Strike Support Needed to Beat Trespass Law Lesson of Cactl Conference

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Huntley St. squatters picket Camden Housing Aid Centre HOSPITAL m, IFL LAW I!

DROP ce Sp WHE deterrent to the Criminal Trespass Law being used.

Only twice during the entire conference in contributions from WSL members, were attempts made to raise the limitations of occupations that are not linked to supporting strike action.

And yet again only in the WSL contributions was the point made that the greatest block to strike action comes from the very people who should organise it-the trade union officials.

CACTL was formed in 1974 and was initially backed more by students, community, squatters and housing organisations than by the labour movement.

The Criminal Trespass Law was presented misguidedly by the media as no more than a law to make 'squatting' illegal-which it doesn't.

Falling prey to 'divide and rule tactics, the full political implications of the Act were not taken up immediately by the workers movement.

Now, however, since over 250,000 workers have been involved in more than 300 occupations to fight off redundancies, closures and in disputes, the trade union movement is seeing the need to become increasingly involved in the fight against the law and paying attention to CACTL.

Although there were under 200 delegates in attendance at the conference, a majority were trade union delegates representing sections of workers looking for a lead.

Weakest

Throughout the conference the cry was continually hear. that • the Criminal Trespass Law is being used against the weakest, most disorganised sections, and this must be stopped by the full strength of the labour movement 'supporting' these sections The Huntley St. eviction (in particular, squatters).

One of the strongest calls for 'support' came from Rupert Downing, speaking on the Huntley Street eviction.

He explained that the problem that plagued the Huntley Street squat was the isolation and division of the squatters movement from the unions.

He quite rightly explained that the squatters movement should have the backing of the working class as it is a part of the class struggle against homelessness and private property.

He argued that squatting is part of a fight for the political right of the homeless to win decent housing fot all.

The recent history • of squatting dates back to 1945 when after the war servicemen returned to find that they were homeless.

Bomb damage, Defence Ministry appropriations and the lack of a war time housing programme had created huge shortages of housing.

Parliament was told that 45,000 people were though thought to be squatting.

The government at once accused the squatters of "jumping the waiting list".

This accusation has dogged the squatting movement ever since.

Lack of buildings

This, together with the fact that squatting in existing buildings does not even begin to tackle the general problem of a lack of adequate buildings, accounts for a lot of the prejudice against squatting within the trade union movement.

1960, however, saw the start of the mass movement of squatters. With council housing being allocated only to the married family unit, single people and single parent families were forced into action.

They therefore set out to "expropriate" private property piecemeal as the need arose.

We have the situation now of mass squats such as that at Huntley Street, organised in the face of cuts in public expenditure on housing, soaring mortgage rates and escalating rents.

Over 30,000 homeless people are currently squatting some of the 850,000 empty houses in England and Wales.

Stood firm

The Huntley Street occupation housed 160 people, 30 of them children.

The squatters stood firm, refusing to accept eviction without rehousing.

They eventually received such an agreement and did not expect eviction.

Next morning, however, the eviction took place in an unprecedented orgy of police violence. .

500 police, four JCB bulldozers, police cars and Special Patrol Group units armed with riot gear smashed their way into Huntley Street.

Defence squads

These weaker sections of the working class must be defended by the strength of the workers? movement through strike action and well-organised mass workers defence squads.

But such concrete policies for defence were not raised at the conference.

Sharing a similar experience, Christine Potter from the Hounslow Hospital occupation raided over a year ago, also spoke on the platform.

She emphasised continually that • health service workers cannot maintain an occupation alone.

Yet again she followed this by no more than a woolly call for "support" from the trade union movement and the public for their health service.

We say this support for occupations can only. be that of strike action.

In the afternoon session trade union bureaucrats were praised by Hounslow and by the • CACTL committee for their support in fighting the Criminal Trespass Law. .

This support included sending out leaflets condemning such repressive proposals as those made by

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ENT HOUSING FOR AI PHOTO: Laurence: REAL HOUSIN AID CENTRE