Evening Post. THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1933. DEMOCRATS AND DICTATORS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 23, 27 July 1933, Page 10

Evening Post. THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1933. DEMOCRATS AND DICTATORS

The leading- article in the "New Statesman", of June 17 bears the title "Democrats and -Dictators," but the subject of. it is very much narrower than the broad issue that we were discussing under a similar titbV last week1 apropos of, Mr. Downie Stewart's survey of the spread of dictatorships.' It was mainly a problem in the tactics, of the British Labour Party with which the "New Statesman" was concerned. A controversy which has seriously disturbed the harmony of the party had been started.by the Socialist League at the conference which it held at Derby during the first weekend in June. It may seem surprising that an organisation bearing that .title should have been able to precipitate such a controversy at its first conference, but despite its not very happy title the Socialist League is not a mere academical body. It was formed by those members of the Independent Labour Party who refused to follow the lead of Mr. Maxton, M.P., when *the decision to disaffiliafe from the official Labour Party .was carried a year ago. Fifteen dissentients were afterwards expelled from the. 1.L.P.",. and their Socialist League, including, as it does, at least two ex-Ministers in Sir- Charles Trevelyan and 'Mr. Thomas Johnston, and speaking as the I.L.P. used to speak, from within the fold of orthodoxy, lit carries a weight more than proportionate to its numbers. When the I.L.P. Conference on July 30 last had formally deleted the rule relating to affiliation', and the chairman announced that "the Independent .Labour Party is now disaffiliated from the Labour Party," the conference rose in a. body and sang "The' Red Flag." So far, therefore," as that demonstration was concerned, the minority must be credited —or debited—with being just as Red as the majority. That inference is confirmed by the creed of the Socialist League, which declares its main object, to be "the promotion of an aggressive and definite Socialist policy within the Labour Party?/ Nor could Mr. Maxton himself complain that either in the honour paid to the Red Flag or in the insistent demand for aggressive and "in .'our time" Socialism, Mr. E. F. Wise, the chairman of the League's Derby Conference, fell an inch short of the true gospel. ■ ; On tho shoulders of British Labour at this moment :rests a heavy responsibility, ho said. No other working-class party in Western- Europe has any hope at any early date of hoisting the Red Mag over the seats of government and power or of 'stemming the tide of Fascism. It is for us to see' that the flag is Teally red, and not.palo pink or a vague yellow. The Labour Party has rid itself of Mac Donald evasion and reformism. It has not yet built up its strength or laid its plans for a new fight. Some Labour-Party leaders seem' to be thinking too much in terms- of tiio struggles and isaues of the past. Public opinion is looking for action. . . . For us there can be no half-way house. The choice is between Socialism and Fascism. The' Labour Party must go fearlessly forward or it will bo Suppressed by its enemies or killed by its own. inaction. But while such" talk as this might even win the approval .of ' Mr. Maxton, it was obviously too general to alarm the responsible, leaders of the party or to give its enemies- a handle. This part was played by the series.of resolutions which were submitted by the National Council to constitute a "programme of actionj" and provided, among other things, for tho immediate introduction by a Labour Government of an Emergency Powers Act giving it authority at onec to take over or/regulate the financial machine and to take any measures that the situation might require for immediate control or socialisation of industry, for safeguarding the supply of food and other necessaries, the;securing of guarantees for the abolition of the House of liords before Labour takes office, and emergency action oa unemployment to make effective the slogan "Work or maintenance."

These proposals were not carried or fully debated, but were given a sort of second-reading approval and then postponed for detailed consideration at the next conference of the League. The substantial approval, following as it did, upon the definite adoption of a resolution that the next "Imperial war" should be met by a general strike, "and that the^opportunity created should be used to end the capitalist system and to set up Socialism in its place," was quite. enough to put the fat in the fire, and it soon began to sizzle. It looked indeed as though the Socialism which was to be substituted for the capitalist system,, whether by means of an anti-war general strike or otherwise, was really to be of the' National or Nazi variety. 'Tiie Socialism, which was to put itself in power by the tyranny tof a general strike was to stay there by the much more businesslike tyranny of a Hitler or a Mussolini. - •

. The anticipation of the "Manchester Guardian"... that "fhe cooperation with the Labour Party arid tiie trade unions Vfor which (lie [Socialist] League has expressed a desire will not lie easy to secure on these lines,'' was quickly realised. The Labour Pally and its supporters were grievously embariarsed, while lheir enemies made the most of a golden opportunity. So

much is admitted by the. "New Statesman," though it' deprecates "this dictatorship scare" as "the veriest bugaboo." The issue has been represented, it says in its opening paragraph, as a struggle' between "the defenders of democracy and the apostles of dictatorship."

<3n the on© side are the Party Executive and the Trade Union Congress, with Mr. Citrine as fugleman;/on the other Sir Stafford Cripps,'the Socialist League, and the "Bloomsbury intelligentsia," Mr. Citrine talks of "the untimely and politically inept propaganda carried on by an unofficial group," and suggests ominous comparisons with Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and Pilsudski. The .Tories,' in the role of Satan rebuking sin,'lecture the conspiiato'rs against'tho Constitution Meanwhile millions of ordinary intelligent men are puzzled to know what all the pother is about.

The "New ■ Statesman" ■ concedes that, the Socialist Leaguers ■ "may, like other controversialists, haye used unwise phrases oir "occasion," but contends that their proposals have "singularly little to do with dictatorship and a great deal to do with democracy.'', They are; based, it says, upon certain assumptions universally accepted in the Labour movement. These are that the i Labour Party stands for Socialism i—not for Communism but for Social 'democracy; that the -last Labour 'Government was a signal failure; and that the next Labour Government must do very much better. But this, it is contended, will be impossible without a fundamental change in the machinery of government. It is hardly necessary to say that Sir Stafford Cr'ipps repudiates the idea of a dictatorship/What he says is that "with a Socialist Government a far higher 'tempo' of legislation will be required than any yet achieved in this country," and that "with the present machinery the necessary legislation would take centuries to pass." Drastic reform along dembcratic lines is undoubtedly needed, but in its eagerness "to stem the tide of Fascism" the Socialist League has unfortunately suggested proposals which savour strongly of Fascist methods.