The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-09-19
ADVANCING ALONG THE
LINE OF MILITANT
CLASS STRUGGLE
BY B. PAINE DUTT.

politicaI situation Is 50 great that its full
c~tcnt and significance still needs good deal
&c hammering out and discussion throughout
Tire working class.
The bourgeolsie in a tight corner has made
verv sudden and skillful maneuver, on the one
hand setting I'D National Government to
constitute a strengthened bourgeois front Of ex-
IRENE dictatorship and offensive against the
working class under cover Of the former Labor
leaders; while on the other hand. the Labor
PARTY as quickly taking its cue from the Situa-
ticn. has suddenly turned round, as il freed from
all responsibility for its past and comes for
ward as leader" Of the workers opposition that
was threatening to destroy 1t.
This double maneuver has taken the workers
bv surprise and raises the greatest danger OF
confusing and disorganizing the workers front
and rising struggle.
First is the financial crisis serious? Yes;
within the conditions of capitalism it is extreme
w serious it is tire most acute point yet reached
of the crisis of British capitalism.
The National" Government talk, which treats
IT as a temporary financial crisis to be met by
balancing the Budget, is deception conceahng
the full character of the crisis and OF the con-
sequent capitalist offensive
The Labor Party talk, which treats it as
foreign bankers conspiracy to be met by easy
alternative capitalist solutions without cuts, Is
no less a lie and deliberate hypocrisy to deceive
and llll the workers
The financial crisis is only the reflectiOn-the
explosion point--of the industrial crisis.
The outflow of gold-only temporarily arrested
bv the drug of foreign credits-is inevitable so
long as the increasing excess of imports over
exports is greater than even the enormous
tribute income from foreign investments (Which
the Labor Party Shylocks SO gleefully count on
To- solve everything) can any longer cover.
The gold standard will crash in Britain, and
With it the value Of all British capital holdings
nd With it therefore the value of foreign trib-
NE. and therefore the whole basis OF the pres
r,,t economic structure in Britain-unless In
c;,7stry can be revived and exports forced up
This is inevitable under capitalism
But the burdens on industry cannot be re-
moved or lessened, but are on the contrary, re-
doubled, so long as the gold standard is main
tanned.
Therefore the only path is the heaviest cut
ting Of the workers.
Balancing the Budget does not solve this; It
is only important as giving the lead. 1t is
secondary issue in ITSELF brought to the fore
front. because it gives the lead The Budget
issue is the spearhead of the general offensive,
But this supreme effort of British capitalism
to save itself on the backs Of the workers re-
uuires political conditions of intensified die
tatorship, STRONG government" on the one hand,
and a successful Social Democracy, on the other,
to deceive the workers.
Both were lacking under the old regime. The
Labor Government was weak and hesitating; at
The same time the workers had lost confidence
in it and were rising In opposition. Hence the
new maneuver.
What is the meaning of the change from a
Labor" Government to a National" Govern
nent? It is not change from a workers
government to a capitalist government. 1t is a
change from one form of capitalist government
to another.
But it is a change from the form of a capt.
talist government, which seeks to deceive the
workers as being their" government, while the
bourgeosie perform the role Of opposition"
peacemakers, to a capitalist government which
openly leads the united bourgeois forces, while
the opposition becomes a Labor opposition to
deceive the workers.
This change always takes place at point of
intensified class struggle, when the former meth
DDS are no longer holding in the workers.
We had previous example of this in 1924-5.
The discredted Labor Government gave place
10 the Baldwin Government to fight the rising
working class opposition while the Labor Party
passed over to lead" the opposition. The out
come was the General Strike and its betrayal
Today we have a more advanced form. This
is not a simple handing over to Conservative
Liberal Government with the Labor Party
simply passing to opposition; but, instead, a
new process of loudly proclaimed split" in
the Labor leadership; in which one tiny group
of the most prominent leaders, Macdonald
Snowden-Thomas, pass over without follow
ing (and actually instructing junior ministers
not to follow them to open bourgeois coalition;
while the remainder, Henderson Clynes-Lans-
bury lead the united Labor Party in opposition.
This is the peculiar feature Of the present
transformation and governs our consequent
tactics Why was this peculiar process neces-
sary?
Because only so could there be hope to defeat
The rising differentiation in the working class.
If Macdonald Henderson as a whole had
gone into opposition" the class issue Of the
working class fight against the Conservative
Liberal Government would have been too open,
and the fight within the working class move
ment against the old, discredited Macdonald
Henderson leadership would have inevitably