Blowing the election defeat the Labour right wing would draw the conclusion that Labour should move further to the right.
Now Jack Cunningham has come out openly for the scrapping of Clause Four - that section of the Labour constitution which calls for the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange.
Revolt The last time that happened was after Labour's 1959 defeat, when Hugh Gaitskell's attempt to scrap Clause Four led to a massive revolt of the party's ranks.
This time however the centre of the right's offensive is over the links with the trade unions. The attack from all sides on the block vote is not about democratising the Labour Party, it is about weakening its position as the party of the organised working class.
Anyone mance of ABEL president Bill Jordan on Question Time two weeks ago will realise the direction which the far right of the Labour Party wants to go in. If Jordan had his way Labour would become just another capitalist party, like the US Democratic Party. who saw the grovelling perfor"..and then, I'm going to cut off their block votes!"
In the two years before the general election Socialist Outlook argued that Kinnockism was heading for a crash; either it would lead to the most right wing Labour government ever, or alternatively towards the imposition of Smith as the new leader and another decisive shift to It is this latter scenario which is being played out. Of course, a short term destruction of Labour's union links is highly unlikely. Not PHOTO: John Harris cluded. all along the line.
some form for the moment, but the unions remain the indispensable basis for financing the party. But the important thing is the trend of development. The current attack on the block vote is just the beginning of the process, which if unchallenged and uninterrupted would eventually lead to a frontal challenge to the union link; that is why the assault on Labour's union links has to be fought now. Implicated In the leadership election however the basis for judging candidates cannot be their attitude to the block vote alone. Whatever candidates like Gould and Prescott say about the unions, they are deeply implicated in new realism, and the whole disastrous process of undermining the labour movement which Kinnockism represented. The attack on the block vote cannot be combatted without rejecting new realism as such. Although it may be possible for the left to makes partial political alliances with people like Prescott on the specific point of the block vote, any general political alliance is preFighting left unity has to attack new realism SOCIALIST OUTLOOK supporters have launched a heavily on the equipment acquired up to seven years More up-to-date equipment will make a substantial At home the left is undergoing rapid changes as it Over the past few months our sales and subs have May 30, 1992