Labour's claim to power: a supreme national effort for peace (leaflet)

              LABOUR'S CLAIM TO POWER
A SUPREME NATIONAL EFFORT FOR PEACE
IN THIS Manifesto the National Executive of the Labour Party calls on the people of Britain to support and demand a supreme national effort for Peace. This can be done only under a Labour Government which will give unswerving support to the rule of law throughout the world
BRITAIN'S SHAME AND DANGER
TWENTY years after the Great War, in which a million British lives were lost, the " National " Government has brought us once more to the brink of war and surrendered almost everything which our countrymen paid a terrible price to preserve.
In the recent crisis "Some people suggest," said the Attorney-General at Oxford, on October 13, "that the Prime Minister followed a policy of peace at any price, but there can be no greater contradiction of the actual facts. He made it perfectly plain that, if terms were to be dictated which Czechoslovakia rejected, we were ready to put the matter to the arbitration of war."
War, therefore, was averted, not by Mr. Chamberlain, but by Dr. Benes, who accepted, under pressure of brutal threats, the cruel sacrifices demanded by Herr Hitler.
The crisis is not over. In October, 1938, we are back in 1914. The League of Nations has been reduced to impotence; the system of mutual and collective security among the peaceful nations has been shattered; Russia has been cold-shouldered by the Western Powers; Europe, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, is now dominated by Germany; freedom of communication through the Mediterranean has been endangered; even in the Far East unchecked aggression is extending the power of military dictatorship.
The whole standing of our country in the world has been gravely damaged. British ships are bombed and British seamen killed and mutilated with impunity; British interests in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Far East, are being sacrificed without heed to the consequences; British diplomacy has suffered a series of shattering defeats in Manchuria, Abyssinia, Spain, China, Austria, Czechoslovakia; Great Britain has abandoned her historic position as the champion of freedom and of the rights of small nations, and thereby has thrown away the respect and the support of many nations and peoples.
If Spain were now to be sacrificed, with the connivance of Mr. Chamberlain, to the predatory aggression of Hitler and Mussolini, not only would democracy once more have been betrayed, but France would be encircled and the security of the British Commonwealth exposed to new and grim perils.
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Since the Great War, seventeen years out of twenty have been years of Conservative or predominantly Conservative Governments with large majorities. Only three were years of Labour Government, and those Labour administrations, though in a minority in the House of Commons, were the only ones which seriously attempted to remove the causes of war and to strengthen the League of Nations.
In every declaration which it has made on foreign affairs the Labour Party has consistently pursued the aim of building and maintaining a peaceful and prosperous world. It has constantly urged that justice and conciliation should be the basis of British policy.
Time after time events have proved it right, but its advice has not been heeded.
Since 1931, the "National" Government has commanded an overwhelming majority in Parliament, and therefore must bear full responsibility for the present dangerous situation.
In 1932, the " National " Government, by its obstruction of all constructive proposals made by many nations, had the principal responsibility for wrecking the World Disarmament Conference.
As a result of this short-sighted folly, the international situation increasingly deteriorated and in 1935 the Labour Party declared that it would unhesitatingly provide whatever arms were necessary in order to defend our country, and to fulfil our obligations as a member of the League of Nations and of the British Commonwealth.
In October, 1936, it warned the Government that "the armed strength of the Powers loyal to the League of Nations must be conditioned by the armed strength of the potential aggressors."
That warning was repeated a year later; and for the last two years the Labour Party has, in public debate and by private representations to Ministers, repeatedly expressed its anxiety as to the efficiency of our rearmament, and in particular of our air defences.
NEGLECT OF OUR DEFENCES
The defences of our country have been criminally neglected. The recent crisis found us in a state of appalling unpreparedness.
The shortage of anti-aircraft guns is a public scandal. The confusion and inadequacy of A.R.P. arrangements is notorious. Except in London there was no balloon barrage; and even in London it has been shown to be grossly defective.
Our Air Force, in spite of a pledge by Mr. Baldwin in 1934, that it should be equal in power to that of any country within striking distance of these shores, has been far outstripped in every respect by that of Germany.
Equipment and supplies for the fighting services are deplorably insufficient and, in spite of definite pledges given by the Government, profiteering has been rampant.
Food supply, a vital element in national defence, has not been made secure either by increased home production, or by substantial food storage.
Enormous sums have been voted by Parliament for National defence. The nation has not had value for its money.
WASTE OF OUR RESOURCES
The financial and industrial strength of our country is being allowed to decline, because of the same indecision and ineptitude which the Government has displayed in foreign affairs. Nearly 2,000,000 wage earners are unemployed, and great numbers of our people are living in poverty and without adequate food.
The nation cannot at this critical hour afford the shameful and preventable waste of the productive powers of so many