Evening star., 1922-12-31
BRITISH LAbOR|TES
ARE CALLED REDS
London Paper Claims They
Have Affiliated With the
Communist Party.
HAND OF SOVIET IS SEEN
Revolutionaries Gradually Gaining
Strength in Laborite Coun-
sels, Is Claim.
Ry Cabie to The Star and New York Tribune.
Copyright. 1872.
BY wARRE u, WELLS.

BY Cabie to The Star and New York Tribune.
Copyright, 1872.
BY wARRE d. WELLS.
LONDON. December 3o.-Is the
British labor party going communist?
The Morning Post. most conservative
Of the London newspapers. claims
that it is and is taking up a drive to
prove il. The basis Of the charge
which is being developed in a series
Of articles is tho discovery Of an al
legged scheme for reorganization
which the communist party in this
country recently adopted and which
is now being put into operation.
The disclosure Of this scheme. the
authenticity of which there is no rea-
son to doubt. is most interesting. but
whether the Official labor party is i'm
plicated in the revolutionary aims of
tho communists Is an entirely differ
ent question.
The Morning Post claims that the
communists are now the dominating
force in the labor party and that they
are working with the help or at least
the connivance OF official 1aborftes
and that those members Of the Official
party VINO are nellueT OVcEtly HoI
secretly communists are unable to ex-
eroise any restraining influence.
A Revolutionary Party.
That the British communist party
itself Is revolutionary is not open to
question. 1t is recognized by MOSCOW
and Is member of the communist
internationale. The scheme of the re-
organization of the party is likewise
avowedly revolutionary in intent. Ac-
tn ho o.
scheme is due to Karl Radeks CEN
sure of the British communists on
account Of their failure to derive rev.
oiutionary results from the strike OF
last year.
The communists are now planning
20 form themselves into a society
with a secret nuclei behind the open
groups. with centers In every town
and district, and agents in every so
cial class. They aim to penetrate
political. industrial and social organ
ization in the country. Their main
purpose in the Morning Posts words.
is to insure the tncessant activity of
every branch OF the revolution from
teaching children to preparation OF
an armed insurrectton.
All this may seem to open up
most alarming prospect for England.
but just extracts from a secret report
outlining the scheme Of reorganiEa-
tion upon which this newspaper re-
lies throw rather q different light on
the situation. The report shows that
the communists are now reorganizing
due to their self-confessed failure to
achieve anything worth while up to
date.
Beaten in Election.
Stating that the communist party is
now in existence two years, the re-
port goes on to say: Yet in these
two years with all the opportunities
and the tireless activities and the
energy of individual workers the
party has made no real progress
either numerically or in terms Of in
fuence."
Later in the report the communists
have another interesting confession:
1--WE are only scattered individuals,
straggling UP and down the country.
without responsible hold on the
working class movement"
The communists. in sizing up their
own: present position of influence.
could not be improved upon. and their
admissions are borne out by the re-
sults Of the general election. when
they were not able to return more
than single member to the house OF
common&
So far as the official laborites being
dominated by the communities. J. W.
w. Newbald, the communist member
from Clyde, does not receive party
whips and. il most of the 242 official
laborites are communists, you would
not think so to hear real communists
talk about Macdonald. Clynes. Webb.
Snowden. Trevelyan and other labor
leaders-all of whom are indeed thor
oughiy bourgeois types.
While the official laborites laugh
out of court the charge of the ex-
IRENE conservative that they are plan
ming a revolution, at the same time
they retort that the extreme conserva-
tives are staging n secret society di-
rected against labor.
The basis for this charge is the ap-
pearance in this country of a mXs-
terious society calling itself The
Most Noble Order of Crusaders" The
organizer and founder of this society
:s Col. Walter FabeE; the well known
meets behind guarded doors and main
ta:ns an elaborate ritual. in which the
outfit borrowed from MEDIEVAL cru
saders plays prominent part.
Recruiting Drive.
From its headquarters in London
this society has been carrying out a
recruiting drive up and down the
rountry the last few months and
rhe 'avowe ed object OF the society is to
nring back the spirit OF the crusade
to everyday life, but the radicals
charge that it aims to become an Eng
jsh form of fascist and the Ameri-
can Ku kluK Khan. =,
This view is supported by a state
Inent of Maj. T. H. Hague. the cru
sader grand ,,seneschal, to an inter-
viewer that From the little I know
Of the Italian movement / am not at
all sure but that it would not be a
good thing to have here"
So far. however. the British public
seems to see no reason to get worked
up over these threats of secret socie-
ties. aiming at revolution whether
from the left or the right side of the
political and economic fence.