The Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party has met
at Scarborough, and though it is a rapidly dwindling body it spoke with a loud voice—loud though uncertain. The Manchester Guardian estimates, though figures are not available, that the membership of the I.L.P. has been halved in five years. The number of its branches has dropped by a third since 1926. A few months ago the I.L.P. group in the House of. Commons numbered 142. Now only four- teen hold together under the old name. Yet it was the I.L.P. which created the Parliamentary Labour Party. Is not the explanation, as the Manchester Guardian suggests, that the more the I.L.P. moves to the Left the weaker it becomes ? Many of the members came to the Government's heel in response to the appropriate threats ; others flew off under the wing of Sir Oswald Mosley in his Socialist-Fascist adventure. Although the I.L.P. speaks hotly when lecturing the Government for their defections, it is no longer strong enough to act boldly. Hence the lame conclusion that the remnant of the I.L.P. in the House of Commons should continue to act with the Labour Party for most of the time and spend the rest of the time in the clear enunciation of Socialist principles.
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