Revolts from the Left

With his narrow parliamentary ma jority, one might expect most of Har old Wilson's troubles to come from the Tory opposition. Last week, however, he was confronted by two revolts from within his own Labor ranks.

One was the threat of a nationwide railroad strike to protest the govern ment's decision to hold wage increases to 3 1/2% a year. Wilson met it smoothly.

At the last minute, he simply went to the conference table and sweet-talked the union leaders into accepting the wage ceiling (with a few minor fringe benefits thrown in).

The second revolt demanded harsh er treatment. It was an irate motion, signed by 35 backbench Laborite radi cals, to condemn Wilson's support of U.S. policies in Viet Nam. The cause, of course, was "peace," and what rankled the radicals most was that Wilson had agreed with the U.S. decision to resume the bombing of North Viet Nam.

Wilson cut them dead. "If you search the hearts of some of those who par take in these campaigns," he said, "you will find not 'peace in Viet Nam' but 'victory in Viet Nam.' This means a continuation of the fighting until their side has won." From the backbenches, leftists were jumping up trying to get the floor, but Wilson slashed on.

"I would have been more impressed," he said, "if the international cables during the 40-day truce had been sizzling with messages to Hanoi saying, 'Now conditions for talks exist. Now play your part. Your friends in this country who want peace expect you to respond.' I'd like to have seen the peace-in-Viet Nam lobby outside the Chinese embassy demanding that the Chinese government diminish their malevolent pressures on Hanoi, preventing Hanoi from following what might be her natural inclinations to ma.ke peace."

The peace lobbyists' motion was never brought to a vote. Instead, a group of senior Laborites dispatched a cable urging Ho Chi Minh to "agree to negotiate and leave the battlefield for the conference table."

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