Socialist Challenge No. 216, 8 October 1981
The scan: sc-no216.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
No. no 8 October 1981 25p HAS THE Republican the North of Ireland lost the hunger strike? It is true that the have been forced to call off their protest without winning political status and without winnie demands.
It is also the case that the intransigence of the Tory government in refusing to make any concessions to the prisoners, either in practice or in writing until the hunger strike ended, appears to have paid off.
But the outcome struggle is not always judged on the terms on which it is eventually settled. It is best assessed on which side emerges from the stronger. And, by that criteria, there is no doubt who won the hunger strike.
Unemployed and strikers 10p
Socialist
HUNGER
STRIKE
WHOSE
VICTORY?
movement in The movement prisoners hunger following: • Two the five Westminster
• Two parliamentary
• Several important
North of Ireland;
of a political
• The defeat struggle the
Republican and socialist which supported the strikers have achieved the
election victories in the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone;
seats in the Southern Irish general election;
election victories at local government level in the
• World wide protests against the intransigence of the Thatcher government. World wide sympathy for the cause of a united Ireland;
of the Fianna Fail government in the South of Ireland; • The marginalisation of the 'moderate' nationalist party in the North of
Ireland - the Social Democratic and Labour Party -to support the prisoners; • The highest level of mass mobilisation against Britain that Ireland has seen in ten years; • A reported huge increase in funds from abroad to the Republican cause; • Reports of a rapid rise of volunteers to the IRA.
In Britain, during the hunger strike the Sunday Times has come out in favour of British withdrawal from Ireland. James Callaghan has also said that Britain should get out, and at last week's Labour Party conference the overwhelming majority of constituency Labour Parties supported a withdrawal resolution, while the conference itself committed the
SADAT ASSASSINATED
As we go to press, we have heard the news of the assassination of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt. Sadat was a brutal dictator, a vicious enemy of the working class. His slavish support for the interests of US imperialism in the Middle East made him hated by all those fighting for the right of the Palestinians. Socialists will not mourn his passing See next week's issue for a full analysis. because of its failure Ireland.
is no longer acceptable.
meeting ference, votes he
definitively
Labour Party to campaign for a united
None of this would have happened without the hunger strike which has shown to the world that this presence
As Joan Maynard MP told a fringe
the Labour Party con. 'Bobby Sands' death, and the , got transformed the situa tion inside the Parliamentary Labour Party. As far as Irish unity went, it was mass conversion all round.'
Therefore, consider all that, and consider as well the substantial concessions to the prisoners announced this week by the Tories, and then ask 'who won?' The answer is obvious.
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Labour's conference- - and the way forward
В В С Delegates at Labour's annual conference THE MEDIA are crowing. left routed in the NEC elections. Foot back in command, moderates strike back. Every event at the conference was interpreted as back for the left. The London Standard even managed to put on its front page after the left had won a huge majority for unilateral disarmament 'Left loses out on H-bombs'
back? A careful assessment of what happened is a precondition for determining the tasks of the Labour left over the next period.
At the level of policy resolutions, there is no way that the conference could be interpreted as victory for the right. Decisions were made in favour or a so-nour week wild nic loss of unilateral nuclear disarmament, repeal of the *68 and 71 immigration acts an end
bi-partisanship Ireland and extra-legal action to defeat Heseltine's attacks on local councils.
But it would be an illusion to beleve that these resolutions expressed the real outcome of the con-
The right terence. Wille chose to make a stand on the elections to the NEC, control of the manifesto, and the three year rule on conference discussion of constitutional issues. Victory
On all these the right wing won decisive vicLULICS
new right wing alliance, centred on the right wing trade union leaderships, but extending to Kinnock on the left and above all using Michael root's role leader, ensured the defeat of the constituency based left. The constituency left
Socialist Challenge 8 October 1981
Benn defeated, the
La scl
So what was the reality? Was the left driven
now faces impasse and demoralisation unless learns the lessons of the defeat.
The scene was set by Healey's victory in the deputy leadership election. True, per cent vote for Benn was remarkable. right wing had tried to confine his vote below 30 per cent and get 'vote contidence in Healey. His marginal victory was anything but that.
Nonetheless, no matter
CORMAC
81#2
Page 2
how creditable a showing
JUSL election defeat is a defeat. Healey's
set ine scene IOI what followed later in the week and it influenced the whole atmosphere of the conference and some of the smaller unions feel that they could hine up with the right more easily.
The left's defeat on the constitutional amendment on control the manifesto was a carefully planned volving wheeling and dealIng which Foot and Peter Shore were centrally involved.
Remove
The NEC elections. y the elections. will have tremendous repercussions. It is likely that Benn will be removed from the chair of the Home Policy Committee and that Eric Heffer will be removed as
& THINK THE TIME HAS COME FOR ME TO JOIN THE S.D.P.
Labour Party
chairperson of the organisation sub-committee.
The right wing on the NEC can now ensure inal action on left-wing policy is minimal, and the danger looms of a right wing controlled organisation subcommittee starting witch-hunt against the left.
Michael Foot's promise of 'no witch-hunts' is
against a right-
the left on the crucial questions oi control of the manifesto and control of the party aid arat ret paradoxically
noe relationshcha ge
relationship forces in either the party of the Labour movement as a
rehore. satiented more e
right, and the use of their control of decisive industrial unions against the constituency based left.
THE CHARM OF SHIRLEY WILLIAMS THE URBANITY OF ROY JENKINS!
This right-wing victory based on manoeuvre precarious. But the constituency left won't change it around unless there is a change in tactics
The defeat of the constituency left can't be won back in the constituencies The trade union bureaucracy has to be challenged in its own heartlands. It is to this task that the Labour left must now address itself.
It would be a second, and illusion believe that the right's vic.
at the conference represent new 'equilibrium' which will now be stabilised. They will go on the offensive throughout MOVe ment. The left faces a very tough battle over the next year.
In this battle the left will need to know exactly
THE SOMETHING OR: OTHER, OF THE OTHER TWO CHATS WHOSE NAMES I HAVE FORGOTTEN...
who the enemy is and what methods struggle prioritise
By the end of the conAnd the constery e and the constituency
claiming Michael Foot as 'theirs' , hence his stallaing ovalon
This •Д. foolish mistake the left. Michael Foot is now the crucial leader of the right wing; his former 'left' credentials, skillfully played on, don't matter a tig.
Foot
Eventually Michael Foot must be removed as leader Whethe Benn should challenge him next year is a complex tactical question which cannot be answered now; but the left must constantly try to expose his role and the right wing alliance he has constructed.
The crucial back drop of the coming year's struggle will be the events in the class struggle itself the fight to remove the Tories
ment precedented crisis. This winter they will be struggl four per cent and to pre vent fight-back unemployment So the first lesson is that the left must throw its weight behind all the struggles which challenge the
MAINLY THE S.... BUT POLITICAL INTEGRITY OF MICHAEL CHALLORAN!
Tories.
One major victory by the unions would pietely transform the situation inside the Labour party. The right only benefits from demoralisahon ana acreal
The ere cd lesson
'truce', no attempt to get
right's terms. The idea that
victory is made more likely by compromise with the right
mistaken. Against the Social Democrats and the deepening crisis of the Tories, only a party pro posing radical solutions, and equipped with the means of ensuring that they can be Canned oul will be a credible challenge.
Unions
And third, new organisation constituency and union left is needed. Socialist argued the need forehe argued need for the Labour left organise ir
conference showed
it showed precisely that.
The right wing must be stormed in its own bas tions And that Boylen Warburt Ds ays the Duffys Boyds, Granthams of this world as well as the Healeys and Foots.
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WhyMichaelFootis dangerous
abstainers too!
By Phil Hearse THE LATEST ISSUE Worker, paper of the Socialist Worker Party, contains a front-page article by Paul Foot on the left-right struggle in-. side the Labour Party entitled 'What Now for the Left?'.
It starts by saying that the showing for the Benn camp in the deputy leadership election 3: 'magnificent' and that 'most socialists were eeply disappointed' loite right. A Benn victory would have given a
impluse to the stuggle of the left inside the
"bour Party and a boost to workers struggling sainst the Tories the length and breadth of the
untry.
But it is a little bizarre for Socialist Worker
: offer their heartfelt congratulations to the Jenn campaign, since this was a struggle from • nich they themselves abstained — and part of wider struggle from which, 1o read fool's ar-
le, they will continue to abstain.
4s Paul root puts it:
¡alism, denouncing •J abused unanimously by the press, Tony Benn marched forward."
And we might add, as Benn marched for•ard, Socialist Worker did nothing whatever to = omote his campaign and contented itself with
: routine and ritual statements about why Tony Benn didn't have the answer (mostly written by... Paul Foot).
Socialist Challenge did promote the Benn campaign. We do not believe that 'Benn has the answer' (indeed our own interview and our reply to his positions makes it very clear we do not).
We support his campaign because it was an excellent opportunity to promote the fight inside the Labour Party and the trade unions Socialist Challenge 8 October 1981
Socialist Worker - you are
Ot Socialist when Benn didn't win.
Talking about
capitalisti, hounded will mon Page 4
against the right wing and to debate out all the political questions facing the working class.
The abstention of Socialist Worker derives from something very simple: they regard the struggle in the Labour Party as something
socialists nothing to do with. In making this assessment, they are making an error of gigantic propor-
What Socialist Worker doesn't face up to is that the crisis inside the Labour Party is the most momentous development in British politics for a generation. Precisely because of the organic links between the trade unions and the Labour Party, the differentiations and debates inside the unions are bound eventually to be reflected inside the Labour Party itself. Tof the British working class abovemen. No soul of the British working class movement. socialist can afford to step away from that struggle and wash her or his hands ot it.
The struggle against the Tories, and the struggle against the right wing in the unions and in the Labour Party are part and parcel of the same process.
The labour bureaucracv movement in part because of its ability to divide the constituency left from the militants in the trade unions. To disrupt their hold of the movement it is necessary to take the struggle to them in all the bastions which they hold.
The questions which are politically polarising the trade union movement are the questions of debate and division inside the Labour Party. It is around such questions as the Benn campaign as well as the fight against the Tories that new alignments will be formed at the base of the
To be part of those developments it is necessary to intervene in the Labour Party and take a position on these crucial issues of divide.
Paul Foot ends his piece by appealing to the • Bennite ranks to get stuck in to the anti-Tory
Labour Party
should have aominates ine
decisive way right wing. coming to before had dressed a Tribune rally.
He
chided, "Tony more cabinets than I have.'
Success
gene di
dividual was
Wednesdav morning A standing awarded away. leaders at
with silence by
LaDour rallics.
tht he was curable peace-monger.
gap leader, a minor
Cling
ter Brighton, Paul Foot asks
An open letter
to Tony Benn and his
supporters
SHOW THE TORIES WHAT PROTEST MEANS:
struggle — on the picket lines, on the protest
marches and in the missiles campaign
of turning the tables against the Sound advice. Those struggles will
be the crucial backdrop against which the fight
inside the Labour Party will be fought out.
But as the right wing starts its counter-
offensive, in the constituencies and the unions, Michael Foot, leader of the Labour Party told the Tribune rally at the Labour Party conference, want to thank you for inviting me here. I have been
Tribune rallies longer remember. But I must admit I never expected to find myself occupying the position I do at present.'
At that there was laughter and cheers all round. Michael Foot the prodigal son of the lent, naa, lt seemed, nol onn returned but had brought with
Not the Such a Labour Party. After all, never
leader ada party
At the meeting Foot played
dience of the times he had had reminded his EEC and
in parliament. whip withdrawn He capacity has served in things.
It was a good performance, abstention a reflection of Foot's success eadersh
the conference.
Healey for any one indivudual, that in-
Michael Foot.
This was evident when ne was given a standing ovation at the not cabinet end of his parliamentary report
conference the
ovation is not Labour full
conference. year, James Callaghan was met
most of tic delegates from the constituency
But this year explanation
they rose, as a single mass whet popularity.
Foot ended with his declaration
'an inveterate, in-
Michael Foot, it seems, has arrived. For a long time he has appeared little more than stop-
the advance of the left, a weak- ODSLaCe LU are the very
little authority and commanded less respect.
Brighton changed that, and
ULE it is now time to take Michael replacement Foot seriously. This is especial-
Socialist
Worker
* WHAT
NOW
FOR
THE
LEFT?
— as a enough.
Place, austenion. "I do
than I care to
ly important because the conference delegates suggested that Foot, if no longer the 'darling of the left, still retains much affection and trust with them
view is not only wrong, it is dangerous. Certainly, Foot has allied himself with manv of the lett wing pollcies adopted at conference, in par-
withdrawal from the disarmament. But sympathy for such notions and
For willingness IO carry them out are different
For instance, Foot, through the snivelling little opportunist
Neil Kink, campagned uty
deputy contest; knowing
ull well that this would mean
victory. And yet Healey, with at least more tegrity than some of the 'left' defiantly proclaimed he would
serve in a unnatelals
Make no mistake. it root has to choose between keeping Healey happy, or implementing
unilateralist policy, he will pick te tormer
It was this notion of 'unity' which finds a real echo on the Labour left, and which is one
for
But the best remarks on this came from defeated left wing treasurer, Norman Atkinson at the conference on the Wednesday. "The very people who said for unity's sake we should not contest the deputv leadershin just shifted people who hav
left-wingers from the national executive.
'The unity that is necessary
principles the of capitalist society by a socialist society'.
INSIDE supporting this or that protest march won't be
It will be necessary to be there, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Bennites against the right, as a crucial pre-condition to debating out revolutionary politics with them. The alternative is, to quote a topical and controversial
The executive elections were another success for Foot. It was no secret that he supported the 'hit list' drawn up by the right wing trade union leaders, a list which specifically at those executive aimed
members whO were openly associated with the moves to democratise the Labour Party.
It is also rather significant that HOO chose lo speak on behalf of the : executive on the debate on NEC control of the party manifesto. He decided to
lend his name to attacking this further move towards democratisation, raising the stakes to such a level that he claimed: 'The way we settle this question may well settle the next election. Battle
This assertion is indicative for the battle which is now likely to ensue between the policies decided at conference, and the NEC, the majority of which do not support those policies
It is particularly relevant in regard to what some delegate were saying, that Foot is now 'a
right'
Michael Foot is a prisoner then ne shows little indication of wanting to escape
Unlike Benn he resolutely defends the action of the last Labour government, in whic
ge braved a caulle Dal
It was Foot who, as leader of the - opposition selected as Labour's defence spokesperson
Dal Halichl who didn't agree with Labour's policy on defence; as Labour's foreign affairs spokesperson, someone who didn't agree with party policy on foreign attairs, and as Labour's spokesperson ou une economv. someone wild didn't agree with Labour's economic policies
Michael Foot may still be the grandfather of the Labour left, but he could easily become the goalaliel • of the right. He deserves watching.
Page 5 scan of this page
of the
By Geoff Bell IF SOMEONE had predicted three years ago that the 1981 Labour Party conference would commit the Party to campaign for a united Ireland, and would see the majority of constituency British withdrawal assumption would have been that such a prophet had been hit too near the temple by an RUC plastic bullet.
Yet, last week's conference did see the Labour Party committed to Irish unity. and. on a snow of hands, between 75 and 85 per cent of CLP delegates did vote for pro-withdrawal resolution.
So Joan Maynard MP was quite correct when she said at a conference fringe meeling organisea Dy lne Labour Committee on Ireland: 'We have made a little progress this week'. Rumours
At the same time the conference rejected two pro-withdrawal resolutions, and it appeared that
SLOTICSL Willawd which included support for the demands of the hunger strikers, did not have majority support even among CLPs.
What was passed was an NEC statement which endorsed unification of Ireland as a general principle but which insisted that this would only be acceptable the Unionists agreed.
block vote which secured the defeat for resolutions
number of unions abstain-
but despite that the AUEW was going to back the milder withdrawal resolution, no major union appears to have done so. Strains
Remarkably, this places the trade unions to the right of the Parliamentary Labour Party. During the week both Joan Maynard and Pat Duffy MP, told fringe meetings that
majority Labour MPs favoured the milder withdrawal resolution.
But neither this, nor
Labour Party
and Ireland
the meaning
conference
decision
Labour Parties supporting a call for from Ireland, then the
the endorsement of the Irish unity call means the Tory/Labour bipartisanship on Ireland should remembered that November 1972 Harold Wilson, the Labour Party, called for Britain to withdraw from the North in 15 years.
The call, which was endorsed by the PLP, was to the left of the policy agreed by last week's conference, but did not break bipartisanship because the Tories' day to day practical implementation of its Irish policy was not opposed.
Nor will it be this time There will be strains on the Tory/Labour unscious For one thing Labour is now committed to opposition. For another, the PLP will be expected by Labour's rank and file to articulate the party's aspiration for unity Unity But the general British policy framework the maintenance the border, and British policIng or unal bordel remain unchallenged by Ine Labour rarly.
Unification may be Labour's ultimate aim but even Ted Heath, in 1972, said that if a majority in the North favoured unity then Britain 'would not stand in the way'.
It is significant that lan Paisley felt able to comment on Labour's confercile decision that it 'would make much difference'.
This is not tg imply that no gains were made at built one pained docu built on NEC docuaucs commit the Labour Party to 'cam-
paign' for Irish unification and CLPs can demand that such a campaign is immediately begun.
conference remitted to the NEC a call for a special one-day conference on Ireland. Again, CLPs can put pressure on the NEC to try and ensure mar lnis remiltal does nol lie in the waste-paper basket at the Party's headquarters.
The biggest gain was the large majority among CLPs for a policy of active withdrawal. The credit for unal through can be given to the
Committee Ireland who, in just two short years, have made Irelana one or ine major issues of debate in the Labour ray Joan Maynard We have made a little progress.
But to secure the LCI's aim British withdrawal from the North of Ireland
the obstacle of the op-
the DOS LON unions remains. The
for this ilreason was lustrated at a lecture that NUPE general
sericial y Alan Fisher was reported to have given to his delegation at the conference.
Fisher, who is personally sympathetic to withdrawal, told his delegation that it would be wrong to support the withdrawal resolutions. because of NUPE's substantial membership in the North ot ireland. He said it the union were seen to back withdrawal It could split this North of Ireland membership and lead to illass desertions from Loyalists.
The argument
wishing divide North of Ireland trade
Ireland
Peter Hain, who withdrawal. unionists was also used by Alex Kitson, on behalf of the NEC when he argued against withdrawal at the conference. The same supporters of the Military point was also made newspaper opposed both withdrawal motions.
The Kitson/Militant alliance was effectively answered at the LCI fringe meeting by Joan Maynard and Kevin Ivic vallara MP.
Joan Maynard referred to the Kitson/Militant call for a new North of Ireland Labour Party and recalled
old Northern Ireland Labour Party had eventually become so propartitionist that supported internment.
'YOu could set up a hundred Labour Parties and you would still get the same result', said Maynard. 'The minute you would start, people would ask what's your position on the border, and that would inevitably mean you were in one camp or the other.'
McNamara took up the same theme. Because the Kitson/Militant alllance Was proposing Labour Party based on one half of partitionica Ireland thereby strengthened argued McNamara. 'The proposition would become
first he said. You Unionism' he said. have to solve the national question before you get any degree of socialism arguments are they do se Correct these solve the problem of winn-
of this storate e
British wineman problem which compounded by the fact that the membership subscripLIONS une receive from the North of Ireland mean they have a material interest in not offending the Unionist majority.
supported calls for British
latched al li Thatcher Macabu
But there are steps that can taken. Greater
publicity for the views of Irish trade unions, a majority of which do favour British withdrawal, would help shift the present pro-Unionist views in the British unions.
The LCI has already, along with the Committee
THEY SAID:
'WE ARE discussing a failure of existing policies: a total bankruptcy of all political initiatives by successave British governments, whether Tory or Labour, over the past ten years. 'Anyone who runs away from that is indulging in political escapism, is ourying inew neaas in ine sand in the way that Britain has collectively buried its head in the sands on the Irish question for far too long. Britain is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
I would appeal to the comrades in the trade union movement. Ireland is a taboo subject in the unIon moverteril Understandably, because you have trade members in Northern Ireland. But that does not enable you to shirk your responsibilities 'And I hope you and Come ence will sav that the unification as proposed in this inadequate and contradictory NEC document is not enough.
If you simply declare in favour of without developing a strategy of how you are going get there sarules! which involves withdrawal then it's like sav ing you are in favour of socialism out vou have no strategy as to get it — it's pie in the sky.
Peter Hain
Listers Declaration
ted in porconsciences that tillin
Corthern Ireland outs be deattrous to the
nel di bring d Uleler suberrene evur m
and religious freedom destructive our citeship s
perilous to the pos fion a feritern ireland as parte
We Units Kingdon al whos namas are under written
gurn cant handy relying on the Gee whom our
borindayr dates and trust confoity trusted de
his our time of threatened calamity to stand by
one anülber in injendma for ourses and
mildren our cherished position 4 citizenship in the
united kingdr antin uning all means which roas t our
mund necessary to dated the present conspirat
lan Paisley - Labour's plan still gives him the right of
Withdrawal from Ireland, agreed to organise a labour movement conference which the first step can be taken for organising on the Irish issue in the unions.
No-one should be under any illusions about the difficulties of winning
I ask the trade unions to remember that ine • Irish Transport and Genera Workers Union favour ar intention by Britain 10 disengage and courage Irish unity, and
also the other Irish greatest Irish tragedy is the silence of the Britis?: labour movement.' Mick Martin, Fulham CLP.
The horrendous ana heroic deaths of Bobb! Sands oiner brought the issue Ireland to the forefront o the world Yet, in Britain we are sull sucking ou heads in the sand.'
ктогу, Bren:
East CLP.
'The one basic flaw in th NEC document is that: leaves the power of veto ir the hands of the Unionists How many more genera tions must be sacrificec because of this veto to live in terror and misery Anne Lavery, St Pan cras North.
'This is the unfinishes business of the 19th ans 20th centuries. The horde never worked, never cous work and never will wor. Successive governmer had tried to make it wor
The only way forward wa a united Ireland.
Clive Soley, MP. veto a signiticant number trade unions to the cause of British withdrawal. Bi that does not mean the e: fort should not be made.
As Joan Maynard sai= last week, Brighter 'We've won the PLP we ve won lie constituen cies, now we have to u:
Socialist Challenge 8 October 1981 Page 5
Page 6 scan of this page
Women make policy not tea
By Tessa van Gelderen ALEX KITSON, this year's chairman (sic) at Labour Party conference, received a bouquet from delegate Janet Pickering. tion came at the end of the debate on positive discrimination for women.
Its pur pose was show conference that women were not prepared
be patronised by the likes of Kitson. Earlier in the conference he had suggested that women shoul concentrate on making tea not poliass
was. perhaps, concern that women were get-
uDDILY the Labour Party that resulted in the motion and amendments discrimination for women Ull positive
being remitted. After all it would never do to allow the Labour Party's women's conference 'have the right to submit five resolutions of the final agenda for debate at the Labour Party Annual Conference.
And it was certainly going too far for some of the delegates, Varicularly our trade union brothers,
allow organise women's sections without requiring ap*Peter Parker has just got a 25 per cent wage rise. That's the rate the are asking for. Inat snowa be the going rate this year. The police aren't part of the 4 per cent pay policy. Oh no, they want plenty of those in order to stop the hecklers...
Dennis Skinner, MP
I want to tell Tony when and if you zet that job, I'll still be there because
keep them on their toes, like we didn't before.'
Dennis Skinner, MP
'A year ago some trade union leaders wanted a three year rule on constitufional changes reintroduced. When they ost at Wembley, they wanted a change in 6 months.
Tony Benn, MP
Not so long ago these same MPs were prepared to vote for Williams and Rodgers and Owen. MPs aren't absaining — they're voting for Healey.' Arthur Scargill, President Yorkshire NUM
Socialist Challenge 8 October 1981
Labour party conference
The presentaCommittee: the General
The union delegations obviously did not like to be told to put their own house in order by being 'encouraseu to ensure indi their delegation to annual contiererce accurately reflect female membership
That would certainly Caus a snake uoo locu delegations: women made up less than › per cent o.
they represented ons, and
OnLy cent of the total number of conference delegates. Tight basic fans wed highlighted by Jennv wards from Paddington when she spoke in the debate. As she said: "The need for positive discrimination for women is clear.
Women did have some successes conference: they forced the issue of positive action for women on to the conference agenThese three left-wingers managed to retain their seats on the Clarke, Scottish Miners' general secretary with MPs Skinner and Benn
Overheard at Brighton
maintes better than the Tories.'
Yorkshire NUM
non-venieves i sociasm
Yorkshire NUM
ter.
Joan Maynard, MP
nim.
seats on the NEC
Boyd and Grantham.
Margaret Beckett.
Page 6
da, by persuading conlerence to refer back the recommendation of the arrangements committee that it not be taken.
There was also a successful reference pack of the National Executive Committee's report on women's organisation in the party on the grounds Jo Richardson: allowing free vote?
that not enough money or resources had been put into
Jo Richardson MP, who had spoken on i behalf of the NEC, told delegates that decide it the repore decide should be referred back.
Again. this was haraly a NEC - Eric 'The Labour Party lost the last election because it tried to practise capitalism
Arthur Scargill, President
I believe the Labour Party should be a broad church but there's no room for
Arthur Scargill, President
'We may think it's hot now but a future Labour government committed to socialist policies would be even hot-
'The right knew better. They stuck with Denis Healey, now we're stuck with
Margaret Beckett, one of the five left wingers who lost their
'There is a lot of talk of a soft left. There is no left soft enough for Duffy,
Labour Party.
normal 'recommendation' from an NEC member.
Women delegates were extremely well organised and militant. As one delegate pointed out she had never known there to be so many fringe meetings on women's issues.
But like all the debates that took place in the week, the debate positive discrimination for polarised the conference. Delegates challenged the
sections, an indication that these structures have become weapons for women in the party. Their main concern is no longer making tea and cakes.
The debate at conference took the discussion on positive discrimination forward. No longer IS It enough that there are specific posts set aside for women (for example that the NEC 'when co-opting members for its subcommittees should adopt the target of 50 per cent of women.); women had to be actively encouraged to participate in the first place.
Many people are now beginning to recognise that women cannot play a full Benn vs Healey
How did
role in the Labour Party without special measures being taken.
As Mel Read from the technicians union ASTMS, spelled out at a fringe meeting on Workan Women Right Work': have
treated shabbily the Labour Party for
outside years...
the party have no trust in
She also pointed out what every woman knows: we have two burdens, the work place and in the home. And all women aclive in the labour move ment are under pressure to
up both 'women's Lanc issues' and trade union cucouvils
Highlight
These problems were highlighted by Elaine Cross, TASS shop steward from the Laurence Scott strike.
explained that when they first went on strike the men usually forgot about her existence if anyone came up to the pickel line asking I01 a steward.
But as she said: 'When
Elaine Cross - picket duty before football. women are on picket duty, we don't go off and play football on Sundays cook the Sunday dinner.
We're there all the time.'
And women have played an equal role in the occupation of the factory and engineering union's headquarters despite attempts by some of the men to get , WUNCI out when the police were called in.
For anyone who thinks that women can make l on their own' not understanding the specific problems they face, Ann Unen NUTGWE, tor th union put them straight at the same
your MP vote?
David Ennals (Norwich N).
(Dulwich). William Melisa sermone seve
Barnett (Heywood and Royton),
Derek Foster (Bishop Auckland), lan (Gateshead E Frederick Willey noreen. boo drowninewcaste wr (Redcar), wright (Dearne Rees (Leeds S), Walter Harrison Gordon
Spiggs (St Helens) nett (Nottingham E)
(West Bromwich E)
George Park (Coventry NW),
ington South), Bryan
cham and Morden).
(Ayrshire S).
Campbell (Dunbarton
«untermune
James White (Greenock).
Guy Barnett (Greenwich), Tockoonu.
Cowans (Newcastle
(Waltham Forest)
field Heeley),
(Slough), his brother
Sney (Dunbarton Central)
Hial (Hull Central).
- Rooker (Perry Barr • Wright (Handsworth), thur Lewis (Newham NW).
meeting union,' she said, '92 cent of the membership are women. be deputy seciclal y ficers only five are women. ore went on to acut that the only way to overcome this was fight locally and nationally for preferential seats for ference and in she fringe The debates meetings all look up ine right of women to work and the need for positive discrimination. The fight inside the labour movement to show that these are not divisive issues still has to continue The Labour Party and the trade unions have : to house in order while at the same time leading a campaign for women to have the right to work in a society that makes women second class : citizens.
That means the labour movement has to undersLaHO wh specific measures like positive discrimination for women are indispensible in that SIXTY-TWO Labour MPs voted for Healey while
for Benn. went Roy Mason (Barn ford N), Oonagh McDonald (Thurrock), Sam Silkin
Wilson (Coventry SE), Bob vare (Workington), Gordon Bagier (Sunderland S), Joel
Betty Boothroyd
Bernard Con David Clark (South Shields) (Sunderland N), Grant James ima James Johnson (Hull W), Edwin Wain Valley). Shirley Summerskill (Halifax), Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield E).
Fred (Sheffield Park), (Wakefield), Tom McNally Oakes (Widnes), Michae McGuire (Ince), Gerald Kaufman (Ardwick), Leslie
Alan Fitch (Wigan), Jack Dun-
William Whitlock (Nottingham N.), Peter Snape
John Sever (Ladywood) (Coventry NE), Geoffrey Robinson John Parker (Dagenham), Reginald Freeson (Brent E), Thomas Graham (Edmonton), Clinton Davis (Hackney Central), Ronald Brown (Hacknev South). Georoe Cunninoham (Is.
Magee (Leyton), Roland Movle Lewisham E, Bruce Douglas-Mann (Mit
Douglas Jay (Battersea N). Tom Cox (Tooting) Arthur Palmer (Bristol NE), David Stoddart (Swin
(Dunbarton E), Dick Douglas James namuton tootwen, cond Smith (Lanark N), Gregor Mackenzie (Rutherglen),
(Pollok), Maybon Dickson
Twenty-eight either abstained or failed to vote at all in spite of constituency support for Benn:
Andrew Bennett Norman Buchan (Renfrew W). Harn Central), Deakins Albert Duffy (Attercliffe)
Garrett (Wallsend), Frank Hooley (Shef Russell Kerr (Hounslow) Robert Kilroy-Silk (Ormskirk), Neil Kinnock (Bedwellty),
Arred Morris (Wythen Charles Morris (Openshaw) § George Morton (Moss Side), Martin O'Neill (Clac mannan), Stanley Orme (Salford W), Hugh McCart-
renistone.. Kevin McNamara John McWilliam (Blayden), Laurie Pavitt (Brent S), Thomas Pendry (Stalybridge), Jeff
. John Silkin (Deptford), Sheila Bob Mitchell (Itchen), Ar
Page 7 scan of this page
A statement from the Editorial Board Iranian revolution in danger
THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION is in danger. The regime has proved chronically incapable of economy since the overthrow of the Shah. faced with ment, inflation, black market and severe shortages.
Hundreds of thousands of people have emigrated to the cities from the countryside and the war zones.
Republican Party (IRP) regime, faced with economic collapse and political chaos, has reacted with a vicious wave of repression against all its opponents.
Hundreds of people are being executed CYCly day. The so-called guards', the quasi-fascist hezbollahis gangs and the Islamic courts are responsible for an escalating bloodbath fighting to preserve the gains of the revolution.
Crisis deepens
Last week the State Prosector annonced new measures under which anyone arrested for 'causing unrest' will be executed the same day, on the evidence of two under twelve will be eligible for execution; and those arrested with wounds government forces will inflicted' before death. This repression is particularly aimed at the main force of the armed opposition, the left wing Mujahadin.
Many people who supported the mighty Iranian revolution against the Shah will be appalled by these developments. government of Khomeini has shown that it has no solution to the problems of the masses. As the crisis deepens, the repression gets worse.
How has the Iranian revolution reached this apparent impasse?
Khomeini
stabilising the the
The masses are ot cards rising unemploy-
La booming
potential.
The Islamic
In
'revolutionary ed SUCCI
against all those
political
witnesses; children
after fighting 'have further wounds other.
The 'Islamic'
More and more people are taking up arms against the Khomeini regime
The 1979 revolution against the Shah was of the MUSU oruroune ane weesorede mobilisations of the masses seen anywhere in mne world in lne bost-war penoa. racea witn
revolutionary activity of army one or tne bigges! equipped since the war - collapsed like a pack
Given the extent of the mobilisation, and une onan s allance with Western, American, imperialism the revolution had a tremendous anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist
Restabilise
In the year following the revolution, the self • activity and self-organisation of the masses increase• oy icars and bounds strikes, demonstrations and the formation of workers committees - shoras tories. But the working class lacked the ability to impose its own rule.
the aftermath of the revolution, Shah's governing apparatus — the army high command, the SAVAK secret police and the state bureaucracy — was crushed. This depriv-
the Hust powerful secuulis bourgeoisie (based on big industry and links with the multinationals) of an instrument to restabilise their rule.
But the lack of a powerful labour movement, and the absence of a high level of class consciousness among the Iranian workers acted as an obstacle to the working class achieving
independence from 'Islamic' politicians.
The governments which came to office after me r anenceenecnace beu ween the mullahs and other Islamic fundamentalists on the one hand, and sections of small capitalists, merchants ana the bazaar on the
Politicians like the first prime Bazargan represented this section of the small capitalists who had fared badly under the Shah. Their project was to reconstruct a capitalism in Iran which would favour their class.
But it nas proved impossible to stabilise capitalism in Iran on such a basis
While they Mave attempted to play a Bonapartist role between the major classes, they have had to fight off both the demands of
International
millions, the
Cano besT
especially
There
welc
in the fac-
the
of the bourgeois and
minister
in the
para-military bazaar.
class to impose its mained implacably
massive forces.
ticular its effects Egypt balus cuv right wing coup.
people.
Tehran. clearly showed. hundreds
are
Monarchist guerrillas on motor-bikes wait in the wings the working class and the efforts of the 'liberal' bourgeoisie who want to reconstruct capitalism on a pro-imperialist basis.
The decisive power has, however, remained
hands of the mullahs because thet possess an apparatus which links together their
forces, the mosque and
For at least 18 months after the fall of the Shah this alliance was able to keep a decisive base among the working masses.
Despite the failure of the Iranian working
ruc machausu e hostile to the regime. The revolution deprived them of their major policeman in the region — the Shah's
The Iranian revolution continued to be a grave destabilising factor in the region, in par-
were felt in countries where militant Islam threatened
Turning point
US imperialism would dearly love to overinrow ine regime ana replace it with a new righ
wing government, perhaps based on the army just as they did in the CIA-organised coup of
The Khomeini regime, by launching an offensive against the most advanced sections of
the masses, is doing lne airty work orup-
erialism, paving the way for precisely such a
The events of this summer marked a turning point in the iranian crisis. First, the regime alarmed by the growth of the opposition's support launched a murderous attack on a Mu-
jahadin demonstration, killing hundreds of
The Mujahadin's response was to launch a bombing campaign against the leadership of the regime, assassinating some of the most prominent political figures in the nation. Every day brings fresh reports of machine gun battles in
With the regime opposed by the openly pro-imperialist right wing and by an increasing number of the working masses, its days are almost certainly numbered. The question is, what will replace it?
It would be an illusion to believe that the en
tire social base of the regime has disappeared,
as tne mobilsalons agamst ine assassilialiul
But Iran is a society in turmoil; thousands COT poor
dispossessed have flooded into Tehran.
The social basis of the regime now increasingly rests on these dispossessed. The recruits to the revolutionary guards and the hezbollahis
trom the lumpen street
tion of the youth.
The
the
bloc with former they regard as the
jects of this bourgeois politician. Khomeini Second, their
working masses
their social and political needs.
like th workers'
defeated by mass mobilisation. in a frontal battle.
committees.
Mass action
Many way regime The O causatiuıl
and cians of every stripe.
gangs of
Socialist Challenge
youth. In no sense are they the advanced sec-
opposition to the IRP represented by the Mujahadin. There are in: central problems with their strategy.
First they have entered into a governmentai
presiacll banl-saul. "legitimate' President o
Iran. This has now led to a 'government in ex.
with Bani-Sadr as President. Such a bla avolas une quesuon or lne class macpenache of the workers and ties the resistance to the pro-
strategy of bombings and military confrontations is one which leaves the
spectators, and tais le mobilise them around a programme to mee
This failure does a dis-service to the task of preparing to replace the present regime with a
government. Moreover it leaves the masses ill-equipped to deal with a right wing o: pro imperialist coup - which could only be
Nevertheless whatever our criticism of the Mujahadin we in no way equate their errors with the criminal acts of the IRP regime. In fact the terror tactics of the Mujahadin are precisel! a response to the Khomeini wave of repression
The workers of Iran have not been defeatec
Their potential power re mains immense. In some areas the old shora: remain intact, even if in the guise of 'Islamic
But defence of the revolution cannot be in
Consel with detense oi ine working class must prepare the conditions tor removing this regime
In our view the best way of preparing fo: this is by creating a broad front committed te mass action in defence of democratic rights against the repression. This is also the best way to prepare to oppose the invitable efforts oi the monarchist forces to play their hand. Unde: these circumstances all the anti-monarchis: forces should unite on similar principles.
But today unless the working class asserts itself against the Islamic repression, it will be incapable of asserting its own class interests.
The struggle for the independence of the working class should proceed through the crea
which mobilise the workers, but which break with bourgeois polit:
Eventually this process must be expressed through the creation of a political party to represent the Iranian maste:
the repression continues in 1. socialists in Britain should step up ther actin in defence of the persecuted Iraniar e:: = ==
8 October 1981 Page?
Page 8 scan of this page
Towards a space war
AND YOU DON'T BELIE ON THE EVE OF DESTR
ONE aspect of Reagan's arms offensive received little coverage in the British media was his intention to ahead with the 'development of technologies for space-based defence'.
Space an where weapons of mass destruction are outlawed by the United Nations, but that doesn't likely to stop planning his own version of 'Star Wars'.
Indeed, already
US has taken significant steps along For, behind the ballyhoo that surrounded the launching space shuttle last April, lay something arms race president
symptoms missile
his new package.
BELL reports. weekend Reagan
more bombers carrying
package
plans. Weinberger
when that crook was President.
Socialist Challenge 8 October 1981| Page 8
which
For
missile be
area other
In
Reagan base at
under
the Base,
this road. jolly And of the new much When it comes to the
Ronald Reagan has shown himself to be Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett rolled into one. Last weekend the US
showed the most frightening
yet madness when he announced
arms GEOFF
The Presidency of Ronald Reagan is becoming a living nightmare for the rest of. the world's population. While he and his NATO allies hold their hands to their hearts and claim that, really, they are in favour of a reduction in nuclear arms, last
announced 'strategic programme' which will mark a further stock-piling of nuclear weapons.
For Reagan promised more missiles,
missiles, submarines carrying missiles, and further research into yet how more missiles can be deployed. All of them will be nuclear and they will cost the citizens of the United States hundreds of billions of dollars.
Reagan made his announcement of the
standing alongside Secretary of Defence, Caspar Weinberger who is the architect of Reagan's 'defence
was charge Richard Nixon's 'Office of Management'
more sinister — the first move towards making space war a reality.
instance, when the shuttle was designed the American Air Force ordered its cargo bay to
enlarged so, necessary, it could take 'military payloads'
words, missiles and rockets.
fact, military duplicate of the shuttle
the Kennedy Space Centre is already
construction Vandeberg Air Force
California. It was due to be operational by 1984 but this may now be speeded up by Reagan.
even before Reagan announced
war plans, the US Air Force had announc-
for a
such a confrontation.
cludes:
marines from 1984
of *The bombers
on B-52s and B-ls *The miles
between now and 1987
F-16 fighter
more
*Building 'surveillance planes'.
nuclear arsenal
This $243 billion in 1984.
of Reagan was
tended
in Colorado.
tle flights, if ones as well.
in war costs Defence
likely Reagan. at
military
launched military while many his mainder
His aim now, he has said, is to prepare
'decade of confrontation'. nuclear build-up he and Reagan have now embarked upon is designed to ensure that, if necessary, the United States will start
The Reagan/ Weinberger plan for what the Soviet news agency TASS described as a 'sharp escalation of the nuclear race', in-
*Several hundred nuclear sea-launched Cruise missiles, to be deployed on sub-
*One hundred long-range B-1 bombers — an aircraft scrapped by Jimmy Carter in 1977 as being too expensive
modification of existing
*The deployment of 3,000 Cruise missiles
development of the new Stealth bomber, which would also carry nuclear weapons, and as it would be designed to try and evade radar would be particularly useful for a 'first strike' strategy *The deployment of at least 100 MX intercontinental ballistic missiles. Each MX missile would carry 10 nuclear warheads, and would have a range of over 6,000
*The construction of Trident ballistic missile carrying submarines — one a year
*The development of a larger and more accurate Trident, the D-S *The building of more fighter airplanes -there will be five squadrons of the ner
nine more AWACS
This escalation of the US's existing
will cost at least $180 billion. Reagan has called for a defence budget of $182 billion in 1982, rising to
It is the MX missile which is at the heart of the new strategy.
planning to have deployed in underground tracks, which they could move so that they could
ed, last March, that it in.
spending £175 million on a space centre
This will have the capacity to control not just military shut-
but civilian
Adding to the space
is the US Department whose demand for €200 million in 1982 for its own shuttle research is now
to be granted by
Even the shuttle plans already made show the
purpose behind them. Nine of the first 40
will carry experts only. of the rewill also have representatives of the US war machine on board.
Kansas.
1984.
capacity
B-52 Originally, these along
The war shuttles will be used to satellites, engage continental missiles and become 'bomber' and nuclear weapons space.
Already, been made shuttle to test weapons, against the Soviet Union.
Reagan's ment last Friday mean that all these plans will now be stepped up It seems wherever you underground, water or in space - you just can't Reagan's madness. avoid detection. Now he has decided, for the moment, to place them in existing missile silos in Arizona, Arkansas and
But that won't be the end of the MX story. Reagan has also said that further research will be carried out to see where else the MX can be deployed. A further escalation in this area will be announced in
The MX system frightening for two reasons. First, is its
for mass destruction.
AT bre Rea on l Uta destroy Rea
inter- to ballistic und
even the
space
launch MX
from man
pack plans have
the laser directed
announce-
will
whether
under
escape
missile
is particularly
Each
Page 9 scan of this page
one group of Americans • a huge sigh of relief when
nounced his arms build-up
These were the residents of * Nevada who had feared that would confirm existing plans
the MX missiles round railway-line system in • states. an's announcement that instead the m would be placed in existing Minuteis the one major surprise of his arms What is instructive is the reason
EYOU'RE
UCTION?
ile will be hundreds of times more erful than the bomb which destroyed
It would destroy everything in a two-and-a-half mile radius, and d have a fall-out effect much greater that. econd is the purpose behind the MX. e words of the New York Times it is, only designed to escape a first strike,
the accuracy needed for ps. 'This 'first strike' strategy is all the obvious now that Reagan has decidat it is not his priority to make the
showdown in Nevada
behind Reagan's change of mind
possible successfully missile madness.
an tion.
system.
LUIS water one said:
and makes the people on it nuclear targets. MX sites undetectable.
Presumably, well on their
such
on secret Pentagon
Apparently,
BUDGETS
these weapons.
Cruise is
attack the USA or Europe.
adversaries from making the
the resolve and people'
is running along. now.
the mass opposition in Utah and Nevada to having the missiles in their backyard. It shows that it is
campaign against
The opposition to the MX missiles in the two states embraced all sections of the popula-
The most recent opinion poll in Nevada and Utah showed that more than 70 per cent of those questioned were against having the MX
All but one of the governors, senators and members of congress of Nevada and Utah had also come out against the plan. Frances Farley, a Utah State Senator summed up local objec-
'Any land-basing missiles is a mistake because it effects the land
Or, as Nevada governor, Robert Lisk, put it, figuratively and literally, We feel very clearly that it would just turn our landscape and
This thinking is that this
would only be essential if the Soviet Union
launched a nuclear attack first. If the MX
missiles were launched before the Soviet
Union had the opportunity to attack the
sites it wouldn't matter if the sites were
blown up or not — the missiles would be
way by then, indeed they
would probably have exploded already.
The whole first strike strategy of the
US is now becoming more and more ob-
vious. On Sunday the Observer reported
plans to launch
nuclear strike against the Soviet Union in
the event of a conventional war in Europe.
the US generals do not
hold out much hope for NATO land
forces in the event of such a conflict. They
estimate they would only be able to hold
off the Soviet Union for five days. Then,
say the Pentagon, a nuclear attack on the
Soviet Union would have to be launched.
Such thinking explains why the Cruise
missile is so vital for the US, especially if it
is deployed in Europe from where the mili-
tary targets the US would aim for could be
more easily reached. Again, the fact that
Cruise missiles are intended to be chiefly
aimed at Soviet military targets illustrates
the 'first strike' thinking behind the use of
By making the targets military ones designed to stop the USSR
retaliating, because again, there would be
little point in pinpointing such targets if
the Soviet Union had already used them to
In announcing his escalation of the
nuclear build-up Reagan declared: It is
my hope that this plan will prevent our
mistakes
others have made and deeply regretted in
the past — the mistake of underestimating
will of the American
In reply, it could be said that no-one
should underestimate the path to war on
which Reagan has not only embarked, but
The time to stop him is
lifestyle upside down.'
People in both states were particularly wary because they had been given false assurances on nuclear weapons before.
At the time, the central Atomic Energy Commission said the tests were harmless. But today, in Southern Utah, where the Nevada fall-out blew east, the cancer and leukaemia rate is eight times the national
Besides the obvious risk to life and health the population of the two states also had environmental objections to the MX system
The two states are the driest in the USA and the fear was that water in the region would become as scarce as 'Nevada Gold' with the construction of the underground missile network.
These fears have now, at least for the moment, been laid to rest. Because of the strength of the local feeling, and because the population of the two states have. in general, itself to be supporters of Reaganism, the cowboy President felt that in this instance a showdown should be avoided.
The conclusion is, if the rather conservative citizens of Nevada and Utah can kick out the missiles, then surely the rest of us can.
It could cost
us £1 billion
REAGAN's new attack of
missile madness could cost
taxpayers in this country at
least £1 billion - if we
have a chance to spend it.
This is just one conse-
quence of Reagan's deci-
sion to press ahead with
the Trident D5 missile
system. The Trident which
the Tory government at present plans to deploy is the C4 system.
This would have the capacity to fire eight multiple independently-
targetable re-entry vehicle
(MIR V) warheads, fired
out of 16 tubes from four or five submarines.
The D5 system is an
escalation of this — there
would now be 14 MIRV warheads per missile. But all this hardware costs
money. And if Britain decided to duplicate
Reagan's weapon drive it would add fl billion to the astronomical £5 billion
which the Tories have already earmarked for Trident. The signs are that the
Tories will follow Reagan's lead.
First reaction from Defence Minister John Nott was to say: 'We have for some time recognised the possibility of the D5 option... the President's announcement is bound to
LONDON • 24 OCTOBER • LONDON • 24 OCTOBER
government's tart the steps to servival...
TOGETHER
shown WE CAN
CND THE SOME STOP
have a significance for us.
If the United States is moy-: ing to a new system, then there will be undoubted advantages in us keeping alongside them.
Nott's broad hint that Britain will follow Reagan's example is not surprising. There have been constant discussions between the respective defence departments for a number of months. When Nott saw US Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger in August the updating of the Trident system was, according to Nott, the 'main part of our discussion'.
The increased cost of the new system is partly due to the fact that bigger submarines will have to be built to house the new terror weapons. But of course whether they are deployed at all by the British goverment will eventually depend on who the next government is.
For, although a final decision on which Trident system to buy will be taken by the Tories at the end of the year, last week's victory for unilateralism at the Labour Party conference could mean any decision on Trident would only be a temporary one
Page 10 scan of this page
repeal of Nationality Act
third class citizens'.
migration Act.
This new plan would give British citizenship anyone born here as of right; it would end the tiered system of citizenSAID In the Nationality Act; East African Asians and refu-
walll? enela WOli0 become full British citizens; and sex discimination in migration law would abolished.
Pledge
There would also under the new legislation be a right of apBy Toni Gorton
Commission for Racial Equality.
Four years ago complaints of racial discrimination WCIC made at British Leyland, Castle Bromwich. The CRE
saltu thạt BL and two engineering union shop stewards contravened the Race Keauons Act 1976 by refusing to give a job to a black applicant after a shopfloor meeting of machinetool fitters voted not to accept black recruits.
George Jones, fully qualitied maintenance fitter who was born in Barbados, was the victim of collusion between racist workers, the AUEW sh pise said tat he bides
said that didn't realise that he had been rejected
By Oliver New
the town to listen to the Fourskins.
tend his community was Manjit Singh.
Thursday charged with
weapon.
Even worse, Sikhs are
carry as part of their religious beliefs.
devout Sikhs!
rotan Lal will be facing the magistrates.
Tavern last July.
plaint against hospitalising him.
arrest.
Socialist Challenge 8 October 1981 Page 10
Labour calls for
LABOUR'S annual conference unanimously agreed to a five-point plan for new laws to end 'first, second and
The next Labour government would immediately repeal both the Tory Nationality Act and the 1971 Im-
peal against a ministerial decision to exclude a person, and fees for naturalisation would be cut, from £150 to about £50.
The conference declared its intention continue palgnng against Ine Nanonanty Act. In a further pledge about the programme of the be next Labour government, conICICICE picugeu migrant workers with expulsion under the 1971 Act would be allowed to stay in Britain and those alreadv pelled would be allowed TCLurE.
Racism-BL bosses unite
with union officials
A SMALL corner of the curtain that hides the effects of racism in the workplace was lifted this week by the
because he was black until a friend at the factory told him about the shop floor decision.
This is not the only incident in British Leyland.
Officially, BL has broker the Race Relations Act twice before. In December 1980 it admitted to an Employment Appeal Tribunal that jected two Asians, both former empioyecs. TOP jobs labourers because they unable to complete an application in their own handwriting.
In a second case, a tribunal ruled that the company acted unlawfully in June 1979 when requiring West employee to change his job
Southall Sikhs carry
'offensive weapons'
COMMUNITY policing was not much in evidence in Southall on the night that 200 racist skinheads invaded
One of the Asian youth who had come out to de-
Manjit came up at Brentford Magistrates Court last
possession of an offensive
However, outside the court and oblivious to the glares of nearby Special Patrol Group officers was a militant picket armed with more 'offensive weapons'.
walking about Southall every day carrying the same 'offensive weapon' kirpan, a small sword that devout Sikhs are obliged to
The police decided to drop the charges against Manjit rather than engage in wholesale arrests of
Meanwhile the trials continue. On 21 October, Nar-
He had also been arrested after the siege and burning down of the racist stronghold in the Hambrough
But his arrest took place several weeks later. In fact it took place shortly after Narrotan had lodged a com-
the police for beating him
Of course, if he is convicted his case against the police will carry little weight, but who would be so unkind as to suggest this is the reason for his belated
cam-
threatened
to Merle Amory
after he became involved in an argument with employee.
lamentary candidate mer
parliamentary National deliberately voked the black employee.
Bill Jordan, Midlands divisional organiser of the AUEW, said that his union brought so ins attentiose wall brought to shop stewards were being aavised about the against discimination «ne waoie macidenı reveac had the toothlessness of both legal
trade utlull racial discimination.
were
Black workers suffer loss and humiliation while the courts and the unions mouth micamgiess platituaes.
Indian Very
La fight to force the unions to act
- ine up and
Anti-racism
on behalf members develops.
This fight black unionists blacks in caucuses w.alLe bodies such
Workers candidate was set up recently. ront. had
abused and pro- in August this year,
memorandum
acted proplant.
its attention.
Challenge union's policy written
rulings common discimination at BL, job Bromwich.
give you little will change until
union.
SULTHALL
INDEN
Outside the court with offensive weapons
many of the
ful' record.
said:
brought serve their
ment.'
Bill
aoes heart.
of their black
demands that organise as or sinilar as in British Leyland Cowley where a Black
Rights Committee
The Cowley group was able fair point.
lo gel a withdrawn which the personnel manager directed that all black workers be searched on entry to the
ausiv.
In October 1978, Socialist industry.
printed an article by Raghib Ahsan, ingham, shop steward at the Rover Car plant in Solihull which described his encounters with racists at Comdan work in which he referred to the
posed by knowledge Castle was not alone.
At
We reproduce a few short extracts from this pamphlet tr
some idea of how wiring black workers see the problems of racism on the job and in the
hundred
official.
of the
some recruited.
AIH
which
ting .jobs
inevitable
of the
blacks with hands
Many longer,
I wouldn't
dom.
The debate homed in on central questions of race in Britain today, in-
cluding the party's 'disgrace-
Merle Amory, a black dele-
gate from Brent Labour Party
'The Labour Party's
record to date on race has beer disgraceful. Not only have they
in legislatior thembut ther a sorew un list of proposals very sımlar to those now being introduced by the Tory govern-
The Labour Party, she said,
could not take the vote of the
black community for granted,
but would have to prove that it
have vul interests
At work against racism
By Raghib Ahsan, Rover shop steward
IT WAS in February 1976 that | told my friends in Spark-
hill that | had decided to apply for a job at Rover. 'You
must be joking' they said. 'They don't recruit blacks'. A
Traditionally, car workers in the Midlands enjoy a higher standard of living than workers in the component supply in-
ano une majority of black workers are in the supply
hamon Leblanks blacks Birm-
wieev regarded as a racist employer. Conhpad Dobss, hose the tormel
DOSS. ments about wogs" : ex-
Socialist Challenge, Longbridge until last year, black workers were bar- the red from better paid jobs by a
test, and Une Castle Bromwich plant has been refusing to employ black workers.
Rumours have also spread in the black community that to get a lob in the Washwood Heath plant you must pay
LWU hundred pounds to a local trade union
But I want to concen. trate on Rover, where I was one
few blacks who did manage to get a job
With the Race Relations Some inatko orkes a mente
There workers was WCnd considerable bitterness in the black community against the TGWU,
forwarded to the company the names of those wan-
and passed on be relatively lower-proportion of the blacks who applied.
My job at Rover was a fair distance from the track, where I was frightened because of the
racist abuse. Ray Sa the Birbi was ct who was chairperson
National Front started regularly coming to my shop and talked about
one of the old
When I couldn't stand it
I threatened him and informed my foreman that
work Sandom came to my shop in future from the shop steward, but all couldn't get much
workmates supported me and the foreman stopped San-
That was the first encouraging step for me
I got elected shop steward The older hands moved out and my workmates all under the age
It was necessary for the party to go forward and show the black community that it would protect inem trom racist legis-
'defend them from the leadership of our own Party because they have done much damage in the past as this Tory government is proposing to do now.'
Policy
It is à measure of how far the debate on race and immigration has shifted, that the right-wing Roy Hattersley should be the main spokesper son for this new development in Labour poncy.
Hattersles said that any Labour Bill would have to make it clear that no longer could decisions on the future of individuals and their families
secret without right appeal and indeed wilout il oene pecessary to give any reason why a man or a wullldl should excluded from this country.' of 30 stopped making racist Jokes anla turnea Inelr wit or
the fasists instead
That summer there was a mass meting of 2,000 people over our pay claim. In opposition to the convenor, I moved a resolution for action. . As I left the platform, the next speaker attacked my speech by. sayın.
that I had six wives and could afford to stay on the dole.
One day one of my Indian friends, . He lold looked a bit depressed. tha there was a sticker saying hang
blacks underneath track The white workers who stayed near the sticker refused lo lel ll be laken aown The foreman said he couldn't do anything
A handful of white workers were angry about the stickerand this encouraged the black workers who were ready to leave their jobs and remove the sticker themselves; but this would have let the shop stewards committee off the hook
All oI Ine black shop stewards attended the lunchtime meeting - the first seeds of unity among the blacks. We proposed thal the executive committee of the stewards should immediately remove all fascist and racist literature and stickers, ana inal any worker: Se varsed mind these should
warned subsequently disciplined, . up expulsion from the union. . We also warn ed that it necessarv. the black workers were prepared to take action temselves.
For the first time I heard real fighting speeches agains fascism. The senior shop steward put an end to the argu. ment by explaining that the left always supports the working class while the fascists wil betray it. The resolution was carried unanimously
My experience shows how deep racism runs in the white working class, even among Ine more radical elements, and how real progress in the anti-racist struggle will only be made when blacks unite
September 1978 and was publishea This artick Wriller Socialist Challenge. the GODer POlOr of
Page 11 scan of this page
Letter!
Support the
tional importance.
In its most recent deve-
tion of the 400 strikers has
begun to alter the attitudes
leadership, and even the
structure of the local bran-
en, which 1s one of the
largest and most impor-
tant in the union.
After having at first
refused to sanction the
necessary escalation or tne
strike to include other sec-
LIONES workers, when
lobbied at the TUC
Blackpool, the NALGO
National Executive a week
later did a U-turn.
They sent John Daly,
the deputy General
Secretary elect, to speak in
favour of escalation at a
Liverpool branch meeting
Photo: Socialist Worker
WALGO
Liverpool city council typists, now entering the 15th week of their strike for regrading, received two important boosts last week, rirst, terr umon, NALGu agreed to increase weekly strike pay from £20 to 55 per cent of their gross salary.
main breadwinner in job-starved Liverpool this decision prevents them from being driven back to work.
More important was the clerks who work in the rent offices. take action in support of the typists, which should cut off an important source of the council's weekly. Conde
mination that they have stayed out and picketed for so long, without any visible signs of the city coming to a halt.
Letters AttArS TER
Liverpool Typists
TOO little attention has been given in Socialist Challenge to the now three-month old Liverpool NALGO typists strike. This is an epic struggle by low-paid women workers of na-
on Monday 21 September This tollowed a week during which two memDCIS Jett Grittiths the City Solicitors and Joe Walsh of the City Treasury had been laid off for refusing to co-operate with management who had lett NALGO break the strike. These layoffs resulted in immediate mass walkouts from these departments. The call for escalation was carried.
The Liverpool typists have shown that they are capable of taking on lowpay, a Liberal-Tory Council who refuse to negotiate
Line management and the NALGO bureaucracy and all this the odds of three million
IVERPOOR
As many of the typists are single parents, or the
successful ballot of They voted to
It is a mark of the women's courage and deter-
Letters
unemployed and a Tory
(20 per cent
unemployed in Liverpool)
Not only this, they
have shown that they can
change NALGO from
Lallic 'bosses' union into
one which fights for
lowest paid ana most op-
pressed members.
For all this • and on
only £20 a week strike pay
- they deserve more sup-
trom
Challenge.
Send messages of support, collections and donations to Typists Strike Commit-
Duchy Chambers, 24 Sir Thomas Street, Liverpool 1.
NUPE
'democracy'
COMMENTING on the outcome of the deputy leadership election you blame the NUPE executive for not making a recommendation to its membership TOP the result. You make grave error in doing so.
1) The executive circulated four
Dare brochure for ballot. Three pages were devoted
statements from the candidates. The front page was an executive statement clearly the union's policies.
2) You assume that all the executive had to do was to lay down the line and Ine membership would follow suit. That is exactly Ine approach of 'left' bureaucrats.
3) You ignore the real issue in NUPE which applies to many 'left' union bureaucracies. Their radical policies have 1IU
base in the unions membership. Bernard Dix, a strong Bennite, never campaigned for • Benr within the union, , not really surprising when you realise that Dix has never been elected Deputy Gen Sec of NUPE or campaigned for union officers to be elected.
How do , you expect NUPE members to vote foat, for henry Dix that for Fisher workers' democracy only goes so far?
4) We should be arguing for
calcis on union democracy unions not just the right wing unions.
5) There is no Broad Left In NUPE. Why? Well, why have one if you have a 'left' leadership 'Without democratic elections, real political issues occulic oured to quote Tony Benn. That lesson has to be learnt by the rank and file of NUPE not just in relation to the abour Party, but also to solve other problems, eg. how to fight the Tory 4 per cent limit.
Without democracy now can you have Labour Party democracy? NUPE voting
Healey was crazy, against the interests NUPE members. But entirely logical.
Madewell (NUPE member), East London
Letters
ALTHOUGH the NUPE|
How could it be that
our votes went to someone
who is opposed to all the
central policies our
ror those of Tony Benn?
How could OUT
members tip the scales for
someone who was correct. ly held in contempt by all sections of NUPE two and a half years ago when he
tried to ram the 5 per cent limit down our throats?
The responsiblity for
GEOFF Bell's review
Russell's Altered States
Michael Cimino's
is very amusing.
says about the Russell film total
ly misses the point
Geoff interprets it as a fable
about Russell's work,
he now realises that it has been
empty and meaningless.
speculation. The story was writ-
ten as a novel by Paddy Chayevsky, not by Ken Russell.
The self-experimenting scientist in the film doesn't just
Democratic
diddles
IT IS rather unfortunate to say
the least that the article by Geoff Bell on the TGWU vote (SC 24 September) should have certain factual errors.
In his desire to support the Benn campaign Geoff makes certain errors. Scottish, London and North regions of the TGWU contain 835,000 members, whereas the total membership of the union is 1,831,000 (figures from the May census) — hardly a majority!
Within this, certain features should be pointed out. In London, the biggest region of the TGWU, 53 branches voted for Benn and 42 for Healey overwhelming support for Benn. this on a 10 per cent poll.
Whereas in the North and Wales on a 50 per cent poll of the branches the vote was for Healey. In my own area, Yorkshire, the vote was 5 to 1 for Healey. Geoff's claim in the last paragraph 'that
balance of the favour Benn'is simply rubbish.
What happened is the executive of the union ensured a stitch-up for Benn. Now it is true that the GMWU and AUEW did not even consult their members before the executives voted for Healey.
But this sort of practice in the TGWU (also in the construction union UCATT, where the executive alone took a decision for Benn) makes a mockery of the Left's claim for more democracy in the unions.
To win our position we must ensure full democratic rights for all members paying the political levy in voting for the leadership of the Labour ballot of the members carried out by the NUM is a model of how the democratic process should work.
The Benn campaign should not need fraudulent voles and should not cover up for them (as leading Bennites such as Michael Meacher MP seems to be doing). We should aim for complete union democracy.
Steve Vokes, TGWU 9/14 Huddersfield
What do you think about union democracy? Socialist Challenge invites contributions on this vital question.
Organising left in NUPE
delegation at the Labour Party conference was right to vote for Healey in the circumstances, this represented a calamity for both NUPE and the Labour Party.
this debacle lies scual cis with the national leadership of NUPE. To begin With there was no clear recommendation from the executive council for a massive vote for Benn Secondly, there was no nationally co-ordinated tallyalll 11Ul CVCI culars to all shop stewards urging support for Benn, lo win ine ranks of the union to Benn as the only candidate who
Missing the point
of Ken and experiments Heavan's Gate pseudo-intellectual But what he his whole project of life' and how meaning to life'.
Pure Indeed,
to it Absolutely very Marxist.
The West - hardly And consultation did Party. The
supported union policy.
Such a campaign was perfectly possible. In own branch we were able to canvass virtually the entire membership at mass site meetings which coin cided with annual branch clections. , There were clear Hu Bired recommendations from the branch activists, and Benn took 65 per cent of the vote.
Interestingly not one person could be found at any meeting to put a single argument favour of Healey or Silkin.
Next year, such a campaign must be organised
discover that his hallucinatory
load as Geoff says, but he discovers that intentions real, inner self and the meaning
is ridiculous because 'there is no final truth, there is no
The goes further, and argues that the only meaning to life are the purposes and inten- weeks tions which human beings give
correct,
How to democratise the Transport Union?
Socialist Challenge
¡allullally again THUS see the spectacle of NUPE's votes going to someone who represent everything we are fighting against For this reason the for. mation of nauona NUPE Broad Left, based on the fight lor a campaigning union, is an urgent task.
For too long the left has been complacent NUPE Hopefully the rude shock of the Heale! vote now be transformed into a strengthening of the left in the union. Anyone interested in a NUPE Broad Left, tact Dominic Jahnson, NUPE convenor, Chur chill, Hospital, Headington, Oxford.
This rejection of the pursuit of absolute truth (which he corof absolute truth (which he correctly recognises is essentially a religious notion) is overlaid with an adoption of the power of love as an essential facet of human
and purposes but there's nothing wrong with that is there? In fact it brought tears to my eyes.
Incidentally think SC should keep up the film reviews: I very much missed the Under Review page over the past few
Congratulations again on SC's very high quality.
Paul Lawson, West London
8 October 1981 Page 11
Page 12 scan of this page
Polish authorities launch price war on workers
Polish police fight for independent union
By Davy Jones THE POLISH government is staging a carefully organised counter-attack against the independent union Solidarity. Last weekend it tried to provoke a split in the movement by falsely claiming that its leaders had agreed to a one hundred per cent rise in cigarette prices.
When the Solidarity COLE CSS demanded the suspension ultre bicicase pending negotiations with
government, authorities refused to budge and defied Solidarity to do anything about it.
Shake-up
This new 'tough' image may well herald a shake-up
the Dally heirarchy.
Rumours abound in Warsaw that Stefan Olszowski is soon to replace Stanislaw Kania as Party leader.
THE interview below was removed from the 2 October issue of newspaper by the state ducted with the police officers who attended the Solidarity congress to appeal for support for their independent union.
WE ARE sons of workers, peasants and employees. we woua ake une o0 ol the police to just be maintaining order and public security, not carrying out tasks useful solely to certain individuals.
Who?
Those who have been blamed for 1956, 1968, 1970 and 1976, when, instead of dealing with the causes of the distubances which had led to the riots, they used our armed force.
Atter all. the interests of society are also ours.
The need to create our own union organisation has been growing up in our ranks for a long time. In
TOI example we started off September
hor:
Gdansk cab driver wearing popular badge: Soviet tanks, no thanks!
Socialist Challenge 8 October 1981
Such a move is in preparation for the coming_con-
over economic reform and workers' self-manage-
Last week's Solidarity congress not only voted against parliament's compromise DiLl selfmanagement, it also voted
censure the union leaders who had negotiated it with the government.
Instead the union will continue to press for the alternative positions workers' self-management to be decided by a referenSolidarity's official
censor. It was con-
1980 at the base of the par-
because most of the police are par-
organised meetings that lots of people took part in. At this
We oTew up demands and sent them to
Ministel and Cuillmander of the region.
We never received a reply, and at that time a
was started against us. People spat at us. And sometimes in the real sense of the word. reached such a pitch that the police were afraid to go to work in uniform.
That led us not only to defend ourselves but to ank intensivery aboul tne
for this public EA Page 12
dum of the workers. The differences self-
revolve around who has the final say on appointing factory hostility. We must make clear to society who we are ano wral we du.
And how has
The union as such has only
started to develop in ¡USL different regions and without
all) ordination. None know anything about each other. „LOOZ aller meeting of discontented police they se up initial commissions to control some of the activites ot the regional commander.
In Katowice they set up per cent or the vote
International
directors and disputes within plant the Party or the workers.
But government have been busy on other
La founding committee for a union. In Cracov the same, and also in Lublin on 29 May.
After that a national meeting was organised by the party police committee that took place on 25 May in Warsaw. Despite the information blackout from the administration egions wer represented
commander of the police promised to satisfy severa cenales and he meeting postponed till 1 June.
In the leadership election in Solidarity Walesa received 55
union leader. nis nearest rivar.
Marian Jurczyk, a Catholic union leader from Szczecin received 24 per cent; and two more radical figures within
Having considered the whole matter i think l shall vote tor vvalesi fronts attacking the Polish workers. There have been a spate of arrests of union militants for allegedly publishing anti-Soviet meting took place and all that day the
WELC represented, this time by two thousand delegates who brought with them lists of supporters with their name, Christian name, grade position place of work and their signatures.
In your opinion how many people did that represent?
Forty two thousand, and it was at that moment that we realised what was hapSolidarity Andrzej Gwiazda from
respectivery
material in union journals.
One of those picked up and released on bail was Kornel Morawiecki, delegate to the Solidarity congress from . Wroclaw and an editor of a regional Solidarity news bulletin in Silesia.
He was charged with actions "Thr the Polish the alliances of the
Republic' for publishing an explanation of what was happening in the country in Russian, aimed at Russian troops; and for publishin greetings to the congres Tomassan workers' group. If convicted he faces ten years in prison.
The censors too have been busy removing articles from Solidarity's press Two articles were removed from the 18 September edition of the union's paper Tygodnik Solidarnosc. One was the Solidarity message to the workers of Eastern Europe.
The other was an appeal Solidarity pening. We were elected by the delegates to be
the praesidium. We debated all night
On 2 June General Jaruzelski appointed governmental commission to negotiate with us led by General Kiszczak. We fixca a new for June and went home
But the discussions with the Kiszczak commission came to nothing. We wanted a real union. They had in mind corporatist councils representing the
Gdansk ~ ano Jar Rulewski from Bydgoszcz received nine and six per cent
workers in a Russian auto
attackeo
Solidarity's message, that
they should visit Poland to sep themselves what the union was doing.
Another article to fall foul of the censor's pen Wa interview four members of the com Solidarity's with
union for the police. have translated the interview from Le Monde and reproduce it below.
Relations
In another development the general secretary of the Hungarian official haue umons nas watten lo Solidarity suggesting the establishment of relations between the two union movements clearly shows how far the bureau-
castern Europe have come to regard the existence of Solidarity as inevitable in the short term, however unpalatable
It is now up to the labour novement West to show the Polish workers that their allies are not the Hungarian bureaucrats, DUL the workers of the world in the stuggle fo socialism and workers power. ordinary police from their officers
In the face of our continuing opposition they
But they not allowed co-ordinate between themselves, and were only allowed
local level That wasn't what we wanted so
discussions were broken off.
Lo prevent the nexi meeting taking place on 9 JunC all the police wert placed on alert the night before. But still two hundred persons came to the meeting. We about occupying the loca
but we received inside mation that they were planning use the military police against us if we did.
The general political situation at the time was uncertain, the party congress was approaching and finally we received teler trom le nead or lac governmental commissior which guaranteed us im munity
Despite that on 17 June they laid us off without any explanation. They forced us to sign a declara tion saying that they would withdraw from the union. Many refused and redoubled their activities How many were laid off?
About 500, they were prepared to pay any price to stop our movement. What were they afraid of?
the first place our desire not to be used as an 'argument' in social conflicts. Also our • wish 10 lave modevencen union and to control our own affairs
We want the law to be the same for everybody so that none of our people can be laid off for describ ing some dignitary as dead drunk. Finally we are for socialism, , not centralised but self-managed. There is no justification to the charge that we are anti-socialist.
Page 13 scan of this page
By Jenny Flintoft YOU MAY have to queue to see Man of Iron. It's worth it. This film, winner of the Cannes Grand Prix, is riveting.
Sequel to Man of Birkut, a Stakhanovite worker-hero of the 50s, Man of Iron moves to celebration of the shipyard occupation, with a new worker-hero, Maciek, the son of Birkut. Maciek appeared briefly at the end of the first film; now he plays a leading rôie.
After the death of his father - shot by the police
the Gdansk strike of
Maciek abandons his university studies 1o become shipyard worker, just as his father was.
He propagandises against the regime. He sticks up posters and is arrested by the secret police — he has acted premature-
wnen we move, father had said, 'we'll all move together'.
Then Anna Walentinowycz, of 30 years stand shipyard worker ding, SaCKed. promptly seizes the in-
and strike action. The Gdansk shipyard strike of 1980 begins.
The bureaucracy Hallocuvics. licalcils. the workers stand firm. Increasingly the bureaucrats are humiliated as their attempts to break the strike fail, and the workers prove they control the
Call shipyard in a disciplined Way.
Alcohol is prohibited in the shipyard. Nobody can enter with a special
And the pass. WORKCES refuse to repeat the mistake ot 970 — thev will not be drawn onto the streets to be shot down
Agnieska, the film student in Man of Marble also reappears — this time
Maciek's wife. Her studio pass confiscated, she has relinquished her
Warsaw for a life as a political activist in Gdansk. This has involved sacrifices: she has had to send her child away, and at the beginning of the film she is in prison. 1970: Students carry
MAN OF IRON
Marble, the film about
Gdansk in 1980. to a
Just as Man of Marble had media worker, Agnieska, in a central role, so also does Man of Iron. But whereas Agnieska was
principled seeker of truth. the TV reporter of the second film is a semialcoholic hack, weak and greedy, who was seen sell
by the authorities to discredit the strike by pro-
tilly hanstable saunter-
unstable counterrevolutionary in the pay of the CIA.
Never enthusiastic
The shifts allegiance Dalt Wal through the film. 'Whoever wins', he I'm
says. going to get a kick in the pants'. He gets his when the shipyard workers expose him as an agent.
The fictional elements in the tilm are interwover to great effect with doculucital y material, Val. ticularly film of the Gdansk riots in 1970, when protesting workers were brutally shot down in the streets by the police. Poland
ne centran his that
Man Iron that sonoral is sureneunne individual, alone, can achieve working-class. disunited, can only suffer defeat. 1968, the students got no
workers on the streets appealed to the students for help, they remained inside behind closed doors. The intelligentsia was silent.
But in 1980, united in Solidarnosc, the Polish working Clas feels 1LS strength. confidence grows. The film ends with the body of a murdered worker
Under Review
Maciek Tomczyk - the 'Man of Iron Solidarnoso's triumph Gdansk.
There are flaws in Man of Iron. One is the sentimentalsation of Agnies. ka. In Man of Marble she is the Polish stereotype of the American woman
denim-clad, neurotically chain-smoking
In Man of Iron, throwing away her cigaretts, she
for blouse and skirt, and her swabs calls independence for a supportive Macick secondary role
whom Sile positively hero. worships.
She still a strong woman: she bears her separation from her child with courage, and her imprisonment with jaunti-
ness. But the Agnieska of Man of Marble would never have uttered feminist-wincing lines such as 'I just knew it had to be a church wedding ' agine the At rieska of the easy first film dewy-eyed white looking like a cover picture of 'Brides'
These reflect the cerera sentiments Catholic Polanc where part at least of a woman's function is to be virtuous
man's conscience and decorative enough to have her hand kissed frequent-
The second flaw is the uncritical portrayal of the church. The church wedding, of course, attended
by Lech Walesa (yet, the real Lech Walesa, not actor). The shrines. The
The church and Cisco.
Solidarnosc walking blissfully hand-in-hand.
No hint that the church might in any way manipulate or cash in on the struggle of the workers for its own ends or attempt to 'moderate' their struggle. Moving
Last Christmas in Warsaw I saw a line of people as long as a bread queue waiting patiently to see the crib in the Basilica.
There 1r the alcove, along with Baby Jesus and the obligatory animals were the shipyard cranes of Gdansk and the monu ment dedicated to the dead of 1970.
Don't let these criticisms put you off seeing the film, though. Man
memorial to the workers
memorial to workers
WCIC shot down in 1970 The bureaucracy tried conceal their deaths.
The bodies were put in plastic sacks and thrown into army lorries, to be buried in hidden
graves
›opulai heroes of the
masses. and the struggle lives on in the daily fight of the whole working class.
That struggle brought to life by Man of
It is working class ror. history most dramatic. In Wajda's own words: 'In general history
Scotland ABERDEEN: SC available at Boon tom Bo 284S. For more Mat
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8 October 1981 Page 13
Page 14 scan of this page
How Nicaragua fights underdevelopment
reporting from Managua IF YOU heard someone talking about the crisis in America, you would probably think of the military situation - the civil war in El Salvador and threats to peace in the rest of the region.
But there is also a deep economic crisis wracking the region. last few weeks, this has forced several Central ding Nicaragua, to take emergency measures.
Like most non-oil underdeveloped balance-or payments da ticiss one balance-of-payments deficits. price of what they sell has always been less than the price of what they buy. This gap is growing.
The prices of the agricultural products these countries export unstable and in manv cases have beer falling. Meanwhile, the cost of imported oil and manufactured goods has been rising sharply.
Moratorium
In order to survive, tries borrow monev. "The foreign debt of the Central American countries went up 63
cent trom 1980. Costa Rica, for example, owes $2.4bn to 129 foreign banks.
On September, Rodrigo Carazo announced a moratorium on the payment of Costa Rica's foreign debt. Carazo admitted that even with $300m in loans coming from international Fund (IMF), the country simply could not make any payments on tne principal of its staggering debt.
He said $60m
more was needed immediately for debt service another $60m to bring in the coffee and rice crops.
At a meeting of Central American foreign ministry officials a week later, Carazo frankly suminauscu IMF's recommendation for improving Costa Rica's
Economic stardue hold off on building schools, roads, and hospitals, tighten credit, and raise the level of unemployment.
The government of nearby Honduras sees no way out of its economic crisis except to beg desperately for
By Tessa van Gelderen
BARRY PROSSER
murdered. Found
his cell where he had been
held in isolation, there can
be no other explanation for
the horrific injuries
received.
ruptured stomach
oesophagus
inflicted. Three medical
In fact an earlier inquest found
TACL Barrv Prosser
'unlawfully killed' in his lonely
cell at Winson Green prison.
Yet, despite all this the Director Prosecution has
the file on the case.
This is not the first time that =sor wardens at this prison
CRUZADS
Central
MACIONAL
over lie
producing
the Ila
are
IMF assistance.
General Policarpo head oI ine
these coun
Other cutbacks were coming.
1978 c
President
total government has declared illegal.
structural Monetary
more brutally
and carlnquake economic damage during the
tral American
Said.
weakened the economy.
The
say notillng Guatemala.
Murder no crime
was dead in
The
and selfBarry Prosser 'believed in British justice' flicted while they were on remand.
evid- ficers charged of Public
vicious attacks not guilty. But
closed the wardens who were respon-
sible for the death of Barry Pro. sser did pear be cre
and sub TO SECTO
A major literacy campaign is underway in Nicaragua
Un September Paz Garcia, the Honduran military regime, announced a $30m cut in the public budget and warned that fur-
The economic crisis in Honduras is aggravated by the fact that Texaco, which has a monopoly on oil refining. is refusing to deliver any petrol until it gets millions of dollars of retroactive payment for price increases that the
Nicaragua faces many of the same
problems other Central American countries. If anything, it has historically been even
underdeveloped and Ortega, over-exploited than its neighbours.
short Nicaragua suttered a devastatin and severe war 1978-79. Nicaragua alone of the Cenabrupt cutort or ex countries has process of decapitalisation bv businessmen opposed to the revolution has further
tivities Nicaraguan government has responded to the crisis quite differently from Costa Rica or Honduras — to
Salvador
This wife,
ved wrong!
hands
centres:
Richard Jimmy
even charged. gins
A jury found the prison of-
with Jean Webb,
of them from
Manu of
the youth
News
Working people farmers here have to some extent been cushioned from the full effect of the international economic crisis by the social benefits won since the revolution: a massive literacy campaign, new schools, and clinics. signitican rent cuts, food subsidies loans for farmers, improved working better wages, and more job security.
But Nicaragua's poverty, lack of infrastructure low level of industrialisation, and economic dependency are not problems that can be solved easily or quickly. In early July. mander the Revolution, told trade-union delegates the country could fall $100m of its 1981 foreign exchange projections.
Speculation
On 10 September, the Government of National Reconstruction invoked a 'state of economic and social emergency', during which various acsuch speculation and hoarding, the pubication of false information designed generate economic panic, sabotage of production, illegal strikes and factory takeover, and land oc-
trates must be guilty.)
Barry Prosser, according to Dorothy Prosser, 'believed in British justice'. But as she added, 'He has been pro-
There is a growing number harrisoners who die at the
prison officers, police and wardens at remand
Liddel Towers, 'Cartoon' Campbell, by Kelly and Blair Peach
Many of their killers are not
named, never mind The walewest at the inquest when the verdict in many of these cases is 'justifiable homicide'.
Ill treatment in prison and police cells is a common occurence. Barry Prosser's sister,
has pointed out that they had received a lot of letters voicing support, some
prisoners claiming that they had been beaten
while in gaol.
may not immediately identify with Barry Prosser. But for trade unionists who have been on picket lines or in factory occupations, for LUCI
who took to the 2NS.
U.C.V.
small cupations outside the framework of
the agrarian reform law
were announced including a 5 per cent cut in the current budget, a freeze or hiring in the state agencies, and a 10 per cent cur in certain subsidies condi Not affected are subsidies for milk
(which costs 4.2p a pint), public transport 5.7p food stuff because price support. Nor will gas, water, or electricity rates be allowed to rise.
Inree new laws are designed to tighten control over the economy and Daniel
One imposes stiff various types of business fraud - tax evasion, double bookkeeping, ruption. The second raises taxes on several categories of luxury goods manufactured outside Central America. third decree closed the so-called parallel market that is, the buying and selling of US dollars on the street at more than the official rate of exchange. The parallel market will be allowed to reopen in few weeks, but only in authorised of-
the Geran bander tight trollo ted
parallel market has contributed to
streets this summer, for the black and Asian communities fighting to defend themselves from fascist attacks, they know about the Tole or ne police and the courts.
Anyone of us can end up the same way as Barry Prosser at the hands of these people dead Barry Prosser murdered. He was murdered
wardens in Winson Green prison. And the British state machine aided and abetted in that murder.
INQUEST is a new organisation rogether in lieute and or boris. wrich nas been set to bring
united protest against state violence deaths custody in particular, united campaign against the procedures or inquiry used in dealing with complaints.
The initial aim of the campaign is to gain a government-instituted public inquiry into the adequacy of the procedures of investigation used in recent cases. These • cases include the deans of Richard Campbell, Jimmy Kelly, Matthew O'Hara and Blair Peach.
For further information con-
INQUEST, BOx 37, Kingsland High St, London E8
From Intercontinental Press
POR
T' Jornada Latinoamericana del 20 al 23 de Marzo
Organizan: F.C.U. y C.E.S
austenily measures
a ride or any of the basic
of government ing.
exchange here are penalities for corBut
temporarily
uncontrolled society.
all
was
NICARAGUA
decapitalisation, or capital flight, b giving the rich a way to obtain dollar they can stash in foreign bank ac
The approach of capitalist govern ments is always to try to make work ing people and the poor bear th an economic crisis. Such governments use violence and repres sion when necessary to keep worker from defending their standard of liv El Salvador is an extreme exam ple of this, but the general approach i not peculiar to Central America.
Nicaragua is different. Worker not exempted from emergency measures and will in some cases be asked to work harder anc postpone wage increases or other im Vicaraguan wUrKers anc peasants have never known anything but austerity and sacrifice will not find their lives greatly chang ed by the new laws.
The most striking thing about the emergency decrees just adopted here is that they represent a clear attempt to find measures that can actually ameliorate the critical economic situa tion without jeopardising the stan dard of living of the poorer sectors of
Chile
Solidarity
Campaign
Picket the Chilean Minister of Mines
Jose Penera
at his meeting with
the Metal Exchange
Tuesday 13 October 6.45pm
Grosvenor House Hotel,
Park Lane
Page 15 scan of this page
By Phil Davies, ex-convenor Schreiber, Manchester
MASS meeting at Schreiber's, Runcorn, voted last week to reject their stewards' recommendation against 88 compulsory redundancies.
out for five weeks.
During the strike feelings had become very DILICE Schreiber had sacked all the strikers families
harassed by WeLC ters from him to each tamily
had KunCOrl WUlK been transferred to southern factories were CLUSSIE the Runcorn picket line.
Schreibers, a part of the By Ralph Blake 'IF WE could win the battle at Robb Caledon's
Britain, we could turn government's policies. them once and for all.'
This was the message from Jimmy Airlie, of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in of ten years ago, at a rally in support of the three week old sit-in Robb Caledon shipyard in
£5000
300 trade unionists came from all over Britain to offer their support and various Dieages or Inalcial support were made.
One 1c call tative from the neighbouring Kestrel Marine Yard donated £1000 and a further £4000 was raised from
Schreibers win the
battle but not the war
the furniture maker,
and end their strike
Weinstock General Electric company chloire 1ng a deter mee and-unior employer. *himselr scandal that Schreiber holds
The stewards responded concert alma picket.
Two stewards were rested on the picket line con-
'1000/o support
and make a stand at every factory throughout
the tide against this We could get rid of
the meeting.
BOD Barty, the shop steward convenor at the yard, said he was pleased with the outcome of the meeting.
South
'We have colleagues in shipbuilding who travelled up from the England from the west of Scotland and Edinburgh. 'The support was tremendous and if anyone needed convincing of the support we were getting, it was there for all to see in the Park Hall today.
Robb Caledon ship yard, convenor Bob Barty centre right
frontations.
themselves that The stewards they realised should nave occupica ult Dlaul livi. the start.
would have them a base to work from
itself it would have stopped the picket line ana let tne sinkers go As it get Schreiber was able, with police co-operatior
the 10 maKe focus OT RIS allack ana su divide the workforce.
However Schreiber and Weinstock may have won
wev ve certallly not won the war.
Workers in the shipbuilding industry are
ing in one day strikes support of Robbs.
16,000 went out on 5 October. Puzzle
Bob Barty said that, 'It puzzles me why the televi-
and the newspaders say that there was a mixed response and yet in almost the next breath they say that yards in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow were on holiday and that support from those yards working was almost 100 per cent.'
At Robbs' sister yard Leith, Edinburgh, workers relurnea lon week's holiday the
Home News
PEOPLES
MARCH
FICHT Derby sends 55 marchers out on three day protest march against unemployment Monday of the first national strike in support of Robbs.
The workers at Leith decided to out support of Robbs on the Friday and were out again the following Monday!
Bob sees the dispute in relation to the rest British shipbuilding industry this way.
'Some workers at othe yards have laid off and naturally were con cerned.
Attack
'But if British shipbuilders break i will give them the green light to attack the whole industry.
'We already lost 20,000 jobs in the last decade. We must put a stop to that
DERBYSHIRE
dit
FOR THE RIGHT TO WOLE
now?
The dispute at Robbs looks like turning into an all out battle with British Shipbuilders and the Tories behind them.
Shining
Support for the workto-rule and the one day
has been good so far.
But the action needs to be stepped up
An all out strike in the
Cal win the dispute and also be a shining example to other workers OT to save jobs.
Donations and messages of support should be sent to the rinance Committee c/o Bob.
Jones, Caledon Shipyard, Dundee.
Leamington
to get rid of the
dossers'
È AROUND 1,500 workers Morni mass meeting was held September.
Members of three ~ lions. from the clerical section of transport
TGWU; technical section of ASTMS and the technical section the engineering union, AUEW
overwhelmingly sup ported a recommendation ot the ioint statt represen
committee that an immediate strike was the only option and the need to show unity in the fight for jobs was crucial.
Select
The action followed a management statement that in its opinion, the best way to return the company
profitability War selective redundancy bas-
ed on an individuals effectiveness to the company
The bosses stated thai they would continue recruit during this period and in the words of the General Manager, they needed to get rid of 'the dossers'.
Since Wednesday the members have organised
themselves into a very ef-
rective 24 hour picket,
with one hundred to two hundred peoble turning up
to cover the four entrances
Considerable success has been achieved in cutting the vital supplies of
components and materials
into ine lactory
Ford, BL
Automative Products Ltd is a major supplier of
components, mainly
brakes and clutches, to
Fords, ‚Leyland
Renault and Peugeot, and the effects of the strike are
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boss - 'we have
at Automotive Proo ducts Ltd in Leamington Spa walked out after a
on Wednesday 30
likely to spread soon.
Support for the official strike will be recommended to other plants within the staff unions' combine
meetings throughout this week.
Shopfloor
These will be held on AP plants across the coun try including Banbury,
Birmingham Speke, Bolton and Hartlepool
Unfortunately, ! lack of support traditiona antagonism between staft and works is again causing difficulties.
The shop floor is continuing to work and the right wing AUEW con venor is even encouraging lorries to cross the picket line
Because of this, the need to build support bet-
ween the two groups to de fend jobs and living standards is of paramount importance.
Unity
Keith Kennell
chairperson of the staff unions combine committee stated that this is a significant dispute because
the members are prepared to fight for their jobs and
they aren't going to accept
redundancies now or in the future at any
AP plant
He said redun-
dancies would continue to
OCCU while workers are
busy fighting each other,
uniting
solidarity to fight the com
mon enemy.
Messages support and
donations sent to th
AP strike committee, , c/o 36
Foxes Way, Warwick.
Challenge
….Loyd's Bank, 19 Upper St, London N1..
30-94-57.
.....Monthly
..And on the same date in the month thereafter.
Socialist Challenge 8 October 1981 Page 15
Page 16 scan of this page
plot
By Toni Gorton THE 390 workers hydraulic motors plant in Leyton, East London against redundancy, documents proving conclusively that manage-
manipulation to fool the workforce into accepting redundancy without a struggle.
The company used industrial consultants HAY Communications Ltd prepare a detailed plan of campaign to get production transferred to the company's plant Plymouth with the loss of at least 350 jobs.
The plan involved:
• Lying to the workers about the number of jobs that would be lost.
• Keeping the move
reaction.
• Deliberately giving the impression lo worker that they would be kept Ull. when was coltalll they would be sacked.
• Giving misinformanon to une press, television unions and the local coun cil about the company's intentions.
e Preparinans
CULLtingency for workers' response up to and including an occupaLull.
• Co-ordinating their lies with a strict control of
statements malacchical
with elaborately worked out scripts for press statement, interviews and meetings wu use worker. arios for how toaded detailed with a hostile from any section of the community.
But the best laid plans 20 WIng. Statta are now faced with an occupation and a full revelation of the Published by anina Enterpith he
Socialist
Challenge
STAFFA:
bosses
exposed
occupying the Staffa
have discovered
ment planned a cynical campaign of lies and
cynical and manipulatory attitude their own workforce.
Their plan from HAY Communications COSL them £10,000. makes reading for every worker because wed exactly how the posses consciously prepare CLO fool workers and the media to get their plans through.
HAY Communications told the 'All tions should be tightly coordinated so that the same basic (sic) story is told to everyone; and meticulous-
should know before the employees there is any risk of a 'leak back', this would destroy your ability to control the situation'.
A glaring example of the cynicism of the bosses and their ConsultauL given in the following excerpt from a script which shows how to deal with an awkward question - wnly did it take so long to tell Loe workforce of the closure?
'a. Everyone knew weeks ago the unions have asked for informawhy have we hung on so long and how can we be credible now?' knew because the final decision had not been
London N1
Although Staffa had studied and recommender what should happen it had still to be agreed by Brown and Sharpe and planning permission has still to be grantea.
"Obviously we couldn't tell anvone betore the fina decision how strong the rumours were.
Every part of this scripted reov is a le. he final decision had already been made and planning permission acquired months before the announcement.
Other scripted replies and scenarios dealt with everv aspect of how to tool the workers, the press and even MPs.
One part of the script which was not written was
plan itself was discovered!
Was Leyton MP lined up by bosses!
statewarted gho have
documents of that their local MP, Bryan M80e0 who Denis Healey in the recen' deputy Heatersi• elec
HAY's scripts, under a lue nes ouse lu various threats reads: stop to this MP will put a
Answer: that LIE local mrevious vinoicated an un willingness to become in
management decisions such redun-
be propriate.'
It seems that this is
word for word Magee did reply Jocanadour movelicul de Tivists should investoate.
By Toni Gorton Plymouth, more docile workforce.
later by 140 staff workers in the ASTMS.
The company's plans were denounced at a joint mass meeting of the Staffa products last Friday.
Surrounded by about f2m worth of the hydraulic motors that they produce, the 400 workers listened to
Dave Green, the 22 year old steward of the engi. neering union, AUEW and factory convenor, and Jim McCullagh, steward of the technical union, ASTMS.
A big welcome was
Steve Longshawe, a senior steward at the Laurence Scott sit-in In Manchester. Steve was able to give
Steve Longshawe of LSE (Second from left) at the Staffa works
Staffa fightback Socialis
STAFFA Products, a subsidiary of US-owned Brown and Sharpe, announced their redundancy plan in June. Rejecting a government offer of f4m grant, which the GLC offered to match to keep jobs in London, the company went ahead with its plans to move production to
where it hopes for a reduced and
250 engineering workers occupied the plant on 29 September and were joined two days
the Staffa workers the benefits of the LSE experience. 'Remember,' he said, people are never redundant These jobs aren't lost, thev re here - there are no jobs outside You have to fight together to keep these jobs here.'
A writ has now been served on the occupation, naming over 300 individuals.
Amanne to the court for Wednes dav 7 October to the COURT
Send all messages of support, comatons and telegram: mris vowson. AUEW Strike Committee, 39 Somers Road Walthamston E17 Colleclion sheets are available.
Staffe
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