RIFT IN SOCIALIST RANKS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21279, 24 February 1939, Page 7

RIFT IN SOCIALIST RANKS

SEQUEL TO PURGE IN ENGLAND Opposition to Common Front Trade Unions Involved in Clash Sir Stafford Cripps’s Expulsion United P: ss Association —By Electric Tel egraph .-Copyright (Received February 23, 9.20 p.m.) LONDON, February 23. “The Evening Standard” says: “The Labour Party is beginning forthwith a purge of the supporters of Sir Staord Cripp's popular front policy. A split in the Socialist ranks is inevitable, as a number of big unions ars expected to line up with Sir Stafford Cripps. It was reported on January 25 that the National Executive of the Labour Party, with one dissentient, had expelled Sir Stafford Cripps, K.C. (who was Attorney-General in the last Labour Government) from the party, after a discussion on charges of disloyalty by issuing to local Labom Parties a memorandum on the Popular Front, after its rejection by the executive, of which Sir Stafford Cripps was a member. The memorandum contemplated some kind of understanding with other political opponents of the National Government, and was Intended to improve the prospects of Opposition candidates at the next General Election Sir Stafford Cripps attended the meeting and vigorously denied any desire to split the party. The Offending Memorandum Sir Stafford Cripps in the memorandum which the British Labour Party executi”o condemned declared that the time was ripe for a great forward movement towards democracy. He advocated “concentrated opposition,” adding “It is not right for any party, in a time of crisis, to insist on the full measure of its doctrines and policies.” The executive of the Labour Party issued a statement describing Sir Stafford Cripps’s campaign over a long period as calculated to weaken the unity of the party, and his present action as harmful. Sir Stafford Cripps, in a statement, said he trusted his friends would redouble their efforts to secure a combination of all the anti-Fascists forces, in order to gi t a Government, which would effectively protect democracy and freedom.