[Port Shadow spokesman Don Concannon summed up this…]

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Port Shadow spokesman Don Concannon summed up this attitude. He paid a special visit to Bobby Sands on his deathbed to tell Sands to his face that the Labour leadership supports Thatcher in allowing him to die!

Foot himself jumped to his feet in Parliament immediately after Sands' death to declare his unswerving support for Thatcher's hard line, and his opposition to the hunger strikers' five demands.

In the aftermath of the death of Francis Hughes, Labour Peer Lord Paget went even further -calling on the Tories to forbid the publication of any news of the hunger strikes or what is happening:

"And when hunger strikers die of it, why don't we bury them in jail?"

But within the party's rank and file a very different mood has begun to emerge. A growing number of ward meetings have begun carrying emergency resolutions in support of the hunger strikers and calling for an end to the bipartisan policy.

Minute's silence

Some Labour Party meetings have marked Bobby Sands' death with a minute's have begun to challenge the Tory stance and that of their Labour lackeys.

This has begun to percolate through to some Labour MPs. 32 signed a motion calling on the Tories to make concessions to the hunger strikers. 14 also signed one regretting the government's intransigence.

And, at long last Tony Benn, who as recently as May Day was refusing to say anything about Ireland, made his call for the withdrawal of British troops, and a united Ireland.

Of course it was a weak and confused statement. It called for the British troops to be replaced by UN troops -who would, of course, carry out the same repressive function. It made no clear call for political status or support for the hunger strikers.

But it has spelled out that the problem is the continued British presence in Ireland: and it has underlined the need for the Irish people themselves to determine their own political future.

Strengthened

As the first leading Labour politician to break from the "bipartisan" policy Benn has thus strengthened those fighting in the constituencies and the unions in opposition to British imperialist rule.

And at the same time he has weakened the resolve of the Shadow Cabinet.

There were immediate attempts by Foot and the right wing to gag him-and there was talk of demanding his resignation. But Benn stood his ground, and it became clear that Foot could not sack him.

And even hardened reactionary Merlyn Rees, himself a former Labour torture making noises about reconsidering the unconditional guarantee to the Loyalist population which is at the centre of the "bipartisan" policy.

Meanwhile on the PLP's Northern Ireland Committee all 18 MPs who spoke at a recent meeting said that they favoured a united Ireland-a policy that would be unattainable as long as the British continue to prop up the northern Orange state.

Weak

These developments appear pitifully slow and pathetically weak. They take place at a time and tempo far remote from the mass movement that has developed in the six counties in support of the hunger strikers.

While Bobby Sands' funeral drew over 70,000 mainly from the Catholic working class of Belfast, the funeral of Francis Hughes in rural Bellaghy saw a staggering 50,000 supporters struggle around RUC roadblocks and through stringent security checks to pay their respects to a brave fighter against imperialism.

In the south, too, there have been large demonstrations and strikes in support of the hunger strikers.

And throughout Europe socialist parties have been putting the Labour Party to shame with their denunciations of the Thatcher government and support for the just demands of the hunger strikers.

Gathering pace

But at last the, fight against imperialist policies is gathering pace.

As Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O Hara draw close to death, and Brendan avenue ranke of the huna strikers, many trade unio ists and socialists wl previously ignored the Iri struggle are coming to reco nise that these men are 1 common criminals.

They are prisoners war, imprisoned for thi struggle to rid this count of British imperialist domi ation, and sentenced in n jury political courts. Thi enjoy huge popular suppo throughout the Cathol population in the counties.

Far from being isolati criminals they are recc nised -as Sands' election as funeral confirmed -as t vanguard fighters for t rights of the oppressed.

Now more than ev there is a chance to mobili in their sunnort throucho the British labour mor AAA UMPI VA b ment.

Opportunity

We call on all our reade on every active socialist ai trade unionist to seize tl opportunity. Build on al develop the limited le offered by Tony Benn!

Fight for the removal Don Concannon! Challen TUC complicity with imp ialism in Ireland!

*Press • resolutio through Labour Party war GMCs, and trade uni bodies at every level su porting the prisone demands and calling for end to the "bipartisa block with the Tories.

*Raise petitions for t same demands in Labo Parties and union branches *Support the lobby the May meeting of Labou NEC called by the Labo Committee on Ireland.

*Combat the press and distortions!

*Leaflet factories al workplaces spelling out t issues involved in the hung strike. Organise meetin pickets, solidarity activity.

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ictories for Salvador guerrillas Over the last wo weeks the guerrillas of the FMLN have made major advances in the Eastern department of Morazan inflicting heavy losses on the hard-pressed army and National Guard.

This region of CEl Salvador, and particularly its capital San Francisco de Gotuera, has for the last seven months been a major centre of the civil war with the guerrillas, principally the Ejerato Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP), controlling extensive liberated zones, and much of the communications, with the army pinned down to a few towns.

20 a day Army losses are now running at 20 men a day and in the second week of May a "major offensive' designed to drive the ERP into the arms of the Honduran army waiting for them on the border, resulted in a virtually total collapse.

It brought the loss of one of the dictatorship's prized 'Huey' helicopters, ten of which were delivered by Reagan earlier in the year.

Čontrary to the optimistic pronouncements peddled by Washington, the Salvadorean military hierarchy has been consistent in emphasising the continuing strength of the FMLN.

True This, of course, is not unconnected with their desire to lay their hands on more imperialist hardware with which to slaughter the Salvadorean masses.

But it also happens to be true. While the FMLN has failed to develop a strong presence in the western provinces, it has built up its forces in the east and north with important encounters taking place within 35 miles of San Salvador.

There are a number of indications that while the FMLN forces are gaining in experience, perfecting hit and run operations and consolidating their hold on key regions, the dictatorship's repressive apparatus increasingly obliged to pressgang terrified youths in their early teens, are incapable of winning a major campaign (as opposed to dragging off and butchering • unarmed peasants and workers).

At the end of the rainy season they will undoubtedly face a renewed guerrilla push.

With this in mind, the European imperialists, headed by the Second International (whose forces have been significantly augmented by Mitterand) continue to put pressure on Reagan to enter into negotiations. So far he has refused to yield.

Resolution

This intransigence, which before long will require direct military intervention or a humiliating retreat, has caused the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to think twice and pass a resolution requiring Reagan to certify that the dictator ship 'controls the security forces, respects human rights and implements the political reforms."

Their re-cycling of Carter's eyewash about the regime's teformist' character may yet prove to be annoying for the adminstration especially since internal opposition to its role in El Salvador has built up very quickly.

Yet Reagan has good friends in the European states. They have got the popular frontist FDR leadership to table an ever-present offer of negotiations. It is highly likely that the FDR's strategy in the military field is to force talks rather than defeat the Duarte regime.

While Duarte and his cabal of Christian Democratic ministers might come to welcome such a way out. the colonels refuse to countenance it, and their threat to the civilian facade of the regime remains strong.

On the left it iemains to be seen whether the rank and file of the FMLN will allow the bourgeois leadership of the FDR to sell out the struggle.