Socialist Challenge No. 275, 7 January 1983
The scan: sc-no275.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.
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Challenge Our New Year's resolution TORIES
No. 275 7 January 1983
25p Unemployed and strikers 10p Socialist
OUT
Inside this week: Labour's past: myth and reality pp 6-7. Socialist League conference p 2 Balance sheet of health strike p 3
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British section of Fourth International meets in conference Socialist League decides on perspectives for 1983
By Steve Roberts THE CONFERENCE British section of the Fourth International took place on 18-21 December in Delegates decided to put all their efforts into mass action unemployment and unilateral disarmament as the best way of securing a Labour victory and kicking out the Thatcher government. ference also decided change the name organisation from the international Marxist Group Socialist League.
Present at the conference over 400 delegates and guests the British and international labour movement. Delegates heard greetings from Swedish, American, and Hong Kong supporters of the Fourth International as well as the leadership of the International United Secretariat.
Five months of discussion had preceded the conference. organisation is proud of its reputation for democratic internal functioning and sees the formation of tendencies organised around different points of view in this period as a natural and healthy development.
Contrast
Fourth Internationalists contrast this method of functioning with that of the bureaucratised communist and social democratic parties who refuse to allow the right of tendency. Instead these parties conduct expulsions or witch-hunts such as that being carried out against supporters of the Militant newspaper the British Party.
The principle of democratic centralism entails freedom of GISCUSSOR dIse demands that once have been taken by majority vote that they are carried out by all members.
Hence for the British section of the Fourth International its national conference is sovereign, subject only
to decisions taken by the world con-
gress of the Fourth International.
below
Name.
Address
Age
Union/CLP (if any). 50. London N1 2XP
Socialist Challenge 7 January 1983 page 2
of the conference major points of policy; London.
backing against for perialist intervention America and the Caribbean
Conto * to build of the Labour victory to the
were progressive policies from abour Party Young Socialists junked by the right wing leaders Mexican
choose 3 ПО League * to
Irish Democracy.
following way:
Labour
complete however It decisions 1968 to bourgeois rule and Stalinism.
JOIN THE FIGHT FOR
SOCIALISM
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By a small overall majority the
adopted the following
* to campaign against the war-drive of Reagan and Thatcher; in particular through building the present movement for unilateral disarmament and supporting those fighting against im-
Central
* to campaign for the release of all the heroic Polish fighters imprisoned by
mass action around the slogan "jobs not bombs' as the best way to kick out the Tories and gain a
* to work in the labour movement to oppose witch-hunts and defend the
the TUC, and Labour Party congresses being
* to support the fight of women in the davour movement for an chicouve say at all levels of the labour movement and for policies like affirmative action for jobs and a woman's right to
* to help build Revolution Youth, the youth organisation in solidarity with the Fourth International in Britain * to be in favour of unity with other far left organisations in Britain which have broadly the same approach as our own, such the Workers Socialist
strengthen our links with the Fourth International and particularly
SCELON Peoples
The reporter speaking for the majority of the outgoing Central Committee summed up the political situation faced by the organisation in the
"The world today is dominated by the rise of world revolution and the workers struggles on the one side and the unleashing of a brutal imperialist counter-offensive against that strug gle on the other. The economic crisis of capitalism is assuming catastrophic proportions and combines with the
world revolution a deep-going crisis of
*The most advanced points of this sharpening class struggle have been the revolutionary struggles in Central America and Poland. These combine
EXIT jobs and nuclear disarmament. with the rise of the mass anti-nuclear weapons movements in the imperialist heartlands and the struggle for class independence in the semi-colonial countries to bring to the fore the unity of the world revolution in the struggle against the capitalist class and all of
allies parucularly bureaucrats of Moscow and Peking.
*In Britain the period since the election of Thatcher has been one of partial defeats and political set-backs for the working class, but with the basic organisations of the class remaining intact capable of launching tremendous battles, like the health-workers strike, against the capitalist offensive.
Benn
•Within the labour movement the development of the Bennite current and the polite enor he race wing the labour against it the political polarisation of the British labour movement for fifty years. We are at the beginning of a historical crisis of British labourism.
*The decisive task of revolu-
Socialist League conference decided to campaign for a Labour election victory through mass action on
tionary Marxists is to shake off all sectarian prejudices and participate in the coming political battles that will shape the future of the British working class movement.
New
necessary. Workers and youth today increasingly look to the Labour Party and its left wing for political solutions
working to the crisis of British society. For this and being revolutionary
newspaper is needed Labour political direction to their struggles.'
The attitude League towards the Labour Party is that it would like to be able to affiliate
operative Party and Fabian Society can. But it believes that in the current climate of the witch-hunt against bureaucracy socialists that this would be rejected
deepest by the Labour Party.
The Socialist organises seperately from the Labour Party; membership is open to all who accept the objectives and organisational principles
'For this new methods of work are
ment.
socialist of within the decisive Party to give a voice and
engineering,
of the Socialist
NUPE the Co.
the League therefore
of the Socialist
League and who are prepared to actively realise them.
While the Labour Party today dominates all questions of working class politics the conference recognised that decisive political issues in the party would be resolved in the trade unions through the block vote. The trade unions remain the fundamental organisations of the working class despite the toll wrought by unemploy-
The conference was therefore happy to record a rise in the propor-
membership in such unions as transport, rail, electrical and telecommunications. Over 26 percent of its members are in the industrial unions, five percent in manual unions such as
and COSE and 15 percent are looking for industrial jobs.
Within the unions the Socialist League works to support the day-to-day fights against the employers and
Tories while at the same time building reform currents within the unions to introduce the type of principles of workers democracy espoused by the militants of Solidarnose in the building of their mass trade union.
Page 3 scan of this page
Health dispute sold out - now defend the NHS
Kinneil
By Pat Hickey
fight to prevent the closure of their pit.
Kinneil, will now be
leaving behind about 50m tonnes of coal that the NCB claim is un suitable to mine because of 'geological faults'
On 19 December, 250 Kinneil miners had voted unanimously strike against the closure plan, 2neae paign to keep the pit open. The delegate
COHLICICHLC decision not to support Kinnell stops a united against the NCB's plans
massive rundown of pits over the next five years.
The main blame for the failure to defend Kinneil nes in the hesitancy of the
response to the
By Jeff King
doubt goes to the health workers'
other workers, electricians and from workers in sector.
Yet, despite the tremendous
SOCCEL evoked, it did not win. Thatcher and the Tory cabinet were able to ride the storm of protest and direct action that welled up from health workers; their colleagues in other
obs and industries, and the sympathy doutedly existed in the general public which was reflected even in sections of the capitalist press.
The labour movement is entitled to an accounting and explanation of what went wrong. Why did this popularly backed struggle peter out? The blame can hardly be laid at the door of the health workers
themselves. They responded to every call made by their leaders.
Even the Royal College of Nurses, a professional organisation which has a *no strike' clause in its consututon, twice volce
to reject the government's
pay otter. The second to jection got more votes against, and bigger majority, than the first rejection.
Workers do not take strike action lightly, ye the lowiy-paid health workers time and time lost money through davs of action, or by self-imposed
a setback
in fight to
save jobs
THE MINERS of Kinneil Colliery start the new year disappointed at the failure of the Scottish miners delegate conference to support their
voted 69 percent in favour of a fight to save jobs the recent ballot, but Mick McGahey failed to build on that vote to take on the Coal Board Since the U-Turn forced on them by the South Wales miners in the spring of 1981 the Coai Board has adopted a strategy of taking on the pits one by one, and trying to isolate them claiming they are 'uneconomic'. They will try to avoid the issue of redundancies by offering transfers as they have done at Kinneil.
But closures or partial closures as at Snowdown will inevitably mean largescale redundancies.
Coal Board win the viabiliTHE BIGGEST challenge on the pay front that the Tory government faced last year, without
dispute.
For almost seven months this dispute dragged out. It involved one million workers in the NHS alone. It got solidarity from millions of
including miners, dockers, the public
levies which financed regular picket lines outside the hospitals. Other workers, levied themselves money to help finance the
this u2e aneton days like
September well over two million of them struck work in support of the claim.
This magnificent display of action and
about wages. solidarity was Of course HOLTUS the health workers were fed up with providing such an essential service for wages. Of course other workers were indig people WIG cared for the sick and the infirm should receive the ditance that most of them But what really lay at the root of the dispute was that the health workers in particular, and the workrecognised that this tory class Tory
dismantle the NHS. The Tory monetarists aTe bitterly opposed to the idea of a free and comprehen sive health service for all.
That is why they intended to defeat the claim.
They were out to teach the health workers and anyone else who cared to notice, that they, the Tory governwould decide the
ty argument then miners will be in the same situa tion as the steel workers, whose decimated industri is one of the main outlets for the mines. The NCB is trying a softening-up process, before they go town.
Now the NUM excouve must give a national lead The South Wales NUM has given notice of strike action on
Janual a com ment invest in their coal-field non. aea ly
NCB. Kent keri determined to strike the Board goes ahead with the threat partially close
They said LICY if asked. would support Kinnell The response of the NUM leadership has been totally
Hiduculaid
Mick McGahey put the onus for bringing out future of the NHS, and
that there was nothing the
working class could do to stop them.
For the Tories this was
class war. Unfortunately
the leaders ot the health service unions and the TUC health never got the message
They do not believe class war - that's just for those way out marxists
does not our paeya ment aheir raysh system.
put public pinio and on
heir ability to
•persuade the government the reasonableness their case, and adherence to the rules
ening. Sce and her
listening She and
ellow Tories played by th rules. But they were rules they had made and that meant Spanswick, Murray and the rest of the union
and dry. aye Days ot high-
and dry. Days of Action they called were not meant to be springboards To extencine dispute and bring the government to its nees They were just means of putting pressure on tae government to gell back round the negotiating table.
The effect of this on the Tories was negligible. The government knew it
had nothing to fear fron
chese imi bureaucrats. But it did have an effect on the dispute. Gradually the morale of the health workers and their sup-
began to drain.
After
SCVCH HOnES TeT were no further forward as
1. KINNEIL
AVE
INNEIL
PIT
Kinneil miners let down Scotland on the Kinneil workers. While pledging 'full support' for Kinnei and saying that there would be a stoppage of the Scottish coalfield if asked for by Kinneil', he did not call for official action in Scotland.
Kinnel was left to carry the can. As a result
a result of the polices of
the TUC healtn commit-
tee. Slowly, but surely, the
dispute wound towards its
end
We have said before,
and we say it again that
this places the NHS in
greater jeopardy than ever now pres ahead for Bie Emboldened
TOr
cuts and will start handing
out whole areas of the
NHS to private com-
panies.
This must not be allow-
ed to go unchallenged. In
side the health service, th
shop stewards' committees
much
and where they still do no
exist they must be built
Every attack by the Tories
on local services must be
resisted by joint action o
the unions and the Labour
Parinside the TUC a fight
must begin to remove the
rotten leadership of the
health committee the
prist of she sank for its
be the sack for
members Inside the
Labour Labe must make it lett
that they support
every action taken to de
fend the NHS and that thence with the et inside build the unions to defend the
NHS, and defeat the right-
wing betrayers.
If these measures ar
taken the defeat
reversed, and the solidari
ty we saw last summer and
autumn can be re-created
and victorious end.
78502
SAVE
NEXT miners at other pits were uncertain what the official response was going to be, and some crossed the Kinwas able to build on this neil picket lines confusion to swing the delegate conference against action.
Now the NCB will turn its attention to other Scottish pits which are also
Harris
Spanswick never gave a lead
* NUM. KINNELL
SAVE
KINNEIL
PIT
'uneconomic' as a result of the recession. The next test will be in South Wales if the money is not provid ed for investment. Miners cannot afford any further hesitancy. The call for action needs to be loud and clear. And it will have to be fought for.
Part of that fight will be to halt the run-
steel, where another 5,000 Jobs are to go on top of the 10,000 already announced.
The line of 'action if necessary' to defend jobs put by the Scottish Triple Alliance is not enough Action only necessary and vital and that mea Socialist Challenge 7 January 1983 page 3
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Several thousand people surrounded the US F-111 nuclear base at Upper Heyford on 26 December. Meanwhile, women at Greenham Thatcherism and military spending
midable.
has nuclear weapons. it owns the second most powerful imperialist navy in the world, and continues to spend a higher proportion of its economy on expenditure than any other
except for the United States (See Table NATO OF THE PROPORTION OF ALLOCATED TO MILITARY EXPEN-
(December 1980)
United States 3ritain Nest Germany
(Source Joyce War Machine lamlyn, London 1981 p30
These figures however
is indeed one of the more absurd myths DELSE reformism that Britain is somehow peaceloving nation. On . contrary Britain is historically the most heavily armed and
of all capitalist states. I nat it was primarily a naval, and only intermitently military power should not be allowed to obscure this On the its
COLLECEY military historically the cutting edge of British capitalism.
Socialist Challenge 7 January 1983
RAF UPPER HEYFORD
20 TFM
HAS SEPORT TO BLOTOC Common were keeping up the struggle by invading the missile site (see back page). WHEN THE Malvinas war broke out it showed that despite its historical decline, British imperialism is very far from being a spent force on a world scale. Its military capacity remains for-
Until well into the latter part or tne cigniccaun century no non-military remotely compare in size LIC naval dockyards. The technological level military naval forces which already by the beginning eighteenth century could wage wars France, made Napoleon's Great's mies as the primitive instruments ther indeed were in comBaLSULE
Similarly right up the First World War the
power navy' that is a fleet capable or waging simultaneous war with the largest naval LICAL LWO powers combined - - GETT mined the essential military deployment, geographical expansion, priorities of the British
After the First World War such considerations lion of the Mediteranean, maintaining dominaand with it control of the sea routes to India, determined much foreign policy.
tempt to achieve control of the oil of the Arab east,
page 4
with all the implications for the nature of the British economy, was technology of the period. part, given the
cane achieve fuel supplies for War period it can indeed se As regards the argued that was the
military dominance OI considerations which determined the scope of
the economy although
the economic forces were the
British imperialist system which the military apparatus was constructed to defend.
The mechanism of this was Ine Tamous stop-co deflationary cycle, die-
the Balance of Payments 'crisis which prevented ally sustained growth of the domestic COOLLULLY
What is not generally realised however is that
never any Balance of Payments proDICENS regards private sector the
Only
periods in its history has British capitalism suffered
balance OI payments deficit in its private sector once invisible earnings are taken into account. These were 46401931-38.
Even In this latter period however British imperialism was general able to extract sufficient tribute to finance its state sector outlays. mala loI
privilege being ministered Britain. During the period of the BON-WET 'Stop-Go' cycle British capitalism achieved almost concuuous private sector balance of payments surpluses
From 1952, the end ot be taken the end post-war reconstruction, until 1969, after which a new policy was inaugurated by Heath, only twice was there a balance of payments deficit in the private sector. Sums
These were the relative ly small sums of £77m in
deed ander accumulated
accumulated surplus in this period, after deducting capital account outflows for foreign investment, was £6,600m.
balance of payments crises were in tact wholly and solely ac
pendure ory for Bris
penditure British state which was centred on its military apparatus. The dominance of these military considerations can be most readily seen by making a comparison to other imperialist states.
As late as 1963 British military commitments abroad included 60,000 people in Singapore and Hong-Kong, 20,000 in the Mediterranean, and 7,000 in the Persian gulf in addi-
By Alan Jones
tion to the Rhine army. Overseas expenditure accounted for approximately half of the military budget at that time of £2,000m.
Amart from the United States, and after the forced French withdrawals fron Indochina and
other imperialist state possessec anything like such an international military apparatus.
consequences of this for the balance of payments, and therefore for the domestic economy were clear. In 1966 Japa and West Germany had surpluses on state international expenditure $315m and $339m respectively. France has an insignificant defecit of Sim
deficit of $1288m largely accounted for by the military commitments already noted
The States with a far wider interna-
presence and at that time heavily engaged in the war in Viet nam, had an international deficit expenditure of $6,385m.
In order to judge the relative weights of this international military spending however the respective size of the economies must be considered. The US economy in 1966 was seven times une size or the British but its state foreign CAOCHIUILUEC CONCI five times the size. In shor
until the late 1960s British government
Civil defence
offensive
By Alan Ryan
nuclear free zone councils.
Last year the government was forced to call off its 'Civil Defence
code named 'Hard Rock' because of the refusal of the nuclear free zone councils participate. Under the existing legislation the government cannot force councils to take part.
Announcing the calling Home Heed Park Wille Tory Home Secretary Whitelaw stated that would bring in new legisla-
take part.
Towards the end of last year the Home Office circulated its proposals. They
• powers for the Home Secretary to order councils
part CIvil Defence exercises
conscript local authority employees to take part in exercises • requirements to force local authorities to build and equip bunkers. • powers to force con-
organise and train civil defence volunteers
voluntary bodies.
in addition a quarte of the cost of building and equipping the bunker deficits abroad, essentially occasioned by the military expenditure. largest in relation to the economy of any country in the world.
In order to see the effects of this dominance of the foreign military
we need Bal aLus note that the 1950s and 1960s were of course those of the economic miracles of West Germany and Japan and. after the withdrawal from Algeria, of the revival of France.
If, for example. in 1966, West Germany hac had the same outflow on
expenditure as Britain then its actua €92m balance of payments surplus would have beer transformed into a deficit O11-01
lanthe case of Japan the
balance DaVILICIL surplus in the same year would have become deficit of €300m. EvidentJapanese and West with these deficits the
Ger man economies would have had to be brought grinding to a halt by deflaCLOSI in the wav that the British repeatedly was.
Finally, in addition to then constant subordination British domestic economy to these military expenditures, certain these were also crucial in their r timing. It i scarcely possible to exaggerate for example the COISCOUCICC Korean war for the post-
CONSCRIPTION! That's the Tory answer to the
would have to be • borne out of the rates. Councils refusing to carry out the plans are likely to have commissioners put in to carry out the plans and be charged -TOT -ine cost. Employees refusing to take part in the plans are liable to prosecution
defence essential part of the Tory government's plans for retaining control not just in the event of a nuclear war but also in the case of civil unrest. Just how impor tant can be seen trom the scale of their proposals which can, and must be
They will be coming before parliament in the
The executive of NALGO already amining the proposals, they must be prepared to
action and they must nuclear free councils and the other OCCLUES labou movement, to smash this bill.
vital that the government doesn't slip it through while anti-nuclear activists have their attention focussed on the struggle against Cruise and TriWorld War British capitalist economy.
It was already severely hit by the general interna. tional economic quences of the war. rapid world war materials price increases severely hit the British Terms of Trade. British CADOE prices rose by only 26 per
between December 1949 and June 1951, while import prices rose by 59 percent, and raw materia. prices by 115 percent.
-02 ace payments suffered negative swing of £700m from a surplus of E300m in 1950 to a deficit of £400m
key engineering seetors
were in direct conflict bet- CLLEHICCLI ween exports and armaments production
To finance the war ef tort the LOVES ment hit directly at invest ment by totally suspending *initial allowances on new plant machinery and buildings. This removed directly €170m from allowances for investment
with of course indirect effects.
This shows just how total
the British domestic economy was sacrificed to its overseas military commitments and the international economic orientanon wese were designed to safeguard. And how
dutifully prepared to play its role in keeping to maintain Britain's imperialist role
Page 5 scan of this page
Salvador Cayetano Carpio, FMLN Commander
The Salvadorean regime has been trying to convince international opinion that the guerrilla has been annihilated, and yet the FMLN has just launched a strong offensive in several the COURTS vinces. Would you explain how this situation has been achieved?
At the beginning of 1981 our revolution underwent a qualitative advance and our war entered what we term the phase of increasingly intense military and insurrectional battles for siezure of power. phase, a whole stage. tried to misrepresent this, saying that we had begun a 'final offensive
Following the January 1981 Offensive the Reagan government and the Pentagon implemented a policy that aimed to destroy the Salvadorean revolutionary movement within two
three months. failure in spite of the Reagan government's provision military aid at every level to enable its puppet army to achieve this strategic objective.
During the course of 1981 the army, with the support of Pentagon advisers, launched no less than 46 major military offensives, each involving Derween one six soldiers. Some of our zones had to resist ten or twelve of these offensives, which they call operations'. These operations besides aiming to destroy the have the objective of eliminating the civilian population.
And the reality is that tens of thousands of women nave once meer men gases and from the bacteriological
sent struggles in El Salvador.
by labour movement bodies and workplaces.
London NI. Tel: 01-359 2270.
• NICARAGUA
cy, Queens Rd., Clifton, Bristol.
0-720041-
be held on 13 February at the Shaftesbury
One Detent
Nicaragua finds itself in today
others.
Nicaraguan government will also speak.
Interview with
Wing against our liberated zones.
climbed to 34,000. pro-
new mobile brigade,
troops as casualties.
This is a whole the After successfully The enemy has military actions?
from the army.
Ins was a total their co-ordination, each other enormous This was Thousale ing, acquiring revolutionary army. *cleaning-up
guerrilla also
Morazan province. children bombs, Trom
Central American
solidarity news
• LABOUR MOVEMENT conference on El Salvador to be held 14 May at County Hall, South Bank London. The conference is intended to provide information and education on the background to the pre-
It will also provide guidelines for effective and practical solidarity
Speakers will include leading trade unionist Alan Sapper, Judith Hart MP, Salvador Moncada, senior FDR/FMLN representative in London and Jenny Pearce, author of "Under the Eagle' Information from El Salvador Solidarity Campaign, 29 Islington Park St.,
SOLIDARITY Campaign Meeting. This will be held in conjunction with the El Salvador AGM on Saturday and Sunday, 22 and 23 January at the Catholic Chaplain-
Formal business will be dealt with separately but there will be a number of joint workshops. Building of the labour movement conference on El Salvador will be high on the agenda. For further information write to El Salvador Solidarity Campaign as above Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, 20-21 Crompton Terrace, London NI. Tel.
• BENEFIT CONCERT for the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign'to
Avenue, London, to raise funds for the adult education programmes being carried out in the isolated Atlantic coast region of Nicaragua.
also help publicise the true situation that
The line-up of artistes who have agreed to appear (for free) is not yet finalised but includes so far: Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall, Alfred Monina, Maggie Steed, Pauline Melville, Benjamin Zephaniah, Ken Cranham, French and Saunders, Ben Elton, Emma Thompson and
It is also hoped that a leading member of the FSLN or the
weapons that the enemy has been us-
By the end of last year the army had trebled its numbers of combat troops from a force of 11,500 it has rifles
Nevertheless the great majority of these troops have had to be stationed in fixed positions, with the result that the army's mobile forces have become small and very in- MI6 effective. By the end of last year their
the 'Atlactl brigade, had lost one third of its
resisting the some enemy offensive, when and how did the FLN take the initiative in
December 1981 was the month when the FMLN took the initiative away
The forces that make up the FMLN had been improving
both between and in terms of timing. increasing the attrition against the enemy, especially in the first three months of this year when the army's troops were at the same time suffering acute demoralisation because the strategy for destroying the guerrilla was not working. Quite the reverse, our forces were improv-
the structure of a
In the first three months of 1982 we attacked fixed enemy positions in various places: from San Fernando and San Ignacio in Chaletenango province to Perquin and San Fernando in brigade
This destruction States. of small enemy positions meant that our forces had improved their operational ability, annihilating increasing
June. army Annual General Theatre, Shaftesbury
ly greater numbers of enemy soldiers and capturing larger quantities
Our forces are fighting with the
we have captured from enemy. In all honesty we can say that our principle source of arms, our sole supplier at this stage, is the Reagan government. We are fighting
and G3 rifles, with American mortars, that they sent to the puppet government. Every month we make a balance of our actions and of the number of arms captured from the enemy and it is now never less than one hundred arms, including
mortars, machine-guns various calibres and 57mm and 90mm cannons.
December 1981 the improvement of co-ordination and the experience of a whole year's fighting produced a qualitative improvement in our troops. At the end of 1981 our fighters had acquired a much greater military ability. Our leaders, from breton commanders up an
gaining manoeuvres, more skill in directing battlefield tactics.
While at the same time the North American government was announcing that the Salvadorean army had been perfected...
In the first months of 1982 the government repaired the brigade, and formed the brigade, while the Ramon
was trained in the Reagan's military aid also modernised the navy and the communications system, provided the army with greater air power including Huey helicopters which are designed for airlifting troops. The debut of the three mobile brigades took place in
On 28 May, supported by several brigades begant an operation in brigades operation Chaletenango province. The FMLN counter-attacked, beseiging San Fernando and Perquin in Morazan and forcing the redeployment of the three brigades to this province.
At the same time the Honduran
occupied territory inside El Salvador in the area of Perquin and attacked southward in two pincers. The main attack by the Salvadorean regime's mobile forces was launched northwards up the highway.
The FMLN's response was such that during June, in the actions we realised in Chalatenango, Guazapa,
Salvador, Usulutan, Morazan and in some areas of San Miguel province, we captured more than 250 arms and inflicted 500 casualties on the enemy army, principally in the US
Instead of achieving the turning point of the war, which for months he Reagan administration had been hoping to achieve, all that they managed was to lose an enormous number of arms and soldiers above all from their elite mobile brigades, while the revolutionary forces improved their operational ability.
Colonel Castillo, the Minister of Defence, was also captured during these operations. At the end of June the situation in the army was one of demoralisation, desertions, confusion and disagreements, which was reflected in the regime's internal policy.
Since then the revolutionary
forces, whose co-ordination at a naof tional level has been constantly im-
proving, have been increasingly tak ing the initiative leading up to these the attacks in October.
What is the fighting ability of the FMLN? with North The FMLN, all of the forces that
compose it, all of its members, all of its • fighters, qualitatively. At the moment we are entering a stage of greater combat mobility and a level of accumulation of of forces that enables
hard. Last year we could only dream of annihilating a company of troops in transit, and yet in June this year we destroyed a company reinforce Perquin and San Fernando. We captured 43 soldiers and many arms in an ambush that was brilliantly executed.
Currently we have achieved a level of firepower and a sufficient number of revolutionary troops to enemy companies that are defending heavily fortified positions. On 10 October, in less than 24 hours, the comrades annihilated an enemy company in El Jicaro while simultaneously force of 25 National Guard and paramilitaries, all heavily armed, was attacked in Las Vueltas. rades destroyed one and a half companies.
Atlactl
Belloso United
What is the significance capture of these positions?
The capture of El Jicaro and Las Vueltas is very important because it extends the territory controlled by the revolutionary forces right up to the gates of the provincial capitals and also deprives the strategic positions.
The puppet army, directed by imperialism, continues insisting that it will 'destroy the guerrilla' they are saying With this aim they are employing new tactics to improve their operational scope: more mobility and more air transport.
Within a few days the Reagan government is going to provide them with over 20 warplanes; helicopters, six Cessna 43 aircraft that can carry provised airstrips, as well as reconnaissance aricraft. They have trained Vice- pilots in the US Southern Command
base in Panama to use namalm. and at present the Salvadorean airforce has many bombs of this type. The US has already weeks ago were used in operations on Vicente provinces.
Despite all of this our forces and
Reprinted - - slightly edited -vador news bulletin no ESSC Park Street, London N1, tel 01-359 2270
but to defeat it.
dent that our
have improved
liberation, us to strike
travelling to
nam when their
destroy revolution.
Central America.
our war 30
The comof the
The
Central cannot
dependence, democracy.
Salvador?
on basic interests. of the
the imperialist
develops
enemy of two
but now within two years'. tion.
SCHOLE
eight Huey
56 soldiers and use im
who independence
sent gunboats that three other
freedom. ot Usulutan and San
soon.
January 29 Islingtor
our people are proving that they have sufficient strength not only to resist the present levels of US intervention
Despite the enormous aid of imperialism we know that the puppet army is being worn down. We are confi-
people are building some truly powerful forces. Forcer that are going to be able to make a strategic advance in the military and insurrectional sense, that imperialism will be unable to defeat and that will enable our people to achieve their
democracy and a just
And if the US intervenes directlyi
We know that in the final instance imperialism could do the insane and in vade El Salvador, as they did in Viet
puppets could no longer hold back the people. Imperialism is also creating the conditions to attack the Sandinista popular
Honduras is being converted into a base for aggression in
But at the same time we know that
not an isolated phenomenon. The popular liberation war in El Salvador is part of a process of revolutionary struggle involving all
Central American peoples. This is a huge movement with a very different quality to a few years ago
Nicaraguar revolution has been a turning point in the history of
America and imperialism capular struggle for liberation, hi any contain
sovereignty and
How do you see the possibility of negotiation between the regime and the revolutionary forces in E
We are sincere when we say that our war has to end with a political settle ment, because every war ends in this way. Every negotiation must be based
the satisfaction of our people's
They are not defeating us. We are little by little, step by step, defeating
manoeuvres In the political and military fields. And we are winning this war. I am not saying that we have already won, but that as
conditions are being created - conditions that are increas ingly more favourable - to turn the balance of forces in favour of the peo ple and their political and. military forces. Of this we are certain, and this is the reason for Reagan's despera-
But we are immersed in a Central American process, and we know that Reagan has a plan for the whole
we know that Reagan's policy is to regionalise his aggression. In this framework our revolutionary struggle - and all of the Central American peoples can be absolutely confident of this - • will perform its role with honour in the framework of our modest and hard-working peoples
desire their freedom and
The Salvadorean people with their heroism, aided by the struggles of the
peoples, will achieve their The events of recent days reaffirm the will, the commitment and the hope that this will happen
Socialist Challenge 7 January 1983 page
Page 6 scan of this page
982:
Year of the Slump
epression is when you lose yours.'
President Truman
lem up:
We must organise now:
to provide full employment
to rebuild a better Britain
to provide social services to secure adequate health,
nutrition and care in old age, for everybody
to provide full educational opportunities for all
abour Party has survived from that day: the myth of 1945.
arty that brought you 1945.'
1982 has killed all three parts of this myth.
ght a European nuclear war from Britain.
attlefield.
'orse than any major European workers' party.
3 we know it. If she loses, all the signs point to an SDP-
own.
abour tradition.
ons of strategy raised by the current crisis of the British
scialists should still support them in 1983. ith Herbert Morrison. ocialist Challenge 7 January 1983 page 6
4 recession is when the guy next door loses his job. A
HIRTY-SEVEN years ago a new era began. The Labour Party, icked by twelve million voters, won a 154-seat majority with mandate to build a new world on the ashes of fascism and
Its goals were modest. The 1942 party conference summed
Hardly the socialist millenium: yet it gave working people ›mething they never had before. It gave them freedom from iar of disease, war and joblessness: freedom from want and aprivation. It gave birth to an enduring myth, on which the
The myth had three parts. First, that the new order would st. Second, that it could be won without strife, through the ste alone. Third, that Labour could survive forever as 'the
The new order hasn't lasted: it's ending now. Unemployent has topped four million and it isn't going to fall. The pries think tank wants to wind up free health and schooling ir good; the Cabinet says it cannot pay the nurses £700m but sent twice that sum on a senseless war, for an island it can't ven make fit for penguins; and the USA is getting ready to
Strife hasn't ended: under four successive governments, cluding two Labour, the country has become an industrial
And Labour hasn't survived. From 47.8 percent of the vote 1945, its share of the poll has steadily declined until now, ith Thatcher's assault at its height, it is in the low thirties:
Thatcher wants to cash in on this failure. She is getting lady for an election: if she wins, it will finish the Labour Party
abour coalition unless the labour movement mobilises from ow on to prevent it. And if we prevent a coalition and secure Labour victory, the result will turn the Labour Party upside
Changes on this scale signal something new in politics -mong other things, we believe, the break-up of the postwar
What will replace it? How should socialists react? In the oming months we shall devote space to the important ques-
olitical system and the Labour Party. In this article ALAN REEMAN asks what lay behind the 1945 policies and whether osses and their servants in the labour movement. Lord Rothemere
THE MYTH of 'Labour's tradition' is the second most potent in politics after the 'British way of life'. It is also the spearhead of the Labour right wing's offensive. When Spellars was asked why he won in Northfields, he said 'because we are going back to the party's traditions.'
What tradition? Surely not that of 1917 when Snowden called for soviets? Or 1924 when Labour formed minority government Communists were still in the party? Nor, to be fair to comrade Spellars, can he mean the tradition of Ramsay betrayal, or the thirteen years of Tory rule after 1951. Spellars means anything intelligible. he means the 'official version' of 1945; 1945 as the Labour voter sees it.
Labour's 1949 police, but for one It is easy fact: they worked. For twenty-five years, as far as millions of working people were concerned, daily life brilliantly confirmed what moderate Labour politicians claimed. People had jobs, schools, hospitals, social SCOTTA - and they were convinced that the Labour Party was responsible.
It is impossible to communicate with the Labour voters that Spellars
mobilise without understanding this. generation which grew up under the welfare state firmly believes it was Labour's creation.
Something else has to be done: we have to separate the goals of the 1945 government from its methods.
The demands for jobs, social security, the welfare freedom from war are working class demands; our demands. capitalist system cannot durably grant them. Our difference with Labour's leaders is not that we want socialism instead of these demands. What we say is that socialism is the only way to get them.
The myth of 1945 persists because for twenty-five years, give or take a prescription charge or two, working people were granted these demands without socialism. with Labour's leaders is about how you explain this fact.
Did the Tories oppose the Welfare State? Above all we disagree with the most basic myth of all: the idea that the ruling opposed gramme. The official tradition has it that the Tories opposed the Welfare State, and that the Welfare State was therefore won by the act of voting abour.
Many things flow from this idea. First, that the vote itself was brought change - instead of the fifteen years of gigantic social upheaval that went before it. Second, that the same change can be won again by voting Labour and without parliamentary struggle. Thirdly, that the chief enemy which working people must defeat to win more reform is the Tory Party, and that everything
including the struggle Labour's own right wing leaders -should be sacrificed to this end.
Why is the idea so strong? One reason is that Britain was the only maJor European country neither occupation nor fascism. British working class never had their desperate ruling class, Indeed, trade smashed union strengin coupied during tne war. Britain was the only European country in which the rate of exploitation fell after the war. It was therefore
easy to mistake the Tories' parliamentary mutterings for real opposition.
British virtually the only industrial country
where the new policies — which were applied throughout the West - were introduced by a working class part! governing on its own. counter- France the Communists were part of
John coalitions. In Germany it took years
rebuild the American there was no socialist party.
seen as the achievement of modern social democracy. In the rest of the world people saw things as they really were, social democracy was an achievement Philip of the welfare state.
La time to refute Labourism's claim; for while the the ruling class not only tolerated the
new policies, but devised them The policy which underlay it all state spending to soften the effects of MacDonald's slumps famous British bourgeois economist
John Maynard Keynes,
No: if Treasury advisor throughout the war.
Labour's
was invented by William Beveridge, a stoutly orthodox civil servant Whitehall advisor who believed that "The well-to-do represent on scorn against the left
The state and
The difference Labour's pro-
extraability ThAn
ter stocks have come to the top.
against Paper on 1 December 1942,
tion The others cutter Ignorance, The got Keynes benediction and a pro
year. Cheap at the price.
Did the ruling Working people did not think eleven regions recorded anxiety that the
Above all, however, Britain was
In Italy and
socialist party.
In Britain the welfare state was
and understood that modern
Yet the facts were around at the
was the brainchild of the
senior
social security policy
and
URS
the
S HOURS FOR WORKA BRO
NOT IN
whole a higher level of character and
working CACOPO because in the course of time the bet-
His report, published as a White
was the oundanon or everying Labour did It declared that Want is only one of five giants on the road of reconstruc- materialise
are Disease Squalor and Idleness.' It doctors' mise that it would cost only £100m per
class want it?
SO: pletely wrecking it, wartime intelligence trom ten out o
*ver TInS DIan plan will not
FOR OU
LABO
TRADI
MYTH ANI
because of vested interests: particularly mentioned are the Insurance Companies, the BMA (The organisation) and big rep business. It is felt among the rank and opp file that even if these powerful interests do not jointly succeed in com- to c they will hotly at contest every inch of the ground, the ask will therefore SO did mutilated that the benefits ultimately fro
Page 7 scan of this page
explosion plutoclacy
Keith
ship balancing
N
S
RUTH
State
all kinds.'
people will be
arty, which sted interests, tion because of this ns hardened inper forces were iducted in 1942 questions: first, would benetit cond, were they
in favour of it. Among employers, only 16 percent thought they would gain: but seventy-three percent were in favour of it. In the 'upper income bracket the figures were 29 and 76.
The ruling classes understood that despite short-term losses they might suffer, it was politically necessary and economically possible. The shock of the depression, and fear of a social
after the war, convinced them of the need for a fundamental shift in capitalist strategy.
This was why Labour was allowed to carry out its programme. le com mitted Churchill himself to broadcast in 1943 in favour of 'national compulsory insurance for all classes for all purposes from the cradle to the grave,' and declare that there must be no unemployed after the war, for we cannot have a band of drones in our midst, whether they come from the ancient aristocracy or the modern
For the ordinary type of pub-crawler.'
In a speech which would make
Joseph blush with shame he called for the state to work in partner-.
with industry to exercise influence upon development which can be turned on or off as circumstances require, and argued that 'there is a broadening field for
HAD ON NO LANA
ownership and enterprise,
especially in relation to monopolies of
Just to make sure his audience
understood COTLICHE
welfare he explained that 'there is no
finer investment than putting milk in-
to babies'. A far cry from milk-
snatcher Thatcher.
The Tory Lord Boothby went
even further. 'Nothing is more certain
than that this war will mark the transilism, he told Lloyd George a0 monopoly capitalism to
socialism,
early as 1939, 'by that I mean that the
ultimate control
monopolistic industries,
and of credit, will pass definitely and
finally into the hands of the state.' He
went on to explain that the best man
Churchill. were lukewarm
were against reform and favour when we look at the Labour's own leaders. cluding Bevin,
tion!
Committee
ly Keynesian
was accompanied by the Health Service
Act of given a tive-vear run
Labour taking office. working class in
themseives as their bow. terests.
Above all this because Britain,
closed definitively for Japan,
pire to pay for its state spending
On this they
resistance.
Block vote
censure motion with
vote ten carrica me the
depends." basic o1 moncy around.
to introduce socialism was Winston Labour's leaders
attitudes
Hugh Paper on Employment Policy of Ma lo Kmended by much as bold, tramework able, and worthy of full support; it
National White Paper of February 1944, the Butler Education
August and the September
posals. All these were jointly agreed Five year run
But this very fact tells us why Labour was allowed into office and
The ruling classes of Britain could have stopped
They could have fiddled the election as they did in 1918 by going to the polls before the soldiers could vote. Even after losing the election, they could have brought Labour down with a run on the pound, forcing a split in its ranks and perhaps reconstituting the coalition.
But if they had done so they would have driven along the road to open, sharp confrontation with the only
Europe which had grown in strength from the war, when another option was open. The second option was to use the Labour leaders
the second string to When the chips were down, they knew they could trust the Ministers and trade union leaders who had spent four years in the wartime coalition with them, and who knew exactly how far they would be allowed to go without damaging capitalist in-
was possible as victorious power, retained an option for financing the welfare state which the war
Germany, Italy and even for the occupied powers such as France and Holland. Britain could use the Em
got the Labour leaders support in full measure. October 1944 after the Germans left Greece, Churchill sent in the army to suppress the Communist-dominated
The Commons easily defeated a
the official Labour opposition abstaining and only 24 Labour MPs voting against the government. The trade union block
day tor the parliamentary Labour Party at the December Labour Party conference. Bevin explained: "These steps that have been taken in Greece are not the decisions of Winston Churchill. They are the decisions of the Cabinet The British Empire cannot abandon its position in the Mediterranean. On
SCUCCAL ON LICE COULLEC much of the peace of the future worid
und. The candidate from Pudsey, there were some hotheads Major Denis Healey, told the 1945 conference that The upper classes in every country are selfish, depraved
ruling class, terrified by the State. and decadent ...
British Army and the British people to protect them against the just wrath of the people who have been fighting underground against them for the past four years. There is a very great danger, unless we are very careful, that we shall find ourselves running with the Red Flag in front of the armoured car of Tory imperialism and counter-revolution.
But at the time Atlee replaced Churchill at the Potsdam postwar international conference, secretarv of State James Burne was moved to remark that he 'could not discern any change in policy whatsoever.
Abandoned
Elsewhere we shall assess how and why the economic policies which the ruling class backed in 1945 have been abandoned of the present crisis are Thatcher. outlines already clear entered into in 1945.
In 1945 the policies of the Labour Party were not only acceptable to the ruling class but, by and large, devised by the ruling class and pro moted by the ruling class. To the extent to which Labour's policies went further than the capitalists wanted, they trusted Labour leadership was committed lock, stock and barrel to defend capital's essential interests and overseas interests.
Thirty-seven years later, none of these conditions hold. The policies of full employment and free social services are the direct object of ruling class attack. They are not acceptable to the ruling class.
terests of British capital - particular-
special relationship
America, NATO, and the Common Market - are at loggerheads Labour's policies of unilateral disarmament and withdrawal from the
'The Soviet level' in occupied Glyn-Neath colliery in General Strike. The
prospect of 1920's type of chaos and confrontation being repeated after World War Il opted for the Welfare
they look to the
Millions of working
still want houses, schooling.
titled to them.
American
failure
But
the arrangement
part working people. were Break
Secondly,
because it. for around tactics.
above all - its
Able.
The overseas in-
to the fore Reform with we bankrupt with
EEC. Labour's leadership - above all while its left wing is intact — is not trusted by the ruling class.
Yet the Tories face a problem. Mit one goals of i1945, and do sup
, and do want the Labour Party to carry on defending them. They still want jobs. They
health care and LICY stil want treedom from war. They still think they are en-
And they still possess the organisations to fight for these things, if they are mobilised.
here are two immediate conclu sions. First of all, the Tories' greatest hope lies, not in their own strength but in Labour's weakness. It is the Sibilise for what working pe ple Labour's leaders want, in the futile belief that they can take office by promoting what the wealthy want, that is advancing Thatcher's election hopes. Therefore our greatest hope lies in breaking with one part of the tradition of 1945 - the part that involves compromise with the wealthy - and defending anothe
- championing the demands of
however, a complete and radical break in method is called
With the ruling class divided either neutral towards a Labour victory or even in support of it, Labour could coast into office and rule without serious trou-
With the ruling class bitterly against it there is no prospect of winning reform through the election of a Labour government unless working class extraparliametary action comes
through the ballot box alone is a thing of the past part of
myth of 1945 which should be dropped once and for all The Labour Party, one way or the other, can never be the same again.
Socialist Challenge 7 January 1983 page 7
Page 8 scan of this page
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Stalin with Roosevelt at the Yalta conference. ON 22 JUNE 1941 Hitler's Germany invaded the Soviet Union. It was the real start of the real Second World War. The part we are told about, the war in the West, 'Dunkirk', and so on was a mere side show. Hitler had stated from the beginning that his real enemy was the Soviet Union. From 1941 on never less than two thirds, and usually three quarters, of the Nazi armies were in the East.
By the time the British ano Amercar landed in Normandy in June 1944 Hitler had already lost the war. In the battle of Stalingrad, from August 1942 to January 1943, the core of the German army had been crushed.
In the battle of Kursk in July to August 1943 the largest tank battle tought in history the
offensive in the East was German COULLCL destroyed When the 'allies' landed in France it was not to dereal finei but to make sure that the soviel armies cra not overturn fascism in the whole of Europe.
The costs of this strug SCLO the Soviet Union were however almost calculable. Twenty million people were killed.
had suffered CLULUILLY shattering blows.
Nor was this the first time something duke this
had happened. From 1918
onwards almost every
single major •Western
power, and Japan as well,
had intervened in Russia.
Until that time the Russian revolution OI 1917 had
passed with tiny losses.
the USSR transformed the revolution into the most
Imperialism and
the Soviet Union
the 'Battle of Britain',
terrible civil war in the twentieth century.
Somewhere between TelE people died in the struggle twenty million
to drive out the foreign armies and their Russian SUDPULLCES But why should im-
perialism twice vent such incredible attacks on the USSR? According to the explanation of the govern-
of Britain, the United States, France etc their aim was to protect liberty. Rather
It might be remarked
that it is a rather
way to do that by killing
thirty to forty million peo-
ple! Its rather like the
American general during
the Vietnam war who ex-
plained that in order
save the city of Hue it has
been necessary to destroy
it!
What is more the im-
perialist countries
west have never cared a fig
leaf about the liberty"
the people in either the
DOVICE OTOR OI
Europe. To see that con-
the extremely in
What is Trotskyism?
teresting new explanations WICH Calle OU. December in the American international magazine Newsweek. It has Speer known for years that the United States government knew in advance of the BOVe Czechoslovakia. But they said not one word to warn the Czech people.
But what about Poland? Reagan expressed his terrible shock at the im-
Poland in December 1981
gred crusade for liberty and demanded *let Poland be Poland' that CYCLYOLL
But did what happen come US government? any big surprise to the
Step
Newsweek explains how ine government knew in ad. vance from satelites and internal Polish and Sovie
Jaruselski's and the Kremlin's plans. First the US knew that in spite its threats the Soviet leadership was not yet technically prepared for an inva sion. According Without US knowledge, Polish help, the Russians would have needed 40 divi-
Having only 27 divisions ready for action, the Soviets had to wait.
The United States however knew soon after September 1941 that Jaruselski planned to impose martial law. In ex-
plaining detail how United States intelligence in roland workca prior to martial law Newsweek admits 'In September, Polish authorities sent the order for a military crackdown
- along with leaflets pro claiming martial law to the Soviet Union to be printed .. when the operation order and the leatlets arrived back in Poland, the colonel (a US informe in the Polish army) seni them to the CIA
But as the US govern ment knew weeks in ad vance that martial law was going to be imposed why didn't it warn the people such as Solidarity with whom they supposedly had "defenders of miberty is such sympathy
Poland.
Trigger
As Newsweek somewhat naively puts it, "Had Solidarity been waisted its challenge would trigger a
union leaders might have had time to go underground More
the nuld have peon
would have forewarned to resist.
Newsweek gives us a heart rending explanation of the US government decision. 'Any Warl!!!! specific enough to get Solidarity's attention would have risked the colonel's life.' By now I hope I don't have to point out
that if you been
BOVCERTCHE S
By John Ross motive then you'll believe anything Threats
What in fact Czechoslovakia and Poland reveal is what is capitalism's real objection to the Soviet Union. It has never i he Soviet leader against ships The United States, as we have SCCI. CLUSCE CLY Y CULELELLE to the Czech or Polish peo ple concerning the threats to them.
During the 1930s
veritable industry of retormist intellectuals wrote glowing books about Savourably hiomparin Stalin
prac ticality compared to the 'anarchy the period under Lenin and Trotsky The United States entered into one of its closest relations ever with the Soviet leadership, Ere period *detente immediatel
Czechoslovakia.
The real objection
which capitalism has to thi Soviet Union wel historian AJP Taylor. He summed Said that since revolution in Russia there were many crimes that had been carried out by the regime of Stalin. But these
could be forgiven by the
The crime which they never forgave was that, In Russia there are
landlords and CHU
capitalists.
Page 9 scan of this page
Needs
challenge
LAURA Moorenead's review of Angela Davis's book 'Women, Race and Class' (SC no 272) needs challenging.
What Laura objects to is that Davis appears counterpose the fight for women's rights to the struggle black
and the struggle
Working people plying 'conflicting interests'. And even imIts time By Tam Early The Deadly Dust it takes its toll My chest is drawing tighter I've been reduced to a poor old soul And my pay poke's getting lighter I cough and wheeze where e'er I go And my spittle it is black But if I take a few days off I am threatened with the sack It used to be the coal board That would tell us not to shirk But now they've got the union For to do their dirty work While they hob nob with the manager And drink their cups of tea Discussing other methods How to quieten you and me But where are the men like AG Cooke
Who would fight them tooth and nail
And didn't care a button If they locked him up in jail He would fight on every issue
That affected you and me This was a man they could not bribe With money or with tea Well friends you ask the question Just what can be done To put these people in their place without a tommy gun So lets look to men like Moffat And Scargill for a lead
And Collins and McGahey For to beat this rotten breed And pull us from the crisis Which is a sad affair And tell the Lords and Admirals To get down and dig their share So rally round ye miner lads Its time to make a stand To show them that the miner Is the Finest in the land
And get behind your leaders
And I'm sure they'll do you proud
And wrap this Tory party, In that shirt we call a shroud. Tam Early is a 66 year old miner who used to
work the Fife and Kent coalfields. His poem
sounds best when rectea after a bome of
Scotch and in a Scottish accent.
plying 'that the struggle
equality can be advanced at the
working people'. Also that the book 'leaves us nowhere to go.
Davis doesn't "imply' conflicting interests in her histort of women's suffrage and the black She gives us
The lessons are clear, alliances OCLWCCH
most oppressed
can never suborommate ner
struggle to that of a relatively
c gro with
leadership
movement seeking alances
wit te runng class, as Laura
But in criticising
Davis surely
agree with her that and bork-
ing class
WORCH WCIC fundamentally
LACH men by une
class exploitation and racist
which did
behaviour While thei
ICCUCU cranenced.
enemy common
was the boss.
responsible the
unbearable work-
sexist discrimination on
the job' (p142).
'ignoring
downplaving the struggle for
can't
it. Her view or women's strug
He is nawca by renance upo he Communist Party (USA
Ireland
new initiatives
needed
THE recent hysteria of the Tory press and the majority of MPs over the GLC's invitation to
almost impossible. Even to question Britain's
issue of nuclear disarmament. But here the
parliamentary movement, has made a signifi-
this. After all, the left is expressing what is demonstrably a popular point of view.
question, it is relatively easy for the government to isolate and marginalise its critics. The events of the last few months should con vince us that some new initiatives are needed to develop a broader popular opposition to the government's Irish policy. Everybody on the left must give this serious thought.
Grenadan women
hold congress
By Delia Smallman and Roger Roberts in Grenada THE ROLE of women in revolutionary Grenada was the focal point of an historic congress of the National Women's Organisation held in Grenada at Delegates from Grenada, Martinique and representatives of 31 countries from the Caribbean, the Americas and Europe discussed the struggle for women's liberation.
Before the 13 March 1979 National Women's Organisation stood at 60 members today has about 6,500 For the congress, the NWO grOups. scattered throughout the parishes of Ine discussed a major docuMer on women al weekly meetings and put forward suggesuons and ideas.
A Ministry of Womens Affairs August 1982 which is the was
official channel through which women's interests can be expressca and unc NWO's recommendations put forward.
It is the first such the whole of speaking
Caribbean
Already the revolution has benefitted
women several ways. The most important government decree was the abolition of 'sexploitation' a system of sexual tavours for work
for her approach.
But I believe Davis is say-
ing 200ON OL TaCIST
positions by a section of the
was an evil thai
black people. Severe
Finally,
leave nowhere to go? A little
severe this. The di scussion or
socialisation useful,
HOUSCWOrK SUICLY
ana lac ICruLaLon LIL
"wages for housework' posi-
by examination of
black workers
novel, to me at least.
feeling that
Laura S ICVICW conceals
unpreparedness face the
fact that the ability of the rul
ing class to subveri enemient is
he progressive
CADI COCU through -I Cal
Lollary or tansanon among
women, blacks and workers.
STEPHEN BELL
Roath, Cardiff
••.
The same methods are deployed on the
to do
Without a similar movement on the Irish beginning December.
Carriacon and Petit
which was rife in the days of Eric Gairy, the former
The Peoples Revolu tionary Government declared that women were to receive equal pay for equal work in any occupation and has introduced a Maternity Leave which has proved enormously beneficial.
As wen women are tur ly involved in the defence of the revolution. both in the militia and the Peoples Revolutionary Army. Jobs
Women are also very involved in education programmes. such as the Centre for Popular Education as teachers and as students and increasingly in training programmes such as the new agricultural school at La Sagesse
Finally the general reduction in unemployment has especially helped
Depo Provera
A NUMBER of
groups concerned
with women and
health have formed
an ad hoc committee
to oppose a long
term license for the
contraceptive injec-
tion Depo Provera.
We are seriously concern-
ed that side effects of Depo
unimportant, women are bein pressured to after childbirth an ubell
given WITHOU thei
concerned that the available Further.
research on the drug wa lone independently and i
ing interpreted to prove
drug is safe; we do not believe
that proot actuay exist We are seeking informa-
tion or
Depo Provera or information
from health workers on uses
weneed to 1C0 -lect this information befor 15 March 1983 to present to
the public hearing
British licensing authority has
refused a long term license to
Depo Provera and
mat decision te hope ing
work alongside other
who WHICHC LU
oooose a lone temu cense an ate meera
mean LC00 • Provera
would occome available
fights back
By Bob Smith
known in the next few days.
Muhammad Idrish came
to Britain in 1976 to study
at Bristol University. He
works Dr Bar-
LUVY
nado's in West Bromwich
near Birmingham.
He married an English
woman and their marriage
lasica over two years, ou
within a few weeks of their
Office
officials began pro-
ceedings to deport him.
On 10 December local
ethnic groups and labour
movement activists
picketed the official hearOffice in the Adjudicators
Yardly gaining
useful publicity about the
case which is now schedul-
ed for an indefinate date in
the new year to allow ade-
quate time for considera-
tion.
Muhammad Idrish
says about his situation
My marriage lasted more hite is noes akin my divorce. The Home Office wife not
minister Timothy Raison,
could have ruled in
favour but chose the other
course.
"In an open court
hearing I am sure I could
have proved my worth to stability on the state. I have never been a
women. The figures speak for themselves In there was 70 percent
and 1982 17 percen
Other policies have indirectly helped Grenadan women. For example tree milk is provided, a comprehensive house repair programme, free medical/ dental care, free primary/ secondary education, assistance with books and uniforms for needy schoolchildren.
All this has been achieved in less than four years and the PRG is still
other res as a first-choice method anticipate that a
advertising campaign b the
would
courage doctors to recom-
mend the drug to women as at
easy' choice hen the for
doctor, too) wher con-
traceptive methods might do
ustas wer oreven Deuter. ou
first meeting therefore decio
ed we could only support
-month injection only) witl
added restrictions on its
al WHOEmCG COnSCHL DrO
cedure and onlow-up on al
women using it.
Because a small number of unable to use other methods themselves
we reel we cannor support d
Depo Provera
However, , with a short-term
Depo Provera would available those
women, as it is at the moment,
and with added safeguards we
nose abuses can be reauced to
a minimum.
We have serious doubts
about LIC SaICLy of al hor
-contraceDnon. Depo
Provera is merely one in
long line of methods now be
ing tested which disrupts a
woman's to
orcenancy. we ocueye mal.
come on the market unques these • as are alower to
tioned, future research
methods
affec women's health WIl
never be The manutac
Lurcis or coo rrovera nave a
profit to lose
because women are question
Bangladeshi social worker
THE RESULT of a determined fight against the injustices of this type
social worker in order to stay in Britain will be West Midlands even if my
*The Home Office puts
its victims in the positio
of having to prove their
and establish the
BELIES
true natural justice the Britise facts; that
ruling class are so fond of
boasting they apply
"Increasingly the
Home Office immigration
laws are being used to in-
timidate Asian and other
minority groups in Britain
'These laws and the
new code of practise make
race relations much more
difficult. They are unjust
and discriminatory and
must be stopped
*In my spare-time com-
munity work, I have done
much to further race rela
tions in the inner city and
know the damage these
laws will cause.
•A write tewer than 400
Tel: 01-359 8180
looking forward. The congress has called upon it to amend the present law and
the concept of
illegin y
declared wine ace boess
make parents financially responsible for their children, irrespective of whether they are married or not.
The Congress stated that "all children of the revolution should enjoy the human right to be supported financially
The theme of the conEducation, Training, Pro- was Women
Wing the need for it; we believe women nave a great deal to gain.
contact the Co. ordinating Group on Depa Provera c/o 374 Grays Inn London WC1X 8BB Tel: 01-278 0153 will continue in
case is defeated.
'Every ethnic minority has potential victims, the defence will open up to support other cases a. they appear, we must build a national network. My supporters in Bristol are already active *The demonstration to
against Racist Laws on March will provide an ex cellent platform to explain the issues and possibilities of this and other defence campaigns.
Requests for information, message of support -ane donations can be sent to Bob Cooper, 6 Radnor Rd, Hand Birmingham 1846 or Grahar 62 Bedminster Parade, Bristol 3 campaign around Tel 0272-667933/570534
Write to us!
WANT to get something off your chest, tell our readers about an event you're planning? Be briet Socialist Challenge, PO Box 50, London N1 2XP.,
duction and Defence and the atmosphere of the congress certainly reflected the growing spirit of independence among
Creprims women Minister
Prime Maurice Bishop, remarkec on the dignity and self-respect, and self-confidence of Grenadan women'
Over the past years women have become more aware of their own strength and increasingly committed to and invo ved in their revolution.
Socialist Challenge 7 January 1983 page 9
Page 10 scan of this page
The Spanish Socialist Party fails the test
Spain 1936
IN THIS SERIES on social democracy,
the last issue covered the role of the
Spanish Socialist Party in the
leading up to the outbreak of the Civil
War in July 1936.
with how the Socialist Party responded
to the fascist uprising and the revolu-
tionary
peasants
the last issue
should have stated that the election of
the first Republican-Socialist govern
ment took place in 1931.
The tasks of
the revolution
UNLESS THE Popular Front government could solve the develop and extend Spanish industry; break the hold of the church; smash the power and influence of the military and solve the colonial and national question, it was doomed to fail.
The attitude of the workers' parties to these matters was Socialist Party was to stand or fall on them.
The agrarian question income and nearly two thirds of exports. Some 70 percent of the population worked on the land
UnIC ane was landowners. Another third was owned by middle sized landowners. The final third was owned by peasants and
was variably DOUR capable of supporting a peasant family.
With few the most archaic methods and the yield per acre was the
The agrarian problem could only be solved by distributing the two thirds held by the landlords to the peasament to raise agricultural productivity which equipment to raise meant cash from the state.
Industry With fractionally over one percent of world trade, inwar. Unemployment was rife, accounting, if you included dependants, for more than a quarter of the popula-
When the government of de Rivera had introduced tag agains had restated by cantic pita spains accural exports, causing a crisis which lead to the collapse of the internal market for
mere was no way orward for industry without the use of a monopoly of foreign trade, vere hostages to foreign capital and inseperably linked Lo une landowners. us meant mari was imposcine cor a bourgeois government to create a monopoly of foreign trade, The Church The Church had enormous economic power. In 1931 the Jesuits owned one third of Spain's
enterprises using the labour of unpaid orphans to cheapen production costs.
By its control of education it kept the peasantry Illiterate. in 1950. more than ion could neither read nor write. If Spain was to embark be broken. Its prate had to be confiscated and used to nelp me peasants curvate neir land. education nad to be taken out of its hands and all the religous orders had to be dissolved.
The army The army was essentially an outlet for the sons of the rich. Its officer caste was linked by kinship, social position and common interest to the purpose was to put down rebellion in Morocco and act as me last me or actence tor reaction al nome. witn a ratio of one officer for every six men dominated by an extreme right Unless the army was democratised. which meant renlac ing all the officers by officers elected from the ranks it would always be a dagger at the throat of the governBICHIL
The colonies and the national question in series Morocco, viciously exploiting the Moroccan people for the benefit of the government and Spain's capitalist class.
The Republican-Socialist alliance took over the colonies and used the corrupt colonial administration, the roreign Legion, and native mercenaries as its overseers
Only by granting Morocco immediate and unconditional independence ment have broken the hold of the army, and incited the Moroccan masses to rise up against the Foreign Legion, thus depriving fascism the use of its shock troops against the Republic.
provinces like Catalan haugeoisie but in could have en nto the side of movements existed, ine workers providing they had been granted their full rights to autonomy. A failure to do that meant leaving these movements under the political domination of forces hostile o socialism.
Socialist Challenge 7 January 1983
Marxism and Social Democracy
This week BOB PENNINGTON deals
demands of the workers and
Due to a typographical omission in
the historical guideline agrarian question; decisive. The tne big
Stand waica was rarcy
as conducted by
agricultural productivity DULLIE OU dreadful agricultural wealth. It ran a like flour mills and launderies,
CORE BIC DOD:
the power of the Church had to ruling class. Its main
it was thoroughly wing officer corps
wars spain nad subjugated could the Popular Front
and Basque, strong page 10
EXASPERATED BY the inability of the Popular Front to curtail the demands of the workers and peasants, ed an open military revolt against the government.
General Franco assumed command of the Moors and Legionnaires of Spanish Morocco. His manifesto to the army and the nation called for the establishment authoritarian state. Within three days nearly
every sile one of ris
military garrisons joined him.
Landlords and capitalists quickly packed their bags and either fled the country or slipped into fascist territory
Meanwhile the government of the Popular Front dithered. it tascism was tr be crushed it could only be done by civil war and that
meant armin the workers.
liberal bourgeoise who were the servants of capital, an anca working class Wa. an even more frightening thought than the armies of France.
So the arms remained locked up in the barracks On 18 July the national committee of the Socialist and Communist parties Issuca a statement reassur ing the masses that: The
has sufficient resources to overcome this criminal attempt. Just to make sure that the workers did not start taking things in their own hands the statement WCHlE 01 say: government commands and the Popular TOILE obeys.'
But in Barcelona the workers ignored the Stalinists and the social democrat leaders by storming the army barracks and by 20 July they controlled the city. In Valen cia rank and file soldiers shot their officers and armed the workers. In Asturias a column of 5,000 was equipped with dynamite from the mines for a march on Madrid In the itself
Cabild workers were rising and on zU July they stormed the city's barracks.
Acting against the advice of the socialist leaders the workers had saved the situation and stopped the counter revolution taking over great areas of spain.
As the peasants heard the news rom the cities they swarmed over the land, using their primitive
landowners, and officials, who tried stop nel taking the land.
Committees of peasants and workers fed the militia and the workers in the cities. The old order did not have organisations
new revolutionary situa tion so the CNT (anarchist trade unions) and the UGT (socialist trade unions) organised factory committees that extended their influence beyond the trade union organisations.
Everywhere these new committees sprang up, and in town and country they
the Spanish ruling class launch-
began organise seperate v and aDart tron the capitalist institutions
which the Popular Front government rested.
These bodies were based one power or tine workers and peasants I Casaus them armed militias. As in all workers situation of dual power existed, as the newly emerg
power of the masses challenged the capitalist state
The Popular Front 1CU its Liberal president Azana.
had Franco. could only carry out its function of defending
over workers militias; dinating them and then, finally dissolving the joint committees that had replaced its authority.
Help
The discredited bourgeois politicians could not do that on their own. For that task they needed the help of the workers' organisations and particularly the help
UGT Icader Party and
UGT leader,
For seven weeks the Popular Front govern-
could not get the organisanons Le but neither did these organisations organise an alternative to the government. Neither the Socialists, nor the anarchists, nor even did
left centrist party the POUM, call WULKOES and committees to organise on a national scale and
out of the hands Azana government.
When the workers' parties did not organise workers' councils, the first sten towards the of a workers state, then despite their 'leftism their good intentions, they had no alternative but
with the not organising workers' power in of
parties, the Party
and the they would Azana's
the very
Cabellero, leader of
For those readers who would like to take further neit reading on the Spanish war the author recommends the following three books. Revolution and Counter Revolution in Spain by Felix Morrow. This was written
party's left however was record against coalitions and had
revolution. 1936 the Madrid party organisation had come out for the dictatorship of the proletariat, but Cabellero's chief theoretician, Luis Araquistain explained that Spain did no need soviets.
The had stated 'the organ of proletarian dictatorship will be the Socialist Party' but this would have to wait until the party included a majority of workers.
This theory cripples the Socialist eft Cabellero
agreed the electoral coalition of 1936 and issues had , support Azana's cabinet. arom to outside Azana
the outside therefore was simply loyal critic of the capitalist governchl
Soviets need the involvement of the over whelming majority of the workers, not just those holding Socialist Party cards. Cabellero and his supporters could either recognise this revolutionary reality and break from their wrong position or else turn their backs on
REVOLUTION AND
COUNTER REVOLUTION IN
SPAIN
FELIX MORROW
Front page of Morrow's classic 'Revolution and Counterrevolution in Spain
during the actual events of
InC CIVil war An excenen
Marxist analysis written in
clear concise
languare
The Revolution and the
scholarly Marxist analysis
the workers' committees and join the government Eventually, Cabellero dic join the government. He
Immediately the Socialist Party entered the government the die was irretreviably set. Cabellero and nIs party became nothing more than a left cover the liberal Republicans.
Needs
The needs of the workers and peasants and
the legitimate claims of the oppressed nationalities were subordinated to the interest of capital - which was hardly surprising since
parties had handed powe to its representatives! The CGT paper Claridad made this clear when it pointed out: "The ministerial proprate simi des esion al.
firm decision truimph over the subordinated rebellion every other that political interest
de cleasilists had
made clear worker. and peasants would have to wait until tascism had been crushed. The main task now was to unity all the so-called anti-
and deserves the accolade of
describee the
classic on Spain's civil war.
The bourgeois historian
Hugh Thomas has -written
The Spanish Civil Wa
Which contains much useful
material although he is no
friend of revolution.
fascist forces and the price for that was restoring the
state The progressive
state. 'progressive'
not allenated from the Popular Front so private
must intact
Workers' armed militias were guaranteed to frighten the men of property so they had to be replaced by an army under the control of the capitalist state. It the support of the
was to be WOr then cesses against the Church must cease and there could be no talk of freedom for Morocco, otherwise this might stir colonial slaves of those same
the workers' parties with the Spanish Party dutifull playing its part, delivered the Spanish revolution into the grateful hands of the Libera capitalists who
with the Prieto wing of the Socialist Party and the Stalinists tossed Cabellero aside when he had done his job.
But the betrayals of th Spanish Party did not jus end there. By handing gover the struggle to the Liberal bourgeoisie thes made sure that the civil war was
and that fascism triumphed
Page 11 scan of this page
By Nick Robin YILMAZ Guney is Turkey's most notorious film-maker. The former Clint Eastwood of the Turkish screen, Guney turned to writing and directing in the early 70s under the impact of the widescale politicisation of Turkish society and the growth of a powerful working class and mass socialist youth organisahis films being released in 1971 tions. He was prolific seven of for instance. He produced cinema which was not only realist and directly political but also very popular and influential.
In 1972, Guney was sentenced to twenty four years in prison for allegedly shooting in a bar a judge who had insulted him. This did not put an end to his work. Indeed, with the help of friends and fellow directors Zeki Ökten and Serif Gören, he has been responsible for (arguably) three of the greatest political films in
world cinema produced in the
last ten years: Suru (The Herd) Way). The showing of Dusman in Dusman (The Enemy), Yol (The
London and the forthcoming
distribution of Yol - 1982's
principal winner at the Cannes
film festival - provides an op-
portunity for reviewing his work.
How does Guney work from
in prison? He says 'i felt I should
put as much as possible of
myself, of "my" story, of "my"
images, into the script. This con-
sequently became a new kind of
work for me, and it took much
longer than anything I'd done
before. The scripts were much
more detailed, broken down into
individual shots, covered with lit-
tle notes alongside the dialogue
to indicate my ideas about the
shooting, the lighting or the per-
formances ... in a room in Izmit prison with ' Suru was written
eighty people in it!
Further, he says 'As i create
my characters and flesh them
out I try to act out their roles,
YILMAZ GUNEY
REVOLUTIONARY
FILM-MAKER
both the men and the women in every detail, and to experience the way they think and feel. When I write I don't start out with a definite plan, with a specific end in view, I put myself in the place of my characters, imagine their relationships and feelings, and make the development of the plot dependent on that. Many things turn out quite differently from what I had expected.' The films as well as their author have been subject to severe repression (of course, now, under the conditions of military rule, the films are completely banned); Suru, for instance was a film about the
Kurds in Turkey - all eight
million of whom are officially
deemed not to exist, they are
rather 'mountain Turks'
the economic and social
backwardness of their society
and its relation to Turkish
capitalism. sheep are brought by train from As the 'herd' of
the mountains of Kurdistan to
Ankara we witness a great
panorama of Turkish society and
its contradictions.
Dusman is about unemploy-
ment and the rise of the fascist
movement
the title. It is a beautiful
measured, didactic film about
Turkey in the 1970s. Ismail a
young man with a wife and small
daughter is typical of Turkey's
rising proletariat. Coming
originally from the countryside
where his family own a small
piece of increasingly barren land,
he lives in a town on the Dar-
danelles, Eceabat. He travels to
Cannakkale across the water to
look for work.
Both Cannakkale and Eceabat
are small towns whose social
cohesion has been completely
destroyed by the spatial
dynamics of Turkish capitalism.
Gradually, Ismail, a complete in-
nocent, has his eyes opened to what is going on around him, a process which is followed by the audience. tions to a 'Western' lifestyle frustrated, becomes a prostitute and leaves him to go to the city. A German tourist attempts to buy Ismail. Other tourists are interested in buying parts of Turkey's ancient and recent past: Troy and Gallipoli, local entrepreneurs willingly offer their country's heritage up for sale.
Against this background, Ismail gets a job poisoning stray epithet for fascist. As we see dogs.
Ismail at work, the ever increasing number of dogs dying in
- and the 'enemies' of There is none.
Scene from Yol
onto Ismail's cart reminds the audience wryly of Turkey's (one million votes in 1977). of a dog
traditions.
plores one of his favourite
Scene from Dusman
His wife, her aspira-
'Dog' is the Turkish left's
Yilmaz Guney close-up and being scooped up
burgeoning fascist movement (Derek Malcolm in The Guardian completely misses this reference and instead presumes that these scenes offer some insight into the nature of Ismail's relationship with animals!) The symbol is extended at the end of the film, as Ismail, deserted by his wife, is leaving by coach for Istanbul to work in a factory where 'they have labour unions to defend workers' interests', the town is celebrating Republic Day with a military parade. Winding in and out of the ranks of the parade, the camera follows the progress
as it were now at the
eart of Turkey's culture anc
Yol which opens at the into their minds. Lumière Cinema in London early in 1983, is also a film focussing on Turkey's culture and traditions. In particular, Guney ex-
themes: the intersection of pre-capitalist feudal norms and customs with the development
of the capitalist economy. This is a theme of relevance not only to
Turkey but to all countries
dominated by imperialism. You follows the different fortunes of a group of prisoners released from prison for one week's leave. They return to their various backgrounds where each is made to deal with a personal situation in an oppressive social context. From these individual fictions a picture is presented of life as it is lived in the towns of Anatolia and Kurdistan. Guney says of the film: 'The prisons where human beings are confined are of several kinds. Prisons can be social, cultural, or political. For instance, the men I talk about in my film leave a prison with visible walls, only to find themselves in one with walls that can't be seen. That is to say the prisons they have inherited from a patriarchal society prisons that a specific way of life, a specific culture, has built
The tremendous strength and originality of Guney's cinema is that while he consciously gives us a definite 'message' he combines this with a rich human involvement to produce a truly popular cinema. He says: 'In my
view a film cannot limit itself to
the simple narration of events. You have to plunge deep into the
human mind.. Art has a kind of magic about it. And it is this magic which makes art what it
At a time when tens of thousands of leftists and trade union leaders and militants are in the torture chambers of the military dictatorship that has ruled Turkey for the past two years Guney's films offer us a picture of Turkey battling with the contradictions of underdevelop ment. For the time being that battle has been won by the imperialists and the Turkish bourgeoisie but the story hasn't
Guney himself managed to escape from prison and Turkey earlier this year. He is a wanted man, stripped of his citizenship by the junta. Perhaps now his films will get a wider international audience. Look out for them, and congratulations to the Rio cinema in Hackney for promoting Guney's work in London.
For more information about the
situation in Turkey and the cam.
paign to get Guney into this
Office's ban - contact the country overturning the Home
Turkey Solidarity Campaign, B
Box 5965, London WIN 3XX
Socialist Challenge 7 January 1983 page 11
Page 12 scan of this page
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HEATH02-5 miles •Epsom 3 15 miles 4:20 miles • Tunbridge Wells Crawleye 530 miles
6°40 miles
Brighten Easibeurne Ken Livingstone and Gwyn Kirk unveil GLC peace statue.
SPECIAL OFFER For readers who take out a year's inland subscription we are offering a free copy of Alan Freeman's new book THE BENN HERESY. The Alteratively we are offering Henri Weber's book NICARAGUA - THE SANDINIST REVOLU-
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Surface & Europe £17.00/Air mail $24.00 For multi-resder Institutions double the above rates Send to Socialist Chailenge, P.O. Box 50,
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Colchestel • Maidstone
Tostome THE BENN ALAN FREEMAN
HERESY
THE LABOUR CONTROLLED Greater London Council has designated 1983 as 'peace year'. A quarter of a million pounds has been set aside to campaign among Londoners on the dangers of nuclear war, and the government's nuclear strategy. This is particularly appropriate in the year in which Cruise missiles are due to be installed at the Greenham Molesworth sites as part of the US and British nuclear escalation against the Soviet Union.
GLC leader ingstone has invited the mayor of Moscow to visit London later this year • as part of the campaign. Last Monday Ken together with Gwyn Kirk from the Greenham Common peace camp unveiled
statue in the jubilee gardens to launch the Year of Peace.
Livingstone said that the GLC had seen the civil defence plans for London and on the basis of these government plans it was AAS UCE that after nuclear attack on London, within one year six million
BAD ASTE
/1 THINK KEN
GOING A BIT FAR WHEN LVINGSIPNE
HE MURPEREP AL THODE
PEOPLE IN BALLYKELLY
DIDN'T ACTUALLY... _ WE.L.TL
AS YOU KNOW the Queen is keen on the fami-
ly, particularly when you and I are keeping it
for her. So when she makes her impending
visit to the Cayman Islands she will feel at
home.
The Caymans have an
assembly which is run
15 people most
these are members of
same family, which
aSulCS Another family that is big cooperation.
the Caymans the
'mob' who with their
reverence for the God-
TaNOTS and the family
structure are admirers of
the Windsors, whom they
think are class in the arts
of extortion and embezzle-
ment.
Last summer when Bri-
tain did its -DII the
malvinas, Pandon i e the
'mob' JUL-
nographers, and people
like Sir Peter Green, direc-
tor of Lloyds Insurance,
WEO has a 20 OCICCILI
holding in a Cayman com-
pany called The Imperial
E500,000 go nelp Brilains
soutn Aulanuc protcccion
racket. This was touching
ly called the 'Mother needs
our help fund'
Mother might have got
some help, but the local
People do not seem to ge nuch. Despite its 300
surance comdaness,
banks and
registered companies, the
distribution of the goodies
appears to be uneven.
The linancial secretary
Vassal Johnson who set 11
all up does not do too bad.
He naSaaCOl! Three
Six million Londoners would die in a nuclear attack
1983-Peacelear
Common and
of the eight million people
the capital would be dead
The launching of the GLC's 'peace year" on the same day that 42 Greenham Common Peace Lamp womeu appeared at Newbury magistrates court charged
*behaviour likely to CaUSE eace' following breach of their the
New Years Day invasion of the missile site during which they danced on top of the unfinished silos. il they refuse to be bound over, more women will be sent to jail
SALTUGHT! HE DIDN'T!
BUT HE IS WILLING TO
LISTEN TO THE VIEWS
HWE SIN POIN TRAYSN
ANP THEY PID ITE
/WELL ACTUALLY"
Her Majesty to visit haven of tax
dodgers and the 'mob'
which gives him 53 televi-
sion channels. 24 hours a
day. He OWIIS motor
cruiser, a Mercedes and a
bloody great fortune.
That's his due reward tor
getting rid of all company
taxes and restrictions.
Unfortunately most of
the islanders did not think
of giving the mafia a hand
with LICHI tinances. So
their rewards are a little
less. They have no sewage
service, no Iree meaica
care and no higher education if they are educationalhowever ambitious they Call
buy a BA off a kind
(Honours)
American gentleman who
owns two shacks which he
calls the International Col
lege of the Caymans 154,000
BA course costs
dollars a year.
A nice thing about the
Caymans is the reverence
for privacy. it vou stari
even to make inquiries into
the affairs of any company
that offence. Mind you there is indictable
not quite same
reverence for the rights of
individuals, particularly
black ones. Rastafarians
are officially forbidden.
And there is one other
snag for Mother's loyal
subjects. Being black the can't come to Britain i
they want to, citizenship
does not extend that far
Mind you if anybody tries
Below account of the davastation which would be on London if it were hit by a megaton nuclear bomb. amis is among te siltauci bombs in today's nuclear a selal
As megaton oomo urop ped on Westminster woulc Causd following effects: 1. WITHIN 3-4 MILES of the explosion. In this area all metals would vaporise as the temperature soared to 10 million degrees centigrade. This would be the case as far away as Brixton and kegents Park. Needless to Iles to would be in- in this alca stanteneous 2 e exptosion. in vais arm 4-6 MILES away from metals would merely melt So would the people bus passing iwou dveT Kew Bridge simply liquidise around its incinerated passengers
SSHUT UPI 1 KNOW
TAS NOTHING TO
DO WITH THE PROVOS!
IM NOT CONCERN
ED WITH THE FACTS!! OA TOURI • VOUC JOURNALIST!
to take over all those
refuges of the interna-
LEL? dodgers, nagrstensrs so beloved by gangsters and
their dear Mother,
you can bet your bottom
block vote
By Pat Hickey
conference will aim to
Party.
This conference will be conialicis in Tne UnioTis.
block vote
union barons using
conference policies
socialists the Labour Party. from BLOC put it:
union voting at these danger thai undemocratic
practises working class movement real drive for work-place factory branches.
tne unions tions (branches and shop stewards
event Credentials available
Boulevard, Bebington, Merseyside, L63 7PE.
we publish an 3. AT 15 MILES. Rubber
and prasuc burst into flames. Aircraft Heathrow would explode.
Car tyres as far away as Watford would melt. The stands Epsom racecourse would burn to the ground. 4. AT 20 MILES. As far away Windsor wood and people spontaneously catch tire 5. AT 30 MILES. Clothes flare. On the outskirts of Crawley Reading, Maidenhead Tunbridge Wells and Aldershot people caught in the open are horribly burned 6. AT 40 MILES. People E0 SYS like Farnham, Southend and approaches Oxford suffer second degree burns and severe blistering.
This is just the beginning.
Throughout the next year hundreds of thousands of people die from radiation sickness.
1 THOUGHT 1 RECOGNISED HIM : THINKS THE WORD MEANS TRISHMAN" OR "A HEALTH WORKER ON SHINE dollar Thatcher will send in the fleet After spending xmas with the family Sand ringham, Elizabeth WIl! surely be happy, with 'her family' in the Caymans
Broad Left discusses
The Broad Left Organising Committee (Trade Unions) is to hold a conference on 19 February on the Accountability of the Block Vote. The
discuss the way in which the block vote is used on policy and on the election of the leadership of the labour movement, both in the TUC and in the Labour
very important to who have seen the gains of the past few years in the Labour Party and the unions threatened by the undemocratic use of the
The last Labour Party conference saw the trade
votes of their members to elect a leadership that is openly opposed to such
unilateral disarmament withdrawal from the EEC and no incomes policy.
The right wing which the trade unions put into power are also responsible for the witch-hunting of
As ne statemenE The last TUC and Labour Party conferences have both raised the issue of trade
conterences •arE in practises will deprive the rank and file of hard won gains but these same
will also bring discredit to the whole
The conference will also discuss the need for a
Delegates are invited from Broad Lefts within
, and from trade union official organisacommittees).
We urge all our supporters to build this important
BLOC 108 Princes
← Socialist Challenge No. 274, 17 December 1982Socialist Challenge No. 276, 14 January 1983 →