Up and down the country, fascist activists are organising racist agitation on a scale not seen since the 1930s. This is doubly dangerous at a time when all 'respectable" opinion, from Heath to Harold Wilson, is in essential agreement with the racist case.
The organisations of the extreme right fully anticipate a field-day. The latest internal bulletin of the National Front rejoices that: "A time of great opportunity has come upon our movement. We must exert every bit of energy at our disposal to seize the opportunities. The Government, Press and the Left wing is reeling with the shock of the reaction against the Asian Invasion which we to a large extent have organised. Large numbers of people are frightened and are looking to us for leadership. We must not let them down." THE TRADE UNION RESPONSE The trade union movement has so far failed to begin to organise effective counter action, or even to draw a clear dividing line between it and the racists. Vic Feather's statement at the TUC "......to make a recommendation to the trade union movement to cooperate" with the government, is obviously not the whole story. But even many militants have tended to ignore this question arguing the greater importance of the fight to defend the trade unions. This is understandable but is shortsighted. What is wrong is the inability to see that the defence of the Ugandan Asians is a necessary part of this fight.
PART OF THE CLASS STRUGGLE What will be the result if the trade unions don't fight against this? In the first place, the working class will be divided against itself. The responsibility for all the problems which the working class is facing will be placed at the door of those with a different coloured skin. This sort of division and confusion can only help the real enemy. And the ruling class will be strengthened in They will be strengthened Part of anti-fascist march in Reading last Saturday (see back page) by winning to their side whole sections of the middle class and petty bourgeoisie. This will lay the basis for a much stronger attack on the working class. Defence of the Ugandan Asians is, then, part and parcel of the struggle between the classes. ONLY A MEANS TO ANOTHER END All this is true no matter whether the bourgeoisie has planned this outcome or not. But there are some elements who definitely wish to use this issue for more far-reaching ends. The Monday Club is committed to a much more ferocious assault by the state on the trade union; the fascist organisations like the National Front, look to the physical destruction of all working class organisations.
These organisations play on the problems and fears of the working class about jobs and housing in a quite deliberate and conscious way. But they are the mortal enemies of the working class, not their friends. It is they in particular who must be stopped in their tracks. Once they are allowed to grow they will spare no ferocity in their hatred of the workers and their organisations. HOW CAN WE REPLY?
Clearly, to deny that there is a problem will get us nowhere. There is a problem of unemployment and housing. But any solution must start by going to its real roots: the whole way in which capitalist society is organised.
On the other side the pernicious activity of the extreme right must be knocked on the head. The members of the Monday Club and National Front are not confused They are not going to be convinced by rational argument democracy cannot be extended to these elements. The Monday Club is holding a rally in Central Hall, Westminster, this week-end, which must be the staging platform for a concerted counter-attack. The National Front's demonstration in Blackburn on 30 September must also see its -counterpart, as too must all the other local activities which will only increase in intensity if we do not put a stop to them, HOW
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NO TO FASCISm