Mr. Maxton's Boomerang It is amusing to find Mr. Maxton
and his fellow- stalwarts of the Independent Labour Party in its new, purified and much attenuated form advising their trade unionist followers not to pay the political levy. When, after the General Strike of 1926, the Unionist Govern- ment Made it necessary for a trade unionist to indicate his willingness to pay the levy, instead of having to contract out of it as he did before, there was no more violent critic of such alleged tyranny than Mr. Maxton. It was interference with the sacred rights of the trade unions and their members, that must be undone when Labour again ruled. But in those days Mr. Maxton .thought .that the trade unions would raise the Labour Party funds which the I.L.P. would spend for them. The I.L.P. is now revolving in its own orbit, while the Labour Party retains the trade union contributions. Thus what was wrong in 1927 has become commendable in 1932, and the I.L.P. trade unionist may honourably withhold the levy from the lethargic Labour Party.
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