Churchill’s support crumbling¶
Core Argument¶
This chapter from Socialist Appeal (March 1944) argues that a decisive leftward shift in British mass consciousness is underway, registered in a series of by-election results that signal the disintegration of the political truce between Labour and the Tories. The core narrative thrust is that four and a half years of war have eroded working-class illusions in the ruling class, driven by visible profiteering at home and cynical deals with fascist remnants abroad, such as Badoglio in Italy. The memory of the post-1918 betrayal—Lloyd George’s “land fit for heroes” giving way to mass unemployment, the means test, and low wages—is identified as the key historical reference shaping working-class dread of the post-war settlement.
The chapter marshals specific electoral evidence. In Bury St Edmunds, a former safe Tory seat, the Conservative candidate scraped home by only 2,500 votes, with the electorate demanding “Beveridge, housing, agriculture.” In Brighton, Churchill’s personal intervention failed to secure victory for the government nominee, indicating the erosion of his personal myth. At Skipton, a Common Wealth candidate standing on land nationalisation won support from both agricultural labourers and small farmers. The most striking blow was at West Derbyshire, where Alderman White, an ex-Labour candidate, defeated the Tory by over 4,500 votes. Kirkcaldy is treated as especially significant: the Labour candidate received only 8,000 votes, barely 1,600 more than the Scottish Nationalist candidate, with a “Christian socialist” taking 1,100. This is read as a gesture of despair, revealing that workers are seeking an alternative to the Labour leadership’s coalitionist policy.
The polemical target is clear: the Labour and trade union bureaucracy, whose policy of “political capitulation” is directly contradicted by the rank-and-file mood. The Labour Executive’s response—a special meeting that produced only a cowardly decision to continue the coalition, leaving local support for Tory candidates to local discretion—is condemned as an attempt to forestall a revolt within the party. The chapter also notes that the by-election register was outdated, meaning a whole new generation’s vote would be even further left. Evidence from the forces is cited: a mock election in a Cairo Forces Club gave the Tories 17 votes, Liberals 38, Common Wealth 55, and Labour 119. The rise of Common Wealth is interpreted as a radicalisation of the middle class towards socialism. Even the Communist Party leaders, described as strike-breaking and pro-government, are said to have been compelled by pressure from below to alter their policy of supporting Tory candidates.
The chapter concludes with a strategic claim: a socialist appeal from the British workers would immediately arouse a response in Germany, preparing the way for Hitler’s overthrow by German and European workers, and countering the imperialist expectation of a Passchendaele-level slaughter on the second front. The Workers’ International League positions itself as the force fighting to break the truce and drive Labour to power on a socialist programme.