Socialist Action No. 141, 23 May 1986
The scan: 141-may-23-1986-SA-UK.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive)
Uncorrected machine reading of the whole issue. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from the scan and has not been corrected or cut into articles. Each page gives the headlines first, then the columns in order, so one article runs on into the next. Expect misread words. Use it to find things; quote from the scan.
Page 1 scan of this page
SANCTIONS NONE Demonstrate! AAM's South Africa Freedom March, 28 June
ACTiON
BUILDING AN ALLIANCE FOR SOCIALISM THE SOUTH African apartheid regime showed its true face again on Monday when it launched three air and ground attacks on the frontline states of Zimbabwe and Botswana and, also on Zambia which shares no common border with South Africa. It claimed the raids were aimed at African National Congress bases in these countries.
The attacks show the growing crisis of the Botha regime.
Despite the massive repression it has proved totally incapable of quelling the unrest in the Black townships, some of which have developed into virtual 'no-go' areas. On Sunday, it uncovered what it claimed to be a major arms cache of the ANC.
Inside:
• A new power in South Africa pages 6-7 • Black section news page 4
South AliCa
These attacks were regarded as an 'embarrassment' by the British government. They judged they would not stabilise th situation in southern Africa. They also raise questions about Reagans attack on Libya and terrorism'. Foreign secretar Geoffrey Howe, was therefore forced to 'condemn' the raids.
Commonwealth general secretary Rampal also attacked this abstacle to 'our attempt to end apartheid by peaceful means.'
Meanwhile black South Africans have responded to Pretoria's latest barbarities with increased protest and mobilisations in the townships. There have been major demonstrations in the colleges in South Africa in the 24 hours following attacks.
No. 141 23 May 1986 30p
• Scargill, Benn and Heffer on nuclear power pages 2-3
• Report from Labour women's conference page 5
But as no effective action is going to come from the British or US governments the movement of international solidarity with South Africa must respond to the latest atrocities of the apartheid regime by stepping up the pressure for full sanctions against South Africa.
In Britain support is already growing for the Freedom March organised by the Anti-Apartheid Movement on Sunday 28 June. The latest attacks make that even more urgent. As part of the lead up to that demonstration, labour movement activists and solidarity campaigners everywhere must step up - and centre this campaign on the demand for total pressure -sanctions now against the apartheid regime.
Page 2 scan of this page
Scargill demands nuclear
Demand to close US bases grows
2 Socialist Action 23 May 1986
ACtion SOCiALiNE
The attack on
WAC and the
Black Section
LAST WEEK'S Tribune, associated events at women's conference, and at some of the major trade union conferences, was a major clarification in British labour movement
highest quarters - from those around Neil Kin-
Since Neil Kinnock was elected leader of the Labour Party Tribune and the LCC. has been trying to play a dual role. It has claimed that it is possible simultaneously to support the path on which Neil Kinnock is taking the Labour Party
people of Ireland, being right at the top of that
The left of the party pointed out, with varying degrees of politeness, that such a combination was impossible. Either you supported Kinnock and his path or you supported those whose
Subsequent events clarified that choice very
Kinnock miners, those in the local government fight, the people of Ireland, and then tried to defuse the wave of protest following the US bombing of
But on one area there was an attempted to maintain a left face. This was the question of Tronune and the LCd had
dominated left is not going to be a thorough going socialist left - that follows from the nature of
But progressively, and much too slowly and weakly, the left of the party has been beginning to move forward. The Arthur Scargill who in the early 1970s had defended pin ups in The Miner in 1984-85 linked up totally with Women Against
NUM against the opposition of the Communist Party and Kinnock's supporters in South Wales.
dramatically increased on the left.
The touchstone votes on the question of women and black people within the party are those on the Women's Action Committee and the Black Section's demands for self-organisation within the party. Because an alliance within the labour movement must be based on respect for autonomy and self-decision.
Women do not want men who 'understand'
want whites who 'understand' racism because there are no whites who 'understand' racism. Women and black people can only ally with the men in the labour movement on the precondițion they control their own organisations.
The problem for Kinnock et al however is that if women and black people do control their own organisations they will give them a very difterent content and policies to the present ones
For a long period Tribune and the LCC kept
defend the interests of women and black people
And last week Tribune chose. It carried a
another organ of Kinnock,
The not very coded message was 'black canfailure of the Labour Party to combat racism in an area like Wandsworth — as is pointed out in the Black Section statement on our page 5 this week - that was at stake in the elections was ig nored in favour of the old right wing 'don't select black candidates or we'li lose' line.
And as we all know according to Kinnock 'we must win at all costs', and as, 'black candidates cost votes', there is only one conclusion that can be drawn from that combination.
Equally significantly plece 'Constitutional women's votes' which IS demands of WAC.
Simultaneously at the women's conference resolutions were mover to demands, and the party continued to attempt to boost the 'Black and Asian Advisory Committee against the Black Section.
Only one conclusion can be drawn. Kinnock'$
supporters have decided to move against WAC
and the Black Section.
careful note.
together with the Labour Party those most under attack by
successively attacked They tried to support Kinnock and
carried a similar Tribune carried a long Change will not win an attack on the
head off WAC's
The left should take
ONE OF the key issues behind the miners strike was the government's running down of the mining industry. in favour of unsafe nuclear power. Nuclear power now supplies 18 per cent of British electricity. Each nuclear power plant directly miners and a further 3,500 other jobs. The British nuclear power programme weakening the National Union of Mineworkers — as was admitted in Cabinet minutes:
not just the NUM but everyone of us who are paying a catastrophic price in the threat posed by Britain's nuclear power programme. On last Saturday's Any Questions radio programme Arthur Scargill, president of the NUM, was asked his view on nuclear power. The following was his reply. It shows the enormous possibilities for the entire labour movement to campaign with the NUM against nuclear power, and for an energy policy based on coal and 'alternative THE UNITED States attack on Libya launched from bases in Britain raised a massive sentiment in favour of closing all US bases in this country, including among rank and file members of the Labour Party. The first test of that feeling within the party came at last weekend's national Labour women's conference held in Rothsay on the Isle of Bute.
removal of all 'US bases from Britain' and a commitment from Labour withdraw from the NATO alliance: called by Labour CND on the theme of US Bases Out of Britain was one of the most popular and best al tended at conference. attracting 1.50 delegates and visitors.
The audience heard Jo
Richardson MP and Diane
Abbott call for bases to be closed. Another speaker,
Azucena Quinteros of the
Salvador women s
organisation, AMES,
pointed out the role
Reagan and his
ment in Central America
and the massive aid 1o the
liberation fight of peoples
free energy policy
The Chernobyl disaster renfinds us all that it is
mand to close US bases in
made the link between US
By Carol Turner
bases and mne
nuclear power, calling for
ment spokesperson John
whose main
cume alll.
role in • the public debate
the Chernobyl
disaster has been to attack
party policy and to insist
that Labour is committed
maintaining civil
nuclear Diane's
call for his resignation was •backed up
speaker, Joan Ruddock of
CND.
The same sentiment in
favour of getting rid of all
US bases from this coun-
try was expressed in a re-
reasons. Piost of all being
vested interest. But chairperson of the British anu-nucical Canibal
power in Britain, whether
Let's get a couple of things very clear. First we ada to unal tne accomminis sioning costs as projected bv the wrench. vou re talk
fred station e, the coch
blems created by nuclear
zuaranice lial workes
become
get cancer and leukemia as cent meenne m nackley
Tony Benn stressed that: tain and the United States,
will on the world No one can believe the US stands for democracy and
when you think of the dictators they sup-
and the elected DUl governments they have overthrown.
He stressed the need to strengthen Labour's policy by committing the next Labour government removing all US bases from this country.
CND wa. also re presented at that meeting
new general secretary Meg Beresford. The campaign has played a major role in mobilising againsi the attack Libya by
sit-down demonstration outside the
not be another nuclear acWe've still got people in this country dying a
And fourthly can they
HuC cal
seas, bearing in mind that
sea is now
one of those questions 'no une cacaralel
lo stop te nucical power despite a decision of the Hallullal campaign that it would be.
tor the bases, the publication of secret treaties and opposi-
This lon lo wars was intended to be handed
MPs lobby parliament already called by CND • for Tuesday June
However, when the petition was circulated at the end of last week, became clear that the campaign leadership have once again decided to side-step on this issue.
The petition has actually been designed to be circulated constituencywide and handed individually each MP, thus dispersing the massive support which such a national initiative would be
Analysis
question that it should be
governichl
when we have wind. wave
WC ought to
110W alt
rapidly coming up behind.
wake of the disaster in the
simple one. We should stop case thal
nore the decision called only for the removal
atlack on Libya have not abated, the golden-gift op portunity this offered CND to rebuild the flagging fortunes of the cam-
paign has. beer wasted
This is the responsibility of a misleadership tha sees its job as toning things down rather than sharpen-
ing them up in line with • world events.
A petition from CND on the lines decided by na tional council would have offered a clear focus for activists everywhere 10 continue the pressure for the removal of the bases instead the leadership nas
dead-duck idea designed to stifle effective
protest
Page 3 scan of this page
Cunningham pledges nuclear nightmare
Ban all nuclear power call
Politics Today
After Chernobyl, Warsaw medics issue iodine to Polish
couldn't happen in Britain IN THE wake of Chernobyl, Kinnock and Cunningham have taken pains to point out that they have no intention of following party policy on nuclear power. In fact they support the development of that
FER however have produced a paper for the party's national executive which takes up the positions of last year's conference. they say, 'believe that it is important that the public should be told the real position' and they call on the Labour NEC to set up a working party to prepare a statement for this year's conference. in full below their paper to the NEC.
THIS paper argues that the Chernobvi disaster has now made it very urgent for the NEC to follow up the policy agreed at the 1985 annual Come ence calling for all nuclear
to be phased out when the Labour government takes office after the next election, and to spell
= will be done.
Members will recall that the conference resolution on fuel policy which was carried by 3,902,000 votes to 2,408,000 was absolute. ly specific in its reference
nuclear power, as the text of the resolution set out below shows.
All nuclear science and technology originally
was motivated by the desire to produce atomic weapons, and the effort American and British scienusis. and the moner that went into it during the war, was for that purpose.
After the war the US legislated to stop the excha Britain information, and found itself cut off from its old partners.
After Mr Alllee nac decided that Britain needed an atom bomb, Ine work to produce one had
US to ne gone woul cooperation, and quired the building of a reactor to produce the warheads, a task that was undertaken at in a great hurry, and at a
children: Thatcher would have us believe that such an accident industry in Britain. TONY BENN and ERIC HEF-
'The authors of the paper,'
We reproduce
time when little was known about the hazards involved.
Windscale Is still
military installation and though, while the UK continues to produce nuclear weapons, it will be needed for then purpose the mitment the party coce down our nuclear weapons programme will remove its reason for ex. istence. Moreover much of the high cost of research and development of all nuclear technology is still paid for out of the defence budget, and when British nuclear weapons are decommissioned all these
tos electricily consumer,
electricity consumer, radically altering the economic basis for nuclear power
important uncerstand that, despite all the talk about Atoms for Peace, CIVIl nuclear
power is still seen primari
y as a source for weapon. grade plutonium, and the whole programme provides a 'safe' cover for nuclear weapons. One of
clearest examples ot this has come to light receniiv when the govern
was forced to admit - including all the years when Labour was in power - - plutonium from our own civil power stations was going to the
purposes. This also explains
why so many third world Contres have wanted to build nuclear power •staLOUS. first step towards the production of their own
Despite all the assur-
about the relative cheapness OI nuclear
compared coal, the published figures often did not compare like WILl пке, TOI example on the costs of R and D
of see doover unic custs decommissioning old nuclear which the French now admit could
hundreds of ELI. H1LU millions of pounds per station, and the cost of storinhich no safe meted has nuclear waste, yet been found. Even allowing for this the Department of Energy had to admit that there was no significant difference between the generating costs of a new coal or nuclear base-load station of the same size
Although there are hazards in all energy industries the scale, duration and are or ne TICKC with nuclear power are in a class of their own, and cannot be compared deaths or injuiries in dinary industrial cidents. This Darl because of the magnitude of the nuclear accidents that could occur, in part because the consequential
viroment, which can cross
and spread world-wide and also because of the legacy
risks for future
not be sure they could han« The Chernobyl disaster underlines all these facts and we must not be put off by the arguments that are now being used to reassure the British people
While it is essential that all governments be open
about nuclear matters the charges that the USSR is especially secretive and incompetent are wholly false. The USSR has always been widely respected for the skill of its nuclear scientists and, at the top academic level, there has always been the
cooperation between Soviet, American, British and French atomic experts, who have a high regared for each other's abilities.
In particular the USSR has been the most meticulous nation in the efforts it has made to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to other countries, which cannot be said for some of the nuclear 'salesmen' the West. The pursuit of that line of anti-Soviet argument dictated by cold war factors that. are completely contemptible, and are part of the cover-up by the British government itself to conceal the true facts of the nuclear danger from tne brusn people
1985 fuel policy resolution: plants because of:
Mb) the obvious
power plant.
security al power stations.
ton trequently caused
week.
During that debate Stan Orme spokesperson on energy called for cutting down nuclear power phasing out the oldest reactors and replacing them with coal. fired stations, and increas ing research on alternative and renewable energy sources. While Orme did not argue for a planned phasing out pursued with urgency, along the lines of the conference resolution his position at least more closely approached party policy.
Dr Cunningham suf-
speech stressed commitment to civil nuclear power, dismissed any notion that it damaged the environment, and argued for more openness in the industry, the better sell it to a sceptical public.
The main criticism of government policy during this utualt was about The 'it could not happen here' argument wholly untrue as we have had some major accidents, serious leakages, and some misses too, Windscale and Bradwell, quite apart from the ac. cidents the USA. pretend that we are exempt null luc askss i ceceive people and human error as well as a design faults could happen anywhere 'In the wes open about nuclear matters' is wholly untrue too, since there have been endless cover-ups by the nuclear authorities in London, Washington and Paris, which can be easily documented In particular, the CIA and the AEA collaborated in con tron British
sinisters the 195 Soviet
sIon reprocessing Khystem, and the the theft OT AN ORSO uranium from Euratom was similarly withheld For all these, and many other reasons the decisior
This conference views with abhorrence and anxiety the present exploitation and abuse of the environment, anc in particular the potentially catastrophic effects upon the environment of the continued use of nuclear power. 1 Conference therefore calls for a halt to the nuclear
programme and a phasing out of all existing
a) the links between the civil nuclear industry and the
Generating Board and the nuclear industry's claim that
can estimate the cost of decommissioning a nuclear
c) the threat to civil liberties posed by maintaining
d) the dangers of disposal of nuclear waste and the pollu-
constitutes a long-term health danger through radiation (from generation, transportation and re-processing) to those who work in the industry
Socialist Action 23 May 1986 'EVERY LABOUR government since Attlee has been committed to an expansion of civil nuclear power,' said Labour environment spokesperson Jack Cunningham on last Sunday's This Week Next Week, 'and we are not going to change that because of one conference decision.' This is a position that he and party leader Neil Kinnock have doggedly maintained throughout the recent discussions sparked by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown, including in the parliamentary debate last
how. whether, develop the nuclear industry. But some Labour MPs - noticeably Tony Benn and Allan Roberts - forceably argued for a nuclear free energy policy line party conference.
By Paul Atkin Such significant policy difference over nuclear power is reminiscent of the arguments over unilateral nuclear disarmament at the last general election, when figures such as Callaghan publicly attacked party policy and nelpea contnibute to losing Labour the election.
The two inkeds, The are linked. government is concerned ahead with shallow-site disposal 01 low level radioactive waste the quicker proceec with development of a new generation of nuclear reactors and expansion of taken at the 1985 conference was the correct one, and public opinion is now moving rapidly towards unle VIeW and will expect the Labour Partv to have clear policy statement in its manifesto at the time of ahd nixt menst celer all and must cover aspects of the matter.
We therefore recommend to the NEC that we should reaffirm our support TOl come eld decision, and set up working party immediatedetailed to prepare more policy for this year's conference, designed to the SCCure following objectives when Labour reluns to power
1 The cancellation of the order for PWR Sizewell 2 The abandonment of the plans for a new reprocess-
3 The discontinuance of the reprocessing work al Sellafield, and the redirection of all work at that and
of future generations. 2 Conference calls upon the Labour opposition and the next Labour government to formulate and implement a) the funding of measures for the de-sulphurisation of coal to solve une aco rain prodiem. b) the funding of research into the provision of alter native energy forms ie hydro-electricity, wind power etc; c) the restoration of the research grant from the existin £5 million to its previous £25 million to the Coal Board for research into producing liquid fuel from coal d) a national programme of energy saving; e) the re-cycling of waste and pollution control: f) research into safer means of nuclear waste disposal g) the stopping of the export of all plutonium abroad; h) the setting up of policy working groups (at all levels) o car out tuese Dollets
3 Conference calls upon the Labour opposition to begin discussion with management and unions in the nuclear power and energy supply industries to plan for and pro-
3
This would make Bri-
ducers , of weapon grade
in a situation where the USA has frozen
of nuclear power since 1978 The development power by its junior NATO partners therefore crucial for the USA's war
gramme
that context it relevant to query the Labour front bench commitment stop military use of plutonium produced by civil nuclear power stations The bot tom of the party defence policy is a blank cheque ComE CRI NATO. A Labour govern. ment which maintained nuclear power would be under intolerable pressure to supply the US with the weapons material it needs
tary debate Jack Cunningham and pete Walker, sickening
argued that the energy needs of a planet with an increasing population can only be met power. The British government, providing only £14 million for research in-
plies, seems determined to make that a fait accompli. other establishments, towards nuclear safety, the
Not all the ex isting installations and the Sale disposal natica waste. 4 The progressive decommissioning of all lucical power stations, starting. with the oldest, and their replacement b coal and other sources of energy, diverting the necessary scientific, engineering and industrial effort lo unlal purpose 5 The implementation of this policy imise the use of the existing skills now available in the workforce at every level. 6 The development of an integrated energy policy for Britain, in consultation with the trade unions concerned, and providing for common ownership, democratic self-management, and full public accoun tability.
Tony Benn and Eric Heffer 12 May 1986
currently
Page 4 scan of this page
Black Section successes in local government elections
4 THE LABOUR PARTY Black Section campaign has scored spectacular victories in the local government elections. Nowhere has this been more significant than in London.
in the number of black councillors elected four years ago, and with the total now standing at more than
ruling
Education Authority (ILEA) black members. black
them supporters of Sections
elected Brent
nOW by Merle Amory,
black national committee,
ATTACK'S ON here major excerpts from that attack. who vote for the party.
Labour Party gets is cast by a black hand. it just wouldn't disappear.
nominate
all the black people in the country.
Wing left, right and centre. auvisory commitice.
Socialist Action 23 May 1986 We predicted there would be a threefold increase
Labour in Haringey.
— 211 imagined Grant's in defence Tottenham
during year's rebellion. 'Bernie resounding win for in Bernie's
West Indian News attacks
'Black and Asian advisory committee'
Labour's unelected divisive 'Black and Asian advisory committee' have spread further into the black community. Last week's West Indian News devoted the greater part of a page to a slashing criticism of the committee under the headline 'Labour is under threat once more'. We are printing
WEST INDIAN
News
Wednesday May 14. 1986 IN the midst of all its euphoria following last week's success at the polls, the Labour Party is choking over a small bone that is the black people
To begin with, one out of every eight votes the
And over the last couple of years, those black hands have been reaching out for a say in how the country the Labour Party hopes to be running within the next year and a half should be run.
The Labour Party at first would have nothing to do with it. It tried to rubbish the movement but
In desperation, the masterminds in Walworth Road came up with a peach of an idea. They would
- or in simpler language, put up — a few trusted people among whom would be a scattering of loyal black faces and they would talk for
Alas, this appears not to be working either.
The future of the Labour Party's race advisory committee is in serious doubt. Members are leav-
Southall Constituency Labour Party, for instance, where the blessed leader Neil Kinnock lives — as does the senile white MP Sid Bidwell known to the local Asian godfathers as Bidwellsingh — is heavily under threat from pressure for a black candidate and is in turmoil over aforementioned race
Insiders say that having a race advisory committee is like having the kind of advisory commit tee set up in the colonies and composed of tame poodles of imperialist rulers of India, Africa and
Bernie Grant: his defence of black youth won Haringey an increased majority in the local elections
Brent. the north Lon. don borough which is 55 per cent black. saw Lne largest increase there are now 1y black coun cillors, more than a third _the Caribbean, whatever that means.
I am not in the habit of vilifying our four legged friends — I have a fine alley cat called Beulah who gives me hours of pleasure just watching her sleep - but I get the message.
A lot of people have gotten the message as well. In fact so many people have got the message that the campaign mounted against the ah, race advisory committee, has resulted in some noteable
trade union official who was nominated for one of
As we said last week, Ms de Haney 'would not want to be rubbing shoulders with the NEC (the Labour Party decision making body) under the guise of being representative of black comrades who in no way had asked me to represent them.'
And she has withdrawn. In other words, she has told the power brokers in Walworth Road to
I am informed that the other representative selected to speak for the East Midlands, Mr Keith Vaz, is also set to chuck it in as well.
So too is his sister, Valerie, who is harbouring Parliamentary ambitions for Southall. She is most likely to do the expedient thing and withdraw from
And London with its five candidates is soon to pull out which effectively puts the race advisory
Meanwhile, I can disclose that Mr Virendra Sharma, a former Southall councillor, has been appointed the first black full time official at the
Surprise! surprise! given the Kinnock connec-
Mr Sharma is an executive committee member
organisation known as the fabians who argue that any problem can be solved if you throw sufficient
As you can expect, Mr Sharma is a wobbly supporter of the black section. In other words, his support depenas on nis audience.
But his position is now untenable, having taken
His job as 'ethnic minorities officer' is to drum up black votes but there is no policy responsibility which has angered the black community or thost elements of it who are in a position to get angry who are used to these antics in the discredited race relations industry.
Mr Sharma is on record in the house journal as saying that his job 'is not to confront Black Sections'.
But whether he likes it or not, his occupation of the hot seat will mean Black Sections will in-
of the ruling Labour group. Meanwhile Lam-
eth in south London has kept its . total
To do this, six new black
candidates were found to replace the same number who were undemocratically removed by the judges as a result of their stand In defence of jobs
services and against rate capping.
None the new Lambeth eight is a 'back bencher' — such has been the impact of Black Sechon lobbying within the local Labour parties. The tally is one black leader who has automatic right to be on all the com. mittees; one mayor; one deputy chief whip; LTee chairs of committees, (police, planning applications, and amenities) and six vice chairs. Black Sec. tion supporters have a real opportunity to effectively run the local state describ ed under the previous
TGWU members call for black section support
A BIRMINGHAM branch of the TGWU
transport union to sup-
ation of black members as sion ow ethe 198 4h trades
lure
Section campaign, in such a short time indicates tha
racism and creating equali
support the setting up tion fringe meeting at the
con-
way to find ways of raising
Fi/le
'Socialist Lambeth'.
The of black elected ILEA and
housing education, and social But the
whose vote put them there, continuing an
The is
power one There - an In
Black Section advances in
Birmingham
THE BLACK Section gained a major victory in the local government elections Birmingham with the election of five new black Labour Party councillors — all supporters of the Black Section.
They included Gurder
Reinstate Amir Khan and Kevin
Picket the Labour Party NEC!
The Black Section, supported by the Labour
Committee on Ireland, have called a picket of
the Labour Party national executive on
Walworth Road headquarters (nearest tube:
Labour Party and trade union banners.
FOREWORD by TONY BENN MP
News
scals , particularly failed like a fair of black none le winnable seats, and the people • WIl not • voting fodder white can. didates.
organise black
rights now.
them Black
culalul Bri-
political tall
Marc Wadsworth National Chair Black Section Manku, who moved the 1985 Ladywood resolution on Black Sections to the Labour • Party conrerence: and Sibble Spence.
All are members of the Black 'Summerfield' which has been formed UI Birmingham council.
Wednesday 28 May, starting at 10am outside the
Elephant and Castle). Be there — and take your
CAMPAIGNING
FOR SOCIALISM
Chestertleld Experience
Sponsored by the Campaign Group of Labour
MPs and published by the Chesterfield Labour
Party with a foreword by Tony Benn Campaigning for Socialism: the Chesterfield experience charts the course of the party over the last two years, especially drawing out the effects
of the miners strike on the alliances which the Chesterfield party have been building. Price 70p,
plus 18p p&p, the pamphlet is available fron
Other Books. PO Box 50, London NI 2XF (cheques parable to Other Books).
Page 5 scan of this page
at women's conference
News
took place in Rothesay this weekend marked the most significant turning point in the development of the Labour women's organisation since the Newcastle women's conference which first passed some of the Women's Action Committee (WAC) demands. The realignment of the Labour Party membership that Kinnock achieved in the Labour Party at last year's conference was introduced with a vengence into the Rothesay women's conference.
The mechanism for this realignment was resolution introduced by NUPE women's organisation. The resolution proposed introducing a trade union block vote into women's conterence. dressed up with worthy promises of a consultation exercise aimed at giving women's conference more significant say.
Support for this resolu-
unholy alliance of NUPE wun tre a man els that have traditionally been totalv hostile to anv strengthening of the
organisation ASTMS, AUEW and the EETPU for example. Indeed Mel Read of ASTMS, who nas frequently taken the platform
the vanguard of the opposition to WAC, was once more to the fore — 7316
arguing for NUPh resolution
She made sophis-
speech talking. about the advances that women are making in the unions, and how this experience needs brought more centrally in-
Wales conference
nobyl accident,
should give him an indication of the strength of feeling among the party membership in Wales who pas-
jority. An executive resolution condemning the US invasion of Libya was also passed, but an emergency resolution from Swansea, which called also for US bases out, was not put to conference.
Support for the print
was carried by conference.
David Lewis of SOGAT said that: In purging our contempt we are not moving away from dispute. ' He also called for ou overment to repeal existing anti-trade union legislation.
Resolutions calling for
of British Rail, buses.
British Telecom, Walet. forestry and the energy industry were all carried, but weakened by conference's refusal to accept clauses which called for nationalisation without com-
Welsh assembly were aCK the agenda.
were concerned that the Labour Partv was losing votes both to the nationalists and the Allance
Wales. However this resolution Was remitted pending a final report of a regional executive working party.
Its interim report called on government to establish a
A turning point
THE 1986 LABOUR women's conference which
unions and sections of the
to the women's conference in order to strengthen it.
Her speech swayed number women from the women's sections.
By Jude Woodward
It might perhaps have had less effect had ASTMS's real hypocris been reveaco ASIMS has steadily Its delegation conference over the last few years, so that this year its delegation consisted of Keno dool One other woman. This is what ASTMS thinks decorate to reflect its 77,000-plus when it could members, send up to 20 delegates.
Rather than wollicu from the women's sections and councils ignoring the -views of trade union
Mores like ASS re
unions ASTMS are concerned that rank and file union delegates women s conerence mcml well start to apply the WAC approach situation of women in the unions nemse ves.
The final piece in the
NEIL KINNOCK in his address to the Wales Labour Party conference last weekend said that nuclear power would be phased out over decades. An emergency resolution in the wake of the Cher-
phasing out of nuclear power stations by a Labour government,
ed the resolution with more than a two-thirds ma-
June
government representhe Wales TUC and Wales CBI. Hardly devolution. But it is about Guestin was discussed by the Wales Labour Party.
By Maggie Simpson, Cardiff Women's Council Delegate (personal capacity)
WAC supporters were taken aback when the executive recommended rule change. so that the walled women's C01ference could elect its own seats Wales excard ver by the pa 0. ecutive. It was
After years of struggle by WAC supporters, conference passed this rule change.
TOSCALIONS DOTE LIC FUC change as the executive has also seen fit to decide how the women's organisation
alliance of forces behind the tell into
• LIC
NUPE Indeed
ed Dinning representing Glasgow
member in Scotland. used her
first time opposed the positions of
WAC's key initiative conference was the
places NEC. The
from
from
LLL Calle
that brought LOSCUICI whole last These
women's
256 against. should hold its elections:
elected bv women trom the women's councils etc, two oy women from the trade
Cole cuce should decided how these elections are organised.
The Women's Action Committee made time the WAC slate. com-
porters and one supporter
vas eleano the aers
was elected to the
There was also a shift to the 'soft lett' in the constituency section.
defeated the resolution moved by the EETPU for reselection of parliamentary candidates to be the basis of one member
vote. But the gressive work of the conterence was put in leopardy by the destructive resolution calling the expulsion ol all supporters.
Nel Kinnock in his ad dress demanded Militant supporters "have the courage of their convichons ana set up a separale party. Delegates described Militant SuDDO LCIS 'misfits', likened them to
and called them lascists.
and other such The executive called for support for the resolution, and with even the NUM delegation voting in favour, was
by COll terence.
weakened in that strong left unions which support WAC, like the NUM, do not send-representatives to women's conference.
This will be used to strengthen the hand of all those ranged behind the NUPE resolution over the next year to argue that women's conterence is not representative the unions up momentum the proposal block vote.
pay focus of will CallWe will hae the year. plaining • actual v
the
ed in.
for years. the
the But
They did
the bureaucracy, the male
WAC victory in
shadow elections
THE WAC slate*for women's conference shadow elections won a comfortable victory last weekend.
candidates elected with the following votes: Diane Abbott 226 Short 226, Joan Maynard and Frances Morrell 99. In Moore sixth place was Margaret Beckett with 90 votes
The total number ballot papers issued for the election was 381; 75 were
Y W M A W
union bureaucracy, over wolnel The impact is going to be verv great. Because the problem women face is not the involvement of unions the women's 'conference. The problem how the vote of women in
the unconfereepressed ill
conlerence. or men and the women COn-
tro et ef-
tect of this Coll-
fer that the
Labour women's
pushed the
into unions
self-
fight une
Women adopt
Wing selt of women
WAC within
movement, organisa-
• Self
own
unions was the number of
trade unions and some of
'unconstitutional'
Nonetheless, the sha-
dow elections represent a
resolution to campaign for
these women to be elected
to the women's places on
the national executive at
this autumn's elections at
party conference. Between
now and then the fight is
on to make sure that hap-
Labour Women's Action Committee pamphlet, price fl, plus 18p p&p, from Other Books, PO Box 50, London NI 2XF (cheques payable to Other Books).
N M
D N E
UNFREE
isolated,
of
ship they purport to represent. of and parcel of capitalism - inequality.
against the next strata in the pyramid. ICTU.
and economic issues. etc.
In short — get involved!
Socialist Action 23 May 1986 5
IRELAND
lacht/Republican News, carried an editorial marking an important Sinn Fein statement. I looked at the weaknesses of the Republican
and the bureaucratisation of these
THE trade union movement has made a major contribution to Irish society over the years in defending the interests of workers against the
Folk memories of the Great Dublin Lock-out in 1913 are alive and well, as are memories of the general strikes during the Tan War and a host of
though no less heroic gestures workers' solidarity and commitment to achieving a
The Irish trade union movement has been fortunate in having had the services of remarkable
as James Connolly, James Larkin,
The story of trade unionism in Ireland is the story of a struggle against an establishment which stands with the interests of capitalism. Yet, unfortunately, it has all too often been the story of compromise between an out-of-touch trade union bureaucracv and that verv same establishment
While the trade union movement and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), in particular, remains the only mass organisation of the working class, it is difficult to see what the long-term objectives of the ICTU are and whether its leadership are on the same wavelength as the union member-
Can union personnel who earn up to £40,00 plus perks, realistically represent the interests of the ordinary union membership, not to mention
The ICTU leadership and the entire profes sional bureaucracy which ordinary union members support financially is clearly operating along the same lines and the same standards that are part
'aristocracy of labour' which would divide craftworkers from labourers and so on. Yet today the trade unions are divided along those very lines. The situation is further complicated with the
managerial unions all negotiating on their owr
Was this the objective of trade unionism → to create a mirror image of capitalist me-feinism and the 'I'm all right Jack' mentality, or was it about
rather than greed would be the basis of materia.
If we take an honest look at the trade union
has been forgotten. If we look at the bureaucrats and veriyt revolutionaries who constituted the majority of participants in the May Day parade in Dublin last week, we might well ask if the basic tenets of trade unionism have any relevance to the working-class people of this country, or if the careerists (whe always seem to platforms) have bored the people off the streets
If this is the case then the Republican Move-
we abandoned the cause of labour and allowed the self-seekers and bureaucrats to abandon the socialist and republican principles upon which the Irish trade union movement was bullt Through the efforts of the Sinn Fein Trade Union Department, this situation is changing. Sinn Fein members and supporters can accelerate this change
1. Being active in their union in an open and
2. Fighting for a republican position within the
3. Working openly with all progressive and na. tiona forces and individuals within the CU or the basis of broad agreement on national, social
Working for the establishment of a trade union movement and leadership which is based on the principles of democracy and accountability and which is committed to ending fragmentation and disunity within the trade union movement.
5. Securing the building of alliances between the trade union movement and other oppressed and marginalised groups such as the unemployed, women, youth, travellers, tenants, small farmers,
6. Securing effective solidarity action in support of workers and oppressed people generally.
Page 6 scan of this page
The street committees
6 Socialist Action 23 May 1986
SINCE THE end of last year a powerful new development of the struggle in South Africa has taken place. The launching of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was widely reported in the world press. Alongside this the African National Congress (ANC) issued the call for the creation of street committees and similar mass elected organisations in the townships. In line with this the May Day appeal of Cosatu, calling for a general strike on that day, included a call for the creation of 'street and area committees.
We print here an account of the development of the street committees. And excerpts from the article Dual power and the creation of people's committees' from the April issue of the ANC's magazine Sechaba. This explained the ANC's call for the creation of street committees.
The May Day appeal of EARLIER THIS month, the South African army surrounded the black
Johannesburg. Its aim was to attempt to smash the system of control of the township by its black in-
elemen-
affiliated unions, such as the Metal and
population, and its lack of weapons, was not able to prevent the army and police entering the township the South Anacas stale was any lasting control. It was purely and
an army or occupation sura sea ot an increasingiv
ine developical or mass organisation of the population in Alexandra was tremendously strengthened following four days of violent confrontations with the police and army in February. In tne ngaling between tne populacon of the township and the police and army the apartheid regime's control of the town was smashed. Several dozen
dent black police and members of the local quisling "black municipal council' had to be evacuated from the township. under way in other black townships as well. New forms of local mass organisation, commonly called 'street commit-
popular bodies. thev helm
La new limited to some parts of the country,
upheaval that has been rocking South Africa for more than a year and a half.
Dual power
While the formation of these committees is a product of the situation in
SUI-
torward the
began to be created towards the end of
callea ior a struggle to 'transform these areas (no-
ANC's magazine, carries a major article entitled: 'Dual power and the crea-
specifically addresses, emergence of 'dual power, embryonic
UDA
forms of self-government and popular
The formation of street committees and other organisations is part of
Africa ungovernable.
by Black collaborators with the apartheid regime, these councils are responsible primarily for collecting rents and fees, issuing licenses, and carrying out ouier dollustrauve lasks.
Rent boycott
ed by these councils, residents of Black
since late 1984. Several hundred concillors have been forced to resign under mass pressure, and some have been kill-
a key source or revenue tor ine councils
DOVCOLLS have further dried up council funding. In some areas, no rent has been paid
The isolation and destruction of these councils has gone the furthest in
Jonannesburg and In tne castern cape Attempts to fill in vacancies in the Vaal Triangle councils failed when no-one came forward to run for the posts. According to the 16 March Johannesburg
community councils operating in the Eastern Cape are fulfilling their duties
higher local authorities are either not
hampered by constant attacks by their
As in Alexandra, residents of other townships have driven out Black police as well. Often the police are only able to
Some Black police have also resigned
townships ground to a halt, popular organisations have begun to take on more are more dutroatv.
greater emphasis on building up local townshiD organisations nas
Crackdown
claimed a state of emergency over parts
of the country in July 1985, hundred
organisers were detained. Most of those picked up by the security police belong-
110
million member anti-apartheid coalition that has been leading most of the South African Students (COSAS), the
clearly to behead the mass movement in
the most experienced leaders and made more difficult. The UDF was forced to
imprisoned UDF supporters kept in touch with"each other through jail-cell study groups. They maintained
movement outside through those who were released atter
an elaborate system of communication
our activists, and declared Naseegh Jaffer, organiser of the UDF's interim executive committee Emergency
state of emergency — which was finally lifted in early March - UDF national and regional executive committees conwere temporarily replaced. devised ways and means of operating that enable us to withstand extreme
Although the UDF will take full advantage of the end of the state of emergenValli went on, 'We won't go back to the way we were working before the state
Next time the state clamps down on us, they'll find it much
leadership structures, with activities being organised and coordinated more on the local and regional levels. This places greater responsibility on the township-
emergency was imposed, but new ones
been formed since then, particularly in smaller townships in more rural parts of the country. Many are affiliated to the UDF, but some are not.
Dal t
A NEW PI
UD Cradock. and other cities in the Eastern Cape. It is no coincidence that this is also a region that has long been a stronghold
Cradock, in the Eastern Cape. The initiative came from Matthew Goniwe, a
Association (Cradora), a key UDF af-
alca
Lingelihle should not be a vision of the future or an abstract ideal. It should be something real, something to give ordinary people the power to bring about
Lingelihle into seven zones. About 40
WelC them. Meetings were held in every zone to elect leaders, with each household volle lur a sureel revresenlalive resulted in the collapse of the regime's
Lingelihle's street committees survived the June 1985 death-squad killings of Goniwe and other key activists
state of emergency in the Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth areas in July 1985,
organisers chose not to publicise their existence for several months.
meeting in Port Elizabeth the existence of the street committees was publicly Black townships in the Eastern Cape members from the ranks of the local
speakers was A Peter, who had belonged to the ANC — when it was still legal.
spread to other parts of the country, including Mamelodi and Atteridgeville,
lical west of
Comrades
had already been formed by the end of January, with activists aiming to set up blocks. They established a central coordinating organisation called the Alex«MITILLCC.
Oliver Tambo commented on the im-
areas of our country,' he said, 'having destroyed the puppet organs of govern ment imposed on us by the apartheid regime, we have reached the situation where even the enemy has to deal with the democratic forces as the legitimate
establishment COT people's power these areas, however rudimentary am precarious, is of great significance fo the turther advancement of our strug gle'
The 3 March Sowetan, a Black-ru that all Black police as well as com munity council members, have been munity council members, have bee driven out of Langa and KwaNobuhl townships, outside Uitenhage 'Because many activists are detaine and subjected to alleged harassmen once they become known to the police, the Sowetan reported, 'communit organisations have decided that stre committees should run - more or le - the affairs of the townships. committee member is detained, anothei is selected to fill the vacuum. Anonymity is observed strictly'
These anonymous activists are com monly called the 'comrades,' or in th Eastern Cape by the Xhosa-languag
Activists
these 'comrades' carry out a wide varie ty of activities. According to Mkhuse Jack, a Port Elizabeth youth and com
committees are addressing specific pro blems arising from our situation. The consumer boycott of white businesse was conceived at such a meeting and it lasted for four months. At the moment we are tackling the presence of cops in
caucanon probici The rent issues will be discussed soon.'
enforce township decisions on Blacks employed in Pretoria's local administration community council's public relations officer stated at a rally in March, and I quit. As you know, when the comrades
Gratitude
'People's courts' have been set up in a number of townships to administer popular justice and to fill the vacuum left by the flight of Black police. "Alexandra police station is no longer func. tioning and people say go and see the
explained Patric Banda,
Pretoria higher appeals court known as the Advice Office. These courts hear crimina cases, matrimonial disputes, and cases involving alleged collaborators with the
In Kagiso and Munsieville, accor ding to a report in the Johannesburg Sunday Star, residents have commend
virtually eliminating rapes, murders, and similai
what they see as their
The street committees, where they have become firmly established, have also served to draw into more organised activity the amabuthu (Xhosa for
OOSt teenagers and preteenagers who are often in the forefront of clashes with the police. While generally supportive
amabuthu had nevertheless previous-
direct control of township organisa-
Above all, the street committees have provided a means for promoting greater popular participation in the freedom struggle. Activists use them
'conscientise' community ents, the common term for raising
them all,' one activist in Alexandra us we can stop all these factories with a strike or cripple the shops with a consumer boycott. That is how the struggle is going to be fought.
has come for us to learn to govern
Page 7 scan of this page
DWER IN SOUTH AFRICA
DUAL POWER AND THE CREATION OF
PEOPLE'S COMMITTEES
THE APRIL issue of Sechaba, the magazine of the African National Congress (ANC), carried an article •Dual power and the creation of people's committees'
Mashinini. This explained ANC's call for the creation street committees and organisations in South Africa. The following are excerpts from the article.
WE SHALL confine ourselves here to the issue of the emerging embryonic forms of self-government and popular power and the creation of the people's committees.
In executing strategy people's war, the liberation movement, headed ANC, has specific and concrete tactical offensive positions of our people to make apartheid unworkable and ungovernable.
In most of the areas torn by up-
government-instituted munity councils have been destroyed, and those who man them have either been killed or forced to resign. Black
people's committees
to quit most of the townships.
Alex the of similar conspicuous
praise these developments?
of a both against that
Devolved
all the country political sense.
Racism
com-
Dual power and
police and informers have been forced through mass revolutionary violence,
Thus, in several areas of the coun- day. try, we have what the press has come to term 'no-go areas'. These are the areas in which the police have maintained a
absence, except when patrolling in large military convoys.
Apartheid is increasingly becoming unworkable, and the country is rapidly degenerating into a state of complete ungovernability. How, then, do we ap-
In South Africa today, the enemy can no longer rule in the same old wav There is a considerable measure of independent action on the part of the tral
who are enforcing their will, of the ruling classes, and parallel with it. As a result, there has emerged (but not yet on a national scale) a peculiar form of dual power,
but in a
Let us clarify what we actually mean by this peculiar form of dual power, so as to ward off any unwarranted op
timism, which can only lead to a confusion of priorities.
We are far from implying that two governments exist in South Africa to-
Ouite the contrary! There is still one central government in power, that of the racists. There is this difference: it is the racist government which has lost, and is still losing, control over its local organs of Black administration and law enforcement. State power
It is central government whose local
power are being gradually undermined by the masses, and indeed, are disintegrating. It is therefore a cen-
government which, given unabated continuity and escalation of these campaigns, will in the end remain
centre without reference ordinates, and therefore isolated and irrenall.
But let us not lose sight of the fact that this is but an aspect (legislative and executive at Black local levels) of the South African apartheid system. state, whose purpose it is to protect and sustain by force of arms the rule of the
minoriti OVCL democratic majority, is still intact.
It is therefore in the light of this that the real power of the majority can only be achieved after the revolution has smashed dismantled power. 'All revolutions are about state power. Ours is no exception.' (ANC 8 January Message, 1986)
Crisis
This, therefore, is the nature of this peculiar form signifies that the already dawned in the South African
But peculiar form of dual power would indeed be incomplete if we omitted to look into the development for the entire our revolution.
ment signifies the emergence, still embryonic, still incipient, self-government and These are organs which have rejected the illegitimate rule of apartheid, which
challenging authorities for the control of these areas, emerging, therefore, as the alterthe native power. They are, and should be Afar called 'organs of insurrection,' cO- which, when that moment arrives, will be called upon to rise, arms in hands, and seize power.
campaigns
increasingly workable, in which rapidly degenerating into a state of com plete ungovernability, and in 'the democratic movement has emerged
the alternative
Socialist Action. ment in
developments? do this by,
tionary ed,
maps out revolution,
ty.
revolutionary
• Transforming strong
this state government. • Ensuring,
areas. • Escalating,
of dual power, which ing
'crisis of power' has
our analysis of this
significance ot this
course of
First and foremost, this develop-
students'
OI organs of popular power. Initiative the apartheid development
what Lenin in Letters From
to:
democratic Now, given the escalation of these
apartheid the ANC, and becoming un- • How the country townships, and finally, which scale.
goes powel,
23 May 1986 7 without saying that these embryonic organs of power have to be strengthened, consolidated and developed.
What, then are the immediate and concrete tasks of the vanguard move-
providing leadership and guidance to these new revolutionary
The urgent task of the vanguard movement in these new conditions of struggle Is to transform these areas (no-go-areas) into mass revolutionary bases, through which we can realise our strategy of a people's war. We can
among other things, creating in these areas local Revolu-
People's Committees, as rallying slogan, and also as organs of self-government and popular power, and also as organs of insurrection.
Slogan Revolutionary People's Committees an appropriate one to meet the revolutionary demands of our times? We believe that these local committees, firstly as a rallying slogan, are not only appropriate, bur revolutionary as well, precisely because they answer the question: What is to be done in those areas where the local organs of aparthied power have been destroyed by the people?
They are not only appropriate, but revolutionary as well, precisely because in those areas where the democratic movement has emerged as the alternative power, where the popular will has been asserted, the consolidation, strengthening and development of this alternative power can only be organis.
created and guided.
It is unthinkable that these forms of alternative power could be organised and guided without a clear strategy that
organisation . and guidance. Any approach which fails to recognise the need to organise, create and guide these forms of alternative Committees will not only be sheer idle Revolutionary People's talk, but will also be noxious to the whole course of the development of our
such approach neglects this trend to its own spontanei-
The urgent tasks of these People's
Committees is to seek to implement the provisions of the Freedom Charter, by:
• Organising the masses and transfor-
ming the no-go areas into strong mass
bases provide the
ground for the growth and develop-
ment of our people's army and for the
escalation of our people's war.
these areas into mass revolutionary
serve as organs of insurrection and self-
through action, that the
expelled and rejected organs of apar-
theid power do not return to these
and spreading to yet
unaffected areas, the campaign of mak-
ing apartheid unworkable and render-
the country ungovernable, and
This becomes an issue of the utmost
importance in the light of the present
fluidity (this is objective) of the revolu-
tionary upsurge inside the country, and
which has opened vast avenues of poss
ibilities. Among other things, there is
the likely probability of a sustained
nation-wide uprising, with continued
boycott and upsurges
throughout the country.
The creation, consolidation and of Revolutionary
People's Committees, both as organs
of self-government and popular powe
and of insurrection, will therefore (and
in any eventuality) serve as indicators
• How loyal the people are to th
ideals, programme
leadership of the vanguard movement,
organised. they are in the villages, districts, region , therefore, on a nationa
The initiative is in our hands! Let us
cling to it like grim death.
Page 8 scan of this page
8
THE LAND question is one of the central pillars of democratic tasks of the revolution in South Africa. But what class character of state can resolve the land question in Africa? Or can it be resolved by a "classless state'.
JOHN ROSS looks at a recent pamphlet on this question Ernest Harsch Great Land Theft.
THE deepening of the struggle in Sout Africa has meant that its basic course has become still clearer. It is worth outlining that dynamic briefly.
Over the last two years the African National Congress (ANC). deepened its dominance of the situation in South Africa.
United Democratic Front (UDF) it has created the most powerful united front against apartheid seen in South African history.
The ANC made grave mistakes in relation to the trade unions in the 1970s errors linkea lo a wrong characterisation OI the fascist. But it has shifted. its course from these mistakes. It cemented its relation with the trade unions through ine creation or the contederation of South African Trade (Cosatu).
The initiation by the ANC of the call for organs of dual powér - street committees, area committees,
correct next step in the struggle in South Africa.
The dynamic of the struggle in South Africa is clear. Starting with elementary demands against the new constitution of Botha - the ANC has increasingly bullt up a united front of all those prepared to fight against the apartheid regime.
organisational Iorm united front, and the scope of its mass actions, has progressively deepened. The 1 May general strike in turn was the most powerful action of the working class in South African history.
The ANC has not gained weight in this mass movement because of correctness on all tactical issues. On the contrary it has made major tactical mistakes _ being outtlanked both at the time of the Soweto uprising in 1976 and by the initial rise of the independent ti duc unions (in particular by the Federation of South African Trade Unions (Fosatu)). Revolt
But the ANC has gained increasing dominance because of decisive political positions which are indispensible ally strategy in South Africa which it is correct against its critics.
The first of these is non-racialism. This was a basic position the ANC defended against both the split of the Pan African Congress in 1959 and in regard to the trade unions. It was this principle, adopted independently by Fosatu, which allowed vergence of the trade unions which created Cosatu.
Second the ANC has fought for the united front of all those who are prepared to struggle on the basis of the democratic demands against the apartheid regime. This was explicit in the creation of the UDF. In a higher form it applies to the creation of the street committees and other organisations of the same type.
These positions not unconnected. Nor are they cidental. They flow from the ANC's definition of the struggle in South Africa that democratic revolution revolution which must tasks, including the creation of a nation state, that were carried out in western Europe in the great bourgeois revolutions of the 16th-19th centuries. These national tasks were also carried out in Kussia through the October revolution 1917.
The relation of such a character of revolution to the principles applied by the ANC in the fight against aparthied is clear. A national democratic revolution, by definition, is carrying out tasks of a capitalist revolution. It,
Socialist Action 23 May 1986
the
South
by Apartheid's
has
Through the
regime
Unions
constitutes the
- the struggle
LOS a tree
capitalist' obstacles. of this In kussia,
pre-capitalist
its question through
self-determination.
South obstacles
Black workers to
1cvululivllal y
- and on
are the same in South Africa.
Alliance
the con"law of dispossession', of the ANC are
CaCwas the whereby the national that is a South Africa was ensured. carry out Black population
economy.
democratic
foundation. white capitalist ownership
Peasants in the 'Pondo Rebellion' in the Transkei in 1960. among other tasks, creates the condi-
exchange of commodities by smashing down all 'pre-
for example, the national democratic tasks of the revolution included smashing to pieces the
of serf/ landlord relations in agriculture. also involved resolving the national
destroying 'great duced Russian' domination of the oppressed nationalities of the Tsarist state and establishing the right of nations to
Africa differs in that the normal commodity relations were created by a specific form of capitalist state, rather than 1917 predating it. The legal prohibition of Black land ownership, the inability of vivals
cell power on a normal or equal basis with whites, the fact that the Black community has no rigat to vole ur possess political power even of a bourgeois democratic kind, were all created by capitalism itself. But while the origin of such relations differs from Russia, the tasks involved on this field, that of smashing all such relations to pieces,
Non-racialism is the ideology and scale position of such a revolution in the concrete conditions of South Africa. The unity in the struggle against apartheid is the correct unity of all those who are prepared to fight these relations and the state system that defends them.
The significance of the land question in this framework in the revolution in South Africa is evident. The
, the 1913 Land Act, which granted 86 per cent of the land in South Africa to the whites,
fundamental mechanism Sube CoOLa oppression of the Black majority of
Deprived of access to land, the
was forced to food become a supply of super exploited cheap labour for the white owned
The entire later structure of aparthieed was based on this original
Without destroying
without creating a Black farming class which replaces the white dominated capitalist agriculture, it is impossible to secure freedom for the Black ma-
This demand for land is correctly
State power and land
in South Africa
summed up in the ANC's Freedom Charter as: 'The land shall be shared among those who work it! Restrictions of land ownershio on a racial basis shall be ended , and all the land redivided amongst those who work it to banish famine and land hunger.?
This task, from a social/economic point of view. is that of a capitalist revolution. The economic system pro-
by such revolution agriculture in South Africa will be one based essentially on free commodity
While
revolution.
semi-feudal landlordism etc -
relations and proper
alla large distribution, Soviet scale industry elementary
capitalist, production agriculture. Political
This system was not a 'concession' by the Bolsheviks but entirely correct Any attempt to leap over a phase of commodity/small capitalist relations
the revolution in Hungary the
was crushed.
from peasalls,
economically
Economic Policy
forcible was catastrophe back
The revolution that is occurring in South establish free access to commodity productoi agriculture for the Black majority well as African non racial nation state.
class alliances in the revolution. Even a directly socialist revolution is made in by the working class leading the petty
bourgeoisie - not against it.
tion in South Africa, also, not merely
leading the petty bourgeosie, will actually create a massive Black petty-bourgeoisie — for in strict class terms a Black peasantry, • sur- what will be created by the revolution
on the land in South Africa is a rural petty-bourgeoisie. in doubtless be exemplary state farms,
encouragement of co-operatives etc, scale the fundamental class that will come state into existence through the revolution
on the land is a Black peasantry.
Power
the criteria of what would constitute an abortion of the tasks of the national democrane would mean, uprooting of agriculture was not carried through. That, as in Zimbabwe or Kenya, the white capitalists dominate, roads, into transfer of political power, in some form, to the Black population.
what type of state can carry through this gigantic revolution on the land. It is here that Ernest Harsch's contains much valuable factual intormation, goes completely off the rails. For it attempts to put the land question into a theoretical framework for which there is no factual evidence in the twentieth was Lenin's "revolutionary of the dictatorship
peasantry.
troduction and an article to which the pamphlet refers — Jack Barnes' "The Coming Revolution in South Africa' which appeared in New International Vol 2 No 2.
Many articles on this have engaged in a great deal of exchange of quotations between Lenin Soviet and Trotsky. But by itself that is emp-
ty scholasticism.
Opened.
tatorship
istence in any
Led to
created
letariat 1917
perty.
As
letarian peasantry u democratic
democratic
and peasants 'During
Africa will for the first time
South African letariat:
Socially creating a single south But both This also relates to the question of
uncel
Regime
The national democratic revolu-
made bv the working class
but it 'the people'. which
there will state
If the
The land question also gives one of
will be agriculture revolution uprooted. on this field, that the white capitalist
of South or make substantial inagriculture despite
Finally this raises the question of tatorship
national democratic
pamphlet, which
dictatorship
century unal democratic Russia, of the proletariat and classical cases In This is made even clearer in the in-
revolution. question
Apartheid's available Fortunately, both
In Depth
Lenin and Trotsky are subject to a higher criteria — what actually hap-
No 'revolutionary democratic dic
OTI the proletariat and peasantry' has ever come into ex-
country in history.
Harsch cannot point to one such ex ample. The national democratic tasks in Russia itself were not carried out b the February revolution — which fail
solve a single decisive democratic task in Russia through the October revolution.
However the October revolution
'revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the pro
and peasantry, power which possesses an unbroken continuity from 7 November 1917 to the present day. A state power which did not defend capitalism but on the contrary was used to uproot it. The state power of a workers state, of the dictatorship of the proletariat
The state created on 7 November
first smashed to pieces pre-capitalist survivals in Russia • TO carry out the tasks of the national democratic revolution and then proceeded to uproot capitalist pro.
Lenin wrote: 'It was the Bolsheviks, and only the Bolsheviks, who, thanks to the victory of the pro-
revolution, helped the Call y the bourgeois revolution really to its conclusion.' As Trotsky put it in Per manent Revolution: "The bourgeois
revolution was realised (in Russia) as a coalition of workers
the Kerensky (February to October 1917)? No, during the first period after October. Is that right? It is. But, as we now know it was not realised in the form of a democratic dictatorship, but in the form of the dictatorship of the pro-
the land question Russia was resolvea in two waves.
waves were carried single, proletarian, . state
This also relates directly to the land question in South Africa. The ANC's Freedom Charter states that political power will be transferred to
But this is false. "The people' have never held state power in
and nor will they. There is no such thing as a 'people's state'.
State power is held by classes. The
which will emerge from the revolution in South Africa will have a definite class character And what that class character is will determine the outcome of the revolution itself.
bourgeoisie holds state power in South Africa through the destruction of the apartheid regime then the tasks of the revolution, including the national democratic tasks,
aborted White capitalist will not be utterly South Africa will not be desegregated, a single non-racial nation will not be forged.
This is confirmed not merely by any examination of the social reality
Africa itself the sheer scale of the democratic tasks which must be carried out — but by the entire history of the twentieth century
In no country in which the dic-
of the proletariat has not been established have the tasks of the national democratic revolution been cay in the twentieth coroy in way in the twentieth century -babwe to South Africa's north is just
Only • where the of the proletariat has been established have the tasks of the national democratic revolution been carried through to their conclusion
China, and Vietnam being
This History of the Russian Revolution Trotsky wrote: 'In order that the peasant might clear and fence his land, the worker had to stand at the head of the state: inal is int simplest formula of the October
It is also the sole solution to the land question in South Africa
Great Land Theft is price £1.08 from Other Books, PO Box 50, London N1 2XP.
Page 9 scan of this page
Demonstrations shake South Korean dictatorship
May Day message from COSATU president
International
which over 100 students were revolted against the dictatorship of General Park Chung Hee.
Since early March, well over 100,000 people have taken part mass demonstrations in provincial clues across South Korea. The focus of these
protests, which have ended in pitched battles with riot police on several occasions this ycal, has been une deland for direct presidential elections.
Slogans such as 'down with the military dictatorship' and 'down with the government' have echoed in the streets of Pusan,
wangju, Taegu, Taejon, Chongju, and other cities.
In addition, tens of
of students throughout South. Korea have aemonstrated.
Under the constitution imposea Dy soul norea s current president, Chun
power in a 1980 military coup, a new head of state is
be chosen in 1988 by a 5000 member electoral college. Opponents of Chun's
indirect election will lead
ON 1 MAY the largest general strike in South African history brought the country to a halt. The following declaration was issued by president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
COSATU
SOUTH KOREAN riot police savagely attacked a peaceful demonstration in Seoul last Saturday in the bloodiest confrontation of recent months. The protest was part of a week of campus action in commemoration of the May 1980 Kwangju massacre, in
killed when they
to the selection of Chun's handpicked successor. They nave been organising: mass rallies to sunport colection of 10
signatures on petition demanding direct presidential elections
987. South Korea's population is 40 million.
The Chun responded to the announcement of the petition campaign in February with a wave of arrests and police raids. Hundreds of activists were placed under house arrest.
But the repression was unable to break the movement, as seen in the succession of mass demonstrations throughout South Korea in March and April.
The reflect the continued LUI CIL inability of Washington and its local allies to establish stable forms of political rule in South Korea. Since the US-imposed of Korea in South Korea has been ruled by a succession of US-backed civilian and military dic-
Elijah Barayi,
COMRADES, this is the 100th anniversary of MayDay, me out year since workers organised themselves to ticht against the exploitation and domination of big business.
In South Africa itself
КпОи that the discovery of gold in 1886 brought slavery people. Our people spend their lives in the dark pits of the mines, the inside of factories and working long hours in the sun on the farms. We made South Africa rich. roads, the cars, the clothes we wear, shops, houses, factories and the
tatorships, each of which has been driven from punel by lilass protests or ousted by a military coup.
Svngman Rhee was the first of these in the aftermath of the Korean War. He had himself. elected president for life by the National Assembly.
In April 1960 giant student demonstrations protesting Rhee's claim have won 90 per cent of the
elections vote previous month brought South Korea to the brink of open civil war and forc ed. Rhee to tee to exie 1l Hawaii, where he died in 1965.
During a brief nineSouth Korea had a parliamentary government. but a multar, junta took 16
DOWe Ull
May, 1961, dissolving the National Assembly and banning dissident political activity. South Korea was placed under martial law ana rulea by a supreme Council for National neconstruchon, neaaca by Major General Park Chung Hee.
Under General Park, South Korea adopted its present economic orientation. With the advantages of huge, low-interest lectionandful competion-
handful COLl
food we eat.
But in South Africa millions of workers and their families live in povera nute anu starvatol
Our lives and families are broken by the pass laws and migrant labour, we
In matchbox houses with no families. Our children are given a slave education con-
lie da tories and mines.
While a minority live in wealth so great that they the world. Their wealth is made through the blood. sweat and toil of the working class.
Therefore Cosatu we must challenge this domination. Our demands are clear. We want our reedom TrON apartheid and the cheap
Aware valett. We must mobilise and build organisation everywitte
glomerates based Japanese know-how and absmal wages of South Korean workers, dominate
Despite pervasive repression, South has periodically exploded
cumulate. Such an explosion lea to the overthrow of the Park Chung Hee dictatorship in 1980. This was the result of actions taken by students and youth, starting with massive mobilisation .E. Pussan in October 1979. In clashes with police, DUDE VI police posts were destroyed. In the
month in Masan, students, joined by factory workers, Stoned police The protests then spread es. government offices. Kwangju, Ulsan, and laccu
The growing protests triggered a palace coup, in which Park and five of his bodyguards were killed. The new military regime attempted … Io quell the unrest by promising to move toward civilian rule and ease up on repression. Throughout early 1980, South Korea was swept by sit-down strikes, slowdowns, and other labour actions.
After weeks of mounting protests and strikes in
the
tories, farms, mines, schools, townships and rural areas.
We must build shop stewards, shaft stewards, street and area committees everywhere. the basis our our people taking power. working class must play a leading TOlE struggle
ourselves in all spheres of struggle from fighting for a living wage and the right to strike, to support the struggle of students for democratic SRCs (Student Representative Councils), unbanning of Cosas (Congress of South African Students), to demand the release of comrace He con Mandela. Oscar Mpetha and all pontical prisoners, une un• banning of all political
of all banned organisations, and the end to influx
all universities, banned all political gatherings and strikes, imposed press censorship, and extended martial country.
But in Kwangju. with a population of 800,000 the people rose up and seized control of the city in the most massive political uprising since the end of the Korean War.
Protests Kwangju began on 18 May 1980 the day martial
law was announced. Daily demonstrations grew in size and were viciously attacked police and army troops.
Twenty-one police stations and 13 government buildings were destroyed
severely damaged. Thousands of people including miners armed with explosives - flocked into the city from surrounding areas. As the uprising spread to over dozen towns, by 22 May the port of Mokpo and the towns of Hwasun and Polkyo were seized by the rebels.
The regime struck back on 27 May. South Korean paratroopers and infantrymen, using tanks, helicopters, machine guns,
• Assaul weapons, recaptured Kwangju's c cereal ouncine are
fierce three-hour gun battle.
With this experience of struggle, it's not surprising that kwangiu has been the site of some of the largest rallies in the present round for direct presidential elec- mass demonstrations tions. On 30 March, more than :50,000 the city gathered in the
come to blahan as
known 'Democracy Square'
The answer of Chun has been to step up the violence against the wave ot opposition which con tinues to mount. But much has happened since 1980. Today Chun Doo Hwan can hardly avoid reflecting on the fate of his Park. And both Chun and predecessors, Rhee alle the Korean opposition forces are drawing their own lessons from the overthrow of the Marcos tyranPhilippines. the nearby
control and the pass laws.
Cosatu is committed to
for our freedom, and we
members and all patriots in south Africa to work together, plan and ordinate our actions to wir our freedom and break the chains of poverty and cheap labour which bind the majority of people in sourn Alrica today.
Let us make this one nunareut May way Ine biggest and most succesful
spire us to redouble our ef-
organise and mobilise South Africa's workers so that it will not be long before we achieve
Viva Cosatu!
Amandla Ngawethu! Matla Ke A Rona!
Aluta Continua!
Elijah Barayi Cosatu President
Nicaragua: spokespersons, explaining the decision. to work with Somoza's henchmen.
by
Union and Cuba. USA: down for safety reasons.
Congress wants to raise it to $8 billion. A
Philippines:
gunning for the guerillas person. investigatory commission. Austria: 12th Army Command in Salonika. reprisal for acts of sabotage.
that Waldheim proved that with the right qualifications, you can make a career in
Socialist Action 23 May 1986 9
WORLD
70C270
• Eden Pastora, the Nicaraguan contras most
famous leader, has surrendered to the Costa Rican authorities with his supporters. He is seeking political asylum. 'We are not going to continue giving Nicaraguan blood for the United States game of war,' said Carol Prado, one of his
Earlier this month Pastora's organisation was , badly damaged when the CIA lured away seven of his chief lieutenants into the United Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO), which is backed by the USA and dominated by ex-members of former dictator Somoza's national guard. Pastora, more popularly known as Commandante Ceri was a former Sandinista who went into opposition but refused
He has for a long time been a CIA target because he stands in the way of a pliant and servile contra army. UNO representatives in Madrid have launched a Europe-wide campaign to persuade 'businessmen, trade unions, and governments' that the Sandinistas are 'nothing more than a totalitarian satellite of the Soviet
More than 20,000 mishaps have occured in
US nuclear plants since the Three Mile Island disaster, according to Public Citizen, a monitoring group formed by consumer rights crusader Ralph Nader. More than 1000 of these incidents were considered significant by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the group revealed in a recent report. Six US nuclear plants are currently shut
The US nuclear tobby has just launched an appeal to persuade Congress to limit its members accident insurance liability to $2.4 billion.
spokesperson for the group claims that the appeal will prove that 'US technology, engineering operating procedures and commitment to safety is altogether superior to the Russians'. It is not known whether NASA is involved in the lobby.
As the trigger happy Philippines army goes - the death rate is now thought to be equal to what it was before Marcos went - information is now surfacing on the extent to which US firms were involved in Marcos dictatorship. According to International Business Week it is estimated that of the top 1000 US companies in the Philippines, 700 have links, ownership, or contracts with Ferdinand Marcos in
A case in point is the United Brands Company, which set up a banana business in 1969 with the help of Antonio O Floirendo, a close associate of Marcos, who has now fled the country. He apparently used his connections to lease cheap land on a penal colony in Mindanao from the justice ministry, where 700 prisoners produced bananas for him, literally for nothing. His company became the United Brand Companies sole supplier. Also under investigation is the British based Cable and Wireless whose Manilla operation has been taken over by Aquino's
Former brown shirt Kurt Waldheim is now
favourite to win the 8 June presidential elections, despite revelations about his nazi past, on the election slogan 'An Austrian the whole world trusts'. The Socialist Party, which has held a parliamentary majority for 40 years, is quietly dropping a campaign to unmask him which seems to have won him more support than it lost him.
Waldheim, whatever the dispute about his direct involvement in Nazi atrocities, was a 'career Nazi'. He was a member of the Nazi student organisation and the SA (brown-shirts). By 1943 he had surfaced in a leading role in one of the Nazi's bloodiest campaigns, the Balkans. He was attached as an interpreter and a high officer to the
His office, Army Group E, dealt with counterintelligence. It was closely implicated in deporting and killing up to 40,000 Greek Jews and in a brutal anti-partisan war. He was decorated by the Nazi puppet Croatian state for 'services under hostile fire' at the end of a joint campaign involving the German army and the SS. Out of this campaign 825 documented cases have arisen in which Serbian hostages were shot, and 880 cases in which Croatian hostages were shot, as
The left wing magazine Die Linke comments
diplomacy as easily as in war service to the Nazis.
Page 10 scan of this page
Briefing's sectarian course
10 LABOUR BRIEFING'S annual conference on 10 May marked a qualitative turning point for that journal. It deepened the sectarian course adopted by Briefing since the middle of the miners strike. conference decided, in effect, to transform Briefing from an role in the left's victories at the GLC and other London councils, into a narrow newspaper with increasingly sectarian politics. This was opposed by many of the local Briefing groups but carried by the central Briefing team.
The change the character of Briefing was most cleariv signitied the programme which adopted. All documents presented to the conference stated that Briefing would maintain its previous "broad united front character.' But this declaration Was rendered meaningles by the pro: gramme adopted.
This programme contained nothing on the key issues on which today united action indeed possible TOI examo e the campaign of the Black demands within the party.
programilie called for the replacement or lue bonce ov a workers militia, political revolution
'Stalinist and action to 'smash the system itself.
As broad united front paper' evidently cannot be based on such a
declarations regarding maintaining the
character of Briefing are meaningless.
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A PIECE of the ACTION
Let's look on the bright
side.... Ah... well.
On yes! The rate of
inflation is down!
Gee whiz. Golly.
Whoopee. And so on
Socialist Action 23 May 1986
The
open journal, which played an important Briefing Las. effect, been transformed from a united tront paper into tne journal of a definite current in the labour movement.
There is of course nothing wrong in and of itself in doing that — although it is sectarian to conceal this from the local groups and maintain that the existing character of Briefing is be•ing maintained when it is in fact being overturned. But more serious is the increasingly sectarian
is now being promoted.
This came out clearly in the claims at the conference that the Justice for Mineworkers campaign had been taken over by a combination of the Campaign Group, Socialist Action and the Communist Party' because it had rejected Briefing's model resolutions the 1UC and Labour Party conferences. These would have committed the campaign to calling for resolutions publicly censuring the Eric Hobsbawm, Hillel Ticktin, Barbara Taylor, Chris Arthur,
And despite the doom-mongers and the jeremiahs...
The nuclear holocaust has not yet occurred!
5/86
TUC General Council and
SLabour carl NEC. This would obviously have wrecked the Justice cam paign and it was totally
throw resolutions out.
Similarly the Labour unilice on Ireland came under fire for allegedly having been taken over by the 'right wing' because its AGM
to work with anyone who did vote against the Anglo-Irish Accord, and because had rejected Briefing's Proposal that control Labour Ireland should be taken over by members based in London.
Positions such as these have progressively isolated Briefing within the left wing of the labour movement as they are deeply destructive .ot the cam. paigns involved. The decisions of the Brieting conference accelerates this self-imposed isolation.
The local Briefing groups represented at the meeting were clearly unhapov with many of its decisions particularly
relection of their quest for local groups to have the final decision on any change in Briefing's
was also ported to the conference that no Briefing groups exist north of Birmingham.
In reality, of course the left in major areas of the
First Success in
WE HAVE gained our first success in the fight for a weekly paper. As
announced two weeks ago, we would have to miss definite issues in our weekly schedule if we did not increase the regular income to the paper by £250 a week. For each £250 raised we would reinstate a threatened issue of the paper.
As reported last week, readers in busn telecom launched a fund to ensure that we did not miss the issue of the paper for 30 May. They set a target of £400. They have got
of this pledges in excess figure already. We al C
And. •. an "and
This is the bright y side?? d
KONIMON MABOUR
No 20
BRIEFING LABOUR
PREPARING FOR
GOVERNMENT
ing buy to khe Cao Baig/ing but to Campaign group of MPs, the Scargill
of the NUM, the Wille Black Section and so on Increasingly local Campaign groups are being established. Briefing simply cannot provide any sort of framework for the left
and is particularly incapable of doing so with its politics. CALS new sedi tarian turn in almost all campaigns wil deepen its isolation further.
When number of supporters of Socialist Action decided to leave its
defending the weekly paper
therefore able to go ahead and reinstate the issue for 30 May.
Our supporters in West London have also been active as we said last week. They held a very successful book and bric a brac jumble sale at the Green fair and netted a cool £142.28.
Supporters renewing their subscriptions have also begun to respond to our appeal. Des Stevens from Surrey recently sent us a little topping up for your fund'. Tim Gregor: from South Humberside also sent us something extra as a donation'.
We need to keep up the good work. But that requires that we meet our £15,000 fund by Whit. We • hey, this isn't easy... Why don't you give me a hand?
BRIEFING 30,
JUNE 1982
Camden, Southwark, Hackney and Haringey-
FORTRESS ISLINGTON! unite behind
NATIONAL SUPPLEMENT
June 1985 No. 18
editorial board last year the national project they counterposed to it building Briefing This was a sectarian turn. And during the last six months Briefing itself has greatly deepened its sectarianism. Surely it is time for the comrades who embarked on this disasterous policy to reconsider its increasing seclallai course and restate their support for Socialist Action This Briefing conference is cer. tainly going to deepen tner sectarlan Isolaton which is a loss. have made a good start -but there is still a long way to go. What are you doing? If you have some scheme or are thinking of a pledge, let us know. Even if it matures after the end of the fund, we'll still include it if you contact us. Remember there's only just over a week to go. Total so far (not including the pledge from our Telecoms supporters) £13,210.
The next issue of the paper threatened is thai for 13 June. The next goa we are asking our readers for therefore is f250 to ensure that issue comes out. awe next weeks reinstated issue will be the first sign of success in the fund drive!
Cormac
Right! This is the bright side; once you're unemployed they can't make you
redundant..
A new Taff Vale
judgement
major rail unions.
and the drivers union, Falconer, a Sheffield businessman. makes it illegal according to Tory laws. tract between British Rail and Falconer the courts not the ever, this policy was defeated.
from the Thatcher
agreements at Wapping. hundred branch officers. union could dramaticall
UNIONS
THE RIGHT to strike has received another severe blow in the courts. This time a ruling, reminiscent of the Taff Vale judgement made at the turn of the century, targetted the two
The case was brought against the National Union of Railwaymen
ASLEF, by Angus
In launching his legal attack, Falconer alleged he was forced to stay in London overnight because of a 24-hour train stoppage called in support of the miners' strike last year. He won damages because the strike had been called without a ballot. This
This case was the second recent court action taken against the NUR. The union is currently being forced to re-run the elections for its National Executive Committee. Although the third of the NEC which was up for re-election this year won their positions according to the union's rule book, by votes cast at branch meetings, the courts judged that a secret ballot of every union member was
The implications of this more recent case are, however, much more far reaching and could be used to attack other unions. The judge ruled that the rail unions had unlawfully interfered with a con-
This takes us back to the situation that prevailed after the Taff Vale decision. Here, in 1901, the forerunner of the railworkers union was found liable to extensive damages incurred as a result of its strike against the Taff Vale Railway Company. The strike was held to be legal but the union had to pay civil damages for those who lost from it.
The threat of this judgement being applied in other cases was felt throughout the labour movement. The agitation against it gave a great impetus to the strengthening of the Labour Party. Frightened by the protests against this ruling, the Liberal government restored union legal protection in thi 1906 Trades Disputes Act. This law governed the legal framework of union activity until the recent
This new ruling does not open damages in every case, as did Taff Vale. It only applies to those disputes which are conducted outside Tory laws. But today any union which sticks to these laws are almost guaranteed defeat against the
could have a profound meaning for the legal
The ruling is particularly significant because it fits in with an attempt by the ruling class to re-cast legal union activity. It wants to move away from legal immunities framework, to a US and West
"positive rights' one. unions to do only what is specifically legislated for. It brings the power of the state directly behind employers and limits strike action. Moreover, it's
become the arbiters of union decision-making and
The ruling class has been attempting to achieve this for two decades. In 1968, the Tory Party anti-union policy paper, inappropriately entitled Fair
agreements on par with any other type of contract
Three years later, the Heath government's Industrial Relations Act attempted to put this into practice. The Act made all union agreements, in. cluding dispute procedures, legally binding unless there was an explicit clause to the contrary. How-
So, in 1981, the attempt to impose legally binding agreements was once again raised. This time it
government's 'con sultative' Green paper on the _trade unions. Whilst not yet daring to attempt to make all union contracts legally binding, the Tories have encouraged employers such as Rupert Murdoch to impose such
Clearly the Court ruling against the NUR has broad ramifications. A fight against the Court attacks could provide a springboard for a broad campaign to once again stymie Tory plans. The call by London Transport District Council of the NUR for a rally on 29 May to defend the union against these attacks has already won backing from several
Actions like this will make it that much more difficult for the antics of the Neil Kinnock leader. ship of the Labour Party and a section of the TUC which now extends beyond the electricians and the engineers. For today these leaders are toying with the idea of a 'positive rights' framework for the unions, rather than taking a clear stand to repeal all Tory anti-union legislation. Successes in the rail
extend the alternative voice in the TUC currently led by the miners.
Page 11 scan of this page
In the Unions
THE NUM is circulating an urgent appeal for funds through the Justice for Mineworkers Campaign. We Ponorary president of the Justice for Mineworkers appeal, Campaign.
NUM Members struggled valiantly through a whole year of strike action in order to defend their jobs, their pits and their communitites. Their fight was widely seen as a struggle not only for miners jobs but as a struggle on behalf of all trade unionists against
of working people.
One of the na atov weapons used by the State in lnelr attempt Lo crusi the strike was the legal system. Lalge numbers
During strike 11,000 total criminal were
Over mineworkers. sacked as a
participaBranch
Throu-
DIraTC officials. Scotland where 203 mineworkers
DraCu officials. this and Olnel
part of ar on the
and LIuk
mounted DV Murdoch's
onstrates that there is at WICOCIIL very senous threat to the whole trade union movement.
Pressure
Ninety three mineworkers were sent to prison as. a result of incidents during the strike. We are still supporting six imprisoned mineworkers.
result of the vigorous efforts of the NUM, 493 jobs have been won back. At the present
proportion of these 'jobs won DaCK are remnsralements. Most are engagements, which
that many rights benefits have been lost. 503 NUM members still remain sacked.
According to the Coal Board's written evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee Employment (Wednesday, 22nd May 1985) they have
Justice campaign
THE first meeting of the national council of the Justice for Mineworkers Campaign was held on 17 May.
From humble beginnings the campaign now includes NUM and Women Against Pit Closures amongst 200-plus affiliates. The campaign council itselt 1s composed of lelegate
rom the maioritv of NUD and WAPC areas, along with regional Justice Campaigns.
The main priority over the next period will be raising an urgent injection of money to maintain regular support for the sacked
An appeal for funds
Arthur Scargill, the callous policies of employers and governments which place profits before the livelihoods of millions
who has dismissed following for offences of serious violence, vandalism. per Cenl sackings
the
criteria for re-
reinstated. NCB
all should be
LasCN reviewed.
that
SOliC ulIcwolKCIs who have been tried in the Courts and found guilty of any offence have nevertheless been dismissed. The reason given for the dismissal is usually the publicly launched the campaign.
miners,
national lottery is a ono pe ancea] Other fund raising acuvtes nC uCt Lne establishment of a badge collectors club. an art exhibition and auction TUC and Labour Party conferences, and uSUCe mugs, badges and T-shirts.
A major Heroes concert is to be organised the Glasgow Apollo in the early with the
auluıllli Scottish TUC. Yorkshire NUM are discussing organising concer
Sheffield, and anothe is
De Organiser Nottingham
Notts Justice Campaign is also organis-
alleged oftence of wolcn the COULLS have found them not guilty! Some mIneWOrACIs who have been dismissed have never been charged with any offence. Target
The NUM will not rest until they have secured the reinstatement of every vic-
member. Mean LuilIscu while, sacked miners and their families have to find enough money on which to live. We have an obligation
support them. NUM TIte nnwevel are stil in the hands of the Receiver,
JUSTICE FOR
MINEWORKERS
Nationa Campaign
The Heathfields on the 2 March Justice demonstration which
ing a gala on 6 Séptember, paign council decided anu last weekend's cam -build support for this from other areas. The Heroes organisation are establishing travellng road show for the use of local campaigns.
A number of trade union conferences already passed policy this year in support of the victimised miners and the Justice Campaign.
Concerted effort to raise further support is planned for this vcal s
TUC and Labour Party conterences Stalls have already been booked and a Heroes concert is planned
and cannot be used to support sacked mineworkers.
Because of this situation all donations for the
elief of hardship amon victimised miners
SLIUUL Solidarity Fund at the ad- sent the Miners' dress given below. This Fund, whose Trustees are Bill Michie MP, Richard Caborn MP and David Blunkett, is used solely for the relief of hardship.
Through Justice for Mineworkers, the NUM is appealng lo you ana to your organisation fo ensure that we can continue to support our victimised memoes untll WC call secure their reinstatement. A regular flow of cash is urgently required.
You supported the miners during the strike -please do not abandon us now. Our victimised members and their families are relying on your support. Please comDee ne oco Form and send it to your bank.
If your are unable to make a regular donation then please hold collections whenever possible and send the cheques/postal . oracis lo unie Miners Solidarity Fund,
NUM, James House, Sheffield, S1 2EX.
Arthur Scargill
Honorary President tor the Labour Party con-
the next months to establish and local campaigns.
At wekend's Withemiceliils:
campaign
regions assist
build up for the Sacked
Assocd-
planned
place in Manchester on 17 May.
delegates representing members.
Delegates demanded that all EETPU members working at 'fortress Wapping' should be brought out on strike. This followed the picket that had been organised by print workers of the EETPU I conference EDeN previous week. picket had been joined b two coachloads of electricians from Liverpool. The i callull general secretary Eric Hammond's line Wapping shows that a groundswell of op position was developing inside the EETPU.
Hammond now finds himself rather isolated in
DESPITE THE agreement by teachers leaders that they could ensure a return to 'peace and calm' in the schools, reports are coming in that the action is continuing
The award, which gave €519 to the lowest paid and £1307 to the headteachers of the largest schools, was Banate Labour authorities on condition Thati the teachers action was called off.
For the last 15 months, members of the National Union of Teachers have been involved in retusing
cover the class of absen colleagues, coupled with a wide range of other
cluded attending meetings • outside CIOO assaults on
vettings and the listing
ample of this GCHO wnere
see as cuisned went veltlee
employees
Recently, it has come to light that similar vettings go on at British Telecoms. This, it is now apparent, is so draconian that it has resulted in the sackings by Fords of two women ex-employees BT The main Transport Union branch at Fords has been campaigning in defence the wollclI Now severai National emacauol Union branches have written to mne cu orarchlu cxDics. their support.
A motion submitted by the NCU to the Labour Party womens conference denouncing the sacking of these women ano system of political vettings was carried wildoll opposition, giving a boost to the campaign to win the womens re-instatement.
The sackings have also highlighted demands in the
_political vettings by BT. Both
were active NCU wolel stewards before working for Fords
In an article published in the Observer last October, the union disciosed a confidential personnel
Socialist Action 23 May 1986
Flashlight conference
A NATIONAL EETPU Broad Left conference took
The conference which was organised by Flashlight, the Broad Left organisation in the EETPU, was attended by over 70
thousands EETPU
the trade union movement over his Wapping stand.
This has prevented him
Ray Sinfield power distribution shop steward, (personal capacity) from using the traditional red-baiting card against Crucal opponents in the EETPU It was in this framework inal ine conrerence debated the leadership's splittist policies strike' deals and single union agreements which,
Teachers struggle continues
refusing to supervise school lunches.
These actions have exposed the massive lack of By Bernard Regan, .
NUT executive, personal capacity {hein NUT education.
When CHenDeN the Inner London Education Authority retused to supervise scnool meais, ue Authority was forced 1500 CALa workers. continuation of the 'no-cover' action is vital. "leacher CHIOS schools are covering for the first dav of an untor seen absence, whilst most secondarv schoos are con tinuing the action of providing absolutely no cover
The threat of political vettings
THE TORIES anti-union laws are class laws. tailored for employers to dramatically circumscribe the power of the unions. Additionally these laws have given the green light to the bosses to single out union militants. For, running parallel to the direct
workers as in the miners strike or at Wapping, is the growing sinister hand of political
BT employees. The Lucs
tionaire about inLests ul 'out-
might
matters'. mingly, CLO E
BT have denied list, an which
One sackue.
by BT
executive passed a series of resolutions calling for an end to so called politiçal vetting by meeting with the BBC unions, WaO took 1H1 -dustriai action last year against political vetting of BBC journalists, was held last month, Michael Bett BT Board member, and, until recently, head of personnel, was previously in charge of setting up the political vetting procedures at the BBC in collaboration with Is the secret political police.
11
over Wapping, led the union to the point of er DUSTO The conference rightly re. jected the idea of splitting from the union ọr members tearing up their cards in disgust.
The conference reaffirmed its approach to democratic reform of the union through the ending of the appointment system. unho tue elo, even though conference passed these important resolutions in support of the printers and for democratic reform of the union, it failed to seize the time by changing the methods of struggle it has hitherto advocated which have so dismally failed to deal with the right wing leadership.
which was begun in the p
alval-u• wuc oi ue! tasks is to force employers to create 'supply' jobs permanent cover all absences.
From 19 May, leader of the NUT will be engag
establisher through the Arbitration Conciliation and Advison Service. These talks aim to force teachers to trade ofi any future increases in pay for a much tighter contract and worsened conditons.
Despite criticism of the Tory Keluh iossecre tary. SI Keith Joseph, •Labour local authorities want the same as he does Constituency parties should make it clear that they are opposed to this approach and demand that local authority policy is changed.
11 is ah responiiele thar
Bett was responsible
up in BT.
EC also committed union's representatives in the TUC General Council and in Parliament, to campaign against political vetting and blacklistings.
Brian Macey, NCU (Engineering) executive member, told Socialist Action 'Many NCU members currently employed by B1
victims black listing in ine engineerll. industry. • We have to make
Luchuucl aware of what BT could
We must campaign Ncal on the basis union policy to put a stop to it.'
Branches have submitted emergency motions to the conference June demanding BT release the secret files sent to Fords.
It is a regular event for workers to be sacked because of alleged "bad references' RSS dE CA excuse for a company to use while they are allowed to keep the references
secret. In an interview witl Fleet News the general
of TNT, Alan Ilialldscl Jones. revealed recent
One of their drivers Casc refused to cross the pickei line Wapping. Jones vehicle and took an NGA said 'He out of his official back to the depor
the incident concurred with our recel references from his
which were to be unsuitable. 'dismissed.
Page 12 scan of this page
THIS WEDNESDAY and Thursday sees a special Labour Party national executive meeting convened to carry through the members. The meeting follows the 18 April special NEC which changed the executive quorum to give the right wing a decisive majority and amended the procedure for carrying out the expulsions. This followed natienal executive's abortive attempt to ex-
pel the Liverpool 12 on 26 March.
The March meeting failed to carry out expulsions when seven executive members Tony Benn, Eric Clarke, Francis Curral, Eric Heffer, Joan Maynard, Jo Richardson and Dennis Skinner closed it down in protest against breach natural justice which the original NEC trial procedures clearly represented. The seven demanded transcript of the court case • ruling of the previous day
made available to the NEC and that written procedures be layed before the executive in advance of the NEC trial.
The procedure decisions adopted by the April meeting completely vin-
the action of the seven. Both their demands were adopted by that NEC
addition, general secretary Larry Whitty has noW decided (K00 charges against one of the Liverpool 12 Cheryl Varley, and is considering dropping them against another, Richard Knights.
Events following the March meeting, however,
Kinnock and company are as determined as ever to carry through their purge of socialists in the
The procedural rearrangements indicate nothing more than an at-
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SOCiAlist
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Stop the Labour
Party purge!
purge of Liverpool party 'soft Waveles into line behind Kinnock and the
By Carol Turner
right wing, and a desire to
against the leadership's шпостостанс pracuices.
After the failed expulsion attempt in March, Kinnock was criticised incompetent by the daily Dress hus tHe could ult abour leadership simply want to ensure that the pulsions are carried with the miningum fuss. The changes in procedure in no way signal a fair hearing for the Liverpool party members when they эрpear.
for the NEC, I have read the Eric Heffe BUCk told Socialist Action, 'and on the basis of the inforsubmitted by varias witnesses I would say that there is no serious case answer agallsi Mulhearn or any of the others appearing before the executive. These papers underline fact that something is being built of nothing against the Liver-, pool party members.'
Meanwhile, the witchhunt has registered NUPE, significant Call. the and unions have clearly lined up Denino the party leadership's attempts to silence
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the left wing.
Two conferences last weekend, however, showed contradictory progress within the party for Kinnock's project. Wales regional ried a resolution calling for
of al porters of the Militant
while Labour women's conference passed two resolutions opposing the witch-hunt and supporting the stand taken by the seven members.
Alongside the Liverpool expulsions, the leadership is pursuing tur LHOT party democracy. The April
• with the support of TGWU votes decided that Pat Labour candidate for Bradford North, will have to appear before a national executive committee before his candidature is ratified. The same meeting also set up a six-person working on the recommendation of John Evans and nominated by Neil Kinnock, vestigate 'widening the franchise on This is yet another attempt reselection which remains automatic
unpopular ever among party leaders.
The Liverpool expul-
sions are the tip of the
iceberg. They represent a
step towards clawing back
the gains for party
democracy made in the
past decade and
establishing a quiescent
membership for
leaders to preside over. In
a whole, it is up to every
single member call a
nalt to unis wica-nunl— and call it now.
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The 3000 strong mass meeting workers from Rupert Murdoch's News Interna-
Wapping plant. end claiming that it had no constituted authority.
The meeting had been called by the London
Council the wake of the union purging
contempt of which the London District had rejected with ' disgust and contempt'. tion the London District put to the signified its intention take over the running the dispute and end the phoney Wal which the Dean leadership has hitherto been conducting
The meeting unanimously decided that it would escalate the
vappin Fleet at Mur-
loch Street premises. This will include an increase in the morning picketing — like that carried by the clerical branch which resulted in a number of coaches carrying the scabs being turned away from Wapping.
It also decided to reinstate the picketing of the wholesalers which was called off by vediallel her grovelling apology to
MURDOCHES BADNEWS
BULLAYE
Wapping meeting
ends phoney war
of sacked print-
tional unanimously decided to escalate the action to win reinstatement and union recognition at the
SOGAT president for life, Brenda Dean unsuccessfully attempted to defend the leadership's imminent capitulation to Murdoch in the face of slow handclaps and jeering. She argued that the SOGAT leadership had fought hard to win the dispute but 'had been let down by the membership'. Because of the hostility of the meeting, she left well before the
the High Court. Other Murdoch production centres are to be hit.
As a sign of the real in tent of the decisions 20 By Brian Grogan pickets were immediately dispatched to Bemrose Liverpool, where the News of the World colour supproduced These will be re-inforced later London District secretary, Chris Robbins said to loud applause that if this meant incurring the wrath of the courts and the of London branch funds, then so be
Dean was told that the purge decision nonetheless needed to be reversed to allow the union to appeal picketing to the rest of the for support TOT trades union movement.
To monitor the dispute, there will be a weekly meeting of all London branch officers, Mothers and Fathers of the chapels, represen-
TIMES
HUNDAYTIMES
* D
UUU SAUNE
NEWS
"SPUTE
SOGAT
tatives of the National Picketing Office, and officers of all other unions involved in the dispute. This will operate as a de facto strike committee.
An opportunity now exists to renew support in the rest of the labour movement for the fight for re-instatement and union recoonition at wapping. I is now vital to span out to the rest of the trades union movement.
The miners hit every trades union conference looking for political and financial support. should the printers.
TUC and the Labour Party Conference have to be targetted DaCk the dispute.
«ine Fleet Street workers are now facing
We have attacks already seen the imposi-
of draconian conditions at the Express and Mirror. Ment of the tele man e the manage Wapping-style limbering for 'push against the unions.
Fleet Street
response is possible and in dispensible
Prior to this meeting rank and file print workers had been organising
begin precisely this sort of fightback. Now is the time
tor them to identify with and lead the fight to implement this resolution.
Instead of standing on ceremony about formally . elecung democratic strike committee. Militants should recognise
CHAPPI
TERNATIONAL
NIEW N
the tremendous opening provided by the weekly meeting of branch and chapel officers and the potential to use this as a strike committee.
But, most important of all, such miltants must use these decisions to reach out to the thousands of supporters the workers in other unions, in
mining communities, and the nack communities. The proposal for weisn week unis comll: weekend at Wapping should be followed with other such proposals to different areas OT t
different unions to women. and to the black community
The decisions of Monday's meeting provide a basis for renewing the ap-
the rest of the
abour movement to put their words of support into action in support of the sacked printers. is presently clearly reeling
of blows.
Murdoch is a worthy sym- TONE SCrIC bol of the callous moneygrubbing stance of her government. Wapping has the potential to become a further real crisis for this government
The week of action which the South Region of the TUC announced Monday's meeting to boost the boycott campaign can be made into a focus for the massive support that still exists for the printworkers
against Murdoch aliu and Thatcher.
← Socialist Action No. 140, 16 May 1986Socialist Action No. 142, 30 May 1986 →