Dismissing Labour's Left?

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So 'Fergus Ennis' takes exception to Briefing's 'new' slogan, 'Labour Take The Power', , and, far from damning it with faint praise bludgeons your readers around the head with it to illustrate just how dangerous this kind of stuff can be. Half sheep, half goat The slogan is accused of "creating illusions that things in the Labour Party are much better than they are" "softening up a whole layer of the Labour Left for Kinnockism" and much more. Pretty good for four words which apparently. nobody can 'really' understand.

Clearly comrade 'Ennis' can't fathom it out at all. He patron-. ises the readers of your paper and those of Briefing by asserting that to them the slogan can only mean 'Labour Take Office' - why should he assume that?

His patronising seems to derive from his own dismissive and sectarian attitude to. the Labour Left - they couldn't understand revolutionary Why shouldn't those who are exposed to the slogan, bearing Chris Knight in mind the context in which it is them believe that they really placed that is on the front would attain 'power' and yet, on page of a publication not the other it dragged them into renowned for its incipient 'office'; preparing a new Kinnockism (despite the 'wide labourism. Either they read the range of positions' it adopts - word 'Power' to mean power, or clearly debate is not something to mean office - but not both! that 'Ennis' is fond of) _ be Thirdly the article is woven just as likely to interpret it to be around a personal attack. on addressed to the lieutenants of Chris Knight and Graham Bash Labour demanding that they whose 'fetish' is the slogan. 'Break with the bosses and take Strange that this 'fetish' of two the real Statel Power - or people should be adopted by an overwhelming majority at an In any case Chris Knight editorial meeting attended by makes it explicitly clear in an 30 people. article in the National Briefing Fraternally, Supplement when he says "The STU CLARKE essence of reformism is the Merseyside Labour Briefing refusal to struggle for power, combined with the mistaking of Of course the real meaning of the 'Ennis' article is not to discuss the usefulness or otherwise CHRIS Reynolds' article "Fairy of the slogan. His main aim is to tales about Russia" (Left Press, take a side-swipe at Briefing, SO 164) involves such serious political errors as to demand a suggesting that the adopting of reply. the slogan shows that "Briefing Reynolds skates over the question: is the USSR, or is it This sort of stuff is damaging. not, a workers' state - however Briefing is 'advancing'. 'Ennis' degenerated? He tries to lead only needs to look at the increas- his position he authority of ing number of local Briefings Trotsky, - but, talking about being formed around the Trotsky's 'later writings' omits country, many with the help of to mention In Defence of MarxSocialist Organiser supporters. ism, or Trotsky's 1938-40 What other focus for the serious struggle with the minority in the left in the Labour Party does he American SWP. there he sought to persuade the SWP's Secondly, the article is used to US membership, among other berate the failings of the 'local things, that revolutionists government left' and to pin the should fight on the same side as blame for this on Briefing and its the Red Army against Finland, and that even when partitioning There is no mention here of Poland with Nazi Germany the the 'objective conditions' which USSR remained a workers' met those lefts who got involved state, an element in the class in local government politics to camp of the working class. help in practice to mobilise those On the social gains of the revolution, Reynolds compares •Ennis invests "magical the USSR with the imperialist powers in the slogan for these countries - "the West" "cappeople. On the one hand it made italist countries with strong