Political 'Private eyes' CLIFF SLAUGHTER

"THE British Political Fringe',* published this week, devotes its longest chapter by far to what its author calls "The Outside Left; the major part of " this chapter consists of a collection of misinformation and hair-raisingly ignorant comment about the Trotskyist movement in Britain.

Those who read this book may find themselves asking how it ever came to get a publisher.

One clue to the answer may be found in a pamphlet which appeared only a week or two before this book. The pamphlet, produced by the antiCommunist organisation of businessmen, ex-army officers and retired trade union officials like Mr. Jim Matthews, called Common Cause, is entitled, "Trotskyism and its supporters in Britain'.* GLORIFIED BLACKLIST It may fairly be described as the most thorough, glorite 1 blacklist ever circulated to employers and their servants in this country.

Thayer's book, "The British Political Fringe', only saw the light of day because the present political situation, and the growing strength of the Socialist Labour League's alternative to the traditional treacherous working - class leadership, creates a market for academic snoopers.

Who is Mr. George Thayer? The publishers introduce him only as 'a 31-year-old American who has spent the last two years studying the British political system'.

Mr. Thayer has swept together in one corner most of the muck which has been spread by renegades and enemies of our movement in the last few years.

NO SUPPORT Without feeling obliged to provide a scrap of evidence, he presents a picture of sectarian and bureaucratic plotters living on dreams of some 'revolution round the corner'. In the absence of any political material to support this view, Mr. Thayer makes up his own quotations.

For the rest, his chapter on Trotskyism is a list of names and addresses, liberally interspersed with adjectives like 'ardent, cynical and dedicated', in order to confirm the usual reactionary stereotype of a revolutionary socialist.

Mr. Thayer also considers a number of other political groupings, lumping them together with the 'outside left' on the grounds that they are small and that their aim is to change political institutions.

NO ANALYSIS His complete failure to analyse the actual political programmes of any of these groups will only surprise those readers who think that Thayer's purpose was any different from that of the writers of the 'Common Cause' pamphlet.

However, some of Mr. Thayer's own impressions are introduced and they give us a fair idea of his inclinations.

* The British Political Fringe' by George Thayer. Published by Anthony Blond, 30s. * 'Trotskyism and its supporters in Britain'. Common Cause, 1s. 6d.

Writing about Oswald Mosley, he says:

'There is virtually no one who is a part of the British political fringe today, or even within recent memory, who has as many of the advantages and talents of this man: wealth, charm, wit, social position, a superior intellect, hypnotic powers, and Messianic zeal Thayer's description of movements like CND, the Yellow Star, and the Fascist groups, is of no interest except to highlight his method, which is remarkably like that of the slow-witted investigators whose reports appear in court proceedings; a meticulous dredging process.

PAMPHLET SERIES Common Cause's pamphlet does a more thorough job than our apprentice investigator from the U.S. Their pamphlet is part of a regular series to counter 'Communism' in British industry and politics.

The cover says:

The main object of Common Cause is to expose the activities of the Communist Party as a conspiracy to subvert individual freedom, the national economy, and the Rule of Law in the United Kingdom.

Since the Communist Party regards Trotskyism as its bitterest enemy, why then does Common Cause direct such heavy fire at the Trotskyists?

The reason is that the Socialist Labour League, and especially our plans to launch a daily paper, are recognised as the only real political threat to British capitalism and its supporters in the official Labour and trade union leadership.

POLITICAL NONSENSE "Trotskyism and its supporters in Britain' is a mixture of political nonsense, very detailed information about the past personnel and resources of the Trotskyist movement, and some glaring gaps and errors.

For example, on page 6 Joseph Stalin is described as 'a keen follower of Lenin', and Trotsky is said to have died 'at the hands of an assassin', without any mention of the fact that the assassin was one of Stalin's agents.

But, of course, this is not the main business of the pamLabour leadership was built upon the strength of British imperialism in its heyday. It based its policies on the ability of the employing class to grant concessions to a section of the workers.

The Labour Party has always contained various trends which gave . verbal opposition to this right-wing, talking loudly about socialism - and leaving capitalism to take its course.

The present crisis of British capitalism makes it impossible for further concessions to be granted. This means crisis for the right-wing leaders and also for their 'left' appendages. It is, therefore, not surprising to find that the onset of unemployment and short-time changes the situation in the Labour Party.

Open conflicts All the conflicts and contradictions which have been hidden under the big top of the Wilson circus begin to come into the open. People who not long ago were enthusiastic cheer-leaders for 'Wilson the wonder boy' edge neras