the scarborough venture, mentioned in this column (NLR 5) proved an unqualified success, and the New Left’s most effective intervention in the current dingdong to date. A team of 12 or more managed to get out a four-paged bulletin, This Week, for every day of the Conference, and, by the end of the week, many people were asking for back issues to complete a set. Our thanks are due to comrades from Scotland and the North, as well as from London, who saw the production through in the early hours and were up betimes to thrust it before the disdainful noses of some members of the Shadow Cabinet who shall be nameless. Perhaps even now, as the counter-manifestos grind away in the ante-rooms of the House, some floating cross-pressured MP is thumbing through these historic jottings and gleaning a note or two for a rebellious speech . . .
The Left Clubs followed this lead quickly by issuing a follow-up bulletin, “The Great Debate Begins”, which has been sold to Club members. We hope that, in the coming months, we shall be able to do brief statements of that kind, including speakers notes, which might be helpful in Clubs and Constituency Parties. Now that Polaris has slipped into place up the Clyde and the foundation stone of Fylingdales has been laid, the case for unilateralism is stronger than ever: we must try to put this case as cleanly and effectively as we can. CND’s latest, Let Britain Lead, makes an admirable start in reply to the Scarborough speeches: there is a pamphlet on Foreign Policy to come, and we shall produce a statement on Positive Neutralism early in the new year. Readers of the journal and members of Left Clubs can help by ensuring that these publications get the widest possible circulation.