future one can expect other steps in order to adjust the Iraqi policy to the general Nasser line.
LONDON COUNCIL ELECTIONS -- OMEN OF THE FUTURE?
By John Powell
LONDON, Feb, 21 -~ Now that Sir Alec Douglas Home has written off a March’ general election as a "practical proposition" -- the next decisive, electoral contést will take place on April 9,
On that day will be held the first elections for the newly created Greater London Council, which will replace the existing London County Council, the Middlesex County Council, and the Metropolitan portions of the counties of Kent, Essex, Surrey and Hertforshire,.
The significance of these elections, nationally and internationally, is greater than is perhaps generally realised,
Since 1934, the London County Council, one of the largest local authorities in the world has been run by a Labour majority. This Labour majority rule has remained a constant reminder to the govern ment at Westminster that London remained loyal to Labour despite the electoral shifts nationally. The Conservative government, which had chalked up three electoral victories in the postwar period, were determined to cap their successes with the greatest prize of all -the recapture of London for the Tory cause,
In 1961, with a divided Labour party still reeling from the L959 electoral defeat, and demoralised in part by the Gaitskellite attack on the unilateralists* and Clause Four** -- the London Tories
“The “unilateralists" advocate giving up nuclear weapons without waiting for "the enemy" to do so first.
xe"Clause Four" affirms Labour's commitment to nationalisation of industry.
“were all set for a victory at County Hall. In a bitterly fought contest, the Labour party held its commanding position, winning by 84 to 42, the last position (1958) being 101 to 25.
It was this rebuff which spurred the Tories to press on with legislation to liquidate the London County Council, even though many surrounding areas (Tory controlled) had to be sacrificed in the process,
The purpose of the re-arrangement of local government in the new Greater London area was to fix and gerrymander a permanent Tory majority by redrawing the boundaries of London -- the suburban parts of London tending to be conservative and middle class.
The London Government Bill was bitterly fought by the Labour party, as the social services ~- housing, education, children's, welfare, etc., were to be broken up and handed over to the local new boroughs (the lower unit of local authority). In many cases this meant handing education and housing to a Tory borough, with all the consequent disruption that this would entail.
Now the die is cast. On April 9, one hundred Greater London Councillors are to be elected over an area seven times larger than the existing London County Council area, containing one-fifth of the population of England and Wales (8,500,000 people) and embracing 105 Parliamentary constituencies, ~~
The Little General Election, as it is now being called, may well end in a Labour victory, despite the gerrymandering, If so, as the Evening Standard pointed out in an article on January 23, “it's curtains for Sir Alec." -
It is interesting to note that when Herbert Morrison led Labour to victory in 1934 on the London County Council for the first time, coming as it did after the 1931 Ramsay MacDonald debacle, the news reached the Viennese workers who were then engaged in a mortal combat with their local fascists, and they were greatly encouraged in their struggle,
A Labour victory in 1964, too, could have similar significance, A Labour Greater London poses the question urgently and sharply of Labour to power nationally on a socialist, Slause Four programme, This has both European and international implications -- which fact has not been lost on the British ruling class,
NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE UP FOR THE TAINT
Ten Scotsmen hiked 14 miles through rugged mountains, worked all night in an open boat in stormy seas to secure two loose U.S, torpedoes worth $80,000 and were rewarded a total of $98 by the U.S.Navy. They returned the money as an “insult,”