British Labor Courts Limbo

...Even the Daily Mirror, the only consistently pro-Labor national newspaper in Britain, has asserted that "The lunacy of the Left is in full flood and threatens to overwhelm the Labor Party...

...The British economy is staggering from bad to worse...

...Shocked at seeing Callaghan do so little, those who had looked to him for leadership strongly urged him to resign, as he reportedly had been planning to for months...

...As the extent of the takeover became apparent in the closing hours at Blackpool, union leaders belatedly rallied to prevent the Left from capturing their ultimate prize, the right to choose the next party leader...

...Even dedicated Tories are increasingly impatient with the wretched consequences so far of the Conservative government's policies...

...More important than the self-destructive conference decisions was the formal emergence of Anthony Wedgwood Benn (he prefers to be called "Tony") as leader of the Left...

...Although the former Prime Minister's weakness at Blackpool raises questions about how much clout he retains, Benn has needlessly turned a fatigued enemy into a fiery nemesis...

...Every national newspaper in Britain has heaped abuse on the shape the Labor Party has assumed...

...Others could not be convinced to support the moderates on certain issues until it was too late...

...But the loud cheers that greeted Benn's ringing condemnation of the Callaghan Labor government he had himself served in are what most upset many Laborites...

...Since Leftists are increasingly strong in the smallish constituency parties, several Labor "Rightists" now sitting in Parliament probably will be rejected...

...Douglas Eden, secretary of the Social Democratic Alliance, declared, "There has been an irreversible shift of power within the Labor Party away from ordinary Labor voters...

...Pointing a finger at Callaghan is more than simply a matter of noting that the buck has to stop at the top...

...When the crucial moment arrived, however, his oratory was weak and defensive...

...This astounded his strongest supporters, who know (as he does) that the structure of the British government makes such speed impossible unless emergency measures are passed—which is quite unlikely—to silence parliamentary opposition...

...Callaghan has angrily vowed that under no circumstances would he permit Benn to lead the Labor Party...

...Nevertheless, over the years the party managed to be a viable political force, forming governments that significantly advanced social justice in Britain...

...It also has become traditional for Labor conferences to pass contradictory resolutions that are impossible to put into practice—such as the latest session's total rejection of income controls, and acceptance of an economic policy that would include incomes controls...

...Once it became clear things had gone awry, the expectation was that Callaghan would bring his substantial personal influence to bear—that he would get up at the conference and issue a reNorman Gelb reports from London for the Mutual Broadcasting System...

...David Basnett, head of the General and Municipal Workers Union, went so far as to say he detected a death wish in Labor's ranks...

...The ousted Labor parliamentarians, particularly those with families, will therefore have an added incentive to fight as independents and oppose the official Labor candidates chosen in their place...

...Each faction has its own set of principles and manual of practices, and the glue binding them together has been convenience rather than conviction...

...Yet instead of joining ranks to seize the chance for electoral success, Laborites are rushing headlong into their version of the Dark Ages...

...The man primarily responsible for this state of affairs is none other than the Right Honorable Leonard James Cal-laghan, the former Prime Minister and departing Labor Party leader...

...Because the Left-Right struggle within what several conference speakers poignantly called "This Great Movement of Ours" has been going on for so long, foreign observers might be excused for believing that this month's confrontation is unlikely to be any more significant than previous ideological clashes...

...Nonetheless, Callaghan's poor performance certainly has not enhanced the chances heir-apparent Denis Heal-eyhasof succedinghim...

...The Guardian has warned of "an uglier and more violent spirit" now dominant in Labor, with the "ultra Left" using intimidation to control local consituency parties...

...Indeed, the atrocious staff work made Jimmy Carter's liaison team on Capitol Hill look like wizards...

...They weren't...

...Whatever happens, short of a complete collapse of Conservative economic policies, it is hard to see how "This Great Movement of Ours" can soon regain its credibility as a political force...

...Some key union officials were away when the conference gathered, and Callaghan's people had not bothered to take an accurate head count in time to realize they would need every vote...

...In one close contest, the support of a minor union off cial had been confidently expected, although he had planned all along to vote Left...

...But what happened this time in Blackpool went beyond fun and games in a very profound sense, and could lead to a disastrous rupture in the Labor Party...

...At least one Labor member of Parliament, Neville Sandelson, has decided to commit the arch heresy of voting with the Conservatives on certain issues...

...Now that Callaghan has stepped down, the battle for leadership of the party has begun in earnest...

...Afterthesuc-cesses scored by the Left, the party's top post may remain elusive for so forceful a Right-wing personality...

...The London Times has bemoaned "an engulfing dark tide of preposterous zeal such as we have not seen in Britain since the 17th century," when the country endured Puritan rule for a decade...

...Within weeks of a Labor Party election victory, Benn promised, Britain would abolish the House of Lords, extend the nationalization of British industry and commerce, and pull out of the European Economic Community...

...Now, however, the Labor Party is plunging toward catastrophe...

...He seemed almost paralyzed by the force and shrewdness of the Leftist maneuvers...

...It is a virtual certainty that the Labor vote will be split in many areas in the next national election as a result of the conference decision to require local party organizations to conduct "rese-lection" examinations before they name their parliamentary candidates...

...Conservatives have still gladder tidings...

...His assurances were simple and convincing: Since the unions command a majority of votes at the conference, and most union leaders recognize that permitting Leftist domination is tantamount to committing electoral suicide, they would be waiting to rush to his side and cast their ballots in favor of sense and sanity...

...Most are unlikely to step aside, though, because under the social welfare regulations an MP can draw redundancy pay and unemployment insurance only if he is defeated in an election...

...A conference on the exact method for doing this has been agreed upon for next January 24, setting the stage for another confrontation between the Right and the Left...

...The Left exhorted him to stay on "for the sake of party unity" while it consolidated its gains...

...it wasn't the kind of thing the conference wanted to hear...

...Had "Uncle Jim" performed as anticipated, the chaotic Labor conference held earlier this month in Blackpool would not have ended with the Left's mastery over the party both vehemently confirmed and hugely extended...

...sounding warning against alienating the voters...

...Before Blackpool, Callaghan had spread the word that the challenge being openly prepared by the Left would be met and easily repelled...

...In the past Benn has usually been a sober, careful advocate of Left-wing causes, but his performance at Blackpool was a remarkable display of demagoguery...

...After all, militants have jeered and taunted speakers at the rostrum in the past—albeit rarely before they uttered a word...

...The leadership of the party's Right has for the moment anyway, been assumed by "the gang of three"—former government ministers Shirley Williams, David Owen and William Rodgers...

...When Labor parliamentarian Andrew Fauld began a blistering protest against Benn's antics, the old Leftist stalwart who chaired the conference, Lady Lena Jeger, who had allowed rude attacks on Rightists, quietly switched off the microphone...

...From its very beginning around the turn of the century, Labor's melange of humanists, social democrats, socialists, trade unionists and Marxists has been plagued by intermittent eruptions of bitter fraternal battles...

...Rodgers failed to dissuade the conference from voting for unilateral nuclear disarmament, but he did manage to rally enough union votes to block a decision in favor of pulling Britain out of nato...

...A Left-wing parliamentarian who tried to explain all this was booed down...