Behind the left face
Socialist Press1981 1981-07-02Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 8 →
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The Conference also voted for motions supported by the platform calling. for: withdrawal from the Common Market and unilateral nuclear disarmament.
But such routine leftism from the leadership was not combined with any break from support for British imperialism in Ireland, or any break from nationalist calls for import controls to protect "British" employers against "foreign" competition.
The 'debate? on Ireland was as curtailed and reactionary as any in recent years. Demands that the promised 'statement' from the union's Executive be circulated in advance were brushed aside.
In the event Acting General Secretary Alex Kitson delivered an almost empty and largely reactionary speech extolling trade unionism as the solution to the war in Ireland.
He was followed by three or four speakers supporting British imperialist rule in the six counties. No resolutions were put to the voteand the issue of Ireland was swept under the TGWU carpet for another two scandalous years.
An extremely unpleasant debate on import controls echoed with racialist jibes against "Japs" and "Frogs", while the vicious attacks on jobs, wages and conditions by British employers faded conveniently into the sidelines.
The call for protectionist measures to "defend jobs" is increasingly used as a substitute for any strategy whatever for mass action by the unions to challenge attacks on jobs in the workplace.