Socialist Challenge No. 151, 12 June 1980
The scan: sc-n151-jun-12-1980.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
Socialist Challenge As Benn goes for Labour leadership GIVE JIM THE BOOT
THE fight for the leadership of the Labour Party is on with a vengeance. Events since the special one-day conference have revealed an increasing dissatisfaction among large numbers of party members with pathetic opposition to the Tories being put up by Callaghan, Healey, and company.
massive debate erupted on the policies of a future government. With the recent memory of the debacle of the last Labour government, increasing numbers of party workers want
definite commitment socialist policies.
At the one-day conference at the end of last month, Callaghan made his position clear. He wants a policy of incomes control, British support for NATO, and no radical measures of any significance — in other words another Labour government which simply manages capitalism.
Centre
The response of the party's far right has been typical; faced with the fight for democracy
policies there is talk of splitting the party and forming a new 'centre' party.
Whatever the schemes of Shirley Williams, David Owen, and William Rogers, present leadership around Callaghan and Healey has no intention of giving up control to Benn and the left.
For the left to win, there has to be a fight. But there is a major obstacle to the success of such a struggle.
The strength of the right wing is the block vote of major unions which have a right-wing leadership. Union leaders tripned over themselves last week
express their support Callaghan. Defeating the right at the next Labour Party conference means above defeating the right in unions.
This precisely problem with Benn and his supporters. They imagine that it is
the
has
possible to defeat the right by back-room manoeuvres horse trading with the union leaders.
In reality it is organising the left in the constituencies and the unions for a fight that it is possible to win. To mobilise a rank and file fight it is not possible to conCentrale for democracy, important though
it is. It is necessary to link the battle for democracy in the all Labour Party and the trade the HOVCHCHI
action against the Tories.
A first tentative step toward the
organising the Labour left in the unions will be taken by the
Labour Co-ordinating
and mittee's trade union conference
I1 tae autumn.
Benn's policies and his proonly by ject for a 'left' Labour govern-
ment are not ours. the interests of the whole working class that the Labour right defeated.
Socialist support for the new Mobilising Committee' which formed to fight for Labour Party democracy.
Party in the will have an important effect on the possibility of socialist advance in Britain for years to COlIC. Socialists
Com- everything
Yet it is in
That's why Challenge stands for
has beer
The events in the Labour
coming months
our power to organise to kick out the right - trade unions.
COMPUTE "Wel Dammit. What's Not What this Printou Says
No.151 tries.
States
was.
then time
Terror. tion in the Labour Party and in the WhaT
12 June1980 20p
THAT
WAS
THE
WORLD
THAT
you
where you live. So could the vast majority of the population of this and other coun
it will be hutle comrort to know that this could happen by accident. That computer in the United
Chad made last тата and reported a Soviet Union military attack that never
And that nuclear weapons had
been sent speeding to the self-defence hac fired a battery of its own. It would be too late then for the computer to read-out. Sorry. all a mistake
Or at any rate too late for most of us; Margaret Thatcher Jimmy Carter, the generals, and the arms manufacturers would probably scramble to their fall-out shelter in scenario was underined at she star. possibility such OI LOS wee when, for the third
since November and Ine second time in a week, computer
US •DUI HILU motion which could have ended in holocaust
In each case a nuclear strike against prevented. But the margin was only ovie
The lunacy of it all can hardly be contested: the madness of a world full to the brim with weapons that can kill us all is now too self evident to require further elabora-
What should be said is that an accident is probably not the most likely cause of nuclear war.
Tenan deliberate build-up of the war machine of the NATO alliance and the determination of the US to re impose its dominance world
even if future of humanity is the required sacrifice.
It s tempung for us to sarug our shoulders and accept the in evitability of the cataclysm. This is
Thatcher, Reagan, and other leaders of the Western world want us to do
But there are things that can be done. In this country one of them is the building of a mass campaign to demand tat we opt out or une arm race and out of the NATO alliance which demands it.
Specifically and immediately it means protesting against the deployment of Cruise missiles in
COUNCE MUSSUCS WHOSC launch will be controlled by those Pentagon computers, and which ensure that we will be first in the fir. ing line for any soviet retallation.
Sunday 22
demonstration takes place in London against the siting of these missiles. That is one demonstration and one cause which cannot attor to wait. Time is not on our side
Page 2 scan of this page
Len Murray - on TV too late
Women - 'we have a right
HOME NEWS
OUR POLICIES
C'apitalism is in crisis. The leaders of the Labour Party and the trade unions offer solutions that the interests not of the workers but of the capitalist class.
Sovialist Challenge believes that the IWO revolutionary socialists are:
• To build broad-based class struggle tendencies in opposition
class-collaborationism labour movement.
non-exclusive in grouping together militants holding a wide range of political views.
• To begin to fight for the creation of unified
organisation which can, through
application lallico. begin to be alternative by workers engaged in struggles.
Such an organisation should be based on the understanding that:
The struggle for seeks to unite the fight of workers against the with that of other oppressed layers o1 societ! - women, black people. liberation. This socialism can oniy struggling be achieved by creating new organs ur power and octealing win ali necessary means the power of the capitalist state. 2 than wha Our will
more democratic I than what exists in Brifain today. with full rights political parties and currents that do not take up arms against the socialist state. The Stalinist models of socialism in the ssk and Fastern Europe have discredited socialism in the eyes of millions of
throuchout the He are opposed to them and will
support lo fighting for socialist democracy.
• i he interests of workers and
Jon a world scale. Capitalism has nol only created market. it hai created politics. Thus we tight for working class unus on an internationa scale. This unity will in the long run ve decisive i acreadng Dord the imperialist regimes in the West and the brutal dictatorships they sustain in latin America. and Asia.
e immediate pies dramald ing
immediate withdrawal British troops from letting the Irish people determine meir own sulure.
The Communist parties in Europe are in crisis. Neither 'Eurocommunist' the pro-Moscow wings have any meaningful for overthrow of the capitalist state. New revolutionary socialist parties are necessary than before. Conditions today more favourable than over the preceding three decades. But such parties can only be rejecting sectarianism and seeing internal democracy not as a luxury but as a vital necessity. This means the right to organise factions and lendencies.
If you agree with these principles and want he involved activities by Socialist Challenge supporters in your area, fill in the form below and send it to us.
• I am interested in information about activities in my area. • I would like additional literature and enclose 50p to cover costs. (Delete il not applicable)
are in By Rich Palser
confronting
believe?
In the These should character,
were televised last Many trade:
why Murray
and was at its height, abroad. united front
of Lic collatery
the power to enforce decisions'
However.
socialism
bosses
their be By Valerie Coultas
for all
needed for
world.
Wing a trivial concern. all those
women do not really
ty' dress.
common onsense world her time cleaning word
stick of lipstick.
and, LITe Case because family's survival.
Africa Faster
From
Ireland and
without you necessary and what is not!
nor penditure. the
Never security departments, are
take part-time built by
Because
lobs more often than men
are based on length of continuous
in 1c cases
in the present economic climate.
rectice women's
more through Parliament.
tion women minimum 16-hour
less than six
IS 'Lenin Murray', as the Daily Express dubbed him, really intent on organising political strikes to undermine an elected government as the Tory press would have us
The TUC's general secretary was given the opportunity to defend the unions'
arainst me covernment Granada TV Lecture, excerpts from which
: Thursday who worked • hard to build the Day of Action will wonde
making similar speeches up and down the countrv wher the press witch-hunt against the unions
instead of holidaying
Suggestions can be found in Murray's lecture, entitled "The democratic bargain'. He insisted that 'the issue is not who run:
governments are elected to govern, and in the last analysis they have
'democracy is essentially a bargaining activity" the unions have a legitimate right to bargain not only with employers but also
to work
PIN money is a term that was coined in the late 19th century to describe women's wages. 'Money for pins' was needed because of the very high cost of steel pins
dressmaking: it had nothing to do with their wages be-
Today the term is taken to mean that
need to work; their wages are deemed to be necessary only to pay for une odd nalr-ao, lpsuck, or pret
As many women will tell you, this is
No woman Soard. lavatories, washing other peoples' clothes, serving up meals in canteens, or typing out endless cuters 1or c
Women work because they cannot live without a regular income
wone. their income is vital to their
women's unemployment rose three times faster than men's. As it continues to shoot up, both male and renae workers wi reaise now vital La female wage is - when you have to do
soon realise what is
One reason for the rapid increase in female employment is the cuts in social ex-
Women, who constitute 42 per cent of the total workforce in Britain, are concentrated in the public and services sector They staff the schools, nurseries, social
and hospitals.
When these are cut. women's iobs go
Fifty-two per cent of women workers
inke parame employment ecaused of
ChiDiulcul because Because their domestic a
. their domestic duties women are also likely to have to change
1 IS that employment protection laws, Which
service and the number of hours worked. leave a large number of women vulnerable to the whims of ruthless employers. At the same
likelihood women's jobs will be among the first to go
The new Tory Employment Bill will
employment opportunities even further if it is allowed to go
maternity rights. Under existing legisla-
are required WOCK two years before they are entitled to paid pregnancy leave. No provision exists for fathers to get
paid for time off when their child is being SUTt
The Tories want firms which employ
workers not have to give women men loos back ir cacy Icave to nave a child. And any employer will be allowed to offer worther a 'suitable alternative
NOT V I Lenin
with government' - the Day of Action
being a way of pressuring the Tories
to stento me anons vews
For Murray, union action is just a
means of seeing that 'a fair bargain is.
suruck. wilch al sounes very rcasonabe WOMEN against the Tories ment Bill
ranner man neowe ot back
The Tories also want to increase the red tape involved in obtaining pregnancy leave. If women don't write all the right letters they'll end up losing their job after having a child.
there s no reason wav smal firms should be exempt from allowing women maternity leave. 'A fund was set up to en
unal empovers number of female workers were not forking out more than their fair share.
Fromoro desses for women wil •De hyndered if they are not guaranteed the right to return to their own job. All women
and a far cry from V I Lenin. Never mind socialism, or even getting rid of this wret-
ched Tory government, everything will be
caolausts ane
prepare have see more these
have promises have led before. Murrav himsel gives one example, the social contract of
the last Labour government only boosted workers living stanoares the fall of the Callaghan administration
We have also seen what happens when structures art acvisca workers can get a piece of the action and
accept that, if they are involved in decision making quences,' as Murray puts it.
The consequences of the mismanagement of British Levland for instance, has been to tie the unions' hands workers get kicked onto the dole.
Unfortunately it is not true, as Murray claims, that 'there is a lot of common interhere is the common is erest betweents. between two siacs or maustry wnen the employers
order to secure their profits are intent on calling wages and Jobs i
Nur worker an andovers SEn have every reason to oppose the Employ-
with the sack under this new legislation.
Employee! people and which have only been going for two years will not be allowed to protest to
industrial tribunal if they think they have been unfairly dismissed.
Tribunals will be asked to consider the size and resources of an undertaking when
Vitall of proof will lie with the employee not the employer as in the past, and even where large untair dismissal is proved, the minimum award of two weeks' wages will no longer apply.
One-year fixed contracts are suggested • as a way of employers avoiding the embar* rassment of tribunals altogether.
off in
they
workers art
elsewhere where com-
which not
while
Cutle , but also lea to newspapers
dispose
ency Have to accept tne conse- smallest
terests? participation in So long as
thousands
promise
empoyers'. dispense and genuinely
action.
Seventy-two ine unscrupuious The
men
week.
Decline
dramatically
trade VUL
their rights
trade
dividual balloting,
every reason in firms with less than 20
cond
The burden
these attacks there.
For a copy: of Grays 01-2786349,
Capitalists can put heir nivestment sier. bargaining position.
think they Wil COTOR HOSI workers can't so easily take their labour
competing with 1½ million unemployed
The working class has a vote every five years, but it is the small minority who own
the wealth in this country who decide hou
will print; whose 'right : of their property defended by the law and the courts
Just how much respect for the law and order of Parliament have they shown when a Labour government has taken even
measure against their in
• there are emplovers and governments like Thatcher's which stand for the employers' interests, Len Murray may well be able to go on negotiating com
JOI traces deals which will inevitably mean ever greater sacrifices for the working class.
When it comes to a fight to remove thi spense it the employers here to
employers altogether • plan. the Lit economy according to need and not profit Len Murray is only capable of days of in
per cent of all applica. tions for unfair dismissal are lost. Com. pensanon Is generally low, and co-workers are reluctant to attend tribunals for fear of dismissal themselves, particularly if they
many women are not.
The clauses relating to unfair dismissal in the Employment Bill are a charter fo
fly-by-night employers Women armore often employed in smal. employees workplaces_than men, and the Bill gives such employers a host of escape clauses.
The Tories are also willing to allow pockets of low pay to spread in industry Sev so remove scree . a 021c which allows employees to ensure that they are not being paid a lower rate than bie general level agreca between une bosse and the unions. This has eliminated some but by no means all pockets of low pay in
Equal Pay Act and the Sex Discrimination Act have proven useless in giving women equal status at work wit
- both in terms of the jobs women do and their pay levels.
Women's rates of pay actually declined between 1978 and 1979 . The Low Pay Unit discovered that one in five
WUlC naireressers earned less that tot a week while 60 per cent received less than f40 a
Employers will be allowed to cut wages even more, to increase competition, and women's wages will further decline if the Employment Bill becomes law.
Unionisation of women has increased
Das lu vcars Thirty-two per cent of women are now
union members. The massive turn TUC-sponsored aDorLol demonstration, and the increasing number of women prepared to take industrial ac tion to get their union
recuziscu, as a show That women trades unionists are becoming increasingly conscious of the need to actively fight for
Not only does the Employment Bill attack them as women but it attacks them as
unionists througl action and encouraging inwhere the mass media call mel vcle will an anu-rade umon da to influence the vote.
Women have every reason to work; every reason to ion trade unions. and
to fight back against the Tories' brutal legislation. An opportunity to discuss how women active in the labou movement can do tas will come at the se
Women's Fightback conference to be held in Birmingham, Digbeth Hall, o1 Saturdav and Sundav 21 and 22 June you want to be involved in pushing back
on women you should be
All the details in this article are based on a report on the Employment. Bill by Rights of Women, a group of women lawyers
the report, contact: 374 Road, London Wat - Tel
Page 3 scan of this page
ment and the inions to discuss, the com-.. Walsh, knows the, importance of such & , the company on its national redundancies
HOME NEWS
for the
By Patrick Sikorski Port Talbot... the story runs and runs.
sive. The list of factory closures
ves that. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
in Birmingham, in the heart of the motor industry, had already lost 3,500 jobs before the
dustry, employs
cople in the Midlands, has lost 8,000 jobs in the last six
workers are joining the 143,500 on he dole chasing just 9,403 vacancjes.
Load
There is resistance, especially when workers are given a lead any kind of lead. Workers in South Wales, for example, knew that the
on the hop by the complete sup-
ort for the steel strike strike,
a general strike on the jobs' issue.
Then the sell-out started
action and the calling of one day's action 28 Jaunary. although the whitit of betraval was already in the air,
on 28 January response in wale was massive. The fight continues.
Hackney
British Oxygen workers Hackney, East London, have so far successfully defied attempts to make 26 workers in the acetylene department redundant. It is no ac cident management's plans threaten the union branch Clairesol. ш vc cal person. branch secretary, shop steward and assistant convenor.
inc closure or but sacerwere department in Hackney makes no economic sense as the supplies for
Lobby the TUC!
now.
unions.
smash union organisation by want to fight back with threats of the dole.
The whole labour Labour Party, united action now.
to Kick Out the Tories.
How many
more jobs
scrapheap ?
THREE thousand Lucas car component workers were declared redundant last week; 3,800 steelworkers at Llanwern were told they had to go the week before; and just prior to that 1,500 workers at the Talbot Linwood car plant were axed, 1,100 workers at Ford, Dagenham, were threatened with redundancy, over 5,000 steelworkers at
the East London area would then have to from Management is blatantly attacking best organised depot of the BOC to smash me wages
This isn't just a matter of the workers in BOC tect their living standards against inflation because over the last few which established 'the going rate' in the private sector.
For trade unionists and Labour Party members the blem is that unless there is the start movement against unemployment, rank and file workers in the offices and factories will start to listen to The Tories as they repeat Jim's arguments of three years ago Caught thạt 'one man's pay rise is another man's job' (sic), and accept cuts in wages.
with Defeat But it would be wrong to say But defeat ome unemployment. if i defeat the had, it would be impossible to explain the massive strike action and places like Liverpool and the whole Scotland, unemployment has been tor a deane or more unemployment becomes a disciplining force on the working class alter a major acica of the class as a whole in a big historic confrontation DOSses, The Minority launched in 1924 in the aftermath of a slump and wage cut wue! unemployment reach two million — a much bigger percentage of the
WORKERS at British Oxygen's Hackney depot have passed the following resolution in their fight against redundancies. Put it forward in your labour movement organisation
This Tory government is intent on destroying workers' standards of living and their organisations, the trade
Their main weapon is the creation of mass unemployment in order to increase profits through squeezing more production out of a reduced workforce, in order to "persuade" workers to take cuts in pay rather than fight for a decent standard of living; in order to weaken and
"disciplining" those who
movement, the unions and the must unite against this great and take
As a first step in such a campaign this branch/ward agrees to sponsor a call for a mass lobby of this year's TUC Congress in Brighton around these demands: *No to Unemployment For a 35 Hour, Wick Now. *Fight,
Cardiff!
being able to pro-
workforce than now biggest pro membership cut by half
Only after the political defeat of the Strike in 1926 was mass unemployment combined by with a systematic
Sunny The
rebuilding of unions like the South Socialists need to learn from the lessons general strike in South Wales, an he Day of Action on 14 May thi yea faced with this Tory government, workers who may be unsure «Do now to nut unemployment in their industry or May factory will respond to a call to ac-
which including the
private sector, only collar anons
with
Movement was
imposed
Say
CORBY NEWTOWN By Tessa van Gelderen
acetylene Oxygen's depot in London
stewards meeting on Sunday. The stewards,
• and union
whole class in the General
the employers dustries victimisation of Serenes move. the total organisational shop stewards committees,
Parties. of the Minority Movepolicies to beat
fighting timers for the movement back acainst fight has
lobby of movemen. public and the the industrial and the
For that call to be made and for • unemployment. united acuul 1" APRIL
BRUTALLY SLAIN 1979 BORN
THERE will be no closure of the
department British Hackney, that's the message that came out of the southern region shop
who came from the large majority of the depots in the region, agreed to make the threatened closure a national issue. It will be put on the agenda at a meeting this week between manage-
pany's streamlining proposals
the action to have any chance of success, there has to be an organised minority fighting in the unions which — although it will be started
factories and - from the moment it is set up will reach across the barriers
worker tes LIBe barriers between trades comes. and consuluce Lavou
This minority will have a set of
unemployment, and it the • present trade Plessey Labour ralL leadership of the
to start now.
The call from the BOC workers for
the TUC against unemplovment in September is one way to start organising all those in
movement prepared to
BL Speke 1950
'British Oxygen has a fight on its hands'
'Streamlining means workforce by 10 per cent, getting the rest to do the same amount of work, and handing them a one-off payment of £214. But if Sunday's meeting was anything to go by, British Oxygen will not push through its proposals as easily as it might hope.
BOC depots in Greenwich, Bristol, and Cardiff will refuse to take Hackney's work if acetylene department Customers around Hackney acetylene, but it's proposed to bring it from these other depots The convenor, of Hackney,
jecision: Solidarity from Cardiff and the (sorry
Jobs lost through closures and redundancies Vickers Elswick (Newcastle) Massey-Ferguson (Liverpool) Lucas (Liverpool)
Mather & Platt (Manchester) British Leyland Rosedales (South Wales)
Vickers Swindon Singers (Glasgow)
Vickers Oceanics SKF (Kilmarnock)
GKN Bolts (Darlington) Wilkinson Sword Hoover (Glasgow)
Tress (Newcastle)
Thomas Bradford GEC (Liverpool)
Cammell Laird (Liverpool) English Electric (Liverpool) Glenfield & Kennedy (Kilmarnock)
Plessey (South Shields) Plessey (Liverpool)
Babcock & Wilcox (Renfrew) Singers (Glasgow)
British Leyland
Dunlop Speke Goodyear (Glasgow, British Shipbuilding (Scotland) 10,000 Molins (London)
Manchester Dry Dock London Ship Repair Birmid Smethwick (Birmingham)
BICC (Liverpool)
British Steel Corporation Massey-Ferguson (Kilmarnock)
cutting the closes. has to respond still want
John
350 (27.3.80 550 (5.3.80 450 (14.12 500 25,000 230 10,000 900 750 250 2,000 120 600 1250 250
330 (2.6. 2,200 (6.4 670 (11.3.78) 1
3,000
1,020 1,600 2,400 1,400 (15.1.77) 3,000 (17.10.79) 15,000 (22.9.79 con top of 25,000 2,500 (7.9.79) 700 (20.9.79) 250 (15.9.79) 450 (8.9 .79) 900 (23.9.79)
660 650 • 52,000 (25.4.80) 1,000
other depots will result in British Oxygen having a fight on its hands,' he says.
The company has offered to remove the threat of compulsory redundancies altogether — on condition that the union agrees that the department would close in
John Walsh does not intend to sign Now the Transport Union at national level
to the call from the southern region shop stewards.
The solidarity and the will to fight is there. A lead has to be given. A success at . Hackney will be the best weapon to defeat
Page 4 scan of this page
British Telecoms - Modernisation a long hot summer
Organising against Duffy
HOME NEWS
By Colin Talbot, Westminster Branch POEU, and Chris Mullins, Horsham Branch POEU
'THE supporters of proposition will be meeting outside, in a kiosk.' That was the wry comment from John Scott-Garner, president of the Post Office Engineering Union, on resolution take POEU's pay claim to arbitration.
It received only a "half dozen votes from the delegates gathered union's annual conterence in Blackpool last week. The gales of laughter which Scott-Garner's remark showed the militant mood ot representatives of the 120,000 telephone engineers.
Inflation
The crucial pay debate was opened by union general secretary, Brian Stanley. He attacked the Post Telecommunications Board for making a pay offer that would
drastic cut in real wages. He made it clear that the offer was the result of govern-
especially the cash-limits imposed " on nationalised industries.
Stanley supported the proposals from the national ecutive lor a pay claim that would keep pace with inflation and make a small improvement in productivity bonuses. Crumbs
The first amendment, put forward by Glasgow branch, called for a 30 per cent basic claim. This Was ferociously resisted by the national executive who argued that under the present government it was only possibly to protect existing pay levels and get a few crumbs on top.
Despite the fact that the executive's alternative, of 23 per cent, was unprecedentedly militant, the conference decided that it had had enough. It passed the Glasgow amendment by 63,002 votes to 61,295, a majority of under 2,000.
Report
The strongest branch of the union, London City, then moved an amendment calling lor a more substantial productivity payment in recognition of the
additional skills, experience and responsibilities necessary for the installation maintenance of the systems.' Again, despite the opposition of the NEC, amendment was passed by a slightly higher majority.
In the debate on the amend-
ed NEC report, which now call-
ed for 30 per cent, plus 7 per cent productivity payment, and
industrial action, the right wing rallied against the victories of
the left. The finale was the clos-
ing speech by supposedly in support of the
report.
Claim
He launched a. renewed
defence of the realism, of the
NEC and the unreality, of the
claim in a desperate bid to head off defeat, but to no avail. In the final card vote, was passed by 64,230 to 60,067. Hundreds of rank union members in the galleries that and rank-and-file leaders
the conference floor burst into applause. Result
Brian Stanley followed the of the the
with a statement in which he callea ror a unica anu acici• mined fight for the claim that had been decided. Despite these 700 fine words, the militants in the the conference know that it is up to
them to win this dispute.
the Office the 11C W TRADES unionists
the
Union of Engineering
against the union leadership.
are one and the same thing. Stanley,
Look at Saltley!
Then the
socialist.
the report Broad Left
and file result
23-strong council.
the seven-strong TUC délegation.
S CHA
usually spend much of their time organising against the bosses. But in the Amalgamated
Workers an equally important task is to organise
That's not so surprising since many in the union think the bosses' ideas and the ideas of the union president Terry Duffy known
Take this example of what Duffy said in January: 'That poor Ted Heath was an honest man, but wrongly advised. He took the miners on, but was. wrongly advised.
whole of the population voted to get rid of the Tories. That could happen again and I believe it would be a disaster even though Lam a democratic "up'
Big growth for
THREE hundred engineers attended the first full meeting of the Broad Left, the rank and file group in the POEU, the day before the opening of the union conference. This reflected the growing strength of the left in the union, and was a foretaste of what was to come on the floor of the conference itself.
The Broad Left had a well planned and efficiently run day-to-day campaign throughout the conference with at least one bulletin every day and a meeting every evening. A special edition of Spark, the Broad Left journal, sold extremely well.
In the executive elections the growth of the Broad Left showed strongly, with an increase from seven to nine supporters on the
Dave Ward, a Socialist Challenge supporter and secretary of Horsham branch, was one of five Broad Left supporters elected to
I used to be an AUEW steward
..• untill discovered Duffy
Read that opinion and it becomes obvious why the conference of Engineering Charter to be held on 28 June is important; especially as one discussion will be on how to secure the defeat of Duffy in the forthcoming presidential election in which once again he will be opposed by Broad Left member. Bob Wright.
Duffy's right-wing record was even before he was elected last year. But since coming to power he has become an even bigger pin-up for the Tory The most notable of his 'achievements' was the part he played in the victimisation of Leyland convenor Derek Robinson. It who insisted that the strike was Dully which immediately followed Robinson's sacking be called off; it was Duffy who set an" inquiry into Robinson, effectively delayed the struggle against his
THE gramme called for *a
Moving Upchurch,
based solely
massive meeting
Tuture ingly passed.
RING
'innocent'.
which is important.
well
oblige.
The •campaign therefore a battle for the entire
Charter conference.
For. details which
N44
- no job loss
modernisation proTelecoms (Post Office Telecommunications) will mean substantial loss of jobs over the next ten years unless the POEU fights for a progressive reduction in hours. That was the argument behind Composite proposition 17, WACT i progressive reduction in hours' in order to preserve jobs TeSOlULOn of Hillingdon branch explained tht this wasn't a demand the terest POEU members but was in the interest of the entire working class. nose who solo loes roare redundancy payments were betray ing the unemployed of today, and generatons jobs weren't morally theirs to sell.
Supporting the resolution, Dave Ward called for the POEU to defend the rights of youth. He said that saving jobs for the workers of trade unionists of today and it was issue that simply couldn't be avoided The resolution was overwhelm-
SODOFF
victimisation; and it was Duffy who refused to organise strike action in support of Robinson once the inquiry had found him
It is not just Duffy's role in the AUEW
Jim Callaghan is relying on him to supply the crucial votes against democratic reform of the Labour Party at the annual conference in October. So far Duffy has given every indication that he will try and
against Duffy labour movement. Members of the AUEW can help to play their part by attending the
write CIO. Engineering Chatter, 265a Seven Sisters Rd, London
Building
workers get
demolished
By Tony Young THE bi-annual delegate conference of the building union UCATT took place last week in the wake of one of the worst sell-outs on wages in the union's short and inglorious history.
This deal gave labourers and tradespeople e to incread 22e per hour • LIDS increase rates to only £1.47 and £1.78 per hour.
This settlement was massive shor original claim - and that must be some sort of record.
The rise won't be paid until 10 July - 13 weeks after the dea was signed with no hack-dating. On too of this get insurance stamps in holiday periods building workers will have to work four days a week instead of the previous three.
Some advance was made in the reductior of the working week. but the one-hour cut wil not operate until November 1981: small comfort to the 200,000 ouraing workers on the dole.
Militants attending the
conterence some sort of revolt. The mood
thi hundred delegates, representing 230,000 members,
however, resigned and apathetic. The visitors were
ficers from private companies, present at the invitation of the union exccutlvt
There were some bright moments. Dave Ayars from the
Worker group sul cessfully proposed a calling for union control ove the supply of labour
Jinny Dunsconde, secretary of Hammersmith UCATT, made an excellent speech calling on UCATT to set up and encourage the entry of women into the construction industry
Jerry runt, . convenor of l W Cliffords workers, who have been on strike for 15 weeks, spoke or Ine need. for union solidarity in the fight against unemployment.
the conference
Otherwise was abysmal. Two anti-lump resolutions were passed on the 100 but ther cactive member jumped up and attacked the resolutions saying it was somennes • necessary to recruit lump workers - hardly the way to discourage the practice
There were plenty of highcouncine resoluton passed but these seemed destined for the rubbish bin
All this reinforced the viev of militants that only a strong and determined union organisa tion at site level will eve win anything. Members of Building Worker — a national grouping of rank and file
Twist ultim workers were a , mne con• ference making this point
They received quite a good response, especially Irom some Communist Party and ex-CP
sickened the winding up of the CP Building Workers Charter. The Charter
was abandoned because, 'as we now tave a en we executve. we don't need it anymore'
The need for Building Worker was shown best of al by the fact the speaker who got the loudest applause at the con.
: Jim Callaghan Wal - and that just about summed it up.
Building Worker can
contaciea Dy writing • 10 Horton House Meadow Rd South Lambeth Estate, London SW8,
Page 5 scan of this page
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HOME NEWS
London
NUPE to
debate
alternative
strategy
The London divisional council of the National Union of
DelE annual general meeting on 2
The meeting JULC AMANHOUS voted SUNSUL
for the 22 June Labour Party demonstration against
weapons
In line with the decisions of the recent national conference, the divisional council agreed to organise a
throughout the division on the 'Prospects for Britain' document submitted NUPE conference by the execute This document puts for-
ward the Labour left's 'alternative economic strategy' The soniOn CO LEC economic crisis. Socialist
division will be putting ward an alternative ment.
John Suddaby of Camden general branch was elected as the divisional chairperson
NAC day
school
A special NAC national plan-
ning meeting and a day school on positive takes
place on 14-15 June
Marble Arch Intensive
English School. 21 Star St,
London W2.
The main discussion will 1o per-
pe or
suade the government to man-
date local authorities to pro-
vide oroner abortion
facilities, so that women can
have safe legal abortions close
to her nome
Both days start
and finish at 5pm. NAC urges
who is interested to
everyone
attend. campaign hopes
for a big turn out.
Fight back
on jobs in
Teesside
AT the British Steel Cor-
poration Lackenby's beam
and rod mills on Teesside,
840 workers have been on
strike for a week in protest
at bosses' attempts to sack
fitters' mates.
They want to reduce the
number of mates from one to
each fitter to one to three fit-
ters.
Last week BSC announc-
ed that over alw outer jous
are to be lost in Teesside by
This is in addition to
nil retirdances caused bi
closure of the Cleveland
Teesside SOCIE
Challenge are calling a public
meeting JUnC
'British steel - ine Jignt to
save jobs. Speakers include
Bernard Crafts' convener Connolly, Allied BSC
Rotherham and Brink
IMG
organiser. Kings Head Hotel,
Grangetown, Cleveland,
1.3U0.
Steel
'Lessons of the Steel Strike and the fight to
Kick out the Tories'.
Authors include. Bernard Connolly, Convenor, Rotherham; Colin Herd, ISTC Convenor, Warrington; Brian Molyneux, ISTC, South Yorkshire divisional strike committee; Ray Davies and Roger Tovey, Lianwern strike committee. IMG pamphlet, price. 40p, avauable from Other Bookshop, 328, Up. per Street, London N1,
By Oliver New DESPITE attempts by women at the Chix's factory in Slough to continue their strike it has finally been brought to a close by full time General and Municipal Workers' Union officials.
Three weeks ago official support for the strike was ended following negotiations between The GMWU and Chix management.
But the 46 women and one man, who had ben out on strike for seven and half months coasted will unc over lossaulou deal as 28 out workers would have been made redun-
At a stormy and bitter mass meeting two weeks ago, wh smost cane l blows, GMWU official
Scottish teachers
i run or reject 14 per cent
By Michael Anderson SCOTTISH schools will continue to be disrupted after the decision of the Annual General Meeting of the Educational Scotland's largest teachers union, to reject an offer of 14 per cent.
Teachers in Scotland will
supporting. their executive's call for continued strike action, rosen they after August when go back to work after the sum mer break.
The level of action which posed 10 percent of the the EIS executive have
Saturday.
The
Chix strike finallyends
McMullen, was forced to give way to the demands of the women to continue the Asian strike until they got all their jobs back.
however McMullen came under pressure from a different quarter. Top union of ficials wanted the strike to end. They had Eary den matron ta ceded unior good enough for them.
Following bitration and Conciliation Advisory Service. McMullen told resume picketing while further negotiations At the next mass meeting MCMullen were was determined to bring things of 47 close. The only improvements was a from Chix that of the 28 workers to be made redundant 9 would be taken back sonie Call Gerry available and a £100 increase in redunInstitute of Scotland,.
mexabership on a one strike each week — shows that
they the slightest idea of how to win the 20 per cent claim.
As one delegate at the conference this weekend put it: "They're hoping to be dragged, and screaming to arbitration.'
COVENTRY heavy punk band Criminal Class attracted over 400 youth when they played for a Troops Out of Ireland rally in the city's central Precinct last
Adolf, the group's manager explained that he is Irish himself. 'What people don't understand is that when they sent the troops in, in 1968, it wasn't because the Protestants and Catholics were fighting each other.
Welsh miners back
Llanwern action
WELSH NUM president Emlyn Williams, at the Welsh miners gala last weekend, called for support for the activities of the Llanwern Action Committee, which is fighting the 'slimline' job loss programme agreed by union officials for the plant.
by steelworkers and miners threatened by redundancy:
dancy money.
But by
out of the meeting
After insisting
VIC when Chix management had con- women. recognition and that was
a meeting wiln ine Al-
• strikers not to
won in half-baked promise
when work Red and file delegates argued much more vigorous action with the aim of getting the Local GovernNUT and the nursing unions Officers' Union, the into a unitca Iront to suasi Thatcher's 14 per cent norm on pay in the public sector.
The nurses anspute was seen as a major test for government policy and many delegates stressed would be going back to their schools to win support for the I the NUT has exi expressed that the called acuot over the provocative nine per cent offer to teachers the rest of Britain. Public sector rallies and demonstrahone are bene Danicu many Scottish towns around the theme of a 'public sector alliance on wages'.
The Catholics were rioting — fighting the police. The police couldn't contain them on the Bogside, so they
the troops have got to come out.'
crowd. Badges and Republican News sold well. Board's plans.
Ine
Echoing this call, John Hayward, administrative jobs lobby of the TUC in September and a solidarity
officer of the South Wales NUM, called for a joint fight - meeting at the Labour Party conference the following
month,
offering more than half the workers their jobs back, McMullen had successfully divided them. a.secret ballot
19 in favour of ending the strike. It had taken two weeks to force the deal on the
Unlike the Grunwick strike, where there had been lots of discussions and debates on the strike committee, no such set up during the eightmonth Chix strike. Resistance to accep ting the "advice' of trade union officials was not as strong as it might have been.
The strike was not a total defeat however. The union has been recgonised and Asian women at Chix have shown workers on the massive Slouch industria estate, and all round the country, tha they are not going to be pushed around!
The apparent militant lead on the 1980 pay claim provid the execuuve Solutel AGM I support for the idea of body for Icvich teachers.
Despite close votes on mo tions advocating closer shop for other picket lines, the leadership's version of "moderate realism' generally prevailed over that of Rank and File.
One exception came motion 14 wnich stalto lal a "teacher's homosexuality should not justify dismissal from nis or nel HIW the recent sacking of a gay youth camp worker grounds of his sexual orientation this represents a tremen dous filip for all teachers in sent in the British troops. I know that, and that's what we're trying to get across to people. It's not easy — but
Speakers from the Troops Out Movement and from Women Against Imperialism were well received by the
Hayward was speaking at a meeting organised by the unofficial Steel Sheet bulletin on 4 June. He said that 6,500 miners in Wales face redundancy under the Coal
first action on the Llanwern Action Group agenda is a day of protest outside the Lianwern gates on 12 June. The protests will culminate with suppert for the
Nurses move
into action
- just the tip of the
iceberg
y Raph de Santos and Kevin Holme JUPE South Branch, Edinburgh Hospital NURSES are now in the front line of the Tories assault on workers living standards. Ruthless cash limits of 14 per cent are being imposed in the public sector while inflation is roaring at 21.8 per cent.
For nurses this not only means an insulting pay offer, wile • dentists receive 30 per cent, nursing home rising by
will massive cut The wate over the next year if they accept this claim.
Cash don't jus seem tht nurses suffer. Th Health Service itself will be struggling to survive. Whole hois and ace as are bial
and ward. chopped, waiting GUSES ON longer, staff leave becausé of the low pay and bad working condlions.
Those working the private sector will find themselves and their families suffering if these cash are maintained by the Tories.
only services but wages are threatcaca
If the Tories can • force public sector to accept cuts in real wages they
Scottish
nurses organise
A WAVE
following the Tory government's derisory 14 per
cent pay offer to the nurses.
Leah Sheridan, nursing
steward from NUPE South
Edinburgh branch, helped set
action group in
He a nasa
January 1980.
A successful demonstra-
tion was called by this group
on 29 March in support of the
full 30 per cent claim. Hun-
dreds of nurses in Edinburgh
took part and
demonstrations against the
economic policies on
ONCS
the TUC's Day of Action
The nurses' action group
is now proposing to se : up
stewards'
mittee to hold workplace
Glasgow
nurses
demand
better
conditions
By Nick Lockhart
(student nurse) Glasgow
Royal Infirmary
THE Greater Glasgow
Health Board refused to
give a straight answer to
rumours in
press about proposals for
a 100 per cent increase in
rent for nurses
modation.
So 130 nurses turned up
to a meeting called by a few
LABOU
will try and force all wages down in the next winter par round. They already discussing a figure of seven per cell Every worker in the public
sector must support the nurses, rallies and demonstra
out the im plications of the Tory cash limits for the entire communi Through their ravate SECLOI WUIRCIS
trade union branches the Labour Party must also be approached for solidarity and support
The Tory government has
for its policies of cash limits cuts in real wages and jobs The Labour movement needs unity and
The money can found the Tories for nuclear missiles but it's not there for jobs and hospitals This government will never put people before profits. I has to go! of anger has swept across Scotland
meetings throughout the
'We are attempting to build support for nurses"
be held ir CHosalol 1 to Glasgow
plained Leah 'We hope to
link up with Scottish teachers who are sinke
moment for higher pay and the local government workers
whose claim is about to
negotiated.!
Leah pointed out that
unity among DID IC secto
workers was vital if they were
Tory attempts to cul
L0 SLU
mer me standards
notices in the Glasgow Royal
infirmary, a back-water
organisation for many years.
The result was that
demonstration has been call-
Martha Street, Glasgow
4011
Many grievances were ex-
pressed at inis intelilig suc
Black of privacy;
VISILOTS. sharing toilet
facilities with 20 to 30 others
two cooking rings between 40
or more; and rooms (cells) six
Teel Dy twelve
The demonstration now
includes not only opposition
to rent increases but i also
the derisory pay offer of a
maximum of 14 per cent and. mispital copects TOl
locally
defence of the NHS.
Mobilising
Committee for
Labour
Democracy
Last week's Socialis contained
mation about the new Rank
ind File Mobilising Commit
Labour of the arty
democracy. Copies
committees bulletin. price
Pep car be obtained from 10
Park Drive, London NWIL.
Page 7 scan of this page
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Page 8 scan of this page
Parliament and mass action - Tony Benn
Benn's industrial policies
allea w • Sa
This is an edited extract from Tony Benn's speech at the Debate of the Decade April 1980 published in "The Crisis and the Future of the
I must repeat that a Labour Government was better than Thatcher then (1974-9) and it would be better than Thatcher now. But the policies it followed would not be goodenough to tackle the problems that
I emphasise better than Thatcher then and now because the problem that Paul Foot and doesn't the agitation continue when Labour is in power?' — is because the rank and file of the Labour Party know that it's better to have a Labour government than a Tory government and they are not prepared to put it at risk.
We must be prepared to face the fact that the problem of balance between agitation and
If we are serious we have got also to ask why . il ls unal tne socialist
The real complaint that I have is not that we (the Labour Party) reformed and it failed, but By Hilary Wainwright IN HIS arguments against the revolutionary left, Tony Benn emphasised his belief in Parliament as the main road to socialism. Rightly so, since that is where the fundamental disagreement lies. But it is not simply Benn's parliamentarism which will determine-the importance of him and his supporters for socialism in the 1980s.
It is the encouragement which Tony Benn gives workers' shop floor itiatives which is the main source of his appeal to active trade unionists; plus the fact that he combines this with a strategy to overthrow the right-wing leadership of the Labour Party, and very much more discreetly, of the unions.
Few left Labour leaders in the past would have made speeches calling for a more political trade unionism, as Benn did in his Granada lecture a few weeks ago; nor would they have admitted that Parliament cannot carry through socialist policies alone as Benn did in 1971, inspired by the struggle of the UCS workers: Power "The changes we contemplate cannot be made by parliamentary action along. It requires the active work of the industrial movement. These men (the UCS workers) are fighting to survive because they have no alternative. generating a new leadership at shop floor level and above. They are creating a climate not only to carry Labour to power, but to sustain us as we carry through the changes which they know need to be made.
What is the likely effect of this support for shopfloor struggles? What are its limits? How far do the Labour left's policies in fact lead to a more political trade unionism and of what sort? To answer these questions it is necessary to look at the Labour left's industrial policies.
Though Benn and others give support to many different struggles, it is to their policies for a future Labour government that we must look in order to understand their view of the relation oerwcen ponncal power ana workers industrial organisations.
Take the two main proposals in their industrial policies: the expansion and strengthening of the National Enterprise Board, and the strengthening oi. planning AUCH GI compulsory powers and a tripartite basis -that is, an involvement of the trade unions as well as government and management.
Government
The most important assumption these policies is that it is the government which will have the power to take over profitable •hikte concor os cuo anoose socioode on the rest of private industry. organisations will play a subordinate back ug role, feeding in their own plans and proposal. to give detailed content to the government's priorities.
A look at what happened when Benn was at the head of the Department of Industry from February 1974 until his sacking in June 1975 will illustrate the type of relationship between Societa Chalets tan nemo Socialet Chällenge, L2 June iSMO
Tony Benn Hilary Wainwright
When the government took over the Alfred Herbert machine-tool company, for instance, Benn had regular discussions with the shop stewards - much to the displeasure of the executive of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, discussions should be Confed. Benn draw up their own plans, to discuss them with management, and then They are government.
Workers Similarly on Tyneside, Benn encouraged
multinationals to draw up plans for industrial democracy in their companies. When some of 'What should we do if management refuses to implement these plans?', the answer was that they should bring the plans to the
The point about these and many other examoes is that thouch the labour Lett's industrial policies provide a role for workers' initiatives and ideas, they are not based on the idea that workers organisations will have to exercise any power themselves.
This feature of Benn's industrial policies with helps us to answer a central question in relation
to a Labour government: Why, when Wilson, the CBI, and the Civil Service had sabotaged the Labour Party's industrial policies, sacked Benn, and turned the NEB into a commercial merchant bank, was there no resistance from the trade unionists who had put so much faith in Benn and his industrial policies? behind
Basic Workers' Of course, part of the explanation lies with
the TUC leadership, its reluctance to rock the boat, and its pressure of prevent anyone else, Benn included, shortage of Benn's policies. The policies certainly had a
But because of the very limited and. contained role that the policies workers orgapisations, 'they, tid, hot prenatet" Tease
the policy of Conference.
caucanon was not rerormea the police and reformed.
of revolutionary socialism. was a solution to their probiem now.
your revolution.
to solve our problems'. port from individual ministers, Industry Department.
Repeat
again, with even present policy document
which felt thạt such
conducted via the encouraged the stewards to
bring them to the
CYClI parliamentary
to take action themselves. ' Politicians
recognises that a left Labour government,
power and confidence. goes on: Agree from doing so. But there was and file support
¡before company policy is decided.".
That is what the argument going on within the Labour Party is all about. It is that industry was not reformed despite the 1973 programme. fully support, It is that the banks were not reformed despite
Parliament was not reformed despite the insistent demand for the abolition of the House of Lords. The civil service was not reformed
The contro of the security services was not
I have had many shop stewards come to see general election. me from UCS onwards to raise their problems with the minister. What they do not want from a Labour minister was a lecture in the efficacy
What they wanted
If we only talk to those who have major problems about revolution then they will say to us: "You are trying to use our crisis to promote
We want to use you, the Labour movement and the Labour leadership
The difficulty that the socialist groups are That is my case this base to exercise power. The policies may have built up workers' self confidence in their naraly ability to co-operate with the government; but they did not build up the confidence and power to act independently once government had fail-
conditions
If anything they nurtured a dependence on government and the possibility of gaining sup-
which lasted long after sympathetic ministers had left the
Formal
This is in danger of happening all over
more damaging consequences. On the one hand the Labour Party's They
Jobs, Peace and guarantees; Freedom is based on the 1973 policies which Benn tried to carry through at the Department of Industry. On the other hand, even if there is some move to the left in the leadership of the Labour Party, these industrial policies will a matter meet the same concerted and powerful attack from the Civil Service, major industrialists and financiers, as Benn met last time; more powerfully concerted in fact, if the party's leadership production. itself is at all sympathetic to the left.
So the danger is that once again workers,
own slightly more cynical this time, will be sold policies by the Labour Party executive which the power in the end neither the executive nor the Labour
powe leadership workers' necessary industrial and extra-parliamentary power to carry out. But neither, with their existing policies, will they have prepared for that possibility by building up the power of workers
da.
Though Benn and his policies have encouraged a more political trades unionism within many shop stewards committees, it is usually political in the limited sense that it
unemployment requires political solution, which means a solution from
from the politicians, from someone other than themselves. So in a way it is a political trades unionism which only feeds the present erosion of industrial
The reason why the Labour left's policies have tended to have this effect is that they completely underestimate the kind of power required to challenge the corporations and their allies in the state. There is a hint of this over optimism in benn's Granada lecture, ne commends the extension of collective bargaining to cover health and safety issues and to try tocover control of pension funds, and then
'Next on the agenda for trade union negotiation must be an agreement for the joint
tor, planning of a whole range of company policy about. marketing, investment, mergers, manpower planning, and the distribution of profits with a requirement to agree on all these matters
in, and I think they must face it, is that they are confusing extra-parliamentary struggle which I
with anti-parliamentary campaigning which invites the labour movement to repudiate its past.
Here is the paradox: What is the ballot box but a revolution? Of course it is a revolution. I invite you to go round the world today, and find how many people would give up their lives for the right to do what we can do which is dismiss our government when it comes to a
I think Paul Foot's party and the IMG are •so small partly because people fear that power was acquired the way Paul and Tariq and the other socialist groups wish to acquire it, the people would lose the right to dismiss them if they were not satisfied with what followed
The British working class created the British Labour Party and we have the means to win consent for socialism by democracy. Any other sort of socialism is unachievable and would not be worth having even if it could be achieved.
Speakout
- The idea that such agreement is possible is
consistent with benins vener 'welfare capitalism is no longer possible for the British people' (as he said at the Labour Party special conference). It could only be under the
of welfare capitalism of capitalist boom and prosperity — Illat tic con flict between workers' immediate interests and those of capital are sufficiently blunted for such agreements to be anywnere near possible
Imagine Lucas Aerospace agreeing to joint planning for socially useful but not necessarily profitable products, or GEC agreeing to joint planning about mergers!
might sign formal papers and through som( ritualistic discussions. But these issues of investment, mergers, marketing, and such like, go to the very heart of capitalist accumulation They are not like health and safety, where it is
usually of bargaining over an extra cost for the employers. Bargaining over investment, mergers, etc., especially in a recession, is like bargaining over the very basis of capitalist
We need to distinguish between workers' organisations developing and fighting for their
plans and proposals for an industry which can lead to temporary victories through
: which such plans can help to build; and the idea of joint agreements on planning and the future of the industry. The idea of
plans on investment, products, quality of the welfare state, the organisation of industry, as a means of extending workers industrial and social power, is next on the agen-
Workers at Lucas Aerospace, in the powe engineering industry, in hospitals faced with closure, and elsewhere have already put it on
agenda. ino apre monts inn tharrangements for joint agreements on issues on the agenda is to tie workers to the illusion of welfare capitalism and weaken the power needed to create socialism. Back-up
To criticise the left's industrial policies in this way does not mean that policies for a socialist government are irrelevant. It means that whereas the Labour left proposes policies which assume government will have the power to challenge private capital, and workers will provide a back-up, we are arguing for developing a strategy by which public sector and industrial workers, and community organisations will have the power to challenge the private corporations and the state, a socialist govern. ment would provide a back-up and support.
That sounds a long way away. For the pre sent it means policies, campaigns and political initiatives which not only build up the strength of workplace trade unionism in its present forms, but which also encourage links across companies, across industry and the public sec-
across the workplace and community organisations; in other words which encourage the kind of links which are necessary to draw up and fight for policies to meet working class needs, and at the same time to lay the basis fo * socialist society.
Page 9 scan of this page
INTERNATIONAL MARXIST GROUP
battla a iclocs
Valerie Coultas and Phil Hearse IT IS appropriate that a great ideological ferment is going on socialism as the While open warfare has Labour Party, the far left is going through an important recomposition and debate.
•a a number or sides mie relevance orymne to build a new socialist party on the Leninist model is being challenged. Many comrades Dest Carce on SOCUISI HOW Labour Party - by renewing it,
campaigning party, winning it to left-wing Iliass, policies, or splittng Il
For many people it isn't the desirability of an alternative socialist party, corstco wcs aa corol
Other people, Beyond the Fragments and accept many of the ideas and obiectives of the organised far leit. now belleve that the objective of building a revolutionary party is undesirable because of Leninism's alleged inability to comprehend the scope of socialism's objectives.
They pretent pur thee together movements movement, the anti-nuclear and ecology movements, ne womeis movencal ad so ole olich wucy Leninism as restrictive and authoritarian.
In some senses, these arguments seem reasonable at first glance. Why should the idea of creating a new party on the basis of a model dreamt up in Russia in 902 have any relevance? Isn't it true that the revolutonaly. organisallurls dogmatic? Elitist
Undoubtediy, worker militants is that the Labour Party can be won to left : policies, and this is the
• tight for ac ucrac c which incidentally authoritarian and élitist than the far left organisaLIOES then becomes the crucial issue. Through committing a Labour government to conference decisions, they hope, socialism can be achieved.
Socialist Challenge's response to this is not the "Labour Partv is rubbish' argument of Socialist Worker. We support all those fighting for socialist policies in the Labour Party through the experiences of testing this course out in practice. But while supporting their fight, we believe that ultimately another coursé will be necessary
Ts tre toa Benn is noi me sae a c and a government with Bennite policies of reflation and planning agr t oramary peopie. but we douot uilal it would orlllg socialism.
The Labour left doesn't stand for breaking existin• system. but for radical reforms within These objectives are admirable in intent, yet the last Labour government was elected on a similar proarannc
n mn emen ma broo e ece ! was sabotaged by the Labour right - whọ didn't want to implement itine civil service.
A Labour government which wanted to implement a radical programme would have to force the big companies into planning agreemens to secure productive investments and to plan production; it would have to push through planning of trade; wone tave a massive dame danst enencac• m' terests to cut arms spending, soak the rich, and so on.
Just like Allende in Chile, to really force through « rauca mu lalllc. sweeping nauonalsauons, Il is necessary to conlon big capital and its state apparatus.
You can't make a social revolution by agreement with the cavitalists. You have to mobilise the working class for revolutionary mass action to take politica power, forcibly if necessary, tions and their police force, their army, and the rest.
tionary mobilisation and mass initiative. conceivable that the Labour Party would adopt a
Leninism in the '80s?
inside British 1980s get underway. SLOERIE which erupted in the
British CLISI believe that the Inou Lac building it into a extensye
but the possibility of its
particularly those who look to
energes ro ana the anti-racist
see
Halt Lilly allu
the crucial argument for most
way to get socialism.
Labour Party „ Thousan times more
truth in this.
will have to go - LIC)
reements would bring many benefits
- and the big corporations and
which must ultimately involve
fetishes possible. from the big
do that without a policy of revolu-
Name Address
Telephone
revolutionary policy.
Its whole ideology, the strength of its established bureaucracy, and its methods of organisation pre-
would split a long time DOCe wo OuLe IICW is based on a revolutionary Neither the Labour Party, nor any knitting together
'movements' can substitute for such a party
Yet can such an alternative party really be built?
is entering economically and politically. 'workers will be radica lised by unemployment. talling living standards, and the threat of war.
Any argument which says that there won't be an capitalism will be able to solve its problems without a salol fact massive crisis. But not even the bourgeoisie believe mieresio cuss. orural lis sculle Delcr
Refreshing
It seems certain the large majority of those radicalised, looking for political solutions, will look to the Labour ere bouw mie more muran mmnonly especially young workers can building a revolutionary alternative
contrary lo tue asscruons new pamphlet Refreshing the Parts Others Cannot
the revolutionary left is growing. Through the unity of its forces. especially would be possible to quickly see the building of a магхс nob auene dockls wokco ral…l small revolutionary party, which would challenge the Communist Party as the main force to the left of
This is a realistic, achievable huiding of a revolutionarv nartv in the '80s is Dossible because of the depth of the crisis which is developing. It will put massive pressure on all the existing political alignments. It is in periods such as the Dre sent that revolutionary parties are built.
true, though, that authoritarian, dogmatic and incapable of responding to new movements and issues? As a criticism of those sectarian 'Leninists' who believe that the commandist model of a secret underground party Russia is adequate for Europe today, there is some
We will not build a mass revolutionary party in this countrv or any other country if we assume that commandism and preaching to people is the way to go about things.
We havè to be ambitious in our goals and aim for
Perene hat i obrnin oieh to in ceprate nary
opinion within framework — Parlamentarv deputies would be ac countable to that framework.
The heritage of Stalinism modern Marxists. Monolithism is werkn ncavuly of matese a hindrance. e,is frightons aney mant
La hindrance. potential supporters
Sterile
It affects attitudes to unity in action. Nazi Leaque and the National Abortion Campaigi broke out of this sterile approach and drew thousands of young people and thousands of women Troni dier •venness to ocoale arauc rallzc U forces actively involved
Mass extra-Parliamentary action will continue to be me aa eus donal time to come. But to build a mass party, the far left has to become an attractive force for those it wishes W ms class Unity in struggle with members of the Labour
Party and the Communist Party will be essential to this aim. But we must go weaver-merc lo lic cis l lic Lavour ral the politics of Leninism
must be broadcast as far and wide as
Within our ranks what unites us is far greater than what divides us: for workers' control as opposed zo worker coorn nc aeco tis
the extension of democracy to direct control through workers' coun-
I am interested in the IMG
Return to IMG, P.O. Box 50, London NI 2 XP
before revolu. party is needed perspective.
La truly momentous Millions
saying that be won directly to of Peter Hain in his
of the International
objective. The
the Leninist left is
in Czarist revolutionary
and years of isolation
«vsor over uie sunacs
The Anti
on social issues for a long
further. To present an at-
- not the organisational
The bickering
Parliamentary
Please send me further information
Revolutionary socialists in the 1980s have to pro vide a positive alternative, a rallying point, for all those who reject reformist socialism.
must come to an end. Revolutionary socialists who see the need for a new party in Britain must come together and discuss. The choice is clear. Benn's road or ours.
ON 17 March 1980 packed into
Benn, the
tionary left
edited account of the debate
The Other Bookshop:
almost 3,000 people fake part in the Debate of the Decade. Tony Central Hall,
Stuart Holland, and Audrey Wise put
case of the Labour left. Tariq Ali (IMG), Paul Foot (SWP), and socialist feminist Hilary Wainwright argued the case for the revolu-
The Crisis and Future of the Left is an
with an in .troduction by Peter Hain. Published by, Pluta, Press, it costs $1.50, and is avallable trom,
Page 10 scan of this page
STOP THE NUCLEAR
AGENDA
LAST week at a secret
NATO base northern
Norway, the generals and
air marshals of the 'Free
World' decided that the first
of the Tomahawk
missiles will be located in
Britain and Italy.
The Cruise missile is one of
the latest examples of the
renewal of the arms race in-
itiated by the United States.
Apart from the Cruise missile,
the United States is spending
hundreds of billions of dollars
on its new 'MX' underground
mobile missile system.
The siting of the Cruise
missiles in Britain has nothing whatever with
'defence? of Britain. Working people in Britain have no in-
terest whatever in a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, or in being the missile outpost of the United States.
Nuclear war
In a recent television programme, an American general admitted: If there's a nuclear war we want it to be in Europe'.
zone question of disarmament was one of the main questions which divided the recent one-day Labour conference. The Labour primed David Owen to intervene at the conference in support of Cruise missiles, and James Callaghan went out of his way lo oppose disarmament.
But Owen and Callaghan were opposed by the wnelling majority of delegates. The Labour Party's National Executive has already come out missiles and any replacement for the Polaris missile.
To support its demands the National Executive organised a mass demonstration to take place in London on Sunday 22 June. This is one of the most important demonstrations to have taken place for years. It marks the rebirth of an anti-militarist movement Britain, which can have a big impact on British politics in the coming months and years.
All branches of the IMG should be mobilising for this demonstration. Already number of branches have taken the lead in organising local collied agalsi the armament programme. On the
IMG 1980
CADRE
SCHOOL
New speakers
THREE new speakers at the IMG's Summer Cadre School are Norman
and Livio Maitan. Geras, author of *The Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg', speaking on 'Some Philosophical Problems in
Krasso, Budapest uprising of 1956 and a pupil of Lukacs, will be speaking on the Hungarian revolution.
Livio Maitan has just returned from an extended stay in Nicaragua. Given the momentous developments taking place in that country, Maitan's presentation of the development of the revolution will be of great interest.
DOODLEBUG!
Cruise
the nuclear
right
nuclear
over-
the
Cruise
demonstration there will be an anti-imperialist
has which clearly places the blame
for the threat of nuclear war on the American war drive, the preparations of the United States to fight the development of the revolutions in Central America and Iran.
Socialist Challenge believes that nuclear doesn't make sense withdrawal from NATO — our supporters will be raising the demand forcibly.
Youth will be youth contingent demonstration.
те- It not
Socialist Challenge supporters labour
Geras, Nicholas
will be
in the
lists
to just attend the demonstracontingent tion. We must use the remaining two weeks to get support for the and culate our sympathisers and SUDDOTLCTS transport.
Callaghan and hoping this demonstration will be a flop. So are the Tories and
disarmament all those who hold the military
without establishment and the alliance with the United States dear.
We must
Revolution demonstration is a success,
organising
the to thwart their insane plans which threaten sufficient for people in the
Europe.
Special Courses
A number of special courses will take place at the school. Two of the most important will be on the History of the British Labour Movement and Marxism and the Family. The option of Marxism and the Family will include items on how the family structures womens' oppression, the socialist movement's analysis of the family, and a debate on Engels' view on the origins of womens' oppression. Speakers will
Margaret Coulson, Branca Judith Arkwright, and. Valerie Coultas
The course on the history of the British
movement includes discussions on a) Chartism and the formation of the labour movement, b) the Communist Party and the labour movement till 1926, and c) the postwar development of the labour movement. The school will take place between the 12th and 18th July 1980. A deposit of $10 will secure you a place, but the full 247-50 has to be paid in advance by the 31st of June, 1980. This will cover your accommodation, all meals, morning and afternoon coffee and the full programme of events. Detailed programme, reading
and information regarding. ¿venue will be received on registration.
demonstration,
and organise
Owen are
ensure the ordering 20 or
badge post fre working whole of tional.
Magas, Name/Address...
British take
1)...
2)... the
I won't die for Thatcher # STOP • CRUISE MISSILES NUT
COMING SHORTLY: just the
Balet to ran ze in te
demo. 20p plus 10p p&p. OR
make money for your local
campaign/organisation
more at a
bulk discount rate of 15p per
All rders be pre-paid to Hackney SO Box 50, Lon doroup, Education
Attendance at the school is open to members and sympathisers of the IMG, Revolution Youth and the 4th Interna
I am interested in coming to the summer school. I am a member of the IMG/Revolution /I am a sympathiser of IMG/Revolution from enclose a cheque/PO for. owards the £47.50 cost of the schoo Please indicate which options you wish to Note: It is only possible to take two options.
Cheques payable to 'The Week Society'.
Calling
all teachers
'TEACHERS have just received a big wage rise.' If you believe that you'll believe steelworkers got 18 per cent. But I'm not falling into press lies in asking all socialist teachers to make a contribution to the IMG emergency fund.
does something about it. In the NUT, we have collaborated with other militant teachers in building the Socialist Teachers Alliance. This led the fight against the bureaucracy at the Easter Conference. The IMG couldn't collaborate in this alliance without resources. The IMG is the backbone of the STA.
I am asking all teachers to give a donation — and one that means something. If it doesn't hurt, you can afford more. All IMG teachers are being asked to donate a minimum of f25. Strike a blow against Clegg yourself. Make out your cheques to "The Week'. BERNARD REGAN, General secretary East London
THE OTHER BOOKSHOP
NEW:
Connolly's Marxism Bernard Ransom Pluto, £2.95 Arguments Within English Marxism Perry Anderson NLB, £3.95 The Other Bookshop, 328 Upper Street, London N1 Tel: 01-226 0571
MAIN SESSIONS
Workers States, and Europe.
in the Third World.
..(Town)
Afghanistan.
The Cuban Revolution.
Revolution in Nicaragua.
(Debate on Afghanistan)
Revolution and Spain, 1936.
Revolution in Portugal 1974/5
tion.
Everyone moans about the bureaucracy. The IMG
Uncommon Market Stuart Holland Macmillan, £2.95 The main sessions are grouped into = three parts: The Colonial Revolution,
1) Permanent Revolution and Strategy Stalinist Global Policy from Yalta to
2) Political Revolution in the Workers States - Hungary and Czechoslovakia
3) The German Revolution 1918/19.
Counterrevolution in
The nature of the Coming British Revolu-
(debates on the Trades Unions in Late Capitalism, and State Capitalism 41
Page 11 scan of this page
HOW BRITAIN DIVIDED
THIS weekend the Committee GEOFF BELL recalls how and for Withdrawal from Ireland is why the original division of
THERE are a number of reasons why Ireland, for the first time in its history, was split into two political units in 1921. That the Irish people wanted partition not of them. general election of 1918 — the last time all Ireland voted together showed what the people did want.
Of the 105 seats which Ireland was allotted in the British parlia-
rein, Republican 73. more moderately, nationalist Irish tarnamentary rarty won six, ine Unionists 26.
Here Wab overwhelming vote for Irish Republicanism - a majority far larger, for example, than the secure devolution for scotlana and Wales in the 1979 referendum.
Even in the North of the conuv a maon or me •eode vore! for Irish independence. Of the nine counties in the province of Ulster orescul day UIster 1s made us only six of these), the Unionists had a majority in only four; and in
tionalist minority was far larger in comparison with the Unionist majonly man we monst ummonity was in Ireland as a whole.
Self Rule
Even the Unionist vote itself was not an endorsement of parti-
Ireland should remain united, but In britain. As tne nistorlan weorge Dangerfield wrote: "On the whole, therefore, it might be said of the
poor case for the exclusion of the six counties.
Fi was not the first election in which a majority of the Irish people voted for form sel-me. omniar resuus man been recorded many times during the previous hundred years — in fact, ever sunce une susa. a me er o the eighteenth century.. abolished the devolved Irish parliament and
an Irish uprising. Yet the elections of 1918 were different from
Sinn Fein's LIUSC morish was more extene ? any other ever endorsed by a mafor ornaletesh and demandered freedom from Britain. The success of Sinn Fein flowed from the prestige KisIng Ol 1916 which, ill-supported though it was at the time, had a powerful efTeCI on the consciousness of the Irish people.
Mandate
The mandate the party received in me eecion was coon exere ced by the unilateral establishment of an independent Irish
Dalilallicill.
He al
The 'Democratic Programme of Dail Eireann was unanimously duopica wien lne us facpunes)
isa kepudican proclamation Cha right of the people of Ireland torthe
INTERNATIONAL /IRELAND
was The mosi The
holding
Conway Hall,
Red Lion Square,
London WC1 (tube: Holborn)
destinies to be indefeasible...
of we declare inal ine nation's
sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the nation, but
nation's soil and all its resources, wealth producing processes within the nation. we re-affirm that all rights to private property must be suboramated to te pubic rigal and welfare?
The rest of the Programme OUl detail the principles on which the Dail should operate. would be described as left social.
the Dail was predominantly drawn ranks bourgeoisie.
Neither in social composition dormeramme was Dall explicity working class. Ine phrase coined by Sinn Fein leader Eamon de Valera during the elec.
remained operative. Indeed, many in Sinn Fein were profoundly anti-
Nevertheless the British coalition government of Lloyd George ANNA SNIAOTO DOMIT insisting Armed conflict right met We declare in the words of the the awo sides das inevit be." Ireland.
¡ peaceful road to pondence had run its course ownership, of Ireland and to the blocked by the determination of ,
'Voices
Saturday 14th June
democratically the Irish people.
What made the British resist? It WaS self-determination the minority in North-east Ireland.
fluential in British ruling circles, especially within the
cluding Lloyd George, Democratic Minister, tried on a number of oc
Rio persudue lic to accept some form Today, these home rule for a united Ireland.
the Dai was predeminany rawn Proposals
petty The Government's proposals, published in 1920,
the First all-Ireland parliament sometime in
Luc alle
opposed to dependence.
It proposed iwo 'Home Rule' parliaments, one for
nine Ulster counties. both parliaments SLICLIV limited. rule stance, would retain defence, foreign mance. The British Irish would retain overall authority in
Ireland, both North and continuing, to. send + MPs.
IRELAND
Withdrawal' forum in London. stormy years, 1918-21.
VOICES FOR WITHDRAWAL
Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey, Peter Hain, expressed will of established
not the opposition to Irish
expressed by between the governments. were certainly in-
LUI rall Britain's coalition, in- freedom. the Prims Irish colony Britain's LOYalSI of controlled its Toreign
proposal SISECHICC thal British colony. envisaged the proposed six, It is ine government Or from nine-county
logic was a slice
most of the
te olner Tor SIx of tne
The powers permanen contros. would In a nine-county control of affairs and of power. parliament unit.
South By the time the Gọ
for Ireland took place during the
Speakers include: Ernie Roberts MP, Clive Soley MP,
(historian, editor Irish Democrat), Ruth Addison (Young
Liberals).
Plus: exclusive filmed interview with former blanket prisoner.
From 10am. Social in evening from 7.30pm Delegates £2, Observers £1.
Organised by the Committee for Withdrawal from Ireland, c/o Youth Office.
National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1.
A Council of Ireland would b • will a view lo l eventual establishment of a parliament for the whole of Ireland and to orine about marmomous acuoi the parliaments and and the
Expressed here was the nub of TISI . The British feared that if controlled their own financial terests would be threatened; if it own defence and The affairs Britain's resis wince would be endangered. The entir amounted to an ireland remain a
Collins, Arthur The geographical boundaries as distinct were Childers
simple: they wanted as of Ireland they treaty. which the percentage of Irish nationalists was small enough to give the Unionists The
Ulster the Unionists would have no guarantee manoeuvred So they rejected it in lavour of the artifical six-county on inem
terms were not •cepted,
Never
along
Desmond Greaves and Britain were at war. On one side, under the authority of Dail
to Army; on the other, the British Ar-
Royal Irish Constabulary intamol mercenaries, the Black and Tans.
Half of the elected members of the Dail Eireann were in prison, and the British Government repeatedly
Greve negotiate with the "murderers' of Sinn Fein and the IRA.
strength of the Irish changed the government's mind. Towards the end of thing. 1920 negotiations began
The Irish side was represented
Griffith, Michael Robert Barton. E. Dug Gavan Duffy and Erskine They went to the London talks on the explicit understanding that they had no authority to sign a
They Manoeuvres
British negotiators were headed by Lloyd George. and the talks were a triumph for him. He
took Irish delegates to one side and worked
individually, and eventually threatened "total war' on the Irish Deople if the British Deac
without Socialist Challenge
Dublin
The peace terms included the right of Britain to use the Irish naval ports; an oath of allegiance to the British crown to be signed by
member or te Inso parlia
meng the lines proposed in try
proposed not ireland Bill of
Lloyd George also told the Irish delegate: that a boundary
established to review the exact size of the Nor thern state would take two nances awaron u ster which would make the state too small to be workable.
promise together Was with the threat of "total war' that finally persuaded the Irish to initial the peace treaty.
Treaty
When the Irish negotiators returned I to Dublin they wait de. nounced by de valda alli otner ministers. An Irish civil war followed (although in , sense it was a further phase of the War of Independence), with British helping the pro-treaty side to vicfor Eventually the South of Ireland state was to win complete political independence from Britain. Twenty years later the oath of allegiance and the British use of Irish ports
rescinded, 1949 the British Commonwealth.
The one outstanding matter
corner Ireland. The boundary commis sion, when it finally reported five
al LC the treaty, accepted partition as it was
Throughout the negotiations and the which them, many in the British Govern ment would have preferred to see a united Ireland being But they did not force the Loyalists
accept the majority verdict of the Irish people.
It would have been relativel easy to do. Almost all of 'Ulster's
imposed and collected throughout
UK; a withdrawal of these revenues would have Killed "Nor. thern Ireland' stone dead.
Total War
There was no way that Lloyd George and his coalition govern. ment would have done any such
To them t perfectly legitimate to threaten 'total war' on an Irish population asking for nothing more than the right to rule LICUSCICA LoveS to objecting to such democracy was another thing
The Loyalists WELC by memoers or the same class tha controlled the British Government
shared too the ideology • 01 British imperialism — that nativer had to be kept down. The Govern ment also knew that in 1912 Britist
mutiny if sent against "Ulster'.
If the British Government had insisted that the Northern come of Ireland be part of Ireland as a whole, acute divisions could have
ing class, Unity of that class, was
laced above unity and democracy 12 june 1980 Page 11
Page 12 scan of this page
Petr Uhl scandal—campaign launched
Iran: US coup plans exposed
China ACCORDING to reports coming
common in the 1950s.
to minor as loitering or being jobless.
In February
no decent occupations,
to mend their ways despite repeated admonitions.' Portugal
its territory, alliance's nuclear planning group.
important for?
South Africa
has established to draw up a constitution.
"slower thought processes' than whites.
'slow thought process'.
on an equal basis?'
United States 24-32 months to 18 months.
and increase enlistments for overseas duty'.
El Salvador
suspended. West Germany
waste storage centre in Gorleben, Lower Saxony.
drop the reprocessing aspect of the plan. Socialist Challenge, 1? Jure 1980. Pase 12v.
INTERNATIONAL
AROUND THE WORLD
.out of China, authorities there are sending thousands of people to rural labour camps, reviving an internment without trial system
Chinese sources are reported as saying that so far this year Peking police have sent more then 5,000 young people
're-education through labour' camps for offenses as
Former workers at such camps say that although the maximum term is set at four years, many inmates must stay for the rest of their life because there is no work for them elsewhere. Chinese dissidents are also sent to the camps.
this year the Chinese People's Daily reprinted on its front page the government regulation permitting the detention system as applicable to: "people with
who behave like hooligans counter-revolutionaries ... people who have been dismissed from government jobs, who refused to work or who willfully keep making trouble, jeopardise public affairs and refuse
THE Portuguese government declared last week that it would not permit the stationing of NATO nuclear arms on
despite the country's membership of the
Defense minister Adelino Amaro da Costa said that nuclear capability is 'not important for Portugal'. Who is it
THE South African regime's minister of posts and telecommunications, a certain Mennie Shit (sorry, typing error, the right name is Hennie Smit) explained last Thursday why blacks are not included in a new body that the government
Smit declared that blacks are 'less developed' and have
The reaction of the black Anglican bishop Desmond Tuto was most 'undeveloped' and obviously a product of his
After declaring that Smith was 'sick', Tuto asked: 'But if Africans are less developed and have a slower thought process why then are the whites afraid of competing with them
DESPITE the attempts of the US ruling class to engulf the country in a great wave of patriotism, there are indications that perhaps not so many Americans are prepared to die for the American Way as Messrs Reagan and Carter would like.
The US Army announced at the weekend that overseas tours of duty for single US soldiers and married soldiers who travel without their wives will be reduced from the present
The change, said the Army, 'is an effort to boost morale
THE ruling junta in El Salvador has extended its 'state of seige' for 30 days. Under this all constitutional rights are
The El Salvador regime continues to torture and kill as many of its opponents as the army can find. But the government itself remains shaky. One indication is that all European embassies, apart from Italy's, have now closed down.
WEST German police and frontier guards last week used water cannons, helicopter squadrons, and armoured cars in an attack on 2,000 demonstrators who for the past month had been preventing test drillings for a planned nuclear
Gorleben has been one of the centres for protest by West German anti-nuclear power groups. The town was originally destined to be the site for a compreensive reprocessing and waste storage centre. But pressure forced the government to
ACCORDING to new information reaching the West through the Palach Press news agency, the Czechoslovak Stalinists are trying to break Uhl's physical and mental health in prison.
Uhl is a revolutionary Marxist and leader of Charter 77, civil rights movement. He was gaoled for five years last October in a trial which involved the jailing leaders and which brought an unparalleled outery from the labour movements of Western Europe.
The Labour unanimously condemned Uhl's arrest last the July and again unanimously condemned his imprisonment in October. The leadership of the British Communist Party has also condemned the jailing of Uhl and his comrades.
We now learn that Petr Uhl, who is being held in a strict regime labour camp at Mirov in north Bohemia, notorious as the DAMNING evidence was published daily last from the Tehran conference on American
Iran, outlining lengths which perialism is prepared to go to look after its interests. However, the interests of the Iranian people figure in the accounts American intervention.
Perhaps the most astonishing revelation the plan
the Shah's last prime Bahktiar, at the head of a military
ralli, unal
to a military coup in Iran!
WICH thousands of tons of military hardware are on the way from cal Ulllla the
dian Ocean post for East defence of the Afghan people is at stake, ring less and less true.
ALLCI lanure called hostage rescue -revealed at the conference to wer oevone a mere Icscuc US is having major difficulties in the face of the deep-going anti-
Committees
The conference, ex-Attorney Clarke, co-incided demonstraton Iranians thousands who died revemon a amist une onan. fronted with a mobilisation of this scope, Khomeini called
cartel court for his flagrant violation of human rights.
This movement has indicated its potential class character by its rapid identification with the plight of black people in Miami Tameous mercres on prayer day in
different cities chants of 'Blacks of America, atre aBlacks or An suooo ters.
America should be set The struggle in South Korea
solidarity.
The anti-imperialist movement today combines with an extension of land occupations by peasants, especially in the provinces around
and in northern
cils, have been formed in new areas in recent months. Lessons from
Petr
the Czechoslovak
of other Charter
Party executive
week
intervention
the US im-
didn't
of
drawn up
minister,
the
South
British - which was
struggles involving go - the workers' over their industry are ac cumulating. 'There are limits on the develos ment of the shoras. First, they are only coordinated and centralised
not seen by even the most advanced workers as a political alternative attended by to the government. Furthermore
Ramsey the shorah leaders refuse to adwith vance any demands to break out of
these limits the Ivevertneiess, une nrst tentauve
the 1963 steps towards unification of the
shorahs has been COn Although the
for a trial dominates the shorahs, a break is
world becoming evident. On May Day
called. In the morning; the Işlamic shorahs marched. moon. nowever. two to turee unes as many demonstrators rallied to the call of the Fedayeen and non-
DoUl Islamic shoras.
with • MOST important however, in Kurdistan. «overmeni troops distan trying
ror luc mst ume macre das Deen ? serious decomposition of the Iranian army, with desertions among the officers Since August ing of the Kurdish, population has
coun-
numbers land Neighbourhood
worst labour camp in the country, is banned from keeping any written material of any kind, even letters from his family.
He is not even allowed to keep his own notes on the fulfilment of his labour norms, nor a copy of prison regulations He is banned from keeping pictures of his wife and children. He is allowed no visits except one hour every six to eight months from a close relative and that meeting must be supervised by guards and nothing except family matters may be discussed.
Uhl's chronic bronchitis has become acute since April because of the extremely heavy work to which he is subjected: he is forced to carry loads weighing up to 86 pounds up 67 steps.
Despite Czechoslovakia's Law on Imprisonment, which states that prison conditions should be 'humane', the Stalinist regime clearly intends to break Petr Uhl during his five years in prison.
At the end of May, the Defence Committee, which has led the Armed militants of Iran's Turkish minority.
control
established Khomeini exten. ano thev are
of repression
The registered organisational clergy
the after.
Hall cobIC
, is the escalating struggle Imam Today, half of leading role in
CLIC are In Kur- movenent
bassy occupation,
tories.
generalised arm-
increasin take-overs
committees -
Crechoslovakia, lo
their conditions.
The
tions protesting
their prison conditions
visit them.
cial assistance 1o
Charter 77 which have many of the features of the civil defence committees so important in the success of the insur-
nave OCCI
attempting crush the ad-cavens movenen in the name of anti-imperialism He justifies the ruthless use of the minorities because it dividess asalls national anti-imperialist front'. A new wave
against the left is
universities for sical base such groups as the redaveel and ont place where political debate has centred since the insurrection 1o
speech by Bani-Sadr calling for the universities to be 'Islamised" Ans imposition of an Islamic cultura. revolution' has nothing to do with advancing the interests of the Ira-
students, who ahti imperialist played the
closure as an extension of the em-
be followed that by occupations of the land and fac
Whatever truth may be at tached to such claims, this can't be the starting point for assessing th torcerui closures. It ignores carefully prepared political campaign by the ruling class to purge the 'universities and weaken the anti-capitalist movement.
campaign in this country for the release of Petr Uhl and the other Charter 77 political prisoners, launched a campaiga to demand that a labour movement lawyer from thais
allowed to have access to the Charter 77 political prisoners, aad to study
committer is asking labou sations to pass resolu agaiest the impriso. of Petr Ubi and his comrades, condemmin
and that a labour movement lawyer be able to
Protest resolutions should be sent to the Crechoslovak Embassy , with copies to the Defence Coramittee at 14 Elgin Court, 16 Montpetier Road, London W5. Finan-
the families of jailed Chartists showld be sent to: The Charter 71 Defeace Fand, Hon. Treasarer Reg Rece MP, 133 Crierson Road, London SE23.
Today Khomeini and government are trying desperately to roll back the gains made by the of the Shah. The testimony of the strength of the mass mobilisations is the inability of the ruling class to governmen with enough impose The continuing rifts between Bani-sad
are evidence of the deep crisis bourgeois leadership in Iran todav The best way socialists can ensure that the anti-capitalist move. ment in Iran is strengthened is to organise against the US war drive; campaign for the repeal of th British sanctions bill which receiv-" ed its third reading in Parliament week: demand
and to support the struggles of all the oppressed and exploited in Iran Re Tardinh resistas de enc of the Kurdish resistance socalsts would do well to take note or tne statement dy leaders o resistance which explained that, in the event of an attack b 'American imperialism, they woul defend Iran.
They are dead right, because the fight against Carter's war drive is fundamental to the defence of the Kürdish, nation, however falsely Khomeihi may try to counter pose them.
Page 13 scan of this page
Nicaragua set for showdown
…while Cuba challenges US imperialism
By Brian Grogan
THE last few weeks have
confirmed that a new stage
has been reached in
Nicaraguan revolution:
workers' and peasants'
government has
established on course for a
socialist revolution.
In response to this and the
situation in Grenada and
Salvador, the
revolutionary plans
perialism have been
celerateet
There have been provoca-
tions aimed at Cuba
threats against Grenada. most serious of all is the im-
perialist activity in support of
the dictatorship in El Salvador:
Washington has
granted the military junta six
million dollars in military aid.
Mercenaries
In Guatemala, an army of 5,000 mercenaries, made up of ex-Somoza National Guards and counter-revolutionary Cubans and Vietnamese, is being trained on the property of the rich landowner Sandoval Alarcon.
seems clear Washington is preparing to make El Salvador the focus of its stand against the developing revolutionary process in the region.
The resignation from the HULa of the Nicaraguan Government of National Reconstruction (GRNN) of the
Alfonso
Robelo Callejas, the leader of the bourgeois Nicaraguan
Dioleta ticarios me, and
Violetta Barrios morro, marked a decisive step towards the formation of a workers' and farmers' govern-
The exit of these leading right wingers and their replacement by bourgeois figures is not just a change faces. Rather signals the elimination from power of the capitalists as a class the new ministers chosen by the Sandindista Front, the FSLN, and can be removed by them. Reconstruction
This, In turn signifies the crisis of the FSLN's project, envisaged in the 1980 plan for economic reconstruction, collaboration with sectors the capitalist class.
After the overthrow of the Somoza regime, masses demanded an immediate drastic improvement in living conditions. A rapid improvocal was al however,
By John Clynes THERE is little doubt that Cuba is supporting the radical course being taken in Nicaragua. The events of the last month can only be interpreted as preparation by the Cuban people and government to respond to the imperialist threat in the region. against US imperialism in the 'March of the Fighting People'. The defence of El Salvador and Nicaraga were central themes of this demonstration.
bassy, United States, were obviously an organised provocation against Cuba. Nobody has ever been deported or prevented from leaving Cuba.
This was
INTERNATIONAL
with capitalists...
the
been
counterim-
and But
recently that and
two of allowed for by of reconstruction' situation was much worse by the refusal of whole sections of the capitalist and clan out or a tial of the their enterprises, only resumed production, according On 17 March five million people demonstrated
The events in Cuba around the Peruvian em-
which sparked the mass emigration to the
the plan for to Frederico Carda, the vice-
minister
made average, those firms that are in
operation are less than half their capacity.
have This
'decapitalisation', as it is call-
exercises in the regions was to have involved a massive landing of US marines at the US Navy base at Guantanamo in Cuba
But the demonstrations something else. They involved a clear message from the Cuban leadership to the people about the choices which faced them and the choices. As Fidel Castro pointed out in his May Day speech to one and a half million people, the choice is either to fight against imperialism or to capitulate.
If the Cuban people fight, have to face even worse hardships. The United States blockade of Cuba will undoubtedly be intensified. Oil supplies are likely to be interrupted.
In this situation Castro publicly took to task those in the goverment, or in managerial positjons, who would accompanied by. US modating.to American imperialism.
planning. On ing factories
functioning at supported these moves.
been taking process of Agricultural Reform 'Solid Shield 80' - which
Cuba were also
of their
said Castro, they will
prefer an easy life gained by accom
decree of a negotiate, workers.
Thus masses, FSLN,
This
the
majority.
to this decisively
new clashes.
Given
capitalist
outside most
deemed Nicaragua American in the AUCTICA
PRESS/ INPRECOR ed, has led to workers occupy-
demanding they be nationalised. The FSLN has
Land occupations have also
place and the Institute one year. (INRA) has intervened to turn
He pointed out that some of these people were
among those leaving Cuba. Their exodus was also
part of the preparations for the coming confronta-
tion.
As Castro explained in his May
*...the work of the revolution and the building of
socialism is
women and is absolutely voluntary'
The three gigantic demonstrations of the past
three months have shown to the whole world exactly
what the mass of the Cuban people think about the
tiny numbers who have emigrated.
This class-struggle stance by the Cuban leadership
in the face of the developing revolutionary crisis and
the mounting pressure of imperialism is the best way
of staying the hand of Washington
It has. to be met with our solidarity with Nicatagua and El Salvador.
over the land to the peasants.
This has led, among other things, to the partial refusal of the landowners to become in. volved in the reconstruction process, and it is still unclear whether a large part of the cotton crop will be planted.
Merchants have begun to organise against the FSLN's
price freeze on basic necessities.
A series of strikes have taken place for higher wages or for the recognition of the nonSandinista trade unions. Many of these strikes have been opposed by the FSLN. Strikes
In general the FSLN has been opposed to the interrup tion of production caused by strikes, while being prepared to
and has rarely rejected all of the claims of the
the actions of the supported by have forced capitalists out of any significant say in the economic plan.
provoked a crisis of the coalition government. The immediate issue was the calling of
Council of State willa decisive worker: and peasant
The response of the FSLN
crisis has set them on course towards establishing a workers' state This will undoubtedly lead to
• the control of the army and the formation of a workers' militia by the FSLN, there is little chance of this course being reversed by the
forces inside Nicaragua. The main danger is
intervention. This likely begin in neighbouring El Salvador.
The FSLN leaders have been intransigent to the growing imperialist threat. Tomas Borge clearly indicated that an attack on El Salvador would be
attack on itself. Any attack on El Salvador is likely to lead to war
whole of Centra
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and and the Middle Easy. the RCT's three-day conference is •Tireland theory of na migrant workers I RCT, London WCIV
ALTo, London CV AX
Hands OfF MOONS RAT Campaig
Saturday 28 of Irelar Smash the H-Blocks!
Railton Road. Londo 1 SE24 C Campaign, 45
marching against the people of
In 15 Jun (Marble Arch tube)
10 Cheltenham Rd, Bristo IMG NOTICES . Madona race sat hay on il
Sat 21 June. Note change of RSHIPS aggregate. Sun members meeting. Fri: 27
Page 14 scan of this page
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Page 15 scan of this page
'Simply the finest, most subversive film on leland ever to lighten your screens'
UNDER REVIEW
By Martin Collins WrEN the Socialist launched Socialist Review in April 1978, it embarked on an extremely ambitious project. The aim popular socialist magazine wide ranging news coverage with coverage of all the issues facing socialists.
Politics, the editors argued, shouldn't be defined by our rulers, but seen in its broadest sense embracing music, theatre, films, television and sport, struggle against women's oppression as well as the igni Ior nigher wages .
In some ways, it was a similar goal to that which Socialist Challenge mazazine format of Socialist Review, when backed by the weekly Socialist Worker, gives more scope for extensive debate and discussion.
It was a big challenge. In 1978, after four years of a Labour government which attacked the working class, it was obvious that neither the Labour lefts nor
connauust ray challenge to the right wing. Yet, the far left had shrunk.
The economism and sectarianism which had led to hostility between the far left and the women's
prevented the left demise ot the 'new lett' on a European scale or of facing up to the new tasKs fragmenting at the first opportunity
The massive growth of the Anti Nazi League, cononn culture anna propaganda, successes of Socialist Challenge and Socialist Unity, forced the SWP to review its own reputation.
Socialist Worker tried new formulae and ideas. Arnt: We discate oureves from the sertarin. ment: dissociate ourselves from the tone. We think the left needs more open and fraternal discussion and less point scoring.
Of course, Socialist Review suffered many of the problems associated with Socialist Challenge. How can the magazine be opened by 'intellectuals' without closing it to worker militants repelled by the language By Carl Gardner The camera peers out from a car slowly touring what looks like an ordinary council housing estate. The place
the Creggan, on fringes of Derry, that mean and monstrous piece of architectural apartheid by the Loyalist-run council to keep the city's Catholic majority from asserting their political power.
The day is sunny and quiet.
A dog barks somewhere. young child stands motioniess by a phone box. A bird chirps.
The car turns a corner, camera scans walls and slogans
'Stuff the Jubilee' 'Up the Provos'. Meanwhile woman's voice, hurried then hesitant by turns, intones a deadly litany of names:
...there was the McCulp family... Joe Coyle... Eamonn Lafferty, he was shot dead. there was Kitty Thompson, she
five whin McGillin, Keenan, Newton Sheimaus • Bradly... Barney McGuigan, hé was killed on Bloody Şunday...
McPhael, he was killed with a plastic bullet... Daniel Hagertv se was so over te cor field on the morning of Motorman...
At sixteen falters, 'I'm sure there's a lot more than that but I just can't remember off-hand'
This remarkable
called 'Creggan' made director Michael Whyte, 'And I think the Catholic ole began to realise that Peo
the army came here it wasn't really to protect them, it was to protect the interests of the British ruling class.'
Thames Television and Mary Holland, recently sacked from Tonor Cruise o Brien For her The Observer: ęx-liberal
Workers Party
was to fill a gap for a
combining
though the monthly
Welc caballc ui ШaKШZ
activists,
from evaluating the
before it, without
ano mre cary
uculally
featured
the
built
the Colin
Tom
question.
However, remarkable KLOSL sucaes anone ting, this radically-conceived and moving account of politics
she the ground in
Ireland is scheduled to appear national television Tuesday night!
The film's style is simple, tilm stark and uncluttered. A list of
by it doesn't contain
Wholl give a strong idea of how different it feels compared with all that has gone before it: no archive footage of meningless violence; no dramatic music; no moral condemnations; no arnest, middle-class presente irom London talking glibly of 'tragedy', 'violence' rorism'; no army spokesmen; no one from the liberals, academic "expert'; no one from Goverment, North or Jeft-of-centre views on the trish, «South; - no Loyalist spokesper-
How is it possible to produce a magazine that is clearly identified with a political party and ideology yet is a lively forum for debate between people with widely differing viewpoints?
A fine balance has to be struck to interest the first-time reader. ana a dne samne ume co rase tne cutural and political understanding of the committed
By the end of its first year, Socialist Review could
La healthy balarice sheet. With a paid sale of 4,000 (which is still rising), its list of Trom ne len was moress ve — TO sull lOcuClu Sheila Rowbotham A large numbér of topics been tackled from the traditional which way for the left' type, to examination of 'scientific objectivity'.
A regular leature lookea at popurar wnlers trom culialy t pointes oin eerene waf cove d, per. Feminism, Chena. theatre and the
News items 'behind the facts' and extensive book reviews were always topical, steering clear of an attraction simply to 'left type' books.
the articles provoked letters' — always the sign of a vital publication.
Minor criticisms could be made. The articles on
son; no 'moderate' Catholic what is perhaps priests; no hostile interviewer;
that, and very little TV voice-over at IBA permit-
contain? Apart from the brief Northern 'To me the Provisional IRA next was a crowd of young fellows that just tried to pay back some of the brutality that they had got. will historical voice-over, there are Just two clements
interviews with families and individuals on the Creggan talking to camera.
This is superbly cut 'ter- fascinating long, almost static
RUC; .no
homes, Derry the Brits, venic e
sociclist
REVIEWed
side the SWF
the Vietnamese contributors
non oerween aralysis
But
tried to
La stream of IN LOVING MEMORY OF
OUR DEAR SON MICHAEL GERALD KELLY
AGED 17 YRS
MURDERED BY BRITISH PARATROOPERS 30 - JAN. 1972
cemetery;
What then does the film
frame.
sound:
The core of film is extended SCOT the
portrait of smiling, with faces coming off duty. low-key, shots of the inside and outside its is immediately plus street-scenes in pn patrol; a check-point search; a
sport and TV which were in Socialist Worker never'
made mto soco kewew bur mne man ober
was that debates that were to become important in
like that over black liberation and
mome over me awl ard tac unca rolt. or cvc!
over electoral work and Socialist Unity — were not
reflected in the pages of the review.
Some big issues of politics that have stimulated
controversies elsewhere have been absent. Explaining
invasion of Kampuchea,
invasion of Afghanistan, the character of the revolu-
tion in Nicaragua, should be as much a subject of
debate as the theatre or cinema
There is a danger of making too much of a separaane dIscussIon • WricC lcWs
is analysed and culture is discussed.
Socialist Review has always tried to en-
courage an active relationship with its readers, and
new features have been added. An 'industrial discus-
sion' section has been put in which has reflected the
debate inside the SWP. An article on trades councils
provoked responses from new writers just when it
ooked like the letters page was drying up
'The new 'movement' section has already review
ed the International Marxist uroup in conrerence
and it will hopefully be able to analyse developments
inside the left in a way that the magazine wasn't able sloganned wall; shoppers; the
people entering the Cathedral doorway for mass -
shot symmetrically echoed enemy. later by the doorway of the Law Courts with armed RUC men. walking in and out of
audience
And all shot with 'natural'
car-engines, barkings, shouting, all the usual noises of a warm, sunny afternoon.
The brilliant political control underlying the film can be
sequence at the British army base, where for a moment the camera seems to side with the army - a familiar
strained
But this easy identification
undercut as Mary Holland äsks Do" you ground: regard the soldiers as your enemy?" and an unseen woman
Communist Party
Woons.
SPECIAL OFFER , the Soviet
advert.
Box 82, London E2.
(Institutions add f3). ning, The replies 'Not the soldiers but the uniform that they wear... when he dons that uniform, he's my
The film is designed to address an uncommitted British
no heady Republican retoric, no explicit appeals for "Troops Out' and
The argument is embedded in the film's style and text verbal over-kill is not required.
Instead the audience is drawn 'He said that talking had never solved Derry's pro blem, that the politicians hac done absolutely nothing and that the only way to get the British to leave the country cast was by the gun.
in and approached on familiar
everyday -sounds and events; clip from d US crime series on the box, in someone's
Socialist Challenge, 12 June 1980
to do when big discussions were taking place in th
SAnew brenna secuon aas been accec nal aa laid out clearly all the arguments against import controls, arming militants for the big debates in the
Hopefully, these new developments will be able to build on the strengths of Socialist Review. It wouk be disannointing if the ovenness and breadth of ar proach were to give way to the immediate tasks of the anti-Tory struggle, as important though that is.
soctaust keview avrect oy post costs sup an asu (incl. p&p). A 12-issue sub is f6 inland. From: Socialist Review, PO Box 82, London E2
socialist
A FREE copy of Colin Sparks'
new book on fascism NEVER
AGAIN (bookshop price £1.95)
to all new subscribers to
Socialist Review enclosing this
Return to Socialist Review, PO
SUBSCRIPTION Rates for 12 issues:
UK and Eire f6: Overseas Surface £7:
Europe Air f8: Elsewhere Air fIl.
front room; early discussion of housing problems, family planunemployment and the need for the husband to seek work elsewhere er te emes ovi on to more overtly political events: the early Civil Rights movement ('the very fact that the police didn't allow them to march drew me and thousands of others out'); the Bloody Sunday massacre; the political attitudes of the estate's young.
Suddenly you realise that both these 'ordinary' couples are in fact the parents of young men imprisoned for IRA activity. But retreat has been cut The origins of Republican support and militancy have already been sketched almost imperceptibly. Hod Britsh revul sion, good old moralism becomes impossible audience is forced to think, to engage, to puzzle out this conundrum.
There will be many critics who will say that all this is just variation media 'Do the English working class mothers really unders. tand what their sons are doing over there? You know i think there's a lot of things happening here which have been deliberately kept from the English public.
'manipulation', but that woulc be to miss the point. All films TV ,programmes • invoive 'manipulation', they all consist of an artificial, constructed of the world. The difference is that films like this 'manipulate' to force the au dience to question that world the bulk of television manipulates to make people accept it.
CREGGAN will be broadOn ITV at 11pm on Tuesday, 17 June. All those with access to video-recorders should make efforts to tape it - it will, be an, invaluable visual aid in raising the issue of reland in Britan Paso 15
Page 16 scan of this page
Socialist Challenge BLACK YOUTH FIGHT RACIST GANGS
HUNDREDS of Asian youth took to the streets in Birmingham's Small Heath weekend in response to attacks on the Asian community by gangs of skinheads.
This followed a week when racist violence in Small Heath alarming, new heights as racist white youths began a series of systematic attacks on the Asian community. The week-long invasion of Small Heath was mobilised by British Movement skinheads from Shard Stetchford.
Tuesday 3 June: An Asian shop was attacked by 50 white youth and a West Indian woman was beaten up.
Wednesday 4 June: There were attacks on Asian youth in their school playgrounds. By the evening a hundred skinheads had Muntz Street. On the other side of the road, 150 Asian youths also gathered to fight off any attacks.
Dogs
-The police intervened, exclusively against the blacks, and made several arrests.
Thursday 5 June: The police took over where the British skinheads left off. A massive police presence during the day,
with dogs, meant harassment for the black youth who were congregating throughout the area in self-defence.
Many Asian youth searched.
By 10pm
crowd of Asian and West youths had gathered by Small Heath
park, in militant mood. The elders of
the community addressed the crowa,
calling on the youth to disperse until
an afternoon meeting two days later. Skinhead
The black youth, fed up with
police harassment and racist taunts
from skinhead mobs,
pressed and the call was made for a
demonstration the next evening.
meeting. of immigrant associations
and the left was called for 6pm on Fri-
day before the demonstration.
Friday 6 June 6pm: While this
'Ad Hoc Defend Small
meeting discussed plans to deal with
the racist attacks, 200 Asian and West
Indian youths assembled outside in
Muntz Street.
By Steve Potter
and Ciaran Toal, were assaulted.
in Armlags.
with no jury trial.
life being pure hell have been withdrawn.
The prisoners are demanding:
Regstered with the Post Office as a
last
reached
End and assembled
and West Indian Movement
complete
were strip-
Thursday night a Indian were not im-
demanded nouncements
Led off to find them.
Heath'
That evening FOUR prisoners in H4 Block, Long Kesh, were attacked by warders during a wing shift on 30 May. Two of the four, Thomas Moran and Sean Boyle, were badly beaten, and two others, Sean Connolly
This small news item in the Sinn Fein paper Republican News is one incident anong the many attacks that are made on prisoners demanding political status in Long Kesh and the women's prison
The prisoners are there as a result of the 'conveyer-belt' system of justice in the North of Ireland. Those who are now in H Block and Armagh have been tried in front of 'Diplock' courts
The prisoners have refused to wear the degrading prison uniform and all the so-called "privileges' which stop a prisoner's
ASIAN youth showed their fighting spirit when racist thugs threatened to make Brick Lane a no-go area for the local black community in 1978. Last weekend Asian youth in Birmingham's Small Heath demonstrated a similar
When a spokesperson announced that there would be a rally on Sunday
the militant youth immediate action. Anmore skinheads were arriving in Small Heath resolved the sitaution as the black youth rush-
saw more clashes with police and skinheads and arrests.
Groups of black youth were to be seen
Support the H Block prisoners, support Charter '80
* The right to wear their own clothes; * The right to refrain from prison work;
* Restoration of full remission of sentences.
meetings, and education around the prisoners' case.
of the prisoners in their fight for political status
campaign.
patrolling the streets of Small Heath during the evening.
Over the weekend the youth maintained vigilante patrols in Heath, while other groups of Asian youth made their way into the centre of town to make contact with Rastas from Handsworth, and with members of Revolution Youth.
Through Saturday and Sunday clashes with groups of skinheads and the police continued.
* The right to free association among political prisoners; * The right to organise their own recreational and educational facilities and receive one visit, letter and parcel per week;
Supporting them in Ireland is a mass campaign, the National Smash H Block Committee, which has organised demonstrations,
In Britain there is also a national campaign the basis of which was established last week in London. The founding meeting of the campaign called Charter '80 decided to support the five demands
The conference of the Troops Out Movement to be held in Edinburgh at the end of this month will be asked to endorse the
The Charter '80 campaign can make a massive contribution to the case of the Republican prisoners, a contribution which cári. start to end the attacks'on prisoners like Thomas Moran and Sean. Boyle, and bring H. Block and. Armagh to the ground t
community.
Last weekend shows that the militancy expressed in the Bristol events was not an isolated Small episode fight back against fascist violence and against the police.
traditional leaders of the Asian communities are not prepared to organise this fightback then the Asian youth will do it without them, through their own organisations.
Britain:
Abroad:
Name
Address
iChedur solo indire
TROL refusal to be intimidated when fascist-inspired skinheads invaded their
Birmingham
levels - black youth in Britain will
Birmingham also shows that if the
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Racist attacks show every sign of continuing. Over the summer, record
youth unemployment, together with the sustained work being done by the British Movement on Birmingham's white council estates are likely to bring about a big increase in racist violence.
The youth need to lend their weight to force the local leaders and the labour movement to support self
← Socialist Challenge No. 150, 5 June 1980Socialist Challenge No. 152, 19 June 1980 →