Gerry Healy

Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Hungary
(November 1966)

“Labour must organise itself if necessary to prevent British fascists and their Tory friends from launching a witch-hunt either against members of the British Communist Party or members of the Labour Party. There is a danger of this taking place here as it has in France. We must be on our guard. No matter how we detest Stalinism, we must preserve the democracy of the movement.

“All members of the Communist Party and Young Communist League should immediately demand a special Congress to repudiate the leadership’s line on Hungary. STAY IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND FIGHT IT OUT.”

This applies to Hungary just two years prior to the 1968 uprising. In this case, the threat of a witch-hunt arose against the British Communist Party and the Labor Party in order to attempt a restoration of capitalism in Hungary. A struggle should be waged, he said, against the leadership of these parties.

In fighting the witch hunt, Healy did not defend the leaders of the Labor Party or of the Communist Party, as the SEP leadership is doing, going even further to defend top CEOs, capitalists, and right-wing capitalists, as well as MSM hosts and pundits. He instead defended their membership, along with the working class as a whole. The witch hunt threatened these ordinary members in order to restore capitalism to Hungary, not to remove the tope representatives of capitalism from their posts.