NO COMPROMISE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 114, 27 February 1950, Page 3

NO COMPROMISE

LABOUR PARTY PROGRAMME MAJOR CONVULSION FEARED (N .Z.P.A.—Copy right) (Rec. k4O) LONDON, FeL 26. The decision of Mr Attlee and his Cabinet to continue the Labour Government may foreshadow a major Socialist convulsion brought about by the insistence of the Left Wing, headed by Mr Aneurin Bevan, that there must be no compromises on the party programme for the sake of maintaining shaky office, says Reuter’s political correspondent.

'He adds that Mr Churchill and his Conservative shadow cabinet have the power to bring down the Labour Administration within a short time, and some Socialist leaders will not care if they do. They foresee, great permanent damage .to Labour’s cause if the Government, lacking an effective Parliamentary majority, continues its precarious existence unable to give the country the strong direction required for national recovery. They argue that if the Government clings on, temporising on Socialist policy and particularly nationalisation, it will be doomed to early collapse, and meanwhile will lose the confidence of many supporters. Some Socialists would rather see the Government flung out with party prestige intact. Labour’s position is clear to this extent—if sections of the party rock the boat, the Government will be out. It cannot be expected, adds the correspondent, that Cabinet as a whole will soft-pedal on nationalisation and other controversial policy planks to avert an early and decisive Parliamentary defeat, but even if the Government is prepared to do this, nobody can see Mr Aneurin Bevan and the Left Wing standing for it. Government leaders to-night were working on a draft of the King’s Speech announcing the session’s business in the new "Parliament. The speech may have to be non-committal because of Labour’s tiny majority, but if it highlights contain controversial nationalisation projects, it will mean that the Government is inviting an early showdown with the Conservatives. However, if the Government intends to soft-pedal on the election programme, Left Wing trouble may follow—there is talk that Mr . Aneurin Bevan will hold out for bold nationalisation and uncompromising adherence to declared policy. “The Times,” in a leading article, says that Mr Attlee and his colleagues will be tempted to regard the King’s Speech as the first draft of an election manifesto for the renewal of the trial of strength at the polls, which cannot be long deferred. “At the same time they will be offering a programme which must be capable of withstanding far more critical and searching scrutiny than has been applied in Parliament for many years, and justify itself by the reasoning of its advocates instead of being imposed by the brute force of an irresistible majority.” “The-Times” adds that in the next election both great parties must evidently rely mainly on an endeavour to win over the greater part of the intermediate vote of the people who supported Liberal candidates in vain. “Nothing can excuse the irresponsible spattering of the electoral map with hundreds of candidatures for which there was never the remqtest chance of substantial support, but which might just deprive members, elected of the certainty that they represented the majority of their constituents,” says the paper. “The Times” continued: “The urgent necessity to conciliate middle opinion practically dictates the policy the Government must pursue. It is likely that there will be less heard of nationalisation or other legislative expressions of doctrinaire Socialism, the Government relying on extension and improvement of its administrative record in social service to widen the basis of electoral support. Perhaps the greatest weakness will be that Government can no longer be sure of choosing its own moment for dissolution.”