In search of a policy (1949)

From the December 1949 issue of the Socialist Standard

In a front page article, the Daily Herald on Saturday, 15th October, 1949, derided Mr. Churchill and the Tory Party for having no policy. The headings read “Give me Blank Cheque—Churchill,” and in slightly smaller print, “ Still no Tory Policy.”

In a front page article in the Glasgow Forward, Mr. Emrys Hughes, the ex-editor and Labour M.P., demanded of the Labour Party a programme and policy for the tasks ahead. He writes: —

“But in our fight to keep the Tories out it is absolutely essential for Socialists to know where they are going and to have a programme and a policy for the tasks ahead.” (Forward, 8.10.1949.)

Of course, Mr. Hughes when he writes “ Socialists ” means members of the Labour Party. Then, writing of the problems confronting the capitalist class, he continues :—

“If we are going to plunge into a competitive war to sell our coal, our textiles, our machinery, and to cut our costs to meet those of Poland, Belgium, France, Germany and Japan, how can we maintain our standards of life, maintain full employment and build up a sound economy in this country.”

He finishes his article with: —

“We want to win the General Election, but we have to answer these questions too.”

Why does Mr. Hughes want to win the General Election? Certainly not for the benefit of the working-class. These questions are not of any interest to the working-class.

The Tories haven't a policy. Labour hasn’t a policy. Then what are Mr. Hughes' reasons for supporting the Labour Party? If neither of the parties have a policy why should any of them be supported?

Mr. Hughes, who claims to be on the extreme Left Wing of the Labour Party, shows plainly which class interests he represents. “We are going to plunge into a competitive war to sell our coal, our textiles, our machinery.” The working-class, comprising about nine tenths of the population, have no coal, no textiles, no machinery to sell. They can’t buy sufficient coal or textiles to keep themselves warm. And what standards of life does he want to maintain? Surely not the standard of the working-class when about half of them barely have sufficient to live a healthy life. As for “full employment"; we are poor because we are employed. Employed by the capitalist class to produce wealth for them, and receive in return a bare subsistence wage.

No Party can offer a policy for the workers under capitalism. With the development of capitalism, the condition of working-class in relation to the wealth they produce grows steadily worse.

The only policy in working-class interests is the establishment of Socialism and in the oncoming General Election the only action that can be taken in working-class interests when a Socialist Party of Great Britain candidate isn’t available is to state the desire for one.

It is no use saying that the Socialist case is alright but the Labour Party is better than the Tories; that it is the lesser of two evils. Is it? Could the Tories get away with wage-freezing? It would have been a harder job for the Tories to convince the T.U.C. to restrain their wage demands.

J. T.