[net.followup] Is the UK Labour Party a Commie Threat?

jim@cs.strath.ac.uk (Jim Reid) (05/12/86)

In article <778@kontron.UUCP> cramer@kontron.UUCP writes:

>Didn't the last Labour Party platform include declaring Britain a nuclear-
>free zone?  Removal of US bases from Britain?  How long do you think 
>Britain would remain in NATO if the Labour Party won the next election?

If that makes the Labour Party "communist" in your eyes, then I suppose other
Western nations like Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia are also
communist too. They aren't too keen on storing other people's nuclear weapons
for them either. Mind you, the USSR is quite keen on deploying its nukes in
its satellite nations and isn't unfond of keeping USSR troops in Eastern Europe
etc. [I don't think they're all that keen on US bases either...:-)] 

		Jim

cramer@kontron.UUCP (05/20/86)

> In article <778@kontron.UUCP> cramer@kontron.UUCP writes:
> 
> >Didn't the last Labour Party platform include declaring Britain a nuclear-
> >free zone?  Removal of US bases from Britain?  How long do you think 
> >Britain would remain in NATO if the Labour Party won the next election?
> 
> If that makes the Labour Party "communist" in your eyes, then I suppose other
> Western nations like Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia are also
> communist too. They aren't too keen on storing other people's nuclear weapons
> for them either. Mind you, the USSR is quite keen on deploying its nukes in
> its satellite nations and isn't unfond of keeping USSR troops in Eastern Europe
> etc. [I don't think they're all that keen on US bases either...:-)] 
> 
> 		Jim

There are a lot of people on the net who seem to think that if the CPSU
supports A, then Communist parties everywhere will also support A in 
*their* home country.  Not at all.  If the CPSU believes that A is good
for the Soviet Union, it is not at all surprising that Communist parties
in other countries will oppose A -- in the interests of weakening the
country.  (Of course, this doesn't always work out the way that the CPSU
wants.  For example, the CPSU conscripts for its military -- the CPUSA
opposes conscription, doubtless because they believe that it makes
America weaker.  In fact, conscription makes America weaker than a 
voluntary military.)

Pacifist and isolationist movements have a long history of being supported
by totalitarians in *opposing* countries -- not because totalitarians
believe in pacifism and isolationism, but because they hope to make
their enemies weak.

Clayton E. Cramer