WAP National Secretary Gerry Healy speaking at press conference-refused to give any evidence that concentration camps are being built Last Tuesday afternoon, the plush banquetting hall of the New Ambassadors Hotel echoed with the revolutionary rhetoric of the Workers formed last November to supersede the Socialist Labour League, was conducting the WRP's election press conference.
Healy began by painting a vivid picture of the political situation. He made a mumber of correct points on the deep-going crisis of capital- guide the struggle of the working class, whichism and the imminent slashing of working class living standards in Britain. He exposed the vicious Tory schemes tor police and military repression, and declared that the reason why the WRI was fielding candidates was to drag these conspiracies into the light of day, since none of the main parties was prepared to do The WRP leader is given to apparently inexplicable exaggerations in his utterances, distortions which can only weaken the credibility of the revolutionary leit in the working class. He claimed that night now concentration camps were being built outside the six main cities in the country, But he refused to give any The International Marxist Group has decided to vote for the candidates of the WRP in the constitaencies where the IMG is not fielding candidates, In other areas the IMG will be voting Labour. The International Socialists have taken a different position. They are voting Labour right across the board. They are not putting up any candsdates of their own, and although this has not been made clear in Socialist Worker, the IS leadership has informed Red Weekly that it will call for its members to vole for Labour against the candidates of the TMG and the WRP.
Who is right? Who is putting forward a consistent socialist tactic for working class. militants?
Like the IMG. the 15 is not calling for a Labour vote because it believes a Labour Government would unprove the lot of the working people, Only social democrats hold that view.
Their National Committee statement on the election (Socialist Worker, 16 February) states.
"An electoral victory [for the Tories) would signify that many workers were blaming their organisations tor the crisis: IT would make the miners feel isolated from other sections of workers. It would give encouragement to every non-utionist, every scah and every racist. And to this extent it would weaken the ability of all workers to resist cuts in living standards, anti-union laws and attacks on picketing. These arguments are correct.
But this is only part of the fight that socialists must wage in this election. As the IS stalement also points out, it is necessary to build a mass revoludonary movement because only such a movement can solve the problems which working people face today. Therefore a consistent socialist intervention in the election must ger this across-what the statement calls The full-biooded socialist case, The question is:
must this fight be restricted to articles and speeches. or can it also be expressed at the ballot box?
Red Weekly 22 Februery 1974 Page 6 evidence for this. He then likened the present Celection to thesituation m lainany on the eve of Hitler's seizure of power. Nevertheless, the WRP's paper, Workers Press, has done valuable work in highlighting the facts about the repres sive drive of the ruling class, The Manifesto of the WRP correctly states: "The scab force that the state is recruiting und protecting today will become the fascist bands of tomorrow".
But what policies was the WRP proposing to ever party wins the clection? How, in the coming months, is the working class movement to throw back the attacks on pickels? How in the coming months, is the working class movement to deal with the fascist National Front and the racist movement? How, in the coming months, are working people to achieve effective action against incomes policies. redundancies and price rises? How, in the coming months, can a movement be built against the imperialist war in Ireland?
But instead of dealing with these questions. Healy devoted the rest of his speech to an exposition of general socialist ideas. Most of The IMG says that it can and must. It can be done by putting up candidates in safe Labour seats and fighting for the highest possible revolu tionary vote in such seals. A really substantial vote for revolutionary candidates in these constituencies, combined with a massive Labour vote in the other constituencies, would constitute the best possible result for the socialist movement in this election.
It would represent the massive class rejection of the Tories that the IS statement very rightly wants. But it will also signity a growing working class repudiation of the Labour leadership's anti-working class policies and a rising determination to fight for revolutionary solutions on the part of the working class. That surciy is what revolusonaries should want not simply a vote in defence of the unions, but also a vote for full-blooded socialist' policies, But, what about the danger of losing same Labour scats to the Tories through putting up revolutionary candidates? There could indeed be such a "danper. But a moment's thought shows that the political meaning of such a danger" would not be dangerous at all. In the canstituencies where the revolutionary candidates are standing it would require many thous ands of Labour vetes going to the revolutionarjes, and no gains by Labour Irom the Tories, before the Labour candidate could be defeated.
ELECTION FUND DRIVE APPEAL The IMG's intervention in the elections is our most ambitious effort to date.
Already it is clear that our campaign is playing a vital role in strengthening the revolutionary voice in the labour movement. But to continue this essential work we urgently need more funds NOW, Please rush donations to: IMG Election Fund, 97 Caledonian Road.
London N. 1.
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Revolutionary Party (WRP), Gerry Healy, National Secretary of the new organisation.