Socialist Challenge No. 276, 14 January 1983
The scan: sc-no276.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive)
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Page 1 scan of this page
Challenge
No. 276 14 January 1983 25p Unemployed and strikers 10p
Socialist
THATCHER'S
GLORY:
WHAT PRICE?
THATCHER'S the-night AVISIT Maivinas-Falklands
tempt to restore Tories' flagging political
in hoped for June genera election.
In a sordid tion of the 250 soldiers killed, thousands more Argen-
and
visited the scenes of the
battle the vast cemetry at San
It speaks for itself that Goose the rest *oare, events political life. comfortably with 'achievements" million destruction of welfare state shackles on the unions.
The economic costs of the war are tinually revised wares They are estimated The armed forces wer recently rewarded with E1bn ships, aircraft and other military hardware. replace that lost in the war. In the defence White the government
Inside:
centre pages
'Battle of Algiers'
reviewed p11
thief-in-
the Falkland Islands tained the costs of time for a CHOMOUS
could the E•norTes glorifica-
British
the on working people.
the hope to find gains through her Thatcher
But victories treasure
Hanging
Carlos
finds her world.
Green and dismissed
the claim that
her's They fit provocation.
together reason she had to
COLICI four unemployed
the and to British craft.
In the United con- tions last
presently port of at f2bn demanding
enter into OVEI FICV 12 countries to abstentions.
same
Paper,
com- this week
Action programme for 1983
Tatchell speaks out p3
mitted themselves to a claims 'sizeable garrison in the WIll
mainfor the foreseeable future'. The
this will be Nothing placing underline more of the Tories in the face of the
visited cannot
Thatcher might still
electoral Victory against Argentina not
Thatcher justification dicted OTEC the perialist Malvinas-Falklands
isolated in the The Tory press the Argentina's Thatcher's visit to the islands was a
Falkland But shows a 23 hour flight with two in-flight refuellings was policy. because nor one singie Latin American country socia
and civilian air400 Na- these November Argentina won the sup-
90 countries Britain negotiations Brisovereignty. tain was backed by only should
with 52
In a meeting of the non aligned movement that to be held in Managua
Britain's
to the islands be UHOC decisively repudiated.
Labour's front bench
criticised Thatcher's visit. Good. But
opposition of the Franks about published, is hopeless
be to outThatcher Thatcher. It is ridiculous to centre criticism Thatcher
acting earlier' stands infor her imdenial Argentinian rights. proposal to
Falklands-Malvina: as a military base is fur ther proof of this
The plight of the
Islanders the criminal character of Britain's
Previously, the islanders got education
services, food everything else from Ardentina a mere
miles away. Now things have come 8,000 miles from Britain. Servicemen outnumber the islanders by
one These islands are not British
This principle be Labour's policy. Such a policy is the only way to under.
electoral gains might hope to reap from hel Falklands adventure.
Page 2 scan of this page
Parties manoeuvre for anti-nuclear vote
ment ever -Heseltine as Defence
be a crucial issue in the up-coming general election.
Socialist Challenge readers will appreciate that in the bresent government Heseltine appears something of a liberal' all those visits to Toxteth to see the urban poor and make mem promises. And by Tory standards he's regarded as in touch with the young. Who better inen to lead Thatcher's campaign to persuade people that the Tories are serious nuclear disarmers?
That will be the key to the Tories' campaign SCUOUS 01988
is multi-lateral nuc ear disarmament. he other side of the coin will be the claim that who propose unilateral nuclear either dupes playing. into the hands of the Russians, if not conscious agents of the Russians.
BEAST Friday CND chairperson Joan Ruddock. together with Bruce Kent and EP Thompson visited the Defence Ministry to hand challenge to Heseltine to debate them on television.
The fact that the Tories are running scared of the nuclear disarmament campaign shows just how right the Labour left - and the two thirds majority of the Labour conference who voted for unilateral nuclear disarmament were when they thought that nuclear disarmament would make Labour popular with the voters.
The huge turn out of 30,000 women to surround the Greenham
VILIOL air base made all the major parties think. The Liberals ana une our are making a big play for the nuclear disarmament VOTE last year's Liberal conference voted in favour of unilateralism (against the advice of leader David Steel) the main thrust the SDP-Liberals will be
multilateral disarmament.
The argument they are currently using is to attack Thatcher for not respon ding to the proposals by Soviet leader Andropov -about multilateral ersarabout multilateral
AS the SDP's David Owen pointed out, Thatcher rejected the last set of proposals on missiles reduction WILHOU even having read them
The SDP-Liberal Socialist Challenge 14 January 1983 page 2
Britain's sprat
war
By Brian Grogan CND LAST WEEK received its biggest complithe appointment of Michael Secretary. Heseltine's more or less éxplicit brief will be to 'defuse' CND. More and more all the political parties are recognising that nuclear disarmament will
alliance like the Labour right is against Trident on grounds of cost, but would
be in favour of installing Cruise
MISSIO the Soviet Union keeps its SS-20 missiles.
These manoeuverings by the SDP-Liberal Alliance are unlikely to
upstage the Labour Party
seriously confuse the nuclear disarmament
LoVen while raising the slogan of a
Poland to Portugal' CND nas remained constant in it's campaigning slogans against all
LUCISCE and for withdrawal from NATO. The real question being raised by the present debate among the party leaders 1s wil a sanow government get rid of nuclear bases and missiles and will unilateral nuclear disarmament Labour's election manifesto?
Michael Foot, interviewed on Channel 4 news last week fudged the issue again. He said that Labour would send back Cruise. cancel Trident and take
unilateral steps towards nuclear disarmament, but re-affirmed that 'unilateral disarmament is 110 counter-posed multilateral disarmament'
In other words, he left open whether a Labour government would noto: automatically get rid of the British Polaris deterrent" the Frest ocean bases und
BESI nuclear paraphenalia
There is no doubt that
if Michael feral did telear
unilateral disarmament into Labour's manifesto, then
would face a serious challenge from the right NEC. But he has the overe majority the whelming two-thirds majority Labour's
Cone CaCE behind him, together with the six million trade unionists affiliated CND.
Labour's right wing, of course, know full well the consequences of a Labour government coming
COSTICO nuclear disarmament DucE a vover men world be thrown headlong, irrespective 01 1ts intentions, into full-scale show-down with the
military and political establishment and
British workers nave
no interest in supporting
Ene exclusion ot Danish
fishermen from Britain's 12
mile limit, the box around
the Shetlands, or mackeral
fishing off the West coast
of Scotland. And neither Pershing missile in West Germany forest. with the United States
governmen which threw out all the US bases and refused any nuclear weapons on its soil would have effectively withdrawn from
ACLIVO participation in NATO which is one reason why
slogan of unilateral nuclear disarmament goes
ПаПе the slogan of 'Out of NATO such a move would change the politico-military map of Europe.
an addict political thrillers to see the conse quences of such a move
BRITAIN'S 'sprat' war with Denmark may have all the elements of a farce. but it has provided Thatcher with a heaven sent opportunity to revive the sagging Falkland gung-ho spirit. At least this is the hope of the Fleet St scribblers.
have Danish workers got an acrest in tne victory of Denmark. appeal to le gality is total hypocrisy. In the 'cod' war with Iceland, Britain claimed access right up to the Icelandic Heseltine aims to combat CND, while Foot avoids a clear commitment to unilateralism.
The United States would do everything in its power de-stablise such as would the political representatives of the British ruling class, the intelligence services and the military. Onmost massive mobilisations of the working class and the peace movement could defend a Labour government which seriously went for nuclear disarmament against such a sustained attack.
Those like Tony Benn and Michael Foot, who regrettably think that it
coast.
But behind the soar
opera antics of super rich
conservative Euro-MP,
Kent Kirk, Is a acadn
serious warning to work
ing people. It shows how
quickly inter-imperialist
economic conflicts can
come to war, Its nor onl
Britain, but the whole of
the Western world that is
going through
economic recession.
As the agBy Phil Hearse would be possible toget rid of nuclear weapon and stay within a NATO
tramework are kidding people including
hemselves. Only a deter. 'mined socialist government could carry through unilateral nuclear disarmament, with all the conse-
tain's foreign policy, and the necessary
• adjustments in the armed forces and the defence industry.
It is precisely because they want no such challenge to the Atlantic alliance that the Labour right will try to avoid
gravation of
imperialist competition is
threatening a trade war of
the kind scen in the 1930's
- which saw the recession
turned into a prolonged
depression.
The over
European steel imports in-
to the United States, of US
man-made fibres into the
BEC, of Japanese cars and
• electronics
and the US are indicators unilateralism being in the manifesto.
As the date for the arrival of Cruise missiles gets nearer, the debate nuclear weapons and the campaign against them will come more and more to the centre the political stage. While will absolutely necessary to fight the LOC and the SDP. Liberal alliance this issue, the Labour left must lose по opportunity hold Foot to conference policy no nuclear
no US bases of any kind!
of a situation which will
not ease off. The recent
conference of imperialist
countries to discuss tariff
barriers ended in disorder.
This conference - the
General Agreement
Tariffs and Trade,
GATT was able in the
past 20 years to meet and
progressively reduce tariff
barriers. This time, it end
ed with a declaration of
war by US agro-business
on EEC agriculture.
Such developments have a tendency towards
war. War is necessary for
capitalism to survive. It is the only way in the last analysis that the various capitalisms can establish a new pecking order - and create the conditions for any new expansion.
Strong
Yet, however necessary war is, it is exceedingly dangerous for capitalism in the present world situa tion. The working class is still too strong to stand for the sacrifices of war; the colonial revolution has by no means been reversed. and the Soviet Union and other workers states art too strong. Any inter imperialist war in the present situation therefore would threaten the very survival of capitalism And of course the ex istence of nuclear weapons makes inter-imperialist
The imperialist powers will only engage in it as an absolutely last resort.
The current conflict with Denmark show that inter-imperialist conflicts are a hall-mark of the BEC itself. The aggressiveness of Britain's response meant to serve as a pointer to her future intentions in front of her Common Market partners, Tied
The fortunes of Britain • as a capitalist economy are tirmly tied with the EEC. Some 43 per cent of British exports now go to SUIC Common Market countries compared with only 21 per cent 10 vears Nonetheless throughout the whole period of its membership, Britain has been in defici with the rest of the EEC in manufactured goods the life blood of British industry. It has even been in deficit in iron and steel and
Thatcher's whole pur pose in deepening the recession dIll creating mass unemployment is in orael cur this situation around. This skirmish with Denmark is, in more wavs than *shot across the bows' of other EEC partners.
Out
The Common Market has proved no benefit to
working people.
We should get out. But the "little Englander alternative of the Tony Benns of this world are even less
than ten years ago
The only alternative to the EEC which would actually benefit working people is a full blooded socialist course based on breaking the stranglehold of capitalism the economy and instituting instead planned economy under workers control. This is what needs to be fought for in the debates leading up to the election, and beyond
Page 3 scan of this page
PETER TATCHELL'S choice as Labour candidate for Bermondsey is the first victory in a long line of self-inflicted defeats for the Labour Party and trade union left.
The whole left, both inside and outside the party, should back him to become Bermondsey's MP. One year ago Michael Foot told the Commons that •Peter atener will enter this House over my dead body. Now he eats his words. Why?
The Sun, Rupert Murdoch's answer to Salome, SCIS Tuesday's edition, in an editorial you can hardly read for spittle, tells us 'nothing has changed ex-
Michael Foot.'
Wrong, Mr Murdoch. What has changed is that the rank and of the party you want to destroy lave refused to tolerate the campaign you 23G your Tory friends have ortalsca. to persuade te Party to commit suicide by its most
DUE CHIE resolute activists and its most popular policies.
The Sun's John Akass is even more hypocritical. Tatchell stands condemn-
because 'he will lose Labour thirty seats in the election. Since when has tne sun wanted a Labour victory?
The truth is this: those who conspired to deprive Bermondsey of their right to choose their candidate
from outside the labour movement and want to smash it. This in-
ex-Labour, exBermondsey MP Bob Mellish, who moans that Foot is without honour and has stabbed him in the back. And how would Mellish describe his own action in leaving the party? Michael Foot's "crime' that, just once since taking office as leader, he has had TRADE UNION Broad Lefts and
Party conference.
the Post Office_Engineers,
ference will achieve. •We've called this conserence because trade union leaders par-
at the about Party conference - take decisions wilhout proper consultation with the union rank and file.
They disregard even their own union ference decisions. For example, the Union of Shop.
and Allied
Trades' delegation backed
ty conference though their OWIT INCIDE voted against witch-hunts.
This came to a head in clections the
Executive Commitice:
Weighell's Done!
Tatchell for
Bermondsey!
to bow to his members instead of their enemies. made Michael change his tune?
to sway him. A whiff of high office, and he ditched the pacifism of his middle for the militarism of the dotage. But it was not Tatchell's convincing argument for traparliamentary mass action, or his dedication to Labour's socialist policies, that moved dear Michael. It was his failure, after three months of trving to serve the union right wing Militant's head on a platter, because Labour'srank and file won't allow it. Election
And not the same John Golding who told us in November that he would "throw out Militant root and branch because they will cost us the general found himself alone voting Tatchell because his bedfellows have been made uncomfortably aware that they are losing Labour the election, and that they, too, may suffer the fate of Sidney Weighell it they press ahead Tatchell's selection went ahead. not because Michael Foot has changed his mind or DCCaUSC ENCI witch-hunt is over, but because the Bermondsey Constituency Labour Party offered an example to the rest of the left by standing firm: Bishop Stortford-type compromises, no deal, no "sacrifices in the cause of unity - just the defence
Why trade unionists should
control the block vote
branch delegates will meet in Liverpool on 19 February to discuss controlling the block vote at Labour Speakers include Tony Benn. Socialist Challenge asked PHIL HOLT of
who is closely involved, to explain what he hopes the con-
disgraceful behaviour typical of what happens in many right wing unions. It only union democracy but discredits the whole union movement.
We think That the union lefts must get
change information, con-
tacts, and ideas and lo tr
and Broad letts
where they don't exist at present.
We and others on.the
left, by linking up, found
we were able ensure
that the demand for
SHOT CE
was passed by Labour Par-
ty conference. We want to
of their decisions, their rights, and Labour's policies.
Split
That is why Tatchell must win in Bermondsey. The CO UnISE Party, who are standing a candidate to Tatchell's right, and the Revolutionary communist Party. are standing a candidate to his left, are both equally wrong. For the vast bulk of working people, this election will ment neither Hobsbawm's road socialism nor on the dietatorship tatariat: It will pass iudge- •ine
ment on the simole basid issues over which the most SOcialis! working class has been fighting, through the unions, through the Labour Party and through CND, for the last three
"PETER
TAICHEL!
WILL
PARLIAMENT
OVER MY
- FooT
AWAS SAYIN
Tatchell's victory as the Sun saw it. extend this by ensuring that union delegations oppose the witch-hunt. for
ference.
The union democrac issue and the Labour Party acmocracy issuc are com pletely interlinked, and THe clued conference will be a drive to set up Labour Party lac tory branches. Obviousiv therefore. conference wil be discussing proposals to change the proportion of votes cast by the unions at the Labour Party's conference.
There is no cut and
think delegates will feel the
based on the unions as the
CATCHO! 201 the industrial working
Although people rightly feel emotional about the way the block vote was used. we want to ensure that it is cast as the rank and
years: for unilateral disar- татело, agamnsi
for withdrawal; for the healthworkers' strike and the ASLEF strike.
This election will be a direct, open contest bet ween the policies of the most advances section the British working class and Thatcherism, with the come take S theral Alliance of the
by policies of Labour's righ wing shorn of their
COVC inside the Labour Party Three hundred odd votes for fringe candidates will not be seen as vote against Labour's right wing but a vote for it and for Thatcher
The future of therailCND, and of the Labour left depend on the outcome of this election. We say, uncondi tionally: We're with Tatchell. Are you? file want, under their control.
Therefore we'll look at measures like: * Opening up the way unions make their deci-
abolishing necessary reporting on what delega tions do and how their decisions are made. * In line with this, fighting for minorities on union delegations to have access to union journals and the right to circulate their Views. * Ensuring that there is ample time discuss political issues at union conterences. * Obviously. ensuring full time officials are elected.
would urge trade unions and broad lefts to send delegates to this important conference.
Credentials for the BLOC Conterence on rs renar from 108 Princes Boulevard
Mersevside, L63
beat the Tories
By Peter Tatchell lay the foundations for this victory.
Sunday 30 January,
now!
below
Name.
Address.
Age.
Union/CLP (if any)..
Bermondsey: now help
THE NEC DECISION to endorse my candidature is not a personal victory, nor simply one for the Bermondsey Party, but for all in the labour movement who have fought to uphold the democratic right of CLPs to choose their own parliamentary candidate.
To everyone who stood by Bermondsey over the last year, we offer our thanks and gratitude. The forthcoming by-election is the most important the constituency has had to face for sixty years.
Not since 1922 when Bermondsey was first won for Labour, has there been an election of such significance.
A victory in Bermondsey will pave the way for a massive Labour victory in the general election. We urge members of the labour and trade union movement to come to Bermondsey to help
Bring members from your ward and union branch:
Sunday 16 January, 11am, 79 Balfour Street, Zondon SE17;
Sunday 23 January, 11am, 156b Union Street, London SE1;
flam 133 Lower Road, London SE16;
Tuesdays 7pm, 133 Lower Road, London SE16
For information contact Dave Fryer 732 8274 or Anne Coltart 231 9572
Don't wait for the by-election: Bermondsey needs your help JOIN THE FIGHT FOR SOCIALISM
If you would like to be put in touch with
Socialist Challenge supporters in your area or
would like more information fill in the form
Send to: Socialist Challenge, PO Box
50. London N1 2XP.
Socialist Challenge 14 January 1983 pag
Page 4 scan of this page
Raindi's - The best
possible for the T&G, but good
enough for black
By Valerie Coultas Sean Geraghty (left) and other Times electricians. ocialist Challenge 14 January 1983 page 4.
not
tlement. workers? volved
who had It ment Sandwell NATIONAL BOOK
SALE
15 January - 5 February
at
The Other Bookshop 328 Upper St London N1 Hours - Mon, Tues, Sat 10-6; Wed 12-7; Thurs, Fri 11-7
and Birmingham's Other Bookshop
137 Digbeth Birmingham B5 Hours - Mon-Sat 10-6 Closed Wed
ON 4 JANUARY the first batch of 65 Raindi strikers returned to work. strike in Sandwell in the West Midlands had won union demands of the strikers and a minimum wage guarantee, but three victimised militants did
return with the rest. sacrificial lambs who 'allowed' the rest, according to T&G official Don Marston, to get a set-
The balance sheet of most of the militants in-
both IWA members and the strikers themselves - was that this was the best deal that they could get from a ruthless employer such as Raindi, who was taken to court for
HIC and garment union official this
unionise this sweatshop.
was also the assessof members of the Tribune group who had consistently given support to the strikers on the picket line and through the local Labour Party.
SEAN
again
THE
union
about?
dock took empire. refusing
Salit
prietors
autumn.
What
even
work
hour's
The 12 week long led recognition, one of the central
They were the
whether or not the T&G
did give the lead necessary
to win this dispute right
Line word go. Anc
here we have to answer
the negative. The problem
with the T&G leadership in
West Midlands, and was
lustrated 1981
Ansell's strike, is that it
consistently underesti-
mates the militancy of its
members when they move
into action.
The advice given to this
Asian workers' picket line
GERAGHTY, 1250-strong London press branch of the electrician's union, achieved fame last summer when his branch took a strong stand in support of the health workers' dispute. He hit the headlines
recently when electricians Times group of newspapers stated an 11-day strike. CAROL TURNER talked to him about the dispute and the future of the union.
media presented the recent Times strike no
case practices. What the dispute really
It goes back to when Mur-
over The Times We have a locallynegotiated which covers everything all electrical requirements
with provision for an annual review.
FRANK CHAPPLE
Ine men seem to
and I really couldn't care less what happens
to them.
"I couldn't care less what happens next. As
fare as I'm concerned The Times manage
ment and my members deserve each
All know about the dispute is what ve read
in the press.
Management were
update agreement because, in etfect, they wanted to impose a wage freeze. For th
reason, they'd unilaterally withdrawn from the Newspaper Pro-
Association negotiations the
We've been fighting for the right to have our agreement reviewed and to
-une wage freeze Management not only refused to negotiate during the dispute, but their Fri
Decembe ultimatum was a threatened lock-out.
SEAN GERAGHTY
*My members
with Frank Chapple.
Jaruzelski treats the Poles.
Our settlement has broken their wage freeze
• they've done a complete about-turn.
exactly did the settlement achieve?
We got what we wanted,
though we had to make some compromises.
Our lads have agreed to
on the disputed cours may han extra
was not to antagonise the police, ie. to He SCabs
nto work. This inevitably
after picketing to 30 of the
becoming WOrKER demoralised and calling for a settlement as soon a possible.
The assumption was
of the strikers, particularly
strikers, would lead them to back away from any confrontation with the policy. But as
of the solidest leaders COLIC
the strike was SVIT Bashki Kaur, and everyone seems likely that a clearer
even a decision to occupy the plant at an early in the dispute would have at the very least been given serious consideration by the strikers. But no such Testions came from the
We saved jobs'
secretary of the
from The
cooperation although
one's been asked to work on the CUBICH! since they went back.
We've got our right to review agreement which will be finalised by 1 July will be consolidated And
We've saved four elec tricians jobs which were under threat And The Times group have agreed
enjoy being out on strike
other.
to take part in the nationa. NPA These are all real gains from the dispute.
Throughout the
dispute, series Cordis
made a series paraging statements. now do you feel about this public role?
We've never had the su ort of Chapple and executive. All our gains on jobs, wages, and condi tions have been made despite the executives attitude towards us. And the new president-elect, Eric haps ese to be so dice
like
Hammond, will be more of the same.
The union executive is hell-bent on destroying the rank and file organisation. Just look at the way it's closed down the branches who didn't agree with the policy of putting tame appointees on Labour Party management committees.
Union policy is one of removing the power from
That the Asian com-
split right down the middle
doubt. The entire com-
polarised. for and against Raindi or the strikers. Raindi sent
OUI his relatives to fetch the scabs work. 100k adverts out in the local papers, ever got shop keepers to reruse to serve labour councillors who supported the strike. and mobilised right-wing Halali Labour Part members to sign leaflets calling for a relurn to work.
Saw
The packed strike com
mittee clears
saw that those who backed Raindi now had to be ex-
posed before the com-
whole.
HILLY
last meeting pledged to enTHE TIMES DISPUTE
THE TIMES electrician's dispute started on 20
December, when nine
out over management's demand that they
operate new and additional equipment which
had
meeT
management had announced that none of the
92 electricians would be paid unless the men
returned to work. The chapel (works unit)
met, and walked out in support. The dispute
was backed by the London press branch
Management refused to negotiate,
wanted the men back
working on the blacked equipment - before
they'd begin talks. The men stayed out, sup-
port by all the other unions involved, until an
agreement was reached
SOGAT negotiators
chapel voted to accept the negotiated settle-
ment with onlv one vote acainst. They return
ed to work, as Sean Geraghty put it, 'smelling
of roses'.
tempt by Murdock to impose a wage freeze
had been effectively broken.
elected shop stewards and putting it in the hands of appointed officials.
How do you think this can be changed? What needs to be done?
What the unions needs most is democracy. First. the decisions conTerence must be Dinetic ou the executive. They reflec the views of the rank and file member One way to make sure of this is to elect
In attempt to
manacement announced that no member o
the paper staff would be paid unless an edi
The
December. Sean Geraghty drew his own con-
clusions:
anagers motives for.
Managers'
is to read the New Years Honoms List,
able to read New
fresh from the Palace.
our officials
Take the vote whether of not to join the Common Market. Our Cone chee voice LWO one against Yet the delegation at that year's Labour Party conference voted in favour.
When Chapple came to power in the EEPTU it heralded a purge of the left in the union. What GOES that CADCHCHE tell you about the Labour Party witch. hunt?
It's a question of who the real wreckers inside the labour movement are
sure that right-wing Asians would get their CUHC uppance in selection meetings in Dudley and Ladywood, where two of Raindi's friends hope to win support.
Such a polarisation called tor ar escalated militancy among strikers themselves precondition for forcing
issue of Raindi's into the left/right divide in the labour movement whole. When Warley East Labour party was quested before Christmas to hold a demonstration in support the right-wing used the excuse that the strike committe should call for such an acLIOL first and then they would support it. The traditionally passive titude of the Labour Party to such disputes was made harder to challenge by the straight-jacket placed the pIcke by the electricians walked
Within half-an-houl
they
unconditionally
with the ald Of
On Friday 31 December, a meeting of the
Management had egg on its face: the at-
When my branch sup-
dispute the summer, Chapple alleged it was a political strike. Every strike is a political strike.
We were carrying out TUC policy, and helping protect the health service for everyone in this coun try
Chapples's role in the TUC and in the about Party has always been
He
break the dispute
Times appeared on Fridav 3
of the Board of
the Friday deadline
Year's Honours List
follows in the footsteps of —like those who sold ou past labour -eaten
the ge sral strike
such people have Chapple and Healey and Hattersley cohorts TUC, the Labour Party the prospects for the working
class are very bleak indeed
We'll end up Tory with watered-down policies which they claim are in the interest of get ting good returns at the
These are the labour leaders whose politics will
maintain the divided socie
ty we live in, not change i
Page 5 scan of this page
NCB
S Wales coal industry. A PUBLIC Nantgarw/ Windsor Newport on Monday night called upon S Wales trade Colliery union leaders in the steel coal and rail industries to South Wales Area organise a triple alliance in defence of jobs in all three industries.
The meeting was sup-
from Llanwern Talbot and plants in S Wales, together with miners and lodge ofT10125 from
Wales members and many other trades unionists.
Speakers the triple alliance of rail coal and steel unions could
e a powerful instrumen
or saving jobs in S Wal as it has with the Ravenscraig calling Now they need support. leadership to get moving By Brian Grogan
Britain's
smokescreen
the Serpell report.
This report, drawn up by an inquiry team headed by Sir David former member British Rail Board, recommends a series of options for the Tories to consider.
Its most suicidal proposal is to cut the rail network from the 11000 mies 1,600. This is where no subsidy would be required Such would have the East coast line terminating Newcastle; line SCEVIH! with but going no further; a line terminating al and proportionate cuts in the South East
Such is the logic of the would take soilories lo anarchy carry the same as one train
trainload passengers. It needs little imagination to the result of such a plan.
But even if this option is rejected, likely to utilise the other options to block the proposed electrification gramme. Other recommended include extensive use of single track
THUS slowing down further.
These argued on the grounds of
AS WE go to press, the South Wales miners' executive has still to meet to decide to proceed with the strike call scheduled for 17 January. But, as BARRY WILKINS reports, the rank and file are preparing for an all-out fight to save the
meeting in on steelworkers Port other smaller
several pits, executive
argued that
been in Scotland of motion LETORI
policy needed
THE TORIES are planning the biggest cutbacks
railways massacre in 1966. This is to be done behind a
of rejection ridiculous and obscene recommendations of
Serpell; of the
the
present of track to the size
plan
at West coast Glasgow Edinburgh link in Cardiff; of
envisage
the Tories are
procutbacks
trains
proposals
was unanimously.
Dai Davies Penrhiwceiber and a member of the S Wales executive outlinec thaleh coalfields. threats duce seven per deep mined coal receive only 1.5 per cent of their investment. due to receive only £31m investment in this financial VEHI compared 1,600m in
last eight 1982, we lost 1200 jobs in S Wales.
All this amounts to a deliberate policy of running down the Dai explained. mand for new recruitment and immediate investment or truum is vitar for tne future of the coalfield:
Socialist transport
since the
of the
the supposed massive subsidy received by
Yet, as the Rail Board itself pointed out, Britain has
most cost railway in Europe sidv s a third of French railways and one half
German However, this cost ef tectiveness has achieved at the expense of vicious attacks railworkers and a slashing of investment to the bone. BR has a lower level of investment per kilometre than any country
Europe. Its vestment is a mere 350m The electrification gramme would boost this to £600.
Increase
Some 98 diesel and 60
BR's feet
electrics
10.000 are over s old. Just to replace them needs an increase in investment of 30 percent over the next 10 years.
The entire shunting locomotives was
between 1956 and nothing has been
were too few locos to cop with number of trains.
Triple Alliance
mitment
carried 2CL other from NUM lodge has We pro the
cluded.
cent of
but
We are
Scotland with Yorkshire. Ir
we must
coalfields
The de- for
Wales those The Beeching
-speed most
changed Only British British has turned
effective
Its sub-
of of 1982.
been
on
train
yearly in- sent
pro- tion
ly as tegrated needed
percent of
cent of of debate
fleet of boost
81447 and
It 1970-19, mere
programmed
planning -
Miners.
call in South
demands are not met by the Board, we must go out on strike to win them."
Dai explained the comof the NUM to
the triple alliance and Ar-
thur Scargill's attempt to
unions.
Wales miners would par ticipate in any meaningful triple alliance to fight in defence of our jobs and
communities, Dai
Ray Davies; a member
of the largest steel union,
ISTC, in Llanwern stressed
what a victory it was in
to have
Ravenscraig from closure
He explained that his had
been done ov the activa
tion of the triple
by pressure from the rank
and file. Ray argued that
build -HOW
pressure from the regions
national
alliance and that the recent
shift to the left in the ISTO
executive would help this.
'We can't afford to
wait for the outcome of
shortage replacement rails means
miles of track will have to be closed by 1990 for safety reasons unless policy is
16 locos built in 1979, the year in which nearly E15m of profitable freight traffic was
away because of lack of rolling stock. 54 Treigne yaras were closed between 1980 and the end
The British Rail Engineering workshops are, absurdly, under continual threat of closure. Benefit
The inefficiencies and wastefulness of capitalism are highlighted by the pre-
transport which encourages one sec-
compete against another, instead of utilising all the resources as ful-
possible An transport system that works for people, not the profits of capitalists,
-unC opened up Sherpell, the Labour Party should announce such a policy including a massive programme of public in-
which steel production electric consumption and therefore demand for coal.
should also plans tionalise the road haulage
allow proper including the
Wales
LOEV
jobs government
go
our future.
Tommy the electricians
ALUTE
leaders to
saved
file would be
alliance There
up and "UL and ATTe
triple
of
3000
were
to allow
further
Private much sidised than rail. involved
to include policing, system repair,
and
ty of sources BR
in- 1981 the
3.5 weight totalling tracting
by by £2,400.
must socialist would
an- need above that of
na-
sent 4m unemployed.
Socialist Challenge 14 January 1993
hoping for a Labour v
Hus! sta
organising now to be rea
to defend our plants al
whether the ne Tory
Labour. The message mi
from this meeting
our regional and natior
leaders - we will fight f
Lyons fro
the Port Talbot steelwor
supported the call for t
alliance and
phasised that we
simply rely on trade uni
do it.
pressure of the rank a
necessary
getting it off the grounc
was , gene.
agreement that the
step must now be to bu
organise more ra support
various unions and plan
Finally, the meeting ple
ed support to the SW
He HIC Dare!
secure future for their
dustry and jobs. rescinding of the decision
30 tonne lorries which will do so much to
destroy DUE -CH
transport more heavin SIES The cost maintaining road transport would have
maintenance cleaning which presently met from a varie
estimates that in 516,000 lorries tonnes gross imposed costs t2,080m. Subtheir tax yield, each lorry was subsidised
The rail unions' answer to Sherpell and the Tories
be the fight for transport policy backed up-by industrial ac tion if necessary. This will
put people's profit, it will also begin to create the sort of jobs necessary to seriously dent the pre-
Page 6 scan of this page
KICK OUT THE
be an April budget, shows that it is now virtually certain that there will be general election this year. place against the background
literally catastrophic economic crisis, this general election will determine course of British politics for a decade or more. In this article we attempt an overview of the state of the class struggle in Britain, in order to map out what are the crucial tasks for socialists in the coming period.
There is no doubt that the working class and the political left suffered some important defeats in 1982. In 1983 the left must go on to the offensive to unite the labour movement around socialist policies to defeat the Tories.
But the election will not be the end of the story. So severe is the economic crisis that any government coming out of the election will be unstable, beset by hostile forces on all sides. A Tory victory. will mean a major challenge to the future of the working class movement in this country. In order to reverse the demoralising effects of such a defeat, the labour movement would have to attempt a major re assessment or me past tew years leadership. The struggle inside the Labour Party would undoubtedly intensify.
An inconclusive election — with a hung parliament major opening for the SDP-Liberal Cance It would also present the Labour right with a major temptation to engage in a coalition with the Alliance, a temptation which would have to be bitterly fought by the left.
A Labour victory, on the other hand-while of course being by far the best outcome for the working class WOld mean government dominated by the right wing facing a serious economic situaton, such a government would in al probability turn LOWaTUS austerity measures while only radica socialist measures would really begin to tackle the problem. It would be a Labour government under relentless pressure from ruling class circles not to take radical measures on any front.
All the possible outcomes point to an intensification of the struggle inside the labour movement need for a strongly organised left both inside the Labour Party and the trade
But the course of the struggle in 1982 created a series of obstacles to organising a strong left wing; by and large it was more notable for its defeats than its victories.
The willingness of the trade union rank and file to fight the Tories was evidenced in the sharp climb in strike days recorded last year. But in both the Laboun Party and the unions the right wing was on the offensive, outfighting the left. The consequences were horrendous for the battle against the Tories.
Among the important defeats suffered by the working class in 1982 we have to note the following depressing list: the defeat of the ASLEF drivers; the bitter defeat of the health workers despite eight months of struggle; the continued massive waves of redundancy
among we secciworkers with virtually no resistance; the defeat of the proposal of the NUM to go into struggle against the NCB some over pay and Joos, une
Socialist Challenge 14 January 1983
Thornett at Cowley without a fight This has to be set against a very small list of successful struggles.
In virtually every one of the cases Taking mentioned above, role of the union bureaucrats the top TUC leaders in particular -was decisive in demobilising defeating the struggles. the graphic cases were those healthworkers and of ASLEF. Over the health strike there was an enormous groundswell of popular support and solidarity, demonstrated by the huge turnout on the 22 September day of action. The workforce itself was militant and determined.
But at each stage the TUC health committee cynically manoeuvred to prevent all-out ALLIOH have won the dispute, demoralised and demobilised support through an endless round of one day regional actions. The will to fight was there, but the leadership was lacking.
But we have to note that even if the crucial question leadership, this in itself does not explain what happened in unions like the NUM. The bitter truth is that the effects of these cumulative, creating a deep scepucism among une mass of workers about the possibility of taking on the bosses and the government in strug gle.
... the right wing attack is causing a recomposition of the Labour left.'
There is a huge objective obstacle to be overcome: the fact that more and more economic struggles directly pose the closure. The news that BL last year had a 99.5 per cent strike free record is a graphic illustration of this. Even the most left wing class struggle leadership would be faced with this problem.
The trade union bureaucrats will find it harder and harder to treat the working class like a 'stage army" marching them up the hil and down again. Eventually the GOODLISeS its workers to take even limited steps, if the workers see no prospect of success. Hence the increasing refusal of trade unionists to take part in limited one-day protest action and so forth.
While there will continue to be limited exceptions to this general patand the LOLLI look to overall political solutions, in particular the election of a Labour government, to solve their problems.
The defeats in the economic struggle in 1982 were compounded by the right wing offensive inside the Labour Party. Very quickly the true meaning of Bishop Stortford became evident
it amounted for keeping the left leaders quiet while the right wing went onto the attack. The Labour Party conference, with trade the imposition of the register and the right-wing capture of the NEC was the culmination of this attack.
The Bennite leadership symbolised by the quietism of Benn himself -were thrown into disarray by these events. But their overall response has ocen one or burcaucranic calculation rather than struggle. The calculation involved is that if there is a Benn-led fightback against the witch hunt then the left will be blamed for an electoral defeat.
This attitude both creates and feeds off defeatism about the overall political situation, and leaves the left relatively exposed tack. It has also
page 6
the treacherous
and
and The most ot ine WINCE could instead they
was that of
defeats become
of job loss and
bureaucracy own ability to get approach' to a mechanism
political retreat with Benn lending his name to the joint TUC-Labour Party policy statement 'minimalist' alternative economic strategy. ng something of a 'recomposition' ol he Labour left, with the creasingly breaking from the soft left This development is symbolised by creation of the 'Campaign' group of MPs the reliable vote for Benn in any election in the PLP.
to right wing at- on the right were incapable of overled to a notable turning the major policy gains of the
The Tories political capital is their resolute
the Falklands factor. But if it fails to come off it will create a major opportunity for the SDP. The labour movement should break from the class collaborationism of the TUC leaders and fight on nuclear disarmament and unemployment.
which has interpretation of the clamour for
The right wing attack is thus forc-
WINE "hards" in-
the election manifesto. - a much smaller group than
Overall though the witch-hunters the right wing to go
THE RESOLUTE A-PROACH
Peopies
march
LON
JObS
left wing. But what the witch-hunt has succeeded in doing is disorganising the left, throwing it onto the defensive, and taking the steam out of the
further left wing advances. The fight now is to get those for
policy advances, like withdrawal from the NEC, unilateral disarmament and so forth included in
On this issue the 'soft left' around can Foot, Kinnock et al will soon find out that in their attempt to balance between left and right they have allowed
manoeuvering against the left they have become prisoners of the right.
Photo: GRAHAM COOKSON
GRAHAM COOKSON
The two key questions that will dominate the election are nuclear disarmament and unemployment. If Labour is to win the election it has to unite its forces around the demand
unilateral disarmament and policies to ensure full employment -otherwise its key political weapons will be thrown away.
The electoral capital of the Tories
essentially be reduced to the *Falklands factor' Briefly summed up, this means the Thatcher government's record for decisive and suc cessful action - on the military front and in reducing inflation. Thatcher is of course doing everything possible to
Page 7 scan of this page
TORIES IN '83
return to the fighting spirit of the
- even the 'sprat war' with Denmark is designed to re-kindle exactly the same feelings.
... the effect of successive defeats creates deep scepticism among the workers.'
But while the Falklands war was undoubtedly a political victory for the Tories, we can be sure that it was a very limited victory. It does not represent political capital that can be lived
DDP S
economv is not ending.
CCOHOHY
with a vengeance.
carly
ment. of
Photo:
the policies, missiles.
the chronic. off indefinitely. Inflation may be slowing down, but the decline of the
There is no prospect of living standards rising in the foreseeable future. As the year progresses the basic issues of unemployment and the state of the
will re-assert theseves
Thus despite the defeats which the Tories have succeeded in imposing on the working class there will be no 'easy victory for them in the general election. There is neither the prospect
Labour victory. Thus the SDP-Liberal alliance whose fortunes have seemed on the wane in
1982 could still play a crucial role as power broker in the coming parlia-
The Labour Party would, in the event of a hung parliament be faced with the crucial question of whether or not to form a coalition with the Dor to keep ine Tories out. socialist answer to such a proposition would be no'.
A minority Tory government led by Thatcher could be hounded and defeated both in parliament and by mass working class action. There is no question from a socialist point of view
forming coalition with bourgeois party like the SP, which could only implement pro-capitalist policies and tie the hands of the left.
The basic principle of working class political independence must be maintained. That's why the present discussion initiated by sectors of the Communist Party about the possibility of a 'broad alliance' which includes the SP is so dangerous. It plays right into the hands of the right wing of the Labour Party, the Healeys and the Hattersleys who would be only too pleased by the prospect of a coalition with the SDP
In this situation, while in general being in favour of democratic reform, socialists should oppose any move towards proportional representation which would play into the hands of the SDP-Liberal coalitionists. '... socialists should oppose moves towards proportional representation.'
As we have argued therefore in 1983 socialists need to gather their forces for a mighty onslaught against
Tories on the basis of socialist
end retreat prepare for further advance. A basic action programme for this project has to be as follows:1. Stop the missiles in '83. As we report on page 2 of this issue, all the parties are running for the nuclear disarmament vote. I hatcher nopes to defuse this movement both by pretending to be serious about multilatera disarmament and by advancing the date for the installation of Cruise
Massive action by the labour movement can strike a body blow a
Tories this year. The proposed CND-TUC-LP demonstration Hiroshima Day should have as its target a million on the streets. 2. Fight unemployment. Every day under this government brings a fresh cascade of redundancies. But the union tops have given up any determined resistance. The example of Sirs in the steel industry is the
This ycal there will another Peoples March for Jobs — this time from Scotland. Foot and Murray both opposed this in an election year, but they were defeated on the TUC general purposes committee. The march goes ahead. In fact it can be the most massive aid to anti-Tory propoganda in an election year, and should be supported by every section ot the labour movement 3. Defend socialist policies. The right wing onslaught in the Labour Party is
winning back the gains made by the left over the past few years. The right wing re-capture of the NEC and the attack on Militant are just an episode on that road. But it is the radical policies of the past few years which are the trump card for Labour in the coming election fight. 4. Organise against the witch hunt. The anti-left crusade of the Labour Party NEC seems to have a stop-go character, with the legal difficulties being put in the way of the witch hunt
against Militant. But we should not underestimate the determination the Healey-Golding axis. fight until their witch hunt is utterly building Labour Against the Witch deteated Therefore Hunt (LAW) remains a crucial one The As part of this task, to show that left policies can win, the left should put all monaseyres election in the eter mondsey by-election Tatchell.
The against the right wing to end the retreat. A basic problem of the militant forces Party and the trade refusal of the left leaders to organise forces on a class wide basis. often argued on a 'tactical' basis; but it represents a major concession to the right wing.
Thus since the demise of the Rank and File Mobilising Committee. side the LP. the Bennite forces have been dispersed and Benn should call for rank and file organisation inside the Labour Party. The precise form of this cannot be prejudged. But clearly Tribune is in the best position to act as an organiser of the bénnite left, if a clear call went out from the leadership.
Equally, in the unions left leaders like Scargill should try to organise on a cross-union basis to end the isolation of the militants. 6. Build broad lefts in the unions. Since the mid downturn in strike struggles has led to a steady drift to the right in the unions. The grip of the right wing is once again posing basic questions democracy fact that the right wing dominate the Labour NEC Is in good part due to the stranglehold and Duffy's and Goldings in the unions. Their reign can only be systematic organisation from top to bottom, and this means building permanent caucuses of the left against them. building Broad Left-type formations. The move to Organising Committee union basis is very valuable in this respect and its conference on the accountability of the block vote (see the article by Phil Holt on page 3 of this issue) should be widely supported. 7. Build a mass campaigning LPYS While the YS is in the sights of the on witch hunters, the situation of mass unemployment and despair among youth creates the best opportunity for decades for the creation of a mass campaigning YS. The domination of propagandism of the Militant tenden- Old saes cy has created an enormous obstacle most in linking up the YS be and those youth in the Labour Party who really want to fight.
But a mass YS is a possibility; as a first step the Easter conference of the LPYS should be built on the most enormous scale possible, and opened up to une labour movement as whole, as a decisive rebuff to the NEC witch hunters. 8. The Labour Party must defend all sections of the oppressed. Every section of the oppressed has suffered from this Tory government. Women policy have been the unemployment. The tightening the screws on immigration, strengthening the police to use against blacks and youth, and clamping down on social security benefits.
In this situation the Labour Party and the LPYS must forefront of championing struggles of the especially bring forward policies for positive action for women, blacks and youth.
of They will
shock
Peter
left leaders must organise
both inside the Labour
unions is the crisis? Why, This is
When
in- technique for bellyflops. disorganised.
oil shock
the pound, price of oil.
OPEC,
1970s the gradual industrial and other
sell in a hurry. of union and accountability. The control over
American
of the Chapple's
ended by them
come from oil.
In most cases this will mean
set up a Broad Left
on a cross tries who against
ample, ultra-
with YCND
collapsing duction
hardest hit by
Tories are
be in the all the oppressed, and
and me.
Pound falls
horror
WHO CAUSED the slump? Why. as everyone knows, the Arabs. How did they do it? By raising the price of oil, as everyone knows.
And who is behind the banking
as everyone knows, the Arabs. How do they do it? Er.. by cutting the price of oil.
capitalism goes into crisis, the first thing to go is its
excusing its own Up until December, the (last) governor of the Bank of England confidently told an invited audience that 'the basic cause of our difficulties was the
In January's Economist a U-turn may be found: the greatest threat to
we're told, is the falling
Between the two comments came a lowly event: the near collapse of
the oil-producer's cartel Which the Western nations have been out to smash since it was formed -led by Britain, with a gigantic balance of payments deficit and a lot of oil to
But though they didn't like Arab
oil prices, both the o1l magnates and the British producers needed the high prices which OPE produced. Now
anyone, Britain needs because thirty per cent of all the British capitalist's profits now
More important still, the banks, unable to invest in Western industry with its collapsing profit rates, have lent their capital to third-world coun
mortgaged their future the production of raw materials such as oil. Mexico, for ex-
is responsible for half the assets of nine major American banks.
But this slump, unlike the 1974 slump, marks the beginning of the end for monopoly price maintenance. Basic commodity prices are falling, though you haven't noticed because the food importers (surprise, surprise) haven't passed on the decrease. And suddenly, all the bank assets in third world countries are about as desirable as toytown money.
Britain gets it both ways. Bank assets and hence the banks' capital are
because or ine world decline in commodity prices, and the pound it under threat because if oil prices go down much further, Bri tain's oil income will vanish.
Moreover, Britain's oil income will vanish exceptionally fast, because profit margins on North Sea Oil pro-
though fabulous, are not nearly as high as Saudi Arabian oil.
Do not shed too many tears for Britain's bankers. Most of them, like the good Mr Raymond Postgate of Lloyd's insurance, have salted their money safely away in art treasures and the Cayman islands. But do, on your next visit to the Stock exchange, pause and reflect awhile on the changing fortunes of those who have to justify their antics to the likes of you
Socialist Challenge 14 January 1983 page 7
Page 8 scan of this page
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WITH last week's
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THE
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page 8
IN THE ISSUE of Tribune of 31 December appeared an article by Communist Party member Pat Devine in favour of proportional representation in British elections. This argued rather startlingly that, sent is referred to as the centre is a precondition for a major change in our society. And the real problem facing socialists in the eighties is how to build a new political majority that includes the centre but is under the leadership of the left.
behind the increasing rhetoric of this type from an important section of the Communist Party.
Pat Devine's article in Tribune is in fact only the continuation of a series of articles which have been
Communist Party magazine Marxism Today.
The political role of these openly to put forward the ment between the Labour Party EBC SDP/ Liberal Alliance
This is the real meaning of Devine's phrase about the support of what is at present referred to as the centre
This position was spelt out particularly clearly by leading Communist Party economist Sam Aarono
issue of Marxism Today.
Narrow
According Aaronovitch - in a round table discussion with Stuart Hall and pro-SDP Guardian columnist Peter
the problem with the Labour Party is that it is too narrow and
coalitions with broader torces ACO OVICE argues:
We have a set of alliances within the Labour Party which has proved itself singularly unable to construct alliances, both with ne Labour Party itself and between the Labour Party and other groups within society. So, with all the changes taking place in the composition ol ine working people and so on, the Labour Party as
BLUCLUIS nas progressively ited
rom 1A100EY those changes which have taken place And that has meant that all these long term tendencies operating in British politics have lett it open for new forces to arise, not only the SDP but for example the nationalist parties.
Aaronovitch then goes on to argue that this set of alliances which is required must be wIder - than the Labour Party. Indeed, the Labour Party must not seek to encompass all these forces fighting against Thatcher
According to Aaronovitch:
I certainly don't see the Labour Party as comprising all te torces mal are required LO challenge
Rally variant of Thatcherism ir the future. I think the tast of the Labour Party is to construct a historic bloc of forces • T dono went to progressive change ….. hanker after Party which somehow embraced all the forces within
government
'The support of what at preROBERT MOSSGEIL looks at the issues
itself."
Aaronovitch then argues what tae role or tre Labour Party should be. '1 regard the Labour Party as having the potential for being geeping of forces which powerful
could constitute magnetic force in British society, one capable of helping to build a broad set of alliances against Thatcherism.
It might of course be thought Aaronovitch, and those in the Communist party who support his line, favoured reaching out to create an 'alliance' with all those sections of the working class and oppressed who have suffered the conse-
and who have been repell.
them by Labour governments and leaderships
But what Aaronovitch makes clear is that he is not talking of alliances with the working class and op pressed but alliances
them with the SDP/Liberals. He argues:
think the associated the Alliance are very significant and i con t want to give the impression of any KEnO sectantal about them. I also think the nature of hatcherisn
is construct an anand
with all kinds
of forces who are prepared to challenge what Thatcherism is about.
Elementr
Aaronovitch goes on very specifically in-
the SDP/Liberal Alliance in this alliance. He argues that, *1 think that the policies the Alliance is putting for ward, though very inade-
contain elements which would certainly be in advance of the situation Sam Aaronovitch, leading CP theorist. He wants a political alliance including the 'centre' - by which he means the SDP.
got and, with couldn t massive CrISIS, fail to bring about limited
This ive character be DIDELCOYO character the forces in the SDP is also theme of Eric Hobsbawm - another key Communist Party -contributor to Marxism Today
Hobsbawm, in a major article in the October 1982 issue, claims that there are two types of socialist parts in Europe and that, *Both
Gordon Maclennan, CP general secretary. Will he go along with the Eurocommunist proposals for a coalition including the SDP?
kinds of socialist party
deed most
Social Democrats An
even more sophisticated
gloss on this
tion of a line for coalition
government is put forward
by Mike Rustin in an arti
cle in the January issue of
Marxism Today.
This course of Marxism Today should be taken
by Communist Party
members and others in the
labour movement. It is not
an isolated example
At the end of 1982 a
major dispute took place
in the Communist Party
over an article by Tony
Lane which appeared in
September issue of
Marxism Today.
Photo: MORNING STAR
DRAHAM COOKENN
Entitled, 'The Unions: caught on the ebb tide it argued among other things that among shop stewards, *we observing the
class clite which has the often takes it) of sharing in opportunity the expense account syndrome: the franchise of perks and fiddles has been widened. This, and other arguments, drew a hostile and thoroughly justified response from a number of Communist Party trade unionists.
The same should hap-
orienLation Liberal, SDP coalition.
Labour Committee on Palestine News bulletin out now. FREE! For copies and
information on membership contact LCP
Secretary Penny Cole, 30 Foulden Road, London N16 7UR. We have available for hire •Beirut in 1982' (by Nunokawa Productions, Japan) 16mm 20min film (especially useful for
LP & TU meetings), colour slides and a photographic exhibition on the 1982 war in
Lebanon.
LCP OPEN MEETING 16 February, County Hall, 8pm. For members and all those interested in Palestinian solidarity work in the labour
Page 9 scan of this page
Ine valuable contessions of Henry Kissinger What was 'detente'?
Bombay textile
workers shake
Indian rulers
By Amar Jesani and Kunal Chattopadhyay 250,000 TEXTILE WORKERS have been on strike in Bombay since January 1982, one of the most momentous working class battles to take place anywhere in the last decade. The super-exploited textile workers have been fighting back against the employers structure the textile industry at the expense of the workers.
The strike has seen a massive wave of workers self-organisation, with themselves through mill committees, and attempting to throw off the grip of the reactionary proCongress Party trade union, the Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh (RMMS).
The textile industry in India has, like many other industries, economic crisis. The mill owners are trying to restructure the industry through shifting production to yarn away from cotton cloth - introducing a new wave of mechanisation, speed up and redundancies.
The strike started in October 1981 with seven mills going on strike, and became more generalised in January 1981. The demands of the workers include parity of wages with other industries like engineering; making permanent the "substitute' workers wo are lake on ony wrer me dosses need them; and 'de-recognition' of the RMMS
The Bombay textile industry was one of the earliest industries in India. Its workers have been among the vanguard of the Indian working class. In 1981 they held a general strike. In 1924-5 over 150,000 workers in the industry went on strike. But through reactionary legislation they have had imposed on them a pro-bosses union, and despite several major struggles have dislodge it.
In this present struggle the bulk of the workers have not transferred their allegiance to the traditional "left' legalism rather than struggle. Instead they have relied on the mill committees, led by Datta Samant a former Congress man. The initial seven mills led by Samant put forward the demand for a wage rise from Rs 300 to Rs 500. Other demands included provision regarding Leave House Rent allowance, substitute workers.
From the beginning of the strike it has been bitterly fought by central government, the provincial government and the RMMS. have been bitter clashes involving fights with the police, during which the police have badly injured many workers including women.
One of the tactics adopted by the strikers has mas thares of nousths it oughts is mass arrests thousands Lalbaug, the area where most textile workers are concentrated, textile workers were not only batoned by the police, but the police entered their houses and beat up women and children.
Many workers arrested in the industrial area of Saki Naka because of their solidarity with the textile workers have been beaten up by the police, many sustaining severe injuries. Solidarity with the textile workers from tens of thousands of other workers has been one of the major gains of the strike.
From 11 to 13 October last year more than 1.5 million workers all over Masarashtra went on strike in support of the textile workers.
Apart from the far left organisations in the build solidarity with the strike, womens organisations have also mobilised in support of the textile workers. In Bombay, various feminist groups and organisations have supported the strike by grain-
Stand raising, against repression etc.
The Communist League (Indian section of the Fourth International) has made solidarity with the strike a number one task on an all-India level. The textile workers strike will be crucial for the future of the working class throughout the sub-continent.
attempts to re-
the workers organising
been badly hit by the world been unable to
unions because of their emphasis on
Travel Allowance, permanent Throughout there
of supporters. who have formed a common front to
staging demonstrations
DURING THE 1950s the United States waged what is known in history as the 'cold war'. The United States totally devastated Korea in the war in that country. In Vietnam it used the entire might of its armed forces to attempt to crush the struggle of the Vietnamese people for independence. The US supported military governments in Brazil, Indonesia, any other place that suited it. The policy under which it justified this bloodshed and exploitation was called 'suppressing Communism' Communism being defined as anybody who thought that American companies should not be able to exploit them and their country.
In the 1970s however the United States claimed to have changed. barked on a policy it called "detente'. of Nixon's visits to Peking and Moscow. The Helsinki conference on European Security held. This adopted a so called policy
"human TILLS which none the signatories observed. 1970s is stil pointed to be This
pointed to by the Kremlin as the idea period of international relátions. "Detente' is also a word much used by the cold war' and the policies of Reagan. It is still seer by many people as the goal of international relations.
Henry Kissinger (left), Richard Nixon (right), architects of detente.
Zaire and
What therefore were the real politics 'detente'? the American leopard changed its spots?
The Kremlin's view of them was expressed recently by Soviet first foreign secretary Georgi Korniyenko following the death of Brezhnev. Addressing the United States
an interview for Newsweek magazine Kor-
*The new Soviet leadership attaches the STEALSE portance to the development of Soviet-American relations ... It was on the basis of equality that our countries did SO many good things together various spheres, including
What is Trotskyism?
commercial and economic ones, auring ine 1y/us. He claimed that, 'we have danger or nuelear war. the enemy
A similar view was expressed the new Secretary General of the Soviet Communist Party AnaroDowl us new yea interview for 1983. He stated that he wished for *lasting sperity in 1983 and that peace and
*today the Soviet people and the Americans have one common enemy, the threat of war and everything that enhances
But what was the United States ruling class view of 'detente'? Does
capitalism believe that under detente it had a common Chell with the Soviet Union in fighting against nuclear war? What would be it goals in any new period of 'detente today? Death
Fortunately we don't
have to pure or ta-
the CUEU nouncements preceding the death of Brezhnev, the very organiser TOT the American end of 'detente
under Nixon, Henry Kissinger, felt it useful to ex plain what goals the U.S ruling class had been pur-
Kissinger explained his view of the world simply by stating that between American capitalism and the Soviet Union, 'We are in effect, confronted with the conflictual opposition of two systems
When asked therefore,
summary then
detente' never 1o you unlike for the Soviet Union anything other than a tactic at the service of a more global strategy! he replied, ALO solutely. President Nixon conceived of detente as a means to create a satisfac tory relation of forces and a certain world order. Why
When Kissinger was asked why therefore they
on the policy of detente he replied
was the tremendous political crisis the effects of the Vietnam war had created inside the United States •What else could we do otherwise than calm the atmosphere when in this country (the
United States) the political climate was close to that of a civil war.'
When he was asked what were the goals of Us foreign policy he replied symbol of the cold warf with the word 'rollback which was used
American Secretary State John Foster Dulles himself. Kissinger simpl explained that "rollbacl cannot be a politics in itself. It can only be restorical process, is Rollback al
KO Dad was
Testora one word itor the
restoration capitalism in China Vietnam, the Soviet tastern Cuba and anywhere else where it had been overthrown. Kissinger simply explained that while the United States ruling class sometimes changes its tac-
it never changes it goals.
Remember that and you'll understand why they want those Cruise and Pershing Il missiles Europe.
Newsweek 25 November 1982 2. The Guardian 31 December 1982
Internationale
Socialist Challenge 14 January 1983 page 9
Page 10 scan of this page
6.The French Popular Front
factory
ble for those who are bold enough,'
ty left wing.
Yet within two years reaction was again in control France, and the CGT (trade con-
COLIC muster two million, of its tive million members. 3011 a one day general strike.
he weakest of the imperial powers, France had
La role in the world that did not correspond its economic weight. None felt the crisis more acutely than the imDoversed peasants and the BOOKCCOCS OLIC OWES Fascism had triumphed in Germany in 1933 and the danger seemed real enough ul rialice.
On 6 February 1934, after a day of violent demonstrations, armed fascist and royalist gangs attempted storm Chamber of Deputies to OVerLITOW ment. The government of TASEOS -DO COUC which came to power three
presided over an eight-month offensive by the fascist Fiery Cross. It seemed that France must go the same way as Ger many. Shaken
The parties of the working class were shaken February. the events of the
The Communist Party had been violently
ty, applying the line of the
which said that social-democracy the left
Was face of fascism.
From the Socialist ParMarceau Pivert and Jean Zyromsky called united action with the CP
Their call was echoed by Jacques Doriot, leader of the CP mayor of St. Denis. Doriot had gone too fast. The CP expelled him only to adopt his positions immediately afterwards. Doriot formed his own party and soon became a fascist himself.
Deals
The united front of working class parties was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm, but the Cates were more interested in parliamentary deals than in fighting for power. Almost from the beginning Maurice Thorez, the Communist leader, wanted to broaden the alliance to include the 'democratic' bourgeois Party the Radicals. To the ordinary militants in the Socialist Party this was unacceptable.
SFIO, led by Leon Blum was one halt of the old party of Jean Jaures. In
920 a majority of the par ty had formed the CP, takHumanite din them. daily paper
Socialist Challenge 14 January 1983 page 10
IN JUNE 1936 a great movement of strikes and occupations spread through France. For millions of working people something had changed and they felt they could take their fate into their own hands. 'Now everything is possi-
wrote Marceau Pivert, the leader of the Socialist Par-
Those that remained in ine SFIO were careerists and timeservers, but as ine CP became more sectarian and turned into instrument Stalin's foreign policy, things began to change.
Workers began to look to the socialists and left. wing tendencies emerged
the party. The JUne 1935 Congress of the SFIO saw a pitched battle between left and right, with Jean Zyromsky advocating the seizure power by 'direct action'
The Socialists decided that they could not share
with a party of the ruling class, that it must be *all Conference decisions did not deter the party leadership In July, Blum addressed a meeting together Thorez and the Radical Party leader Daladier. The Front Populaire War born.
Limits
The programme of the Popular Front was very Timuted
acceptable the Radicals. Under the slogan 'Bread, Peace and Liberty the alliance promised COUPCIaLIOHE with the League Nations, dissolution of the fascist combat organizations, and an unspecified reduction in the length of the working week.
Added to this were the reform Bank
1001 France and the tax system
Workers' power was not on the agenda.
When the elections came in May 1963, the left was victorious. The most startling 1s pec the
esults was the defeat suf fered by the bourgeois component ot the Front.
Radical Party. At the same time as the workers" parties vastly increased their vote, the Radicals lost 43 scats.
The social and political crisis had engendered deepening division French society and a growing political awareness among secuons Farmers and shopkeepers
the working class.
Оссиру
The workers did not wait for Leon Blum to take
office, they occupied the
factories. All the official leaders of the working 'Class were horrified and frightened. Jouhaux of the CĞT, anarchosyndicalist turned right-
winger, negotiated conces-
sions from the bosses while
the CP used its influence
to halt the strike movement.
After voting for Blum
in order to defeat reaction
Marxism and Social Democracy
the workers had repudiated alliance
the Radicals threatening the rule 0l their class.
On the Matignon agreement was
French workers had won a 2 per cent increase in wages paid holidays and the 40 hour week. They also gain-
1 CLOZLEOn by the employers of their right to bargain collectively. But they had been cheated of power. On the
rotskvists opposed the agreement.
The leaders the working class, both
and Communist,
cord not their to over.
For all their rhetoric, they WO C firmly tied to the ruling class. New
For a time, it looked a if a new leadership could emerge from the left of the SFIO. As well as the Trotskyists, who briefly joined the SFIO in 1934, there was the tendency led by Pivert, which included such figures as Daniel Guerin.
Was to be
dionarointed, Redelay
tendency could not break with Blum, and so ended up supporting him: "No matter how much the centrists babble about the masses they always orient themselves to the reformist apparatus. Repeating this or that revolutionary slogan, Marceau Pivert subordinates the
abstract principle unito!
• Casabici
which in action turns out
be with the UHIL patriots against the revoluLUISES.
Working class celebrate Popular Front victory in Paris
Leon Blum, socialist Prime Minister of the
Popular Front
And so it turned out, Pivert supported the Matignon agreement and acted as the left-wing conscience of Leon Blum.
The government that took power in June 1936 was composed exelusively of Socialists and Radicals.
The CP and the CGT elected not to take part themselves, but to give their support. Carried to power by the workers, the Popular Front proved incapable of changing their basic situation
The gains made by the strike movement were HOWCYCE large enough to damage the interests of the bourgeoisie. Economic sabotage by the bosses led inevitably financial crisis. Revolutionary measures against capital were not open to a social democrat in alliance with a capitalist party, SO Bum was obliged to "restore confidence instead.
By March 1937 he was calling for a 'pause" in the
reforms. This only encouraged the ruling class in its attacks The devalua tion of the franc, carried out by the Blum government, helped to unload the burden or the economid crisis onto the shoulders of the working class. A growing proportion the workers sank into passivity and scepticism and the peasants and shopkeepers turned back to the bourgeois parties The June 193yemnment tell in Blum
international arena the Popular Front acted as it did at home.
RIT words supported the Spanish Republic against fascism. In practice, Blum became the chief advocate of the 'non-intervention policy promoted by British imperialism. When Hitler and Mussolini were supplying Franco with all the arms he needed, Blum was helping to strangle the Republic.
The same Radical Par-
BERTRAM discusses the
in France during the 1930s Maurice Thorez, French CP leader There to which
had tied showed how ENCHISE VOS 'democratic'it really was.
In November 1938 the Daladier
HOVCHIIHIICE
varned that efforts to en force the 40 hour week in munitions would be considered a crime; workers could be given a two-year prison sentence for
olding anti-war discussions.
The workers respondcd to this WIEN a spon taneous wave of strikes, but the CGT , with the support of the Socialist and
Dal Lic limited action to a one-day protest stoppage, the Popular Front had prepared the road to defeat.
Blum turned on the opposition the SFIO in June 1938, forcing Piver to form the Workers Calle Peasants Socialist Party (PSOP). But Pivert had not been won to Marxism: he supported de Gaulle in the war and then returned
IN our continuing series on the history of social democracy CHRIS
experience of the Popular Front to the mainstream of the SFIO. Jean Zyromsky, the other former leader • of the left, joined the CP CHRONOLOGY 1920 French Cp reation of Congress
1934 Altempted fascist
COLE Doumergue govern-
expels Doriol 1935 Mulhouse Congress of
SFIO 1936 /ictory of Popula
Occupation of factories Mati ignon agreements Devaluatio Spanish Civil Wa 1937 announces
pause - Fall of Blum
-1958 pelled from SFIC Pivertistes ex-
Munich Novem Del of General Strike.
Further reading: the only book on the period which 1s
Lcon France? Trotsky's *Whither
Page 11 scan of this page
The Battle of Algiers
THOSE READERS who followed the articles in our Marxism and Social Democracy series by Bob Pennington on the Spanish revolution will be interested in following the series on Channel 4 on the Spanish Civil War. The programmes are every Friday evening at 8pm for six weeks. Next Friday (14 January) covers the revolution of 1936.
Last Friday's first coming to power of the Spanish Republic, the withdrawal of the Socialist Party from the government, the fall of the first Republican government and the advent of the right wing Gil Robles regime. It also movingly portrayed the Asturias Commune of 1934, its brutal repression by the army, and the
leading the revolutionary plot.
The series is written by Neil Ascherson whose book on Poland many of our readers will already know.
Muslim boy rounded up by French troops. Searching the Casbah for FLN militants.
Channel 4's 'The Spanish Civil War'
programme covered the
general's counter-
The message of episode one was simple: the ad vent of the Spanish Republic infuriated the bosses and the right wing, but was incapable of satisfying the most basic peasants and was thus doomed. tionary socialist could disagree with that.
Episode two, to be already called forth caustic remarks from the Morning Star, because (would you believe it makes out that there was a workers revolution in 1936. that the workers took the power in the areas they controlled, and that this was led by anarchists, revolutionary socialists and the like. After 46 years this basic truth still causes the CP distress.
We recommend all our readers to watch this series. A lavishly illustrated book to go with the series by David Mitchell is in your local branch of WH Smiths now.
Paul Lawson
By Phil Hearse
workers and the No revolu-
shown on Friday, has Ali-la-Pointès hiding place blown up by paras.
Workers militia arm themselves.
FOR THE FIRST TIME for nearly Pontecorvo's film The
anti-colonialist film ever ticular merit is the way in which it explores the
oppressors.
the struggle, without
and shootings of civilians, the film ultimately
against a ruthless colonial power. The parallel with Ireland is of course obvious
"The most favoured method of torture was the
signals magneto from which elec trodes could be fastened to various parts of the body — notably the penis'. So says Alastair Horne in his classic book on the period
savage War of Peac (Penguin). The torture by French paras the Algerian FLN suspects was routine.
- Henri Alleg, a Euro.
call Jew whose family
nad settled in Algeria dur ing the Second V Torld War was the Communist editor of Alger Republicaine; he was interogated
m9sas for a whole month in
His account of electrode torture is instructive: In his first subjection to electric shock with electrodes merely attached -TO his ear and finger, he says: 'A flash of lightening exploded next to my ear, and I felt my heart racing in my breast
The second time a large magnetc was used Instead of the sharp and rapid spasms that seemed to tear my ood in two. 1 was now a greater pair that took possession of al my muscles and tightened them in longer spasms.
The paras had many other forms of torture, of
various kinds of water torture were the
One use error. ture in the Battle of Algiers was deemed essential
information about the FLN organisation
Militants of the organisation were told to resist torture for 24 hours
they could talk.
During that time sufficient re-organisation could take place to make the information he FLN less organis- useless. FLin cellen three - - most
didn't know one another. Only the central command of four had all the information in its hands
When the paras arrived in Algiers their colonel
Bigear (in the film
Mathieu decided to LaCK down the central leaders by wringing as
possible out of his captives
In the face of the barbarities of the French forces the napalming of villages, the systematic torture, the execution of FLN militants by guillotine the FLN decided upon an offensive
La decade Battle of Algiers is showing in London. It is quite simply the best
made. But its par-
use of terrorist violence against the colonialist
Without ever glamourising this aspect of attempting for one minute to minimise the horror of bombings
defends these methods as legitimate weapons
The bombing of an Arab house in the Casbah district by pied noir terrorists. led to BLaf unleashing of the FLN
squads led by Ali-la-Pointe and the Algiers operational com mander Saadi Yace
remarkable thin about Battle of Algiers is that Saadi Yacef was coproducer and plays himself (Djafar) in the THM Using Yacef's knowledge it is filmed ir une cracocanoes wher the various incidents took
film is the bombing campaign run by the FLN women volunteers. While the Casbah area was sealed off by the and everyone going in and out searched 1, the FLN womer dyed their hair and dressed in Western clothes.
September 1956 disguised FrenchAlgerian women, Yacef's volunteers got out of th Casbah with their bomb and hit the fashionable Cafeteria on the Rue Michelet, the Milk Bar on the Place Bugeand and th Air France terminus. were packed The film shows the bombings in all their horror. They were a
-DOW morale of the FrenchAlgerian population and a
turning bine that ar
There that parallels with the situation in Ireland come into play
parallel is exact but nonetheless there are strik ing similarities. In Algeria
colonial power wa fighting an insurgent peo ple, but the situation wa:
3E0G istence of a colonial-settler population which sided with the imperialists
The parallel betweer the Protestant populatio in the north of Ireland an the pied noirs is tempting Of course in Algeria the
population had been there a much shorter
Presbyterian population in the north ot ireland and the cultural differences OCLWCCHI the Algerians and the French Algerians ane between much greater than Loyalists and Republicans in the six counties.
The Battle of Algiers, directed
duced by Antonio Musa and Saadi Yacef, is showing at th Sque see, Brunswick Square WC/
Socialist Challenge 14 January 1983 page
Page 12 scan of this page
cher
offensive'
Icutback on weapons in Europe.
The declaration said
the present PECHISC situation makes it impossible to wait any longer. There is need for urgent, effective measures which COU CUSEDe ween members of the twc pacts and diminish tears of possible agression'
The pact called for these measures to be taken as a step towards dismantl-
the military alliances NATO and the Warsaw Pact
Specifically the proposals are: • the Warsaw Pact and NATO to agreement to renounce the use ot militarv torce and to preserve peaceful relations • a renewal of the pledge that the Soviet Union will not use nuclear weapons TITS call for all nuclear powers who have 10 08030008 similar steps.
WORK agreement in the shortest
ban nuclear weapon tests • to agree on the probibition and liquidation of chemical weapons @ I0 work towards the prohibition neutron weapons and the basing of any types of weapons in outel space • to prohibit the use of radiological weapons
In addition the seven nations in the pact весатес concern about the deployment of nucicar wcaDons Europe. Following his suggestion during Decem ber that the Soviet Union would cut the number of its SS20 missiles from 300
168 matching the
Britain France NATO dropped its plan to bring in Cruise and TriGeNE this year, leader Yuri Andropov declared: 'We view the
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Socialist
Challenge
THE temperature's rising for Reagan and Thatand their friends in the NATO military
ing out ogets underway. The proposals com- alliance as the Soviet Union's bold new 'peace
the Warsaw Pact two day conference at the beginning of January have put the spotlight on the responsibility of the West ,for the threat of nuclear war by showing the willingness of the Soviet Union to negotiate a
situation soberly. We do 220E0000UTOU the military preperations of NATO.
By Toni Gorton
Andropov put responsibility for the situation with NATO saying that the Warsaw Pact was ready to respond in kind to any NATO move but warning that: *The answer to the intention of the gressive imperialist circles to suppressing socialism THUS Ine further strengthening of our unity
defence potential.'
The BacI call for the removal of all nuclear WCaDOHS TEOH Europe, both those of a tactical and medium range. If this isn't possible would be useful radically lower the nuclear capabilities medium *ange in Eurone on the basis of equality equal security The new proposals will strengthen the hand of the anti-missiles moveEuropo
Pre positioning o crise
positioning of Cruise and Trident in '83 Already Margaret Thatcher has constructed a new team led by Michael Heseltine to take on Campaign for. Nuclear
CND has openly welcom ed the Soviel proposals as an aid in its fight addition, Michael Foot leader of the Labour Party attacked Thatcher for her flippant and slapdash' rejection of the WarSa Wi Pact Foot said in a Channel 4 interview that "These should not be rejected out hand. They Call diltr atmosphere in Europe.'
This is absolutely true.
Public opinion in Europe
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 book normally costs £3.50 Alteratively we are offering Henri Weber's book NICARAGUA - THE SANDINIST REVOLU-
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is already opposed the possibility of nuclear war in the so-called 'European teatre
Over three million peoDe demonstrated against the missiles during
of 1982 Europe
Polls consistently show public opposition. For ex-
West Germany: cent want the government
DOSEDORe deployment of the missiles
Britain: 58 per cent oppose Cruise and 56 cent oppose Trident
In addition the decision in the Norwegian parliament to
funds to NATO decision to install Cruise missiles was only carried on a 77-76 vote.
And in the USA, eight agreferenda in the November 1982 elections voted "ves to a nuclear freeze.
The Soviet new moves have clearly
US president Ronald Reagan onto the detensive the 9 January Observer his weekly radio address was notable for its lack of anti-Soviet rhetoric and in its opinion reflects a 'growing mood in Washington that Andropov's OYCELLI C and should not simply dismissed as propaganda'.
further was that Reagan's speech is a recognition that the West
Canillo aiways pear to be talking.
HCW while East appears to be talking about peace.
The big problem now for Reagan is how to build up his 'peace' image while simultaneously preparing for war. The US strategy is
on its need to conPECIE colonial tion. to disarm its own working Cdss austerity measures home in the name of a bigger enemy abroad.
The proposals from Andropov throw the responsibility for reduction firmly onto the of USA and its allies the Europe. The next move is up to the anti-missiles movement to bulld on the Soviet proposals.
LEMAN
the
61 per
per
allocate out the Union's
be
ap-
about
the revolu-
arms
in Maggie Thatcher
ths to stop her.
Three months isn't a very long time but its enough to build the campaign lo stop. campaign of demonstrarallies. petitions whole series of events to register public opposition to nuclear madness.
A vital part will be a campaigning newspaper the lowdown Thatcher's noves ays what CND is plann ing. that tells the truth about the threat of nuclear YYAL
WELL here we go! It's countdown to Cruise.
is bringing her missiles here in April and we've got three mon-
Socialist Challenge is long that paper and it needs your money to keep it go
Cruise: a ing, to enable its writers to
get the tacts and tell the street story. €1,000 a week to do the job. Please send a tribution Drive, PO Box don NI 2XP Our thanks this week to Roeloffs a paper that socialist Woodcock
Middlesborough on Bath that Rotherham York
Total this year
NATO REJECTS PROPOSALS FOR
NO
nuclear
Socialist Challenge FUND DRIVE 83
1983: the year to fight the missiles
nuclear I5
We need at least
conSC Fund 50, Lon-
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