This is the right moment to organise such a conference", said Ly Van Sau, a leading Paris representative of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam. He was addressing the two day Indochina Solidarity Conference held on 2-3 December at the Conway Hall in London. This conference has laid the basis for a new campaign in solidarity with the Indochinese revolution until final victory.
At least 700 people crammed into the Conway Hall to hear Noam Chomsky and I.F. Stone speak on the Saturday evening, and the day's session and workshops had been attended by almost as many. This was a serious discussion conference, not a jamboree. It also collected E450 for future activity to which Chomsky added the £172 cost of his fare.
SOLIDARITY CRUCIAL it is not just a whim of the Fourth International that solidarity is so crucial during this period. The PRG and FUNC (Cambodian liberation organisation) representatives played an SUBSCRIBE!
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Money Orders to Red Mole, 182 Pentonville Road, London N.l. active role in the conference, explaining the political conjuncture in Indochina and the nature of the agreement being negotiated. They stressed again and again, "We have aspirations but no illusions... we are confident of final victory... We need and appreciate the solidarity movement... Please do more ... Vietnam has become a flower on the lip of every progressive human being ... do not be demobilised.." An important feature of the conference was the Saturday afternoon workshops. One of particular interest, "Socialist forces and the Indochinese Revolution, discussed the role of China internationally and looked also at our own insular backyard (IS and the SLL were both absent). A second discussed British complicity and current and proposed activities in Britain; while a third analysed the imperialist strategy and revolutionary prospects in South East Asia. These workshops showed the generally much higher level of political debate than existed in 1967-68. While some elderly peace-niks were indeed sheltering behind a "Sign Now" slogan, the majority of those holding more or less such FOREIGN SUBS: Asia/Africa/Australia/N. & S. America: £6 per year (airmail); £4 per year (ordinary). Western Europe: £4 per year, a position were clearly for victory for the NLF. In fact the old fight between "Victory" and "Peace" positions has been superseded. FUTURE ACTIVITY But this political development has taken place amongst a tiny handful of people. The task now is to radiate out from that conference and restart the process of education, organisation, discussion and activity at a local level. A mass of duplicated propaganda on many aspects of the war was produced for the conference, and this can provide the basis for education in the proposed Indochina Solidarity Committees. In the New Year, regional conferences, preceded by speaking tours, will be organised. At the same time work will be directed at GIs and US Air Force personnel, the mass media, British firms' involvement, etc. By a large show of hands, the conference indicated its enthusiasm for a national demonstration projected for early next year.
The IMG wholeheartedly supports all proposals for ongoing activity in solidarity with the Indochinese peoples. We urge our readers who are interested in joining or forming an Indochina Solidarity Committee to write to ISC, 6 Endsleigh Street, London WC1, or contact their nearest IMG branch or The Red Moie.
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Tariq Ali, Robin Blackburn, Peter Gowan, Alan Jones, Martin Meteyard, John Weal, Judith White. DISTRIBUTION: Phil Sanders Published by Relgocrest for The Red Mole, 182 Pentonville Road, Londor N.I. 01-837 6954 Printed by FJ. Litho /T.U.) Ltd. 182 Pentonville Road, London N.I. 01-837 9987 German Distributor: ISP, 2 Hamburg 13, Hochallee 21, ence in London, praised the IM's response on the question of Ireland, but members of British socialist organisations who turned up on one picket at least, found themselves called upon to join in prayer.
If there is one thing which the history of Ireland teaches, it is the ineffectiveness of prayer. As one disgruntled sympathiser said, "If prayer can do the job, what do they want people for?"
That sentence exposes the weakness of the Provisional leadership. They know that they cannot win without the support of the revolutionary groups and the Labour movement. They want to achieve that support, but the best of them act like an over-anxious suitor, sumbling in the dark, and tend to drive away the support that they know they need. There are other elements which actually desire to isolate their own membership from revolutionary socialist influence.
NO EXCUSE None of this criticism however can be for one moment tolerated as an excuse for inactivity on the part of the British left. The need for solidarity action in Britain will be greater in the coming months. What is needed in Britain is the continuation of the uphill task of winning through the Anti-Internment League the vanguard of the British working class to support of the Irish struggle, by explaining to them the connection between the struggle in Ireland and their own struggle, coupled with a sharp campaign to harass the Free State government at every point. And in trade union branches and working class organisations, advantage must be taken of the opposition voiced by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to the new anti-IRA legislation.