[He similarly refused to up the fight alongside…]

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He similarly refused to up the fight alongside the firemen last year, despite his left speeches.

Picketing official Kitson SP: Why don't you lobby the Strike Committee and demand that they stop granting so many dispensations?

Oh, you just get lost in the hierarchy up there. But if it goes on getting worse we might have to put on blanket pickets.

We will do that if necessary-with 200 of us blocking right across the gate.

They have set a monster loose and they can't control it.

ASLEF aren't here today but they've been picketing too, against coaches being used to take the channel ferry passengers.

We are having a big effect. The docks are empty -its all being directed to Amsterdam or lying off. -which has 2,000 members including dustmen, highways, СРІМАГАЛН barclantis raretakerc and home helps-calling on the Executive Committee to put out a call for all out strike action from November 4. • This, was passed by a big majority. Obviously since then Fisher has put off negotiations for as long as he cauld.

But now rank and file pressure has increased, overtaking his calls for selective action.

I was able recently to put another resolution through our shop stewards' committee calling for all-out action from January 22.

It was also at that stewards' meeting that i was delegated to attend a NUPE rally at Conway Hall on 11 January organised by: the London Divisional Council of NUPE.

I put a resolution calling on the rally to demand that the leadership call for all out action from 22 January.

This was effectively smothered by the bureaucrats on the platform.

It seemed to me now that the way forward was to put pressure on the London Divisional Council, a body made up of lay representatives from all the different sections in London-to put out an official call for all out strike action.

On the Thursday after the rally 1 put a resolution through my section pledging to take all-out strike action for the full claim from the moment the Divisional Council made an official call.

This was all the more impor tant at this time, since we had heard that Southwark dustmen had actually started indefinite action. The resolution was passed almost unanimously.

Another comrade in NUPE and myself took this resolution down to the home of the chairit will alter the whole balance of the campaign, pull out a lot more sections and give us a much better chance of winning the full claim.

How has the Workers Socialist League helped you in this fight?

Since I have been a member intervened in-such as the current strike at Garners.

I've drawn strength and political understanding from these experiences which have helped to make the issues more clear-cut in fighting for the pay claim.

I've become well aware that militancy is not enough-l realised this especially with the defeat of the Grunwick strike.

What is needed is a clear programme in fighting against the bureaucracy-both the hardened right and the deceptive left-talkers.

The WSL has such a I urge all militants in NUPE who are looking for political leadership to think seriously about joining the WSL.

John Seymour If Wilson was listenling when Callaghan made his great speech to the nation on how to cross picket lines he must have squirmed with envy.

Callaghan did not quite achieve the status of hero but he did achieve front page bouquets in every single national newspaper.

The real heroes in the pages of the press were such stuff as Patrick Chesterman, the consultant surgeon who turned away trade union members from treatment.

The press chided him for over enthusiasm and for including, among those he turned , away, some who might not have approved of strikes.

• Patriotic The Telegraph said: "Mr. Chesterman's mild • and brief little tantrum was dictated not by a wish for higher wages but by patriotic anger.

More heroes-40 of them-were found in Derby in the form of lorry drivers who were demanding a return to work and invaded the district committee office, with the press' in attendance and refused to hold a meeting with the TGWU officials if the Press were excluded.

. In short it has been a week when the unrelenting hysterical witch-hunts against the working class have continued undiminished.

As so often the prize must go to the Daily Express who headlined an interview with one of the cancer patients discharged from Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital "What Right Have They Got to Play God with my Life?"

The copy was no more subtle. It began:

"Alex Scott took a pill yesterday to get his breath for an attack on the hospital pickets who prevented him having heart surgery. "What right have they, " he asked, lifer, Play God with my with "Mr. Scott's face . Ieflected the misery suffered by 120 patients sent home from Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital because strikers were blockading vital supplies."

Mr. Scott indeed •was sent home. NUPE strike leaders protested that union members had continued to work with the cancer patients, but the patients had been sent home by management as a provocation. This • was ignored by the Press.

As the witch-hunts continued, the Evening News announced it was intending to throw 580 workers out of their jobs, including 22 journalists earmarked for compulsory redundancy.

Immediately the NU. chapel stopped work and went into a mandatory meeting which stopped production of the paper.

In one action the massive contradiction in the role that national journalists play was revealed.

The jobs of the journalists on the Evening News, along with the print workers, should of course be defended.

But it is time that the working class began to exercise some direct pressure against those journalists, who though part of the trade union movement, offer no resistance to the role they play in defending the capitalists.

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Young Palestinians wave banner of resistance to Zionist and imperialist oppression Socialist Press has time and again stressed the fact that barbarism of the invasion proved a severe embarassment to an end to the national oppression of the disposessed even the regime's most servile apologists, the more everyday Palestinian people, and the unity of Arab and Jewish economic exploitation and police/military repression of the workers in a secular Palestine, can only be brought about Palestinian and Arab population in the occupied territories by the destruction of the reactionary Zionist state of The following article - by a guest Palestinian writer -Las vet's brutal Zionist invasion of South Lebanon helps expose the real plight of these people. As such, it M I some the imper not mort al the sarage racialism underlies the necessity for the building of a Trotskyist badastrio so acrance the struage for the Palestinian Military rule and repression Through the thirty years which followed the establishment of the State of Israel, the main policy of its Zionist leadership has been to occupy more lands of the neighbouring Arab countries.

Within one year of its establishment on 15 May 1948, Israel occupied 6.7 thousand ‚square kilometres from the area designated by the UN resolution as a part of the proposed Arab Palestinian State at that time.

In June 1967, more land was occupied by Israel, after it launched its new aggresStrip, the Golan Heights and Sinai were occupied-an area of 68,5000 square km.

This is equivalent. to more than four times the area Israel had been offered by the 1947 UN "Partition Resolution" (14,100 sq.

km), and three times more than the Israeli area before 1967(20,800 sq. km).

"Greater Israel"

The Israeli government started from the very beginning of its occupation to 'in "invest" in the Arab occupied territories, and to make the necessary changes in this land, e so-erited it as part Israel" , by the Zionist leadership.

This annexation policy expressed itself in further intensification of the "colonisation" of the occupied Arab lands-establishing Jewish military settlements claimed to be for "defence and security" purposes, alongside civilian settlements for settling the new immigrants.

Between June/ 1967 and October 1973, fifty settlements were set up in the occupied territories.

This number went up to seventy by the end of 1976, half of them in the West Bank and Gaza.

Confiscated

Now there are 92 such settlements, inhabited by 10,000 settlers.

All these settlements were built up on public. lands and on land confiscated from its Arab owners. is largely ignored. This annexation policy became more aggressive and more dangerous after Begin's coalition government assumed offce = Ma I TE SOME TOMI ME E= 19-Tie 1eT 1200. = * TIDI Lade 3s Z: I2% TET I IN "BET" → 505c-I FEES:

• The Zionist leaders s ay that these Jewish sett lements are the front line of defence of the borders of the "Jewish State"

Not maps Golda Meir, the late exprime-minister, and other leaders of her Labour Party, have also repeatedly announced that:

"The borders of Israel are defined by the actual presence of the Israeli settlements, and not according to the maps"

'But Begin's government went even beyond that, when it announced:

*Israel has the right to establish in the occupied Arab territories, because Zionist troops guard new s these territories are part of the historical Israeli land"

The establishment of this large network of Jewish settlements in the occupied Arab territories shows clearly that the policy of Tel-Aviv is to create a new situation which would make total annexation easier.

At the same time the economic policy of the Israeli government in these territories confirms that the plan is for total annexation.

Israeli economic policy is designed to create suitable socio-economic conditions for annexation-what is called "economic complementarity"

The "committee of economic coordination in the administered areas" was set up as a tool to implement that policy.

"Common market"

The first step towards "economic complementari*as the setting up of a ":ommon market between ite occupied territories and The main aim of this has been to expand commerce

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Dour- Imperialist chief Carter with his two Middle East allies. with the more developed areas in the West Bank and the higher populated areas in Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government encourages the export of Israeli products to these territories; at the same time it has restricted imports from Jordan and other countries.

According to the Israeli offícial: statistics; Israeli products went up from 75.5% of total imports of the West Bank and Gaza in 1968, to 89.2% in 1974.

Imports from Jordan fell during the same period from 7.7% to 1.4% of the total. ettlements Ву 1975-77, 91.1% of the imports of the West Bank and Gaza Strip were. coming from Israel, while 60% of the production of these territories was exported to Israel.

Having "linked" the local market in the West Bank and Gaza to the Israeli market, the Israeli regime sét about associating the economic development of the territories directly with development of the Israeli Forced to change The Arab peasants in West Bank and Gaza were forced to shift their agricultural production to beetroot, tobacco and cotton in order to satisfy the industrial needs of the Israeli market.

The Israeli agricultural companies buy these agricultural products from the Arab peasants at lower prices that they buy from Jewish peasants.

The colonial character of ¡the commercial exchange terreen Israel and the ever ei territories shows Wednesday 31 January 979 the extent of the dependency of these territories on the Israeli economy.

Israel for instance exports : its industrial products, such as textiles nd electric equipment, to these territories, in addition to some food products, such as wheat, sugar and rice, which before 1967 were imported from Jordan and other countries.

In exchange, these territories export to Israel the raw agricultural products demanded for its food and light industries, and some seasonal fruits for consumption in Israel.

Hence, the West Bank is a market for Israeli manufactures and a supplier of cheap agricultural raw materials.

Israel also uses the West Bank as a "bridge" to export its products to Jordan and other countries.

The so-called "open bridges" policy serves Israeli aims by allowing the Israeli authorities to transfer goods and people from the West Bank to Jordan.

According to the official statistics, exports from the West Bank to Jordan rose between 1968 and 1976 from I.L.53.6 million to I.L.453 million.

Control of prices

In more recent: years, that increase has continued.

The Israeli government keeps for itself the right to control the prices and movements of exports and imports. so as to maximise the benefit of selling goods to Jordan and to make profit from taxes and customs duties.

Therefore the "open bridges" policy, lik the "common market" 'eveals the colonial character of the West Bank.

Smuggling

The West Bank is not only directly exploited economically, but used as a channel for smuggling Israeli products on to the markets of the neighbouring Arab countries.

Another of the main features in the "economic complementarity" policy is the absorption of the labour force from these territories into Israel.

In the past, Israeli leaders always refused to employ Arab workers in compliance with its policy of maintaining the "purity of Jewish society"

This went to the extent of preventing Palestinian Arabs from working in their own country.

Cheap This policy, however, was changed after June 1967, when the Israeli authorities made a "concession" to the needs of Israeli employers by allowing them to exploit the cheap labour force in* the West Bank and Gaza.

According to official statistics, the number of Arab workers from the occupied territories working in Israel went up from five thousand in 1968 to 68,700 in 1974.

In 1975-77, the figures kept increasing at the same rate.

These figures mean that Arab labour now represents around 35% of the labour foce of the Israeli economy.

Arab workers work mainiy in the agricultural, building, road construction and industry in other words, they áre concentrated in the sections where there is no great need for skilled labour.

The percentage of the Arab workers in these sectors reaches 40% or more.

These facts show clearly that the colonial exploitation of the Arab workers in the occupied territories has become a major source of surplus value for the Israeli capitalist economy.

Israel has also gained benefits from exploiting the natural resources of the occupied territories.

Until October 1975, when Israel returned the oil field Abu Dees (Sinai) to Egypt, Israel had been extracting 5 million tons of oil annually, which satisfied a large share of its needs.

After 1975, with the help of the USA, the Israelis discovered a new oil field in the south of Sinai, which is enough to satisfy 40% of its needs.

Natural gas has also been found in the north of Sinai, near the new Israeli settlements.

This must be one of the main reasons behind the Israeli refusal to hand over the area to the Egyptians.

American journalist

Blouis has written:

«Whatever the Israeli rulers say about their demands in the negotiation process, about the modifications in the borders for "security reasons", , the main and real aim for the Israeli capitalists is: the oil, land and the cheap labour force.

"That is the only interpretation for the Israeli government practices in the Arab occupied territories."

The pro-Israeli newspapers and many reporters and researchers from US and the imperialist countries in general try to hide the facts and motives behind the Israeli policy in the occupied territories.

Along with Israeli geois researchers they focus* on the "positive" sides of the Israeli economic policy in these territories., But what are the real effects of the "complementarity policy" on the economic structure of the occupied territories?

Tel-Aviv's attempts to strengthen its position in these territories oblige it to make some efforts to develop certain branches of the economy with the objective of establishing profitable investments and of training a small part of the labour force.

Negative The Israeli authorities train a minimum number of the workers-those it needs for the future development of some of the production sectors in the occupied territories.

But the main effects of the "complementarity policy" , which has changed radically the basic socioeconomic structure of the occupied territories, are deeply negative.

Agriculture has become more and more dependent on the Israeli market, from which it is also forced to buy much of its needed supplies.

At the same time "economic complementarity" has been the main obstacle to any development of the industrial sector in the West Bank and Gaza.

The main feature of industry in these territories has remained unchanged.

Stunted industry

Tiny industrial firms, processing agricultural products, and employing less than 10 workers, have continued to be almost the only form of industry in these territories:

The occupation authorities allow and sometimes even encourage that sort of It cannot compete with the Israeli industry in the Israeli market, but it can be compiementary to some Israeli industries by proyiding materials for building, clothes, textiles and furniture.

"Contracting" is one of the means by which Israeli investors gain profits.

‹ Profitable They usually make profitable agreements through which the small capitalists in the occupied territories send them certain goods they need So Israeli capital indirectly exploits the cheap labour force..

According to Ma'arivthe Israeli newspaper-in 1970 there were 65 firms in the occupied territories producing for Israeli contractors. Their total production was worth around I.L.2.9 million.

Another cruel conse•quence of the policy of the occupation authorities has been the! transfer of 250,000 Palestinian Arabs from permanent employment to become casual labourers,, thus depriving them of a . basic right.

Less than minimum Many who found no employment were forced to migrate to the Arab neighbouring countries. Those with jobs in the occupied territories are "protected" in theory by Israeli minimur wage laws.

But in practice they receive on average less than 60% of the "minimum". In addition, the Israeli authorities deny them the right to set up trade unions, and provide no social rights, such as health care or social security.

Furthermore Arab workers also suffer from appalling living conditions.

According to even the Israeli papers, whole familiving cinding starles are living Jewish farmers.

Locked up

The Arab workers from the occupied territories are not allowed to stay during the night in the Jewishpopulated areas.

That is why many Israeli employers, keep the Arab workers locked up on their' premises so that they are not noticed by the police.

In all these ways the Israeli government annexation policy has intensified the political and economic exploitation of the Arabs in the occupied territories.

The policy is one of brutal colonial oppression, Palestinian youth fight back. utilising all the traditional methods of repression historically used by colonial regimes, including violence, to keep the current system unchanged.

According to the plans of the Zionist leaders in Israel, this policy should lead to the complete absorption of the occupied Arab land into the Zionist state.

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"'How are the different demands and forms of struggle to be harmonisad, even if only within the limits of one city? History has already answered this question: through soviets. These will unite the representatives of all the fighting groups. For this purpose, no one has yet proposed a different form of organisation; indeed it would hardly be possible to think up a better one. Soviets are not limited to an a priori party programme. They throw open their door to all the exploited. Through these doors pass representatives of all strata, drawn into the general current of the struggle. The organisation, broadening out together with the movement is renewed again and again in its womb. All political currents of the proletariat can struggle for leadership of the soviets on the basis of the widest democracy. The slogan of soviets, therefore, crowns the programme of transitional demands". Transitional Programme P.28 (Folrose Ed.)

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of the WŞL I've taken part in many struggles, which they have

war, known as the "six day The West Bank, the Gaza