TH on the side of the capitalist class. The CP claims this will not occur. They say in Britain that Parliamentary traditions are too strong ever to permit military intervention. The same Mick McGahey who speaks of leafletting the troops also talks of "the good old traditional British metbod of the ballot box" (Evening Standard, 29 January). This type of idea ic criminal stupidity. It is exactly what was said ahour Chile-with the well known results What is worse, it is even more backward than the thinking of the ruling class itsell. The army officers, for a start, are under no ilusions about their role, Here for example are the views of Brigadier Frank Kitson- who holds the crucial position of head of infantry training: 'If a genuine and serious grievance arose such as might result from a significant drop in the standard of living. all those who now disspate their protest over a wide variety of causes might concentrate their efforts and produce a situation beyond the power of the police to handle. Saould this happen, the army would be requir ed to restore the posation rapily.
Unlike the Labour Party, the army officers have no illusions that they will simply carry out their lawful orders". In 1914 tbe urmy officers openly said they would not carry out the Bill giving Home Rule to Ireland. In 1964 one of the reasons why the use of military force against the Smith regime in Rhodesia was ruled out was the danger that officers would simpiy refuse to carry out their orders.
ARMY OF CIVIL WAR Nor have capitalist Governinents felt that the use of military power against the working dass was incompatible with the good old traditional British method", In April 1921, faced with the threat of a national miners strike and a possible general strike, a discussion took place in Lloyd George's coalition cabinet on precisely this question: *The discussion then moved to the question of troops We had 18 battalions of which 7 were leish and we were not sure of their temper.
'Sir L. Worthington-Evans (Secretary of State for War]: We need 18 battalions to hold London... Our reinforcements would thus he 2 from Malta, 4 from Salesia, and one or 2 from Egypt.
'Lord Curaon|Fareign Secretary | urged that to withdraw hattalions from Silesia would produce a possibly serious disaster.
*Mr Chamberlain [Leader of Cornmons] - We are in front of a situation here which may require all our forces, I am for holding the British coal fields 'Sir R. Horne (Home Secretary] : You cannot run any tisk. There might be trouble by the end of this woek... They will urge extreme courses because they have no funds.
The P.M.: Then we mast take troops from Sdesia *The P.M, remarked that the miners in the Scottish villages were a savage folk ... police aid from quiet anas could not be spared... the Chief Constable of Fife reported that only naval or military assistance would he effective, The ruling class has not changed its spots in Britain since then. The NATO treaty, of which Britain is a signatory, quite explicitly allows for the use of NATO armies against civil disturbances in member countries. Heath him self said in a speech to the United Nations in October 1970 in the 1970s civil war, not war between nations, will be the main danger we Of course this does not mean that the majority of the ruling class favours a military coup at this very moment, That will only come later, when class tensions have reached a far higher level. What it does mean, however, is that even now processes are under way which lead the army towards its evencual role as the final defender of the capitalist class Even now, as secret documents of the French army publisbed by the former Ligne Communiste show, every European army has cuntingency plans for civil war. The experienc: of the British army in Ireland speeds up all these processes. Jack Woddis gives an excellent description of this although he of course refuses to draw the logical conclusions: "Involved as it is in military operacions agniost aban fighters in Northern Ireland and in repressing sections of the civitian population, it (the army) is not only gaining experience in combatting political discontent In that territory, but being trained and paychologically *End the colonial wars Britkh troops out of Irelan prepared so that, if the monopolies feel it necessary for the delence of Their profits and thed stem, a couk! perform a similar role in keeping down the British people.
BREAK RULING CLASS MONOPOLY The ruling class has, at present, a monopoly on the means of armed violence. This monopoly population: an end to harracks and all regulations must be broken, both by breaking up the bourgeois army and by arming the working cluss. These two things must be carried on alongside one another, or they will have no effect.
A purely military defeat of a bourgeous army by the working class is practically ried out. But, at the same time, those who limit themselves to carrying out propaginda within and directed at the army will not have much impact either.
The reason is simple. The pey chological political and organisational development of class consciousness within the army takes place in a different way, and with a much slower rhythm, than within the working class. A soldier cunnot afford to make political misTakes, IT he chooses the losing side he risks death.
If substantial forcos of self-defence are not creuted hy the working cuss, capable of protecting rebel soldiers and military units for at least some time, then the first cases of indiscipline within the military will be put down with a bloody repression which will far excoed anything done to the civilian population. In Chile for example, those small sections of the army which acted against the coup were liquidated a man, Indeed, such cases of isolated rebellion can he an important stimulis to a coup, if th ruling class chiefs feel that such a move invol little risk. for they know that under no condi ons can they allow the army the final line of defence - ta he undermined.
For these reasons, work in, and directed al the army must always be tied up with work to arm the masses, This in a difficult job, but can be done.
The most famous example is, of course Ireland, where large numbers of weapons bas been held for years by the IRA, and where James Larkin, founder of the Insh Transport and General Workers' Union, formed a Citize Army in 1913 to delend workers' struggles from the police and bosses' thugs On a more modest scale these things took place in Britain in 1926. In his book on the G eral Strike, Michael Hughes describes the circ stances which gave rise to embryonic workers militias: *The young Nyc Bean, cutting his teeth as Chairms of the Tredegar Council of Action was tokd by the local police chief "If there's any trouble here we*ll have the place running with blood", a fairly commo threat, In a few places where trouble from the fasci the OMS or the police seemod certain "Workers" Defence Corps" were Formed ... Abe Moffat ha given us a picrure of one such "speciul platoon" in Fifeshire, carrying defensive weapons, led by a Gres War veteran and drilling in the atroets, "a really sple did sight, well disciplined and determined to stand their groued.""
CONCRETE MEASURES All political work on this question must b directed towards two central aims: *abolition of the standing anny *arming of the working class and formation c a workers militia But in the course of the struggle for these objectives particular issues will cone to the fo as the focus for concern and the basis for mobilising large numbers of people. It is by agitation on such issues that the worker mo ment can he educated as to the nature of the capitalist armed forces, and concrete steps taken towards undermining the foundations c cipitalist class rule. Concrete demands which should be put forward inchide the following:
and the Arab Gulf: an end to all overseus hases. *Withdrawal from NATO and all similar counter revolutionury alliances. No stationing of foreign troops in the country. *Full rights of trade union and political organisatior *End the segregation of the army from the civilian confining soldiers to military territory when not on active duty •An end to all separate military codes of law. For the training of the entire adalt population in the us of weapons, under the control of the trade unions and organisutions of the working class *An end to the laws banning the possession of arms which have never prevented criminals arming them selves and only serve to deprive the working class of any means of defending itself againt the forces of *For the acquisition of anns by the trade unions an working class organisations, and the establishment of armed self-defence forces.
Without the adoption of measures such as these the working class in Britain will-when the crunch comes be just as much at the mercy of the ruling class and its areny as was the Chileun workers" moveuwul. These teasu are necessary to ensure the victory of the working class in the struggle for socialism. ROGER SMITH Red Weekly 8 February 1974 Pag
Few would be surprised by such a develop-