went wrong.
way forward for the labour movement.
Since the debacle the right wing in Lne have taken the offensive. Their laid out in the manifesto of the main right wing calldidate the leadership contest, Roy Hattersley.
He quite specifically unges our ne need for support incomes poncy, to ena Ils opposition to the and to develop 'more convincing' defence policy dron At the same time he has called, along with another right wing challenger Peter Shore, for secret ballots to be introduced for leadership electors effect of this would be to weaken the power of the left wing constituencies and to bolster the power of the media to determine inLellidi Labour Party affairs.
All of the moves by the right wing on policy and the witch hunt are justified by the need to 'be more in touch' with the ordinary LADOUT supporter. Translated, this means Hale caboras to be more in tune with the British imperialism its ruling Fortunately this curemerged from the election weaker in the new parliament the leadership, and somewhat discredited for its election campaign sabotage. Futility For the centre left Parand union bureaucrats defeat demonstrated the of their Tarty unity' at all costs, Cu: they have nevertheless emerged from the election stronger position azainst both the right and de: wings of the party.
This is clear in relation one leadersmp here their candidate Neil likely CROCK JOUKS comfortably Kinnock 1s a younger e sion of Michael Foot in ways the Tories' planned attacks have stunned the labour movement and led to a profound inquest on what The contenders for the Labour Party leadership each reflect differing views inside the labour movement on what happened and where we should go from here. DAVY JONES looks at the debate on the LOLY In reality Kinnock/Hattersley leadership team would be almost identical the Foot/Healey team that The left suftered a maior defeat in the Not only Benn Livingstone denied seats, but there was also a malor acital ounc left's political line into the This had been summed up by Benn as 'uniting the party around the existing policies, the existing leadership and the existing membership unity round the left manifesto the Foot/Healey leadership in return tor an end to internal party witch hunts. Dump What really happened before and during the elecnon was inal ine existing leadership organised to and the existing membership!
What's more the leading lefts failed to challenge the routinist electoralist campaign of ine Labour leadersmp or the right wing's sabotage of the election campaigr itself with their continual attacks on party policies. Workers protest against Thatcher's policies. The anger is there, can Labour organise it?
One response is for the labour movement to form al al acad bloc with the SDP/Liberal which entails dropping the left wing adonted by the labour movement in recent cal. waitig • TIVE years for the parliamentary opportunity to dump Thatcher.
Such perspective rules out the use of mass action or industrial power, and endorses the weakening • of the links between the Labour Partv and the trade union movement.
Such a right wing coalitionist • perspective has powerful supporters both in the Labour Party and Its implementation would lead to major defeats for the working class at the hands of the Tories and to a historic weakening of the strength of the labour movement.
Revolutionary Marxists draw the opposite conclusion. The very depth of social and UNIC political crisis in Britain, and the Tories' offensive will deepen the trend of the most advanced workers turning to their traditional both the (Report) the unions, to seek methods of resisting the Tories and for rebuilding new leadership of the labour movement committed to a class struggle perspective For that reason revolutionary Marxists in Britain place themselves right at LOC Conte the position the left curwithin the Party, the LPYS and the unions to fight for a line of rebuilding the Labour Party and the unions on a class