Now is the time to end the coalition¶
Core Argument¶
This chapter is a direct, polemical appeal to the British working class, issued by the Revolutionary Communist Party, demanding an immediate end to the wartime coalition government with the Tories. The core argument is that continued collaboration by the Labour leadership has led to a “shameful pass,” exemplified by the ongoing military intervention in Greece. The text seizes on the Greek episode as a decisive revelation: British soldiers are dying not for democracy, but to preserve a “reactionary clique of royalist fascists” and the profits of British capital. This is presented not as an isolated mistake but as the first of a series of betrayals, a foretaste of what the Tories intend for all of Europe and for Britain itself.
The chapter draws on the immediate historical context of the end of the Second World War in Europe, specifically the British military intervention in Greece to suppress the left-wing EAM-ELAS resistance movement. It invokes the moral authority of the war against Hitler, arguing that the coalition government’s actions betray the very principles for which workers and soldiers were exhorted to fight. The text contrasts the Labour leaders’ rhetoric of “democracy” with the reality of Churchill’s government, which it accuses of acting without a democratic mandate for its “crimes.” The demand is for a forced general election, arguing that with a “fighting policy” Labour would easily defeat the Tories.
The polemic is directed at two targets simultaneously. The primary target is the Tory government under Churchill, accused of criminality and hypocrisy. The secondary, and more strategic, target is the Labour leadership itself, which is accused of cowardice and class collaboration. The text explicitly calls on Labour workers to pressure their leaders out of their “warm ministerial seats.” It argues that forcing Labour to take power alone is a necessary step, not because Labour can genuinely serve working-class interests, but because its inevitable failure in office will “expose” its incapacity, thereby clearing the road for the Revolutionary Communist Party to win over the majority of workers who still harbour “illusions” in the Labour leaders. The chapter ends with a pointed challenge to Aneurin Bevan and G. R. Strauss, demanding that these “lefts” match their words with deeds, thereby framing the immediate political task as a struggle within the Labour movement itself.