Ncc Lives on

Scan page 4

Sparse attendance at the SDA Rally at the SDA Rally The latest in a series of nonditical jamborees organised pund the question of omen's rights took place at lexandra Palace last iturday.

This was the much heralded ass" Rally for Women's Rights, ch followed closely on the heels the "tribunal" in January for ortion rights.

Borh events could have been portant initiatives in giving promame and perspective to struggles auz the questions of pay, jobs Leus in social services.

But both instead retreated from ing this programme, under the mion that the broad mass of pport they hoped to attract alt te put off by politics. Previous articles in Socialist I have reported how the Plan• Committee for the Rally B2) agreed not to mention * son: contract or the leaderpoithe morting class" loite National Abortion CamIMG 's Celia paign's emphasis on solely parliamentary means of protest has allowed the Benyon anti-abortion Bill to get its second reading without a single squeak from the TUC or Labour Party, both of which contain clauses calling for free abortion rights in their programmes.

Yet both events were heavily influenced by leading members of the International Marxist Group -the NAC by Berry Beaumont, and the Rally by Celia Pugh.

Saturday's Rally brought out very clearly the lessons to be learnt from such "lowest common denominator" politics.

The attendance was abysmally low - a few hundreds - and predominantly drawn from the petty bourgeois layers of the women's movement.

NOT DISCUSSED Major struggles for equal pay were not discussed - the victory gained only last week by workers in the bakeries as a result of the threat of national strike action did not apparently merit a mention.

Even more devastating, after all the efforts to exclude politics, a statement was read out on behalf of the Trico strike committee stating they had decided to attend instead the LCDTU conference where they could "discuss the social contract"

The speakers from Grunwicks, the EGA occupation, nursery campaigns and Betty Tebbs from SOGAT made interesting contributions which without the opportunity for debate from the floor or political direction from the organisers were left very much at the level of "swapping experiences"

Individuals spoke from the platform of experiences of taking their own cases to industrial tribunals -and again no speaker from the organising committee counteracted these or argued for boycotting the tribunals and fighting instead through trade union action.

The IMG with their slogan of "the fight has just begun" consequently succeeded in demoralising those layers of women coming forward and looking for direction from this Rally.

At this time especially; in which wages struggles are erupting throughout industry, . the questions of wage control and the trade unior and Labour leadership are coacial to all workers - men and women -who are fighting to defend living standards.

The WSL therefore urges anyone who attended Saturday's rally to attend the conference on "Wage Control and Union Democracy" called by the Campaign for Democracy in the Labour Movement in Birmingham on March 27th where the political issues of programme and perspective for a united struggle not only for women's rights but also to defend and improve living standards for all workers will be discussed.

Believe it or not the National Coordinating Committee against Cuts in the NHS is rumoured to still be alive! We have reason to believe they met last week for the first time since last November.

But it was not a full meeting: based action, basmittee sandred committee gathered in NALGO headquarters.

They have taken the dynamic decision to postpone their conference from April to November and to call regular full meetings between now and then to organise it.

The first of these meetings is not expected till mid-April. This only gives them seven months • to organise the Conference which, going on the recent practice of the NCC, may mean they've bitten off more than they can chew!

This is the sorry fate of yet another IMG-inspired campaign. The committee began with great potential, but has established a dismal record of inaction and impotence in the face of growing struggles and strikes against the cuts, largely as a result of the IMG's refusal to wage a sharp fight against the 'left' bureaucrats and MPs who were drawn into the NCC.

By next November massive rounds of cuts will have been implemented with not a finger lifted in action by this "Coordinating" committee, which is still yet to debate a motion, tabled last summer, calling on it to coordinate national support for any section of workers taking strike action to stop the cuts.

Scan page 5

DEMAND A SLIDING SCALE OF GRANTS - LINKED TO THE RISING COST * OPEN THE BOOKS OF THE EDUCATION AUTHORITIES AND SUPPLIERS TO ELECTED COMMITTEES OF TRADE UNIONISTS AND STUDENTS! * REVERSE ALL CUTS - FOR AN INCREASE IN GOVERNMENT SPENDING ASSESSED BY THESE TRADE UNION -0270 58734: 8178727 NO FEE INCREASES!