Labour Conference 60 years ago: Scarborough 1963
In 1963 Labour met in Scarborough with a General Election due (which Labour won a year later).
Below are the opening and closing paragraphs of a note that International Socialism published on the Conference.
Delegates have a clear choice at Scarborough this year. They can sit tight on their opinion polls and ‘leave it to Harold’; or they can try to sketch the guidelines for a future Labour Government – at some risk to themselves from both polls and party managers. The Resolutions suggest that they will choose the first. Perhaps. But it is as well to know at what cost….
…It is a pre-election rally, we’re already home and dry (or so it seems), the official Left has opted out of politics and into cheer-leading, has let unity take the place of unilateralism. But let it not be said that Social Democracy delivered itself bound and gagged to capital. Unlikely though it appear at this point of time in this country, there is an alternative to capitalist planning and wage freeze. It is democratic planning under workers’ control.
https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj/1963/no014/note1.htm
It sounds rather familiar 60 years on. Such are the rhythms of electoral politics
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