The myth recently encouraged by some left groups - such as the International Socialists - that the anti-working class policies of the Wilson government prove in some mysterious way, the LabInaT. our Party has 'changed its nature' just do not hold any water class leadership, with forces hostile to the labour movement, has been a constant feature of the party since its inception over 70 years ago. Prentice and Jenkins, hints of the need for a 'national government', have their ancestors as far back as the fonders of the LRC.
The main function of this leadership -an amalgum of trade union bureaucrats and 'intellectuals' of the Fabian siamp -has, throughout the years, been mainly to contain and discourage all independent activity on the part of the workers! what De Leon concisely called 'labour movement. It has acted consistentiy de lieutenants of capital' within the workers' movement, law and order, re-inforcing the of 'parlamentary change' and teaching that the interests of its class base are not so much opposed to the present system as dependent on its well-being. " Reg Prentice's attack on the Shrewsbury bulding workers for 'breaking the taw is merery dr echo of the position on the 1926 General Strike in which Beatrice Webb condescendingly explained: "On the whole, a proletarian distemper which nad ie run its course and, like other distempers, it is as well to have done with it at the cost of a lengthy convalescence". Ruthless Fight The fact that this leadership has been rooted in the party from its cannot e ex ane av s !