The crisis in Grea

By MALCOLM McEWEN

Tz is hard to recapture the electric atmosphere of
summer of 1945, when the Labor party swept the

chill was thrown out of office,
fully to the new government to
and six years of war.:

' The British working

—LONDON..

Britain in the
country, Chur-

and millions of people looked hope-
clear up the mess left by Tory rule

class had had enough of slumps and mass

unemployment, the grinding poverty of the “dole,” the bleak despair
of the “distressed areas,” where the basic industries lay rusting jn

the 21-year period between wars, They paid their t
but they had finished for good, or so it

as wartime prime minister,
seemed, with the Tories,

' “There’s got to be a change.”

4

ribute to Churchill

That was the mood of the work-

ing class and of the armed forces. It was also the mood of a ‘big

section of the white-collar workers,

ployees and the small tradesmen.

the city clerks and office em-

So strong was the determination to defeat the Tories that a few

weeks before the election

a motion which would have created a com-

mon front of all Progressive parties in the election was defeated only
by the narrowest of margins at the Labor party conference.

As unity was possible in no other way,
Plumping for the Labor candidates.
Commonwealth Parties were left on one

by

the workers achieved it
The Liberal, Communist and
side as the Labor avalanche

swept the Tories from all but their strongest positions.
Nearly everywhere the Communists, who put up only 21 candi-

dates of their own,

and when the results

help was, without a doubt,

Above all, the people wanted
peace, and the Labor Party pro-
mised it. In their program, “Let
Us Face the Future,” the Labor

sociation of the British Com-
monwealth with the U.S.A. and
the USSR. Let it not be for-
gotten that in the years lead-
ing up to the war the Tories

tablish a partnership which
might well have prevented the
war.”

And a little further on, after
suggesting that expenditure on
armaments should diminish, they
claimed that the British labor
movement came to the tasks of
international organization with
one great. asset:

“It has a common bond with
the working people of all coun-
tries, who have achieved a new’

These words expressed the
spirit of the British working
class in 1945, and the program
of the Labor party made an
immense appeal to a people
which had suffered appalling
hardships from the permanent
crisis of capitalism.

“Jobs for All” were to be as-
~ sured by the nationalization of
the Bank of England and the
basic industries, planned invest-

‘ment of capital; modernization

of industry and establishment of
controls over private industry.
There was to be a. blitz on the
housing problem, a “radical solu-
tion” of the land problem, great
advances in education, new

campaigned wholeheartedly with Labor workers,
were known dozens of newly elected members
of parliament publicly thanked the

Communists for their help. That

one of the decisive factors in the election.

health and insurance services,

It is true that, if “Let Us Face
the Future” is closely analysed
it is found to consist in the main
of pious generalizations. But the
workers read) into them their
own aspirations and believed that
the Labor Party really intended
to carry out the program to the
full.

Today* the atmosphere of 1945
is gone. The black thunder
clouds of the slump are already
looming over the horizon and
there is not the slightest belief
anywhere that the Labor gov-
ernment has found the solution
to the problems of capitalist
crisis and unemployment,

The enthusiasm and drive in
the Labor party locals have eva-
Porated. Morgan Phillips, Labor
Secretary, explained away La-
bor’s defeat in the municipal
elections this year by saying
that the “apathy” which used
to work for Labor now works
“for the Toriés,

The Tories are more confi-
dent than at any time since
1945 that they can win the next
election, and although this is far
from certain, there is no denying
the danger that the Tories may
stage a comeback. And, if they
do, it will mean an unrelenting
attack on the workers’ living
standards, and an intensification
of international tension.

How has this situation come
about?

e

In one sense, the Labor gov-

ernment has carried out a num-
ber of the pledges it fave in 1945,
. The Bank of England, the mines,

electricity, gas and the railways
have been nationalized, and a
bill to nationalize parts of the
iron and steel incustry will be-
come law next. year. National
health insurance and a system of

national insurane. have been in-

stituted, the Seno }-leaving — age
raised to 15 years, the Family
Allowances act
force.

Fairly full employment has been
maintained by the post-war hoom
aud this, togethe> with improved
social services, has meant that
on the whole malty working class
families which experience long
periods of unemp!cyment before
the war have enjoyed a higher
standard of Lving, despite ra-
tioning and shortage of fcod. But
the improvement is only relative
to the black dep: 2ssion years and

Hew the crisis threacens to end it.

The outstanding fact igs that
everything has been done in such
a way as to consclidate British
capitalism, The working class
has been excluded from any ef-
fective voice in the nationalized
industries; the old bosses are in
the saddle; industries are bur-
dened with a fantastic Icad of
more than eight billion dollars of
compensation stock interest on
which is given precedence over
the workers’ wages.

In foreign affairs the govern-
ment has abanconed the policy
on which it was elected to be-
ccme a junior partner of Wall
Street in the “cold war” against
the Soviet Union, the New De-
mocracies and the working class.
While it has been forced to make
concessions in India and Burma,
the government’s colonial. policy
is one of intensified exploitation
and brutal repression Of national
independence movements where
ever it feels strong enough to
apply it.

This

foreign policy has en-

tailed an arms budget of more .

than three billion dollars and an
enormous expenditure of foreign
currency in Greece, the Middle
East, Malaya and elsewhere,

brought into

The planned reconstruction of
British industry, the construction
of houses, schools and health
centers, have all been Sacrificed
to make possible the rearmament
program imposed by the anti-
Soviet policy.

Instead of an assault upon the
entrenched monopolies, the La-
bor government has entered into
a covert alliance with them. In in-
dustrial disputes the government
intervenes more and more against
the - workers, using troops, de-
claring a “state of emergency,”
discovering the “sinister” hand
of Communists in every move-
ment for wage increases,

Although living costs have not
Soared to the same extent as in
France, they have steadily out-
Tun wages, which have been peg-
ged officially for more than a
year while profits remain at ne
cord levels,

@

Hitherto, the working class,
losing its confidence in the La-
bor government, has nevertheless
been deceived by much of the
propaganda into believing that it
was doing its best to cope with
economic difficulties not of its
making. The workers have grum-
bled, but they have Stood loyally
by the party they placed in

4

office.

Now however, because of the
failure of the Marshall plan and
the onset of the economic crisis
the plan was Supposed to pre-
vent, a new situation is develop-
in.

The labor movement today has
a spilt personality. On purely
industrial issues the workers are
tending in deeds, if not jn words,
to- follow the policy of the Com-

_Munist party. At the Same time,

they continue to Support the La-
bor party politically. This is a

situation which cannot continue
indefinitely, .

Practically every trade union
conference this year has voted
to demand a wage increase—anq
solemnly recorded its approval

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 5, 1949—PAG

_ by the post-war changes in

@ The anti-labor ac-
tions of the British
Labor government,
dominated by its right-
wing leadership, are
meeting with militant
resistance from work-
ers. Such “unofficial”
strikes as the truckers’
Strike shown here are
on the increase.

of the government's policy

freezing wages.

Similarly, several trade ul
conferences have passed 1
tions refusing to expel Come
nists from office or to take @
practical steps to split the unions
on political lines—and ado ‘e
other resqlutions approving
principle the Trades Union Co™
gress circular calling for a witch
hunt against the Communists

A°’ mass movement is develoP
ing rapidly and the eyidence °
it is to be seen in the strikes.
recent months. Lancashire
ners struck officially (an alm f
unheard of thing in Britain the
days) for an allowance of che4
coal. There have been sp0
railway strikes and the sash
of a national go-slow moveme™
by railwaymen, many of who?
earn no more than $23 a pa
in support of their demand }
a $2.50 a week wage increase

The most remarkable demo
stration of the workers’ militancy
has been the strikes—or rath
lockouts—of the dockers, first
Bristol, then at Liverpool ae
finally at London arising. out
the government’s provocative yi
tacks upon their union right ©
refuse to handle “blackleg” Y&
sels tied up by the Canadian Se”

‘men’s Union. The press, big Dus

ness and Labor officials. aie

and raved about “red plots”: eit

the dockers stood firmly by Bey
principles. It might be ee

that these are also the principl

to which the Labon government
purports to subscribe.

+7
; f 6
The catastrophic fall in Britai®
gold. and dollar reserves, me
pressure from Wall Street to

“\
_ Valuate the pound (which WoW *

raise British living costs),
threat of unemployment,
slump in exports to the
the fall in government stocks—
these point to the onset of ‘a
intense economic crisis for wH°
the government offers 10
out.

that Be
try to ‘pees
burden of this greater crisis tay

ys
the workers, who carry al 4
the burden of “austerity” impo

There is no doubt
business will

Bri-

tain’s world position. At the s2™°
time, there is also no douP' es
the militant mood of the i)
kers and thein readiness to pe

the atacks upon their rights 9
living standards.

The warnings sounded PD.
Communist party against gee
foreign policy, the Marshall Pp’.
the surrender of big business !
the nationalized industries n'
failure to grapple with Alanis <
real economic problems, are 7°”
being borne out.

The conditions ane maturiné
for the final exposure of who
right-wing Labor leaders
betrayed the working preg” ©
for the advance of the fers
munist party, which alone itis
a policy able to lead the ie :
people out of the PEE :
passe, Betas sae