Socialist Challenge No. 177, 17 December 1980
The scan: sc-n177-dec-17-1980.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
Challenge IRELAND'S TRAGEDY,
SHAME
ing death over Xmas.
be coffins.
It is another tragedy for the Irish people, a peo ple who over the past ten years, over the past hundreds of years have grown used to tragedy. That will not make the 80S2UP S199016212 bear, and certainly those deaths will do nothing to bring peace and justice to Ireland.
Picture
The British media paint a picture of a bunch of crazed Irish fanatics indulging in some grotesque suicide pact.
There is nothing wrong with being tanatical about justice; about wanting the people of Ireland to rule Ireland; about arguing that those who committea crimes tor poltical reasons should be treated ditterent v trom those who kill or steal for personal gain.
Ine iris political prisoners are saying that Captive nev could no longer su er the atrocious, in human conditions in which they were held caulive. ror me nuncer strikers, death is the only peace now available to them.
They will have been killed by the centuries-old British insistence that this contry has the right to interfere in Irish affairs; by the intransigence of the present government,
BRIAN'S
IT NOW seems certain that a number of Irish political
prisoners will die an agonis-
The Tories' Xmas gift to the Irish will
prisoners. under special aws, tries them in special courts, and then denies they are special prisoners.
But it is not just the Tories who are the executioners tor there are those in our own labour movement who are standing by and either applauding the executions or allowing them to take place.
Silent People like Michael Foot, the new 'left' leader of the Labour Party who has remained silent. People like the party's spokesperson on Northern Ireland, Don Concallion, who aseweek described a very reasonable, moderate
Socialist
pamphlet on the H Blocks, introduced by Ernie Roberts MP, as IRA propaganda'.
There are others, and it is time they; too, were named the Labour Party's socialist conscience. Tony Benn, Eric Heffer, Stuart Holland are among their number.
Cause Their silence or open hostility to the cause of the Irish hunger strikers is a contemptible insult to the internationalist tradi tions of socialism. iney side with Margaret Thatcher alainst mne tens oi thousands of Irish worktaken to the streets of Ireland in support of the hunger strikers. They side with the Army generals Taine unan nose whe have sought to resist the occupation of Ireland enforced by those generals.
And this Xmas it is they who are as responsi ble as any for Ireland's tragedy and Britain's shame.
If they die...
IN. THE event of the death of a hunger striker the national Ad Hoc Irish Hunger Strike Committee will be holding a picket of Downing Street on i
the day the death occurs.
The committee is also calling for any local
demonstration in London, on the weekend following such a death, to be nationally sup-
ported.
These demonstrations are: Sat 20 Dec, assem- ble Kilburn Sq, 1pm. Sat 27 Dec, assemble Ham-
mersmith Green, 1pm.
The committee is also calling for a series of regional demonstrations on the weekend following the first death. Supporters in Glasgow, Cardiff. Liverpool, and Birmingham are asked to
organise such protests.
For up-to-the-minute information phone 01-267 2004.
- the keepers of
+
TO THE PEOPLE OF
MAJESTY'S
No.177
Polish workers show their
strength
Rab Bird, AUEW steward Sheffield,
reports from Gdansk, 16 Dec.
HUNDREDS of thousands of workers are
assembled here to pay tribute to their com-
rades killed in struggle on this day ten years
ago with the erection of a special statue.
IRELAND FROM HER
GOVERNMENT
MERRY XMAS
17 December 1980 20p
Despite the form of the
commemoranon wiich wa
by a religious
pression
from Warsaw,
including a big contingent
ITON une Warsaw ?. stee works This
has been duplicated
throughout the country.
As the workers arrived
in Gdansk thev marches
from the station with ban-
Solidarity. The lla. OCCL
stewarded by shipyard
workers. No police are in
sight.
The President of the
Republic is on the platform
along with other notable those they are none
shot down in cold blood ir
1970. As Walesa said in hi Violence is te a des ary
1970 can never again be
reveated.
The workers are deman
ding an inquir into who workers deaths in 1970. responsible
One ncial version 1 45 workers were
that number were killed
The most denicanie ac down of
railway station in respons to a government appeal for a return to work. During th rest of that day fighting and
•WCH throughout the region
After the strike victor in August this year Solidar ty appealed for funds for of the 1970 events. Half
three workers were gunnes
All three were shipyar workers ame 1t1s Ineir teror workers -the
inscriptio gave their ive: so that we mignt live in aignity Shoulders man tea Solidarity the dead
Now the workers want justice. The have demand
ed the establishment of commission, on which thes woulu oc coresented. to iT vestigate the power of th
ministry et police, interio
ministr secutor's office They also demand massive cuts in the budget of the repressive forces
The authorities did everything in their power to limit today's mobilisations
tried to get simultaneous actions other major cities and Warsaw called off. The press put
wrong about une event Catholic hierarchy statements supporting the
me ta calcuca Doviet mave
But the workers know that there is a third choic between Soviet tanks and the Kania dictatorship. That
way becomes more possible as a Soviet invastion is made more and more difficult politically for the Kremlin
There knows
Kremlin's ney want sondarity trom us, not threats from NATO which reinforce the hold of the Kremlin.
Page 2 scan of this page
Editorial
Phone U1-35y 8189/8180 (editorial and distribution)
Oppose this
show trial
ON 12 January a trial will open at
the Old Bailey of four members of
the Paedophile Information Ex-
change (PIE), who are charged with
'conspiracy to corrupt public
morals'.
of the World so-called investigation, is an
assault on democratic rights.
The sole charge is that the four
distributed a 'contact magazine' to put PIE
members in touch with one another.
Doubtless the case will be used for an orgy
of media sensationalism and innuendo. The
targets will not simply be the PIE members.
The gay movement and especially the
women's movement will be under attack.
labels used to brand everyone who
challenges sexual conformity and the 'nor-
mality' of the family.
With the Tories' aim of bolstering the
family, the trial will be used not only to at-
tack the sexual freedom of young people,
but their right to any form of independence.
The law being used is an horrendous
one. There is no such crime as actually 'cor-
rupting public morals. But you can be
charged with 'conspiracy' to corrupt public
morals - the conspiracy laws are the most
pernicious on the statute book.
the labour movement on paedophilia or the
age of consent. These questions need to be
discussed.
adopted, there can be no doubt about the
anti-democratic intentions. of this trial.
Socialists must defend its victims.
to 2 p.m.
'More politics in the
unions' - Reg Race MP
WE asked left-wing Labour MP Reg Race about the present leadership stakes in the party, and how the left should organise. What do you think about the fact that Tony Benn and • Eric Heffer were elected to the Shadow
The failure of the PLP to elect Tony Benn and Eric denter shows that there 1s still an entrenched
win heir richiniche PLP
inclusion the Shadow Cabinet would nave marked significant shift to the left and it would then have been clear that the
Cabinet contained DCUUIC who
policies. for comerence Should Tony Benn stand
as
ader once the new election agreed Procedures are
My advice to Tony Benn is that he should stand in the erectonto be seo under toe new electoral college for-
believe it's important that trade unionists, constiLucky Darlics ald VIrS should have the opportunity of voting for a candidate
stands for alterMalaya surials suits.
Do.'vou- Think that the Labour Party conference, rather, than
would и body Le
reason the Campaign for Labour Party and ' Mobilising Com: Rank " Hilled SUBDULICE
com or me ener
Şöcialist Challenge
Socialist Challenge
Revolutionary socialist weekly
PO Box 50, London N1 2XP The trial, initiated as the result of a News 'Deviants', 'queers' and 'perverts' will be the Obviously there is no unanimous view in
But whatever attitude is
Picket the Old Bailey, 12 January, noon
Reg Race conference because we knew that the trade unions did not want to take on the themselves, through the block vote they wielded al une barty comerence sense Lte vocacy of an electoral col device
we supported as a matter of
shoula tne Lour setT organise in the unions?
There is a long-standing problem aboul lue relatiolso between bonuca and industrial action the
Gieve that the nature of British capitalism now reLo: oc ali doullnot or tais taise asuschon. and for the adoption of a by the trade will no doubt quire organisation each attiliate. together with i specific
constituency parties, and in the trade union movement.
17 December 1980 Page 2
London in just over a month.
odds are whatever the conference decides the immediate outcome will not be as dramatic as once forecast
of Michael
lic cities rool as party leader has LaKe some or luc rical ou or me debate. and RooL 1s unlikely to lace a senions challenge to his leadership
From my the cry has the Laboul Party gone out tnal tne democracy debate should cooled down - the important thing now is 'unity.
Numbers
this respect Ene around how the Labour Party leader should be elected been largely reduced to a numbers game
• UNIC rarlamehtar about ra sole have 38 per cent, 33 per cent or 50 per in an electoral college system
nent leaders of the left, and no major union leader, suggested •that i the national
suoreme secsor.
Party then it should be that conference, and not an artificially created electoral
•which should elect
he leade
hardly surprising that even 'leit' union leaders nave Taker Their advocacy of 'democracy' to its
conclusion and supported the right of the
ways in which these union leaders themselves cast their vuits al Labour rally
desired.
Special
lished in lasa seeker published Sunday Times,
OlIC Inon. Ine Nanone on
Railwaymen, will holding a special conference o decide which way to vote at Wemble
In other unions the decision will be leit to the na tional executive the
For without 'con sultation the Labour to the coales i
ralLy the decisior WIll Dased Donce bremors v estabusnee aline unions' . own national con-
bio
CORMAC
ARMIGH H-BLOCK
Labour Party
Democracy
likely to lose
at Wembley
THE special conference of the Labour Party, which will decide on the method of electing the party leader, takes place in Wembley.
Labour delegates to
play a numbers game
Few of the methods chosen will allow the mendersolo i the dominant say in which way their union will vote at Wembley.
Yet those who cast the block votes at Labour Party conterences co basis of how many of their
Party levy. In other words unt voles are cast unlalks lu une monev Dale by rack ane
democracy unions anu Labour Tallys var did parce or ine same struggle There is no simple formula for in precise detail, the fight for democracy in
THInK !
EVER
EARD OF JOHN
By Tom Marlowe
64
should • recom
how their vole doour rary con ferences.
Because the structures of unlulls valy: wilat Incul ot a cemocratc meltoo in ont union might not be the most democratic method available in another
For example, allowing the unnons Labour Party conterence delegates decide how the block votes should only legitimate if those delegates casalyck al c directly
- AND
Party conference has
following basis:
districts or regions
APEX, POEU,
ficials _ TGWU. GMWU.
By delegate conference - NUR:
Textile workers.
ficials - ASTMS.
Party conference -
workers.
Undecided - SOGAT.
65
In some unions thèse delegates are appointed or at least made up in part o uto! and spon sored MPs.
It is up to the rank and file in the individual union to work out how the fight for democracy in the labour
rement can be taken forward in thei that fight is joined union vul once there will be much more at
stake than whether MPs get a 33 per cent or a 50 pe
Pare header
be up for
How the main
unions decided
THE decision on which election system the main unions will support at the special Labour
been made on the
Decision by the executive, or similar leading body - NUPE, EETPU, NUM, UCATT, Boilermakers, NATSOPA, NGA, Blastfurnace union: By executive, in 'consultation' with branches
USDAW, UCW (Post OfWorkers, sheet metal workers, ISTC. Agricultural ASLEF. By executive after consultation with district of
By LP conference delegates - AUEW, NUS
By LP conference delegates, plus union of-
By national conference, prior to last Labour
FBU, COHSE, Furniture
LCC going
nowhere By Hugh Richards, Battersea CLP THE annual meeting of the Labour Coordinating Committee took place last sunday.
Although Tine aim is to make the Labour campaigning oran proposed action nons resolutions to detend the • workle class aLu KICI "nasuy asoosea or proposals were counterposed to the need i class commitAlternative Economic Strategy, while we should al wait for the next Labour government to carryhe out laci that açn sup
Ferent version was no cerer rent; this was considered all the more reason to support the strategy resolution from Socialist Challenge supporters calling charter fight for the week, support fo occupations, woman's right to work was rejected as accommodating to the recession'
trade
the Liaison commutice for tic werence race cons Our Unions and Broad Left : groups was rejected as mere posturing. also
government conference to be called or tour or bunchie t recal Lamoein conterence Local Government Crisis.
Both conferences are scheduled for the same dav No doubt militants -will choose go to one which plans action In posturing in this way, the LCC is heading awa from she cla •class struggle towards - in small Labour Party, group . counterposing propaganda for its owi dostract icones to neu TO • today's jobs and services
JUN LENNON
Page 3 scan of this page
Will South Wales smelt
list Challenge)
Photo: JUDE WOODWARD
Women steelworkers fighting for jobs CONDEMNATION of the carve-up by MacGregor, boss of the steel corporation, has been swift in South Wales.
Speaking to a Llanwern Steel Action Group meeting on Saturday - the day after
ISTC branch secretary said:
have to fight back.
What the lave done places ike Scunthorne and Ebbw Vale is a crime.
*Since 1973 Ebbw Vale
slashed 10,000 to 3,600 and now LICY IC chopping LOUSING jobs. delegate to the last ISTC
Bill Sirs deman. ding a recall conference.
Alliance
"The other steel unions should do the same. We have to press for national
The triple alliance must gét on with the 100 mobilising
Davies added: "The closure Port definite Man egot Consuccu
• He only steered clear this because we threatened militant response. But let's make no mistake, the axe still hang
- LIlIs Is Only a stay ol execution.
"Our job now is to build up the militancy inside the plant. Норе
Marlene Tovey , another ISTC member of the
backed
he plant will be safe if w narecore bromise to are good boys and girls is a
cOm They said this 10 planes
before and they still hem down have to take into Llanwern
seenonker treered to. lay, wherever they are
I'd like to see a nationa strike straight away This is he only hope we have.
the steel axe?
. lan
. Roger Tovey, a member of the
Haulonai. Union basemar cemen summons ee up the decisions of the steel action e wing:
mancarately ore, Velindre. Welsh SCOW • vale. alla
that if they take industrial action by striking or occu-
will organise support in Llanwern.
Plan
"we will start yarowing outside Tne plant. We'll also contact the miners definite assul diles they will come our will us it we lanc action.
"We must also make sure that the Wales TUC and the British TUC make this call
maustlal nawe wil . contact unc wales it to demano la it recalls a full conference to
The this
Llanwern action group is now
proposals to a meeting to br held with the Port
from Nevi coculative other South Wales plants hit to The Llanwern and Port for co-ordinated acTalbot that the hel
union leaders organise
without
•rea DrESSUC
Union otTicers
esponded to the reprieve o
and Port
by breathing a sigh of relief that their own backyara 1s safe. Closure
secretary of the TUC
has been quiet about his'call
for civil disobedience now
that there are only limited
closures in Wales
By Celia Pugh
The action groups reject this complacent acceptanc of devastating redundancie and plant : closures in othe Dalls ul Dillaill
They will contact the Yorkshire • area to "discuss how to exert pressure on the
the
triple alliance to organise unica acuol
will wrensule need to be brought to bear on the Wales TUC if it is to be forced to lead resistance
JICW „lance or rank ane e militants from the various Welsh industries was set up on 5 December to do just Lilal Force
The Wales Fightback Co-ordinating Group was established at a • meeung or
Income miners, the public sec-
scallich. and trades councils. LOTT
The group aims to co orainate TOSSE GULS fightback against redundan
South Wales, and strations to force th
official labour movement to
Industrial
curviunate tion across wales Mobilise
The need for such a cam-
paign Wats evicent wHet
natcher visited ne fir
Cardiff
2,000-s trong pickel with chants of:
vague O1 volt
bike. we need is a
general strike
But the Wales TUC dic
nothing to mobilise the tens of thousands une week out cout
Dicker Much grass roos ac
tivity still needs to be done
before the Wales TUC and the triple alliance
union officials are obliged
Home News
axe will fall
IAN MacGregor's new closure
the present economic crisis.
reduced form sand jobs
go wrougu outer Ton. Vale, Rotherham.
Port Talbot and Llanwern works
jobs in the last three years.
cent.
OTTENDE
Where Macgregor's
plans will affect every steelmaking area in the country. No one is safe from the dole, and the latest 20,000 redundancies will hit areas that have already lost thousands of jobs as a result of
Since last march the BSC workforce has been
166,400 to 140,000. Forty-four thouhave gone since September 1979 odorateen one normanor Park Works in Scunthorpe will close immediately with the loss of 2,500 jobs. A further 4,800 jobs will
Teeside, Sheffield and
The remaining redundancies will come through streamlining and productivity deals. ine corpor tation expects to chop another 5,000 jobs from the
in South Wales steel industry has already lost 24.000
Scotland will lose a further 1,000 jobs other areas will face cutbacks of around ten pe
money goes By Pat Kane
it lost £544m.
Secret BSC documents revealed by
closures.
the crisis of the rationalised steel GOER
losses • per tonne
to private industry.
Sacrificed
BSC's problems stem from a
dreamed up what was optimistically
in five giant coastal sites. The plar
liquid steel would be som tonnes
steel industry was 1974. World-wide production was at record levels and
steel. The following year the market collapsed.
18 per cent, by 24 per cent in West
could absorb: the
of the cuts and offered to reduce its workforce by 40 per cent
private steel firms. Capacity
former to 15.2m tonnes in 1979
capacity to 14.4m tonnes. results in thousands of redundancies
- workers. By the time MacGreg the workforce will be under 1 time for the unions to say tha enough.
thousands of redundancies.
unabated
the deluge of redundancies in the
Tories out of office.
'Socialist Challenge
• Where British Steel's
THE Steel Corporation claims that it will lose anything up to f600m in the 1980-81 financial year. Last year
BSC is forcing through thousands of redundancies in order to balance its books.
Socialist Challenge in July showed that the corporation is planning further cuts and
What they also showed was that although BSC claims it loses hundreds of millions of pounds, the big banks and private industry are doing very nicely out of
1975 and 1979, BSCs total wore a massive £1,215.6m - but it paid £680.4m in interest payments over the same period. In the financial year 1978-79; the corporation paid a massive £319m in interest and other bank charges. These charges add f12 to the cost of every tonne of BSC steel, whereas the American company Bethlehem Steel pays only f2.6
The corporation was originally set up to provide cheap steel for private industry. Between 1967 and 1975, the corporation lost f750m through underpricing steel supplied
combination of the economic crisis and stupid management decisions. In 1969 they
described as a 10-year plan. This was based on bulk steel production to be concentrated envisaged that by 1980 annual production of
The last year of boom for the world
production actually exceeded capacity. The market was glutted with 492m tonnes of
In 1975 steel production fell in Britain by
Germany, and by 20 per cent in France.
BSC's plans had rusted away, and the corporation found itself with an industry which had the capacity to produce millions of tonnes of steel more than the market
The corporation decided on a U-turn, and instead of expanding capacity as they had intended with the 'Ten Year Plan', its solution waş to bring capacity into line with demand. The nationalised steel industry could not escape the laws of the market place.
The same problems affected the rest of
capitalist world's steel industry. The EEC's European Coal and Steel committee recommended rationalising the European industry. BSC yolunteered to take the brunt
Since it was a nationalised industry, it could be sacrificed to save West Europe's
In 1978 BSC's capacity was 21.6m tonnes, it produced 17.5m tonnes, and only sold 13.5m tonnes. Bringing capacity into line with demand meant reducing the
Now MacGregor wants to reduce
Each reduction Ten years ago the corporation employed 229,940
js finished It's ough is
The steel union leaders have passively Астана он Rosues scam c productivity deals that have resulted in
But the crisis of the British Steel Corporation continues
All the nationalised industries are under attack by the Tories and their supporters in the various boardrooms. Only the unity of miners, steel and railway workers can halt nationalised sector and help to throw the
17 December 1980 Page 3
Page 4 scan of this page
By Des Tierney
WITH record
Scotland, the Scottish Trades Union
Congress decided to organise a con-
vention against redundancies.
fortunately it was
religious gathering
ference to fight for jobs.
The convention, held on Monday of last
week, was attended by
from all sorts of organisations throughout
The
delegates who were trade unionists were vastly
outnumbered by priests,
ficials, Chambers
tatives, and Tory Party officers.
Des Laughney, secretary
and District Trades Council, who was refused sea to intens looked on
had to
• a scand
University Conservative
about the
faults of the unions!
Three of the first five speakers called for
« Comer policy,
Bruce Millan, who has just been given respon-
sibility for
One of the Church ministers
gested that it might be time to reintroduce the
Means Test. Another Christian suggested that those of us with jobs might give a week's
wages to the unemployed The STUC regards these more bizarre By Pat Kane London commuters received a shock on Wednesday last
protested against public service cuts.
At 8.15 am they left Kennington depot South London, heading for Vauxhall Cross.
Astonished police watched as the lorries. decked out .with anti-cuts posters, went County Hall, the head- VUl
of the Tory-controlled Greater London Council.
COIC. transport • convenor for Lambeth, said: 'We wanted to show concern over the threat
•SCr VICS
une • manual unions Lambeth have decided on a week of strike action against cuts to begin on 2 February. Row
They are hoping that the Crisis' conference called for
7 January will be another
the lony cuts.
coe added: "The management was not told in advance
Knight when we col back Ted Knight is LIC icacel Lambein'S .
Labour controlled borough ConC
Peter Coles notthi
with Members
LIt local viallell of the LOWN
are defying nim. and refusing to council houses.
been dispute since early November, when
counci agreea to go amer these sales. Leonibed the backing of the Lambeth NALGO
executive LIC Lamlocul Federation Learns. the first
branch in -the country to oppose housing sales. Sales
Berlin, the NALGO housing convenor
Lapor any ant ande
‚loud last laursory wi' is own members were will Socialist Challenge
unemployment in
like a than a con-
over 850 delegates
problem was that the one-third of
local authority ofor Commerce represen.
of Edinburgh
hopelessly as he Edinburgh Club lecturing unemployment situation and the
for including Labour MP
Scotland in the Shadow Cabinet.
quaintly sugrates,
Dustcarts demo
against the cuts
week when 180 Lambeth council lorries and their crews.
Wing to defy the Here the terming ert-wing councillors not willing to.do Sallic He also pointed out that opposition to sales was both policy and the lecision of the 1 Novembe alll-Culs conterence.
Organsed the unions and the councillors.
Berlin told the meeting 'I don't understand how Labour Party ucmocracy works. our surely there's something wrong in Lambeth.'
With Tory Environment Minister Michael: Heseltine about to announce the new
ment is gene rerov to impose supplementary rate rise for Lambeth The three Labour
borough this Tale rise at specia • Hicclines nexi WCCK. Snor sicwards view a rare rise as preferable to cuts in services and redundancies. argues that Lambeth taken leading stand in refusing to make culs In local services
Local Government in
Crisis Conference
Central Hall, Westminster Saturday 17 January Open to all labour movement organisations Credentials from: Secering Committee, Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton Hill, Brixton, London SW2
17 December 1980 Page 4
Unemployment
utterances as a small price to pay broad representation which it was able to get at the convention, and the agreement to set up a standing commission to put pressure on the government.
Perhaps the STUC also regarded it as a. small price to pay for the support it received
Its watered-down version of the native Economic Strategy.
In his opening speech John Pollock, the STUC vice-chairperson, concentrated on the need to get the government to reduce interest
control overscas mvestment Import controls on a wide range
lese proposals were echoed by Geor
olton, vice president of the Scottish NUN
to the public. save 'The scale of cuts demanded the in our contaunity, but do millions o1 our exsen snatcher and ese tine demand, would undermine our basic social housing and environmental SCI VICE our wellare state which we were elected to protect and improve. Rates 'If we have to
where it truly belongs. at the i latchel ano Heseltine.'
This attitude mav be ac. ceptable wealthy Mayfair Lambeth thousands of working class DCUDIC WIlO wi have to beat the brunt of any supplementary rate rises Knight not determined the Laut WHOSES fight against cuts. His inactivity is bound to reflect : on the tendance at the 17 January conference. Unions But Lambeth unions are organising They are discussing holding
• part or tnel week or action main aims of the conference Henruary une the has to demand that other Labour councils ¡cluse lu implement Torv cuts. either trouen reactors in services or increases in rate The conterence wilk ne
sector workers
dem and sing
cillors also take a stand ir tie Igut lo save toe wellare state from the Tory axe.
Home News
Scottish Convention on
Talking to Tories
doesn't save jobs
for the Import.
countries.
Alter-
Marion
TWO important strengthening almost half a million Ford workers around the world have recently been held.
The International Metalworkers Federation Ford World Auto Council met in Valencia, Spain, in mid-November. The unofficial Puropean Ford Workers Langley earlier this month.
Both meetings . were timely. Ford deer crisis 1980 R In the third quarter f248m in the
United States alone,
where losses for the • year run at £2bn.
The company's response is the same everywhere: cutbacks and closures accom Daniel by the troduction technology further its. ability tion on a global scale, international labour solidarity is the only effective barrier to Ford management's plans.
The two • meetings duced different
ConTerence was bureaucrats'
Most of those not Ford workers but union
the three lay delegate: in the Il-strong British delegation, one was
controls were needed to protect British workers against the unfair competition of other countries, he argued not explain what would happen if his strategy
adopted by trade unionists in
Through this smokescreen of economic jingoism, middle-class concern, and religious sentimentality, a small number of trade union delegates were able to portray the anger of the Scottish working class.
Easdale of the Engineering Union's white-collar section made a powerf appeal to the trade urg a woman's right to wa i to make s that women are treated as allies in the fight fole jobs and decent wages, rather than being seen
Ford workers seek
international links
meetings aimed the international unity
Combine met in
Dagenham convenol convenors' of* the panel, another aha general secretary of the Association ot scientific Technical and Managerial Staff branch in Dagenham Engine Plant Communist-leo unions France, Spain, allu rul tugal were excluded. resolution the IMF conference spoke of 'solidarity the (SocialistFord/Spain, ahmunis-led 10.
Workers Commissions which have the most shopfloor workers in
Despite vague appeals to Ford manatemen recognise free trade unions everywhere the solidarity by the IMF was a ban on
about to unleash unemployed Glasgow ference in the new year. ed the Tories that the steelworkers,
Sammy
plicitly political,
Bolton did don't need you.
other- that
the Polisi ultimatum should be unless they LO CLIDY reduce the
action.
Gilmore
delegates CUCCES comment STUC's pantomime.
Ford
By Mick Drake
overume in the event of a strike in Britain or Australia
such was
• Presumably if it has that effect, it's okay. Results
The Euroneat Workers Combine (FFWC' was more redes. meeting
grouping ported by the union leader-
ArUra blalll.
Denmark, and Portugal; by Communist-led unions
French and Spanish militant and shop
Britain and
Most coilall
the acciacc [na
wage contracts would be the tion in the Coss of redundancy and the
jobs vauscu robolisalloll
Ford is already trying to renege on the 1979 British should have given reduced
as the competitors for 'men's' jobs
The spokesperson for the STUC Youth Advisory Committee warned that they were
.the anger of Scotland's youth marching from to Perth to greet a Tory Party con-
Clive Lewis of the steel union ISTC warn-
'Triple Alliance' of miners and railway workers would prevent more redundancies by BSC.
If there were any highlights it was the Sovan shipyards Sweeping aside the air of «Gilmore,
Convero
politeness which most delegates had assumed, Gilmore warned that his speech would be ex
He advised those present that there was only one force in society that could prevent redundancies and that was the trade unions adding: 'If you don't like the way we fight, we
Gilmore went on to outline his solution. What we need is the same type of movement
workers have built. An put to the Tories that 'immediately institute programmes the unemployed and to massively prices of basic goods and service. there would be immediate and massive strike
It was a pity that by the time Sammy
many ed with their feet and left the rhaps it was the most fitting they could make the workins time from November this Some Ford plants presently ycal.
WULK ICS 1 40 nours 38 hours 20 minutes a week Belgium 37½-hour veek in plants where a thre shit syster I Operate the critiçal struggle is for the 35-hour week In oppositior nationally-based campaigns Lne
of fighting Italianc no 11S WOrt • between • witho nien • or The plant losing the work. Export and export unemployment through im port controls - even if they - would on ly divide rord workers the face of the company's The EFWC will also be taking the pions at the of Ford unions IMF
Lioneli Metalworker Federation • to organise official international con non-exclusive ISiS with . delegates from the plants:
Page 5 scan of this page
Catholic church backs
By Davy Jones The Polish Catholic Church has issued a strong statement in support of the Polish authorities. After a two day meeting of the Polish episcopate, presided over by Cardinal Wyszynski, the Church called for an end to acitons 'which might expose the homeland to the danger of losing independence and statehood. ata kineti Derene the KOR (Social : Committee) and. other opposítion groups Church spokesperson Father Orszulik added, We have in mind mainly those noisy and irresponsole statements which have been made against our eastern neighbour.'
Showdown
Just as it preached 'moderation' workers in 1970, the Catholic Church has shown that it will back the regime the
asallist workers in any decisive showdown.
T "aives partial support for the oppositionists and the indepen-
How the Soviet
Union crushed
1968
with the growing
inasion, has.
in Czechoslovakia 1968.
January 1968 whet
Alexander over as parsy erel ary frist OOK
Novotny, the illusion was olalist
sul te on the European
Left that 'de-Stalinisation
could reform away the basic
contradictions of the sast
sul ocall reales
Dubcek himself
genuinely believed that his
'enlightened'
To ane
ao•aras coula win mass
support i and resolve
economic
into
question the leading role
the political monopoly
te commus Harv
Kremlin
ovainyss impotence and tired
dead-end. posturing,
see no immediate alternative
caulvusiy vackillg
vuocek In April 1968, after three
months of resiting pressure
other, Dubcek
Icaucls nD ouo istet
famous Action Programme.
This programme threatened
up the whole party
aparatus.
Novotny was finally
removed from his last post
as rresiaent or une kebabuc
and went into the political
Polish regime
dent unions to try and re-
tain its influence over the
workers as well as to win
greater freedom for the
Church itself.
Banning
But the workers'
leadership. in Solidarity
nas not been scared oft.
The national meting of
Solidarity
ei calvl erence
committee for •political * prisoners.
The meeting also pro-
tested the banning of the
commercial distribution
of the film 'Workers 80'
WICI • Was produced by
the official Polish TV on
this • ycal s August
events.
the Prague Spring
in Czechoslovakia
By Joe Greenwood
THE development of the Polish crisis,
menace of a Soviet naturally reawakened interest in the fate of the Prague Spring
Dubcek wilaerness. other leaders such as Josef Smrkovsky began to talk of ' and an end to the use sukranl repression political The tight press celsorship Was Teaxed. and Our History Azecoovak newspapers
were overnight filled with ascussion or tre camec o une ase
brans lay ers
society heir old ICSUNC anu incrcasungly unose elenens sacasas ıne secrel ponce wnich were its clearest Above all fear vanished as a basic fact of everyday life.
The Action Programme undoubtedly played a role in the spreading this climate was uc.w directed against Novotny. It was she nallame cor movement democracy based among intellectuals dan andine of and Icaucisilo bodies of. the Communist rally, nke Ine Prague City commitee In June the 2.000 word
manifesto' was published reflecting these pressures
Elsewhere protests atalis! repression are mounting At War saw Univeristy a meting was held on 13 December
discuss the student rebellion of 1968 and its suppression by the head
security at the time,
• DIU•
Darallad
revo luuonarv
Galle burcaucratic
December 1980 is the first anniversary of the court appeal lodged by the main activists of VONS (the Czech League Human Rights). human rights militants Charter T activists are currently serving heavy sentences
i chas ake ore Ph
years Peter Vaclav Havel, Vaciav
Dienstbier and Otta Bednarova.
They are suffering in scandalous prison conitions: Peter Uhl can every six months by his
International
The Catholic Church leaders preach moderation
Mieczyslaw Moczar, recently brought back to the Communist Party political bureau.
And as we go to press enormous crowds are expected at Gdansk tor the demonstration memorating those killed Czech workers' resistance to the Soviet tanks
Fi parlics. aoocaranice senn -
Appeal for Peter Uhl and Vaclav Havel
Vaclav Havel is not allowed to Wi as for Ortta Sada ise y had to be Several. hospital in view of her alarmand ing physical state Their lawyer mains excluded practice in Prague. Yet all of them have only been fighting Benda for their rights recognised by the Czech constitution and by international by authorities, Czech leader Husak will sign at visited once the Madrid conference. wife;
the 1970 shipyard strikes. The Polish workers have long memory. Demands for the punishment for those responsible for .past repression are certain to feature promnentiy the demonstration. ex-no itical
cecenosiovakia -struggle for as tor Otta Bednarova she ties
transferred to
wel
Danisz refrom legal political
agreements the Montand, (7CCn Ernest which no doubt
Touraine, Because our conception of Paris, Dec 1980
Polish workers
this one
of the Interior under Gomulka.
for the anti-Semitic campaigns of
the student revolt.
underground resistance.
strongman to deal with the current crisis.
LABOUR FOCUS EASTERN lidarnośc Striko Bulletins periment
H VCO C na artery heer socialism implies an indivisible
democratic liberthose with dis weri ats ehie sest he tse
West the name of those ideals of liberty and democratic socialism
prisoners Czechoslovakia Signatories include: Vadimir Borisov, Jean Laçouture, Yves
cillac Martinet, Mandel. Laurent Schwartz, Charles Tillon, Alain
Max Gallo.
Socialist Challenge: 17 December 1980 Page 5
should watch out for
GENERAL Mieczyslaw Moczar has been voted back into the central leadership of the Polish Communist Party (POWP). Moczar is notorious for his last period of power from 1964 to 1971 as Minister
During that period he was chiefly responsible
1967-8 that led to a widespread purge of almost all remaining Jews from public life. In 1968, as secretary to the party central committee with responsibility for the police and the army, he was behind the clampdown on
He was dropped from the political bureau in 1971 and has spent the last ten years in relative political oblivion. Ultra-nationalistic he has the support of many war partisans from his role in the
It is widely believed that he has been restored to prominence now as Kania's close advisor
EUROPE
Spring - Autumn 1980 2i.20/3.0 POLISH FREE
TRADE UNIONS
SaliDAn Diir
'ILA
ulal Sovernment Document on 'anti-socialist Activit
For the next three weeks Dubcek . Lul SULT ligUIC He denounced the
appled all mans stra ang
applied • to the independent for democracy But he still could not full olacale IOSCOW Olen ura lo reoression. witnou totally discrediting himself
and fii to un ao hal ceoi .
• Soviet invasion came on the night of 20 August, a stunned Dubcek
Afte much searching being Jected to the crudest form. • oressure Dv hissavle
Led the
course of events in his coun Ll y Disowned It was left to the party • activists, drawing • Ol Illas (DOvula support, organise the clandestine
invasion designed to prevent. In the TOnOW e HORLA utesi same activists, together with
resistance to the occupying oOWe! i In the end however the were disowned and deserter leadership a When Husak's era of "nor most crucial began in April 1969, the lack of leadershit in previous months left thi Dubcek's disn and the reversa . or tne re maning galns or the rragu Spring. secinical the Kremlin's operation in Crechoslovakia was resulted in its prestige in th macciilaliullal LabOE ment sinking to an al-time zow. ane ure western ccom munist partie entered eriod of crisis from whic they have still not emerged
Page 6 scan of this page
Will El Salvador be the next Vietnam?
The Carter administration has gracuany sacicascu US political, diplomatic,
and mintary volvement in support of the civilian-military coalition El Salvador.
This involvement is extensive growing. résources invested in this effort exceed those allocated to any other hemispheric CrIsIs since 1965.
Resource allocation and public statements have idenCentral America and the Caribbean with the late ot a relatively weak, unpopular
internationally isolated
Collapse
Various government agencies. have taken preparatory steps to intervene militarily in El Salvador. Policy makers appear to have concluded that such a move could succeed in preventing the collapse of the current regime.
Current policy consistently underestimates the do-. mestic legitimacy and international support enjoyed by the opposition FDR/DRU coali-
Furthermore, policy makers fail to recognise the scope of military capabilities of opposition guerrilla forces and ignore the logistical value and potential impact of their
neighbouring countries.
Contingency scenarios for US military deployment tend to underestimate troop requirements, casualty rates, and the : time and geographic scope of required engagement. Politico-
AHRIAN the potential for regionalisation of armed conflict in the isthmus.
In particular they underestimate the implications of the Nicaraguan and Cuban commitment to provide military support Salvadoran guerrilla forces
the of continued escalation of US involvement.
HOTOS and words have narrowed down our policy options to a single path of gradual escalation of direct military involvement in a region vital to out national interests and within a political context that gives the use of force few chances to achieve a satisfactory outcome.
Present US activities in El
Salvador Strengthening counterinsurgency capabilities of armed forces through:
*Increased training middle and low ranking officers.
*Improving military frastructures for more effective urban and rural combat
communications rapid troop deployment. Socialist Challenge 17 December 1980
of In
revealed the existence of a Savlador the regime. of to
*Setting up adequate supply material in cooperation with and hemispheric allies. *Providing strategic and tactical command assistance. *Increasing cohesion and o valius command structures Salvadoran armed forces.
*Seeking to for unified command the
military units operating in the country. in- *Establishing and/or im-
• cooperation among forces and organizations in Guatemala, Page 6
US Government tries to deport socialist THE United States government is trying to deport a socialist coal miner simply because her membership of the Us Workers Party. Marian Bustin, aged 26, has lived in the United States since 1971. She works at a coal mine at Virginia.
Marian was born in tive in socialist polltics Ir
the US is not an all-male but inside the mines there is no job oquality. belt clearer. Most of my A FORTNIGHT ago the media in the United States
'dissent paper' on El Salvador, written by members of the State Department and other government agencies.
The dissidents argued that the present drift of United States policy towards El Salvador will lead to military in tervention, and that a now, more conciliatory course is
In presenting these views the authors of the document make a full exposé of the role of the United States in E
that of covert material and moral support for El Salvador and Honduras. stockpiling Updating detailed contingency alternative responses to deterioration of condiadvisory tions in the region to include:
within *Political and diplomatic initiatives to be taken in the event that military ment of US forces is required bring under preserve para- regime. *Operational multilateral and deployment of military forces in El armed mala. paramilitary *Cost, casualty estimates under
International,
Socialist
Philipi, West
time on the job is spen!
shovelling
dust.
kind of job - it's sort
lowest rung
the coal or working any
machinery; your tools
a shovel and a rock dust
tually be adopted.
paper, The Militant. and scenarios. plans for. US
undertaken.
lines of
engage Nicaragua This current
plans for resources unilateral made Salvador and Guate-
and time favourable
bag!
Marian is active in the Workers Union. Because of unot and socials! activity she threatened with deportation, after yea: investigation by bluigratiou aud Natur alisation service and tal
The extent of the in.
against Marlan
lawyers as a result of the
is pursuing against.the
FBI. These files revealed that Bustin has been the subjøct of FBI investiga.
They maintain that direct military intervention by the United States would cause immense political problems and would probably not be supported by public opinion in the US: 'An October 1980 poll found that 60 per cent of all males and 68 per cent of females interviewed opposed the use of military force in developing countries.
The election of Ronald Reagan makes it unlikely that the 'moderate' course advocated in this document will ac-
sight into just what the United States is up to. corpts published here are from the American Trotskyist
unfavourable conflict *Evaluation of readiness status and recommendations
Simply on preparatory exercises lo dc
we interpret it, *Assessment of the neec and preparation of contingency plans for actions intended the to disrupt support and supply
Salvadoran guerrilla aile
partial list of activities implies an allocation of bureaucratic and financial El
situation exceeding any other hemispheric crisis since 1965.
No such allocation could have taken place without a majo their high level decision in the ad-
*The
tion since 1974 when she
La visit to the United States
Evidence
Most disturbing however, is the revela tion Inat much evidence political activities comes trom the embassy ir 'ne
call Heroin: on political activists tain up two possibilitie Either American
marion Tom lie soccid Branch sec. tion of the political police
the the
and Nonetheless it gives a fascinating in-
The exto Assessment
We consider these activities and the policies they
to be dangerously misguided. Current policy,
, is based on inaccurate intelligence, and or
suppression within bureaucracies of verified contradicting infor-
Salvador's domestic
*The governing Junta and 'the armed forces have failed to rally significant support for
reform and counterinsurgency programs
land redistribution
Britain; the
American ser.
vices are active in obtain
In britain
It is even conceivable
that both processes are
taking place . In any case
it is a matter i of deep con
all SOCIOR of
Socialist eCing enge
will 'keeDing
readers informed
progres: the Bustin case But
we shall
ting to find out how the
Tencan
about Marian and asking Pheir Support to tarians miners _give
struggle.
effort has failed to neutralise the peasant population and has not succeeded in isolating
guerrilla forces
*The urban middle class is divided among those who have already chosen to side hithe seeking to pave on. with the FDR
neutral for the me being
neutral the time being. Only a small fraction of this sector can be said to be committed to the survival of the „current regime.
*The documented expansion of military capabilities of
opposition forces, inclucing unel abinty to recrul
organize large condisplaced peasants, and to cause heavy TATTITTAN STOP COMPEND forces, makes it highly unlikeiv that a short tern military defeat of the guerrilla forces might be achieved.
"Neer me over nor the armed forces have been aDIe demonstri their will or ability to avoid indiscriminate repression civilian personnel thus contributing the rapid deterioration of their image among the population and internationally.
We believe that this support would not survive the introduction of US troops in the region. an Uc tober 1980 poll found that 60 per cent of all males and 68 viewed opposed the use of Us cent females intermilitary force in trouble spots in developing countries. Our proposals Signal Our Willingness
Abandon the Confrontational Track
Salvadoran and interna tional public opinion perceive the US as being committed to a military solution in Central America. We must signal our willingness to abandon thi course of action under certain conditions, without necessarily closing that option. To do so we must consider:
1) Taking actions which will clearly separate us from those sectors in and out of the armed forces responsible for gross excesse: against the population. The individuals involved have been identified by the FDR/DRU and by our own intelligence services
2) Taking actions that indicate. willingness to reduce the level of military support we are providing to the armed forces, for example by reducing or interrupting our training program and supply flows
3) Condemning the in. tervention plans of Guatemalan military and paramilitary forces, dicating • Ol opposition Honduran support for hostile actions against Nicaragua
4) Expressing privately and publicly OUl concern regarding Southern Cone countries' involvement in E Salvador. urge allies, including Israel, to aci with caution in the region.
Page 7 scan of this page
Stand up and be counted
By Phil Flynn, Deputy General Segretary; Local Government and Public Services
Union (Ireland)
AS WE approach the festive season,
time is running out for the hunger
strikers.
reversible
Shortly after, they will be dead.
After years of protest,
fronted the following range of options -
win recognition of their status,
and wither away, or die with
They could not and can never accept the
criminalisation of the national struggle
and of the national ideal.
They know that in every age and every'
generation for more than three centuries
past. not one single generation of Irish
prisoners has consented to wear the con-
vict uniform: that in every generation.
the struggle for political status has been
fought and won - sometimes at the cost
of life itself.
The British callous
matched only by their dishonesty and expediency.
Justification
They say that there is a question
principle involved
demands of the
lot explain how this squares up with the
• OTI special sentenced before 1976 or the justification for its arbitrary removal.
The only logical answer is the base
motive veneconce
with a belief that the resistance move-
ment was on the
By the letter of their own special antidemocratic legislation, they stand exposed and indicted born Ine Powers Act and the Prevention of Ter. rorism Act include, at the end of a list of 'scheduled offences' other corned out tion'. So much for principle.
Who would deny that it is imperialism that has produced the Blanketmen, their comrades in Armagh, that they are the Why a Tory deal on Ireland cannot be ruled out
ENOCH POWELL; the Ulster Unionist MP for Down, South, ended an article in assessment: 'The hunger strikers won; the Irish Republic won, Charles won.'
Powell was referring to the Anglo-Irish LIC DIeVIOus week rich premier Haughey. met Margaret Thatcher, Lord Carringtor Hurry Howe Atkins
Powell's assessment many on the been ched be many on une covaust see
neen reinforced Haughey, who described the meeting as historic" and ad
*The meeting in Dublin Castle was CUrt cernea wan ine retronsno between the two islands of Ireland and Great Britain. believe that it represented a manor situ or ware in inat long and tangled relationship, do
not conceal the that through development that relanonsnio e somuron nroniem Norinern Ireland will eventually come Summit
The practical outcome of the summit also suggests Lial somelning
Soon, they will suffer irdamage to their health.
they con-
waste dignity-
intransigence is
of • rerusing. • Ine five
But they do
status for those
direct
coupled, perhaps, point of defeat
silence.
Emergency
the words 'or anv nian with political motiva-
sions, Monday's Guardian with the
Haughey
By Tom Marlowe
significance did occur.
Ine joint communique 9 Tel the talks
reported the commissioning
Trish/British.
covering a range of issues, including possible lICW
sulullulla. structures.
cuzersao rents security
matters. economic
operation and measures to
mutual
understanding.
Right
studies, Margaret Thatcher • these
mace decided U-turn.
Previously the Tories have that Ireland has no right to have
ally sas i wital Happens In
une norto
As recently as August, Hined: The Atkins
tained: South has
interest (in Lilc Ireland
alvoody ourse ine united
Kangcom We finderstand
that, but it is our respon
sibility and nobody else's.
niece
called by the Armagh Co-ordinating Committee.
result and the victims. of im. perialism.
Yet, from the Irish labour movement leadership, with a few honourable exceptions, come a deafening and disgraceful
They engage in cop-outs such as 'to get involved would be to condone the activities of those in the H Blocks'.
They ignore the threat posed to the working class as a whole by the draco
under which those in question were arrested, tried victed. They ignore that over 80 per cent were convicted on the basis of confes-
many of them oral. "any casts mey Haughey and Thatcher discussing
joint studies, esnecial v those covering 'institutional structure mean Thatcher acknowledged that south does indeed have the
I wal solution is put tor Waro for the north of re anc change illustrated by tse most
гогедІ secretary Carrington represents Foreign Office the last couple of years, ha let it be known that it is sick and tired ot the whole north or iciana situation The reason for this impatience is illustrated by the hunge strike.
seem of the prisbers in
Seems tual uc urcat
Ireland
WOMEN PRISONERS
IN
ca Statio
Demonstrators march last Thursday to Thatcher's house in Chelsea,
particularly
of human dignity.
and con- establishment
also ignore or office.
Long Kesh and Armagh wil e debated at the European Parliament. and even at the united Natons The raisin for th in these inrepression in Ireland → Dall l cou al all Foreign Office standara bearer Ior Britain throughout the world, this and has ending the embarrassment
Consider
The failure of the latest British government itiative o-called plan has given strength to the Foreign Officc causc. and it appear: unal anarcher agreed to consider an option
distort democratic decisions by the rank and file expressing concern or ding action on the H Blocks The more
for the trade union movement, nothing can justify silence, indifference or inactivity on the ill-treatment
prisoners and the deprivation
To the rank and file, we say rebel. Do not allow opportunist and pro
leadershio to speak you either by their utterances or silence. Speak out, push the situation as far as you can in your branch, factory or
Stand up and be counted. - but what?
wnich would, in the long throw into DOS LOT ot the north of Ireland Thatcher has yet to work out how to sell such an tion to the Loyalists and it is for this reason that SIK •ш ш в Sunill in the House of Commons.
Leaving the reaction of the Loyalists aside, would happy pollical withdraw the north of Ireland provided that
north
last. ten British been unable to secure within the north of Ireland such a dependable or credible pup-
Use your muscle,
your movement.
occupation.
ship. serves strengthen resistance
Wing the supreme sacrifice.
Resistance we must do.
fen our resistance......
When we take inspiration from unbending faith because -frontation
years. if it great deman. would not only
tional struggle.
of
die, Will be
rise up, growing
for their heroism of the hunger strikers.
in Dublin.) pet. The flop of the Atkins
lan is the latest example of
although the greates Drilal! continues to face is the strength of the anti-imperialist resistance in the north.
Such is the context in which it seems possible that thatcher has decided consider more radical
would directly volve the south of Ireland and Charlie Haughey in particular.
Security
Haughey has proved co operative with Britain cross-border 'security
are Thatcher's anu he has ncouvical reputation which can give
Socialist Challenge - 17 December 1980 Page 7
blood to save the lives of fellow workers. your power, yOU! fellow trade unionists and fellow Irish
and women. It is your union and To the British, we say: You fools! You have learned nothing from centuries of
You have not learned the obvious lesson of Irish history that the kind of treatment being dished out to the prisoners, while inflicting hard
only stiffen
In the tradition of earlier generations it should be clear that the men of the H Blocks and the women of Armagh cannot be broken even to the point of mak-
The hunger strikers do not want to die but they expect to die. They expect no quarter, no justice, no humanity from the
At this stage, they can do little than live out their lonely protest But this is not true of us on the outside There is much that we can do; much that
We must re-double our efforts, strengthen our determination, stif-
weaken or tire, we must the courage and ine prisoners, make no mistake - this con .180C greatest
does, it also presents a because victon faithful lives but also represent a giant save courageous and step towards the completion of the
Let us raise our fist in angry warning notice to the British. If any of the strikers
overwhelmed by the anger of the Irish people, by the anger of
international support solidarity with the justice of their cause
Let us raise our fist also in salute to the
(This article is an edited version of a speech made by Phil Flynn at a recent demonstration
him at least some authority in helping to de-mobilise th northern This does not mean that Thatcher has decided to end presence Ireland; only that she is will ing to explore an direct political control in the
of the summit as historic while in exaggeration, could con tain an element of truth the otte nana should the hunger striker and the Irish display their anger country for y seen " in tha summit may prove after all, to be one effort Ireland's British problem.
Page 8 scan of this page
Xmas -'a cresc of bad faith and d
FROM earliest stereotypes of Christmas -
Yet the cultural
accumulation of myth and symbol.
The very
Herein, argues dialectic of Christmas.
All kinds of Roman Persian; Celtic, Teutonic and Christian elements have been mixed up to produce the festival as we now kow aamoran today we are oppressed by the weight Christmas as fixed tradition, its form is determined by a long historical and social evolution.
Yet ITS very origins based on myth and falsehood
is alleged to be Christian festival, celebrating the birth of Christ, the son God, on 25 December in the year 0.
The historical Christ was not born in December, une or five dewas nor bord in the year 0 but just before, or iust after: and Christmas is a pagan festival used by early Christians
incall diverting pagan loyalties into following the new religion.
Christ was born
Bethlehem, Joseph's
where his
gone for a census,
ple in the Roman empire had to
go to meir nome cowas lo
registered when there
Roman censuses
conducted in the summer
when it was easier to travel
and there were censuses just
before and just after the year 0,
not in that year itself.
The celebration of a festival
of festivity and rebirth in late December is- found
pagan Socates
astronomical factor involved is
the winter solstice
December wnen ine
start to get longer.
Socialist Challenge: 17 December 1980 Page 8
childhood we
pudding, decorations, snow, festivity and drink.
forms now Christmas are the result of thousands of years of
As each epoch bequeathes its symbols to the next the meaning is transformed and shaped by the new social systems which adopt them.
universality and Christmas makes it the major communal festival of late-capitalist society. But it is also a yearly reminder of the possibility of overthrowing the society we have and replacing it with another.
FRED HALLIDAY,
.basall.
Jewish, period 17-24 December,
feasting,
of
celebrated Part
are rich foods
ding.
In ancient Persia, but in worshippers
sull. saviour.
is obviously previous religions cient world, the tians did Christmas unal une lourt century At that time two religions, Mithraism worshipping cult
home parents. had The leaders because peo-
• WaN sion of I WCIC thereby to. wit Mithraism religion.
sun as saviour, ped Christ as saviour.
This adoption in many was common: also taken — around 22 Mithraism days borrowed from Adonis, been born in Since • this
sion,
bols, and has served BRUNCON societies in flourished.
The Jewish
know the gifts, turkey and
surrounding magnitude of
lies the
The Romans celebrated the as the occasion for dancing and dressing up. In the north, including Britain, there was a more sombre festival of Yule when fertility rebrated. Partor yeas were
this consisted in the making of special.
- the origin of the modern turkey and plum pud-
the suncocoraice
invincible
Although Christianity itself the product of of the anearly Chrisnot celebrate as a major festival
oriental Christianity sun-
peting for the following of the
Flights, suppressed classes and peoples of the decaying Roman empire. lights
Christianity decided therefore to adopt the pagan date and to celebrate it as the birth of Christ and an occa-
rejoicing, followers and Roman
Instead of the celebration of Saturn or of the birth of the
they worship-
of pagan symbols for Christian purposes
I ne halo was straight from as a symbo. sun - of divinity. The crib was
Cull
Era stable. alleged to have again Calmly tactical move in the politics of conver-
Christmas has picked up all sorts of other cultural sym-
different the various which it has
festival of
Hanukkah, led to the practice of putting up coloured
at Christmastime although the fact that it is often dark at that time of year must
from the cas disinter. st also have helped.
Another celebrated on 6 December. Nicholas was an early Christian sailors and children as wel
Russia. patronage of children and con nection with giving gifts are
grossly ideological legends about him
some litle rich boys were killed by then las stick them toge
together and their parents alive and well.
Another story concerns a
who was suddenly thrown into poverty and wa going to sell off his daughter
as prostitutes, when along came
gave them the dowries they needed to marry according to their position.
The latent sexual and class content of these legends is ob vious. However, in the Anglo. Saxon world at least, the givin of presents was transferred
from 6 December to Christmas Day, while St Nicholas himsel! was banalised and secularised into Santa American name in Dutch came
Christmas as we now know it took shape in 19th centuries. tury coaches south of cards with an cards reflect its sion of the cheap post in the 1860s, of the Christmas tree by Prince Albert are later additions.
What St complex of myths and symbols, but their varied subordinate which Christianity serves the preservatio
capitalist society. It is not mere
cultural inertia or human nostalgia that Christmas to be celebrated each
ide ronal reinforce
ties
Claus an his
and
the 18th and The 18th cenand houses on
and the popularisation
we now have is this
origins the function. for tossing late.
The
enables
- but the inner dynamic
certain crucial in capitalis The two central figures time;
• monarch
- are both given fice
dance.
time, this time in the service of capitalist mystification.
messages stress the unity of Church and Empire Christmas may be experienced as a predominantly secular occasion but religious ideology is trumpeted through the radic
and culture of the period.
. And the once yearly visits to church to witness the spectacle serve to blunt materialist consciousnes in young and old
The boosting of the monarchy is also an
of carols and cards, and there i always Good King Wenceslas
crumbs to the Bohe Illal ocasalllry
temporary pora social tenaside of class sions in the Wenceslas carol is found in all kinds of festivals of this period. In ancient Rome slaves were temporarily freec during the Saturnalia land lords in Russia would give thei
presents at Christmasand we find its modern drunken embodiment in the of-
party and the factory
Page 9 scan of this page
ceit"
) YOU
More generally Christmashe is characterised by ology of goodwieace O carag wever genuine .and. deep se aspirations are they also ve to displace the need for C OHILU al dl lidl ws onto a spiritual saviour They obscure the need for Ulict if peace and goodwill to be possible. A universal acacos ul crisis ls cissolvea
passive fatalism, nign idiocy.
At the same time as blic structures of mystifican are reinforced, the privațe acture the family engthened. However pnistic the relations ceats and children, however
differences between Christmas is a time to
them.
violence of familial • is drowned in .of. nostalgia cooking. ristmas dinner
WILDCSES scendo of •bad faith eit forced on the individual family pressure and guilt at violation of the tradition. This helped to chidh obd FiSTECi " CEHi tions in this period fantalisation that serves to
endos
y CAristmas
protect the myths of the family; the and more generally prevents the
individual from men'. the liberation
Christmas.
people's salvation takes round the spiritual altar of the Church. a rea celebration ot our repression is found at the material altar of the tamilv the Christmas dinner-table.
and spiritual liberator,
DCO I LIC back bv the that carves the family turkey
Christmas is quite simple: it is good business: an- of approaching
of- the tinsel and
shops.
Christmas measured in MERKEI before Christmas'
and is done in December. By miq- November the media are full of The
advertisements urging and to buy their wares.
La spontaneous act rounded by capitalist pressure; the value measured by how much they cost; and the up-tight nature of relations between parents and
winkling out potential of
While a false celebration of
place
The Christmas repressive we are stab' the knite LL DOCICLY
A second major funcion oi Western
The first signs and Christmas are decorations period beTore
the idiol or alle
shopping days
An eighth of all retail trade
The people
Instead of gift-giving being has
times. Far it ls sur-
gifts is often
child is perhaps reflected in the fact that they can only give at
institutionalisec period, and even then they often have to divert the giving through a mystical Santa Claus.
third aspect reflects the channelling of the liberating emotions and forces
Christmas has inspired some of the greatest works of
music and painting no one can deny that Christmas expresses the deepest aspirations of suffering men al WoCt - a longing to
happiness, good food, social equality and free giving of commodities.
In the deepest winter and at the end of the. year all these forces are annually released.
expression these liberating emotions is however controlled by social ritual as it
been since pre-historic from finding their fulfilment in a liberated society they are diverted to reinforce the structures of oppression.
he function of mvth is to
provide diverting solutions to real problems, and the function of ritual is to provide trolled : way emotions can without destroying tures against which they are reacting
is controlled by the very institutionalisation. of its expression People should be able to choose when they rave it up and give presents and love each other: yet CEMSDM ritualises them. pressured into celebrating these at one date in the year to stop one from expressing them toi the rest of the year.
guve in this form is an expressjon of uliccuoll.
Christmas masks the misery of society. rents of gross ideological gibDOIAEEDHLSOHEALLSS also serve to awal clc. and revolutionary potential.
decorations, these adorn them.
The frenzied ch.
Lanict Billy focuses
and clowns Here significance
militant was
• tool
tionary
marshalled
carefully critical
To
release
con-
in walco nima longing
be resolved . the SLI UCI ICvuiuLOn.
The liberation of Christmas
In the
enjoy it. and Ordallls One
expression of freedom
The happiness
The infantilisation of
ana
period, blunt any of critical content
The critical, creative and aesthetic faculties are assaulter by the awful level of Christmas
paraphernalia; yet one blackmailed into submission by the very "traditionality" of it.
The lights. across Regent Street sum this up instead of Soho to Mayfair: instead suggesting the end of the class relations on which the shops of central London are based,
decorations attempt to
overconsumption and omn cente Christmas also serve to divert ПОРИМ О СПОРМ?0100 volved. The social implications are reinforced by the fact that coo oæd s exoccc d atomised and enclosed manner Everyone is at their family lun.
The streets are never so as on Christmas Day
The real social unity of the meser
nation and its common accep.
this exuaorallal, ideological festival are conceal. ed; the only unity is via TV
MM
The Church, the Queen and
• Smart's Circus are the of external attention While all are socially unified in this observance of Christmas • Ils conscious umty Is projeciec onto the most absurd actors of lațe-capilansmn — goas, queen.
lies the dialectical Christmas.
Jesus Christ was once seen as a
saviour. Christianity once revolutionary
ideolot pure ion ang mena
oppresion and myth, and except in the case of revolu-
priests Latin America it serves to reinforce capitalist society.
The desire for happiness is
to detend the struments of misery and the ideological symbols of myth are
used to drown the and liberating content of the Christmas festival.
smash the institutionalisation of happiness is to
men and women from myth, from the need to displace salvation onto gods or charity, and to realgn our hopes on conscious historical action.
Within the apprarently i
cuous shell of Christm
ound both oppression and th
for iberatior and The Puritans bann. ed it; the Cubans postponed it we can transcend it
This involves the release o the revolutionary potential now marshalled late-capitalist forms.
meantime, we can, of course,
Socialist Challenge 17 December 1980 Page 9
Page 10 scan of this page
Killed
Letelier
spy novels or political thrillers like John Le Carré,
Assasination on
The Day of the Jackat,. ference - it's all true. takes a pre-publication look.
ON 9 September 1976, a tall, fair-haired man in his thirties arrived Kennedy Airport in New York an* official Chilean • passport. The passport gave his name as Hans Petersen Silva. The -name was false, just one of a string pseudonyms used the man in question.
His real name was Michael Vernon Townley, by birth an American. He had arrived to organise mne assassinanon the exiled Orlando Letelier, WIllO been A Hende's ambassador to the United States. •owinev was an agent of the external section of the DINA Chilean secret police.
Explosion
On the morning of 21 September …yo. Orlando: Letelier, who had a job with the Ici will musutute Policy Studies (IPS), was driv1ng through cudass y district of Washington with a young couple who worked for the IPS, Michael and Ronni Moffitt. Ronni was sitting in the front next to Letelier Michael was sitting in the back.
Unknown to Letelier, 'they wele ven oloweo. n rne pursuing car someone pressec
Michael Moffit ene a mssm solne wnich. as he said later, sounded like MOA AP HNATA 10 D water' Then he. saw a blinding flash above Ronni's head followed by a crashing sound.
Letelier's car was blown Socialist Challenge
Lete'ier arrested in Chile after the coup
How Chile's Jackal
OVER Christmas thousands of people will spend some of their holiday time reading
- writers Richard Ludlum, and Frederick Forsyth will be coining it in.
But in the New Year a political thriller,
Embassy Row, published in Britain every bit as thrilling as
but, with one difSocialist Challenge
into the air. .The explosion came upwards from below the at omvers serd Search Michael Moffit jumped out of the car with minor injuries. He rushed to the front of the car. Letelier's legs were of blown off; Ronni bleeding badly by died in hospital. Michael kept running around The fascists killed DINA killed him.
The murder of Letelier set off an extraordinary search for the murderers brought to light the activities DINA's. top hit Michae Vernon The FBI took over the case, while the IPS launched its own investigation.
Ronni Moffitt
:The CIA was less than fully co-operative. As the vestigation progressed it ed to hand i or tean oo rer vie e vis ee srupting its rela tionship with the secret police forces in reactionary parts of 17 December 1980 Page 10
Letelier meets Henry Kissinger will be
Pinochet
Latin America.
The official view in the CIA and at the State Department was that Letelier probably been bumped off by leftists to This was the press ana. ll recelvea a goo0 Among
was articles sue arel Inls view
shouting: Newsweek:
him, other field investigations, ATLeT ATLe
CIA has concluded that the
involen eine porce was not
which involved
Orlando Letelier... "The Townley. • llall. decision was too crude to be the work
• of experts and because the murder, coming while Chile's rulers were wooing US support, could only damage the Santiago regime.
Newsweek
every count. Far from being a crude device, the detonated bomb which killed Letelier piece of was electronic an
work: At 36, its maker was a veteran assassin.
Michael Townley's family moved to Chile when he was twelve. In developed an interest in electonics. -and worked Tor salesman for the notorious InVeSLUS Oversea (IOS) getting a rich living sell111- stocks Chile until anti-lOS legisla-
in- tion in the States prevented
fail- American citizens
buying stocks and shares.
When Allende power Townley left the country and went back to the
Under Review
United States,
Anti-Castro
help with destabilising government.
Expert
paramilitary
tens
had
'create a martyr' commando
line fed to the southern
numerous which gave credence
was one in
studying FBI and
the jammed it. electronics team which death government's agency reached its Under • because the bomb sion, the
and asphyxiation. Coup
was wrong on
remotely- The widespread ingenious handi- returned to
Libertad ICCHN much bigger He Townley in period as Manuel nervter colonel at
to Americans
abroad tellallla.
Chile's leftist tlCLU
Michael Vernon Townley
mixing in Cuban exile circles in Florida. day.
Cuban exiles
were to be his accomplices in murdering Letelier. But even.tually he went back to Chile, after contacting the CIA, to
the task of the left-wing SCUICI
Southern™
He made. contact with Patria y Libertad, a fascist which had just been allocated vl dalisaliull
of Enriquez abducted Townley's
in the 'Condor One' of Concep an
saue. mn• one on
Presidents Mer the raided the allil? question supervitransmitter's bound incident received publicity. the new year.
Townley fled the country and
the US. But General Pinochet's coup September 1973 brought him back to Chile. Many in Patria
Was became DINA •Carlo agents, and the agency had
Didus TIO] the new order established by the generals
'Contreras was the time of the UVC. coup. To him was given the task of constructing an effi- from cem secrer ponce lorce wnieh would wage national and in-
wall against opponents ly dealt
Most mornings Contreras breakfasted at around Gam was with Pinochet, and discússed
the plan of campaign for the
•fils ornce, in DINA's luxury block in Santiago, was munication with Pinochet.
Together they hatched 'Operation Condor'.
Condor was conceived as a joint operation between the
DOTCCKCES Sout-ern one countries of the
to facilitate the canture and execution ot leftists who had taken refuge abroad. A classic example of the Condor operation was the way that Eduardo Enriquez brother of MIR leader Miguel
and the MIR's representative in Europe, was
in Uruguay and secreuv tommeo o cena.
Contreras dubbed himself
— the leader of international anticommunist élite.
One autnors Sall andal, was investigation of the murder oj Letelier which is recounted in the book. It revealed without
that the ; ablę to get into the United States was becaus. or ine ciose co-operanon ner ween the CIA and the DINA. Letelier was also the victim of
foreign policy of the United States *Assassination Embassy Row will be published by Writers and Readers Publishing Co-operative ir
Townley's first and besl known operation for DINA
tne muraer or cenera Prats in Buenos Aires tion. in 1974. Prats stayed loyal to Allende at the time of the Chilean coup and fled aeross the border to Argentina. Just thing
lale showed up in Buenos Aires.
local team
Alliance (AAA) he organised the despatch of Prats in the same way that he subsequent-
: with Letelier Prats was blown to bits and his wite his,
burned Townley's next mis-
sion was lo nave been lni
assassination • of two well
known leaders of the Chilean
Socialist Party and .Com-
munist Party in Mexico
Carlos Altamirano and
Volodia Teitelbaum. • But the
operation never came off. Instead Townley found himselt
Europe with orders to
eliminate the leader of the
Chilean Christian Democrats
in exile, Bernardo Leighton,
who lived in Rome
For once, Townley varied
his Teda Fresno, gs hot Leighton's
wife, Anna in the shoulder; Leighton was shot in the head but survived.
Fingered
Townley riow turned his attention to Leteiler. The in-
vestigation this murder revealed something very interesting. henote 1 ownle
went to the United States the
Chilean regime persuaded the
Paraguayan government to ask the Americans for two diplomatic passports for
'Chilean army officers'. The story was that they couldn't use Chilean passports for
their special 'diplomatic mis sion'.
American officials
Paraguay were suspicious of this strange request and pass ed on details of the two people for whom passports were
required (Townley and an ac cono cer o uc CIA.'Whel
diplomatic" passport the CIA
kniew that he and his col-
fice tore thom thry had been asked to provide cre den ficers' whom . they tials.
In other words the CIA amosı cenmy knew tha
Townley was a DINA agen
probablv in the Us to carr
out a hit. But nothing was Gone. . The matter was refer
red eventually to the then
director of the CIA, Georg
Bush, now vice-president eleçt of the United States. The CIA has always refused to discuss the details of the case
The murder of Letelier had widespread COC CUS sions. : Chile came under in creasing international presse. When the lo noeranse
regime. : idențity of the organiser of the murde was revealed Pinochet expelled Townley and extradited him to the US.
Townley promptly • fingered Contreras and Pinochet the _real organisers of Letelier's death. Contreras
Contreras is cited in the official indictment and the US has asked for his extradi-.
Pinochet eventually sacked him and dissolved DINA, replacing it with a reorganised version of the same
…• ensue convcuon une US prosecutors entered into a
Townley Dica Dartal He turned States' evidence il WIlLE
return for a 10-year sentence His Cuban exilé accomplices got. 99 years. Reports from •nue say inal eontreras Is on
way back Michael Townley be eligible for parole in 1981.
Page 11 scan of this page
Above: Airport, Airport 76 - difficult to tell the difference. Below: Roger, Moore (yuk) in HOW good a revolutionary cadre are you? How avidly have you been reading Socialist Challenge over the last year? Test yourself with this special festive, political quiz. All answers have appeared in issues of the paper this year. A clue is that the questions are chronological. Answers at the bottom of page.
1. The steel strike began on 2 January. How much, in percentage terms, was on offer to the steelworkers when the strike began? 2. Who said of whom that his 'eyes and affections are in Dublin, on Brussels, on the Vatican'? 3. Which major trade union backed the campaign against the Corrie anti-abortion Bill by 'urging branches to support the lobby of Parliament on Tuesday 5 February"? 4. Who said: 'I've been accused of interfering in the steel strike. I plead guilty'? 5. Who said of what that it was 'the single biggest domestic issue in the United Kingdom'? 6. Which island faced a two-month bombardment by US and British warships? 7. Who decided 'to the youth, industry and revolutionary unity'! 8. How many seats did Robert Mugabe'sti ZANU win in the Zimbábwe election?
or maybe it's Airport 75, or
Gold.
Cafe? months? qualled'?
By Geoff Bell OF COURSE • no Challenge will be watching movies on TV at Xmas. You will all be out at meetings, right. to-work marches, and picketing the Queen's Christmas broadcast (assemble 1pm studio).
But just in case you have friends who m ed to watch TV it would be your advice on what films to walch, 101 you Have all dis wers will impress your friends that socialist know
the rest of the population
the only programmes worth over Xmas are the exception this is the King Boxing Day, DUE Ine ereal Bright Highway is not running this could be a bit of a let down.
There socialists' • guide
revolutionary duty WIll Trotsky He pops up in tne snape ol Courtney Doctor and very stern he looks the music is lovely are very SHUWY It's a terrib v nice film but as it borders on being counter9. Messrs Murray, White, Freestone, Lake, Richardson. and Scottow were named as be. ing suspected of what?
10. Who or what was Alexander L Kielland? 11. What began at the Black and White
12: Who told Jimmy Carter 'hard luck' after the bungled raid in Iran? 13. The Queensland government. in Australia proposed a punishment of 14-years' hard labour for what? 14. Which country, where 30,000 US troops are stationed, saw mass uprisings in a number of cities?
Which city in the US was invaded by 3,600 members of the National Guard? 16. Which strike ended after nearly eight
17. Which Marxist historian and left-wing activist was murdered in the Caribbean? 18: Which privileged son died in a flying ac-
19. Who said, after being ordered to leave the room, 'My record for dissent is une-
Under Review
The good, the bad, and,
reader of Socialist
on December outside your nearest TV
revolutionary no socialist.
can watch it
allowed 22 Sweeney ever mous ic is sex
left-wing political message
exposing
the state,
and world imperialism. It is
also exciting, DuL or course
you will be watching for the
whích are
astonishingly left-wing,
ocheve l or no
The same cannot be said
for The Godfather (BBC 2
Dec). although as the
Mafia as American could be
ple pie the film
Lan Cul analysis of US metaphorical
capitalist
and the dialectical relation-
ship be act
• DCSI
although as ever it will los
something the small
screen. movies will the "disaster"
being
Towering Inferno (BBC I,
XMAS QUIZ
country's press?
the first time? tion?
26 Dec), Earthquake (ITV 26 Dec). and Airmort (BBC 25 Dec). Such movies are
surewa cone be walter as to way at this precise conjuncture large audiences 20. Which body, on its 59th anniversary, promised to eliminate 'feudal and bureaucratic influences? 21. Who, when he died, was described as 'the bloodsucker of the century' by his
22. Who said: "Wall Street here I come. Let's make millions of dollars together"?
23. Which navy announced that women sailors would be allowed to serve at sea for
24. Who said he would never permit a new Nicaragua, even if it must take the most reprehensible measures to prevent it? 25. Who told Socialist Challenge: 'After 20 years of silence on socialism you can't short cut it by industrial muscle"? 26. Who said, and where: 'I'm sure you asked yourselves what is that old bugger doing sitting on this platform'? 27. In whát country did Trotskyist can didates win 142,000 votes in a general elec.
28. Who wrote to Socialist Challenge to 'offer a true socialist challenge. Use all means
the most left wing Xmas movie. Below:
The Godfather -three hours of dark suits and nasty looks Xmas
Movies®
on
TV
the awful
will be glad to know that we will pass on to pleasanter things.
Like Midnight Cowboy (BBC : 2, 21 Dec) which is New York as you have never terpreted as an exposé machoism, which Jon
at your disposal to prevent another tragedy'?
voted for Ronald Reagan?
Marx said, - I think that would work well here'?
Le no be
Socialist Challenge
Voight and Dustin Hoffman pla play to a man
Schlesinger directs. Along with Robert Arena. neis ore ortie des mainstream directors of the '60s and "70s Altman is or
I Nashville (BBC 1 Dec). witl the film the frailties of the American Dream
No one wrote better on that theme than Ravmon
well M with Charlotte Rampling. Not as
original wit BORN DI Chandler dialogue is there to make it watchable.
Remake
More centey recom. The Frant Page BeCke The • Fron Page (BBC Dec) with Walter Matthau Jack Lemmon Burned and it all
and with talent on show
It do
(ITV and female proteges Foster Bugsy Malon
1,27 Dec) and Tatur
'Neal Nickelodeon (BBC 1. 28 Dec) is the besi of the bunch.
For the rest, there is the usual die
bears-
as George and Muared and Arre row Bene served an
Moore doing sexist thing , 31 Dec) and Th (TV, 25 bec) the Golden Gur
about Weeks With i Love, (BBC 29 Dec) starring Jane Powell and Ricardo Montalbar The BBC preview says it is 'a delightful period musical about Patti, a girl parents simply won't acceD
Debbie Reynolds appears a include am
Waltz":'
That sounds so horrible that all socialists who don"
picket the Queen's broad
cast are ordered to watch i as a penance.
like as earl or acr brodd
Lizzie nounces the engagement o
Charlie and Lady D? Now. that would be a disaste
29. What percentage of the US electorate
30. Who was quoted as once saying: 'Like "To each according to his need"
allayed 0f 1409L
'Ll SIamsue zIno
17 December 1980 Page 11
Page 12 scan of this page
"The Christmas Party' is an
extract from In the Ditch by
Buchi Sancerer She
Nigerian who has lived
England for the past 18 years. Allison and Busby, E1.99 pbk book published and £4.95 hbk.
Tehrist
Christmas party at Carol's. The children
were loaded with more gifts and goodies. Adah
did not go to the party, for it was on one of tbose occasions when she felt fed up with being given things.
She felt her dignity as a human being was being gradually taken away from her. After all, they would move Sottie time in the New Year so she might as well start learning to live by herself, making her own decisions.
On Christmas Day, she and her kids went to the church. It was extremely cold, yet the vicar was exceptionally inspired. His sermon dragged
the Christmas carol was a joy to listen to.
'Oh, come let us annoy HiThe Christ the Lord. come s annoy
bigger children shivered uncomfortably in wel new clotnes wnich Adan had bought through a mailDUCT Canoeye.
After church, they ran home. There was a small Sainsbury's turkey • 11 the oven. She had held back the rent for a week to buy lal.
and she also bought a small
ag ot coalite, just to give the
living-room a festive air. The kids _the latter,
They •Drelerrea tne ones they had at school. Adah did not brame them because she had never seen any food look so ugly.
They were lucky that Christmas. Many of her old African friends paid visits, and they paid indirectly the food Adah gave them with money. Ine money she kept to repay what she had 'borrowed' from She kept the turkey for a week she kept slicing and re-heating it until there was nothing left but the bare bones.
She gave away many of the boxes of chocolates which
She gave a box of giant After Eight mints to the nurses at the nurserv where her youngest went. She gave an assorted box of biscuits to the library assistants at her local branch.
Charges
That, she was sure, would take care of overdue charges for the following year. She would always sure to gel most of her college special ext books reserved for her. She did not like the large amount of overdue charges she had had to pay in the past year.
That Christmas was white one. After the hullabaloo of the week before, the great day was deadly quiet. It gave her the
CIS012 was only celebrated in shops. There was so much rushing and hurrying, so much spending and giving, that to Adah, Christmas Eve
all the things people rushed to buy the night before become unwanted It ter on Christmas. Day. On Socialist Challenge 17 December 1980
"Oh come let us annoy Him!'
their way back from church, Adah and her children saw Christmas wrappers crackers all gaily dotting the otherwise flawlessly snow. A few children were being pushed out in the snow by enthusiastic parents to show off gleaming bicycles, and giant dolls that did everything
Some of the parents stood by the door admiring their children. It was unfortunately too cold for much talk.
Towards the more snow fell, obliterating the footmarks made. in morning by the few people who had ventured out. Inside
flat, there warmth and laughter. children were already getting bored their new The doll's cot which was the baby's had been dislocated.
She came to Adah, tears in Mum to fixit. Adam masted. commanded ing and retrying this, it difficult to know which part belonged to which, when she heard Mrs Cox, what Adah later found out to be Christmas carol. baby momentarily forget her unmendable •dolly cot' listened: sucking her fingers thoughtfully.
Knock
Adah knew that Mrs Cox was trying to knock door. She was either drunk to do it properly, too cold to know what she was doing, for she was banging at Adah's toilet window instead. She lumbered when the door was opened, with a bottle of cheap red WilC her Whoopey soon joined them, and a Christmas party was in full swing. More sweets and the children Unfortunately pressca the children. neither the feeders nor the fec knew when to stop.
They all sang carols until they were hoarse. them they sang out of tune but, as Mrs Cox said, would forgive them miserable offenders. assured every one that she still remembered what it used to be like in the churches.
She knew how Christ was born. And she knew what it was all about. She would not say it before the
she Whoopey and Adah. ut of tune, but'scarcely cam out at-all . and then drowsily. Christmas itself was
Page 12
The and
white
children. pain.
Mummy,
oh, denly
evening, 'You
Mum, you Whoopey
was up.
Her
toys. in Adah.
else.' Bulk finding 'I shan't miss this place
God knows she heaved her bulk from the couch. 'Adah, come here. Bubu
The has been sick all
'called Whoopey
and Adah dashed into the cor-
ridor and saw Bubu in a mess.
Whoopey hurried
green children out. outside bitingly was They all shivered involuntari. ly when Whoopey opened the at her door to go out.
too The
For Christmas party had been a success. Adah cleared up the sick. Life at the Pussy, that Christmas, in spontancous." Nuthing planned, everything was done as I came, naturally.
arm. was no longer sure
she would feel at home places like the Museum or the big libraries where she used to work.
In those Dales laugh was regulated, intellectyal, ou waited for oners to- artificial.
Many of finish what they were saying
before you made your own
God contribution. You
Sistened sala and by per-
She some it case to and bre was saying,
speak, your point. would no be relevant. would have forgotten what you were going anyway children mopped and disinfected her Adan shivered assured Before
going to be a blizzard. More snow fell. and there was hard.
only ly a ghost in the street. The
end of another Christmas.
towards
Members
and a Proletariat.
DAVID
of wine had first stirrings
Wing class?
They were
and the Gwyn
in on,
about, and
Mummy working class. mums sud- Javeli
Wales there had awake rather than food or
the • lot,
• snapped while Mrs
Once more
put really began workforce
countryside,
effective union said Mrs Cox, as
backward.
over the to be irrelevant.
her two
lock-out.
The
cold. who
the Fed finally unprepared
their policies
was always like remained
decentralised was
century
whether
British creasingly non-Welsh. population
No spontanei-
Did the seldom tion? and by
You dicalism.
to say
there was that The
THE threat of civil disobedience
triple alliance of steelworkers in Wales in the event of further redun. dancies in the steel plants is being treated seriously by political commentators. sions of Welsh militancy and radicalism before now.
of Llafur, the society, have done much pioneering work in recor ding these developments. been published: The Fed, Fields of Praise, and People
SMITH made a major contribution to '-these books. Ric Sissons asked him about historical developments in working class life in Wales.
first strings do political the
tivity within the Welsh work- Irish
play We have to go back to 1831 Merthyr rising, which Williams has written which he sees in signalling the birth of the Welsh
before that in South been strikes, were Tredegar, There had been guerilla activity in the coalfields in the 1830s and
— scotch cattle, as it was workforce called, the intimidation of scabs
In the early 1870s there were again attempts to form unions
the strikes failed. What .But from the 1870s the coalfield features
expand The arriving was enormously fluid, coming from the century?
from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. It population; was generally non-unionised. traditions;
In South Wales there was no tradition. The WElC considered They had a sliding scale system whereby the price of coal affected the wages, union activil was Orch Cousi
established There were two great strikes in 1893 by the hauliers, and then some in 1898 the owners imposed a
tions.
In a sense it was the owners
created the South Wales Miners Federation (SWMF) district
The seven but English merged. At last the old leadership accepted that
wait fol working and thus the Fied was formed. Then
very much federal within South wales. body was dustry.
In the first decade of this ly starica to
Wales experienced the tivity largest influx of immigrants of -South any decade, and these were • 1n
By 1911 of Wales was ging concentrated in the south. productivity
down.
production
immigrant workers oring a asunce ponticat trad
I am thinking of the The Fed difficult about the influx of Spanish
who towards anarchism and syn- coal.
Certainly there were pockets of Spanish workers who tended that. to be atheists and thev influenc
chat in The fed we under.
underestimate the influx of the non-unionised and non-political. wave
A pit pony, 190€ (left)
Troops in Pontypridd in December 1910 at the time of the Tonypandy riots
Mardy miners and their tamilies with Soviet banner December 1926
and the moves miners, rail and
There have been explo
• Welsh labour history
, Three books have recently
There were large numbers of
workers wno went on a prominent part in the Labour an South wale and also in the Communist Partv. some of them were brought
during the 19th century as strike breakers.
There were anti-Irish riots in the Rhondda in the 1870s. There
anti-Jewish riots in Monmouthshire, Bevan's home town, 1911 This was no holier than thou
were the decisive which gave the Welsh working class
SUCH militant tradition in the 20th
had large, fluid non-union; few effective union; and a history of defeat not victory. So why then do they become a militant workforce?
It is partly because by the early 20th century there were so many workers. in a fairly pro. gressive, dynamic industry with
social institutions.
Democracy had been absorbed
extent through the chapels and self-help organisa-
Increasingly cosmopolitan populatioN. Until 1900 half was Welsh speaking
was becoming the lingua franca and with it came more progressive socialist ideas.
there the economic conditions of the in-
An industry that had been making profits very quick-
encounter produc difficulties because the Wales coalfield has always been difficult. So have more and more people dig
more and more coal dividual dụg = had been going what each
By 1913, when the highest
Speak was reached, the seams were getting thinner, the coal was being hauled longer distancês, the rate of profit was falling and the owners proving
over such issues working in water, seams petering out, too much stone in the
The miners were demanding tion a cut in prices to compensate I0l
This late development was occuring at a time when England was passing through the second wave or socials
of the 1830s and 1840s.
Hov
roO
were through. But liberalism and the consensus society held the fort until 1914
Syndicalism, the workers' •control movement, and industrial unionism saw a role for the trade unions which was more than just an rather as a social institution and beyond that a political institu-
Remember this was a
'UlC class, one-inaustry area There
tin plate workers, SLCCOKES brickworkers transport workers, but they were near v all dependent on the coa industry. There were almost a
Page 13 scan of this page
militancy took
quarter of a million workers in the mines.
not so ridiculous to think that if you controlled the union, if you centralised it, turned it into a fighting ; organisation, then you could spread the tentacles politically into society at large.
which had an early fluence?
English socialism,
in Wales
Not - the Americans nas underestimated. South notions of the Socialist Labour Party the USA. The works of Marx being by publishing house were gobbled up.
which was heavily based on the What were the political ideas notion of one union. It was not represented not just the
in- really about workers' control, guild socialism, the • Fabian'strike sure all i Debed Tie socialise chitrol was offace do using they De Leonite socialism think it was
YoUNG COMRADES LEACUE
been the lodge as a political branch.
Wales pedagogue. Ablett was He Dore a slark resemblance to the the Industrial Syndicalist and
established by De Leon in Labour College. was a director of On sion he said: of Chicago Kerr dicalist unionist. bu! an The role of the lodge in the
his hether was sach South wales in panical an has
syndicalism South Wales in been misunderstood.
the village. general workforce, community, action but I social political organism. That is dy
such an emphasis on it. leading contributed of
coalowners,
the Central 1910, and
one occa- shopkeeper and am not a syn-
industrial don't think anything directly
val liculal.
The lodge fat. pit but was lil was a kind of The
union, out two years later in
pamphlet of 1912, placed ideologues. Most of them were
to 1980.
of the favour representation:
itself would go
First
Led. Hardly
Iney general
fell away.
mere economism.
subjects write
Mardy
There sociological
What we had was an upsurge
grievances both against the
as in Tonypandy in against the the forces of against company and order who were trvins
1 doint acon that form
that had with socialist ideas but it was on such events that socialist ideas grew
coincidence that Miners' Next Step came Tonypan1910 strike were for the most part not villages.
MARCHING MINER-
Working class Wales
in print
The Fed, by Hywel Francis and David Smith, is the
history of the South Wales Miners Federation in this
century. munities in South Wales, the book is essenti understanding of political the
union histories, this one is highly readable
Lawrence and Wishart, £5.50 pbk.
Fields of Praise, by Gareth Williams and David Smith, is the official history of the Welsh Rugby Union. For anybody interested in sport this book is of value simp. ly for the momentous occasions of the Welsh national game. But it does more. It firmly locates rugby within the development of Welsh economic, political, and social history.
University of Wales Press, £12.95.
People and a Proletariat edited by David Smith is a collection of essays on the history of Wales from 1780 Written bI Llafur throws, new light on Welsh life and culture. Pluto Press, £4.95 pbk.
religious, Welsh-speaking pillars
labour movement, of parliamentary
Their idea was that the union
on to take increasing control of society. The
World War built up all you those hopes because increasing numbers joined the labour force as more coal was being demand.
post-war slump coming. anybody Saw the
From these ideas being seen as potentially wielding a sword
became defensive; the strike was defensive. nere were lockours. pere war a great deal of bitterness within
movement.
In the 1920s and later these ideas lacked vitality. But they did give a legacy of thoughtful militancy and political organisa-
worktorce that cites always ready to move beyond
both
One of the most interesting
about which you the "Littie Moscows', villages like Mardy. How generalised was the domination of the CP?
was special because of the leadership it attracted.
are number of CAISON that occurred — the late development of the pits; the large pits and the fact that the men could pay for good leadership. It was also an isolated village at the top of one particular valley
But there were other villages, like Bedlinog, where the struggle
unionism took place in the 1930s, where they had a Communist chamber of trade at one point. They even had a red butcher! In 1927 the Rhondda Borough Labour Par- the ty and the Maesteg Labour Party both split and reformed after they were completely taken over by CP sympathisers. for
think people ofter other
nisunderstand the nature of th
Although move one designated, named
Given the importance of the mining com-
moan
in Wales. Unlik
members each article
place to another in the Rhondda you are really in one huge urban
There were more Communists and more Communist councillors in mid-Rhondda; was a very militant area. But Koondda was a Little Moscow that mid because it consisted of five or six townships same kind of total domination.
And even in Mardy there was always aLiale Moscoon eras an epithet Conservative club.
put on it by the enemies of com. munism but proudly adopted by the local inhabitants.
One of the other interesting phenomena wère the miners
Hywel Francis in History Workshop Journal
the case of Tredegar which had subscriptions
Pravda and the New York Herald Tribune. How widespread were they?
The institute libraries were all over the place. Originally philanthropic they were buit hv coalowners. , but by the 1920s they were virtually in the hands of the miners were in villages which for the
part were déprived of social amenities.
They contained dance halls, swimming pools, billiard rooms, debating chambers, as well as the great libraries. , These books . were usually picked by elected committees Their choices reflected their interests.
Obviously thev picked novels, works of great literature but this was a time : of workerauthor didactism. They wanted to learn. They were full of improving works in the literary, political, geological and scientific sense
As pits have closed so have
institutes. Some stil exis but more as social centres The spread of public libraries 1940s dispensed with the need
them and now there social The cultural brain of the coalfield -because they were the brain has now gone.
Socialist Challenge 17 December 1980 Page 13
Page 14 scan of this page
Stop the Sainsbury anti-abortion Bill
STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST
Ireland is a
student issue
By Ann Henderson THE message form the recent National. Union of Students conference in Margate was that Ireland should be a student issue.
Two hundred students attended a conference fringe
organisea where wildl los Marrel Nugent. of Marie Nugent currently
jail, urged support for the
irish prisoners. She received urged support
aressing the conference itself.
The last air t of the conference,
Wait e NUS policy opposing
from Ireland support PLIDUCES was maintained, over a third of the colleges
the prisoners and troops withdrawn form Ireland.
Support
followed a grovene debate activity throughout the movement, mcmaing in the north of Ireland.
NUS Wales ports the Charter paign and the London Stu. dent Organisation has called
SUD DOLL LOI orsoners. Kecentl students travelled to Belfast Universio support the Queens
Campaign Repression demonstration December in support of the
Block Armagh prisoners.
The conference also censunce me un execuave Tor its handling of the govern-
attack student union independence. Ine
DOUSES
fünds
alrecly.
They will college authorities with whom student unions will have barter for the money.
students
socialist
DON'T LET THE IRISH PRISOMERS DIE!
Women in
ACTION
Women have the right to work
In this issue
A Paper for Action in the Unions on Women's Rights
The new issue of Women in Action is now on sale. Orders: p&p, from Box 2, 190 Upper Street, London N1.
Socialist Challenge 17 December 1980
JOANNE O'BRIEN
Photo
Margaret Nugent
The NUS leadership's strategy
101 'covernment anack nas er. tectively led to acceptance And urine day- deal. technic
supported amenemert rabetty for stude accountability student funds milan to the Tory attack
sullissas macks on me tame unons
There were a number of important
passed NUS reffirming woman's right to choose an abortion calling uve alre paign againt sexual narass
relaunch Students against the Nazis
students have suffered over
sycals uveiscat swudents. colere closure
HOW student union it is vital that the
leadership is challenged.
Campaigns
The Socialist Students Alliance will be fighting for the maximum unity those
major polit paigns inside NUS Vallin uclane. women s ton, nuclear disarmament, and student ing:
Socialist Student Alliance badge 20p or 15p each for bulk order
from Ann renderson, Box 50, London N1 2XP. New Year Issue 35p NCCL on Positive Actioi over 100 at 20p eachaplus individual orders 35p each plus pap,
Page 14
By Ann Potter AT A time when
women are under attack from all sides, it was surprising that the Law Lords should reverse the Denning ruling on protaglandin abortions.
Last Thursday they could take part in theso. abor-
tions
But still looms
Sainsbury , He is still making up
Members' the time limits for abortions, will further hs career.
WOMEN
of individual violence. society that treats modities.
With these words
mittee proposed a wide-ranging
ference.
in une wake or me kI
er killings nd a spate o
ess-publicised allalas women sudes in London a sendere ine sudent conference unanimously endorsed comprehensive programme of demands on
Buzzers
These include demands on the college and local autonues to dovice dere
and lighting, well as alarm buzzer:
It furthe ; centres and the establishment sell-detence classes.
called on NUS to launch a mass cam
Including lobbies, pickets and demonstrations
with material on sexism and sexual vulclice Threat
Women speakers plained that the continuous threat of harassment and violence against women was made worse by the
dustries' sexist portrayals of women.
Meanwhile women London to the streets on 11 and 12 December
A peacefu protest organised Women Against Violence Against Women leafletting LILIZUCIN square was attackea by int police. Protest
A statement from some of the women on the protest explained that a police van was driven through the pro-
while plainclothes totale . policemen violently attack.
women demonstrators,
Home News
East London abortion
co hop him decide. They
ocal Sananary store
local
the threat to their rights
ord Tory MP goos ahead with a Bill. the National Abor tion Campaign (NAC) will carry out similar actions. should d abortionists пОЛЮ ON Watne Corrie Bill, where the turning poin of the to
Abortion is a class
sue because a woman's right to
control ner own body ,contral women's rights: Women cannot have quality opportunity and employ 'RAPE and sexual violence cannot be seen as acts They are endemic to a women as disposable com-
Stephanie Green of Goldsmiths college and the NUS womens com-
motion violence against women at the recent NUS con-
By Jude Arkwright
dragging them off to nearby
• Women
esting against unprovoker
allack were incuscives a Tester
Earlier on 12 December thirty women had marched
offices of the Sun newspape agalist page tree pin-ups
Nine women were arrested on the 12 December
making
total or cris of on t
protestins London
violence.
One se arre e ove • been charged with causing criminal damage to cinema screens.
Issue
Women Against Violence Against Women
London demonstration told us they wic cucullarca ov lie in
public sympathy for their campaign. And the decision NUS launch a national campaigr should b welcomed.
The labour movement in this
COULLE should follow
examn e or tel year' Scottish Women's TUC and the Canadian trade union
that
permanen important problem to tackle.
Socialists in this country should use example of
agreed by the practica Illcasure issue into the labour movement. • Solidarity messages and. money the defence of those arrested should be sent to:
Womer Against Rape Box 10, Upper Street, London N1
made whether or hote right
Currou
woman's right choose is therefore a vital democratic right that the labour movement should defend.
Local Labour narties and trade unions should
passing resolution: now
abortion should: • Pledoe the branch ti
actively
Stewart,
who
second in the
aHOL
Coman no war they
drop proposals
TO a new
Bill. Students' conference and women's demos demand Square
• Call on the TUC and
Labour Party
Gould
actions like aemos Oi
rallies in the event of a
new Bill
on any sponsorer to do all in thei •OD0S
TOR RHAVe and
support any ainst on MPs actions
called agi
have called a meeting tr
TVe Bill in Parliament.
Both the TUC and the
.torced to their
woman's right to chaow on abo
des have
bodio dicated their support fo
Movement conférence
abandone by NAC and Labour Abortion Rights • CamMore violence against women - this time from the police on last week's demonstration through Leicester
. Recently ASTMS Tobacco
workers, and the Sheet Meta UHOn have all backed the conference.
Charles Grieves gonaral secretary or gre of the with some concern that we note that MP. have drawn a place in ! ballot are again consider ing amendment: the current Abortion Act.
'It is still essential that the movement
sport of both fud and
when a recent Gallup Poll showed that more thar
VIeW that abortion should be left to a woman in consultation
Page 15 scan of this page
Turkey under the military boot
By Nick Robin TWO months Turkey had an excellent press. The Financial Times designated junta head General Kemal Evren their 'Man of the Week' only one day after he had seized power, dissolved parliament, banned suspended the constitution!
But a swift return to promised democracy …ne west and the DUVICI Union continued trade links
political relations, and turkey was
The truth is that since the cono reoression was reached levels
in countries
which not fascist dictatorships
Kemal
Accorale Pakistani Workers
Association
holds first
conference THE Pakistant Workers Association held HITS THESE annual conference on
Birmingham. _ The conference neumously approved the draft constitution and statement of aims and elected Amir Kabil Khan as general
The conference passed an emergency resolution on
and • The Anwr Ditta Cast
11021 permitted high int of the
Massivuca Ditta to the predominantly
mate anarcace or rakistan workers to take up nel case After had graphically
the 26-year-old Koc adit was thunderous ovanon.
The conference person, Tariq Ali, then proposed that she be elected the first president of the PWA The motion was passed by
This marks a break with dominant *
the Pakistani comunity: it does Wikill!
with backroome precedes prominence to a Pakistani woman Worker WIlU
militant immigration
All speakers,
including Mukhtar
former Pakistanı Mr anc noW WOrKer London, stressed Ene
importance of the PWA. It
was a small but modest step
forward
militant Pakistani workers A Further details TrOm.
General Secretary sc c/0 The
137
Digbeth, Birmingham.
ago the military coup 'in
all political parties, and
Doylal, tne only one or le seven leaders of-DISK, the
trade union federao nave people rested I2 September Dozens nave deen kinca. In clean-up operations and hundreds of death sentences
been handed down by military
This is in addition to the 65.000 political prisoners in
hva national car.
OVel
BIRMINGHAM's Other
the labour movement in the city.
We have a wide selec-
tion of
newspapers, badges perse going for ind
armchair
activist and the
revolutionary
Our stock includes all
the socialist and Marxist the books beli as some o
moment:
EP Thompson's Protest and
survive. Tony Benn's
Arguments for Socialism.
and Tim Pat Coogan's On
• Blanket.
We also stock hand-
books for trades
books rights
work; nooks Olack
liberation, racism,
and international struggles;
a wide selection of feminist
books and novels, including
Women's Press and Virago
We have a sector
Fourth International DuD
lications as well as many
to write to. ontact: AAN
Turkish jails before the The repression has been concentrated une gecekondus (working class
and in the Kurdish nation in • une cast.
Kurds
Kurds make up one fifth of the total population but are denied the right to speak their or organise as question, ¡allullai reviyausn and political violence which was twenty lives daily mainl squads Party, the lal scol fascist party in Europe
Young CND against the missiles
OTHER
Bookshop opened on 1 November as a service to the left and
You can find us at 137 Digbeth, just down from the Bull Ring on the way to Digbeth Civic Hall.
neroolcas. Rib, The Leveller, Socialist such as Spare
Republic Insist, and Searchlight bookshop, sponsored by the IMG. also is a place for campaign bodies some indie. • It can only and used by working pec we cal l confocic wil WH but we can provide in books you need. Socialist ideas face hard
competition capitalist Visit Birmingham's Other Bookshop buy your Xmas books. and help us to help you.
For intormanen available books and bookstalls local/naconferences, trade Lulla unon brancacs. and so on, ring us on 021-643 5904.
Send greetings to South African prisoners Each year Anti-Apartheid organises the sending of Christmas greetings to South African political prisoners. Although it is now too late for Christmas delivery, these
cards help to boost prisoners' morale. Socialist Challenge urges readers to contact inti-Apartheid to get their list of prisoner
89 Charlotte St, London W1 PD.
were the main forces which basic persuaded' army step in In power, the Generals and
brief: the nave clear destruction of the high level
organisation and
the working class to create what dustrialist described before the cour
a (necessary) new proach to industrial relations'
You know the sort of thing banning Lauc
Blocking up strikes, and so on
Wester press, following ments, have chosen lo. lnore the gross violations of 3XX
organisers • such a committee
short notice.
The
proposed
local
Nukes Area NUS Young
1981.
BIRMINGHAM S
300KSHOP
democratic rights burkey NA SOURCE is a vital par flank
the imperialists art painting the UT KIST general secular moder nisers beser by religious and Dullical lanatits.
Truth
It is therefore up to the abour movemeal to set ou the truth about turkey demand an end to The repression, savage campaign for the downfall junta. The Turkist solarty campaida snould be the focus of acted at B can be contacted at 5965, London WCIN
had argued that would -not
be representative of all youth
in the campaign because the
conference had been called at
conference over-
whelmingly supported the idea
of a representative leadership Revolution Youth and othere members
17-person committee was
elected with representatives of
Young CND groups
Schools Against the Bomb, No
Music and Manchester CND should now go
out and build the anti-missiles
movement among young peo-
ple, and organise for their next
national conference in Spring
Campaign Against
Racist Laws National delegate conference Saturday 10 January Discussion on building a mass campaign
against the Tories' new
nationality proposals Send for details to: CARL, c/o Lansbury House, 41 Camberwell Grove, London SES
SC Sales ABERDEEN: SC sold Saturdays out side C&As - for more info ring Col-
. on sale at 1983 Book:
m outside the Roman Baths. Phone
available from Bookshop, BRIGHTON: SC sales regularly ever BRISTO, SCale Mo 10 Market, Londor EDINBURSH. SC sales every Thur day 4.15-5.15pm Bus Station
Better
newsagents, London Enfield HACKNEY supporters sell SC ev
morning at Ridley Roa bride Sou Almad S130-5. F
Vien or John al 54 Eliot Se,
HUDDERSFIELD
LBURN: SC sales every Sat, 10an
available
Thur and Fri evenings and Thur mor
itside Days of Hope booksho einse ring Ph MANCHESTER SC
pporters sell 11-Ipm Sat at OLDHAM outside the Yorkshire Bank, High St; at BURY in
fightback
- 1940-1980
Socialist Challenge
In 10.30-12.30pm Am Com-
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Poly
send in details to
What's Left RATES for What Left Sp pe publication.
NUKES MUSIC: • Fri 15 December benefit concert featurir surprise evens. Price fi so in ad. h in Glasgow. Sat 20 Dec 10a Strikers.
Blackhil. Rally ai Comais Park.
Called by Scottish Hunger Strike Ac-
STATE
Line
of Spi late. Jam Today, Sisterhoo International Marxist Group notices not lein Al contributiusion FOR SALE Back copie of Try or interested ring Penny on SC Fund Drive. Vols 16/17/18 (1978,. . Offers to Fed, Camden TWU National Fraction Sat 17
"Your life in their hands' calendar. Tne Campaigns, profits, lon pay. or carry with you... dy ,A4 size, good writing space. Useful for work home or the union o fice and Only £1 ladd 25F we'll send b TOLUTT 30 Camden Rd, London NW1.
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17 December 1980 Page 15
Page 16 scan of this page
20,000 STEEL
SOMEONE forgot to
will!
people throughout the country.
Whether you're
employed on the dole, you ll not escape the imnac of the latest round of Tory policies.
government's message steelworkers is that 44,000 camelee 4 HORE is not enoran To make Ine
steel Corporation another workers to join dole heaps
those who are left, BSC increase their workload and they ve HOL even onerca a pay rise Tor next year.
Slashed
If your're lucky enough
ation and reduced welfare benefits will cut your pay packet.
Council • house
Lenallls face a weeklv rise of *3.25 in
With two million Leir rent people living in substandard lousing, placed a total ban
house •ano les have next year's y further is programme by a further 1
cent.
Not content with increaset they have slashed the suhsidy to loca authorities from the Rate
ad to a further increase Answer
British Rail has announced redundancies, and the National Coal Board is planning dozens of pit closures.
Our Xmas message. to the Tories is simnle joint action by trades unionists and Labour Party members can stop your policies and
Support your printshop
LAST week something of a first for us. We managed to hit the streets with a front page and a double-page
Socialist
Challenge
An Xmas message from the Tories
remind the Tories that it was Christmas, supposedly a time of peace and good-
The Xmas message from the government will mean misery and hardship for working throne true ence o. triple alliance miners, Tall. ale workers can nall tne decine dustrie nationalised Militant action answer to une lores, aculon such as that at karoner's — occupations and solidarity
can stop and adanies
Lambeth. WIICIC Lades was spread, on John Lenat one notice.
It was important to
DEATH OF A WORKING CLASS HERO
PO Box 50, London Ni
By Pat Kane our unionists are refusing to sell
uses and are planstrike action to Save set vices
The TUC leaders and the Parliamentary Labour Par-
timentality non, day's
LOsecause. working
us, we want to keep
so so quickly because
modern: and printshop, and because of the
the staff.
But work of equipping the print shop isn't why of our £100,000 fund drive to complete the capitalisation of
needed stock and equipment. The sooner better we'll be able to respond
guessed,
TO GO
long and watched , have stood for services The November demonstration in
labour movement is able to The result of Tory housing policy - 2 million people live in substandard housing
and important to the left. The media have been full of sen- speed; the
about John Len- paper but uney naven t naa a word to say about his support socialism.
and the So class fight. That's YOUl part of the Lennon tradition bank account,
alive.
We were able to respond
our last MB drive helped fit out a Camden IMG sophisticated Bolsover IMG Urs Kern dedication and hard work of Colin Barnes
printshop and newspaper A Laing
Des Stevens unfortunately the D Mills Ed Mahood complete. That' A Yeeles wee docate
Newham IMG WIll muchTotal we get it, the Cumulative Total
SEE YOU
IN 1981 AS our readers may have
Socialist Challenge: will not be published. on 25 December, But we shall be back on
January 1981 with review of the struggle for socialism in 1980.
JOBS
kick this government out.
Militant action is needed now. to more events with similar
more flexible our will be and the better be able to fight
search your pockets, conscience and your and send us a donation for Xmas!
Our thanks this week to:
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WOMAN dragged from the Sun office during protest over sexișm and violence
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