Henderson and Brockway Debate The Road To Power
TYLER, GUS
Henderson and Brockway Debate The Road To Power Was the British I. L. P. Correct in Quit the labor Party?---Two Distinguished British Socialists Present Different Views on the Conquest of...
...No profane hands should alter it...
...He maintained that the general strike of 1926 with its bold spirit yet ignominious surrender was an indication of the insufficiency of the old trade union philosophy which limited itself purely to the fight for reforms and feared to press forward to seizure of power...
...The party is more important than my individual difference of opinion...
...It was considered sacred...
...Their offer has always been for the purpose of demoralizing their allies, sowing feuds in their ranks, because everything that is not Communist, from their point of view, is "social Fascist...
...He argued that within the LLP...
...Brockway advised, in answer to another question, that if the I.L.P...
...All this will be done with direct labor of the town, without the intervention of contractors...
...These will be under their own control to do the work on the same lines as the municipal banks in existence in nearby Labor-controlled towns...
...The Labor Party polled 98,086 votes, while the I.L.P., formerly the dominant element in the Labor Party, polled but 35,083...
...Given their basic view, their conduct is logical...
...A Record of Repeated Surrenders EVENTUALLY this reduced the members to wooden manikins...
...to pour from the Communist press...
...The disc ussion was carried on in the cool and in-t e 1 1 i gent manner typical of English men...
...Henderson quoted Keir Hardie, founder of the I.L.P...
...Even if a majority of Socialists were returned to the House of Commons and were resolved to introduce decisive legislation of a Socialist character," he said, "they would have to face the opposition of the House of Lords, of the courts, of the financiers and of the industrialists...
...Of course, the logic of this was grotesque, lis who wants to save the working class by cooperating with the alleged enemies of the working class becomes involved in a contradiction that is apparent even to a child...
...The insufficiency of the old method of gradualism necessitated a technique whereby the working class can gain a power so absolute as to enable it to make decisive changes from capitalism to Socialism...
...Where the Council finds that they have no statutory powers to engage in these activities or other forms of production and business, the formation of limited liability companies have been suggested...
...However, all this was past history unknown to many comrades who joined the Socialist Party in recent years...
...Brockway advised that the Socialists should "utilize Parliament as much as they can, but that the decisive factor would be the* mind and organization of the working class...
...It is misleading to create the impression that the Labor Party, the I.L.P...
...Why not...
...but if this could not be done, they should stay out...
...The trade unions are, in his opinion, bufeaucratically controlled...
...In these times of the decay of capitalism and the need of a powerful and intelligent movement of the working class to act in unison, it would be a crime to oppose unity of action with all those who are capable of united action...
...The first call of the Communist International for a united front early in 1922 waved aside basic issues of principles, tactics and philosophy and urged united action upon specific issues...
...would' also have to educate the workers who are at present in the Labor Party since they could have no power without the masses of workers...
...Even some Communists will insist on thinking...
...To many new members the old Socialist policy which had forced one surrender after another appeared to be pure cussedness based upon a non-progressive attitude...
...and the CP...
...They were anxious to use the trade unions for the larger Socialist purpose...
...is 0ta crisis, such at etc., to preps function throa...
...They were branded "counter-revolutionists...
...Then they spent years trying to accomplish this "petty bourgeois" purpose...
...Tfli'I...
...The two points of view will be of special interest to our readers.—Editor...
...Over a long period the Socialist Party made no compromise with Communism and it rejected offers of a "united front" Experience had taught that the open offer was accompanied with secret instructions to members to knife us...
...They made the advocacy of "armed insurrection" an issue of revolutionary principle...
...The dilapidated and rat-infested slums will be the first to go...
...In fact, the Bolshevik Left Wing Manifesto of party members (1919) mentioned a "seething ferment" which it interpreted as "inarticulate rumblings which presage striking occurrences...
...holds the balance of power, but that party pledged itself to the support of the Labor Party...
...However, the religio-complex continued to dominate the Communist Party...
...group could be in the Labor Party with a clearer conscience since the Labor Party itself has learned to distrust the features of its policy associated with the name of Mac-Donald which Brockway opposed...
...We opposed it and in recent years they have been tossing into their programs every item that might win a vote and they have bcome the most opportunist political group in our history...
...By Gus Tyler FRED HENDERSON of the Brit-inh Labor Party met A. Fenner Brockway, Chairman of the Independent Labor Party in d e b a t < before th< B r o o k 1 yr Forum a. the Aca demy...
...As a matter of fact, every attempt at a united front was baaed upon the proposal for support of one or more specific issues...
...In answer to a question from the audience, Brockway maintained that the Labor Party could not be an instrument of revolutionary change because the trade union representatives in Parliament did not reflect the will of the workers...
...The I.L.P...
...Glasgow Inaugurates Plans For Municipal Socialism "THE welfare of the working * masses was the first order of business of the newly elected Socialist (Labor) Council of Glasgow and its surrounding towns...
...Henderson and Brockway Debate The Road To Power Was the British I. L. P. Correct in Quit the labor Party?---Two Distinguished British Socialists Present Different Views on the Conquest of Power The debate between Fred Mender eon of the British Labor Party and Fenner Brockway of the In-depe...' nt Labor Party, held in Brooklyn laet Sunday, woe on a subject of tuck general interett to Socialists that we are giving it a more extended report than The New Leader usually gives to these forum discussions...
...Its emrgence from secrecy was itself a surrender to the position taken by the Socialist Party...
...Let's try the united front on soma specific issue...
...He did | to organise tl manent basis i to drive the ^ organization.1 LLP...
...Extra-Legal Method...
...and of the Labor Party, to the effect that Socialism "would be realized with and through the trade unions" and that it was impossible "to win their friendship" by "pouring blame upon them...
...However, these united fronts have all had one basic factor that is essential to genuine cooperation—good faith of the contracting parties...
...These dissenting Communists are as much enemies of the Socialist Party as those whose minds are still in the keping of Stalin...
...The Communists wanted a united front against Fascism with those whom they continued to call "social Fascists...
...continue...
...Parliament and Socialism Brockway finally turned to the political arm of the labor movement and declared a parliament with a Socialist plurality had to cut down the institutions which the working class with fewer representatives had erected over a period of years...
...sentatives M the trade sail etc...
...Fred Hendi his reply, sal much that Bit pccially that1 last ten yean theory of pi said, "I have I side the llritj have found I agree with nt] He also ta that it iB neo working clan power, but 1 Party is prw Kanization...
...With the cooperation of the I.L.P., Labor organized the Council and proceeded to inaugurate a regime of municipal Socialism...
...It went through the forms of discussion of long and dreary "theses,* dicussions that were useless, for when each debate was over its members were compelled to accept what Moscow handed them...
...He distinguished between a labor majority and a Socialist majority, since a great many of the labor M.P.'s were retired trade union officials or political careerists who know little about Socialism and about politics...
...The British Labor Party is in fact a federation of organized labor in England, in comparison with which the I.L.P...
...leader argued that the Socialist elements in the British Labor Party are seriously in error if they imagined that Parliament can ever be this instrument of decisive change...
...The Labor Party elected 47 Councillors, to 50 "Moderates," while the I.L.P., which recently seceded from the Labor Party, elected 11...
...Tho Independent Labor Party took it upon itself to awaken and inspire a Sociailst consciousness within this movement...
...Two aspects of that period are important...
...were given freedom of action in the Labor Party they would rejoin it In fact, he advised American Socialists to join a labor party movement only if they could keep a free hand while in it...
...We opposed it and they surrendered...
...The result was the same, bad faith, denunciation of the Socialist Party and of its members...
...Every other such call was of the same character...
...Here are the facts...
...Here was the language of a primitive religious cult in a Bolshevik document) We could no more reason with this group than one could reason with the Millerite dressed for heaven...
...They made underground organization a principle of revolutionary honor...
...And it is easier to get to them while within the Labor Party than from the outside, disrupting it...
...member, accepted a commlssionership, she was expelled from the I.L.P...
...They opposed the policy of fighting for the immediate interests of the working class and insisted that every reference to it be stricken from platforms...
...As soon as labor begins to reach its maturity, however, such sects become retrograde...
...given ours, our conduct is illogical when we accept them, and wt pay the penalty for such illogical action...
...Yet until the mind of the working class is prepared for the task of freeing itself, nothing can be done...
...In fact, he said, it is leading to disruption today...
...They merely differed with the party "line...
...He declared, however, that he expected a revolution long before there was a resolute majority of Socialists in Parliament...
...In his rebuttal period Brockway maintained that his group was not anxious to break from the Labor Party, but that their consciences dictated that they vote against the policies of the Labor Government 1 in Parliament and that this viola* tion of standing orders led to their [ being forced to withdraw...
...To parallel this delirium, one must go back to the Millerites of tnfe forties who disposed of all their possessions and put on ascension robes that would admit them to the pearly gates...
...Finally, Henderson maintained that the Labor Party, now that it has rid itself of the incubus of MacDonaldism, is well on the way to thoroughgoing Socialism...
...He as...
...Lastly, Brockway maintained, war is rapidly approaching and when it breaks out labor cannot wait until the next election but must act immediately...
...If I disagree with a party decision, I often abstain from voting, but I never vote against the party...
...However, when Mrs...
...The only question left is whether the Labor Party does represent the British working class...
...Editor's Corner Review of and Comment on Events Here and Abroad, Critical and Otherwise By James Oneal On the Rood to Bliss WHAT we wrote in this column last week was introductory to a phase of party history that would really require a book adequately to consider...
...Glasgow, the second city in size in the British Empire, was swept at the recent municipal elections by the Labor forces, and for the first time is governed by Socialists...
...They characterized all attempts to get the organized working class into a labor party aa "petty bourgeois" and a betrayal of the workers...
...The I.L.P...
...Who wants to perpetuate old feuds...
...name for J would unite lj in the world...
...the amalgamation of all the purchasing divisions of the entire countryside into one central body to do away with individual profiteering, and also an attempt to secure municipal banking...
...m beginning •feed with f fcsd said, estreats of the ptroyed the W But, he Wring this in-B Party and HJums who MB Brock way Met a united ¦Won to win British Labor m united or pmp, like the tSB additional ¦Ms was fur-ptat the dis1*1 labor move-prty, he said, iodalist Party...
...Brockway maintained that the old philosophy of gradualism which looked toward a growing strength of working class organizations, and with it an accumulation of publicly owned enterprises ultimately and inevitably leading to an imperceptible introduction of Socialism, was moribund and that a new philosophy of action was necessary...
...Remain in Labor Party It was Keir Hardie who persuaded the Trade Union Congref* to set up the Labor Representation Committee, that later became the Labor Party...
...Where a resolute Socialist group threatened to win power, he asserted, the ruling classes would launch a fascist attack upon democracy itself, and at such a moment the might of the workers would rest in their extra-parliamentary forces...
...I.L.P., which i body along din thering not tl unity of Briui Henderson I history of- the ment...
...He also implied that at present the I.L.P...
...That became the cry...
...The Berlin conference of three internationals in April, 1922, clearly revealed this manouver and it was repated in jthe various countries...
...The Communists polled 10,484...
...They objected on principle to cooperation with other organizations against war, militarism, and armaments, and in recent years they have cooperated with all sorts of pacifists and liberal organizations on these matters...
...on specific issues...
...However, negotiations were again taken up for unity of action on specific issues of Fascism and war...
...This good faith has always been lacking on the part of the Communists hers and abroad...
...Henderson in reply maintained that any parliamentary group has , to enforce discipline by something like Standing Orders...
...Indeed, the mass of the workers are now flocking to the Labor Party in rapidly increasing numbers because they feel that the La-bor Party has rid itself of Mac-Donald's influence...
...Sects will exist when the workers are not yet ready for Socialist action...
...The task of winning the workers for Socialism was precisely what the I.L.P...
...The resolution of the Leicester conference, calling upon the party to refuse the reins of government unless it was ready t o interpret its duty to be an intra ed ia te transition from capitalism t o Socialism was cited as the new temper and spirit of the party...
...lr the political i forking class consciousness and class solidarity that has been so deeply rooted in British life...
...Falsehood...
...The I.L.P., within this party, dedicated itself to the task of winning the mass of workers to a thoroughgoing Socialist policy...
...Music 1 a s Sunday eve ning...
...When they indulged in this prohibited sin they were expelled...
...At such a time the strength of the working class to build Socialism will not rest with the number of its parliamentary representatives, but with the organization of its extra-parliamentary power...
...A Works Department is to be set up immediately to start building bridges, roads, schools, hospitals and municipal apartment houses as soon as possible...
...Not only were the present unions on the defensive, but so were the cooperatives because.the impoverished working class housewives could not afford to support them...
...However, the outcasts were still Communists...
...Henderson challenged this contention...
...and the Communist Party can be discussed upon an equal footing, as was done by Brockway...
...To set up a new conception of political activity in rivalry with that of the Labor Party must of necessity mean disruption, and it was just such a disruption which permitted a Hitler to come to power in Germany...
...In the past, Socialists have successfully cooperated with trade unions, anarchists, syndicalists and the I.W.W...
...We fought it and they gave it up...
...Ultimately, he argued, the I.L.P...
...In Brockway's mind," hs said, "there is an underlying suspicion of the power of the working class...
...By following a clear policy the Socialist Party avoided confusion in its own ranks and had the satisfaction of seeing the Communists abandon one position after another and even trying to follow our lead...
...Marx on Socialist Sects Henderson quoted Karl Marx to the effect that "the International was founded to establish a real organization of the working class instead of Socialist and half Socialist sects...
...did not begin It was at first expression of Hw action is Bit British HE tendencies Efcoperatives, ¦pit possible ¦ a large per-EcrUie appears ¦ tato such an Rgcfa time, the Kfery minor L rent fights, L workers to M councils...
...The type of organization he advised for i|l the Worker...
...At the beginning the I.L.P...
...Members who fought it will remember that this group would not permit any amendments to this document...
...And even if this were not so it would still be sheer r o manti-cism to believe that the Labor Party should or could be scrapped to yield place to a joint committee "which Fenner knows right well will not come into being...
...When Stalin ¦peaks, that is final...
...It is our purpose to do this necessary work within the ranks of the Labor Party...
...serted that the Leichester resolutions were meaningless, since his complaint was never against I the Labor Party's resolutions but i that they were never carried out...
...are tiny sects playing around the fringes of the working class...
...A member of parliament might abstain if his conscience so dictated, but no party could permit its parliamentary representatives to vote against its own party leadership...
...The members who left us to indulge in the Bolshevik delirium spent nearly three years in an underground secret movement...
...Beaton, an I.L.P...
...The Barrier to United Action TTH AT is to say, so long as we followed a clear Socialist * policy we compelled surrender after surrender...
...This attitude became fixed when the Communist movement came out of its underground retreat to become an "open party...
...was attacked by the Social Democratic Federation, which maintained that the on,ly way to function as a So-eialist was to remain in sectarian seclusion...
...there had always been a suspicion of the working class and its organizations and that this distrust of the ability of the workers to manage their own affairs was evidencing itself in Brockway's attitude...
...They were naturally impressed with offers of joint action when presented by the Communists...
...Labor will start the new era with a policy including complete survey of the city's health facilities with a view to setting up a public health service, substantial extension of the Municipal Works Department with the city itself undertaking all projects, the creation of publicly owned houses to be rented at the lowest possible cost...
...had done and done splendidly in the early years of the Labor Party would have been foolish, he argued, for Socialists to leave the Labor Party just when they were on the point of winning it for a Socialist program...
Vol. 16 • December 1933 • No. 25
