Postal workers fight Carter

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This pamphlet brings together two articles recently published in Socialist Press, dealing with the policies of the self-styled Trotskyists' of the Workers Revolutionary Party in relation to the Middle East. The second article in particular exposes the way in which almost every aspect of the WRP's current international orientation represents the polar opposite of the principles historically defended by the WRP and its forerunner the Socialist Labour League. The remainder of the Damphlet consists of documentary material to demonstrate the full extent of this volte face.

Price 45p plus 10p p&p from WSL, 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 1HR THE OLD waenegсsens:a40004194s:t6 August, PLO leader Arafat also referred | tavourably to the Syrian règime who are in Lebanon to prevent his supporters from confronting the Zionists.

He described Damascus somewhat inappropriately as 'the Hanoi of the Palestinian These moves show clearly how the petty bourgeois Palestinian leadership has completely accepted the restrictions on their role in the fight against Now they are consolidating their forces for a 'dialogue' which will be aimed at preventing mass mobilisation on socialist policies or the military and political defeat of the Zionists.

Comrade Brown, in his letter in the last issue of Socialist Press was quite right to draw readers' attention to the struggle for leadership within the Palestinian movement.

It is also right for us to point out the political inadequacies of "rejectionists' like Habash as well as those like Abu Nidal, who use only the utterly bankrupt methods of individual terrorism to deal with problems which can only be resolved by socialist policies and the mobilisation of the Palestinian and Arab masses.

Taking a leaf out of the book of the miners, whose 110 day strike forced back a determined employers' offensive, members of the American Postal Workers Union have voted 98,000 to 78,000. to throw out the shoddy sell-out contract recommended by their union leaders.

Both major postal unionsthe APWU and the National Association of Letter Carriershave now rejected the contract, which offers only a 10% pay rise and a restricted cost of living clause to cover the next three years.

Inflation

As US inflation reaches into double figures, and in the wake of the miners' 30% settlement, the postal workers are in no mood to passively accept this deal, and their leaders are now mandated to call illegal national strike action.

In a desperate attempt to head off such a move the Carter administration has used the courts, threats of military intervention, and attacks on unofficial strikers who have already staged walkouts. In New Jersey and California 92 unofficial strikers have been sacked, and two of the 60 sacked strikers in Jersey City hauled before the courts for contempt.

This followed a ruling by Federal Judge Frederick Lacey ordering the Jersey City strikers back to work, and declaring illegal a strike ballot scheduled for New York.

Pressure

It is now open to doubt whether union bureaucrats will, as they would prefer, bow to this ruling and to the threats from Carter, and call off all action, or whether the pressure from the membership will force an all-out strike.

Plans have already been laid for army personnel to scab on the strikers, in a move to uphold Carter's attempts at wage control, which suffered a major blow at the hands of the miners.

As the Democratic administration once again enters battle against the organised labour movement and in defence of US capitalism the urgency of a political fight within the unions for a Labour Party to represent the independent interests of the working class is sharper than ever.

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OUT SOON! TROTSKYISM