Forces refused to follow the Government's lead, the rank and file could be counted upon to support it.
Socialist thought has permeated a large part of the Civil Service, and 86 per cent of those who join the Army do so because they are unemployed. They come from the working-class, and could not remain unaffected if Revolutionary Socialist convictions swept the mass of the working-class.
But this does not mean that a Revolutionary Socialist Government would not have to face a storm. As soon as it attempted to make basic Socialist changes, it would immediately be up against the resistance of the possessing class. The House of Lords, the Court, the Press lords, the Financiers, the Capitalists and the Landlords would throw their full weight against it.
It is folly to believe that the possessing-class would surrender their ownership without a struggle. The history of past struggles against privilege indicates this. The temper of the privileged class at the present time proves it.
A Socialist Government which meant business would have to overcome this resistance. It would have to sweep away the House of Lords and the Court. It would have to prevent the Press Lords and Capitalists and Financiers from sabotaging its Socialist plans. It would only succeed if it had behind it a working-class prepared to take ACTION in support of it - prepared in mind and spirit, and prepared in organisation.
No Socialist, however much he believes in Parliamentary action, can shirk facing this issue. It is no use closing our eyes to the practical crisis, however "Constitutional" the policy which is pursued. However much importance is attached to Parliament, realisation of the struggle which will accompany even Parliamentary action for Socialism must compel every one of us to recognise that the determining factor between defeat and victory will be whether a working-class instrument has been prepared capable of overcoming Capitalist resistance and of ousting Capitalist control of the economic life of the country.
The I.L.P. will use Parliament as fully as possible. It will nominate militant Socialists as candidates. It will do its utmost not only to get a fighting minority of Socialists in the House of Commons, but to get a majority.
But the I.L.P. realises that even more important than the election of Socialists to Parliament is the preparation of working-class determination and organisation to defeat the Capitalist class in the inevitable crisis and to secure working-class control of the State and of industry.
But this discussion of the use of Parliament by a Revolutionary Socialist Government assumes that the ruling-class will maintain the system of "Parliamentary Democracy" long enough to enable Revolutionary Socialists to obtain a majority.
That is a very doubtful assumption. The fact must be faced that all the probabilities are that before the chance comes the Capitalist class will have instituted a dictatorship.
The leaders of the Labour Party and the Trade Union Congress talk as though the issue of Dictatorship or Democracy depends upon the working-class. That is not the position. It will be the Capitalist class which will be responsible for the introduction of a Dictatorship. The Capitalist class now controls the industrial system, the Press, the wireless, and the State machine. It has at this moment a virtual dictatorship; and it can impose an open dictatorship whenever it desires.
In Britain the Capitalist class has already gone far in preparing for an open Dictatorship. It has taken steps to shackle working-class action. By its Trades Disputes Act it has made illegal united Trade Union action in support of any particular section of the workers who are attacked. It has also made illegal united Trade Union action to resist the threat of War.
There is no need for the Capitalist class to introduce legislation to suppress freedom of speech or press or meeting. Laws remain on the Statute Book from the time of Queen Elizabeth which prohibit freedom of speech and even thought, and the Capitalist class has recently shown, in the case of Tom Mann and others, that it is prepared to put these obsolete laws into operation to limit working-class activity.
The Capitalist class is taking steps to make the Police Force dependable in a time of crisis by attaching it to officers recruited, as in the case of the Army, from the upper classes. The power to enrol Special Constables can be used at any moment to mobilise upper-class volunteers against the working-class.
How little the ruling-class cares about the traditional democratic procedure of Parliament is shown by the way in which the present National Government has not hesitated to use Orders in Council to facilitate and speed up its attacks upon the working-class.
These tendencies are already evident. Who can doubt, as working-class discontent grows and takes organised form, that such instruments of Dictatorship will be extended? It will be no use for the working-class in that to rely on the theory of Democracy. It will have to resist the fact of Dictatorship.
The British Labour leaders are now repeating the same mistakes which the Social-Democratic leaders of Germany made. The Social-Democrats relied entirely on the methods of Parliamentary democracy. They taught the working-class of Germany that it was wrong to adopt methods of direct action. The result was that when the ruling-class of Germany destroyed Parliamentary Democracy, the German workers had not the will to take direct action - the only action which could have saved them. If the British workers follow the Labour Party and Trade Union Congress leaders in worshipping at the shrine of Parliamentary Democracy they, too, will be unprepared to act when the crisis comes.
The British workers must face the probability that they will not be given the chance to obtain political power by "democratic" methods. We have already seen that even if they get the chance, direct working-class action to supplement Parliamentary action will probably be necessary. Such action will certainly be required if a Capitalist Dictatorship is imposed before political power can be obtained.
Thus our previous conclusion is strengthened. The most important task for Socialists at the present time is to prepare the workers for ACTION in the decisive struggle and to prepare the working-class organisation through which such action can be taken.
We now pass on to the third feature of the present crisis of Capitalism - the danger of War.
We have seen how the economic antagonisms of Capitalism are leading to War. If War is to be prevented, the workers must do it by their own ACTION. It is no use relying upon the method of Parliamentary Democracy in such a situation. If Capitalist Governments threaten to plunge the world into an immediate war, it is no use postponing a protest until it can be made constitutionally at the next General Election. We shall be bombed to bits before then!
Nor must action be delayed until war is declared. It must be taken as soon as War is threatened. It will be too late when the fleets of aeroplanes begin to cross the frontiers. Once that happens, large populations will be wiped out before anything can be done.
As soon as an international dispute reaches a critical stage, the workers must ACT at once. They must make clear to their Governments that they will not have war. A general strike must be declared. The trains must stop. The wheels in the engineering sheds must stop. The workers in the chemical industry (the source of explosives and poison gas) must stop. The miners must stop.
If the working-class takes such action, it will be impossible for a Government to begin War.
But this must be understood clearly. Action of such a kind would be a challenge to the Government and to the Constitution. Once the struggle began it would have to be carried through to the end. Either the Government would crush the working-class or the working-class would overthrow the Government. Once again we see that it is imperative that the workers should be prepared in mind and organisation to struggle to the end.
Thus we find that every consideration of the present situation drives us back to the same conclusion: that the supreme task for Socialists to-day is to prepare the working-class for ACTION in the crisis which is developing. The will of the workers to ACT must be created. The organisation of the workers to ACT UNITEDLY must be created.
Both these things are necessary. Unless the workers have the WILL TO ACT, unity is of no avail. Unless the workers have UNITY OF ACTION, the will to act is of no avail.
The two things must be developed together. We must discuss them here one at a time; but in practice the will to act will lead to unity in action and unity in action will lead to the will to act. They will act and re-act upon each, other.
How can UNITY IN ACTION be obtained?
Sometimes one hears the wish expressed that all sections of the working-class would get into one organisation. The question is asked: Why cannot the Labour Party, the I.L.P. and the Communist Party amalgamate?
The answer is that unity to that extent would be artificial and would only lead to deeper dissension. It is no use ignoring differences. This pamphlet has already made evident the difference between the Labour Party and the I.L.P. The I.L.P. used to be in the Labour Party. We were in it but not of it; we followed a different course; we voted against it. The result was that we were regarded as disloyal. Bitterness and ill-feeling grew.
Now that we are outside the Labour Party a great deal of that feeling has gone. The relations between the Labour Party and the I.L.P. are much healthier than when we were inside it.
Similarly there are real differences between the I.L.P. and the Communist Party. The temper of the two parties is different. The tactics are different. The I.L.P. believes in the democratic control of Party policy by the Party membership. Its members would never be willing to obey orders, from either a national or international executive which they had no voice in determining.
Under present conditions the amalgamation of the I.L.P. and the Communist Party is impossible. The Communist Party is not prepared to break from the rigid organisational and financial control of Moscow. The I.L.P. membership would certainty not be prepared to fit itself within an organisation so controlled.
These differences between the Labour Party, the I.L.P. and the C.P. must be recognised. They would become more acute if the three memberships were lumped into one organisation. There would be so much internal controversy that no positive work would be done!
But if unity is impossible, that does not mean united action on agreed points is impossible.
All three sections of the working-class have declared their opposition to Capitalist attacks on the workers and to Fascism and to War. Why, then, cannot they take united action against them?
United action on the things about which we agree is the way to develop unity on the things about which at present we disagree.
In the experience of the common struggle a common mind and policy will develop. The force of events will mould a common policy if the will to unity is present and is expressed in actual co-operation.
Unfortunately the Labour Party (as well as the T.U.C. and the Co-operative Party) declined the invitation of the I.L.P. to confer with a view to finding a basis of united action. The Communist Party agreed, and on specific issues co-operation between the I.L.P. and the CP is taking place.
But the I.L.P. is still working for united action by all sections of the working-class. It is not discouraged because the Labour Party has so far refused. If united action is to come, it must represent the desire of the rank and file. The I.L.P will continue to foster this desire until it extends from the rank and file to the leadership.
There are many ways in which united action can be encouraged. Sometimes it is possible to obtain it in the localities even where the national leadership is opposed. Often it is possible to obtain it for specific objects - opposition to the harsh treatment of the unemployed, opposition to rent increases, united action in support of a local strike, united demonstrations against Fascism and War. The I.L.P. will do its utmost to develop the widest working-class co-operation in every locality on these lines.
The I.L.P. will support all national movements which leap over the barriers of organisational differences. The Anti-War Movement, in which many Trade Unions and Co-operative organisations are participating, is one. The co-operation of varied organisations in the German Relief Committee is another example. These organisations are among the most effective means of developing unity in action.
There is one feature of the Trade Union struggle which can be made an important influence for United Action. The Trade Union Movement is disastrously divided into a large number of sectional organisations. I.L.P. Trade Unionists will work (to use an old phrase) for fewer Unions and more unity.
But, once again, we must not postpone united action until we can get organisational unity. The important place for unity is the factory, workshop, mill, yard and pit. However many Unions are represented in one place of work, I.L.P. members will seek to form United Committees representing all the workers for common action. Then, as grievances arise or disputes occur, the instrument is at hand for united action.
There is no short cut to unity. It will grow out of the experience of common action in the daily struggle. By taking part in every side of the struggle, the I.L.P. will do its utmost to develop a sense of solidarity between all sections of the working-class. Out of this the will to United Action will grow.
To get the WILL TO ACTION we must break the attachment of the working-class to the present policies of the leadership of the Labour Party and the Trade Union Congress. The illusion that salvation can be obtained by delegating the role to Parliamentary representatives must be destroyed. The workers must be led to see that their salvation will depend upon their own actions.
Acceptances of policies of Parliamentary and Trade Union compromise with the representatives of Capitalism must be destroyed. Despite the more uncompromising reports and resolutions which have been adopted by the Labour Party since the humiliating fall of the Labour Government in 1931, the leadership of the Labour Party and the type of candidate which is being chosen (often for money reasons) gives no promise that another Labour Government would really set out to initiate the Revolution from Capitalism to Socialism.
The Trade Union Congress leadership has developed from "Mond-Turner united action with the Capitalists to an endorsement of the Roosevelt policy of united action with the Capitalists. It definitely discourages any will to act. It has even declared that Trade Union action for higher wages must be postponed until higher prices are obtainable. It is imprisoned within the Capitalist system. It will not take the offensive against Capitalism.
The futility of the policies of the Labour Party and the T.U.C leadership must be clearly pointed out, because they are fatal to the working-class. It is our bounden duty to speak out plainly when we see the mistakes which brought disaster upon the German workers repeated here. But at the same time we must welcome every sign, either within the Labour Party or the Trade Union Congress, of the growth of the real Socialist view. In every section of the Working-Class Movement there are those who are turning towards a Revolutionary Socialist attitude. In the long run this common view will overcome organisational separations, and we must do everything to encourage it to do so.
Within the Trade Union Movement, I.L.P. members will be active in favour of more aggressive policies and will do all they can to strengthen rank and file movements and all tendencies challenging the bureaucratic control of many of the Unions. But the I.L.P. understands that the Trade Union Movement is at present the most effective instrument for action by the working-class, and its members will refrain from action which is likely to weaken or split the workers' industrial organisation.
The will to act will be created among the workers only by ceaseless propaganda and action. Here, again, it is a matter of devoted service, day in and day out, to the cause. Economic and political developments will probably be the best educators of the workers. I.L.F. members must be the constant interpreters of these events.
So the Will to Act and Unity in Action will develop. As they grow, they will find organisational form. Out of this the working-class instrument for ACTION in a crisis will be developed.
Of what nature will this instrument be? It must represent both of the two necessary things - the Will to Act and Unity in Action.
It will therefore include the militant revolutionary sections of the working-class, such as the I.L.P. and the C.P. It will include organisations of the unemployed, such as the National Unemployed Workers' Movement. It will include the United Committees at the factories, pits, workshops and yards - they will be of enormous importance at a time of crisis. It will include the Estate Committees and Tenants' Defence Committees, growing out of rent and similar grievances - also of great importance as a community organisation. It will represent Trades Councils, Trade Union branches, Co-operative organisations, Labour Parties - indeed, all working-class organisations, as the sense of the need for united action is developed.
These Workers' Councils will represent the maximum strength of the working-class. They will be the most effective organisation to act for every section of the working-class in a crisis. They will be the most effective organisation to replace Capitalist control over industry and community life when the victory is won.
The I.L.P. will steadily strive to bring about the Will to Act and the Unity in Action from which Workers' Councils will naturally develop. But it will not attempt to form Workers' Councils artificially. A Workers' Council should not be formed in any locality until the desire for united action has developed far enough to make the Council represent the power of effective working-class action. It may be that in most districts they will only be established under the pressure of the actual crisis. But, even so, their effectiveness will largely depend upon the preparatory work of education, stimulation, and organisation which has been done.
So we conclude. We have tried to meet faithfully the challenge to give a CLEAR LEAD. We ask every Socialist and worker to consider carefully our arguments and conclusions.
If we art right in thinking that we are going forward to the decisive struggle between Capitalism and Socialism, surely no word is needed from us to appeal to all Socialists to take their part.
If the case we have put has carried conviction to the reader, his place is in the I.L.P. We believe that in the present situation the I.L.P. is making the biggest of all contributions to the triumph of Socialism. We are creating the Will to Action. We are developing United Action. From these the instrument of Workers' Power and Socialism will come.
Blackfriars Press Ltd., Smith Dorrien Road, Leicester - Oct. 1933 - 16957.
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