The situation inside the Labour Party since our congress¶
Core Argument¶
The chapter presents a polemical intervention against the Minority faction’s assessment of conditions within the Labour Party following the August National Congress. Its core argument is that the Minority has substituted wishful thinking for material analysis, claiming a qualitative radicalisation where only minor quantitative shifts exist. The author directly refutes the Minority’s assertion that rank-and-file activity is increasing, conceding that membership numbers are rising but insisting this reflects passive dues-paying sympathy for a Labour Government, not active political engagement. The evidence cited is the capacity of local parties to collect one-and-a-half pence weekly contributions, limited only by organisational logistics, while active participation remains rare. The revival of Labour youth organisations is acknowledged but dismissed as localised and uncoordinated, lacking district or national structure.
The chapter draws on the immediate post-election context, where Labour holds office nationally and in most major industrial areas. This victory, the author argues, produces a natural stabilisation and a tendency to “sit back and wait for results,” rather than the ferment the Minority imagines. The Minority’s evidence for crystallising left-wing elements is dismantled piecemeal: Parliamentary cross-currents, minor revolts, distrust of the leadership, and even Harold Laski’s condemnation of imperialist policy in the Far East are presented as insufficient. The author counters that political discussion and criticism of the leadership remain stagnant, citing reports from Labour Party faction members that it is almost impossible to generate a response to such criticism, except in isolated districts like parts of South Wales. The situation has, in some respects, retrogressed compared to the pre-general election period: the Tribunites, including Aneurin Bevan, have been temporarily conciliated and demoralised by government participation, and backbench critical tendencies have produced no real opposition.
The polemic is directed squarely at the Minority’s method, accusing them of being guided by “subjective wishes” and “premature anticipations of future developments” rather than actual conditions. The chapter concludes that, with minor changes, the Labour Party’s internal life remains as it was in August, and that the Minority’s document largely recycles already-refuted arguments from pre-congress and congress discussions, though it notes certain new positions warrant attention.