ELECTION MANIFESTO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27291, 18 January 1950, Page 5

ELECTION MANIFESTO

British Labour Party Further Socialisation Proposed New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 11 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 17. The socialisation of sugar, steel, meat wholesaling, and cement, the ownership of assurance by policy holders, and the transfer to public ownership of “ any appropriate sections ” of the chemical industry are among the socialisation proposals of the Labour Party put before the public today in the party’s election manifesto. The manifesto bears the title “ Let us win through together.”

The main heads of the Labour policy are:—

Work for All. —No return to mass unemployment and the days of the depression: finance to be the servant and not the master of the employment policy.

Drive and Public Spirit. —Public enterprise to become a model of efficiency and a social responsibility; private enterprise to be set free from the stranglehold of restrictive monopolies; sugar and cement monopolies to be transferred to public ownership.

Grow More Food. —Assured markets and guaranteed prices to continue; great areas of marginal land to be cultivated; water to be a national service, and rural reticulation extended.

Prices. —Fruit and vegetable marketing to be improved; meat wholesaling and cold storage to be brought fully into public ownership; competition to be encouraged wherever it will reduce prices. Social Security. —The national health service and other new services will be wisely developed for the general good; children will continue “at the head of the queue ”; a square deal for old people; industrial assurance to be mutually owned by policy holders. Homes for All. —The party “ will go forward until every family has its own separate home the law of leasehold to be reformed.

Peace and Plenty. —The Commonwealth to be strengthened; support for Western Europe; an economic and social basis for democratic self-govern-ment in the colonies to be created. The. manifesto asks the electorate to assert, “in their free exercise of the franchise, that by and large the first majority Labour Government has served the country well.” It says that the choice for the electors is between Labour —“ a party of positive action, of constructive progress, the true party of the nation—and the Conservatives—the party of out-dated'ideas, of unemployment, of privilege.” “ Socialism is not bread alone,” says the manifesto. “Economic security and freedom from the enslaving material bonds of capitalism are not the final'goal. They are the means to the greater end —the evolution of a people more kindly, intelligent, tree, co-operative, enterprising, and rich in culture. They are means to the greater end of the full and free development of every individual person.” The manifesto says the Labour Government has assured full employment and fair shares of the necessities of life—a contrast with pre-war days when “ millions of unwanted men eked out their livds in need of the very things they themselves could have made in „factories that were standing idle.” It 'declares that full employment is the “ cornerstone of the new society.” NEED TO EXPORT The nation’s greatest need, said the manifesto, was to export, more especially to North America, so that Britain could pay for enough food to eat and enough raw materials to keep the factories running. If mass unemployment came again, the people would once more be too poor to buy much food from abroad, and idle factories would not need imported raw materials. Labour had aimed at keeping the purchasing power within limits in the last few years, when there had been too few goods and too much money. It would be prepared to expand the purchasing power if the danger was too little money and too many goods. Subject to the will of Parliament, the party would take whatever steps might be required to control financial forces so as to maintain full employment and promote the welfare of the nation. Publicly-owned industry would be ready to expand its investment when the employment policy demanded it. The rebuilding of development areas would be vigorously continued. A development council would be established for shipbuilding and ship repairing. unless production continued to increase as in the last four years, Britain could not improve or even maintain her present standard of life; the social services could not advance or even survive, “ and our national freedom and independence cannot continue.” This was a job for everyone. Private enterprise must not shelter behind price rings or rigged markets. PUBLIC ENTERPRISE

Public enterprise must be vigorous, not easy-going. Drive, public spirit, and initiative were required throughout from everyone. Only by price control and rationing could fair shares of scarce goods be ensured. Only control over capital investment, the distribution of industry, industrial building, and foreign exchange could enable Britain to overcome the dollar shortage and built up a permanently thriving national economy. Yet the Tories still cried: “ Scrap controls.” Nothing could be more disastrous. Labour had begun to build up a flourishing partnership between Government, management, and workers. More had to be done both in public and private enterprise. Too many managements still paid lip service to joint consultation and then did little to make it effective. Upon the trade unions lay the responsibility for further equipping and training their members for service to industry and the country. COAL INDUSTRY The long decline and demoralisation of the coal industry had been halted. Output and output per man shift had gone up. For the first time the miners were getting a square deal. Justice for the miner had meant fuel and power for the nation. The nationalisation of coal had saved the British industry from collapse. When private monopoly was replaced by public ownership, the steel industry would be responsible to the nation. “Labour will--not be content until each public enterprise is a model of efficiency and social responsibility,” the manifesto continues. “The Government must be free to take all necessary steps to that end.” The public would be encouraged to make much more use of consumers’ councils created for all nationalised industries. Labour’s aim was to give a fair chance to everybody in industry, above all to the small concerns, which had been the most ruthlessly exploited by trusts, cartels and rings. Development councils, representing the management, the workers and the public, would be set up compulsorily if need be. The Government would be ready in suitable cases to provide manufacturers with buildings and general purposes’ equipment for sale or hire and to finance approved capital expenditure. Where private enterprise failed to meet the public interest, the Government would be empowered to start new competitive public enterprises in appropriate circumstances. Practical steps would be taken to prevent monopolies from continuing to exploit the public. Monopoly concerns, which could not be dealt with In other ways, would be socialised. MORE FOOD Britain would have to grow more food In the battle for food the nation could not afford to waste land. Where the job was too big for individual farmers to tackle, public ownership would be used as a means of bringing good food-producing land not fully used into sound cultivation.

A successful defensive battle had been waged against inflation in the last five years. Food subsidies, rationing, price control of essentials, rent control, and the freest possible competition where supplies had been plentiful, were all helping to keep down living costs. Labour would continue its present policy of subsidies as long as present circumstances continued, and the need to keep the cost of living down was permanent. Distribution would be overhauled in the following ways: More fruit and vegetable wholesale and retail markets under municipal or other public ownership to reduce the present marketing waste; the development of cold stores through public ownership; the present system of meat distribution to become a permanent public service; the extension of buying by public bodies. " DESTITUTION BANISHED ” Labour had honoured its 1945 pledge to make social security the birthright of every citizen. Destitution had been banished; the best medical attention was available to everybody. The rate of progress of social security would be determined by one thing only—the productive effort of the people. In a section headed “ One world of peace and plenty,” the manifesto says that Briain’s prestige had sunk to its lowest ebb for a century or more in the days of Munich. It continues: “ The selfish, cowardly bungling of the Conservative Government landed us in a war which collective security could have prevented, and for which the Government had not prepared. The colonies were shamefully neglected, and the democratic aspirations of the Indian people met with continuous frustration and delay. During the last five years, under Labour leadership, Britain has regained her moral position in the Western world and has won the confidence of many millions in Africa and Asia.” “We will continue, if returned to power, to work realistically for peace; we will stand firm against any attempt to intimidate us or to undermine our position in the world. But we will remain ready at any moment to co-operate fully with Russia as with any country that is prepared to work with us for peace and friendship.” COMMONWEALTH UNITY The manifesto added that Labour believed that the purposes of the United Nations were best served by still closer associations between friendly countries within the Charter. The Government had put particular energy into strengthening the associations of the Commonwealth Atlantic community and Western Europe. Great strides had been made in Europe towards the creation of new economic and political unity. No country had given more leadership to this great movement than Labour Britain. That support and leadership would be continued, always remembering that Britain was the heart of a great Commonwealth extending far beyond the boundaries of Europe. Labour had immensely helped to strengthen the essential unity of the Commonwealth by recognising the desire of the Commonwealth countries for complete national self-determina-tion. “ The natural confidence and mutual affection existing between the peoples of the Commonwealth are one of the world’s greatest assets in its struggle for stability and peace. We. will continue to strengthen these powerful bonds of union by practical measures of co-operation. Shall we continue along the road of ordered progress which - the people deliberately chose in 1945, or shall the protectors of privilege and the apostles of scarcity be once more placed in the seat of power to take us back to the bleak years of poverty and unemployment? Those years must never return. We are successfully going forward with the great and inspiring adventure of our time. Let us win through together.”