People's March tochis jobless total

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TROOPS OUT NOW! "The Republican prisers will not compul rily wear British prison ›thes or carry out work • the British prison ministration. We wish have association with ch other within the nfines of the prison.. Now that the Euroan) Commission disssion is out of the way a the contusion delDately created by its tervention has cleared, :, the political prison5, call once again for e people to support ir demands.

The British governent has the ways and e means to concede em. Until they do, the inger strike continues."

With these courageous hook"

In a scathing statement ringing with hatred of British imperialism, also denounced the underhand role being played by Charles Haughey, the Irish Prime Minister. Accusing him of "cynical manipulation" of his sister Marcella, Bobby Sands went on:

"Mr Haughey led my family to believe that the British government wanted a way out of the dilemma in which they now find themselves, and that the Commission's intervention was a vehicle for getting the British off the H Block-Armagh and Sou Whil openly governm prisoner 1cal sta1 AVGA OLAS hand-wi urging " the sam pressuri! climbdo But in whic which oners Sands h action 1 demand eality Haughey (like EC capitalist governimportant sections of ruling class, and the lary Vatican leaders) hat unless defused, Sands' struggle could i new wave of antilist struggle North ith of the border. e hesitating to call upon the Thatcher lent to concede the s' demands for polittus thev have made ringing speeches SAA 'negotiations", and at le time attempted to se Sands into a wn. having seen the way h the Tories reneged verbal concessions ended the 53-day strike by seven prisbefore Christmas, las resolved that his will end only if the s are met in full.

Bobby Sands supported by the entire British labour movement. jail sentence for the comparatively minor offence of possessing a single revolver?

Why else are the republican militants snatched off the streets by special squads of police and troops, interrogated and tortured in special centres, subjected to specially extended remand without trial, brought before special no-jury courts with special rules of "evidence", , and sent down for especially long The case is inescapable.

In this situation the most A similar stance has been adopted by other Labour leaders and-more or less openly-by the TUC leadership, whose "Better Life for All" policy is a disguised commitment to British rule in the six counties.

The result of this collaboration is that even after 60 days of Sands' hunger strike those fighting for solidarity on the Irish question in the British working class remain an isolated minority.

This is the road to further martyrdoms and disasters in Ireland.

British workers must be brought to understand that British imperialism cannet bring "peace" to the six counties. British troops are simply propping up a reactionary, sectarian six county orange statelet through the brute repression of the Catholic minority.

Those fighting to drive out the troops and establish a basis on which the Irish people as a whole can determine their own future deserve the full and active support of the British working class.

Step up the fight in every union branch and Labour Party! Don't let Bobby Sands' struggle be in vain!

*Political status for Irish prisoners of war!

*Troops out now!

As the final stage of preparations were being made in the Peoples March for Jobs last week the unemployment figure topped the 2½ million mark for the first time since the 1930s.

10.1% of the workforce is now officially registered as unemployed-to which must be added tens of thousands of married women who are ineligible for benefits and therefore not registered.

And despite glib Tory claims that the fall in output has now levelled off, and signs of a rise in company profits, the rationalisation of industry carried through as a result of Thatcher's squeeze means even an "upturn" would produce few new jobs.

In this setting the Peoples March is an attempt to persuade the Tory government to change course and funnel huge sums of public spending into creating new jobs.

The task is of course an impossibility. The only thing that will halt the attacks of this Tory government is all-out industrial action by the working class.

But in offering a national focus for the plight of the unemployed, the March has won the support of many young workers and militants throughout the labour movement.

Despite attempts by right wingers and the Communist Party to dilute the anger of these workers by drawing in churchmen and liberal elements, the March will therefore play a role in reinforcing hostility to the Tory poticy of mass unemployment.

Such hostility needs to be directed towards concrete action to defend existing jobs-through strike action, occupations and the fight for supporting blacking action.

And it must be directed into the labour movement in the fight to organise the unemployed, and build a leadership prepared to fight to bring down the Tory