GUIDE TO GOOD READING Labor MP’s new pamphlet tells “Why | was expelled’ THE STORY of the Labor gov- ernment’s betrayal of its elec- tion pledges on foreign affairs is told by Konni Zilliacus, MP, in a pamphlet, Why I Was Ex- pelled, published in London last month, The pamphlet is also a record of Zilliacus’s own fight against the betrayal before his expulsion from the Labor party... For many years between the wars, Zilliacus worked in the Sec- retariat of the League of Nations in Geneva, helping the Labor party with information and writ- ing books exposing Tory foreign policy. He fought the 1945 election chief- ly on foreign policy, making it a key point for Labor that “Only a British government friendly to socialism can join effectively in making peace in Europe.” His election address on these lines was approved by Transport House, and indeed they were the lines of the foreign policy section in “Let Us Face the Future,” adopted by the Labor party con- ference. Within a few months of the Labor government taking over, however, it had become clear that the government was ganging up with American capitalism against socialism— a policy that meant war. Again and again in the House of Commons, Zilliacus tried to get the government to declare whether its election pledges on foreign policy still held good, al- ways to meet with evasion. He was associated with the “Keep Left” group which made ‘a show of fight against the gov- ernment’s foreign policy in the autumn of 1946; but he adds: “As the situation got worse and the failure of Bevin’s for- eign policy became more appar- ent and more dangerous, the Keep Leftists and the others fell into a troubled silence.” Most of the Left in the Parlia-. mentary Labor party were them- selves not. prepared to make the drastic change in policy required, and, as Zilliacus puts it: “Clung desperately to he illusion of a Western Union run by Social Democrats and inde- pendent of both the U.S. and the USSR—what I call the pol- icy of a little grey home in the West fer pinks scared white by the reds.” So it came about that eventu- ally the Labor party executive felt stvong enough to refuse to en- dores Zilliacus as _ parliamen- tary candidate for Gateshead East, on the basis of a “charge sheet” which enumerated the re- peated efforts made by him to fight for a policy of peace and friendship with the working class of other countries. His reply to that “charge sheet” and his account of the interviews he had with the election sub- committee, first on his candida- ture and later on his expulsion, are interesting and amusing and show the difficulty Transport House was in. But the machine worked to the inevitable end. In the last three chapters, Zil- liacus shows how “Bevin’s chick- ens are coming home to roost” with the budget (“next year’s budget will be worse’), falling ex- ports and the coming slump. He writes of the anti-Com- munist disease “that has killed_ off so many Continental Social Democratic parties’—first phase: a failure to distinguish between ‘BEVIN STARTED NONSENSE’ “My Dear Zilly, knows nothing of diplomacy. whelming majority. easily by supporting you. Shaw backs Zilliacus FOLLOWING is a letter sent to Konni Zilliacus at the time of his expulsion by George Bernard Shaw: “The Labor ministers, having -kicked you out, never open their mouths in public without declaring that everything must give way to the supreme necessity for a jingo war on Russia. “Faced with national bankruptcy, politely called the dollar crisis, and an epidemic of ~strikes, they assure us that not only the strikes but all criticisms of their own follies are the work of Communists ordered by the Kremlin to sabotage Western civilisation and foment an aggressive war to maintain a mon- strously more numerous army than we can afford, to withdraw men from industry and fight Russia, as if Stalin were a twentieth- century Attila instead of the mainstay of peace in Europe, knowing as he does that another war would ruin the USSR and that he himself would be shot if he fell under any suspicion of contriving such a catastrophe. “Bevin started all this panic-stricken nonsense by declaring that we have the right to be in Berlin and mean to stay there, and that Communism is the enemy. “Whereupon the military commander in Berlin at once began the cold war by annoying their Russian co-occupants in every possible way short of opening fire on them. “Attlee and Shawcross, unable to stand up against Bevin’s powerful. personality and great ability in his proper line, had to echo all this mischievous trash loudly enough to silence Winston Churchill, who knows enough to know that Labor “Tt is for Gateshead to come to the rescue by returning you to the House of Commons with an unequivocal and over- “The issue is clear between jingo trade unionism (Bevinism) and a democratic socialism on Fabian lines of which you are by far the most instructed champion. “Gateshead can change for the worse only, and can win - the leadership of democratic public opinion in the country “‘A vote against you is a vote for another war. (sgd.) G. BERNARD SHAW.” fascism and communism; .second, the assertion that the real fight is not between capitalism and social- ism, but between social democracy and communism; third, joining! the capitalists in order to de- fend “democracy” or “social de- mocracy” against “communist dictatorship”; fourth, alliance with fascism and getting ready for a countet-revolutionary world war, The present Labor leadership, according to Zilliacus, has almost reached the third phase, “and men like Bevin at any rate are spiritually ready for the fourth.” ‘ * * * : SO WHAT can be done? Zilli- acus takes as certain the grow- ing resistance of the workers on home issues, and he concentrates on the appeal to the movement to make a fight on foreign af- fairs in order to preserve peace. He urges trades councils, co- operatives and local Labor par- ties to associate with the British Peace Committee, and to “get the peace issue squarely into the election campaign.” In order to save peace—and the Labor party —‘there must be iniative, inde- pendence, and the guts to stand up to right-wing bullying.” WHY I WAS EXPELLED is certainly evidence of this initia- tive and guts, and it will open the eyes of many in the Labor party to the need for making a stand against the leaders who are paving the way for the de- struction of their party in a new coalition with the Tories against the working class everywhere, including Britain. one say “Excuse me’.’””. ~ CURRENT FILMS Two British 4. AR: ro ap “Now get out to that picket line and before you hit anv- pictures are well worth seeing ANNOUNCEMENT that Vancouver theaters will feature more British movies in the future produces mixed feelings. Wher British pictures are good they are usually very, very good; but when they are bad they are hornble. inflicting some of the horrible variety upon us. In his references to the gener- © al-election, however, Zilliacus ex- presses a certain pessimism which does not help his fight. If “the full economic and so- cial consequences” of Bevinism do not develop by then, “the La- bor party may just scrape through.” But if there is crisis by 1950, Labor “will probably lose the election.” Anyway it must come by 1952, when “there will be another 1931 betrayal.” What is the root cause of this pessimism and of the somewhat mechanical view that there is only hope if the situation gets worse? I believe it is that Zilliacus is himself a little contaminated by the very ideas which are the basis of Bevinism. Many passages show that he does not understand communism; for example, his expressed hope of “European liberalism and do- mocracy ... gradually transform- ing communism from within.” Transforming it to what? To that “little grey home,’ Western style, which he derided? Again, he writes in reply to the Labor executive’s charges: ‘The only assumption on which the CP (Communist party) could have a part to play is that the Labor party would fail in its job on a scale that would mean the breakdown of democracy and a real threat of fascism. I reject that assumption. I believe our party can and will do the job. Zilliacus, and others, have tried hard as individuals, but without success. The Left in the Labor party will only gain strength on the basis of a mass movement in which the Communist party plays an indespensable part. Recognition of this fact by the Left, and willing cooperation by them with the Communist party, is an essential condition for that victorious fight against both. the © Tories and the Labor Right which will save Labor for socialism. —EMILE BURNS. J Currently showing at downtown theaters are two three-star. Eng- lish pictures, The Winslow Boy and Pygmalion, the latter a re- * vival from pre-war days. Both are recommended by this depart- ment, despite a common weak- ness in their snobbish touch when introducing the stock “servant. humor.” . ***The Winslow Boy, Robert Do- nat, Cedric Hardwicke. Based on fact, this moving story, extremely well acted by a brilliant cast, is about a father’s determined strug- gle against the British navy bur- eaucracy in order to clear his young son’s name. With the help of a brilliant lawyer and an aroused people, right triumphs over might—and yet one leaves the theater with a feeling that other boys in the services have often been victimized without the advantages of having anyone to come to their defense. ***Pygmalion, Leslie. Howard, Wendy Hiller, Wilfred Lawson. Bernard Shaw’s witty comedy. Importing more films may meal first adapted for the screen 19 1938, and now revived. **Mia and Pa Kettle, Marjori€ Main, Percy Killbride. Slapstick but a far cry from the days % Keaton and Langdon. *Africa Screams, Lou Costello. Bud Abbott. Trash. Call theater meet A MEETING to organize 2 PFO gressive theater group, open to all those interested in acting, PFO ducing and writing, will be held this Sunday, Octoben 2, at 8 Pp. in the Russian People’s Home: 600 Campbell Avenue. The meet ing will discuss constitution of ‘the proposed organization, elect temporary officers and outline # program for the coming seaso?- sd Coal Wood Sawdust People’s Co-op Bookstore 337 WEST PENDER ui Pre-Expansion Sale ONE WEEK -- OCTOBER 3-9 Hundreds of Books — One Half Off, and More COME IN AND BUY BARGAINS — ~ mr PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 30, 1949 — PAG gE 10.