The Back-Cryers Win

. . . For (as Macaulay noted) In many a bold attack It's those behind cry "Forward!" And those before cry "Back!"

--B. A. Young in Punch

Aneurin ("Nye") Bevan, the spellbinding leader of British Labor's left wing, not only believes in nationalizing industry; he believes that socialism should exude public ownership as naturally and surely as a spider spins a web. In the Labor Party and in the trade unions, which dominate the party, maturer minds prevail. Only a militant minority shares Nye Sevan's fervor, and it is losing ground.

The labor movement's retreat from the extremes of socialism was dramatized last week in a noisy, crowded meeting hall at Douglas, on the Isle of Man, where 1,000 delegates representing 8,000,000 British union workers gathered for the annual conference of the Trades Union Congress. The Bevanites came with thoraxes well oiled and briefcases crammed with speeches and resolutions concocted to harass, convert, and, if possible, uproot the T.U.C.'s Percheron-stolid leadership. Amplified by Communist and fellow-traveler support which they disdain but inevitably attract, Bevanite voices rang out with demands for censure against T.U.C. members who accept posts in the Conservative Churchill government, for condemnation of U.S. cold war policy, for criticism of the West's support of the anti-Soviet rebels in Berlin. Methodically the lumbering majority voted them down.

Nationalize Only Water. A barrage of left-wing demands for restoration of food subsidies, cuts in purchase taxes and a campaign for unrestricted wage rises bounced off the walls. Out of the din came the roar of bulky T.U.C. Vice Chairman Arthur Deakin. "What you're demanding, brothers," he cried, "is the economics of bedlam." Again the dissidents were voted down. The left-wing Amalgamated Engineering Union proposed a united campaign "for the early defeat and removal of the Tory government"--surely a natural undertaking for the body that gave birth to the Labor Party and represented the core of its voting strength. But the majority of the delegates, sensing a move to wed them to the Bevanite camp, rejected even that.

Finally came the matter for which all were waiting--a report laying down the T.U.C.'s future line on nationalization of

British industry. The report urged public ownership for only one industry: water supply, which is already largely controlled by national and local boards. While making no apologies for the nationalization brought about by Labor (steel, transport, coal) in its six years in power, the unions said cannily that caution and further study are necessary before further nationalization is attempted. It was a remarkably conservative stand ("The report goes far beyond caution about nationalization," commented the influential Economist. "It goes against nationalization"). "Betrayal!" cried voices from the left wing. But the majority did not think so. Armed with proxies for the full T.U.C. membership, the delegates adopted the report, 4,978,000 against 2,640,000. It was a thundering defeat for Nye Bevan's web-spinners.

Center of Gravity. The T.U.C. and the Labor Party are not identical; the center of gravity in the trade unions is a little farther to the right than it is in the party. But since 5,000,000 of the 6,000,000 Labor Party members and five-sixths of its M.P.s come from the T.U.C. members, the union's views make much of Labor policy. By their votes last week, the union men were foreshadowing some of the decisions to be made later this month at the Labor Party's own convention in Margate. Clement Attlee, Herbert Morrison and the other leaders of Britain's Loyal Opposition, hopeful for a return to power some day, sensed that the electorate was tired of the forward-cryers pushing from the rear.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.