GLC scraps civil defence

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Camp beds formerly allocated to the Greater London Council's £750,000 a year Civil Defence programme are at last being put to productive use-providing sleeping accomodation for 500 Peoples Marchers in County Hall between May 30 and June 2.

The Labour takeover at the GLC. has meant that the council will now provide a civic reception for the marchers and offer 23,000 workers time off with pay to attend a rally on June 2.

Paid leave

In addition 60,000 ILEA teachers and non-teaching staff will be granted paid leave to attend the June 2 rally.

Such gestures are among more dramatic signs of the change of line of the council since the victory on May 7 and the ousting of the rig ht wing leaders of the Labor 1r group and the ILEA.

Changes

Among other changes are the decision to tell London Transport to start paying overtime to bus crews and get all buses in working order onto the streets of London; the immediate suspension of council house sales; the scrapping of the Civil Defence programme; and an instruction to London Transport 1o prepare for Labour's plan to cut fares by 25%.

The GI.C. has also refused invitations to the royal wedding in July. As council leader. Ken livingstone pointed out:

"Noone elected us to go weddings they elected us Whitelaw: will he act against GI.C over Civil Defence? to try and. get the buses running on time.

I found my own wedding enough of a strain without going to any more."

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On 8 March, the 13th anniversary of the March, 1968 events with their dearly anti-semitic overtones, too Public meet ngs place in Warsaw.

One was organised Warsaw University.

The second, by the hitherto-unknown "Grunwald Patriotic Association" • was in In this are repri Poland. T for Polish and next week'! nting material he source is the Affairs (UK). 'Socialist n the st nformati Press' we ruggle in in Cer tre trade unions, indicate* the beginnings of yet another battle with "Solidarity"

This is a threat not only to those people who have contributed their ability and experience gained in "KOR"

The Patriotic Association "Grunwald" and its sponsors provoke anti-semitism in order to divide and paralyse the nation. They are trying to divide the union workers, to accuse them of crimes committed by others-and all in order to cause mistrust, suspicion and even hatred.

Acquiescence

They are trying to set the public against those people, hoping thereby for public acquiescence to further arrests and trials.

The rest would follow defence will be and annihilated.

Knowing full well who is trying to divide us, and for what reason, aware of the crue and perverse methods of bringing about division, and aware of the price exacted for the silent acquiescence in the spread of hatred and prejudice, we have to set against all these measures an elementary sense of human and union solidarity.

We will not allow divisions according to nationality, religion, political philosophy, or indeed according to any other criterion.

We know who the oppressors are, "those who laugh at their victims" Everyone knows that; everyone, who, like the undersigned, witnessed the trials of their own fathers, and