British Labor Looks to October

...Assuming he is chosen as leader, Kinnock will certainly bring the party a measure of new vitality But he will have to do more than that Labor has lost touch with the population as its local branches have become increasingly dominated by theoreticians A remarkable proportion of the activists in this party of the working class are teachers, social workers, civil servants, and other public sector professionals Many of them have concocted an imaginary British proletariat that understands and 15 willing to fight for great socialist principles Electoral debacle or no, a significant number of white collar enthusiasts are convinced that the workers are nearly ready to man the barricades against Thatcherite tyranny Labor was beaten, they assert, because its ideas were not extreme enough...

...The most experienced of the contestants for the leadership is Peter Shore, 59, the Labor spokesman on treasury matters Two decades ago, Shore was one of the bright young sidekicks who were going to help Prime Minister Harold Wilson revitalize the British economy through technological innovation At present, he is widely perceived as one of yesterday's men-an ironic label given his berating the Labor left for promoting policies that alienate Britain's "new earning classes " Shore's years in the fray have taught him that politics is the art of the possible-a concept that seems positively treacherous to some leftwingers...

...A stronger candidate than either Shore or Heffer is Roy Hattersley, 50, the spokesman on home affairs, who has blossomed into Labor's leading moderate Like Shore, Hattersley maintains that Labor's support for unilateral nuclear disarmament in the last campaign was a disaster He also insists that unions must agree to a limit on pay raises In the face of leftist declarations that both these positions are unacceptable, Hattersley warns that unless the party substantially alters its approach, it is likely to incur another defeat that could permanently eradicate its prospects of forming a government...

...PICKING A LEADER British Labor Looks to October BY NORMAN GELB THE BRITISH Labor Party is in the process of making a decision that may seal its fate Nominations for Michael Foot's successor as party leader have closed, leaving four candidates to vie for the post at the annual Labor conference next month...

...There has been much talk of a "dream ticket," with Kinnock taking the leadership and Hattersley serving as deputy leader-or perhaps vice versa The two men are so far apart, though, that some Laborites have come to think the arrangement might sooner prove a nightmare Finding an alternative, on the other hand, will not be easy When hard left parliamentarian, Michael Meacher, for instance, recently emerged as a serious possibility for deputy under Kinnock, a group of leading rightwingers-including some of Labor's most experienced MPs-announced that they would refuse to serve in a shadow cabinet under an all-left leadership Indeed as the critical October conference approaches, A Laborite wearied by all this infighting might be excused for invoking Walt Kelly " I have seen the enemy and he is us ". Norman Gelb is The New Leader's regular correspondent in Great Britain...

...Whoever is chosen will not have an enviable job The party shows no sign of resolving the fundamental differences between its rival factions, or even of glossing them over sufficiently to present the public with some semblance of internal harmony One indication of how deep hard feelings run came at the recent meeting of Labor members of Parliament where Foot was to formally step down with a stirring, sentimental valedictory So bitter were the charges from some of the participants about the ineffectiveness of his stewardship that in the end he bid a silent farewell...

...Kinnock rejects the view that Labor's early-summer drubbing is attributable to its radical line with respect to the economy, disarmament and the Common Market (the party advocated withdrawal) The defeat, he argues, stemmed from a failure to present Labor's positions persuasively In response to those, like Hattersley, who say major modifications are imperative, the front-runner quotes George Bernard Shaw "If your face is dirty, wash it Don't cut your head off ". Hattersley rejoins that the party, in choosing the dogmatic path, has already cracked its own traditional backbone in several places And the facts seem to bear him out While Labor continues to identify itself with the British trade union movement, whose funds keep it from bankruptcy, it won the votes of only four out of 10 union members in the elections If this disaffection cannot be reversed, the party is unquestionably doomed to oblivion Even among the unemployed, who today account for over 13 per cent of the work force, Labor captured no more than 44 per cent of the ballots The majority of those out of work obviously chose to ignore Foot & Co 's repeated promises that a multitude of new jobs would be created through massive government appropriations Finally, in spite of intensive efforts to persuade young people that they were doomed to a life on the dole unless Labor formed the next government ("Vote for Thatcher and Retire at Sixteen"), most first-time voters opted for the Tories or the Social Democratic-Liberal Alliance...

...Yet sensible as this admonition may sound, all indications are that Hattersley will run second to Neil Kinnock, 41, the party education spokesman Kinnock is a champion of the soft left who, with Benn on the sidelines and Heffer arousing no particular enthusiasm, has temporarily been adopted by the hard left as well Thus, notwithstanding his total lack of ministerial experience, the witty, fiery, personable Welshman appeared by late summer to have attracted enough loyalists to insure victory in October As a result of his increased television exposure, Kinnock has acquired a smoothness that partly undercuts the articulate spontaneity that has up to now been the key to his charm But he remains extremely watchable, whether on the evening news or the floor of Commons...

...All the fine postelection talk about burying the hatchet and rebuilding the organization to combat the common enemy of Thatcherism today provides a mocking backdrop for the bloody jousting that has resumed between Labor's left and right wings In a way the party is fortunate that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives have gained such a solid majority in the House of Commons Since its ability to effectively oppose the government has already been lost at the polls, it can at least conduct its battles without appearing to impair its legislative clout...

...The leadership tussle stands in marked contrast to the one currently in progress within the U S Democratic Party For in the States, there is little doubt that no matter what is said or insinuated between now and next summer, all the contestants will ultimately rally around the Presidential nominee No such civilized behavior can be expected from the Laborites as they try to recover from their disastrous performance in last June's national elections, despite the fact that the British are often amused and sometimes offended by what they see as the rough-and-tumble of American politics...

...Kinnock, being neither blind nor a fool, realizes that Labor must recognize the values and aspirations of the huge block of workers who own, or hope to own, their homes, proudly drive their family cars, and fancy a few weeks summer vacation in Majorca far more than harangues about the class war At the same time, he is convinced only a strong shift toward socialism can end Britain's economic malaise Whether he can reconcile the implicit conflict between what a leftist would define as private ambition and fighting for the public good must be considered doubtful...

...Running on a hard left platform is Eric Hetfer, 61, an irascible Liver-pudlian and the only contender who once actually worked as a manual laborer He has little backing from his natural constituency, however, largely because he exudes none of the theoretical bent that is heart and soul to many radicals In addition, he makes no effort to conceal his dislike for Tony Benn, the party's leftist paladin Though temporarily incapacitated by his ouster from Commons in the June landslide, Benn is remembered by the faithful...