Socialist Press no. 209

Not just the 'Gang of Three'...

DRIVE OUT THE WHOLE

CALLAGHAN GANG!

More S. Africa strikes

SOCIALIST

PRESS

Weekly paper of the Workers Socialist League * No. 209 * August 6, 1980 * 20p Iated to the Trotskyist International Liaison Committee In Ramsay Prime Minister brought these latter-day never Ramsay MacDonalds to adopt MacDonald, faced with these unusual tactics? run on the pound, decided main problem The implement that they,. like whole Labour's right package of spending cuts, wing. lace is the including a cut in the dole.

Mortase ward movement of the rank and Nine Labour cabinet • membership the trade ministers announced they would unions and the Party itself.

sule. rese man vote tor such a policy, making it clear that Confined the minority government could not carry on. While at present. much of MacDonald formed this growing left wing current with the Tories and a lance Liberals, and became leader of a remains confined the channels of the so-called "alter National Government tuin forced through the strategy" Halive economic measures. peddled by Tony Benn and of Three fear others, the Gang As a result, in October 1931 that a General Election saw Labour it could develon further reduced from 288 seats to and also force ponticany rumpiof 52. MacDonald through democratic and his constitu- tional reforms which Party, and Lie

M0OU1

wodkcil MacDonald stayed on as Prime ation of the Party leadership.

Minister of a largely Seeking to cloak their essen- • coal- 1ory tially Tory ition government until 1935.

views in the language Now oi social democracy. 1900 Inree leading ane three Labour right wingers and former declare their soratories cabinet ministers-David Owen, unswerving allegiance … to Inree William main principles: Kodgers Shirlev alll Williams-have written a 3,000 commitment to the word open letter success of the mixed economy; and the Daily Mirror inte maiomat socialism; our un- Guardian commitment truly faces 'the gravest crisis in its commitment 1931y graver than representative democracy even What the behind Icallly these trite phrases? economy" in Comparison 1 ne normal language is the resen capitalist capitais os ste, in nationalised Indeed the comparison Del VIce The authors of the interesting muusules artused …To bronde produc-

COTI

•Drotitanie open now uuoper une tion for expioiters in the private Gang of Three" , emerge as the sector, for bankers and 'specula- strongest 1980 advocates of MacDonald's politics of class luis. nabotaon and evolutionary Bankrupt And they conclude their diatribe It means, therefore, precise- against the Labour Party's leit ly the bankrupt and moribund system that has brought indus- "democratic socialist party tal colaose. iwo mution unem- do not get their own wav ployed, the destruction of social at this year's Party conference.

services, and the prospect of still As the Gang of Three make clear, their vision of the "mixed includes permanent system of wage con- opposition tiuis. alle nationalisation. call for cash handouts to private public firms" anu more financed by the National Enter- prise Board. And they insist that new forms class collaboration should be devised to persuade workers to work harder for their explolters. since: tory or office least important as who owns it" Out of the window. there- their way. Clause goes of 'the party consuuuuon and even a verdal commitment to a planned socialist economy.

What of their "international socialism"? Ihis in reality means un- support for the imper- ialist alliance, deployment of Cruise missiles * War offensive on the question of Afghanistan. means undying loyalty to the reactonar, anal anarena Common Market And it means a policy of import controls "British" only on a "temporary" basis. Alliance Such "internationalism" is in reality alliance between democracy and inter- Halivial Britain and working throughout the world has nothing whatever with so cidisi. But the Gang of Three also pledge themselves "represen- democracy' What aoes tils real: It means opposition to the left wing demand for mandatory Labour reselection of 'opposition proposals to democratise the Cont'd Page 11

BOLIVIA.

•pp 2-3 Benn: attacked by Gang; will he fight back?

The opposition of black union recognition The strike began when about workers to their oppression 600 labourers in the municipal and exploitation continues Electricity Department rejected to mount in South Africa.

offer existing Each struggle is characterised and warc by the workers' determination, strike in support Walle •ul or militancy and I solidarity binding increase and a £30 minimum wage demand together witt They working class. immediately joined by about 60 black elec- Municipal workers tricians on the same site The During the course of the ampoyers the Johannesburg City Council last week anore than took immediate steps aimed at municipal workers in Johannes.

isolating the strikers and smash- burg, South Africa's industrial have ing the strike Cont'd Page 3 support or wage aemanas anc

BOLIVIAN MINERS RESIST

NEW MILITARY JUNTA

economic failure ; electoral liability

CALAMITY CARTER

Page 2

-INTERNATIONAL'

Despite a well-coordina- ted systematic cam- and paign of disinformation and outright propaganda on the part of the Garcia dictator- it is plain Bolivia, ship in weeks after the lih lwo bloody coup that brought it to power the military have unable to break the

DCRI

of the heroic resistance remain miners who U1I NEKe For the last week the inter- national capitalist press has been reporting confusing and contra- on the state of

CICIOTV

allis the workers" resistance. Agencies these, (eman- Almost all of

UPI

ating from the american and AP agencies largely reliant communiques official UPOlI [a Paz) have depicted a crumo- ling strike witn in various mines after ruce eith, saof 3 August, HOWeYe no maor mine nas returnea -althouch some have given which controls the up their arms to avoid an all-out vast aerial bombing

O1 LIC

vall os that house the miners and their retake the town. samans This is the case in the san Corocoro soloters Jose and Huanuni camps which fire, and some at a complete standstill remain immediately the work- with the majority oi officers. force staying

COWC

• lle shafts. Killed officers military have

LIUW

changed their tactics to destroy the major threat to their Chile- Three style coup. following a long- first, embarked plan, they toelt

OHICES

prepared taking their on an infantry assault on the workers. mines. But this proved unproduc- the since tive Cane than conscripts either Treo ncl especially mutinied in solidarity with the SerVICe have peen workers This apparently occured at Ranger battalions the strategic mine of Huanuni, The ruling class of the Iranian hostages affair world's greatest imperialist Cold War is experiencing an which

POWE

lanl. prolonged crisis acute current problem and of leadership. After the disgrace of Richard •Yor crescent ls lold cill Nixon, they WounG witlk A growing Republican Gerald Ford, cratic party said whom

AFL-CÍO

that he couldn't walk and chew Callae gum at the same time. convention 1976 election saw pea- The expected Carter Carter's candidacy but an nut modale whiter than take ollice on a convention, platform-only to prove another candidate. incapable walking him self But anywhere without tripping.

available to Failures is Edward Kennedy. Alter four years of fiascoes and failures at home and abroad over a bridge; there 1s with US unem ployment rising at TeCoTO oaCC vulluiky recession, giant polies turning in billion dollar Reagan: or there ts mous crew of hopefuls, and the election pledges Losses. whom with whien ne won Wade ullon • support all abandoned, support. the s stema icr faces wennwnue ine 10 W have destruction evell Clean" in se a traumalic 100l revelations of the series activities of his brother Billy.

Reagan and former George and It is partly Reagan partly the catastrophic plunge in alles Carter's popularity since its high persuade It was this unit that tracked road to the down executed Catavi-Siglo xx complex. Guevara in 1967; that massacred where the miners were able to hundreds of students in santa that later beat to polones Cruz mine of Kanzet c Hurtig coup; that retusea mentor eighty were OWIl shot their Andres by ellen (nOD unue "questioning"; and since ther used frequently both has beer "death squad" asa alan major strike force foi tne repression mass struggles lorrv loads of rank occurs in periods As always and file troopers moving out of conflict, milelse La Paz to thè mining area killed becomes military amoracs deserted severely tested and only those allu arms sectors which l are highiy profes Lilt the from distanced sonanscu. Now all conscripts, including masses and compromised with the bourgeoisie those who were kept on onge.

two-year term can be fully relied upon.

the icoup and wilnulawll In Bolivia replaced by the US-trained elite n Z a laus portion of the army and police "moderate" point in the heady days of the his campaign and the as Vice cover running moves over Afghanis Presidenl. cre e the team that t1s . SevIlS Carter. likely to win the 1980 elections and unleash a period of increas- international aggression and Open convention 109 instability. the body of Demo- can the fate of such enders ane evel nume allics union bureaucrats are bunch incompetents alll for the New York party scoundrels. Yet the powerful US labour 10 L rubber stamp movement tied by Its TO1 Tennals open leadership to these two capital- choose ist parties. aDit fights foI his Lalle. alternative choices political SlE 8 ana Nedsal to undergo regular the vital that senility none too oromising either: there take up the fight wito tralleu tracc unulst

AFL-CIO

other throughout the primaries and TOr and who cannot even drive a car unions oreak

ITOM

[nt Secretary Democrats and form a Labour based ot tate moe yusklc wiluse lally which Carter scarcely programme aluls wali. fight Ronald offer an independent an anony- forward none oi

TURKEY

command wide party Republicans Press Last week's Socialist settle d m a dampose er- out thai should nave pomted team-composed abey bich Wee Tppoited mb- geriatric 'B' movie actor Ronal supported was CHeL Committee called br the Bush-who stepped Delence or Democrauc Rige.

had to in Turkey. Gerald rord to olter three months to, strike

1YUW,

advance by joined the MNR revolutionaries; political the Banzer coup, was in 19/1 opposed town of Oruro. DV colorauus regiment led by Major Ruben the peasants captured by Sanchez (once 1947 gradually only levald allu supported by other units.

was not only soldiers tine This time, rase else rank Civllai uless. exclusivel dolssl disaffection Ener and T1 e methods, or the the polit extensie months with their assistance.

coup required extensive the lobbying and preparation.

hais. unen. style? When the miners resisted the in mind attacks and tine

TTOOOS

But the mutinied the generals tried to out: but the TIne o aIs DOmD involved-they the they silence Whle CoUIO recognise stations miners' radio tne. Parag onl Wile hs nod of destroying stood in danger Paraguay the very surface plant they need to continue the exploitation o!

the entire world. the miners, the miners are being wineu

IOW

starved out as Banzer did tr SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6, 1980.

them in 1976-then it took ovnr to rid "Bolivia of the cancer of break the christels alliance of dictatorships new of then, strikers the southern cone Ille Slalls-vul Sauend they need to be fed. In this the Ihe mark or inis can De seel local peasantry has displayed its in the new concentration camps the hundreds smuggling Bolivia, in Paz people herded into the • La m oo Dougn m cne uglanc football stadium for days with- e ast tme did this was out food or in the total water and high number Consol sle deaths; in the persecution of the It now appeals tllat lne coul • backed by Argen- liberal clergy and pushing aside 1200 then bourgeois civilian with carried out bill lalis is the inevitable lesson talluls Bolivia's hut aso mannet ove t7t1 f ettores "democracs y", one which should revolution is an 'Argentine- by those be learnt sowed elec coup with 'Chilean' ends arV tora muss ] wildliova :Brazilians who saw tragic trick for th Bolivian working class May, also overthrow of : the dicta were quich 1 lIC dictatorship- TOrSHO Is tRe orme oo celeye vI vas trey wil and the miners-and require the UlvIU greatest international solidarity matic relations with Bolivia) in which must Decome absolute priority for workers in 'says he «rarca How the imperialist metropolis.

will stay in power for 20 years

SOUTH AFRICA... from page 1 SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6, 1980.

-INTERNATIONAL

South African state forces employers turned more directly They were returned to the municipal compounds in which to other strike hreaking weapons provided by the repres- housed, unty di t and all relected. demanas sacked. *Hone for fae mode da 1? primitive compounds. groups Counel spokesmen council workers are isolated announcad that the their The mass of

SOT

ony 1IUllI employed by the City strikers workers com boulus, bụt from the massive non- Counci paid little attention to migrant urban working class.

the announcement. riot police They met the sacking with a During the strike, show solidarity and massive have coroonec

WUIKEIS

came inside compounds, and repeated more workers alki efforts have been made to force struggle alongside the

OUT

snipo group thei foint wage workeis une amaco quare. lo support their joint wage break the strike. maj- "Homelands"

WIT 111

vasi of the council's 15;000 ority black workers. had joined the the migrant workers. majority strikers. are resisted only tne allowed to remain legally in the employers attempts to impose appointed stooge-negotiators Dismissal means immed- all aclanutu iate return to the "homelands". with, and recoonttion or tnen unskilled union representa- Illas: tives. labourers are particulatly strong ly threatened by dismissal and Having failed halt the from pools of replacement deve looment or ine sirke wiln the threat dismissal, the unem ploved workers torced to Fight for solidarity with Bolivian masses NUM leaders must translate of the the resistance words into material support.

workers and peasants and 01 Transto WOIKeIS dockers in the TGWU must take Bolivia against the Junta is call for blacking of all up the referred to a separate In trade with Bolivia in defence of in this of report issue the working class agamnst mpel Socialist Press. ialism. The export of arms to the Revolutionaries Kritain import now build a campaign solidarity Bolvian tin in particular musi avlivil stopped. derence oi acmocial puls u

RESOLUTIONS FOR UNION

Bolivia.

BRANCHES.

The development of this will 1) This (trade union branch) covered calll valgu deplores the recent milltar) Socialist Press Bolivia As a first step the tollow resolutions are its solidarity with the struggie ol ing proposed trade union peasants and orner Talsil workers of Bolivia against the branches, particularty tne NUM, TGWU and other unions with new s ulila present and potential links with material sumport to maximum this struggle in Num eaders recentv visited Bolivia and had a return delega- i) blacking of all trade with Bolivian miners' the Junta and tion from calling on une

TUC

organise full-scale union, the FSTMB. remain in the totally impover- 1shed homelands Tribalism In their efforts to break the strike, employers nave turned to the tribal authorities "restore disci- pline" of pré-capitalism has been assid- nurtured by the state as uously of disciplining anding Workers workres the class nemy and away against other workers. • In the municipal compounds in which work e are nowsed effort is made to maintain every tribal allegiance and Lidullollat repressive tribal autority struc- tures ovnr workers. It is testimony to the decay bosses cabitansm Inal their quest to boost profits, are forced to backward social systems of the past. Yet despite the persistence of tribal traditions and culture, blacking campaign. ii) participating in building a national campaign of solidarity; to ensure that recognition and aid are with-held from the Junta

RESOLITION FOR LABOUR

PARTIES

This (Labour Party deppo res the military coup Bolivia and calls on the NEC to support all trade union action in in solidarity with the and

HELICID

wasaisls their workers DOllVId struggle to overthrow the new calls on the NEC Junta. ensure that all necessary means Used •revenI recognition of or Junta, and aid to the Bolivian national support to campaign of solidarity in Britain with the Bolivian working class.

workers nave repeteury 101gel levels of unity in struggle which break through state-fostered divisions such as tribalism Even with the protection oi police tribal leaders have the of testing their terrified the workers in an open strike- breaking role. At the present time, reports Incucate 1121 massive employers' onslaught on Fn e culminating in the direct strike, armed strike breaking groups of strikers back to work.

Forced back The union leader Josenh Mavi has been arrested and more been 1121

A SUCIS

lidye forced back to the 'homelands'.

The only thing which has strikers and the strike-breaking allacks Idi deter thation and so sareiy thi organised strength be sup- ported and strengthened by the solidarity of their class brothers and sisters. particular, the working masses and youth of Johannes must take the lead for the support struggling migrant workers.

With proposed rent increases for Soweto serving to fuel devel- and combativity which recently led series of substantial victöries on pay by black car- workers tre stuece oi worker: is bound to sharpen further in the coming period Committees Workers' committees mils be built to , take up each issue facing workers, to build action support ench serving workers' interests.

As morn and morn workers take action in support or tress councils of action built link and must be to. develot amieren longside eachother *Build support for strugglin Council workers!

TURCOOOON

ment of all strikers. *Release Joseph Mavi: release all political prisoners.

"No vicamons *Build united working class action against every state attack.

*For a national minimum wage determined by and protected through a sliding scale. worksharing on ful pay *Build South African Trotsk yist party Fourth section of the Inter- reconstrucica national! Page 3 No let-up in Polish strike wave Poland's strike neter nut at come cos to l shows no signs of abating.

itself be shown tọ Has On the contrary: in the last . It is looked to with noweress week workers have taken indus contempt by the vast majority trial action in support of wage of those whom it rules and other demands in yet more Poland but 1U C the Stalinist-ruled throughout The unsurge of the working of Eastern Eurone TiNe class is now more of a nation.

this ruling caste wide phenomenon than even in be reversed or it risings and 1976 has done through Poland Last week the workers of the So it was not surnising that Baltic connurbation of Gdansk Edward Polish Party Secretary Gdynia and Sopot-the scene of Gierek rushed off for a rapid in Moscow to ask his some of the most 'holiday' 1970-entered the events Soviet masters what to do.

stage in a way which is deeply ominous for the Arrests bureaucracy. In these cities the workers growing numbers of half- organised Conseroned militants are subjected to arrest.

hour "warning strike" and interrogation representatives said Thei issued if the was no total velled treats tod 1 ne dolla wage heeced and Hcreasti tion does not subside the Soviet granted then all out strikes intervene would begin. army 'friends", it and game of cat what are concerned by is mouse it is the bureauciacy dit not the working class which is there is every present the mouse that threats cities, such

SION

Luese producing not the terror which Silesia Wrocaw LOWer is intended but contempt and have sharpened the of their wage political point gredler resistalice In Poland today the political struggle bv demanding the same against the Stalinist revolution wages and material privileges as dictatorship is underway the police and army but a acal esse by the continued strength of the Rejected Catholic Church with its readi- ness to exploit the situation for It was in Wroclaw, too, that tae oulame Icallula workers •shower nov they had gone in breaking. out the nationalised basis of the Polish economy the institutional straight- that their lacket in which the bureaucracy Vital tried to confine them. struggle for pontical maepell _They firmly the leaders of the rejected dence from the Stalinist bureau- whether right or efforts bureaucrati vavs build and trace strengthen workers' councils as unions" to put themselves at the head of the struggles in order to direct counter to the existing Ther nexor. statt as udidlus able assault on the political At the same time a Trotsky- power of the bureaucracy.

ist leadership must be built to the conscious througl tar. that bureaucracy has vall struggle to detena the progres : been forcea to cave in on every one of the mounting demands sive property relations in Poland of the working class. while fighting g for the overthrow clearly of the parasitic and reactionary fIOW chance that the bureaucracy inal leeds ole lilest present agitation can simply gains. USFI, Parity Commission duck debate The

IMG,

for undisclosed Despite a frenzied witch- reasons, failed to send a speaker.

the Daily Mail a hunt by The SIG, after initially accept- week prior to its opening, invitation speak. • 1112 bilt the summer school of the wilnorew stating that they not International wond Trotskyist speak from the same platform as Liaison Committee proved a the FIT. great success. The slus turn-about is the more conspicuous in view of the Nearly 200 members and fact that the Parity Commission Workers sympathisers Socialist League and other TILC still Dieecer along with convene an open conference of attended on the Trotskyists reconstruc observers from Workers Powe (Britain), the IKL (Austria), the

RWG

(USA) and the Fourth Tendency Internationalist It is. obvious from their argue thei reluctance On Wednesday July 23 many publicly a 240 Dosiuons of those attending the schoo. strono _nener une the rally London USFI leaders nor the leaders of the Parity Commission wish the TILC the called by theme the evident crisis thai oi the light to recon struct the Fourth International.

continues to sort ano conust the world Trotskyist movement.

To develop the debate We invite the membership of question, speakers

•WOC

invited from Workers Power, the Communist this sectarian position and wage International fight the for the necessary internationa Marxist Group (British and open discussion section the USFI) and the Socialist the problems an0 Trotskyists in the class Group (British section struggle of the 1980s. ol ine farty commission), ano the FIT.

HULL TRADES COUNCIL

B2 Coventry Labour Page 4 the spending plans in the field that foe al lady do on ear the police and Accounts committee last week criticisco the decision to scend tozi million on developing a new British Sting Ray torpedo sooner than purchase a similar weapon from the USA for £200 million The Committee points out that spending weadons Increased enore i ten vears om t10a million in 1909 to [1.6% billion in 1979 The loss of jobs were the Sting Ray to be cancelled is estimated as "negligible". The loss of life were this and other military hard- ware actually used would o course be catastropnic

PRESS

GANG

the right to defy a law in the The editors of Fleet interests of bourgeois freedoms Street are queuing up to go right and on the other the to prison. aerence Ever since it became clear class freedoms-the that the courts were going right picket, to strike, to black. •Granada Tule unal television must reveal its inside many working source

HOT

cass British Steel enthusiastic militants the choice is not one of abstract debate. The Shrew- me too' martyrdom has gripped The heras and not so Dera souty DicKers editors. have actually been in jail-and The days, with the majority are not for a few their carry out world soress callie lol their threat. The BSC memor- release, but for years, andum revealed: World in liberal editors determined that would should stay there flavo suppressed by many Fleet Street The history 0I the cass which would have left struggle is littered with the real papers, with no source to worry martyrs of the working class for «Doul.

OTISON.

tion, is not a romantic boost to But there is little doubt thal somn editors, notably Harold their circulation but ital of the Sunday Times, harsh sometimes Evans reality. wona De cute oresarea lo 2o jail rather than reveal Harold Evans in a television source. interview said that what distin- It may be though political guished the editors from mere expediency makes unev law breakers was _that an

NUJ

member inside editors were prepared to accept Granada the consequences of refusing to be might actually comoly wen cae law. What does this tell us about Since they were prepared to liberal editors? Does mean they were not undermining the rule of law!

identity underele 1s all interest netween There editors cycl and the working class-which bourgeois terms. nute at the could make just as much use of clearly has an interest saying that if Genocalic all Lil discle controlled' press? caught he or she is prepared to do time. The Sunday Times, in an That question has been editorial presumably written by worrying the ecitors a great echoes of deal. The Arthur Evans, amples unis arg amen Scargill and even Bill Sirs, Is Granada by refusing disclose, putting its foot on the bids for have wIlu right to shores of anarchy! It prison cen over the

1 UCL

picket, ring too close for com- fear but rancanle there differences between Iort in their ears. and Mr Arthur Scargill. result a new field of The Coins them spees up. duty

SHITST

The wilde Ine press seeks to discharge is not to editors themselves have workers but to its owners or its tion between on the one hand the whole public. Communist Party and Labour Party members had lined up with Tories and the National Front in a con- ference on Ireland called by Tameside Trades Council. This was explained by Tame- side Dave Halsworth. secretar speaking at the July meeting of Hull Trades Council The Tameside conference nao been cared under ine sosa 'Bring the War to Britain" how the Labour 1 alcon council Georgi Newton, had intervened prevent the conference taking Dace on counch premises as nau been arranged. And the local AUEW District Committee had refused to allow its hall to be used. In late February the TUC itself weight to conference, witch hint _ot tne which had already been joined sectional but a general duty Secondly, Is angerence perween nonour ing a promise (albeit in the law's work, which is what Mr Scagil exercisme threatens defiance of a new criminal law tully debated.. Thirdly the press is prepared to take medicine. HS there is an inexcusable conflici of duties, , it does not call for nor challenge insurrection basis of not only the power of the cour but its right to impose a fine or prison sentence. There is honou in that" liberal of the desire editors to distinguish between their own position and that of victims of anti- Class What it also demonstrates sharply is the validity very -illal it sit takiy the workint class itself taking power bourgeois democratic rights car be guaranteed. Evans would be answer. position (in the event of they themselves or Granada exec- utive being jailed) to a strike by and newspapers to demand his or her release! the question is ic answer it. Evans 'does not call insurrection' even 101 strike. His answer even from his cell would be the answer toe sumony rumies • Ila. what ever reason: Get back to work

BACKS TAMESIDE

by the Tory press. carry out the proper function of National Front fascists as cue as set our n threatened a counter demonstra the Model kules the TUC to a tion and to break umthe confer- He likened ence, TUC bureaucrats informed club. If you won't abide by the get out, he rules, you should conference went ahead the TUC said would When discussion was opened withdraw recognition Irom amesoe Despite all this pressure, the supporter George Nix spoke in Tameside Trades Council voted support of Tameside. TUC's bully-boy He pointed out that tactics, recovere l although he regarded the slogar postponed conference. 'Bring the War to Britain' to be On March 7 came the TUC dangerous since it open to the ultimatum: abandon con- misinterpretation, the believed disaffiliation. laur inal me misa. war was • an issue Tameside that should be discussed in the whet was disaffiliated on March 26 labour movement. Hallsworth resolution was later by Walter Greendale, carried bv 19 votes to % declar steward ing that: In TUC General member of the "This Hull and District Council. Irades Union Counci calls fo1 Hull the immediate reaffiliation ureenaare asked Trades Council to support.

the Tameside Trades Council to the TUC's decision. and further lor the valls argued. had lamesice recom or speech or airder failed to abide by the terms of councils to debate questions on

TUC

Congress all industrial and political issues; policy and rebels expelled Over the last ten days the inetticienev and waste The immediate way forward Coventry labour movement Coventry be to link must experienced has major usualalt Surecies allu developments. new principled The increasing pressure from The struggle to rinstate the the class has brought rebel councilors must be linked between the left and the right of

SOCISE

policies the Labour Party and a clear programme of action and expressed itself sharply with the expulsion gainst ti school of ten 'rebel' Labour council- stop the figh to closures. lors. school meal price rises The ten were expelled by the and redundancies can only Labour Group for voting against extended by for all- preparing out strike action. an increase In school meal prices line with Labour Party Coventrv must vill lans raise these demands upon the policy presently docile trade not the only But this indicator of resistance to Tory and force them to mak attacks. a stand on the issues involved.

The toolmakers committee industry after industry its struggle nonce reen lay orIs ana

MUSI

closures the Midlands, bring in al sections or maustr area-wide toolmakers and defend every job through tee to defend jobs, stop closures joint union action. the rebel council- *Commit the industry has been set up.

Hots to a tota so curs oamora- aim to launch con er. _redundancies! Оссиру to save jobs! ence October *Kick out the Labour and hosted by none other than Tony Benn, who has recently taken up the toolmakers' fight! of Combined with thi opposition generalca. over school meals issue and the Wheatley Street Closure these Nursery acco diners reveal the angry mood workers facing • dramatically worsening living standards under the Tory offensive. Militants Militants are directing their lury towaras forcing ine leil l the Labour Party and trade in defence of unions act by

LOUS

allu attempting develop based organisations of resist- dile 1he ignt must be Taken ty portial soluti had that the partial solutions, and that struggle genero gains must be linked to the over throw of the present system of SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6, 1980 it also condemns the dictatorial ana bureaucratic measures taker by the TUC in respect of Tame side Trades Council The Hull resolution, coming from one the country's largest Trades Councils sic• lorward ln la campaign for the reaffiliation of Tamnside. We urge our mambers and to raise issun supporters the Labour throughout dill Trace ason movinen It is only by securing the right debate the Irish war and lt: labour movnment tnat the way can be cleared to argue for the necessary policies of of out hoop. Ireland now! *Self determination for the Irish people! * Restore political status!

Stalinists split over Ireland gag "Gag union discussing Ire- land' ran a headline in the Morning Star last week. followed The article that newly-formed advisory Ireland on re and supporter. The Morning Star reports its Bert Ward, as i saying that Wai establish the princinle that fre speech Ireland sen a part of political debate today". The statements which follow contain the standard CP renunciation of violence, but , a call to dnter‹ democratic rights. What makes the article note criticisms accurately could „more pointed aga Cst the Cris af.

members at the comerenct madn key Councis Who the the right disaffiliated "lameside Irades Counci The CP has itself sumported this disaffiliation. CP members in Oxford went distribute leaflet outside the BL Cowley plants last calling for convenor year Bobby Fryer to be voted out of had defended free speec on Ireland there the blatant collabora- Horus ponces wmen lne party consistently pushed over Ireland. Some signed he e 'rank CP petitior Tameside's condem ning affiliation some against disaffiliation when it wa debated on Hull Trades Council.

But doubtful if the statement will reflect any change in the CP's practice.

SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6 1980 The vicious exploitation imposed by employers the sweat shops of Hong Kong, Singapore and Kowloon has long been the envy of every Tery busin- nessman. but ll took a lormer chal- man the Fabian Professor: Peter Hall, to have the gall

• DIO JUSC

Histitutig similat set-up in britain.

He suggested system in which "freeports blanche all legal freed from any restrictions. Seized upon The idea-harking Dack tu politics of the calaisil - has been eagerly seized upon by the Thatcher and last the first seven Lones centred on already left by the of ravages capitalism. Within these Lores-l Clydebank, Belfast, Speke, Swansea, Dogs, Manchester Newcastle- and enDovers are onered. *Exemption from Develop- ment Land Tax. * Exemption trom rate: *100% capital allowances for commercial and industrial build- ings. Exemption from many planning restrictions. *Exemption from the need for certificates. *Exemption from the need to train young workers. rastei customs lacuues. 10019 n

BOTV

aDokesmen claim that they will uphold health laws and safety on doubt Polutiol. 1s 110 that the most wcious ano scrupulous employers will the first in line to transfer their operations to suca zones Anti-union laws The plan should also be seen James anti-union laws: new PrIOR S firms set up "Enterprise Zones" would diluida Lasil secure. an • 810 vote secure a closed shop agreement And since all of the "Enter- prise Zones' trial areas they will of course be the first test of the Tory plan to drive unemployed workers into onder threat of a withdrawal os wuw-vall dole and social security pay- ments. councils-which control most of towns where the new Zones are sited - Bringing Hong Kong have actually this welcomed Tory scheme to nine- teenth Contury conditons • OL woIk In the 198Us Many Labour MPs, however, tade of sed thion i The atti- Luce encers be parallel to the atti- lkely to they have taken 1Uly dilaca. mere wu de verDa rumblings of opposition, but no made to challenge this attempt latest move Yet it is more essential than period ever next that unemployed workers and youth by trade union movnment and mobilised in joml suruggies wiln employea workers ensure that of and conditions are pay defended and extended. tive Jenn which recruits unemployed workers-has tabled a resolution campaign to organise the unem- ployed: TGWU leader Evans has already announced this as union as for trades checose to press for Trades Council's create special sub-committees 1920s levels Council house building under the Tories is set to return to the levels of the 1920s. Is this a wild statement by a fanatic? No, left-wing is the forecast or all-party Parila• mentary Committee which last week criticised Environment secretarv Heseltine for falling t‹ speu out the tul impact oi his programme of cuts. New public sector housing starts by 19834 are predicter 30,000-ess than hastae inade- miserane quate figure for 1979-80 As a result, there could be a shortfall on figures of houses by mid 1980s! By the end of' this Hese tine's 48 cut in the hong- ing budget will have brought the rate of council house building to 100.000 a veat les mantne minimum required. And this.is linked to a slump

NORTH

conditions to Clydebank for work amongst the unemployed general mountal intensive tunevest aimed ployment. recament ative Council house building at in private housebuilding as soar- costs families many and force would-be nouse. developers into financial crisis.

Meanwhile special steps are being steamroller taken through the House of Lords Heseltine's pet scheme for further reducmg the stock of council housing-by flogging off existing council houses knock-down those tonans non enouan to be abe • to altora them This alone will cos hundreds of millions of pounds further

JOSU

ano, intensify the housing crisis.

Only the defeat of the Tory government and a socialist pro.

gramme for the nationalisation of the land, the construction companies and the banks and can lay the Dulong cocleter basis for à crash programme action to end the housing short- age and stabilise rents. Page 5 CBI pleas

(SOUTH)

ignored by Tories Maybe you are furious 76% of firms report order soaring prices, at books "below soaring result, the CBI predicts that rents, rates, electricity, tele- manufacturing invest phone, postal and other will fall by a massive 10% charges; maybe you are bitter at the mass unem- And while the bosses' con- federation industrial expects ployment; maybe you are sick to the teeth of social vivos to case suenty as emboy ers try to remain competitive in service health cuts, cuts, a fading market, the CBI points out that of thei cuts and education police many CsEs spending: but continue to rise. and that there •spare : a fore profits are again tending to for the poor old thought fall. employers. But don't :spend too long Many of weeping eagerly failed unem 101 unest boosted Thatcher as she exploiters who at last are facing logic of thei tor her the dog-eat-dog power along a path clearec by five years of right VW1 Istoricall system of production. Because be nohack of train. there will lack umon and Lavour readers ready tax handouts and looked to her and willing government of diehard reaction- employers case, tel aries to force the whole burden workers that they should sacri- oi the crisis onto ine working and wages

JOD

restore the profits of private cass capitalists Dull witted Yet the harsh fact is that the system, Onlv now are some of the creates mass poverty and unem- duller-witted and weaker sec- ployment hand, tions of employers beginning to while leaving that means of production idle on the strategy does not only hit other, to workers: it involves driving basic right of every whole sections of industry Unemployment, recession tne wall in tne process. striko in panic these and capitalist crises can only employers for ended through the defeat of the : a change of course thev tind that Whatche nationalisation of basic industry and Joseph have plugged their ears to all pleadings and are hell and the banks under workers bent relentless drive part of restore the planned socialist economy.

seco o e e the expense of destroying the Preparation weakest. week The task of leadership in the Lasi saw unsuccessful workers' movement prepare for such a fight leaders Thatcher the meantime the employers' ,strategy of rational- Tece teres rares ano oring down the high internationa and mass sackings must value of the pound before even be combatted at each stage by more firms go into bankruptey strikes supporting survey showed that and blacking the allu Howe 56% 1,960 manufacturers struggie Ior WOIK sharie have cut their workforce during out . loss of pay to defend all the at present are shouldering last tour months-and that jobs. unem- 61% expect to do so in the next ouraen or few months. Less people at work The total number of workers employed in Britain fell by over 150,000 in the first of this year, quarter to 22.06 million. Even the pubic sector anc service industries in the sector steadily have enlarged their WOrKIOICO years have now

:ASI

begun to contract And manufacturing industry has staggering DaCk 300,000 jobs since last June The latest government figures confirm that while the now growing at a rate of 200,000 per numbers actually The empiovment figures also important discrep- ancy: the fall in • jobs is much larger than the •official increast in the number of unemoloved government officials claim that this is largely due to oldes workers Lakut tellement, a mucn more signirl cant cause seems the wholesale redundancies facing not eligible for unemployment bene fits and thus are not reflected in Glasgow housing unemployment statistics

Fighting Labour's right wing lea

WHICH WAY IS 'WOR

ACTION' HEADING

I Conference of the Lab Page 6 There is no doubt that in the wake of the heavy elec- toral defeat brought upon the Labour Party last year by the policies of Callaghan and Healey, the Party itself wracked by a has been growing political crisis.

left wing albeit reflecting militancy of the working class, nas emerge trom lne successful challenge to Phase controls the 1978 oi wage comerence to ousn unroun unc reselection call for mandatory of

MPS

at the 1979 Brighton comerence Since then, the new aomin- ance of this left-wing within the and farty's rank underined Une contrast between the chilly reception for Callaghan and the standing ova.

delegates the 1o ony DOnI necial onterence on Mav sl As a result of this shift, and isolated increasingly irate weigh begun to wine nas options. its Defence Secretary William Rodgers has out into open defiance of Party policy on the Cruise Missile question. Social Contract Callaghan, Healey and many

LOD

union bureaucials Have begun leeling tneir way towards a new wage-cutting 'social con- tract". There is even talk of right wingers splitting The Brighton conference TrOM Labour Party to join an explicit- the present political ferment the "Centre Party anti-socialist false conclusion that the Party burocrat as a whole is on the verge ol Jenkins. transformed into some seing Meanwhile in the run-up to kind of revolutionary party.

the Octobei comerence on une contrary. Callaghan is busily buttonholing than ever that Marxists vital

TUC

chiefs what he hopes thi prepare fight to construct a disciplined ground for revolutionary organisalon the detent ov

DOCK

capable of giving consistent and votes of democratic reforms direction leadership and principled demanded by the left-reselec. for new of MPs; NEC control over for socialist revolutonal y the ratty manitesto: ane cemo.

policies-within both the trade cratic election the Party unions and the broader labour leader. including the There is no doubt therefore Labour Party. is very different in its internal Different emphasis life from the Labour Party of two or tree yeas aro This change opens up new A very different emphasis, political possibilities for revolu-* nowever emerges wrom a series Lionaries. of three major articles spelling It is essential that Marxists out the , of the paper orientation fight alone the boratit demanding democratic Workers Action. whose politic: ferrection or ine wiel-

ECLOS

national Communist League.

wise mentine arams me made.

Workers Action draws from quate and misleading the 1979 Brighton conference the pros anme advoca NEC's Draft the tne concusion unar tae pontical wing of the Labour movement Maniesto. has begun to change change sufficiently United front for it to be now not fantastic to set as a goal its transformation (at partially and on While it is correct to seek in that further changes condition this sense a united front will left in the struggle against the are pressed through mio a red instruentor the or ase. right wing, The rary s decisions essential to find ways to dispel Brighton conference, if they the course of the fight any illusions that the Labour left has pushed through and ed to make coherent political a correct or accountable Labour Party alternd it is equall it is equally important

ICAN

not to allów Labour militants to controlled by the labour and trade union movement, open up of draw from line aoscalalice the Labour Party by politically a new perspective". contrasting the Party in 1980 (WA 174) with positions in earlier the its 10 Party, after 75 years of commit- years: Party in office has the Labour ment to piecemeal parlamen never been tarv Terorm or me cantas system, being transformed by other than a capitalist govern.

ment based on one two constitutional The rerormis organisations of the working chances mo area instrumen of the working class" is, to say (WA,173) the least, extraordinary.

To spread the idea in 1973 But for Workers Action pre- could cisely this view is made thi of whole he a workers government would point stal lll: have been to spread confusion" towards poluca. omenlalion (our emphasis). demanding a workers covern (WA 173) ment" which-would effectively But surely to spread the idea left' Labour amount government Party, with the aid of a few yet- "The Brighton decisions are to-be-implemented -or rather can be made to be a process of the beginning tional retorms and no suuslan tial change of political direction reconstructing renovant could now the labour movement.. demonstrates that Brighton government, is equally to spreac transforming the political wing confusion? aDOl possibility, and thus that Demand on 'lefts' transitional possible to raise dental 101 ment in Britain... demand on the left wing

: NEC

(WA 174) embark faken campain for been a fakers that they workers' government This demand centres exclusively of the Callaghan right wing and the Labour rally and une exist- abandon the class collaboration- ing organisations of the working spelled out ist strategy Workers Action class-which new Draft Manifesto. Worker argues need to be simply "reno- Achon merely Iollows on ine vated" to equip them for service existing leftward current in the hands of the working the Party, and implicitly subscribes cass. to its illusions. The Contrast any revolutionary

DATTY-1AVH09

Hese ver with an enigmatic formula But Workers Action goes declaring that • further-and _even exactly "It is not required that the justifies its abrupt turn towards Labour Party becomes a revolu- tionary party-or think it can or will become that". (WA 174) Maybe it is not "required" Workers Action Leaders that cheris! such lllusions: but they do, they certainly receive categoric rebuttal of them in the three articles! Abstentionists the Indeed attacking stance of the SWP abstentionist ana orders wao reuse to chani pion struggle pabour Party, Incle the Workers Action effectively argues that the Party revolutionary instrument "When the SWP and others the denounce ide? une unal Labour Party can be made an instrument for socialist change they that actually doubting that the work be in the period Can the trade unions be ahead the instrument! Car

SUCH

does mat nor Paan action through theresary It bealt ments?". The Labour Party-for all its undoubted political dominance ponent of the working class, not the class itself. while a strategy for the construction of a revolutionary leadership and the fight for Labove partie most take Labour Party. must take SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6, 1980.

account of it in the context of • fight win and overals mobilise the working class as a whole. This means fighting for more than replacements Labour the Party apparatus: it means devel- i strength oping the independent which alone can offer the basis on which to implement a social- ist programme. We free courserbere whole can agree with heartedly there the allack sectarians Workers Party (whose reluct- to fight the reformist alice вителистас unions, the form of the building of 'Rank and File" organisa- Tons wrich • spearntaa no Ica Sarty ese form othereabod and in the Labour abstention, about abandoning the wing of the organised olitical • movement to bourgeon about agents, naive or shamming semi sectarians around Mritanpassive (WA 175) Party split this correctly spells out the necessity for an into the Labou intervention one refer tally, les only ence in the entire toree series to even the possibility of a split in the Labour Party.

"To the pedantically the who

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TORIES SLAM INTO

CLOSED SHOP

Page 8 The recognition that the individual worker by him- self is weak in any argument his boss has always shop by parliamentary statute is the greatest dis- with been the basis for fighting aster which has befallen liberty in my lifetime.

for 100% trade union mem- bership. the other side of this And is the deep contempt and that nostlilty

UHHONSES

through, not stopping at trade feel to those workers who take all the benefits of pay, condi- lol ulcallisation vul cmoral ing every kind of organisation; that tions ane secunty the family, husbands, wives and union fights for yet refuse to children are all relations that are to assist bodily and finan Jo1n veer sore on me ba. tects them against the ravages of The law present also the capitalist market tho se The aim of the Conservative worshippers are whose government

WILDES

active trade unionists. Bill every encouragement to these Exemption in the waru accus class. # does in that. sthse is is An Ano ican or a atng l sense could claim exemption shop trade membership despite the oi undermining the organisation on TaCT the shop floor greater organisations not only don't proscribe trade of than the union activity previous Conservative adminis- amongst

HOCK

tration. occasion actively encourage it.

(Under the 1971 Fair Deal Recently union called the at Work' Act a closed shop oi 'agency shop' could be run for noustria naman o ine Arco- workers after they had started bisto the of Coventry to investi- gate depth of religious con- work but not before. viction of some twenty workers wno were irying to avoid Join Register ing a closed shop. The unwordly Chaplain (less However. on unions wod Obsesse do cer mich had registered under the bership and disappearing tithes National Industrial Relations than court were alowea to set uo do only claimed a tiny minority for agency shop and as Registration ms celesma general-secretary.

all the meant accepting repres The new proposals of James Prior's laws would Sive unal

ACE

anti-union directed against the unions, this Creat extend dred most unions refused to register).

religious exemption which is anyway considerably vague.

Diesell is sinc refuse to join a union because of allow workers He intends to the Teruse

1OIH

This exception which unions union on grounds *deeply held personal conviction'.

Cate uscu as a codecs may pe pie. does apply to 'Personal conviction' religions that expressly forbid tner ratu to be members of a trade union. Even vaguer than the For instance religious exemption it is a "per- there are certain Christian sects ike the tilal d wuike. : trom ax causive nave

TO T

On V 'spartacist" split-off the unions in general but any union Plymouth will in particular Brethren) who if a worker thought Storint says be not be quich that the GMWU was becoming how sternly says unequally matter democrafically its militancy had voke warm on Deleters achieved) if another this advice, ciear v a bank neen cheque to every sectarian, is at worker thought that the TGWU carried was becoming too moderate (no least consistently "The compulsory enforcement of the closed Paul Johnson, New Statesman, September 1976.

matter how undemocratically its spinelessness had been secured militancy or moderation could be regarded under the Employ- allo untile "deeply held personal convic- that would justify him or tion' ithe union question. This provision is specifically intended eitectiveness of any progressive developments in any union.

its intention is to give a green light to all those backward celts wie • to oppose, flout or otherwise ignore left- wing policies successfully fought Any resolution inat becomes policy in the unions; equal pay, opposition wage control. racialist discrimination and legis- lation such immigration control, British troops Ireland, accountability greater union leaders the will inevitabl members. etc. have its opponents. Legal cover Rather than acceol lne wi of the majority this extension o grounds for union exemption is designed to give a legal cover for all those who wish to sabotage of Having made it easy for any one who disagrees alis walk out of the union, Prior quite logically has also to clear the ground to allow such scabs to then walk into any union mey wish lo If a person lor waaleve "deep personal conviction" he she acquired

AUEW

decided the and ioin the TGWU the latter union would normally refuse to take such a person into member- closed shop agreement inside the company Under this proposed Bill nowever, a tnibunal could legard the refusal of admission by the

TGWU

"unreasonable". Not only could such a worker then

COHE

compensalloll employer honouring who WaS the closed shop agreement in his factory but he could involve the

JUWU. I

brainble. compensation claim as well.

whether the "unreasonab- was acting ly the Act specitically instructs Tribunals to ignore union rule constitutions and agree- ments that they have with other unions. Senile Instead the Tribunal, (whose employers' representative, senile (frequently both) and thirdly as independent chairan guardian interests will judge *unreason- capital, "the accorualice substantial merits or the case Where courts force ad- mission of such a scab upon a union, compensation 59,850 can be claimed for the period the union's action kept him waiting while compensatior for someone who is still waiting for admission will £16,090 attack on closed shop brings into the light of day hidden and obscured in capital- ast cass societ Bourgeois law based as it is protection of private on

DIUCILS

assumption capital contract is a free and equal one. The employer and the things is capital to Market, the brings capital to market, the sale ns labour bowel No compulsion to either side forces one into a contract with the other. Right to sue Yet while this Act individual workers the right ves Sul lIdut wild them membership there 1s no equivalent right sut take on trade union memners.

To form a closed shop after becomes law this (Friday) will indeed be quite an achieve ment. It can only be done by secur- Makers of Q • Modern Marxism By Terry Eagleton

NOW AVAILABLE

Chis Press Pamphlet contains articles Eagleton marxi theoreticians too on time of Cominter! presen! Beniamika cs, arcuse satre a _Korach Gramaci Benjamin, Althu Price 65p. including P&! from

WSL.

Box 5277, London WCIV 6XX SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6, 1980.

Second in a series of articles by

JACK BURNETT

demand when you consider that the Government's mandate for mas ane other • reactionary legis lation it is hoping to impose on the country derived from less than 33% of those eligible to vote. The attack the closed is far r indeed • or al shop from support of Firms, especially the multi- nationals who need continuous production to feed their huge markets generate profits to be able to make con cessions to their workers and in experience many union „ thai and shop • force r more emicent Do ice than their own foremen and supervisors Margaret Thatcher and LU. her team use verosi relationships that symbolise the diseased and stricken conditions ot Britain's domestic industry strong wishes to administer has there- hear no place em those fore "sweet corrupt and venal 'understand- eagerly sought by employer and union alike riven the cose nones iper haps chains is 1 be letter lord, developed stalentle second world war any real the shake of British capital avoid also having a trade effec on the • vulgalive ing in a secret ballot an 80%

THORS

vote in favour of all those who new leadership can emerge would be eligible to vote he centre of political and trad quite cheeky

EXTRACTS FROM THE BILL

(2) Every person who is, or is seeking to be, in employment to which this section applies shall have the right: (a) not to have an application for membership of a specitied trade union unreasonably retused; (b) not to be unreasonably expelled from a specified trade union. (4) A complaint may be presented to an industrial tribunal against a trade union by a person that an application by him for membership of the union has been unreasonably refused, or that he has been unreasonably expelled from the union, in contravention of subsection (2) above.

(5) On a complaint under this section, the ques- tion whether a trade union had acted reasonably or unreasonably shall be determined in accord- ance with equity and the substantial merits of the case, and in particular a union shail not be reg arded as having acted reasonably only because it has acted in accordance with the requirements of its rules, or unreasonably only because it has acted in contravention of them.

(58A) - (1) A union membership agreement shall be taken for the purposes of section 58(3C) to have been approved in relation to the employees d any class of employer if a ballot has been held on the question whether the agreement should apply in relation to them and not less than 80 per cent of those entitled to vote in the ballot voted in favour of the agreement's application.

(3) A ballot under this section shall be so conducted as to secure that, as far as reasonably practicable, all those entitled to vote have an opp ortunity of voting, and of doing so in secret.

Remember the Peasants' Zombies who love SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6, 1980.

Revolt Haward (New Horizon, SOCIALIST PRESS by Wendy French.

combined 1981 marks the 600th me eve oomenr o the incur- cono aril rection illustrates not only the with her obvious admiration for anniversary of the Peasants' political of the participants significance the bravery Revolt and plans are already Iovoi oul bacesaamvt ntne tevoos ouu sHanoy afoot to produce suitably context conteus ambietce orthe Middle the way in which the crisis of feudalism with its extortionate rough-hewn commemorative

HECS.

taxes onoucl doout astmue ul plates to remind the work- class forces with disaffected sec- of this important ing class Brutal tions of the rising bourgeoisie but discredited of lending àssistance to Litster and aspect their history. others ol unc coltl u nese were oruta ano dio00- wenltn' oraer InseTT t thirsty times. Whilst the Bishops Bourgeois historians have still further the shaky regime of and written off aristocracy enjoyed good Richard II wiltuiually Lit food and drink and mused ove events or 136l as a mash in tne One interesting aspect of the pa anabaration brandul gol• creaslres nickeo wrom tne conscousness oi tae ocasanls Is your average peasant, yokels Crusades, their view of God as a liberating lucky survive the didn't enough realise that force as opposed to the corrupt a val clitly the Black Death and/or childbirth, struggle wasn't and oppressive manifestations of invented until Industrial was likely to lose various limbs Tne teuc nurCn Revolution. be decapitated in battle or One of the leaders of the forth the Haward's nove revolt John Ball UraCe 101

ULEIEUL-

was who the leadey oof ot ie lister relevant cmes to the teldas lora oreaeicu mue mea scullwus lexi And it's no comfort to know that men and women cholid Norfolk, the less well-known that roughly stand free and equal under God.

sallly his counterpart Luldl a entisi Concuons sal oonn daree Wat Tyler. areas of the world This vivid reconstruction of Dr. Haward's The peasants faith in God serious shopping Dead', directed by George Romero.

German The Marxist philosopher Theodor Adorno once observed that the American "King Kong" "monster" movies-and movies in general-represen- of the ted projection nation's collective uncon- scious in the face of totalit- arian capitalism. And, having seen the remark- able Lumoies.

DUWI

or ane Dead-now on current release- one is tempted to say that its George author/director Komero nas eecea to caTTISe this particular "monster" least _aspect contesi polars hirclcal Labil- alism: namely, that of consum- erism run riot. The :action of the film takes entirely viduo .autusl mall"- 'shopping kind OT gigantic supermarket for luxury goods, such be found can surrounded by huge car odrks within easy

IOT

its customers. while in the back- bourgeois tear of the teeming

DECCHCL

driving distance of ground, the cheerful, omni- urban sub-proletariat or lumpen American towns and cities "muzak"-piped music element: disaffected, present huge, ine bace nas been occupied originally multi-racial Ilvalll cutoulase Ul Udli • DovulaLiuli by the four humans who are the the spenonng ww se uton acrecn film's central characters: a black farmers have discovered that a however, always safely con- a white man, and a white radio in the cow-shed increase by being against milk ubIc. production-plays on and those in its own cultelet- on with glorious incongruitv Sustenance they authority (which seems, in fact ine point Is obvious be dead, but this is also and significantly, to 'may inspire an how they were in life. almost mystical fear in these Outside, the entire country nonelo diso ho wevct. most

CUIU

neoels as lney are por- trayed on the screen). Is stowiy belng taken over by inere tinay comoines witn ine "zombies"-the dead reborn, movie a use of the Romero seems fully aware and stripped of all human char- motif: a theme familiar oi these reactionary tendencies in the genre: the very first shot acesucs exceoi таат

ETON

ucn recent Commerca "instinct" and the desire for successes as The Warriors and we have of the Hell's Angels is a human flesh, which is their only The Wanderers. close-up brutal tace The its in a Nazi Hicals ol Sustednce. Inalll One cenoere the four humans, the what appear to be helmet.

HOT

ot shopping mall Hell's Angels- The film is above all, in fact, represents not mercenary army only a reasonably of humans which is roaming the secure hide one that remains verv conscious out also an enaless supply countrysde on mototoles and 'Ol The cenres in woieh 1t worke commodities they will looting unchallenged every- how much it subvert ої тпе need for survival. these genres through the deliber- Unfortunately, there is moving zombies: who represent, oi satire ale ust ur varouy ls vast, mindlessly-miling bonula- ally way: aOTe cicany, open to dedate. zombies even here. As outlet for sadistic impulses, But the whole point is that

TON OT

keep c theihumare, juts as They series of almost-human only is Zombies: of the Dead one of the very best ol coming here, just as they victims for target-practice.

USCO lo co ine populanty of the recent Ine " norro momee or 'oano' The only difference is, now spate of gang-movies is worth movies, but that it clearly refers they can't remember why. commenting for it is deeply to things in real life outside the Vla t Romero splendid cinematic Iacuonay m us moicaions. StruCuTes anese satiric effect from the scenes of however much these films may conventions: Adorno's "uncon- the listless, catatonic zombies offend middle class audiences. scious" projection has become moving the in Adorno's terms. this trend aliule covalalols Lns noTIo] movie seen, fact, conscious, and that is at least a dlu CoveCa camens ane cales counters of the huge shopping represent a projected collective step towards of the BANNERS AGAINST THE WIND, by Winifred 1980) for reviewed was linked to their faith in the King, whom they as their and friend ally against nobility. The principal tragedy of the revolt is the inevitable betrayal oI unis trust oy kicnara 1l, wno agreeing concede to their demands had the leaders o!

LIC

ICVOII

bulcicicu ailu imposed more rigorous oppres- sion on the peasantry. Needless the say. allies cut Deasanus bourgeols shepo los es and etated their support, their exerted pu cosule l uc sme dna estao lished themselves, not the peasantry, as the emergent class of economic power contains many novel fine characterisations passages of powerful writing.

l call DI •KomIT one o! the peasants' leaders, as he gives way to delusions by fatigue and lack of food and DUNCAN BUSH reviews 'Zombies:Dawn of the society that determines how the original repression operates.

Thus, the not least signifi- cant aspect of the fiim is the fact that it is the black man who is the acknowledged, "natural" leader of the group and one of lls ultlmaie survivors. ano cna the' other survivor. the white woman, emerges clearly as the stronger, more competent mem- or l ca cudie sne ba ok points are not nese stressed, and indeed should no be: ос о dack and vomen ov always been there-though usually in subservient or depen- ucilt f0ICS-11 DICvIou. history of the capitalist cinema in America. Zombies: Dawn of the Dead staro be have those titles might have Come

SLUCK.

but aont be deluded into thinking that the film itself one of those-like the Hammer

HOTIOIS

10T examno e-moal made of some more-or-less fam- iliar mixture of entirely inter- changeable parts. a fm for the squeamish, as they say; but it is nèvertheless one that wtaus. wu tatery con cerner to reinforce assumptions-

NOT

social cinematic-but challenge them. water is reminiscent of a similar meetnoas trenaid The main political lesson is any oppressed class must

UWI

SUICHE LIE

obtain its liberation, , and not to place trust in other forces which ultimately belld. •LilC Dissecting the poseurs I confess all! I have been a Drabble addict ever since, as an O' level student and 'great-novelist-to-be' her image as the holder of the 'glittering prizes'-a starred first, three kids and a large house in Hampstead-hover- ed enticingly over my struggling efforts. Well. the nassage of time has cut my aspirations well down to size, , but I still find an enduring rascination calculalte. Wor o everaayoyokk Ms Drabble so Nwo that skillfully creates, or re-creates, W lel ROves At first glance her clutch of Tiberated® The Middle characters Ground, w.ollan earnest social 1ournarst. worker, a womanising medical and researcher willlwl arm lasnonady

IOSE

Eritrea would seem to be as fatuous a bunch of poseurs ever infested the columns of the Juurumr. Mastery And yet and yet. Ms Drabble's erudition and flastes v1 le neusts ca craw The reader into the han hazard but interlinking world where strikes and insurrections with alleged counteroosed infidelities and children falling off skateboards not think it is an idle rank Margaret Comoaion Drabble alongside Jane :Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell as being LIlt

NIOS

CACHEE

ironies and ooseryer. Lne absurdities of contemporary social pretensions. to feel anger a vasy Drabble's heroine, Kate, as she complains that her eighty-quid boots uncomfortable, • aliu soclus as muci on rowero ir ten minutes as most of us earn in a week, but Drabble is aware oi this herselt. and as the back contradictions of grounds and her characters unfold-well, 'to know all. is to toroive all' than in her voTe previou: Page 9 Peasants' Revolt: the King crosses the river to address rebels struggle. Banners in the Wind is a worthy tribute to the peasants' strugore. Ai present. no paper back :version is available urge readers order •it from wc local lolaly. WENDY FRENCH reviews Margaret Drabble's latest novel The Middle Ground (Weidenfield and Nicolson) Drabble acknowledges novels. the growing impact of the clas struggle on the lives of people hitherto uninvolved. Nate S lataer Ior exambe lifelong trade • unionist becomes embittered as a resul of the (implied) sell-outs of the our caucacy uunme uityus.

and the Tory voting physio- therapist who nonetheless out vulllcs

SUIEK C

WIlCI netructe• ev ner union Drabble fans will not need encouragement to obtain their 1ccular in vul i wouu dayıs those who regard her simply as trendy-smart just woman novelist' ao vi evial. oi SubUICLC loose valon for ruthless an00

BOOK

(MO1 analysis, but a masterpiece of the novelist's craft by a brillian!

Cicatiye talcll

TROTSKYIST

INTERNATIONAL

LIAISON

COMMITTEE

DISCUSSION

BULLETIN

No. 2 Articles on Nicaragua, Parity Commission, and TILC Declaration Price 40p plus 15p p& from WSL, BM Box 5277, London WCIV 6XX

Page 10

INDUSTRIAL NEWS

British Shipbuilders

MORE ORDERS

MORE LOSSES.

nationalised firm is still unable Even after the loss of compete 13,800 jobs, a wage-cutting Japannse yards pay deal and a savage pro- other than the building of war• gramme of productivity pro- ships. posals have been forced through, workers at British The result Shipbuilders face an Shipbuilders tain future. ol money perore une ena oi une year-posing once Management has won suffic- prospect of more cutbacks and jent orders to keep most yards closures busy into next year: but the Cost of credit ov. ine massive cost or creat m Britain and the rising sterling against the omeo buy cheaper leaving high and dry. 1980 Japan ordars-thn FEC a measiy 8%!

But the has little time woe told by British Shipbuilders management. vast une warsao yaras, uney talking of selling these back to industry, private to cose cown liner merchant vessel shipyards. Asset-stripper Joseph With workers by the thousand taking the a way forware. Tory streets oppose leadership tive policies there is plainly lack of militancy in the advance trade organised working class.

DONTICS

yet the existing trace union bureaucrats and Labour leaders parliament. 'left'-have -whether right Workers I ne ger spective thos League workers prepared to fight defence jobs, living build dards, social services and demo- Cratic rants in Britain. These can only be defended through which the independent TrOm interests ot the working class, which international class, has internationally nothing to gain and everything affiliated to the to lose trom attempts to restore the profitability of their "own" committee wach vents lor ene employing class. reconstruction International and In a period where the contra- Cictions anarchic cabit. alist system force the wholesale country closure and destruction the against imperialism and against of productive forces society, parasitic Cracles Ine underlines the futility witH modern making concessions saved employers, jobs can within the existing systemo slump of capit-

WOTIO

has brought alism that British eous plunge in the rate of profit is due to run out all ass vacapacity m lie productive forces. again the Every before the employers' offensive simply lays for the ine oasis nex arrack shipyard worknrs must instead the ground and a new action and occupa- British shipowners, driven on

OUT

strike tions to dnfend all jobs in the industry. value of the have yen world-wide rush to Japanese No Oats shipbuilders In the first quarter

LOUK

0U/0 "Tory the tales of Imp it toes the do di turned out •ale Yet again British Shipbuild-

JOIN

THE

WSL I

degenerated workers' states.

economy on a world scale offers invite readers To achieve such a perspec- seek mort needed details of the WSL and its work and to join us in the struggle for workers beyond socialist. protest militancy, ane lusions inal cabil alism can be abolished through Socialist Please send me more details CrOTSKVISE move fighting day in and day of the Workers Socialist such principled League. Name . Address are newly-formed Trotskyist International Liaison the Fourth the building The strucole Send WSL: BM Box to 5277, London WC1V 6XX. Stalinist bureau- detorticu More cuts, more closures, more redundancies. The uni- of British versal message capitalism takes particularly sharp form in the steel industry, Where last week's figures revealed a loss of £545 million by BSC in the year 1979-80. Of course f200 million of that loss is the direct result of which ensured that BSC actually all during Droducer no steel at the first quarter of 1980.

"loss" leaves out the made huge • protits out of

BSC

suppliers and contractors who Bill Sirs service the giant corporation.

the DUl sackings-thousands scale of the losses has crashed through Tor cash limits without and thus increased the demands on bou manacement to steo us

ISTC

still further the programme of and plant sackings closures already undni way newly-imported aden to very Mad regat has precisely clear extracted made Instead the way next winter, declaring that: "employment costs will have Tine strike and if BSC with utmost rigour". MacGregor . has also shown with it: the loss signs wallis cutbacks in bols decimated South. Wales opera- tion Yet the response of union leaders has not in any way been for Quakers 450 workers at Quaker Oats, Southall, are on strike against the sacking of eight women for allegedly sleep- ing on the premises during working time. Management

GET

caught sleeping a rest area oerore inen oilicia break" which begins 4.30 Yet their mm. testifies to having seen them at work Tine shop noor 4.25 p.m. Willing to strike The worknrs strike the sackles art memher ot the wil. legving only the maintenance and office inside factory Trial sub (UK): willing to come ou reduy ant Six issues... in sumport if necessary. Management have now shown their real reason for sack- Six months One year. gening to axe 53 jobs in the plant has been Europe: rickely with 80 pickets out on the first Six months. day despite " poo many and that allu tild they "shouldn't be there at all" Six months... Blacking This strike calls for the widest tron the labour movnment to imple- ment the necessary blacking Name... already

TITIOS

Address noted are Dodds Transport of Acton and J. Lyons offers ane should addressed Wally Churchouse,

TGWU,

Southall, 6XX 1laiis wit House. Middlesex. SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6, 1980.

STEEL LOSS MEANS

MORE CLOSURES

to prepare to fight closures and reduced from £545 million to of which £185 million. have been carried through in the But the lor govarnmit is the slightest not interestea in tne wneedlin: • opposition from the grovelling and snivelling advice handed to it by union leaders ітетест ії

LIKE DIES

directing workers to the opening Thatcher and Joseph are books of the consequences expose fully aware of their strategy in terms of los levels D1O1] from steel- roos and wages The only way steelworkers defend them selves against still further general secretary. claimed that it atlalki nad not taken place loIces will WorKrs torouonoli of its abroa the public sector and private its industry all-out assets action bring down various loans rcacular y have been Tory government.

DON'T GO INTO

THE FIGHT BLINDFOLD!

SOCIALIST

For a

PRESS

clear lead in the struggle against wage control, cuts and redundancies

RATES:

..£2 £8.00 £14.00 .. £9.00 Rest of the World: £10.00 Please send me trial sub/six months/one year of Socialist Press. I enclose Send to: WSL, BM Box 5277, London WCIV

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TORY WAR ON

PRESS

The rights of the press, the strike, right rights of'immigrants and the right not have your to phone tapped have all been dramatically curbed in one seven day period. The stripping away of trad. itional democratic rights is escal- week by week under the allila anatene sovermenl-leser mony to the fact that a govern- bent destroying the organisations the working class musı lake many DOLlA geois' democratic rights along with thein. Imprisonment Granada TV has been told that executives wil face a ilit or imprisonment if they do not reveal the name of the . person internal cave Cicill Steel BrISA •согротало memorandum during the steel memorandum was usnd 1 he •v e wore mAcon edın lu orove that the government nec whẹn it said it was not 'inter- the and that vening' o ffer had been deliber- Luc vay onCnto oWeraDou had wanted. The Law Lords have upheld a Court of Appeal ruling tha name informant the

COT

. TRe should be handed over. The Court of Appeal itself n20 Justuiea lES seanoaous ruling le had not teated tro- treated the aldilill chairman of British Steel with tcd oono H had Becen handed, sufficient and tna had been handed before had IllalKs been cut off). The ruling sa wanlel all nnwspapers whose journalists consider that they have certair freedoms: state will not tne hesitate to axe these in defence of capitalist property relations.

Attacked press one of the Lord Sarman, made the judge- law lords who for hostie even attackea tne• press comment on the that comment -saying been suspended should Inti ne

LOTOS

DuDusi tnel rinsons in a cople of months Granada, meanwhile, have been given seven cavs o aa over the name. further on the attack rights of the press came ın a Parliamentary statement

ITOMI

Sir Michael Havers Attorney General, over the BBC's right to Northern TeDor everts Ireland-a right which,

TL TISE

be said, is hardly exercised by Published by Folrose Itd for

SOCIALIST

DEMOCRATIC

RIGHTS!

the BBC. sincier vew. and unese who dat Havers told the participated would be warner Commons that, subject to the evidence and that future interviews they risked ciminal proceeding, curcumstances of the terorses woud lace atournc.

government line. incidents take under the Prevention of Terror- place

TORIES' RACIST

PROVOCATION

Youth arrested in Newham demo, July 19 Pedledered as a nevspape at the Most tortice Setned enenles do not ezerle necat t BM Box 5277, London WC1V 6XX. Printed by Morning Litho He was referring to a BBC with itio al Tonight intervien member of the Irish Liberation Army and filming by a Panorama team of IRA roadblock at Carrick.

more Havers said he was conident

INLA

had that the been in breach of the Preventior of Terorism Act. In deciding not to prosecute he underlined the fact ihat there IPIs lo a which the government cannol attack: was determined that my decision should not be interpret- ea as a licence to journausts hav responsi bility the public, the legal restrictions which operated all others. nere s licence, and that must be clearly understood." Preparation

BBC

letter to the Havers had areadv said that thé preparation for such an inter- The publication of the Tory government's new nat- ionality White Paper is both a concession to the huge racist lobby within the Tory Party and an attempt to rekindle racist agitation with a view to dividing the working class White The Paper proposes three tiers of British citizenshit with only the top tier having automatic right enter live in Britain The two categories of British overseas citizens - with no right Lor aly or blacks in B coni sed composed endenı terTToKes anle colonies. Since immigration vicious virtually prohibit iaws already new immigration ito bulam White Paper is simply a provoc- when the a time dilul National Front is again emerg Ing The NF plans to exploit Tory unemployment by calling Printers Ltd, London views of the Workers Socialist Leazue

IRISH

POLITICAL PRISONERS

N LONG KES

ARE IYING

IRISI

POLITICAL PRISONERS,

ARE IN SOLITARY

CONFINEMENT

TRISH

ers Siea

POLITICAL PRISONERS

TARE BEING SYSTEMATICALLY BEATEN

RESTORE

POLITIGAL STATUS

SUIKA SIL

. PRISONERS

valwo be held ballot must mem bers it a maioritv of mem a strike. Ders are • artectea by The provincial journalists are a minority and a ballot was not nessalv But because other journalists were ordered not to break the SUTKe. erementatt the has rule ruling

TOT N

could be that a strike by one newspapér office could be unconstitutional Unless inere à 20 vezn à cecre if other journalists are told not to sumply copy to the union, rule book io having provision in its Lord Scarman ballots; has secret opened th way lol une collis lo force of the Act. secret ballot down its throat or This means. that any journal- every o caion. ist who interviews even must now learn union of a secona nana, a memoe. long road Sesson proscribed organisation the sh th canca la ard led Ireland, faces prosecution! |

NUJ

financially nowhere. The scabs should be expelled Formalise and called on the defend the union. It was another union This is an attempt by the Post .Office Engineers (POEU) tormalise their haiilill ura • nen le nted Ine Iyın! massive censorship on the war in circles over the government Ireland. extent : of phone tapping. There is only 'one way Although prevented by law which such attacks can be , mel giving full details, Irom The trade unions involved in TV pamphlet produced by union and the press-notably the NUJ member Roger Darlington says IlUS Collill unleseye. that tapping is much more wide- strike action in defence of any spread than admitted. journalists who are • prosecuted Darlington leadir under the Prevention of .Us' who specia mouctate

•ACI

dusl Labou s omdreary. he was k eec jailed for refusing to reveal a source. is himself almost certain- Only the strength of the ly underplaying the amount of organised class Cal. tapping. lesist unese altacks Lords ruling British Steel was underined by Individuals two other rulings on the same Nevertheless the udy Dan one The points out that political organ- • journalists' union, the

NUJ

, is still to be subjected to isations, individual trade ban state disiplining unions and strike leaders have who 1978/9 their phones tapped. suaD. provincial newspapers It called for an inquiry pay strike: which would allow • The Law Lords Havt memoers une menl te ave ev must dence free from the thrèat o cec areo înat ine matter so tont faland othen poponi- prosecution. : favour of the The names of those engin. proposi- • out the tapping con unal te re was aacon- ecrs wao cary stitutional must stand. are removed from all official NUJ rules are crystal clear.

lists-including the union's own solution is deman- Again ded. which voint to the inde pendent interests of the working A workers' inquiry is needed win evcence reel aver ane a guarantee protection from prosecution by the TUC Demociall r-uls die alway trumpeted by governments and press he eritse related to the of way distinction gule' ano between 'democracy and 'communist, totalitarian state?.

But such erisicile rignts Is merciy a tactical ques- a march on the theme 'British tion for the employers. British defend them, a workers through the immigrant of alvd solution the namusworlll Dinmuellallt. workne cass usmg mis mecoer August 17. dent strength can force back Anti-fascists are organising a these attacks, and secure while counter-demonstration, cenne saranee demo TerO TISIS ano vacIsIs un y sems boy cratic overthrowing persuade the Tories and police the system exploitation to ban the fascist march.

which reguires their extinction Supported Meanwhile the London Region of the Labour Party has acke• une cal lor protest acm onstrations in the Newham area of East London against the con tinued attacks against immig- rants oy racises and Lascists The second major march, on August 2nd, attracted 3,000. been protest save Youer Pakistani mandin fast Pakistani man yUul- High ilcel afternoon of Thursday July 17 by four skinheads. Cont'd page 11 Rees