Does Fascism Loom for Britain?
Does Fascism Loom for Britain? Sir Stafford Cripps Defends the Program Of the Left Wing Socialist League »T a. meeting ef the membership ^ of Local New York, Socialist Party. April 29, Sir...
...There are too many half-castes...
...On Sunday they will have 3 opportunity to demonstrate what they think of Hitler...
...April 29, Sir Stafford Crip©*, MJ», leader of the Socialist League, a left wiag organization affiliated with the British Labor Party, preaented his views on problem* now confronting Britiah labor...
...aau...
...It appears that the Daily Worker is not so doctrinaire after an...
...war mothers' program at Arlington Cemetery...
...Though* Municipal Socialism offers staring proof of its good sense...
...I don't think that anyone envisages an independent Liberal party, of any strength...
...unlike the moribund Independent Labor Party, continue to be part of the great political movement of the British working class represented by the Labor Party...
...The situation is much the same as in 1914...
...speeches of army officers on the significance of stratosphere exploration and * festival in clerico-faScist Austria...
...The reference is to the Southport conference of the Labor Party, held in October...
...The New York Trotakist organ considers Soviet Russia's treaty and cooperation* with France a betrayal of the best interests of the working class...
...a a Peace Notes Detectives fought down efforts of Banter College students to form a pacifist society...
...That unity cannot be achieved as long as the Soviet government continues in the policy so well followed by Trotsky- when he was in power, of killing and jailing Socialists and dissident revolutionists Of all groups in Russia and seeking to destroy the Socialist and tabor movement abroad...
...I personally can mention other good reasons for our remaining there...
...power st the next eMrtisstu I think they will have a majority in the House of Commons, bat I don't think they will have a working majority, asm if the present temper of the party sasasjsas they certainly wiD not take office as a minority government whatever the opposition of the other parties may be...
...a a a Speaking of radicalism, we' will now pass out the latest thesis on "Religion, How to Stamp on It, Kill and Bury It...
...The answer to which is that the British people will defeat sabotage of constitutional reconstruction if any is attempted, but will themselves sabotage mere spoliation...
...And who more than Trotsky has helped to lay the foundation of this dictatorship...
...Grave Dangers in Ear ope "In that intervening period, there is no doubt, that there are grave dangers of what may happen in Europe...
...The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice seized 23,000 books last year...
...It is magnificent, but it is not war...
...When one goes about the , country addressing meetings, apart from the morp natural reaction .which there always is to a rather more extreme left wing program, of the more complete and more drastic measures which are represented by the policy of such * bodg as the Socialist League...
...Sir Stafford should make it clear in the name and interest of confidence that he intends to use Parliament to destroy Parliament, except as a revolutionary instrument, that he adheres to the oldfashioned notion which denies advantage in ownership unless it is obtained by expropriation, and that he fundamentally doubts the ability of Socialism to produce.the orgy of plenty we trumpet...
...Not to a policy that is no more than Sharing-Out writ large...
...His address afforded an opportunity to American Socialists to acquaint themselves at first hand with the views of those British left wingers who...
...The threat of such An attack is clear to everybody except those who labor under the influence of bourgeois pacifism and Utopian revolutionary harangues...
...Such a united front remains impossible as long as the Russian Communist Party, now dominated by Stalin, persists in maintaining Its dictatorship over Russia and forcing it upon the rest of the working class throughout the world...
...The article touches on points emphasized by Comrade Cripps in his, address before the Socialists of New York...
...Included in the listing* was news from the race tracks...
...They do not seem to realize that every technician, every draughtsman, every manager, every civil engineer, every specialist of whatever kind, fat a potential saboteur...
...But the League's proposals were turned down by an overwhelming majority of votes and there was no question about whose confidence was taken in...
...Making full allowance for duplication the figure covers on a family basis two-thirds of the country's population...
...I am sure he will not object to criticism even if he will not .acknowledge that questionbegging terms like "reformism" have as little value in argument as the jargon of those who ate more "lefr* than himself...
...The tendency is to build a ring around {Germany, and that may be a successful method of sitting on a safety Valve for a period, bat when one sits on it Ion* enough aha is inevitably blown into the sky...
...Demands Strong Action "The question nefore the Labor Party for decision, and which has not yet been decided, is whether they are going to prepare to pledge themselves to these immediate measures in order to challenge capitalism straight away, challenge them at the very center of their power and insist upon the transference of that center of power, or whether they are going to proceed to introduce reformist measures until capitalism violently sets itself against reformism, and I believe meet exactly the same tragic fate as the Labor Party met in 1931., "These are problems facing Great Britain in the future...
...As if it is of any use to pretend that a revolutionary policy is less revolutionary becaiise, as in the German case, s popular vote heralds the overthrow of ¦ democracy...
...If once heresy-hunting started and I was turned out, I would he an enemy and would not be able to convert my friends in the party...
...He admitted, however, that because of the lack of a dear natjority.-neither of the two Labor governments "could pot across any Socialist program even if it had desired to do so...
...I think one of the great lessons of the .failure of Social Democracy has been that the economic power has been left in the hands of opponents...
...The Stalin regime is the natural heir of what Trotsky helped to build...
...IT - The Workers Abroad An International Review of the Socialist and Labor Movement of the World By John Powers Test of Hitlerism in Czechoslovakia COC1ALISTS will play a leading part in the election in Czechoslovakia Sunday...
...This legislation, he explained, was intended to break the strength of the organised workers by potting certain restrictions upon sympathetic strikes and curbing the financial participation of the trade unions in tne Labor Party...
...a And Are They troodminded...
...The downfall of the Labor government, the formation of the National Government and the disillusionment fanned by the desertion of MacDonald and his group, coupled with "the realization of the failure of the Labor government of 192»-31," resulted in an accentuation of left wing tendencies in the party, one of the outward signs being the formation of the Socialist League, Comrade Cripps said...
...Soviet Russia would be stupid not to seek assistance from England and France against Hitler Germany, whose policy is definitely directed toward forcing a new Brest-Litovsk peace on Russia...
...According to Comrade Crippa the setting up of the National ministry under MacDonald was "a distinct mark in the advance of fascist psychology" and served to emphasise the inadequacy of tike Labor Party's program of confining itself merely to reformist Sees Mora Fascism The ensuing general election, Comrade Crippa continued, was fought by the capitalist parties on the issue of "save the nation," which Cripps characterised as "one of the common cries of fascism...
...You might, on the other band, have a Socialist program for...
...in order to operate a scheme of repudiation...
...Why Shop Around...
...This- development may entirely after the situation, .first, as regards the possibility of holding elections at all, and, secondly, as regards the chances of the resalt of the election when it occurs...
...Be added that high taxes, a deplorable situation, is "driving capital into a state of inertia...
...Judge Ma honey served as advisor to the late Boss Murphy...
...CrfHcias* Mm I.LF...
...a a a Culture and the finer things of life should be found is a Tammany clubhouse, is the view of former judge Jeremiah T. Ma honey...
...We j|hjll not have on the next occasion" a panic or scare election...
...No, Trotsky has had his day, and his friends in New York are not doing him a service by writing articles which in the mind of Informed persons serve only to emphasize the bankruptcy of his policies and the dangers of these policies insofar as they continue to be reflected in those of the Stalin regime...
...Let...
...The election win be one of the most important since Hitler came into power, and Hitlerism wilt be the paramount inanr Both tiki Czech Socialists and the German-speaking Czech Social Democracy are confident they will not only hold their strength but will be able to deal a telling blow to the Hitler party, which operates under the name of "South German Home Front...
...It is absolutely necessary for (hat government to take immediate steps to utilize its political power before it takes to developing a Socialist program in the ordinary sense of the word, to gain certain economic points in the capitalist system, to gain the control and the ownership of those points of power...
...I suggest that Sir Stafford proposes to plan revolution by swift peremptory strokes, because he can...
...The strongest guarantee of peace and the mightiest bulwark against fascism would be the unity of the international labor movement...
...In my view, there is no likelihood that the Labor Party will get...
...And for the same reason...
...a Let Freedom Ring The way out of the depression is for workers to accept the wages they...
...That sates tax is something terrible, folks...
...It is charged that the books are lewd, vicious and debasing...
...Nevertheless, I agree that the 'people are ready to be converted in large numbers...
...a a "Pre" have been importing millions of bushels of grain and millions of pounds) of meat in recent "months...
...On the contrary, the Communist organ is broadening its united front, as may be seen in Ore publication of the radio programs m a recent issue...
...Protesting against the naming of Tammany clubhouses after Indian chiefs h% is repotted as saying: "The average Indian leader wan a horse-thief and a murderer...
...Being compelled to confine itself 'to a sertes of reformist measures designed to equalize taxation and bring about soma re-distribution of wealth, and improvement in the social services, the pension allotments and unemployment benefit...
...Against dictatorship I am an Anarchist...
...Does he point out...
...Trotskism is only a phase at the growing political and moral bankruptcy of Bolshevism...
...I believe it will inevitably lead to failure, and failure will inevitably lead to the development of a fascist government in Great Britain...
...Oar comrades are aU set to help them do it A defeat for the South German Front will be a repudiation of Rider and a farther indication that the young ahd vigorous Czechoslovak Republic, wedged in between a 'group of fascist states, is determined to preserve its liberty and independence...
...Definite Decision Looms "On former occasions in Great Britain, we had times when the emergency before the nation has 'beeh such that an election has been postponed...
...The tendency of Great Britain has been for the total disappearance of the Liberal party...
...By Fred Montague gIR STAFFORD CRIPPS puts forward views to which be believes trie electors are "ready to be converted if We take them into our confidence...
...are worth, not what they think they* should have, writes a correspondent in the New York Herald-Tribune...
...Opinion in the Labor Party has been divided between those who , take an extreme pacifist stand and those who,, equally opposed to war, emphasize' anti-fascist policy, with all it* ultimate implications, j Thoughtful leaders and members of the Labor Party have long rec¦ ognizett that the- two policies are mutually exclusive and that tins dualism of policy, apparent also in the sentiments within the British cabinet, is bound to have a dangerous effect on the maintenance at peace in that it serves to encourage the Hitler regime in the belief that England will stand aside when Germany decides to send her new armies into battle...
...Hearst sells the same thing for less money...
...Some of them were accepted...
...These tendencies, he added, showed a let-op as the cofhtry, after a few months, began giving indications of disappointment in the National Government, reflected in local and municipal elections, where Labor Party gains began to he very noticeable...
...I think we have been fairly successful...
...Within it you might have a longterm Socialist program which for the first five, ten, fifteen or twenty years might see nothing but reformism...
...The saore I think ami study the British Isles asm the iasrifassttlal situation, the more luaiaaWsi have I become that it is absolutely vital fat one is going to bring abont a change through democracy that everybodv who desires that change should work through a single matted political party...
...Between the Egyptians you can not discriminate...
...Comrade Gerhard Seger emphasized this point in his interview in The New Leader last week...
...They have called us everything possible in the last two years and by the time the election comes they will have exhausted their vocabulary ahd that will be a very good thing...
...So far as t&e present British «yv<i anient is concerned, it is quite devoid of any foreign policy as far as one can see at the moment...
...No derision was given...
...At the outset Comrade Cripps presented a brief oOtline of the development of British labor's economic and political organfsation...
...1»34.Ed] The bloc of the trade unions was sufficiently strong to defeat them...
...The surest way of stopping these marching orders is a united front of alt working-class and democratic forces in Europe...
...In the very earliest days of the last Labor government, Comrade Crippa declared, Lloyd George, whose leadership of the small Liberal party gave him a veto over any legislation not acceptable to him, "announced his intention of defeating the Labor government if they attempted to introduce any measure of Socialism.'' Tracing developments from that point, Crippa declared that this was finally accomplished in August, 1931, "by the machinations of the financial interests...
...I don't mean to any that I regaTd it by any means as a certainty or as a strong probability, but I certainly regard it aa sufficiently possible and probable to make it worth while devoting one's whole energies to it...
...Wealth is being shared 'now," he said...
...Sir Stafford must know in his heart of hearts that he will never get that vote if he takes the electors too much into his confidence...
...a Our old standby, consistency, got in a good wallop last week when a politician known for the many cuts received from a local grafting political machine, made a ' speech on the danger of radicalism in the schools...
...If we do survive any democracy at the election after tie next one, as t hope we any, and as with reasonable lock I think we may, I think there should be s very good chance of the return of a Socialist government, and" by that time, I hope, the people of Great Britain will be prepared and anxious and pawning for a definite and decisive Socialist government with Socialist action...
...We are doing all we can to create an instructed opinion in the country on these problems...
...From this point, Cripps continued in part: Unions Against the Left "The Socialist League decided that it was the right moment to got some definite decision, if possible, within the conference to have some definite program upon which to fight in the next election...
...It is acting on principles of dealing with the next difficult situation as it arises, and as difficulties are arising nearly every day there is considerable degree of confusion in British and European foreign policies...
...Does he stress the essentially revolutionary character of these proposals taken together...
...There are still plenty to be converted and if I am urged to remain, I might do it...
...Hitler Germany...
...On Tuesday, on the eve of the defense debate in the House of Commons, there will be a consulation in London of the national executive of the Labor arty and the general council of the Trade Union Congress, to determine Labor's stand on the all-important question of resistance to Hitlerism in the event of war...
...The Road to Fascism There is no short cut to Socialism...
...Upon the successful solution of this issue may depend the ability of Soviet Russia to avert another Brest-Litovsk, to which Trotsky contributed so materially, and the ability of Europe to stem the advance of fascist armies when the marching orders are given in Berlin...
...It has split into three directions...
...The major ones were turned down quite decisively...
...I for one deny the right of any majority, Socialist or otherwise, to deprive me Of the power to criticise the detailed proposals of any government, Socialist or not...
...Students of the war have repeatedly pointed out that had England in 1914 indicated clearly j what her attitude would be, instead of following the ambiguous policy of Sir Edward Grey, the war might have been averted...
...that getting hold of money and credit machinery "within the first few weeks" must be read with the Socialist League's policy of confiscation, a policy modified only by considerations of expediency and of trades unions', friendly societies' and cooperative societies, interests...
...Within the .first weeks of power, I believe, a Socialist government can continue with Socialism but cannot do" so under any other situation whatsoever unless that amount of economic power is gained...
...In referring to the general strike jof 1926 and the laws passed by the Couaci vative government immediately thereafter, Cripp* characterized the legislation as "the first neat step along fascist lines which was taken in Great Britain...
...We cannot look for power then...
...Yet, is Sir Stafford himself altogether frank...
...However, I hope within the Labor Party we : shall be able, in the next few years, before we have a chance of power, to bring about a. definite movement to Urn left...
...This is the danger of the development of the situation in Europe, which may give added force to the national imperialist and militarist psychology which has been developed in Great Britain in the last few years...
...see that not only capitalists and middle-class, but also millions of workers, would as easily rally to the banner of a specious fascism as they rallied to the "National" Government...
...Our quarrel with the Soviet regime is not on its present policy with regard to France but its policy with respect to the international Socialist and Labor movement...
...With financial assistance and political guidance from Berlin, the South German Rome Front, under the leadership of Conrad Henlein, has made Hitlerism the chief issue of the election...
...Democratization of the Soviet regime in the true sense of the word, not in the sense demanded by Trotsky (of restoration of civic rights to himself and his group) and re-establishment of the unity of the working class constitute the most burning issue hefore international Socialism today...
...Sir Stafford's complaint appears to be that it does not embody the tactical plan of the Socialist League...
...A joint committee can be set up to maintain collaboration between the two bodies...
...However, one has got to look to a majority of Labor in the next Parliament, but the* ensuing . one will probably mark the first opportunity which the Labor Party will have to put their policy into action...
...Opinion in the Labor Party is now veering to the view held by Socialists on the continent, particularly the German Social Democracy, that Sir Edward Grey's mistake must not be repeated if Hitlerism is to be held in check ahd war averted...
...a a a Whoopee...
...While concluding a justified military alliance with a bourgeois government, the Soviet Government continues its efforts to destroy the international Socialist and labor movement, the chief bulwark against Hitlerism...
...British Labor's Foreign Policy With Soviet Russia concluding a military alliance with France against the avowed aims of the Hitler regime to destroy Russia, smash France and carry Hitlerism at the point of the bayonet to all Europe, i and with the Socialists on the continent ready to cooperate in the task of stopping Hitlerism, the British Labor Party is now faced with a decision on foreign policy of greatest importance...
...His policy will not stop but means civil war...
...Sorrowfully repines Gertrude Stein, "I wish I had said that...
...It has only managed to overcome the political power...
...Spoil the Egyptians," he says, for Socialism could not stand the burden of redemption...
...Yeseir...
...Of the 14,726,158 people inhabiting Czechoslovakia, 3,084,161 ate Germans...
...Both the election in Czechoslovakia and the Tuesday's consultation in London are, therefore, of very great importance to peace and the international fight on Hitlerism...
...The leaders of the party will not be allowed to fill responsible positions in the unions, and vice versa...
...A victory of the Nazis would not only redress the defeat they suffered recently in Danzig but would encourage Hitler in his ambitions to dominate Central Europe...
...The general temper which is developing among the people is, I believe, very much in advance, in many districts, of apparent leadership...
...address of Gen...
...The major factor which alarms hie is the possibility of the national situation growing so critical aa to plunge as into war which | would end political democracy in Great, Brttaln.'' A Short Gut to Fascism Fred Montague Defends the Democratic Ideals Of British Labor Against Sir Stafford Cripps (The following arffcfe, reprinted from the Glasgow Forward of April 13, 1935, presents tKi views of those in the Labor Party, comprising its overwhelming majority, on the ideas propounded by Sir Stafford Cripps rind the Socialist League...
...I myself next ton years fas Great irftnll...
...I speak to audiences all over the '¦ country, and I do not hide my Socialist right under any kind of opportunist busheL I do not command wildly enthusiastic crowds whoss^passion may prove misleading...
...Al- though I believe there are certain broad lessons that we can learn from one another, I am quite certain that the precise and actual tjclmique ^<rf poKey de^ommen* .^s.nL...
...I am for Liberty before even Socialism...
...as it is of any left wing party, to desert the major portion of tie political party with which they were sharing a common objective...
...Why not strike a balance by exporting the plow-under advocates...
...The question is, can we hang on to democracy long enough to get power...
...The Nasi party as such has been suppressed in Czechoslovakia as an enemy party, aiming at the destruction of democracy and the country's independence, ahd the South German Rome Front was created by the Hitlerites as a substitute for it...
...When yon add to this the commercial treaty concluded by the Soviet government with the Hitler regime last month it becomes apparent that Soviet foreign policy is suffering from perilous contradictions which may assame very tragic forms...
...But to Socialism...
...but nobody who observes the European situation, either from very far or close to it, must see that the accumulation of forces making for war is already very great and is growing rapidly greater and greater...
...That might happen again, if it appeals to be a con' venien t policy for the capitalist forces...
...Executive Workers, charge hands, ahd...
...Working-class savings are growing despite unemployment and extreme poverty...
...Not even class' war, for it is an edged tool that will split the working class in twain like a log of ^ioclaTTs* an* Dividing (Tp Some people have banks on the brain...
...So far as Great Britain is concerned, there are two vital points of resworn it power: the financial newer which rests in did Bank of England and tike' power of the land, which is a very vital factor in the political life of oar country, where militarism and feudalism still survive...
...The foreign policy of the Labor Party is to have aa close an association with the Soviet government as possible, both economic and defensive, and that policy will no doubt be carried out if the Labor Party comes into power...
...I' like his assumption that he is called upon to preach honesty to the rest of the Labor Party as if the official Labor program was ambiguous...
...the socialization of the industries of the country...
...The overwhelming majority won by the National Government made it "unnecessary to set up a formal type of dictatorship," Comrade Cripps maintained, enabling the government to pursue its economic policies without resorting to dictatorial methods...
...As Comrade Crippa pot it, the party's conference at Hastings revealed considerable doubt as to whether the party should continue what the speaker termed its swing to the loft or reverse the process...
...We have our own political problems to be dealt with a certain amount of rapidity, to develop a democratic regime capable of dealing with fundamental economic changes in the country...
...me just explain in a few words what I regard as the essentials of a left wing policy so far as our country is concerned, and I do not pretend to lay these down to be essentials for a left wing party in any other country...
...We cannot afford to have a third Labor government in Great Britain which fails to put across Socialism...
...Labor fit Greece On Road to Unity The International Federation of Trade Unions reports that after a long period of internal dissension, expressed in the existence in Greece of two separate national labor bodies and two Socialist parties, an agreement was recently concluded between the leaders for the fusion of the two labor bodies by the Pan-Hellenic Trade Union Federation joining with the Greek National Trade Union Centre and the members of the Socialist Labor .Party joining the Socialist Party...
...The psriy has not yet definitely decided upon the allotment Of* time and the speed with which the various items on that program will be carried oat, and the question that concerns us and concerns every people interested in the life of Great Britain is, what would the Labor Party be likely to do whan they get power and when sre they likely to get power...
...A few weeks ago it was stated' on behalf of the Big Five that in their banks there were fourteen million accounts...
...Comrade Cripps expressed disappointment with what he characterised the failure of past Labor governments to achieve anything substantial as regards the Socialist program...
...Pershing at s soldiers* dinner...
...i t a"^"^° j. vitany ornrerent prtwrems arm "If my reading of history Is correct, so far a* England hi concerned, there is One vitally essential matter that must be taken care power itself is not sufficient to maintain a Socialist government in *a capitalist country...
...He does n0t' It Memns Civil War Rather, he appears to wish to lead the electors to suppose that manipulation of Parliamentary machinery and the immediate "control" of finance would be sufficient to stop civil war and nip incipient fascism in the bod...
...We are doing all we can to draw the capitalist fire before we get to the next election...
...By persisting in these efforts the Statin government is not only endangering the life and interests of the Russian revolution but strengthening the hands of Hitlerism...
...Our One-Point Program By Bebee ¦TpHE one-point program of the * unemployed: JOBS...
...If you suppress minorities, yon will have to suppress me...
...only to fascism...
...With the election coming next autumn, possibly before, another party conference was thought absolutely necessary, and it was felt that it waa absolutely essential to come to some decision in order to have the country know precisely where we stood...
...hundreds of thousands of professional people are to learn that Labor surrenders to the new "democracy" (as old as classic Greece) in order to simplify a quick policy of at least partial confiscation that will Mow she country's food supply ahd credit into powder for alt the talk of control...
...Consistently it has failed to publish ptogrsms dealing with social, industrial and political matters, the rind of programs that have made Station WEVD an outstanding educational institution...
...religion* news...
...The Trotskists and Russia's Foreign Policy Reflecting the views of the pyrotechnic exile in France, who has always sought to solve difficult questions with ringing phrases, the New York organ of the Trotskists takes the Stalin government sharply to task for concluding a military alliance with France, The alliance is directed to stop Hitler, to defend Soviet Russia am) France against an attack from...
...Has Tammany mo reverence for its patron saintst m Unaccustomed as We are to public speaking we hungrily devoured the words of that famous afterdinner speaker, James W. Gerard, your former .ambassador to Germany...
...A draft policy has been drawn up for relations between the trade unions and the Socialist Party, 'providing for the complete autonomy of >ach side...
...I The improved Order of Red Men are "combatting un-American proplaataioa.'* Fittingly, the name of the president of the noble tribe of Red Men is Aaronstamm...
...In the resalt there emerged a document which is still quite indecisive...
...motor trips...
...Shame...
...I am quite certain that, so far aa Great Britain is cancarard, it was a gross error of the I.L.P...
...Sir Stafford proposes, as a means of spiking fascist guns if you please, to seise financial control within a few weeks (why not hours...
...We hasten to hurl back the charge that the Dally Worker is inconsistent...
...Father Divine then lead the faithful in singing, "Going to Heaven in a RollsRoyce...
...The Socialist League put forward a number of suggestions, rather more to the left than the policies produced by the Executive of the party...
...We beg to differ...
...Trotskists in New York and elsewhere -hould stop weeping tears about what Statin is or is not doing...
...K * » ? Says Henry P. Fletcher, national chairman of the' G.OJ*., "The Republican party is progressive because it has been conservative...
...One doesn't want to exaggerate trie difficulties which are themselves great enough without exaggeration...
...WEVD just dees not fit into the radio news of a Communist sheet...
Vol. 18 • May 1935 • No. 20
