Polish Officials Plan to Kill Solidarity
Socialist Press1981 1981-06-04Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 1 →
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250 miles is a hell a long way to walk hear a load of hot air.
And that is precisely what was on offer to the footsore Peoples Marchers at the culminating mass rally at Trafalgar Square.
TUC and Labour leaders vied with each other as to how often they could refer to heroic struggles of the past-from the Peasants' Revolt through Peterloo to the Tolpuddle Martyrs and of course Jarrow Marchers.
All were agreed that this March would go down in history: not much consolaneed for "the TUC, Industry: and Commerce and the political parties all to get together"
There were propaganda calls for the Labour/TUC so-called "Alternative Economic Strategy" for the reform of capitalism, repeated calls for withdrawal from the Common Market: and numerous demands for no nuclear missiles and cuts in defence spending.
The speeches were summed up by George Wright of the Welsh TUC. «We must go on and on and on", he insisted. only forged in struggle: ram through plant closures "We will not beat them and redundancies; while in by speeches, but by action, steel and other industries. he argued. union leaders have hurried *We must strike and to negotiate "voluntary* occupy. It is not easy to get redundancies. occupations. To do so, you Throughout the public have to explain the politics, Cont'd back page and then you will get them to occupy."
The speaker from the occupied Lee Jeans factory in Greenock emphasised that:
"We need the whole trade union movement behind us. Then we will be as strong as any multinational or government."
The media made a Lee Jeans.
150,000 was the common estimate Sunday's turn-out-a magnificent response to the struggle against unemployment.
But despite all the efforts of the TUC and the Communist Party to keep the campaign "broad", the class content of the movement repeatedly bubbled to the surface.
For while Tony Benn was received with rapturous applause, Healey was loudly booed. And Liberal Party chairman Richard Holme was rendered almost inaudible by boos and catcalls.
Whether they march with green banners or red, the fact is that those prepared to fight unemployment are largely part of the organised workers* movement, and committed to the fight against the Tories and Tory policies.