Labor v. Communists

Since 1925 the British Communist Party has repeatedly asked that its members be permitted to join the Labor Party en masse, on the condition that they promise to abide by all official Labor Party decisions. Each time, the petition has been refused by the Labor Party's Executive Committee, with the comment that British Communists were tied by the Comintern to Moscow.

When the Comintern was abolished last fortnight, British Communists decided to try again (". . . in the light of the new circumstances negotiations should at once be opened"). Last week Labor's Executive Committee once more said no. Such affiliation, the Committee commented, "would be disastrous."

Cried the Communist Daily Worker: "The Executive Committee of the Labor Party stands where it stood. Its defenses are down and its basic argument against affiliation--the Communist International --no longer exists, but the diehards stand manfully in their last ditch, desperately thinking up new reasons against the unity of the British working class."

These were just preliminary skirmishes. The real battle will be fought at the Labor Party's annual convention, beginning June 14. Already several trade unions with heavy votes at the convention support the Communist application. The Communists are campaigning to win over enough more delegates to vote the Executive Committee down.

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