LEFT TURN !
By John Paton
Left Turn (Seeker and Warburg, 12s. 6d.) is the second instalment of the autobiography of John Paton, once editor of the New Leader and General Secretary of the Independent Labour Party. Besides its interest as the personal record of a Socialist leader, it has some historical value for the light it throws on the uncertain course of the Labour Party. The author has remained a figure behind the scenes, and he has therefore been able to keep a steadier head in the crises which swept his party into prominence and then swept it back into the-ohAeure company of the Communist Party, where, unable to cope with the bitter disagreement between its few remaining members, he left it. As national organiser and, later, General Secretary of the I.L.P. he speaks with authority, and his account of the part played by Mr. MacDonald and his estimate of Mr. MacDonald's responsibility for the in- ternal and external events which shook the whole Socialist movement will be read with respect, if not always with agreement. This book is 'free from bitterness, and Mr. Paton writes well enough to make the domestic squabbles of a political party interesting.
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