Workers Socialist League

Socialist Press, Trotskyism Today and the Trotskyist International Liaison Committee, 1975–1984

Jackson Caves Jackson Caves in as Law Backs Apartheid

Socialist Press no. 51, 19 January 1977 · scan pp. 1–2 · about 485 words

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ONLY STRIKE ACTION CAN STOP THE CUTS! National Association for Freedom and the judges of the High Court have struck a blow nat tunda agaliste trade union rights in Britain and in favour of racist dictatorship and terror in South Africa.

But the leaders of the British trade union movement have offered no effective resistance to this attack. Post Office workers' leader Tom Jackson has "sadly" -cringed before the law and accepted the High Court injunction granted to the NAF.

This not only puts a stop to the UPW's token plan to black all mail and telecommunications with South Africa for a week, but more important, throws into ques tion whether the UPW can legally take any industrial action whatever.

Most of the other union leaders had already ensured in advance that the week of trade union action proposed against the South African racist regime would be a failure.

handle most of the goods traded between Britain and South Africa, have remained completely silent on the boycott.

T&GWU secretary Jack Jones has warned against imposing a boycott and asked his members only "to impede and harass" but not to stop South African trade. more than token support for the No other union has called for week of action.

The call for action is an international one, coming trom the anti-communist International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in Brussels.

It makes no demand for serious action which would threaten It applies only for one week and, partly because of energetic attempts by Len Murray and Jack Jones in Brussels to water it down still further, it makes no demand for a complete embargo on economic relations with South Africa.

SABOTAGE In other countries, as in Britain, the trade union bureaucracies continue to sabotage any real action against apartheid.

The Communist Party led CGT in France has ignored the week of action altogether, as has the other main union federation the CFDT.In Belgium the unions will stick to propaganda. In Italy, the unions, including the CP-led GGC, plan only some token actions.

Only in the Netherlands, where the dockers in Rotterdam plan a total boycott of South African goods for a week, has proposed action gone further than tokenism TIM Africa - to be maintained not for a week, but until the racist dictatorship is overthrown.

We call upon the leaders of the labour movement to implement such a boycott immediately.

But it is clear from the events of last week that the boycott will have to be fought for not only against racist organisations like the NAF and against the British aws which uphold racism, but so against the Labour and TUC bureaucrats who are not prepared to translate their empty antiracist words into any form of real action against South Africa.

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SOCIALIȘT PRESS, Wednesday 19th January, 1977 MATERIAOS KOMINL MREBES

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Some unions such as the NUR. whose members in Southampton

← Contents of Socialist Press no. 51, 19 January 1977