The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-05-30

dCJlOH Ol d LdDOE GONSllIllSHIs
But in their manifesto the Labor
Party do not even mention the word
repeal" and instead of finding this
in the forefront of their program,
it is mentioned only incidentally:
"Among the other measures (our
bold face) which a Labor Govern
ment would enact are its Factories
Bill, the ratification of the Washing
ton Eight Hours Convention, and the
amendment (bold face ours) of the
Workmen's Compensation Acts and
the Trade Union Law"
When it comes to a question of
naturalization, however, they feel on
much safer ground, for here they
are speaking directly to their mas
ters. Here the manifesto speaks
openly and definitely. 1t is true, a
sentence is thrown in that a Labor
majority would nationalize the mines
and minerals (of course, with COM
pensation, being implied), and this is
the only instance throughout the
manifesto in which naturalization
| is mentioned.
With regard to industry generally,
"a Labor Government will set to
work at once by using export credits
and trade facilities guarantees, to
stimulate the depressed export trades
of iron and steel, engineering ana
textile manufactures" Then again:
sit will also, as promised, appoint
committees of enquiry into the
causes of depression in the cotton
and iron and steel industries with a
view to their organization" No
word even about naturalization or
state control, the one time articles
of socialist" faith of the Labor
Party, but just capitalist "reorgani-
cation"
What has the Labor manifesto to
say about the question of imperialist
exploitation, and in particular, the
burning issue of imperialist oppres-
sion in India and the awakening of
the Indian masses? The only refer
ence to the Empire is the following:
"There is a greater market overseas,
especially in India and the Crown
Colonies, where there are enormous
populations with very low standard
of living and vast undeveloped re-
sources" Even the one-time Liberal
Labor demand for self-government
within the Empire is omitted, and
all that Labor can see in the En-
pire is market for super-profit!
Grovelling Election Program"
1t is therefore not surprising that
even the Tories are somewhat stag
gered by the extreme moderation of
the Labor Party's manifesto. In his
speech opening the election cam
paign at Albert Hall, Baldwin de-
clared; $50 great is the spirit of
moderation at the moment in the
speeches and literature of the So
cialist party that we all rub our eyes
and ask, Can these be the same men
who preached the fiery propaganda
of the last election?' 1t seems to me
as though they were men who have
forsaken their old gods of Etna and
Vesuvius and are recommending
worship at the shrines of Highgate
and Hampstead" (Highgate and
Hampstead are typical bourgeois
districts in London) The fact is
that the Tories are finding it really
difficult to dig out points of con-
troversy with their Labor "op-
ponents." The one time DOGGY OF
the capital levy has been long ago
buried by the Labor Party, and even
its successor the surtax has been dis
creetly dropped, which reduced Bald
win to complain in his Albert Hall
speech: "The surtax is in hiding. He
may be detected in the shadows, but
he is not in the spotlight"
Communists Expose Imperialist
Role.
The same idea is expressed in the
comment of the "Daily Telegraph
MAY 10, 1929 in connection with
Comrade Saklatvala's Communist
! Member of Parliament) speech in
the House of Commons on May 9,
which described Saklatvala as "horri-
fled by the recent conversion of so
many Labor men to respectability
and the British Empire" The "Tele-
graph" concludes with the remark
that "Mr. Saklatvala's denunciation
is, of course, honey to the Labor
Party in its present efforts to ap-
pear extremely respectable in its
electoral opinions. :" We can add,
it is not just an appearance of re-
spectability, for responsibility is the
very soul of the Labor Party.
This manifesto of the Labor Party
brings out the role of the indie
pendent Labor Party in the most
striking form. The moderate Liberal
character of the manifesto compelled
even the Independent Labor Party
to criticize" it; they could not af-
ford, as the socialist vanguard" of
the Labor Party, to keep silent.
We now have before us the hide
pendent Labor Party. appeal for
Socialism," which begins: "Your Ma
tional Council calls on you for I'M
stinted service on behalf of the La
Dor candidates" 1t claims the Labor
Party as the challenger of capitalist
society, adding that in that claim
and in that task to which it Ia Labor
Goyernn,eptl twill Javo+o -, c.o,,;,,,