The
Bolshevik, April 1920

In a recent issue of our esteemed contemporary, the International,
appeared a statement to the effect that the International League
is not out to fight the Labour Party but to supersede it. This
statement is surprising, and may even be construed as being a
first attempt to look with a more favourable eye upon the Labour
Party which has attained the fleshpots of a certain share of
political power. The statement, from a Socialist standpoint,
is absurd. Socialism, we know, will supersede Capitalism. Does
the International consider that also a good reason why we should
not fight Capitalism?

The International also suggested that Socialist propaganda can
be more safely conducted under the protection of a large Labour
Party in Parliament. In this connection it overlooks the suppression
of the Spartacists by the Ebert Government of Kaiser-Socialists
in Germany, the attacks upon the Bolsheviks by the followers
of Kerensky, and the prosecution of Revolutionary organisations
in England by a Government in which Labour leaders held office.
Does the International believe Cresswell, Sampson, etc., to be
less docile followers of social patriotism than George Barnes
or Arthur Henderson?14 Does it believe that a party representing
mainly the white aristocratic Trade Unions and the middle-class
to be more favourable to its propaganda amongst the natives than
General Smuts or any other Capitalist politician? If not, where
does the increased safety for Socialist propaganda come in? We
deny that the Labour Party is out for Socialism, or that it is
a Workers' organisation at all.

It is a Party representing the upper layers of the white workers
and the middle class. It represents those aristocratic unions
- of the North especially - that, with their feet on the natives,
shriek of exploitation; shopkeepers foam at the mouth with anger
against the large combines that are cutting down their profits;
and the middle class are feeling the pinch of the steady increase
in the cost of living. These sections are not out to overthrow
Capitalism; rather do they desire to get the most they can out
of the present system. Therefore they are out for rent tribunals,
Anti-Profiteering Acts, etc., which, they confidently expect,
will bring them the relief they desire. At the majority of the
Labour meetings Socialism was never mentioned; when it was, it
was always accompanied by apious insistence upon the necessity
of constitutional action. These sections, which form the driving
force of the Labour movement, do not desire to organise the lower
unskilled sections of the white workers or the native and coloured
workers, as they fear this would lessen the privileges they enjoy,
and also act as an obstacle to the masters granting the skilled
workers increased wages. The insistence of the Labour Party upon
the British Imperial connection would seem to imply that the
party perceives some advantages to be gained from this connection
which the Irish, Indian and Egyptian nations have not yet perceived.
Its attitude during the great war was for "democracy" and
the "fourteen points" of a half-witted President reveals
how little it can be trusted in this connection. To sum up -
the Labour Party is not out to overthrow capital in the interests
of the toiling masses, both white and black, but to obtain concessions
for the middle-class and the white Trades Unions of skilled workers.
It is not a proletarian organisation, in spite of the fact that
many of the workers voted for it. By its attitude to the forcible
overthrow of Capitalism, to the organisation of all the workers
in One Big Union, to the late war, it betrays the middle class
origin of its principles and tastes.

The devil is no more afraid of holy water than is the Labour
Party of mentioning Soviet Russia. The reason is plain: the great
tactical lessons of the Russian Revolution are in contradiction
to the principles of the Labour Party. The necessity for revolutionary
mass action and the dictatorship of the workers through Soviets
are being now assimilated by all genuine proletarian organisations
throughout the world. By its repudiation of these lessons, the
Labour Party definitely places itself "on the other side
of the barricade." As the final struggle approaches in all
lands, the capitalists will seek to protect their privileges
under the cloak of Labour or pseudo- Socialist Governments.

These Governments mislead the workers by adopting the slogans
of Revolutionary Socialism, and thus endeavour to prevent the
rising of the organised workers. They can be appropriately called "Capitalist
shock absorbers.

"Ever at the beck and call of the exploiters, they appear during a crisis
as Revolutionary leaders, establish Labour or so-called Socialist Governments,
and endeavour to pacify the workers. Once the danger is over, the Socialist or
Labour mask is dropped, and the Capitalist can then proceed to crush the Revolutionary
sections of the working class. Thus acted the followers of Kerensky in Russia,
and the Ebert "Socialist" Government in Germany. Have we any reason
to believe that Henderson in England and Cresswell in South Africa would act
otherwise in a Revolutionary crisis? None whatever.

For these reasons, therefore, following the example of the Communist Parties
in all lands, we are out to attack the Labour Party and to expose the Social
patriots and Labour fakirs that have gathered beneath its banner.

We freely acknowledge that there are many sincere and class- conscious workers
in the Labour Party. Their presence in the party only reflects discredit upon
their knowledge of scientific Socialism, and their inability to realise the insincerity
and hollowness of their parties' catchwords. Their sincerity and devotion to
the workers' cause we must admire. The Labour Party, however, we shall fight
with all the vigour at our command as being a reactionary organisation, and a
pillar of Capitalism. We are confident by our clear insistence on the necessity
for the Social Revolution, the Proletarian Dictatorship, and the Republic of
Soviets, we shall, as the class-conflict grows more intense and the misery of
the workers deepens, rally to our banner all the class-conscious and Revolutionary
elements in the Labour Party.