Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-25
LABOR|TE FARLEY
PROMISES FIGHT
Major Task of Conference
Will Be to Revise Party's
Constitution.
BY KEITH HUTCHINSON.

by htulO W 4hC Otuis
LOl:DON. August 24.--With the
Labor party in office and with a rec
ord number of Labor members of Par
lament IN the House of Commons. the
annual conference of the youngest OF
British political parties takes on even
more interest than usual.
The meeting will be held In Brighton,
where. September 80. delegates will as
semble to rejoice over the victory at
the general ELECTION, congratulate and
criticize the government, and make
plans for the ensuing twelve months.
The major task of the conference.
however, will be to revise the party's
constitution unchanged since 1918. An
executive OF the party has worked for
two years in preparing the draft which
has just been issued.
Important Changes Proposed.
The draft proposes important changes
In the constitution. in one direction
tightening up party machinery and i'm
posing a rather stricter discipline on
members. and in another broadening
the basis of membership. The latter
measure Is a constitution OF tendency
first made manifest in 1918. Up to
that time the party had been purely a
federated party made up largely Of
trade unions. This restricted the men,
bership In the main to workers by
hand" workers by brain"-in other
words, the middle class intellectual ele-
mentS-could only participate in the
Socialist bodies. such as the independ-
ent Labor party or the Fabian Society,
which were allowed to affiliate on the
same terms as the trade unions.
At the end of the war it was felt
that the party should attempt to at
tract wider body of adherents. With
this object in view a more comprehen-
sive program was adopted and place
provided for individual membership by
the organization Of local Labor parties
The policy has proved Of great value in
the years since the war. Large num-
berS Of middle-class people have been
! brought into the party and it has
changed character from a strictly class
organization to truly national party
A further opportunity for the re-
cruitment Of middle-class elements Is
offered in the proposed revised consti-
tuition by the creation Of new section
Of national associate members" open
to those who find it inconvenient to
join in the local Labor parties. An
other proposal Of the same kind is to
admit to affiliation professional organ
izations which. in the opinion Of the
Ild OlOIluL ChCCutLNC AlhNC
terests consistent with those of the
other y Inflated organizations. The
obvious Nrtention here is to include
within Noor's net the societies OF
brain woINhrs who have not registered
as trade onions or joined the Trade
Union Congress.
Proposals Face Opposition.
Amendments already put down on
10 of fuy0 q :
show that they will not have an easy
passage, for there is a feeling in the
party that it is already too diluted by
recent developments. It Is perhaps
partly to meet this feeling that the
draft of the constitution puts forward
another new clause requiring individual
members. in addition to subscribing to
the program of the party, to be IAN
eligible MEMBER of trade union recog-
nized by the general council OF the
Trades Union Congress"
In the direction of tightening lip the
organization the suggested constitution
Jays down very exact rules for the adop-
ton of parliamentary candidates. which
considerably augment the control of the
central machine. Candidates for in
stance, must receive the Endorsement of
the national executive which will be
withheld unless election expenses are
guaranteed. 1t also is proposed that at
the bye-elections candidates must SUD-
nit election addresses to the national
executive for approval This would pre-
vent disgruntled members of the left
wing from using their candidature at
the bye-election to attack the policy OF
the party leaders.
Perhaps the most important proposal
for strengthening the hands of the eX-
ccutive is that concerning the party
program which declares: THE party
conference shall decide from time to
time what specific proposals OF leg1sla-
tive financial or administrative reform
shall be included III the party program
No proposal shall be included unless 1t
is adopted by the party by A majority OF
not less than two-thirds of the votes re-
corded on the card vote"
Since great blocks Of votes are WELD
cd in the party conference by affiliated
trade unions and usually cast on the
side Of conservatism. this proposal, II
carried, should effectually prevent ex-
tremist policies from being written into
the program.
Move to Right Is Seen.
In addition it is left to the national
executive, together with the executive OF
the parliamentary Labor party. to de-
eide which items Of the program should
be included in the manifesto at the
general elections.
Although the Labor organ. the Daily
Herald, denies that these alterations in
the constitution mean A move to the
right by the party. outside comment
agrees that this, in fact. will be the re-
suit. 1t is worth noting, however, that
while extensive repairs to party ma
chinery are under consideration, the
draft of the constitution leaves the
party objects unchanged. The aim is
still Ito secure for producers by hand or
brain the full fruits of their industry
and the most equitable distribution
thereof that may be possible upon the
basis of a common ownership Of means
Of production and of distribution and
the best obtainable system of popular
administration and control OF each in
dustry or service" Socialism, therefore,
rey,oo inc tho r,rOroieed land