The Independent Labour Network seeks to promote association between those who have supported the traditional social programme of the Labour Party, and to help organise the resistance to New Labour's attacks on those commitments. That is why we are launching the May Day Manifesto. There will be a number of parts which follow this one, covering a range of important subjects. All are offered in the hope of provoking a discussion and agreement on a comprehensive Manifesto, which will attract widespread support, by the year two thousand. This first instalment concerns the maintenance of the welfare state and the social wage. It dismantles the arguments of those who seek to overturn the post-war settlement. The reason we began at this point was it was here that many of the most vulnerable people in society were coming under attack. So, this Manifesto seeks not only to enrich our understanding, but to bring practical help to those in need.