NEW COURSE FOR THE BRITISH COMMUNISTS?

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27988, 7 June 1956, Page 12

NEW COURSE FOR THE BRITISH COMMUNISTS?

AFTER MR POLLITT ■ ,

I By

RICHARD DENMAN,

of the "iconomutt”)

IFrJm the “Economies" Intelligence Unit)

London. May 17—The announcement of Mr PoUitfs, resignation from the position df general secretary of the Communist Party appeared io surprise his Comrades more than anyone else Mr Pollitt had noticeably found difficulty in swallowing the recent denigration of Stalin; and it may be no coincidence that his health no longer! permits him to fulfil the functions of his office at this particular time It is interesting to note that although he referred to his period of 27 years of office, Mr Pollitt was for a time removed from his post m Until he realised that the war against Hitler was not a patriotic one. But he retained his position when the Soviet Union

came into the war ’ To keep Mr Pollitt in the party hierarchy, a new post has been created In future, the Communist Party is to have a president at its head instead of a mere chairman, and Mr Pollitt will be deputy-chairman. But the reins of power will continue to be in the hands of the party s general secretary, and Mr John Gollan takes them at a time when a new; development of party policy is widely expected. The vendetta being conducted between the Labour Party s leadership and the Moscow press gives one indication of the future line to be followed bv the British Communist Party. This will be to try to drive an even bigger wedge than may exist at the moment between the “right-wing reactionary leaders of the Labour Party, who are only concerned to play the role of sycophants to the Tories, and the toiling masses of ardent but misled rank-and-file workers who are to be offered a chance of showing their Socialism by rejecting their present leaders and joining hands in a popular front with the Communists. In fact, the current Russian attacks on Mr 'Gaitskell do not mean the abandonment of the campaign for such a popular front, but its intensification. But certain people are not popular enough to be tolerated at the front of such a movement. Collective Leadership? Mr Gollan is a more skilled theoretician than Mr Pollitt. and in place of the latter’s sense of humour has a more fanatical outlook. He faces a difficult task in interpreting the traditional dogma in the light of the current but an ingenious line is certain to emerge. How far will a

movement towards a genuine collective leadership tn the British Communal Partv be allowed tb go? While more freedopi of'speech and discussion was tolerated at the recent party congress than for many years past, this seems to have been a safety-vtlve more than anything else. The leadership will become collective in name but its practice will probably continue to owe as little to the influence of the membership as in the past The party’s political activities will show little change, and will probably have no more impact than they have done over the last few years. But this is the part of the iceberg that shows; the important submerged part is the jndustrial side of the movement. and now some big changes are imminent. t Influence of Russia as Customer It is significant that the recent Russian “shopping list” contains many items produced by the mechanical and electrical engineering industries. Two things can be said about these industries.' They are still meeting enormous demand for their output, and finding tfifflculty in expanding production fast enough. And their trade unions are more strongly under Communist control than most others. But what is the poUjt of disrupting production when Russia is the customer? The recent strike at Standards was settled, temporarily at least, without any trouble from the strong Communist element in the Amalgamated Engineering Union. This apparent neglect of a heaven-sent opportunity for stirring up trouble has surprised many people. But export licences have recently been granted for tractors to be shipped to China; and the production line In dispute makes tractors. In short, the. formidable apparatus of communism" in the trade unions may be changing its attitude in those factories which hope for orders from • Russia and China. There might be an ; apparent . slackening ‘of activity, and its switching back to the political front. This would be a misreading of the situation. The political . ferment will be just the froth on top ’ of the water to distract attention from i what is going on in the depths; and i that could have ver/ important con- ■ sequences. An apparent alignment nf t the Communist unions on the side nf ; capitalist productivity seems to be on i the way.