Workers Socialist League

Socialist Press, Trotskyism Today and the Trotskyist International Liaison Committee, 1975–1984

Socialist Press no. 171

17 October 1979 · 12 scanned pages · about 15,109 words of machine-read text

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Scan page 1

Convenors vote to reject, but

CONFED LEADERS

CAMPAIGN FOR BL

British Leyland chairman Edwardes Michael the to ballot planning 100,000 workers in BL cars on his package of closures and redundancies, over the heads of convenors, who at last Saturday meeting overwhelmingly voted reject it. Working on the technique of the "big scare', he will pose the accept the closure or part-closure of 13 plants and 75 000 reaundancies the closure of the whole of BL by the spring of next year.

already Edwardes

BUT

enlisted an important ally in this to blucaeon OL submission: the • into WOFKeTS leadership of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions! Surrender Confed General Secretary argued Alex merr vigorously the case at the convenors' meet- of acceptance 8F19 and the cowardes plan surrender of 25.000 jobs.

full, OTTICIal union backing frontal attack on workers at the very heart ot the engineering 25,000 cutback in BL ne would ITSe T ОГЛО estimated 160,000 redundancies in component and other related tirms inkee To It. sooner than challenge the naked attacks of capitalism, are prepared the contee leaders to sacritice these

HOOS

lifting so much as a finger!

pointed convenors

DUL

out after the meeting, this not the unanimous view or the Confed bureaucracy. Reject

ACTSS

National OTTICe! Todd Sullivan, the Secretary of the Emergency Committee set the Confed immediately up by announcement of the after the arauca suongry that the plan should be rejected contraction of BL enviseaged by the scare Edwardes would, ne said, bring the total demise of eventually •We have to say quite clearly that if the plan is accepted the company will wind up over the Joseph

SOCIALIST

PRESS

Weekly paper of the Workers Socialist League * No. 171 * 17 October 1979 * 15p next four vears." But then Alex Ferry, speak- behalf of Confed oppose the 1- xecutive rose Emergency Committee's recom- mendation. had coped executive with closures and contractions in shipbuilding and elsewhere in engineering, ne began "but this the mOsT difficult had to face because it is the most important and co central to une enemeerns industry in Britain. had the choice, but Would De Tor capalsion choice is not on-not from that the BL Board, the NEB or the government." had told Confed cowardes leaders on october unal tnere no possibility of obtaining was sufficient cash to save BL as it stands. And he revealed that even if the money were there, he would not take it, since nis term: make BL are profitable. the Confed On October leaders heard a similar tale from Tory axe-man Keith Joseph. Far said from providing more cash, Ferry, the Hones would

HOL

CLOSURES

Smiling bureaucrats hand in plea to Edwardes: they were reluctant to read out his reply Challenging even pay the amounts allocated the convenors present to measure up to such a by the Labour government!

warned at a further meeting Ferry controntation threatened the resulted to ther with Edwardes, that result would be on their tne conted oureducials own heads: unless they gave him a commit- by October 10 that they 600 troops of the ment ne would back his plan, he would Light Brigade had good leader- ship, but they rode into the not even ask Ton more money thus causing banks to foreclose loans, and the outstanding collapse ot BL s dealer network.

"We were ready to reject the Edwardes plan" i claimed Ferry. But then they though again *Threatened plants must about the October 10 deadline Edwardes would be occupied to provide a which and focus for the struggle 30o ress •a boare decide whether seek new throughout BL. *Open the books of BL, loans. Pressure its suppliers and bankers!

Open the books of the all Ane Hike Enose British car industry! committed seeking simply reforms within capitalism, the Unmask the profiteers! Warn of the dangers Confed leaders cracked, unable opposing contemolate FInE thousands of workers out- notion that BL must be made side BL. profitable. *No redundancies! For can't imagine the

•YOU

pressure on 14 men deciding on work sharing on full pay: at least 165,000 the jobs of in the reduced work available 500,000 ane a turnel must be divided between related industries" ceclares Ferry. the whole workforce, under not prepared to "We the control of trade union call their bluff-because some of us don't believe it is a bluff."

TORY CONFERENCE-Page 5 BL jobs massacre. But if the reformist leaders offer nothing but numiliatin. ulti- surrender the Communist Party matum. members who spoke so strongly against the plan failed to put forward any alternative course от астол. Jack Adams, _oncoricet

TGWU

correctly pointed out that there was 25,000 jobs option or sacriticing to save the other T30 OU-tne plan was in reality "an orderly the closure of the retreat into whole of BL Brindle, another Len and convenor of the Truck and Bus division, pointed out that every retreat by union leaders in Levland had landec workers in a worse position.

Death warrant Robinson, And Derek Stalinist chairman of the Com bine Committee pointed

OUT

if accepted the Edwardes BL workers plan would be signing their

OWI

Robinson also admitted that because bL was a public cor poration" and other convenors had "acquiesced to some thinos in the cast bur he did not refer to the fact that the standing he actually valley o of death. for Edwardes and ovation not prepared to are pledged him full support when confront the Edwardes plan he took over! the dead bodies of our

UVOT

points made

SLIOTIS

members. against the cowardes bian were instead Perry and -ThE enough to secure an overwhelm- Confed leaders will propose ing vote against it at the con- simply to hand over their mem- Cont'd Back Page. bers, bound and gaggea, to tne

OUR POLICIES

committees, without loss of *Kick out the Labour traitors! Drive out pay. Edwardes' Confed collabor- *Defeat Edwardes and and the Labour his Tory backers! For a ators, leaders whose policies have massive campaign for a no paved the way for the vote in Edwardes ballot! Demand Mobilise mass action along- Edwardes plan. that those who claim to side BL workers in the fight oppose the sackings stand bring down the Tory to up and lead a fight for a asset-strippers! socialist alternative through- *For the nationalisation out the labour movement, without compensation of the engineering industry and or stand exposed. principled, *Build the banks, under workers' a leadership management. For a socialist revolutionary among BL workers! plan of production for the need of the many, not the profits of the few!

Scan page 2

Spain's generals press for

-INTERNATIONAL•

crackdown More appears every day of feverish prepar- of the ations by sections Spanish ruling class to put an end to the already restricted democratic rights which exist in Spain. The centre of this activity has been the senior officer corps one races ary. senior generals A bout ten have been what is evidently coordinated cam- Daion to make ine ouoic oreo arations for either a military coup or, at least, the declaration ot a state ot emergency. Speeches Five or six of the denerals have in the last four weeks given widely publicised Soccerts democratisation lamentino The of the last two years. The keynote of one of these oy Generar conzales del yerro was that "Spain is dying in our hands" Several of the most senior generals have been giving interviews, including of Franco, ma u Suarez natonal newspaders Sections the capitalist class have also been organising a He hopes that this will put Indeed when the bourgeois Basaue Nationalist Partv (PNV) Came and odds or cne an eno to cA's successtu cam.

ruling Democratic Centre Union paign terrorist acts against starts to take on a direct respon-

(UDC)

to Adolfo the police and military. sibility for Suarez and replace him with an But this hope looks increas.

Euskadi, the political crisis of right-wing ingly forlorn. the region, and so of Spain as a even more Premier, less identified with compromises whole, will be sharpened.

Not is ETA's boycott only with the leaders of the workers' getting broad popular Exposed parties. support, the utterly inade-

OUT

Suarez, himself, quate proposals now The "opposition" PNV will staking everything on getting a make it virtually inconceivable Sullicenty tnal. wnctever une resuit or the exoosed capitalist exploitation every bit his fake Basque "autonomy" referendum, ETA will be willing in the October 25 referendum.

to end the campaign. the equal of Suarez' government —Jamaica: 'Cuban design' claims Seaga Last week Fiat, Italy's largest capitalist owned enterprise-part Gadaffi's by Colonel Libyan regime- The openly pro-imperial- Cuban launched unprece- an Istand s altails by ist Jamaica Labour Party government. dented wave of victimis- Seaga to list went on has set out to capitalise on ations worker against number of areas where Cubans discontent the mass with actively assisting the militants. the Manley government in that Covered 61 workers were sacked preparation for the General masterminded

TRA

Director October 9 by on Election the last state of emergency in due within the Giovanni Agnelli. . They were next eighteen months. vattered all charged with having viol-

JLP

leader Edward Seaga World crisis ated principles oraclul coexistence in the "peaceful addressed a supporters in Kingston on 4 natever the real exteno of October. 1975 three Cuban activity in Jamaica, one Fiat Since thing Neither the certain. executives have been killed attacks Manley's People's cupans •ПОГ nave any and 19 wounded in terrorist National Party on the JLP, him- intention of fighting to mobilise selt, the malor capitalist pape the masses against the catastro- allacks Agnelli implied that the The zieaner-ane ine united phic ettects the world capitalisi States were all part of a "Cuban 61 victimised workers were crisis is naving on the Jamaicar design" economy. responsible for these with IMF dictates In line Orchestrated allacks. Manley The against campaign slashing public services and terrorism is thereby used as This: speech allowing inflation to let rip.

the • latest episode in an orchestrated cam- material condi Inese paign, eagerly supported by the tions Tacing tne Jamaican work.

ing class and the refusal of the teaner to wao l• anu-com and direct it Manley carry out socialist' Cuba and Manley's govern- socialist policies for dealing with the situation ment. that has anower the pro-imperialist JLP to creep ›exon went on to cam 'We must understand that ahead of the PNP in the opinion Estrada (the cuban Ambassador to Jamaical presence polls. Many sections of the work- ing class however have resorted nore is to de Manevs does.

Manley's tutor, to direct to strike action in an attempt tc Manley how to conduct affairs •rotect their uvine stancares The combined efforts of the AT JAMBICa. Arguing that he had no JLP, the Gleaner and US imper- quarrel with Cuba and that he Jalism •revenu winning a third term of office Was Ine revolution Seaga said: ensure a bitter and seem set to "What Castro wants to do ooo•v election cam with thi Cubans in Cuba is his when finally business [!]. What we object to Pulled Italian car workers and the class war in Euskadi will emerge still more openly.

nere is inus no bossibility that the pressures within the ruling class towards emergency rule or a cous wit •iminish.

The only serious question is they strike. movement workers must be alerted to the danger must organise adequate Ileasure. se l werence independent working Inroven class organisations. Fiat's mass victimisations a pretext for getting rid of the most militant workers in Fiat's Turin factories. The trade union leaders with half- responded have hearted protests designed to sa botage any real struggle Fiat against the manage- ment's actions. The Communist, Social- ist Catholic and unions organised (badly) a token 3 hour [!] strike against the victimisations. But criticise the they sackings not basic as the organised working class but on merely ecastle grounas that detailed simply accusations made WeTH against the 61 SP The Stalinist and leaders are in any case in no position to combat the reac- "struggle against Lonely terrorism" since themselves part of it. doing this workers will encounte ever possibit obstacle from their main leaders -especially Communist Party Played down He has put his public faith in Suarez-a stand cemocratic echoed Socialist recently elected Party leader Felipe Gonzalez Last week Gonzalez danger- played down the coup ousiy under guise of oooosino ine covernment the military stage when coup d'etat, it is to put the right power. But already Inere. But what Gonzalez failed to point out was that the sectior or ine rent wotch warn powe today is able to exert control of the mass movement only oecause or ine snameru cordo oration of Gonzalez and his ilk.

Fear The section of the right now ditch Suarez Depart ao ing oecause i tears the working as and itse lies will organise which one celes Gonzales and Carrillo relentless- ly oppose The capitalists are increasing.

Without thin becoming convinced that full Ine rancoist octatorshio. tricy and their system of exploitation will not be able to survive.

They have backed every reactionary of .the Democratic Chnstian strengthen governient apparatus of une repressive the bourgeois state. Fiat's city of Turin, centre a main terrorist activities, has Communist Party mayor has tried success fully) to deal with the situa- tion by swelling the police force by 2,000. If the Fiat 61 are success- fully to resist their victimis- ation, massive mobilisatións of the Italian working class are required around a pro- gramme which rejects any support Ior the dulls u! the bosses and their state against terrorism Such actions are pretext for a ruthless attack on the rights and organisa- tion of the working class.

Zionist- crisis grows The desperate polit- ical crisis of the Zionist regime in occupied Pal- estine has opened up weeks over recent against the background of a series of important strikes. Bank Leumi, one of the largest Palestine, has Hocked OutEs workers surce the beginning of the month after they made a 120% pay demand. This claim would just about make up for the rate of inflation for the last year.

Similar are demands coming forward from teachers and other public SECLOT WOrKers This crisis is reflected in a number of ways •within 'the regime itself. The efforts of the ultra- Begin ment to reach a deal with Sadat in Egypt against the Palestinian liberation struggle napore-eno ted by the setting up of a organisation even to the right of Begin's Likud Party. Begin This new organisation, called the Tehiya ('Rebirth') wants to expand the Israeli land of state to the woe Israel' including the West Bank probably parts of Syria and Lebanon.

It attracted 3,000 people its recent founding conference in Jerusalem. This moveinent provides the political of expression the efforts of various ultra- Zionist groups to establish new settlements. They largely connived at by the Bein government but may in the end outflank them within the Zionist movement, especially as they express more accurately the Zionist state's continual need seek further plunder. The weakness of Begin's position this point al shown by his inability to about the cabinet bring reshuffle needs to appease the reactionaries He is known to want to dismiss his liberal' finance minister Simcha Erlich, but do so lor tear Calliot the delicate upsetting balance between 'left' and "right'. In the end it may be that the Zionist regime may try rescue itself, as always, by beginning a new war. This time, however, the crisis-ridden regime find it difficult to hold back workers confron- ting 100% inflation, who are still denied any independent trade union organisation.

Scan page 3

WORLD BANK

FIGURES SHOW

SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 October 1979 Robert Macnamara's life has been devoted to the capitalist system. His first career led him to become Chief Executive of the world's largest one of Then John F. Kennedy made him US Secretary of in which post prepared and executed the US demonic policies imperialism in Indochina.

Resigning on the eve of humiliating defeat, the defoliator OI the architect vietnam. OI some of the most barbaric acts of modern times. was considered breath- will taking cynicism TO De right man to head the World Bank-whose stated objec- tive is to develop tne back- ward countries of the capit- alist world. Incongruity If Macnamara • did not feel some incongruity at the time of his appointment, he has in his decade of office been forced more and more public that this objective far from being achieved. He has just launched the second World Development detailed annual Keport-a of Comodul coolie and social the underdeveloped his attempt to least partially wrest optimistic message trom the figures, Macnamara's survey -compiled by woro ank economists and one of the most comprehensive ever published-carries a sombre message on, or between, every line. Given the source of the survey-a bastion of imper- reaction-the carries perhaps even added weight empirical indictment of capitalism.

Differential Of course, it is possible to find some aggregate figures which may seem to "prove" that the relative position of the economic- ally backward countries improving under capitalism, Statistics of underdevelopment.

Life expectancy at birth (1977) Child death rate age 1-4, per '000 Adult literacy rate (%) Population per doctor Population per nurse Daily per capita calorie supply Birth rate (per 000) Death rate (per 000)

WALL

Bolivian miners-exploited by imperialist bankers albeit slowly. the So,

TOT

instance. Gross National Product of what the Bank woria euphemistically calls the 37 low Industrial- income ised capit- countries alist countries 50 74 19 99 36 10,300 630 9,720 210 3,342 2,036 40 20 15

REAL FACE OF

CAPITALISM

"developing countries" rose rate of 5.7% al an average between 1960 and 1976, while that of the industrial "free market" (i.e. imperial- ist economies) grew at only But the narrowing of the gap implied by these figures wiped is more than vul the differential popula- tion growth rates. More than that, the World Bank Report divides the developing countries into two groups-the poor ("middle countries") and the (low extremely poor income countries"). And the average rate of growth production head these 37 poorest countries two tne "Development Decades" has been, according to the World Bank, scarcely more than 1% a year. riven this tigure conceals the undoubted accentuation Page 3 Wild profits for gold speculators as millions starve The debt is very much a limited concentrated in number of countries-not so much the poorest countries "credit Worthy. being which, less are left without the of prospect even borrowing from the banks middle of number however, income countries, have fallen deeply into debt wrescued, they have been

IMF

by the creditors, acting tor thei thereby obtain an which iron grip on the economies.

In this way countries like Fara, exa, Chile and Mexico, and Uruguay had to pay in 1977 20% their export over debt servicing earnings 1n (repayment and interest).

Enough for all The statistics produced show that economists the value of production in world a whole has ds $10,000 billion - passed $2,500 a head of roughly the world's population. Such figures are simplis- tic and easily misused part of the But ther evidence that the forces of have developed • proauchon on a world scale sufficiently to make possibit material standard for every inhabitant. Misery Now is the first time in has history that been 1975-77 (Kampuchea) possible to say that. 59% of the very was only Yet the capitalist system.

low level it had been in orbit the great 1969-71. majority of people still live, Cambodia only But nas in its advanced regions one or 4o underdeveloped been suffering for ten years countries in which food pro- a prolonged and agonising duction per head fell during its crisis while on under- the same period. developed edge it accumu- Such developments mean and lates poverty that the often quoted frightening misery on figures which suggest that a scale. share of the growing The World Bank Survey national production of the carries a prediction that- backward economically on assumptions which are in countries is in the industrial no way unrealistically pessi- be worse that SeCLOI mistic-the world as misleading. will contain instead of

NO W

moville Sometimes, millions more inhabitants the demonstrating than daily eat

WOO

expansion of industry it can minimum calorie require- be the statistical expression ments by the year 2000. of economic inequality of decline in agriculture.

The growing food deficit, Rotten ripe the poorest countries. The inescapable conclu- along with the increase 1n oil prices of the last few sion is that, during several lot the it is one molt years, is one of the major startling of many facts and which the apparent concern of bour- reasons behind the growing this book projections balance of payments deficit geois politicians and media which go underline of the economically back- for world poverty has never Lenin's view now more than the material half a century old, that the waro coummie. been gredier. An

IMF

estimate lives of hundreds of millions capitalist system is rotten of people has been getting published ago ripe for overthrow wo weeke the total suggests that said in his Trotsky steally worse of the "positive" Will be as One deficit for great History of the Russian much as $49 billion, facts in the Report is that bring- that Callas life expectancy at birth ing their cumulative deficit had: since 1973 to $200 billion.

"reached a point on the the poorest countries risen from 42 years in 1960 That staggering sum must world arena where it ceased to 50 years in 1977. be obtained largely trom justify its costs borrowing on the part of horrifying production-understanding figures show that this means the economically backward these not in the commercial but in the sociological sense.

for most people eight extra columnes deprivation problems, "Tariffs, of and And of militarism, the crises, wars, diplomatic con- indebtedness are one of the misery. The plight major themes of this report.

ferences and other scourges, Cambodians today The total medium and swallow up and squander so extreme case of a situation public of much creative energy that in long-term which is world-wide. "developing" spite of all achievements in countries $113 The World Bank esti- shows, grew from technique there remains no 1970 $231 room for the further growth mates that food production billion to Cambodia of prosperity and culture."

head billion in 1977. per

Scan page 4

Times bosses block return to work Page 4 Corrie Bill • right wing press home advantage In a week in which women's rights-'How the BMA has denounced Women's Lib militates Corrie against the poor and the the John anti- black'-sex education, birth bill, and one abortion contiol and lesbian couples.

doctor publicly declared that it would Contradictory cause suffering, ill-health and centre page article, certain death for reprinted from that staple numbers or women m source of reactionary propa- the Evening passed, the ganda, campaign standara: tore into sex edu- the against Bill putting proceeds. following absuruly But the reactionaries are contradictory view: "What should we have in also stepping up their propa- ganda. its place to help youth sex Prominent outside the problems? Tory Party conference were I'm afraid, really It Is. anti-abortion should campaigners quite simple, we from

SPUC,

the so-called have more parental respon- "Society for the Protection siblity Parents who nowa.

of the Unborn Child". days choose to bring a child world I! not InTO Ine "Human Concern"

SPUC

have way!] their should take full moral and They handed out free psychological responsibility copies of a newspaper cynic- for their children. ally titled "Human So there the deadly logic Concern" which ane links between anti-abortion of these mediaeval bigots is spelled out. On the and forms sexual one OI hand they oppose the birth repression and social reaction made control and sex education clear. was that can help prevent un- Thatcher was praised tot her support for the Corrie wanted pregnancies: at the Health minister while they oppose Mille sallle Gerald Vaughan thus forcing was abortons slammed for equivocation to bring unwanted women of Bill, children into the world; and aspects the though he actually voted in then they turn round and that the full favour. claim burden But elsewhere in the the training of these paper were articles attacking children should fall on the tnose for same luckless women!

WRO

Realism and Responsibility The Tory Party conference

SUNDHY

NATSOP

PHOTO: Andrew Wiard. Report

CHAP

Times workers demonstrate last November that the Small surprise paper gives over half a page to the reactionarv rantings of the Pope, whose much vaunted campaign for "human rights" is limited to anti-communist propaganda in Poland and does not even elementary right of women to control working of their the own bodles or the rignt of men and women freely to deter- mine their own sexuality.

Mediaevalists Nor is it surprising that

SPUC

gloatingly print full list of 55 Labour MPs who scandalously voted in favour of the Corrie Bill, taking their stand alongside traditional Tory mediaeval- ists and bigots in opposition rights basic women. The mass demonstration against the Corrie Bill for October 28 must be seen not as the culmination but a focal point of the campaign such reactionaries drive out of the labour movement and to force the hundreds of MPs Labour who abstained to turn and up vote in force against the Bill at its Third Reading. Spending cuts Public sector unions in particular must also link the attacks on abortion rights to Tory the fight against spending cuts, in demanding that the TUC resolution for day of action a natlonal against the cuts is imple- with mented

SLEKU

action in every area.

MARCH

October 28, 1979 Assemble Speakers Corner 11.30 a.m. for march to rally at Trafalgar Square Throw out the Corrie Bill!

For free abortion on demand on the NHS! No cuts! For a sliding scale of NHS spending! Threats by the Thom- son management to close the Times and Sunday Times for good came at the end of a week where the management deliberate- ly prevented an agree ment being reached for a return to work. The of the leadership NGA had for the whole of the period shutdown been pressurising its chapels to accept sackings. This culminated In May which agreement included loss • of jobs and Take up 'troops out' fight- It was ironic that the port the historic liberation struggle by the Irish people.

Party Labour conference which voted for measures to fulfilled militants every in increase Party •democracy branch and CLP take up union wound up by voting Ine want for tre war in reac to be discussed at every level of support the continued the organisten, , and a policy denial of basic democratic immediate withdrawal rights to the Irish people.

A show of hands produced A useful starting point for such a struggle the a majority against a motion call- Party the the tact

TOI

imaged ate ulat drawal of British troops from the occupied six counties, des- pite the tact that neavy and consistent lobbying by delegates had forced the topic onto the conterence audits l recommendation of the NEC Collaboration But many of those for continuation of British military were trade repression delegates expressing their Ene policy organisations, but their own individual commitment WIEn

SHITIS

imperialism. Only a tiny handful of union conferences have discussed ¡reland Ine ast ten yne Wu, the issue is sunded In some unions, such as bureaucratically of the agenda

IRELAND

every two years without dis- cussion. move- (brush abour I ment has an obligation to sup-

PRESS

GANG

'Colditz for the forces discipline" has inter- Yobbos' i how the was estingly only just taken a Star greeted Whitelaw's decision to 'declare' for the Party, Labour a decision plan for detention which is expected let to with military centres

TUC

bureaucrats off the regimes. hook over their promises to It was an indication of launch a labour movement the relief with which the oduc press was able to greet the Tory Party conference The Sun and the Daily No worries about how to Mail, which have no such handle 'infiltration' stories pretensions and vie for the here position of Thatcher's press naked class Racism, officer, have been in seventh hatred, and sexism are all heaven. part of the mainstream of After Thatcher's speech Tory conferences and they "Maggie the Sun declared flowed freely through the blasts bully unions" and in a Blackpool hall. congratulatory leader After the rigours of the declared: Party Labour conference "These were the words, the press had come home this was the philosophy that and was able to bask in the ordinary people everywhere wanted to hear ..she will Container of Blackpool. deserve the applause of the Star Daily which whole country and a proud in the "hard line gloried place in history. corrective units dishing out The Daily Mail called her technology agreements. agreement and demanded an These losses equivalent rise, 10D and overturning agreements went only part their union leadership on the question. O1 tilC way towalts wita the Thomson management Despite thé major climb- the unions over were acarone aowns by The NATSOPA machine the past year the Thomson room chapel which had held management has not longest the against achieved the scale of job

CELE

proposals settled last week- cutting that it requires.

with management conceding threats close the

BLES

a massive wage increase of papers cannot be seen as an up to 63% empty threat. But the which Not achieved

LIONS

have failed to raise the ques- NGA members tions of occupation and working nationalisation without alongside NATSOPA mem- compensation have at bers immediately-as for management knew they instill 11U fighting such threats. would-repudiated their SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 October 1979 NEC members-Dennis Skinner, Joan Maynard and Les Huck. mela —votea tor the troops out motion in the NEC These 'lefts' must be called

UDOI

transiate fats correci stand into a serious struggle for troops ; out policy through out tre labour ano tide unier movement and for the removal the pro-imperialist Callaghan-Healey-Mason leader-

STIO

TROOPS OUT<*

NOW!

speech "a personal appeal to millions of ordinary trade union members". Like the Sun, the Daily Mail sees Thatcher as having a place in history, perhaps of Queen lne raalton Elizabeth I "Listening to her and looking her yesterday there was something abou extraordinary woman that does nurture optimism against the odds "Maybe it is just because she is a woman that she has it in her to succeed woman who leads- and after yesterday can any- one doubt that she was born lead her country? -calls forth wholly responses new." On that note of responses as old as capital- ism itself the press, like the Tory fades out conterence to a rendering of Land of Hope and Glory.

OUT NOW!

WOMAN

WORKER

No. 3 Articles on women in Ireland, fighting the cuts, Kampuchea, and the Com- munist Party's women's paper, 'Link' Price 16p including from

WSL,

31 postage Park Hill, London NW5 1HR

Scan page 5

Letting the Tory hounds A bored Keith Joseph Business as usual-Prentice A Young Conservative attacks the Campaign Against Youth Unemploy- ment Isn't it wonderful? SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 October 1979 "After all, we're all capit- alists, aren't we?" This was how one deccate aptly summed up the content of the tour days ot the nave filita Tory Party conterence 'debates' which the only question raised was whether the natcher covernments teacuon ary course was sufficiently right wing. Tory Partv's idea of at its conferences "democracy" Callaghan must certainly have Tushino creen with enw Nobody even pretends that the policies adopted will in the slightest way alter the policy of the Tory leadership. There even the 1001 of oretence the vast majority of the resolu- tions tabled. Token vote And after every ministerial winding-up speech, matter now nave spoken the selected motion against there is scarcely ever more than

VOTE

Tory Central Office is unable to recall an instance when the

BUT

since thev are them disagree A cross section of the conference 'rank and file' off the leash Why. apparently since «udents-ano seek to dive ine agree completely with the impression that the Party cares leadership, do the Tories bother about youth. men and Ageing ex milita assorted reactionaries from tar.

Publicity value flung county seats seek in turn pass on their • Victorian world Of course there the vicW an come yours reactionaries. intensified barrage press The conference also allows for propaganda vicious millionaires and experienced spokesmen for big business union movement the and

TOT

point the way and offer reactionary measures the Tories glimmer of hope to crisis-ridden small-time company directors.

But there are also other Again and reasons. again Privileged becomes clear, for instance, thai substantial numbers the ladies and gentlemen' on and extremely rich people-few the floor conference are of the •i won name er worker the ront oT Ene rarty their lives-can posture for leadership, howling for the most period as "the party of the draconian the measures against people", and the "caring party" world class agains Detore closing more grants and youth. hospitals, old people's homes, Like a pack of hunting dogs, these slavering beasts must be lei off the leash every so often, and given the run of the Blackpool Winter Gardens sound of to pent-up Their various orms or class hatred. Nauseating A handful nausealiti upper middle class Tory school Must disu wractice cacl vear the rhetorical skiis neeced to become nauseating Tory Remember him? Deposed Prime Minister Heath Page 5 Undisguised face of Toryism - Lord Thorneycroft John Lister reports on the ruling class in conference schools and social services And a handful of beleagured Tory trade some •e suace nemse ves that those workers conned Sort dachi support ariudily support • natener s oolicies ot mass sack ings, cuts and speed-up) get the chance hobnob with emplovers wnc observe their efforts with the detached, morbid curiosity •ot a nervous, aue tence watching a outnumbered lion tamer. And of course in the collec.

tive hysteria that is generated- in which the most grovellin compliments receive wild 'We're all capitalists aren't and We! time-worn cliches are greeted as two at least, that they really flights of oratory; and do what they want feeble jest gives rise to guffaws are able to to the workine class ou tenearsee abonte-ine cor In their minds they picture rank and are able to tte slashing without themselves convince themselves, for a day restraint at th Tare state; riding in truumor through broken picket lines; the wind- slammoine pipes Scargill

OT ATTAI

and Tony Benn; screwing endless increases in productivity at n extra worktorce convinced into submission by Geoffrey Howe's economic Snouting and logging a inst and flogging van dals and army of scroungers, with the VOODOs alon WOrK shy the militants and the terrorists land a good propor- tion of the blacks as well).

These dreams and fantasies culmination reach Thatcher's Friday speech.

well heeled, With a united well-oiled, over-nourished yelp of delight they their greet triumphant leader tax cuts Thei •thanks tor • The that have benefitted every para.

site in the hall. but then wilt come tne bitte come-down of seeking to imple- Thatcher package the real

VICIO

resist. where v Is stu oTT InI , and, where the Engineering Employer: Federation-the and ruthless emoovers bogies nas lucroeer defeated by 2 million workers Then, ritualistic for all thi winee co out This week against the Labour and

TUC

leadership, the Thatcher cabinet will mind inemselves in reality increasingly dependent on these self same Lab coes doc.

DOCK

the anger and militancy of their members

Scan page 6

PIE:

The last two articles have significant examined the silence of the USFI docu- and their actual ments positions the massive revolutionary upsurge in Portugal 1974-76. might thought that such an omission woud Dea die enough scar on a series of docu- forward for the USFI's vvdy mutants. But closer examination shows other major holes in the vor s analysis. What Vietnam and Kampuchea? The contradictory outcome this war. ane tse nature of the Stalinist leadership "analysed: -11 Lal! the word

TRIS

ConteXt- inches on page 9 of the four wore document. 'The Sino Soviet conflict. in Moscow and Peking which reskased so of the rank and the jockeyed for position, many Communist parties were Lend Chin the, of the orestice made impossioie

TOT

Stalinists to block the revolu- Viet- the Lionary victory With namese masses elimination of capitalism !!] the fusion of the two halves of single detormed workers" state has been estab- lished there USFi offers the nus The members not one word about Cambodia-even for discussions sane! Counter-revolutionary generalised And the statement of defeat of "the imoeriasm ano elimination of capitalism" turns from resolutely away any ot serious analysis social processes involved-processes echo overturns Stalinist the ane China post-war period and which view clearly demonstrate essential counter revolutionary role of the Hanoi Despite the formality of Vietnam reterring "deformed workers' state" there World Docu- Is no call in the ment or a oozca revolution in Vietnam, or the building of a Trotskyist Nor do the party. пототе anva ue ac to what is 'deformed' about it.

And this embarassed evasion on cocoon cocco on the major division that has now USFI XIth WORLD

CONGRESS

The grim reality behind USFI's notable silences eruoted within the usr. The Mandelites now argue that Pol Pot's Kampuchea prior wetnamese vasion ind. a detormed workers state, and withdrawal of the livaucis supporters on the other hand describe the Pol Pot regime , and Vietnamese fully endorse invasion a stes vorwaro tol the Indochinese revolution"!

A similar embarassed evasion marks Ine the in 1976

MPLA

Angola by the African

LAYOUTN

backed UNITA/FNLA forces.

At the time, US Party vocals refused to take sides, branding it as a tribal war could win the No-one •wr declared MPLA were win then this to could genocidal read mination Tine Angolan population. Pogroms Tony the issue, ahoroved by the swr Thomas's report NC, declared that: do think not that any of these win the

CON

war . If one of them does gain decisive the victory over .. the real winner would be imperialism". •We have to anticipate that the victory of either side in this may War meat "can pocroms. wITn victims running into tens thousands. Already leaders of

MPLA

talked aboul nave turning the Bakongo areas held

FNLA

into 'another Africa the word Biatra' synonymous the civil war in Nigeria and the immense slaughter that occurred over Tine A similar perspective is involved in Angola" until after The SWP event the •ecared its suboori for the MPLA's military struggle against the South African

I CIA

васкес mercenary condemn the UNITA and FNLA forces • collaborating with the Uncritical • The Mandelites on the other hand lurched towards uncritical support tor ine MrLA. Now however the real both of positions al c covere vo in me vore sci ment by a refusal to analyse

PART FOUR

majority's tne issues invoived in the wai BItT the (new war dramatically evasion Angola is coupled on with their tippped the balance complete evasion and

TOT

cove-• on meoe or co struggle and found an echo also Africa-and the strategic aims of the Kremlin, towards which the inthe Soweto events. The wal receives a one convenient lever mere column.inch in World Perspectives Document- The World Document

SWP

the Cuban which the prudently describes role ambiquousiy on Page 9-leavind

-OUT

-sHantest analysis self-criticism- it completely open for inter- to whether or abandon discredited as not their pretation Cuba positions. declarine Is acumen alson witn the Soviet bureaucracy. "Angola constituted one of "The Cubans, recognising the main battlefields. Washington's Washington sought : to intervene comporar paralysis, sent material aid with Inroudr use •The

LIA

and Moscow's acceptance, including through back in by military mounted the thousands of troops to Angola invasion Africa" South Africa. inflates Ine analysis subsequently of the South African Carter leaving out regime, by leorisdis, prepared Which proxy nature or ener wuvasion Havana attempt) " nese ettoris were winning back the

MPLA

most Angola with the government assistance or cuban toods between the aid of the Cubans was decisive defeating Washington's and scheme insurgent driving South African invaders out of the country" this is DuT over emphasis) evasion and a totally inadequate in or Morenos analysis, it Moreno's Ene DOSItIOT They made some the term Cuba a bizarre their … In ane docu. АЛа

SWP

does conceive the Angolan MPLA influenced while main- struggle of tion and on the also oeen whole including up for the role the supporting genocidal war United States.

COULLY

whose the • was It singles and

MPLA...

strongly the "lett erical •••ortunIste chionasiste the raise the inter. Derg's any permanent .•TO gramme Black Afro- ot Dontical Ethiopian organisation masses. carried Foi tIlt classes is abandone ord world. the world novel revolution' combine is i ot the witt •aCK substituted support for inde- This comes from a tendency for Eritrean itself recales tendency more orthodox than people. ever" The Cuban and Soviet SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 October 1979 The United Secretariat of We know, of course, that the two other main groupings the Fourth International that (USFI) is undoubtedly the lay claim to the title of Fourti International" are both and largest most widely substantially smaller than known of the currents that have emerged from the post- "International Committee" (run war. crisis of the Trotskyist British WRPI 'organising Sommittee and movement. With thousands of members Reconstruction of the Fourth and sections .or sympathising International (run by sections in dozens of countries, French OCI) -certainly hold political positions as bad or fa It is viewed ov many mITAn Trotskyist "the" Fourth worse than the USFI on many International questions themselve are Workers Socialist USFI) wracked flike the Loague does not share this view.

internal crisis. We see the USFI as a movement Disorientation that has departed on numerous question. TrON Ene positions and method put for.

But the bankruptcy of their ward in the Transitional Pro rivals is in our view no argu which for the the Fourth recognisin International the was founded exciusive continuin 1938 of the Trotskyist Eritrean liberation figl governments should reject leadershio While leadership the sWr Eritrean or continues to regard Cuba as ar any Derg to undeformed workers' state and the Castro leadership as 'revolu- rule tionary forces sie itself and emerging troops! both within UTlE within The al as which challenge this view, and their regard both the Cuban state and •erence Tine Ine castro leadershi• as burea workers' state cratised, or seeking a half way ism. opposite house which • hide out- to would course brand it elusively as "centrist' -as does the IMG's Alan Jones but also Sooner than take clear the revolutionary position around which thorough debate can take olace (Our emphasis) XI Congress documents

TO P

fudge the issue, presenting confusing and utterly nade quate stand Of course it is true that in the American document the USFI does now at last con- Castroites willing cede that "a further evaluation achievement and policy. facing the Cuban problems We revolution is in order." ane inne Schema Carter back rebel It is worth noting that in Torces Cross rol doing so, the • document spells Angola to out devon• couot the senem: into the on which the USFI's attitude to Castro leadership has been Daseu peacefu! with "Should the USFI continue imperialism, the to act toward the : Cuban leader ted strategic diplomatic sand impact of revolutionary military points advances in class struggle,

HITICE

especialv in LAtIn America. ana under the influence of a growing Fourth International differ- entlations Wiif take nace leadership] and in the Cuban the USFI major evolve components majority with policies toward and a calls norms or workers democracy.

(Our emphasis) The question itself of the intrinsic the USFI should importance is inadequate. from noth the standboint asked whether such a tail theory and for practical pur- endist perspective should day have been adopted by a move. use. regarding itself aplomatic military comings and men Trotskyist! goings-particularl is no attemp But why does the USFI now Document concede a Ene suotenv move present an analysis. discussion on Cute This because the

USFI

counterrevolutionary Heaoe said «crons or the castrotes are. •1 over the nature of the Cuban course, not new.

Scan page 7

SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 October 1979 whose post-war period has been characterised by profound polit- ical disorientation

CUTE

tinuing series of incomplete and opportunist splits and fusions.

The forthcoming Xith World Congress of the USFI is however important offers opportunity LuC assessing in more detail the stage of development of the political characterised

MISS

Flas the USFI's existence Since formation in 1963. • Tenth World Congress 1974 the main factions were the Leninist supporting the form. ally • •portunis US of the and the workers Majority nautonal clinging ne a artist guerrillaist schemas of the USFI's European Secretariat untenable positions itself upon infin kered Ine genocide Eritrea. tor Ine Cuba's This circles Torm Ine wast

MUSI

USFI sections. description Castro basis impressions 1960s, can the 1970 oniv be obvious of 'united Tne That

USFI

has now the whole series Contentio and late could Of

USFI

argue take a That clear position vietnam. or Cuba!). nam could

DUT

hardly Torwaro Argentina

USFI

of groups experiences - negative-of that party Surveeles and to resist Inclucind sections, pledged to "correct the this now majority taken by both the LTF and the Was errors" the existing USFI during the Portuguese Angotan war led to a sharp te 1974-6 main documents tabled for events dead ersal But Congress. The article below, part four arcnment от тогсв:

NOW

Talure to reconcue cast doulcd shapes the coming disagreements series examining Congress. by pattern position of the USFI in the run- the and Xith Congress, is a bulk

UNITS

to its "Itb colomatic evasions Latin document. critique ot the Tive mam text.

presented to the Congress by sections sympating the new majority leadership.

and, lod the SWP racion i nese bea wttn removal calls *The World Political "Castroist and an Situation.

PST

formed the at the head of Tendency' *Feropean Perspectives Latin *Perspectives for challenge from I ne America. these forces, *The fight against women's come one colteredit guerrillaist oppressior and 1974, * Socialist and i ot 196: Demociaby the Dictatorship of the Prolet pressured aota threat ariat'. and SWP leaders into a hasty of factions dissolution by a new, 'Leninist Trotskyist "united TormATion now, prior to the Congress. ged, with forces in a number o

USFI

of Videla's coup and majority, "unity' Spain direct kev analysing developing numbers thousand determination Latin america mentis failure Its must Dasu ut in Spain the to prevent expose the analysed OT InE mobilisation of SCat recurring drawn out Cralisatiot has times Franco's much reinforce the LCR elsewhere tions. its police the continent. allu Ene •odnisi the for? Continus the LCR's search in Enrouan LIle vulvalu I vain but vou trappings TaSCIST apparatus Latin America anu metic taco in Spain? Latin is seen Stalinists' 'model' vague and dictator- American other spun out off with ships seekino nead lessly Ene of the USFI. what does the reactionary role Spain's "Euro- cations communist" tell about press; in football Ine ••DOSItIon Are plainly groun and tor counter- orooressive They that Stalinist The Document and record, this determination peacers Tne therefore retrain whole from analysis of might any this treachery? Well, the Workers practical work

USFI

avoid they Britain, Socialist the sections. nave tried assess Inis-and majority. But this blindness And practical the political recare thest questions baramount enoency s for under- makes Britain, standing declaration attempt assess by the and Inat struggles America- focussing the Portugal and ISsues Angola in "become whO nave majority and draw- Nor are its • European the another the supposed Trotskyist and thing work avoid alism and Spain. carried out this field by Soweto events-the USFI draws no lessons European sections of the USF1 therefore behind the the and Tormal notable silences that we need to look for the real, practical face of the USFI South Africa. the the time was proletariat African this. country Yet in a sentence: industrialised 4 trica-

GUISH

be especially as a whole. stark another document America explicitly

TAE

nave made no wildlevt rescind paraliel 1969 the , Africa which policy • stales tal "the revolu tion of detribalised in crucible of theid The historic role of all the , the Africar are continent, slowly moving and spur the revolution, with lour Guerrilc emphasis) Ine mass The forcing of as a com. Both mass clear and demands to mobilise proletariat ano create overthrow capitalist-apar- scandalously conclusion: thus clings nilly Tuncamentary wroneneated with class strated Ine

RPP

clinging sion ot the fincluding

USFI

the main cities by insol- worsener each the world- by witnessed the wide fascist the WOrd Yet Stalinist Contmuously political bloc • this bour- inel "social and their the working nas mean united front Class mount workers Labour Party crisis Ecevit's and

MPS

united with • tc The of military. fascist coup is crystal clear and has been for over a year now.

The hallmarks of a 1930s-style Popular Front betrayal by the reformist and Stalinist leaders tailing behind Ecevit are olain for Trotskvists to see-anc have been for many months.

Yet sole reference to Turkey occurs in the Ustis European Perspectives cocu. ment-where the leadership that its trade union inform us movement nas crown There is no analysis whatever of its political crisis. also a. good

BUT

reason for this omission: the USFI's Turkish supporters have declared themselves repeateury in favour of supporting Ecevit's RPP government! intestections our supporters campaigned for a parties from the APP and ine tont tor a workers and peasants' government, the USFI group was in favour of a vote to From that standpoint no programme, no analysis can be than hoping Ecevit clings to office The USFI have good reasor to be sient on uke—out thar silence too masks their rea political position. For that we need to know their practice ir the country concerned

Scan page 8

Marquis de Sade Page 8 Mussolini and It is more than ironic that a film which uses sadism as a metaphor for bourceois should have been itself mutilated effective' by the • bourgeois state No doubt, judging by what remains, the seven or so minutes removed are norsivine. now. as a study precisely of violence and human Lemona or a rest time e passages. ne wim is actuary appearing somewhat ambiguous- ly at a small club in Soho) bourgeois society numar transformed relationshios are into relations between things.

This reification and fetishis.

ation. stemming from the capit- alist mode of production, inevit- ably affects all aspects of social life. Subtler expression As regards sexuality, the rcauced sexua object stares from the out gutter press and the porn- shop windows. ano rettication subtler expression in the marriage contract and the bour- cuts artily. Pasolini, in "Salo", has taken sadism , clear and extreme sexual expression of the human- Love vock one van ve v z metaphor for fascist power Historically, Salo was the name or the puppet state set up for Mussolini Nazi-occupied northern Italy in 1943. was the Tascist brutality and murderous violence of this short-ived

I COUNTIC

prompted Pasolini to use it as the setting for cinematic adaptation of the Marquis Days nove Sodom" Four obviously 'cultured'

WICH

representing the force of the bourgeois state) ma banker, a judge, a bishop and duke-establish a rectitie oretastic In a luxurious mansion in Salo. Fascist soldiers orators, young men dressed as and four women Tascist soldiers. •rocuresses. they select virginal boys and girls for their orgies "Normal" heterosexual rela- tionships are forbidden in the household, and the torced to submit to the increas thory innuman anal demands of the sadist dictators.

They are reduced to being the mere ot sadist rectacts lust and venicles tor the asser tion the sadists' power. The sterility of the sexual relatonsnios Is stressed by the need of the to be sexually aroused for the orgies the erotic stories Toid by procuresses. More importantly it depends Pure sadism cannot have a on the audience's prior willing victim. nor can it avoid ness unar saism ano fascism are its ultimate expression: gratifi- to be somehow equated, or at cation at the violent death of least shown mutually the object. illuminating. AnO some corresoondencer are apparent: the powerlust of Tortured to death role collaborators and after they have been into onven Tea! raped, forced to eat shit, and denunciations of one another What is especially noticeable mutilated. Ene are tortured to death, the sexual as lacking in a film made by a overlords taking turns at being Marxist' (Pasolini was Havellos, execulol member or the Italian Cr unti and voyeur of the tortures.

he was expelled for his homo.

The overt political sexuality) is any response by the dimension of Salo" is sliaht- victm cass Ce dignity in he face of te conveyed through the presence dignity in blackshirts, Mussolini's the some voice heard, once on the indignities Tacio upon unem and the contemporary setting.

the Contractinction -'nauseatingly combination treachery and easy acquiescence of the collaborators), but at no stage is this translated into solid- arity aimed at revolt. continued manner. cruelty leads to disintegration and betrayal. As for the collaborators, the the film shows Tina scene oT thtouched them be by what they have •ancipate• in as toev contem- plate their future lives once this episode is over. instance of revolt i ne one that is shown occurs when one of the soldiers is caught making illicit love (cleariv distinouished from the sadistic orgies) with a black woman servant. He is immediatelv shot for this human warmth and for his sexuality, and faces Enrique Alvares reviews "Salo" , directed by Pier Pasolini and showing at the Compton Cinema Club, London. Mussolini death with a communist salute.

Within film, whole though, this brief scene has political meaning little more than a vague gesture towards outward show of revolutionary politics. Implicit logic Furthermore, by identifying positive human behaviour once more solely with heterosexual ity. the conservative sexudi of are rein- Ine

THIM

forced The implicit logic of these sexud Dolles is unis, we are to condemn sexuality based on a power structure and reduced to a sexuality

THIM

such plausibly demonstrated by SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 October 1979 Mussolini was a keen advocate of the same bourgeois family values implicitly endorsed in Pasolini's film sadism; but because • strainu have fascist heterosexuality is banned by the sadists whose starting point explicit

I TOUCH

sodomy, and because of the metaphor-to sexuality which everybody suggeste• as a rear. numan rea can at. least tionship, only sadism partially and relate- but normal hetero- Ine audience is led into a direct involvement studilly mone to be toe form non- t be achieved in a docu reified sexuality Ficulary valu was a similar reac- Credibility mounts errect wnen sections oi the left in Germany attempted the Nazi image by alacker Just as in the preparatory assoclaline ivazism win nomo period prior to tascism. large sexuality-an assosiation which sections of society are prepared inevitably worked both ways) to condone attacks on bourgeois bourgeois family democratic rights Alain. une latitut associated with healthy that consequently the trains art human relationships-if running on time, so in this film is unlikely that wecause i is cieary dointed ou • most viewer: sadistic regime has •nat will not respond to some dearer violated the face of which erotically source despite the atmosphere sucheta to une victims "s ne mamcontinues Suspect the violence and cruelty mounts to peaks of sickening horror criticisms of the film would be less valid if "Salo" was which retrospectively for his earlier limited viewe presented simply as a portrava claiming as 11 "Salo" As political film does a directly sion, achieves fitte becauce ot both all its political and philo the very nature of the project become soDaica imbications and film's failure to offer " clearer and more significant.

whole though any pontica detsoective devone horror at what has passed.

ot exploring the 'osvcholoav' of pessimism shows no fascist power through examining definitive small world ¡revolutionary; suspect ConCIUsIOn Ine sacistic regime; the final tableau only a 'natural' return sexual relations generally are no normality after does talentore case ears they yet relate WItT possibilt. anotherine of collaboration capitalism persecution, cruelty same way as does a socio. political development like murder Pasolini himself gave ascism-even dooder state likt totally un Marxist explanation Mussolini's Salo which was obliged rely much on socid and power so "what we call the relationships: prysical coercion and terror.

class struggle"; he has said, , IS Mass psychology one torm or socia stratitication based on the power 'instincts' of Sadism has a politics as well 'human nature' as a psychology; and fascism has According to this unhistoric- But it is a is fascism tOO Uno erstancino mass psychology. that would be the metaphor and social, class-based psychology symptom-for "Salo'

SHOWS

niysucal numar OT a class analysis of either fascism domination and submission. Thi or sadism. This is a view which all revolu- It might also be claimed that tionaries must reject it is little more than an intellec.

But as a portrayal and indict- tual's game to attempt to under.

ment brutality, stand fascism through a meta. "Salo" is extremely, nauseating- phor. ly, erective The workers and peasants of made film, it is a superoly Italy do not need to see though mauled oy me censors.

Pasolini's film of sadistic rituals acting WItH exce len" performances; probably gratify.

understand the brutality Mussolini. ing to sadists, But it is here, it seems to me that "Salo' ing for a masochistic night out- can make its strono est claims-at least on those who it hurts.

OUT SOON!

The Battle for

SECOND LIMITED

EDITION

Trotskyism Price £2.50 plus 20p postage and packing.

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Scan page 9

TROTSKY DRAWS

SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 October 1979 When Trotsky was forced a few to spend weeks in Spain late in 1916 he can hardly have imagined what a significant role the country was later going to play in his political concerns. At that time he knew no Spanish, spent his time in art and museums and was ali calcu wooduse. ene varie "views uniet of rolce put it, nis advanced for were altie Spain"! final decade of his INe Trotsky have Was occasion many times to express nis advanced views on spain and mis writings wil a large volume.

Revolutionary potential It is entirely made up of the tellers ano oner articles toroudn which Trotsky reacted from a distance to the struggle of revol- counter revolution ano which filled ten the downfall in 1930 following Primo tne •e nivera torship and the fail of the monarchy. The writines are commated Dy rotsky s tartn in the reality of the revolutionary potential of Spanish working class. The Darallels perween Tine downfall of Primo de Rivera and Alfonso and that of the XIlI Tsar 1917 rebruary were oniy too obvious to Trotsky of all people. et the striking thing about on Spanish nis writines ine events is his penetration of the differences. Incisive observations struggle "In its specific aravitv in the country's economic mean that the political and cultural level, the ane •lanisa •roetanar stood on te of the revolution not Tirst day that below Russian proletariat at the beginning of dity ignore the from the very beginning safeguard liberties the revolution expressed much tive, communism character than did the revolu- established tion of 1917 in Russia". bacone

TOI

(pp. 322 and 366-all references to Pathfinder Press edition).

use

ITORSKYS

commentaries are wen cantulations. suffused with incisive theoretic.

observations on socialism, popular fronts rascism, ana "The whole revolutionary bro erran to Trotsky in 1937 lav strategy. to transform fused, half-blind Practical questions revolution But these emerge in the form one pradical ed discussions oraclear questions tacıng existine structes an• concerns revolutionaries. These especially concern the period 1930-31 after the fall of sp on we a ga or power and then the could be based. period just before the civil war when walty. ine

POUM,

by TOrMer supporters the Trotskyist What this International Opposition bold united front the Popular Front with the revolutionary aliciou Stalinists and retormists, vanguard of the drive for prol- capilalist partes ana neiped to elanian unity prepare the way for the tragic defeat of the Spanish proletar- based around what lat. were dore needs-such as the extension Correct strategy democracy, the national self-determination and both periods Trotsky's so on. position is of a practical one the need to sum up the immed.

Sot or te • Correc succoy tactics for revolutionaries зате opportunists and in a set of a few slogans which isgainst evolved scula liars. WIll he writes. "that our epoch is character. the masses. sed politically Anti-fascist dies in battle against Franco forces socialism betwee (communism and tascism. But this does proletariat evervwnere conscious of this alternative, nor given country, , at moment. may partial struggle to de Minuit, Paris 1975. its democratic fundamental alterna- fascism, Len holo 1930-32 is the many relec formula which the left centrists tion of any search for magic revolutionary slogans which are only too often to cover up or tre sec cool tor di situatens tarians to justify their inaction" issue such order (p.293-4 slogans we must not be guided political doctrinaire abstractions but Lask in now une state or consciousner this hybrid , con- of the masses and the way they and half-dead various partial into a socialist revol- the counterposing The method imperative for slogan of the "dictatorship of proletariat" Bolsheviks was to relate to the the 'workers due seasan Ene of the masses, and so to deserve present regime is entirely inade- and to win a position of leader- quate because these slogans do not move we nees. • The writings on 1930 and 1931 are also important because United front they • rotsky s rules! in the explanation ot the role required was revolutionary struggle of Soviets tactic "workers' julitas party

LIFC

in Spain). His view on the role of the Such a united front must be juntas was the masses see orais political insistence that "the immediate task of the to perceive as their Spanish communists is not

L/IC

fight the struce bower

OUT

• goes on: Trotsky all the time stresses of creation juntas undoubtedly the tasks facing the proletariat principle task of the day. But it ausure counter dose tne juntas to democratic slogans...

Ete cranoine and consciousness of '"At the present stage, juntas are the organisational forms fo constant theme in the the united proletarian front-for Spanish Popular Front leaders

LESSONS OF

i SPANISH

SISTRUGGLES

Continuing our series of articles on the writings of Leon Trotsky in this, the centenary year of his birth, Henry Phillips looks at Trotsky's writings on Spain, published as The Spanish Revolution by Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973. The best edited and fullest edition, however, is in French: La Revolution Espagnole, edited by Pierre Broue, Editions strikes; for the expulsion of the the later Jesuits, for participation in the 1935, ot course. elections to the Cortes, is transformed. To estab wel canta pritie support, r From well as to provide support writings the pe asant movement lained juntas polemic against embracing the basic core of the revolutionary proletariat can the communists their hegemony assure proletarial, ana inus also in the revolution. Mone to the extent that the less struggle influence communise role" grows in the working class will the juntas be transformed into "Polarxiary" organs ot struggle • to counterpose the slogan Marxist of soviets of the prottahad organs of the dic POUM-whose ironically tatorship murdered for present reattle! ot tne struggle means to convert the Ism slogan Trotsky's soviets into a supra- of analysis the historical divinity. into a suner revolutionary icon, which indiv- anc saints may worship but fascism known which the Wasses win • haver follow." (p.129) quote trom it here one bUT Transformed tion ends must be mentioned.

If the emphasis of the early article in this series all to itself parts of the Spanish Revolution is of gains the catas ism of ana the Leadership because referring rotsky was he was murdered. the Comintern which was still at the height of its ultra- leftist Trotsky's Third Period" socialism, since German working class and open probably the the door for Hitler. aboon writen in the history Page 9 Fascist devastation in the city of Toledo in the Civil War ot tne communist movement oi the inter-relations between the mass movement and its leader Despite its unfinished state this article provides an essential tonent or a scentric uneer stanone or inat most central oi all questions for revolutionaries -the winning of the leadership of the masses. But there are relevant lessons, too, for today on vir- Ludity every page of Irotsky s writings on Spain. The period after very parallels of the the emphasis Spanish events atter 1930 anc those in some countries today Trotsky's on presents danger-that on Spain become a sus simply lifting clusions about Spain and apply.

the counter- ing them in wooden way to class collaboration other circumstances of the Stalinists and reformists safeguard against this danger is perhaps to see "Fatal role" relation Spain Trotsky himself able And Trotsky wages a cease- apply the lessons of Russia-not "fatal against the a dead parallel but as a living

THIS

popular frontism played by the Workers Party Unification-the leaders were persecuted and "Trotsky- uner uncompromising Popular Fron Is ole nosenio tre cooi relatively well- and there is no space to particular article with which the Spanish Revolu- in fact it could almost claim an Lenard an article which was left unfinished when It is a fitting culmination to struggle for best theoretica Trotsky

Scan page 10

INDUSTRIAL

Newham swings Tory axe Newham Council last week, far from joining Haringey and Lambeth lories down in refusing to carry out local government cuts, Silent denied even that it was But the making any! Tribunite and other Yet the same meeting a freeze in staff silent, £2½ appointments, their Freemason leaders. millon cut in expenditure, The two the axeing all called! plans, ine closure of an old people's home and the plan- ning of 5% cuts in educa- the lobbv PaLL tion. Call made cuts initiated by There was a 50-strong joined by the NUT. NALGO-led lobby outside. a packed gallery and a call councillors, wingers argued liiduc Ken Palmer and John Plant, local council should not be

JOIN OUR FIGHT

AGAINST TORIES!

Returned office five years of to after betrayals, the Tory government has immediately begun wielding a sharpened axe on jobs, conditions and social services. Trade Union rights face imminent legal attack.

Prices are already beginning to rocket upwards.

Plum sectors of state industry will be handed to the Tories profiteering big business backers; and the pay rises to police and armed forces mark only the prelude to increased state violence aganst pickets and anti-fascists, and an intensified army crack- down in the accupied North of Ireland The Callaghan Healev leadership nas made it clear that it will opppose any perspective other than settling down and meek.

Iy accepting five years of Tory devastation.

And, though they have once more dusted oft their near.

forgotten speeches, Labour's "left-wing" socialist continued to duck away from any fight to remove Callaghan

TUC

leaders, too. out to establish a basis for collaboration with Thatcher and the Tory cabinet, parallelling tHeir anti working class alliance with Wilson and then Callaghan But the working class has experienced and overcome such betrayal sore through Canteen reading vera n and smash through Callaghan's wage controls in a series of monumental pay battles last winter.

These experiences are not dead. They point to the way that jobs, social services and hard-won union rights can be defended ayainst renewed lory attacks But a principled, revolutionary leadership is needed if the Labour traitors, the lUC collaborators and their hangers-on i the Communist Party are to be exposed and pushed aside, and mass struggles mobilised that can defeat and remove the ine Tory government. such a leadership must rigot day in and day out tor a pro gramme of transitional demands which, conditions and today's consciousness within the working class, lead workers to grasp the necessity tor socialist revolution And in taking up democratic demands-such as an end to racial and sexual discrimination, it must show that must be played by the working class as the only consistent- class capable of leading the struggle for the emancipation of mankind. And it must fight on an international basis-mobilising solidarity for anti-capitalist Southern Africa wnetner • In Ireland, in out the world, and drawing strength. and political lessons from revolutionary upheavals such as that which ousted the hated Shah in Iran This means fighting for the reconstruction of the Trotsky.

ist Fourth International This method of approach, rejecting any descent to simple trade union militancy, or concessions to any wing of the labour a-rauracy. is the method fought for by the Workers Socialist see -eis. ciaks struggies in Britain. A Our movement thous no ones Soils nymor OIN US and take forward the struggle for socialism

NEWS

PHOTO: Andrew Wiard. Report to refuse to make cuts and call a conference to mount a bring the numerous 'left' sat completely bowing to the lies of local councils had also colluded in covering for this gang of traitors by refusing to take or help build the local joint repres- entatives committee against which been has attacked, that the only

NALGO

and focus could be against central government. Stalinists alongside right West Ham Trades that the Council has undertaken to conference with Cdi Newham North East Labour Party, but separately from the existing cuts campaign.

Stalinists throughout London are similarly desper- ate to divert away from the call by Lambeth Council for a march on Westminster on November 7. Impetus Labour A march and strike on tnat dav halls town all over London would give very impetus the fight on cuts that the vuicaucrats lear Instead the Stalinist- dominated South East Region TUC is calling for a

DON'T GO INTO

MPs have

THE FIGHT BLINDFOLD!

starting from today's Ine crucial ole

SOCIALIST

struggles- elsewhere through.

GET

PRESS

Fighting Camden's rate rise plan Camden ence on fight the Tory cuts. cuts. of torch-light market rallies. porters Irom Parties amendments: *that should service rales *that threat of closure should local strike action. resolution extended Camden labour movement. The chairman after Christine asked to ment which of a sentence saying Milton Keynes workers march against cuts "week of action" from 20 the Tory cuts on the work- October-giving virtually no ing class". notice, and themselves doing nothing to "Other charges" any action. But militants in Newham and in other boroughs must Ms Livingstone not be held back other charges" such manoeuvres trom their interpreted leaders. rates. Rather, the fight must be kept up in those areas to that mobilise effective action in Labour form ine and pledged to refuse to imple- sunke! occupations against the ment cuts this had to raise rates. Cuts The pressure must be night kept up to force these had been labour movement bodies Labour into action. Committee This will involve the long amendment had been voted throwing overule and carried 17-5. whose aim

LAILOTS

strangle rather than develop ing that if the LGC lost the the independent strength of amendment at the working class ence they

CAPITAL

Trial sub (UK): 10 issues, only. Six months One year.. Europe: Six months. Rest of the World: Six months. For a clear lead in the Name. . Address struggle against wage control, cuts and redundancies Hill, London NWS IHR. Trades from the campaign. Council held their 200- Many. spoke aciegates strongly strong launching confer- against the proposal by Camden Labour 10 October, to Council to raise the rates. incluaing George Lobo resolution member of the CPSA NEC. was presented to the meeting by Shurety, the Executive of the Trades Labour Party Council on how to fight the supporter of Socialist Press correctly stated this was just consisted of a list of by Camden the usual Stalinist diversions Council subsidise the and Tory cuts. vigils «We to confront need Four Socialist Press sup- the Tories now" he local Labour stressed The working class proposed several will respond if given the Icaaership to step lorward Camden Council to do this. immediately refuse His contribution was met to implement cuts in public with enthusiastic applause.

ana reluse to The chairman the meeting, CP member Roy hospitals Dunnett, however, refused be accept amendment occupied and supported by from Press Socialist supporters, demanding no *the co-ordinating com- rate rise. mittee proposed in the EC Instead the campaign's should be resolution remained a vague represent statement 'other about wider cross-section of the charges'. This line up was no accident. It accooted common these amendments but only knowledge among Labour Livingstone

LGC

members that the from Hampstead GMC was chairman of St her Pancras North Labour Party proposed David Webster held prior deleting a phrase at the end informal talks with Com- "Cam- munist Party members on the trades council make They agreed that the charges to put the burden of • Labour councillors were not at fault over the cuts therefore supported rate rises John Suddaby, secretary of Camden General

NUPE

The offending words for branch and leading member "any of the IMG moved a resolu- because she tion behalf Ol NUrt this mean shop stewards committee This resolution She went on to explain supported Camden Camden's Council's stand on the cuts Councillors were and went say that yearly were not Buses meant they the answer But Suddaby before there explain he didn't necessarily a meeting of the mean the conterence should Local Government oppose rate rises in the next this were financial year-but it should 'wait and see how the cam- paign had gone by then, and It was said at this meet- hadn't mobilised enough support. then the conter- Camden Council would have would withdraw 'no other choice'

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Scan page 11

Supporting strikes needed to back St Stephens occupation SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 October 1979 Part of St. Stephens The proposed closure of the Fulham Road, wing would result in the loss of Hospital, 76 beds! a further under occupation TUtUre ulti- defiance of hospital lies atmosphere of matum. hell-bent The down or tne running continued under Hospital has working cass necessary) for Labour successive ToTY alid governments. CISs In 1972 there were 572 beds a public meeting after the There are now The nosoital. steward Dave 350, in spite of a waiting list of out that while the Hospital was 934.

URE

MOSAIAL

The Oxford demonstration The giant Singer sewing machine corporation has announced the closure of its Clydebank factory, with the loss of 3,000 jobs. The company blames leaders bow, for • ummetime orders machines and "talling produc- tivity" for the closure. Speed-up to assist But only ago, . montAs Tuture attacks. tota collaboration trom The company, plant covenor John McFadyean, forced through a the company "save the plant trom bank plant was a loss-maker •an to closure-at the expense of 2,800 The Singer corporation jobs four and a over profits in the first half of 1979 orastic increase in productivity The subsequent But for recuncan- cies and short-time working at •ank ine dott or loss served only to particular ne blarit love prove the To v or such remande crisis-ridden capitalism Ment Scule secure jobs.

AT THE TOP...

UNION DUES

being down, casualty

TUTE

cepartments tol mutes around turning dying away the whole patients. Demolition a Tory govern- making the on Barry pay (in blood if steward rellow Thompson said that there was their economic no longer a maternity unit al hospital and that tenders called the thousands occupation, NUrC Norman pointed pounds nad gone out to demol ition contractors.

A BRANCH

WORKERS

NEI LIAN

LESSON OF SINGERS:

COLLABORATION WON'T

SAVE JOBS!

Indeed the more that union ing conations scrape and grover a period of world-wide offering capitalist slump, it is becoming neto steo vo me exolo tation or increasinory clear trial do private their own members and pledging employer can meet Inest raising profitability requirements. They seek every where to 'rationalise', to speed the more they pave the way tor to nolo wages ara close unwanted plants. continues to point to its balance McFadyean's brand of class sheets ano claim inat une cive.

collaboration oTTerS way forward. as a The answer in Singers, as in all treatened diants. must be te occupy, open the books of the Clyde- firm to elected union commit- workers at tees shoW 1110 systematic capitalist exploitation ot the worktorce incidental interest: their require- and formulate a workers' and production decent wages and healthy work- •eman• un scale trade unior

OH CHRIST_ HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO SELL

25,000 REDUNDANCIES TO THE MEMBERS?..

BUT SIR WE WERE

NATCH CORNER

1508

I COULD EVEN LOSE MY

'JOB!.. WE HAD

TO

AT LEAST GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS OF

oPPosiTioN. Barone

LNDNG UPHE

CONVENORS' MEETING

Joe Beckles, I wu stewar mobilising at St. Mary's Hospital, Padding hence. ton, spoke of the need for action was a orcinatac action Detwee laug sometimes unionists of all Hospitals under it vva Thatcher's plans. threat •rocess co defence for full-scale their ano provided isation ot workers against capit- NUPE full-time official Godfrey alist attacks on their most basic Eastwood ficutes. His speaker in defence A notner emphasised of the Hospital was Paul Kenny from the other local occupation need to involve ity" at rulham swimming Baths.

Cuts policy blocked Trades Council A meeting on health that he would service cuts in Oxford vote. showed overwhelming amidst frustration and pro- for test. support programme of policies branch had vice fight the cuts-but motion was inevitably denied its tion of all cuts and auto- matic increases wish. spending to match inflation.

called by The meeting Oxford and District Trades port

LO T

Union Council drew who occupied few rank and file although who took suovortue allull hospital workers were The motion included in that number. After a series of speeches health service against the culs hau calcu

ASTMS

tor a vote on an which resolution before the meet- public of President the ing Tone it. Although weaknesses nationalisation medicine and hospitalised ards workers deputy Singer boss Larry Mihlon support ine strucole the job slashinge Tory the Harwich defeat and the government depot nationalisation The without compensation under Port workers worKers managelicit At UCS such a fiaht coul worth have been waged against Heath.

spares workers now have the Singer chance audits! Thatcher. a ternative indefinite unemployment

...IKNOW-I'LL JUST SET

UP AN "ACTION COMMITTEE".

THAT'S ALWAYS WORKED BEFORE

REMEMBER SPEKE?!

BUT AT THE

CONVENORS'

MEETING..

RIGHT BROTHERS, THIS IS NO TME FOR MOCK HEROIC...

O.K.- ALL THOSE IN FAVOUR OF ACCEP TING

BROTHER EDWARDES' PLAN?.

—EH?!!

CONVENORS CONFERENCE

rage 11 the crucial need mobilise Eastwood's attitude to cuts to light when a Camden came

NUPE

Steware pointed He said that in his exper fact that Eastwood had blocked union the calling an all-London trade NUPE meeting on the subject The living answer as to why Eastwood and nis "slow officials no intention of strike : workers in initiating the necessary Wa. actor occupation. presence like that at St. Stephens.

Trade unionists must fight to 'leaders' for what expose such carefully-steered contri- they are by nighting the the necessary action, including solely strike action, to defend elemen.

and did not once mention sions-it gave a clear direc- declared tion for action and a firm allow principled closed declaration defence of the NHS. Power-who had already Trades Council The ASTMS Health Ser- meeting rather than take the tabled a there-blocked calling for restora- resolution the calls from every part of

NHS

the hal for a vote Ard a 400-strong demon- It also called for full sup- stration days twc Oxford workers through against hospital all social hospitals or cuts services showed the same determin- hạd also ation from Power to avoid been endorsed by the local programme and policy Joint. Trade Prominence was chiefly with no Union Committee, members given the record of a fight against the had urged to support fights. But Joanna Coxhead,

COHSE

health steward there were

ASTMS

succeeded in addressing the in the call rally, to make a firm call for for of occupations and strike action to defeat the cuts.

Vauxhall strikers end picket tion for the pickets to be with.

After weathering clashes drawn, with the police thugs of the injunction for the Essex "Force Support Unit" pickets and named removal o which left two shop stew- equipment from the gates of the depot and 13 But the turning point in the including two Elles 20-day when convenors arrested, mere Port convenor John Farrel!

Vauxhall strikers have called responded to appeals by trans. Silcock port drivers from off their effective picket of Dependable Colling and transport caused 20 lay. picketing offs and threatened them witt The picketing, by Ellesmere pursuing pay the sack Now that the pickets have claim. had tied up tl5 mallor these same ot imported cars and open witnarawn, drivers are working overtime delayed scab supplies successful that through to Vauxhall plants and TGWU National Secretary Gren ville Hawley sent a strict instruc-

LATER...

(OPERATOR, GET

WRETCHED

WHAT AR

THESE CONFE

K7O NoW?

KAFFIR

REJEG

• LOOK HER

WHAT? OFISHAL

DONT WORRY JK MICHAZI

IT WAS MANLY THE C.P. BLOWING

... AFTER ALL, IF IT

OFF STEAM

ITOOK MIE AMY OR TWO TO COM

ROUND TO YOUR POINT OF VIEW

IT COULD TAKE THE C.P

ANYTHING UP TO A WEEK!

Scan page 12

THATCHER SOUNDS

SOCIALIST

PRESS

BATTLE CRY

After a week in which At a point where millions of guarded workers go in tear or redundan TrOM of public sector and social Tory had ministers cuts. and thousands ol ServIce attempted to stem the tide youth tace a litetime on the dole, Thatcher was wildly of reactionary demands cheered as she turned reality on from delegates at their Party its head to declare that: Thatcher's conference, 'Millions of British workers speech last Friday was the go in fear of union power shrill battle-cry they had Anen a asso manscene predecessor her ill-fated been eagerly waiting for.

Heath, she went on: ne party ot the employ- conflict "Today ing class eagerly applauded as interest is not so mucn betweer promised "hatcher strong unions and employers and the measures audinst Ine unions. unions between caled workers to scab on nation" disputes and asserted that: Today trade unions have Abstraction more powe ovel Workino people and their families than any boss has." The term "the nation" is a Even while she spoke, the bland anstraction be oved farcical nature of her argument Tories, fascists and right wing exposed by the arbitrary Labourite was class collaborators by Singer анке slashina 3.000 bosses, It conceals the tac that Glasgow while union leaders within "the nation" are two. (limply stand by. opposing classes-the employing

FUND

The October Fund is now giving rise to great anxiety.

Half way through the month only £178.55 out of a target of £750 has arrived. As was pointed out last week, the WSL.

is facing a period of rapid recruitment unlike anything we have witnessed previously. This gives us huge oppor- tunities and means that our paper is now reaching com- areas. It is more vital than ever that the MErW fund s rased in full and on time so that we are Bonny able to bud on these successes.

All readers and supporters are urged to consider giving a contribution to the monthly fund and help us develop our work. Our address is: Socialist Press Monthly Fund 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 1HR Demonstrate. Provisional Sinn Fein National Demonstration Restore POW Status to Irish Republican Prisoners Oxford, Saturday October 20, Assemble 2.00 p.m., Chapel Rd., off Cowley Rd.

Pubished by Folrose Ltd for the Workers Socialist League, 31. Dartmouth Park Hill. London NW5 1HR Printed by Anvil Printers, London. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office capitalist "mixed economy" and ¡oereno ne employers which attempts the to straddle the fence and, , while capitalist class, which owns the posing as the party of the work means of production and lives ing class, serves consistenty. by the extraction of surplus defend the interests of the workforce: value trom its anu employers. the working class which owns as Thatcher's nothing beyond its ability gang sallies into the attack on work, and which is paid only a few basic rights fraction of the value it creates in workers need to tace the process of production.

the need for a new, principled champion Exploitation Class Between these two opposing forces hand Callaghan's stance There

IS NC

commo interest. bring opposing mass action The employer seeks Tories, and the all the exploitation attempt back the nold way struggles of the working ine working class in every •Class possible; the worker can only Independent defend his or her job, conditions ane vino standares struggling for the overthrow o It means instead advancing a the crisis-ridden system of capit- of demands that programme offer independent road for- In leading the all-sided Tory ware from Today's CrIsIs to te working class- struggle for sorklism. assault on thi Workers Socialist taws, public spending cuts; wholesale League is fiahtina to build iusi closures and rationalisation; the such a leadership. urge readers salt ol assels, more Hanuouls lu fight for labour rich, and savage 'law the and attend order' crackdown on immi- movement oe elations Ent youth and workers- November 3 conference of the grants, Campaign for Democracy Thatcher makes it unmistake Labour Movement in which which side OT The

ENE

divide the Tory Party stands on.

the question of programme and leadership fight against Rather it is the Labour Party the lories will be at the centre With leadersnio s commitment to upholding the of discussion. Campaign for Democracy in the Labour Movement

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

*Prepare to force out the Tories!

*For mass action against Tory anti-union laws!

*Strikes and occupations against the cuts!

*Build Councils of Action!

Saturday November 3, 10.30am-5pm

DIGBETH HALL, BIRMINGHAM

Open to all trade unionists and delegations from labour movement bodies Credentials (£1) and details from; Godfrey Webster, 99, Barclay Rd, Warley, West Midlands BL closures . venors meeting. whole has mammoth implica- But the only 'actual policy tons

TOT

workers the engineering industry was the nationalist call The facts will never be import controls keep revealed by accepting cowardes "foreion" competition figures. cornists on the Confed Executive, Open the books shrank from putting the BL cut- Tings only abe haectively context

COT

decline British capitalism, sackings effectively which now requires the destruc challenged is begin tion of large areas of productivi industry in the frantic attempt union committees into the to rite thee speter quit.

finances its suppliers, speaker questioned hauliers and bankers BL is claimed to be to inspection! vane book pointed profitable; nobody Expose the profiteers! its links with the highly profit.

The revealed will confirm neces ty EnE ponent industry, and the banks.

nationalisation, without com- Manipulation of prices from pensation of the entire automa.

these suppliers and huge interest and the banks it payments on loans are the major jobs are to be protected factor that guarantees BL must Only socialist plan production, uneel workers the same time the management, can develop rather possible closure of BL as a the existing Last week saw another episode in the continuing mockery of justice after the police murder of Anti Nazi League demonstrator Blair Peach in Southall last April.

The inquest is to be adjour- ned for at least another month, while Peach's family press their come

TON

„coroner family also forced oe c take Turtne legal action in order to obtain a copy of taken by the police, which have • been ma varao only to use police barrister and the coroner And remains a strong that the Chance will Jonn burton, attempt exclude the Anti Nazi League lawyer when the proceedings resume Suppress In short every effort is being made by ene stale lo ODsErUCT delay, exclude and suppress all those forces fighting to facts the and demano une orosecution o ine police thug responsible. productive forces. the worker. Enrove noul industry must be warned, and mobilised alongside BL workers The and bring down the Tories.

crucial starting point for SUCh cam alon

TOI

threatened plants occupied now provide • for the fiaht against the

TOCUS

Edwardes' plan forestall Ant asset stripping. All attempts movement of work from closed No sackings! Whether not BL caused by the capit- oro ers alist recession, no redundancies work available must be shared the whole workforce, with- vul loss oldy

WOTKES AUS

shoulder the cost of гетисе the capitalist crisis. Blair Peach: still more delays a few miles away Brent the 342 victims of the police violence at Southall . ale Deine waisked farcical show trials at a rapid pace. Defence evidence is gener.

•COS

aside, as a staggering conviction rate has been clocked up colossal fines meted five out.

VICLIS

into jail. Jury vetting If this contrast is not enougr to demonstrate the blatant bias British class "justice Sheffield where

TWO

otticers being charged with assault Judge Pickles has given defence 'vet' the police files-to Jury -using exclude anyone possibly hostile to the police! ne workers movement musi of the rally to the assistance Southall demanding victims, movement neuryte the events and sending donations to cover legal costs ane lines Donations to: The Southall Defence Campaign, c/o PO Box 151, London WC2 Justice' seen to be done in Southall Already the TGWU has pro.

misea to give full, oricial sup port to any section of workers BL who, whatever the out come or cawardes ballot, take action to defend their jobs.

Green light must used as the green light for plant occupations which in turn massive campaign Ine necessary throughout the corporation resounding vote crisis has exposed the inadequacy of the existing trade leadership in LITt fight must TnE redoubled for principled revolutionary leadership the independent interests of the working class. O'Fishall-p.11

← no. 170, 10 October 1979no. 172, 24 October 1979 →