The Evening Star THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1936. LABOUR’S DILEMMA.

Evening Star, Issue 22464, 8 October 1936, Page 8

The Evening Star THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1936. LABOUR’S DILEMMA.

Political Labour in Britain is in a very awkward fix. This has been evident for some time; it is emphasised in the proceedings at the conference now sitting in Edinburgh. For years it fought, every proposal to strengthen the country’s defences. When in office one of its first acts was to suspend work on the vitally important Singapore base. Afterwards the leaders (looked on complacently when Mr Ramsay MacDonald, as head of the National Government, led the way in disarmament in the vain hope that other nations would follow Britain’s example. Now the world position has changed radically. Labour sees Fascism and Nazism in the ascendant in Italy and Germany, and rearing its head in Spain. The citadel of liberty is threatened. Hence ardent pacifists in Britain are recasting their views. At times they become almost bellicose. For instance, during the conference now meeting one member said: “The dictatpr nations should be told that if they want decision by the sword, we will not flinch.” Labour’s avowed policy is to stand by tho League of Nations and collective security. To achieve that aim it has sorrowfully to admit, in the words of Dr Dalton, that armaments must be at such a level as to make sure an aggressor should not succeed. Tho party executive reaffirmed tho policy of maintaining forces consistent with Britain’s responsibilities'as a member of tho League, but quite unnecessarily added that it declined responsibility for a competitive armaments policy. Major Attlee, the leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, gave his case away by admitting that while arms aro required Labour would continue to criticise the armaments programme, and decline to give a blank cheque to the Government. In other words, Labour being tbo official Opposition, its duty is to oppose rather than co-operate in remedying a position in the country that had reached a point of extreme danger in the matter of its defences.

In an article in the ‘ Spectator ’ the parliamentary correspondent of that journal asks what is wrong with the Labour Party, and proceeds to give his own views on the question. Remarking on the failure of the party to make any progress in the country or the House of Commons, he expresses the view that one of the primary causes is the baleful influence of the trade unions. Labour's success in 'the past, he avers, was duo to a coalition of the Socialist Party and trade 'unionism. Now the latter is predominant and the trade union secretaries wield- the power. As a result the' middle classes have been repelled, ami radically-minded men and women who supported Labour in the past are not now doing so. ;

Another factor in tho party’s failure is declared to bo the uncoloured personalities of tho political leaders. What appears to bo a fatal obstacle to success is inconsistency and lack of direction on tho big questions of the day. It is particularly noticeable in the matter of armaments, because that problem at tho moment is all-absorbing. Lord Snowdon agrees that there is much truth in the foregoing conclusions. Ho admits that the progress of tho Labour Party has been arrested, and that there is little likelihood that it will gain sufficient strength in Parliament to form an independent Government for a long timo to come. Reform of the Labour Party is imperative, otherwise it “ seems as though tho country is going to be condemned to tolerate a Government it does not want because the alternative does not promise to bo much of an improvement.” Lord Snowden contends that it was the religious zeal of the pioneers that made the Socialist movement, and the ethical impulse will have to ho recaptured) before success can be expected. Apparently Now Zealand has a duty in this matter, for the Hon. Walter Nash has been told by an English visitor that if this Dominion won the help of the people a second time Britain would have a Labour Government next time. It is indeed consoling to know that the influence of this little country, remote from the centre of world affairs, is so far reaching and important.