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England
From a letter from England we extract the following lines:
London, Nov.2 1943.
Dear friends,
At the moment here it is like living on top of a volcano. Nothing of any magnitude is happening on the class war front but any moment violent eruptions can and will take place.
The Barrow strike dealt the bourgeoisie a sharp blow. It came as a shock to them and it scared them. At the same time not only the ruling class influence but also the authority of the Labor leaders is being undermined in the tremendous radicalization that is taking place.
Even extreme reactionaries like Viscount Suirdale are being compelled — not without trepidation, it is true — to evoke the support of the Stalinist party in by-elections. The Barrow strike, however, showed the true value of the Stalinist party. They are completely exposed and have earned the bitterest hatred of the workers there.
A member of the strike committee visited a plant owned by Vickers-Armstrong near London to appeal for support for his striking comrades in the Barrow Vickers plant.
He was attacked by the Stalinist shop stewards who, it can be said, wielded large influence if not control over the workers there. After he had defended the action in Barrow and explained the strike-breaking role of the Stalinist party, the workers voted a not inconsiderable sum of money (I can’t recall the exact amount — over 400 pounds) which had been collected for the Stalinist Daily Worker fund to the Barrow strikers! On hearing of this our comrades went down to the plant to sell our press and were well received. In the Notts coal fields we got a similar reception in hitherto Stalinist strongholds.. . . A.H.
Scotland
In previous issues we reported the news of a split in Glasgow, one of the most important centers of the British Communist Party. We have just received a letter from one of these militants who have broken with Stalinism.
He writes:
December 12 ,1943 “’Dear Comrades, “I have in front of me the article in Fourth International of August 1943, in International Notes. The part I am referring To is: “C.P Workers in Glasgow turning to Trotskyism.” Now I happen to be one of those stewards. However, before I break into the reason for writing to you, I will tell you something about ourselves first.
“We realized, as the war progressed that the C.P. line was turning more chauvinist every day and then it was too much. We resigned. Some of us had 8 years,12 years membership with the party. Now we realize that the C.P. is the counter-revolutionary force all ready to hand. In our particular factory we have formed a local and collected quite a good membership.” Now we are doing a lot of good not harm as was the case throughout the factories that we work in .We realize, however, that our revolutionary education is only beginning.
“What surprises me is the horrible way in which the historical facts are twisted and construed and then placed before the average C.P. member in book form. When you get out of the Communist Party you realize that the books we should have been reading are practically unobtainable. Now this is where you come in, Comrades. Now, as I have said, we have formed a local in D — ; and I am the secretary of it. From our own center in London we get some Militants now and then and a Fourth International. But on the back pages of the Fourth International is the thing that keeps worrying us. That is the heading: “YOU NEED THESE MARXIST WORKS!” So, at one of our local meetings, it was decided to write to you and see what you could do for us in the way of literature. I don’t want to specify any particular books as I don’t know how the money is going to work out. I don’t know if our £ is worth 2 or 20 shillings So we decided to place before you our particulars and let you choose the literature to send us.
Well Comrades, I hope you won’t think this letter too much of an imposition as we are complete strangers really, but as revolutionists, we have a lot in common. I will draw to a close now. I trust You get this letter O.K. and I hope to hear from you.
Yours fraternally,
R B. .
Sec. D — . Local.
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