Socialist Press no. 6

LABOUR MUST

SACK WILSON

SOCIALIST

PRESS *

EEC IS CLASS ISSUE

Harold Wilson's sacking of Eric Heffer from his ministerial post last Wednesday because he spoke in Parliament against Common Market entry must be the signal for a campaign to remove Wilson as Labour leader.

Heffer's statement, inade- quate and limited though it was, was a straightforward defence of Labour Party policy which Wilson has thrown contemptuously overboard in his rush to defend British capitalism through entering the EEC - the means by which the European employers are attempting to regroup their forces. Heffer correctly took a stand against Wilson, on an issue which is vital for the working class, and showed he was prepared to lose his Yet this correct oh on the issue. position immediately raises impor- tant questions. Where were the other 36 ministers who voted against Common Mar- ket entry, yet hung back in shame- ful silence in the debate cowed by Wilson's threat to sack any Minister who opposed his pro-Market line?

Was it more important to them to keep their ministerial pay cheques and personal position than to de- fend the decisions of the Labour Party and of the majority of the trade union movement? The opportunism of this group is characterised by Wedgewood Benn's statement after the event.

greatly regret the dismissal of Bric Heffer. he said, knowing full well that he himself had no intention of fighting Wilson or risking his job.

Heffer more the class lines are drawn or

LIMP

the EEC. With the exception of the few ultra-nationalists the Yet this kind of submission to whole of the bourgeoisie has now Wilson's threats is also shown in swung in support of entry - as is shown by the tiny handful of Hetter's own position in refusing to fight his dismissal. Wilson. Tory MPs who eventually voted Out of 170 votes against within one hour of the Commons entry, 145 were Labour MPs, vote, had published a blunt letter which did not even take the nor- while Wilson is forced to depend on the willing support of the mal steps of inviting Heffer's resig- Tory Party in order to win a nation, but which merely told him that "1 am therefore informing majority in Parliament. For the British capitalist class the Queen that you have ceased to be a Minister, and I shall recommend Common Market entry is vital.

As the world recession continues a new appointment in due course, Yet Heffer having made his stand, to gather momentum, with pro- duction and sales falling in the now tamely accepts Wilson's right major capitalist countries, com- to purge him from the government.

stating that he feels petition becomes more intense no bitterness and the threat of protectionist and concluding limply "l expected the Prime Minister to sack me."

barriers between the major trade At the same time he urged some Does - europe, me coa and British Tribune group MPs not to act in Japan, grows stronger. his defence. capitalism caught outside Europe This kind of capitulation sees under these conditions would be the Common Market question immediately racked by enormous simply as one of individuals, where- economic and political crisis, opening the possibility of the as what is involved is the defence of the working class. More and successful struggle for power by the working class. This is precisely why the Tory press is now attempting to whip up a witch-hunt against the anti- marketers, branams tem all ar "Marxists" and extremists Tory foreign affairs spokesman Eldon Griffiths, for example, said or Saturday that "Behind the hubbut over the sacking of Eric Heffer, the stark choice now confronting the Labour Party lies between the EEC and Communism." At the same time William Whitelaw, the Tory Party's deputy leader, was stating that the anti-marketeers were people who want to see a completely socialist Britain" These statements, aimed at win ning votes by inducing an anti- communist frenzy in the middle class, nevertheless show the deci- asking class. Within the come working class. mic and political structure of the of the British ruling class. It would open for them the possibi- of industry - closin" down intio потіс" plant with strong trade union organisation in order to move to impoverished areas in Europe, and attempting to com- bine forces with European capital through military alliances aimed at preserving the "stability" of capitalism against revolutionary upheavals by the working class.

It is no accident theretore that

FORTNIGHTLY PAPER OF THE

WORKERS SOCIALIST LEAGUE

NO 6 * 17th APRIL 1975 * 10p Wilson, who has always slavishly defended the rights' and interests of employing class should find himseir united on the Commor Market question with nearly the whole of the Tory Party. For Wilson however it is only a part of an overall plan to preserve British capitalism, which inchides also the massive injections of state inance to underoin private industo incoporated in Benn's Industry Bill, together with attempts to use an alliance with the trade union bureaucracy in order to impose the wage-cutting proposals of the social contract.

OPPOSITION

Yet at every point Wilson contronts the determination of the working class to resist attacks on its living standards and to fight his open alliance with the Tories and the employers. This class opposition to Wilson in the trade unions and in the ranks of the Labour Party poses the Tribuneite left and Heffer with the question of ques- tions. Are they prepared to put down a motion of no confidence in Wilson in the Parliamentary Labour Party, as an opening shot in a struggle to remove his as once again to collapse in the right wing without a fight as has happended over the Shrewsbury Two, and Jenkins' so-called "Pre- vention of Terrorism" Act On the Market issue there is already a small PLP majority against Mar- ket entry. The Labour Party con- ference has voted solidly against entry, and has never changed that position. The majority of the trade union movement also is firmly opposed to the Common Market.

Heffer himself said in the Parliamen- sive nature of the Common Market tary speech for which he was sacked.

"There has in my opinion been no fundamental renegotiation. I do not accept that the terms of the (Labour EEC is the strategic line of defence Party manifesto have been achieved.

The treaties have not been amended.

Then surely, it Labour Party confe- rence decisions are not to be made a mockery by the Wilson-Jenkins clique, Heffer is obliged to campaign throughout the Party and the trade union movement for Wilson's re- The Workers Socialist League is clearly against Common Market entry on any terms, and therefore opposed to the fraudulent notion of "renegotiation" which was in-

CONTINUED ON BACK PAGE

Salute 0 Khmer Victory As we go to print, the armed workers and peasants have entered the outskirts of Phnom Penh and taken over the Pochentong airport and surr- ounding villages. The US ambassadors and his stooges just pulled out in time I picture p21 but they have made

SLID NEW WEEDE & SUDDEN D

food and ammunition parachuted in to the puppet army of the fugit- ive President, Lon Nol. This exposes nakedly the hypocrisy of the talk about "refugees". The whole effort of US imperialism is to keep up the fighting, spill the maximum amount of Cambodian blood, and attempt in this way to ensure that Phnom Penh is reduced to rubble by the time it is taken by the Khmer Rouge Exactly the same tactics apply to the suicidal "defence" of Si Thieu's forces against the NU!

Imperialism is attempting to save face, and will continue with the

SEEEET TORICT TOROSE

But nothing can obscure this victory by the liberation forces as a beacon to the impoverished and starving masses throughout Asia and the rest of the world. It is a major blow against world imperialism Already the governments of Thai- land and Malaysia, themselves con- fronted by the outbreak of guerilla warfare, say they will recognise whatever government is in power in Cambodia.

RECOGNITION

All the speculation about a "com promise government in Phnom Pen has been shattered by Prince Sih- anouk's declaration that the Khmer Rouge will be the government and that he was retiring from politics.

This great impetus to struggles in Asia shows that imperialism is not invincible, and that the CIA and other imperialist agencies can be swept aside by the strength of the armed workers and peasants revol- ution. The only barrier is the reformist and Stalinist leaderships which see only the "strength" of imperialism and seck simply peaceful coexistence' These victories are therefore : blow to the Moscow and Peking , since the political movement of the masses spells the end of their uneasy balance between imperialismn and the nationalised propert relations of these deformed workers states, The WL salutes the proud ach- ievement of the Cambodian and Vietnamese liberation forces. We further demand that the Labour government, which owes its position to the organised workers movement, immediately withdraw recognition from the US puppet administrations in Phnom Penh and Saigon, and instead give rec- ognition to the Khmer Kouge, and the NLF Provisional Revol- utionary Government in Vietnam

Page 2

INDOCHINA:

US BALES OUT

For the workers and advance of the peasants of Indochina the end is now in sight to almost seventy of struggle years against imperialist ocupation the and war. that the Since 1961 they have faced the high explosive and napalm US congressmen voted by and they senators who - lo a man - nave been prepared to sunport any extreme of barbarism, provided it seemed to have a chance of success.

Now, with the of abandonment Phnom Penh and the encirclement of Saigon, the spokesmen of capitalism from Los Angeles to the fate of Thieu, Fleet Street grope wound for "angles" to disguise the fact that the defeat of imperialism IL 15 and only that - which can bring peace to Vietnam and Cambodia.

First it was the plight of the refugees until it became clear that the refugees simply fleeing -many them. incuding a number of South Vietnamese offic- ers, were choosing to head for the Then came the harvest of war ers' Daily Mail orphans, with scouring the hospitals of Saigon to fly a planeload of sick and wounded children Heathrow. But that fell through when the campaign Vietnam Thieu regime - semiousiy concerned broke thei at the atmosphere of panic under- the mining their flimsy air of "calm" in Vietnam. Saigon - put a stop to the export of orphans. Vietminh,

"ATROCITIES"

Then the journalists switched to elections late of about the 16,000 illegitimate children of US servicemen in South Vietnam. Star- ved of even the semblance of gen- uine 'atrocities" the journalists are obliged to invent the prospect that determination the liberation forces will bayonet forees babies - because they happen to bE

WILTOEV

the children of a demoralised im- perialist army! What all these half-baked horror stories are intended to disguise is that *Sentence first - verdict afterwards!" was the order of the day from Portugal's milit- ary regime as the run-up to the final elections entered its phase. The sentence was pro- nounced by Admiral Rosa down. Coutinho, leading member of the Armed Forces Movement's *Supreme Revolutionary Coun- cil', on April 11th, as the main which has political paries signed a "pact giving the AFM overall politic- al power for five years. may not be said. Coutinho - ludicrously Admira nik and named until recently High Commissioner of Angola - has been since January one of the most open propagandists of a 'continuing political role for scheduled for April 25th, to the Constituent Assembley opean The 'pact' of April 11th - which Portugal. the Portuguese Communist Party first to agree to - speled out exactly where the 'parliament- defend road to socialism" leads: to the aty rule of the bourgeoisie. The agree- gives the AFM power of veto ment and over all important political decisions including the choice of presidential secure candidates. The irony is that the 'pact' has heen signed hy the Stalinists and reformists as a condition of elect- ions to a Constituent Assembly INTERNATIONAL nEWS the fact that the revolutionary Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the NLF in South Vietnam is a massive blow against the whole of imperialism, not just USA. So low is morale among Washington's parasites in Saigon government has put an official ston to al exit visas - tot South Vietnamese citizens - though the are readuv avanaole on black market for those with over a thousand dollars available.

The rout of the South Vietnam- army - despite massive supplies of the most modern US equipment and ainmunition - is the result of demoralisation and indifference to Thieu himself is only the latest in a long line of agepts for a series of imperialists, starting with the French occupation of Saigon in the 1850's.

STALINISM

Japanese imperialism occupied Indochina during the Second World War. The fact that French imper from recognition ialism was allowed to return is the responsibility of Stalinism which put down the Trotskyist-led work- days diplomats and thet hanger-od.

militias in South Vietnam after the Japanese surrender in 1945, and And, even permitted the murder of Ta Thu their grasp as they Thao and other Trotskyist leaders.

three quarters or The last thirty years of war in started when the French with 1946 acreement Vietminh and invaded North of Thieu new coalition in Saigon. Yet when the French were rout- ed in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, the from war of liberation Pressure Moscow and Peking, agreed to the partition of Vietnam on condition held. They never were were, and from that time on South Vietnam has been a puppet state of US imperialism pure and simple.

The bravery, tactical daring and of the liberation ants and the therefore nOW promise which Stalinist diplomacy has served only to delay. Moscow's cynical refusal to give any efective support was underlined by the fact they withdrew diplomatic

PORTUGAL: CP SIGNS

"РАСТ" The Assembly, therefore, whose theoretical task is to decide a con- stitution for a parlamentary system was placed in a straightjacket while still in the womb. It can have no other purpose than to rubber stamp a constitution whose essential features are already laid This constitution, moreover, not only reduces any eventual parliament to a naked talking shop, but makes it one in which the military junta already formation of banned two left-wing parties and arrested their Portugal' leading members - will reserve the power to dictate what may and for the 'effective, itself to the Jesuino went on to

TEST

parties •We like to There can be no clearer testing he whole population ground for the policies of the Eur- Communist Parties than are At each turn in the situ-

AFM.

ation Stalinist leader Cunhal's pol- icies declare themselves impotent to party of the AFM. the class, and Yet not even the most swift mentary cringing obedience the TO seite governace t wille sesinily one-party state. place of the Stalinist chiefs in the regime. On the same day that Cunhal was busy signing version away the sovereignty of any future parliament, Minister of Information Captain Jorge Jesuino declared that backed the Mr John Gunther Dean, US Ambassador in Cambodia, with stars and stripes stuffed hastily in a polythene bag, arrives in Thailand after a helicopter escape from Phnom Lon Nol in 1930's and the Second World War.

Cambodia only days before he fled Only the collaboration of Ho Chi abroad, to be followed within ten Minh with French imperialism after helicopter-loads US the war allowed the decimation of the Trotskyist leadership. with victory within of imperialist treachery and aggress- control almost ion have forced the Hanoi leadership South Vietnam, the Provisional Revolutionary Gov- to a conclusion. compromise, making the removal

INSEPARABLE

the only condition of a But a force thrusting forward Trotskyists today share the behind their attempts to limit the rejoicing of all class-conscious wor- to "democratic kers and socialists throughout the objectives is the fact that many of world at the blows struck at imper- the towns that have fallen during ialism Indochina in this in of 1975. . We reject with contempt popular insurrections as much as the the slanders thrown by bourgeois forces of the NIP. The tasks of the journalists against the liberation fro- social revolution - in particular the ces. But at the same time we warn guaranteeing of the land to the peas- that Vietnam cannot escape the law expropriation of the of permanent revolution: the strug bourgeoisie (almost to a man mort- gle for lasting national independence gaged to imperialism) - tread hard inseparable both trom on the heels of the military advance.

of the social revolution and from It was Trotskyists who led the the struggle for a democratic wor- struggle against the French and Jap- of kers" state free anese in South Vietnam during the monopoly of Stalinism. Admiral Coutinho (left) embraces Brigadier Carvalho.

the AFM thought in retrospect, Maoist organisations - bear the main maybe it was an error to allow the responsibility. political parties in The in asaring in effect, a division of labour the Though he had kinder words class after the rout of Spinolas Communist Party, of March attempted coup devoring and was While the Stalinists and reformists tasks falling. to it direct political energy and busily ay that th attention away from the workers" partisan quarrels' of the politica soldiers' committeer and the "shocking', and that real power which they possess, and el we are supported by towards hope in the parliamentary except by a elections, the officers simultaneous- ew elements on the far left. whic ly emasculate the parliament before especially agressite lowards the it has even been planned, never mind Sometimes we feel it would elected. be very desirable to have a political The line of the Portuguese CP who put socialists behind leaving Portugal in NATO wate Behind the remnants of parlia- and the standing army ready and "democracy'. therefore, reorganised to intervene against the stands the scarcely-veiled threat of movement - fully accords workers' There are not with the cotnter-revolutionary manes dedical Portuguese international policies of the bureau- Portuguese the Soviet Union. стасу of Franco's Falange. And were spelled out ал for such threats the policies of the record" interview by a high Soviet Stalinists - who have unscrupulously official with the Paris military banning Monde on April 5th: The Kremlin I11 SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday, 17th April, 1975

USA:

ECHOES

The harsh words and re- criminations which thickened the air of Washington last week of the were only the echo resounding defeats inflicted on imperialism by the liberation forces of Indochina. As South Vietnamese President Thieu insured his "last stand' by attempting to fly t40 million worth of gold out of Saigon, US capitalist politicians linked up to pass the buck of the Cambodia and Vietnam debacle Leading Democratic presidentia Senator Henry Jackson led off. He revealed that the puppet regime in Vietnam persuaded South was 1973 Paris "ceasefire the

BECEPL

of only the basis

CETECTC

secret promises by Nixon and Kiss the military inger position. Jackson made these revel- ations to further his own politica both have career - attempling to On the one han d he tries to dis associate himseit and cat il. from the war policies of Nixor Ford and Kissinger; while on th other he tries to blame them for letting Indonesia "go Communist'.

DOUBLE TALK

Double-talk universal on Capitol Hill. When Ford pleaded with Congress for additional Decades $722 million doliars to ensure the evacuation of Saigon and the surr- he spoke purely for ounding ares, record. His officials claimed that 1½ million South Vietnamese fear punishment at the hands of the

NL.F.

but even Ford's most ambit- ious plans to intervene and create a military corridor to the sea would allow him to evacuate about

CHEV

100,000 Ford and his opponents in Congress and Senate are united ir Spring thing - their fear and hatre one of the liberation forces. But, as they hetenat to ble very chas er the disaster. the very basis US imperialism's foreign policy falls How many apart in their hands. puppet regimes around the world of US rest on "private" promises the tasks support? of military Every these will feel their position that much shakier as the NLF moves the political towards Saigon. is advising Cunhal not to form a government unles he gets at least 75% of the votes. What they see at stake in Lis bon is nothing less than the equil ibrium of Europe established at the end of the Second World War. IC this were unset it would bring the bureaucracy "serious complications Thus Cunhal is being asked to stay close to the army and build up his party machine There can be no doubt that for the Kremlin - and their apprentices in the leadership of the Portuguese CP - the fate of the Portuguese rev- olution is one diplomatic bargaining counter among several. The workers and soldiers of Lisbon sense this and are opposed to it. Nor are they willing to put all their trust in the elections and the AFM, and relin- working quish their own organisations But the gains they have made 11th. can only be protected, and the threat of fascist-military dictator ship ended for good, through a pol icy to unite the organs of workers power nationally into a nationa soviet and make this - not parila- ment - the basis of a workers government. The case for this be- as the every day,

CUCHICI

military regime demonstrates it can- the appearance not provide of parlamentary democracy.

bars And a minimum condition o any struggle for socialism in Port palisa tendencirs, incidie lase including political tendencics two Maoist groups - the MRPP and the AOC - which have been banned For this reason the WSL calls on all These bodies fo the British labour and off the trade union movement to protest to the Portuguese government against paper Le the political bans.

SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday, 17th April, 1975

CHIANG

DEAD

Socialist Press has received Workers throughout the following letter from world will rejoice at the u Movement below in full. lamented death of Chiang kai- shek, the dictator of Taiwan Dear comrade, and ex-leader of the Kuoming- The Troops tang, the Chinese Nationalist

TOTEC

Party. His 87 years were mark- Press" of ed by murderous anti-commun Struggle" ism, the slaughter of Chinese relation workers and peasants, arrog- Movement: ance and hypocrisy and com- plete subservience to capitalism.

He took over control of the the death only Kuomingtang (KMT)

WOLL

of its founder Sun Yat Sen in 1925.

His role in the Chinese history of the following years was possible only participation because he had Stalin's support, Front United policies were being forced onto the infant Chin- such The CCP was demonstrations ese Communist Party. merged with the KMT to such an extent that there was no diflerence in programme or educational activ- been demands ities between them. When leading of the CCP opposed this

ACHI PETS

liquidationism they were attacked as being a leftist opposition to the Comintern line forces millary and When erormous

STRES

neasant movements took place it was against the wishes of the

CCP

who did all they could to hold back in your such movements for danger of their KMT associates. setting The of June 1926 great Canton sinke was ignored by the CCP and allowed to be choked by the KMT. British Moscow then also provided arms from for Chiang's Expedition into North They also agreed to main- China. harm unit tain the KMT as the Chinese section of the Comintern and Chiang as a member of honour of the Presidium.

c.

CATTY

yOUL slogans on the only vote en Trotsky's). vided that These opportunist manoeuvres politically disarmed the not only CCP but also encouraged Chiang in his resolve to wipe out the CCP and set up his own dictatorship in China.

ment put him in the position to be the bloody attack would be able to launch although on the workers in Shanghai on 12th forward by April 1927 after they had liberated it from the imperialists.

DESERE

1945 In most observers still thought that the

KMT

could re- establish their rule in China. The

KMT

still had over 2.5 million to support regular troops in 1945 whereas there were less than 1 million front-line Communist troops. Furthermore the KMT had a monopoly of air and naval forces. The victory of the Communists in China, against these overwhelming odds, has of course been of incalculable assistance to the peasants and workers in Vietnam Movement. and Cambodia today. This bears out Trotsky's under- standing that with regard to count- ries with a belated bourgeois dev- London on elopment, especially colonial the organised theory of the permanent revolution open only signifies that the complete and gen- Trades uine solution of their tasks of achieving democracy and nationa. is concievable only emancipation through the dictatorship the leader of the proletariat the subjugated nation. [The Permanent gates from Revolution] many more By the middle of 1949 Chiang branches. began to make his plans to prepare against being unceremoniously boot- ed out of China. He moved €120 million in gold to Taiwan. He imposed his dictator- Fraternally, snip on the laiwanese, wacre tere Trade Unions, and no real ате по pposition parties. There are abou million KMT supporters as agains 13 million native Taiwanese. He also proved he has not changed by mow- ing down students, professors and workers who protested in Taipei.

Chiang was only able to main- tain his spparate kingdom with Am- is crican aid. Since 1950 the US has provided €1,167 million in military aid. President Ford said on hearing of Chiang's death: "President Chiang campaign in class for the was a man of firm integrity, high courage and deep political convict- ion." Need we say more? troops.

TROOPS

the Troops we print Out Movement has "Socialist 1975, Troops Out move- conditions

TOM

or in Committees, binds organi- (The two Troops Out movement action within and Ad Hoc do not (On this standing Army acceptable not put

TOM

or, at other your particular the We hope to May 24th, Troops Out from Trade Union of the and Trades Union

OUT

totally begs the question of how this is to be achieved.

GUARANTEES

of existence. of the

TOM,

then, banners, is the WnCre It is signifi- solitary reason

WSI

why the should virtually of its own. what most effective for the with- drawal of the of Irish national victory struggle? article of 6th February, in the paragraph we say quite failure of attempts "they were limited opportunist most and as simple soon D2S15. ineffective protest proved to force change, question of political policy and perspectives and arose bogus "unity should not same way. should make it clear that movement on tne demands withdraw troops and for self-determination for the members branches, Trades • Tollowed here elsewhere consistently policy. sent a group to the last demonstration (called by TOM) or these demands. We consider, however, that all this leaves unanswered the most important question The struggle for the immediate withdrawal of i sting mr can only be done.

in Britain. by principled str the basis revolutionary party of the programme and policies of the Fourth International.

struggle volve opportunism constituting launching campaign designed to paper over differences in the name of 'solidarity.

PROTEST

We are very concerned that the movement against British imperia- lism should not be taken down the blind alley of impotent protest. or the dangerous self deception of unclarified political difference.

successful struggle against imperialism and its agencies will not undertaken by any "Society for the Containment and Eventual Destruction of British Imperialism" however benevolent its intentions.

Our starting point is the need for an independent mobilisation of working class against the bureaucracy aiming resolution of the crisis of leadership A successful struggle for the policies of TOM can only be undertaken those who take up the fight for leadership in the working class against all who have conspired to fasten on the British and Irish workers the chains of slavery.

Page 3

WHAT IS THE

WORKERS SOCIALIST

LEAGUE?

The Workers Socialist League was formed on December 22nd 1974 after 200 members were expelled from over the Workers Revolutionary Party.

The reason for the expulsions was that Alan Thornett, who was at that time a Central Committee member of the WRP, set out to bring abou a discussion within that party on the wrong positions being taken by th Healy leadership and the Workers Press The issues were first raised on the Central Committee, and that committee agreed to circulate a document written by comrade Thornett containing a statement of his differences, and to arrange a 'full and free discussion within the party prior to the first annual conference.

That free discussion never took place.

Anyone who in any way supported the document was expelled. This split was a product of particular political conditions.

The rapid development of the economic crisis and the forward movement of the working class all over the world, which has since escalated to an even more rapid development, began to produce the conditions to build revolutionary parties. Yet it was precisely in this period that the WRP began to decline in all its areas of work.

It was this decline more than any other factor which an examination of the political positions of the WRP leadership and to Alan Thornett's documents As the split emerged, the sectarianism of the WRP, its departure from the Transitional Programme, and the way its maximum programme isolates the WRP from the working class became clear.

To understand the response to comrade Thornett's document in th WRP it is necessary to recognise the period we are now in. The defenc of jobs through the fight for the sliding scale of hours without loss of pay for the sliding scale of the defence of living standards through the fight related to rising prices; the challenging of the employer and the wages preparation of the struggle for power by the fight to open the books and establish workers control in the fight for nationalisation under workers management; are now called for in this situation in the form of a programme of transitional demands which will form a bridge between the present consciousness and struggles of the working class to the need to take power Yet the

WRP

right up to the opening of the discussion by comrade Instead it Thornett had never seriously fought for any of these demands.

restricted itself to the sterile maximum demand "nationalise the economy without compensation under workers control" kind of opposition within the WRP forced us to found the Workers Socialist League as an independent organisation which wil maintain and fight to develop the traditions and principles of a critique of the WRE Trotskyism. We are continuing to maintain leadership, but most important to us now the new are developments trade union from WRP areas opened up by break WOl

BEW

methods. We are now turning to recruit and train the new forces thrown forward into struggle in this period - not only trade unionists, but also professional workers, housewives, students and youth in the fight to construct the new party. We have shown already that we continue to fight against all forms o revisionism whether the state capitalist theories of IS or the Pabloite revisions of the IMG, and against Stalinism and reformism.

Already it i clear that our struggles for Trotskyism in Britain take place under condition: create similar splits and discussions throughout the world which must For this reason the WSL is now engaging in a process of internal discussion prior to a full founding conference, a vital part of which is to hammer out and adopt perspectives for the building of the Trotskyist Fourth International.

and the development of revolutionary parties based on the Trotskyist Programme in every country in the struggle to end capitalism.

We were able to assemhle the necessary political, editorial and materia resources to begin regular nublication of Socialist Press just five weeks after provisionally constituting the Workers Socialist League.

Already the paper is winning important new contacts and establishing a firm base in the wotkers movement as the organiser of a Trotskyist party of considerabl political strength. I would like more information about the

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TROTSKY ON BRITAIN

Members of the 1929 Labour Government left to right: Jowett, Campbell-Stephen, Percy Williams, Francis Johnson, Fenner Brockway, Elijah Sandham, David Kirkwood, Page 4 Concluding article in our series reviewing: The third of ic crisis available within the system volume Trotsky's - another world war. In later years works on Britain Trotsky grew much concerned with the period when covers the drive of capitalism to war, , and Trotskyism developed as a dis- particular political many the tinct tendency in the working he put forward must be strategies class, and thus deals with the seen in this light. In a period where all around of policy and basic principles could be seen 'the bankruptcy of orientation of the founders of the methods and illusions of parl- our movement in this country.

iamentarianism amidst the crumbl- Its careful study is an essential ing ruins of the capitalist system' Trotsky insisted on 'the absolute task for those who seek to need for a new, truly revolutionary carry forward the struggle for The struggle of the first party. these principles today. British Trotskyists to carry through this perspective in the face of the In the years between 1929 and 1940, to which most of the extracts most apalling odds is at the centre of the main section of articles and in this volume relate, the shadow of extracts contained in this volume.

world economic slump loomed large This is a story which is virtually over the working class movement. unknown to the present generation 1926 The defeat of the General pushed back in the Marxist movement. We have Strike the working already taken up, our issue class for a generation. The smallest the willful misuse 20th February, effort in defence of jobs and cond- of our movement by itions had to be undertaken against of the history of the WRP in their the leaders tremendous odds. This was a situation of extreme efforts retrospective self- It is only justification. they who difficulty for those who fought for for many years have had the continuity: revolutionary re- Marxism against the betrayals of sources to produce a history which the social democrats and Stalinists.

would make it possible to describe Trotsky himselt, who led this strug- the origins of our movement in the was subject to harassment by struggle against ultra-left sectarian- gle, the police forces of the entire ism, and to assess the many years capitalist world, as well as to pursuit spent inside the Labour party.

eventual murder at the hands and Yet the of Stalinist agents. uity was maintained and the battles

UNKNOWN

of that period remain an essential part of our experience today.

of the younger There are many topics covered Few it any generation of the members of the which in the third volume can WRP know why it is that the tirst only briefly he referred to in this published studies of the early history review. In particular, there are ex- Trotsky's of our movement has been left to which deal with tracts revisionists of the IS and the personal fate, notably the refusal IMG. It is because the leaders of the the liars to grant him asylum by for all their and hypocrites of the 1929 Labour

WRP.

AONCYCIECHLS

(and these cannot be gainsayed) Government. The volume contains have become incapable of an entire section about the struggle any of their own British imperialism in the objective against development. Their intolerance of colonial world which cannot be criticism, even of the distant past, This is not to say of Covered nois. a political method which Tellects of im- course that many matters makes them incapable of building Partic- portance are not taken up.

the kind of leadership which they the pieces ularly recommended are so correctly defended once on India, which develop the theory There is an immediacy in much of permanent revolution in relation of the material about the origins of to the particular stage the national Trotskyism in this volume for those liberation struggle had reached at of us who founded the WL in the that time. course of a struggle against bureau- Trotsky refers to the Naturally main political and economic devel- cranic menoos and sectanan boltıes We can understand very well Trot- opments of the period. He refers in sky's words to the first British Left particular to ot the Oppositionists in 1931: Labour and ex-Labour ministers who *The bureaucratic bankrupts officiated over the capitalist sump.

a special role in pre- believe that one can mechanic- They played ally fasten our leadership on to paring the only solution to econom- Leon Trotsky Collected Writings and Speeches on Britain edited by R. Chappeli and A. Clinton New Park Publications, 1974, £1.65 per volume Frank Wise, and P. J. Dollan on the one class: with SToP side repression, the other with of abrupt leaps with lies can assertion that: *A party dissolves the Britain: "The must You must our cadres, the tirst The fundamental stages oi inese pr When how Trotsky of develops much whel printed today. works ance in thei ular stage in the conclusion He called for by agreed this perspective. It was in Labour Party. when ility of the in three volumes. itself around revolutionary currents This had a the proletanat major effect on the ILP, the historic Party, worch after its disaffiliation 1932 began to group around it sections of workers who wanted to fight their burcaucratic leaders but did not agree that they were 'social fascists' The growth such centrist formations as this was an important international phenomenon in a per- iod when the Stalinists abandoned confrontation with reformist whose treacherous role bureaucracy was intensified by the hammer blows world economic crisis. Such groups oscillated wildly bet- ween revolutionary perspectives on Stalinism the one hand and reformism on the other. However, in the specific circumstances of the time it was possible to begin with the struggle to develop the forces could fight who on a consistent Thus Trotsky revolutionary basis. wrote in 1933 that 'the fate of our British section for the next couple of depends on a correct years attitude towards the ILP

PRINCIPLES

In putting forward his perspect- ives for the ILP, Trotsky set out his views on many matters regard- ing the principles on which revol- utionaries should operate in the working class movement. Thus there are important statements about bIe theory of the general strike and the practice of the united front. He also took up the nature of work within the trade unions and the central importance of the international the period of imperialism, In says Trotsky, "the most important task of the revolutionary party became the liberation of the work- from the reactionary influence of the trade union bureaucracy. In order to do this, it is not enough to offer the masses a new address.

It is necessary to seek out the mass- es where they are and lead them.

It was in the application of this fundamental principle that Trotsky in 1933 set out the basis for Bolshevik-Leninist work within the ILP: *A Marxist party should, of course, strve to lull independ ence and to the highest homo- geneity. But in the process of its formation, a Marxist party often has to act as a faction of a and even a reformist party. SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday, 17th April, 1975 had to be Such work, however, undertaken in a particular way Thus Trotsky was bitterly of those who resolved to enter a left-centrist party, but did SO programme and without an organ of their own

VACILLATION

In his attacks on the indecision and ultimate class treachery of the leaders of the ILP, Trotsky emphas ised their inability to take up principled internationalist orientat- ion. He was adamant that Without Marxist International, nationa organisations, even the most advanc ed, are doomed to narrowness helplessness", This -vaculation matter of abstract was not principle but derived directly from the real material problems posed in this period of history ....today, under the conditions of the imperialist epoch, One pr marian van guard of all countries in the world has passed through many decades of colossal and common experience, includ- ing the experience of the collapse of the two Internationals, it is absolutely unthinkable to build new Marxist parties, without dir contact with the self-same ect work in other countries. And this means building the Fourth International. The centrist leaders of the ILP

SEMANT

organisation under the title of the International Labour Community Bureau for Revoluti Mary Sations IRECT KnOWI as the Left Parties or the 'Seven Unity" This body was made up of thos elements of the European socialis movement who, while opposed te Stalinism at least nominally, were unprepared to take up the struggle for a new international. Trotsky fought with some success to win some of the best elements to the banner of the Fourth International though the main sections went back to the Stalinists or social democrat or simply disappeared into the pol itical wilderness. Trotsky continually warned that would oi the lIp the centrists ultimately fail in their efforts to honest brokers between act Stalinism and social democracy Similar policies by their associates POUM, had tragic in Spain, the results when they proved unable to

SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday, 17th April, 1975 make the break from the trap of the popular front. Such a break would have been an essential step in the defence of the Spanish Revolution.

In their support for such polic ies, the Maxton-Brockway Icadershir of the ILP bear a heavy responsibil- ity, in granting them a certain credibility. Some illustration of how they eventually succumbed to Stal- their mise immuence is provinca Dy ambiguous attitude to the Moscow frame-up trials. It was not long found their before these people true home again in the arms of The conference of the revi- Stalinism social democracy International Marxist (Incidently, it seems somewhat odd sionist Group, held just over a fort- inat tae puousners nave chosen lo picture one of the main anti-heroes night ago, could do nothing to ol the vomme, James maxton, or resolve the political crisis and.

the cover, when he is castigated *his paralvsis of the IMG or of the throughout, most notably for public solidarity with the slavehold- Pabloite 'United Secretariat of er Chamberlain by speaking in the Fourth International of support of the 1938 Munich capit- which it is the British section.

ulation to the German fascists.) The fundamental reason for this lies this or that political

BREAK

position or difference within the IMG or the USFI, but in the fact Despite his complete break with that Pabloism has abandoned the 1935. centrists after Trotsky struggle for the political indepen- did not underestimate the import- dence, the historical necessity of if the experienanition in the struggle for Trotskyist parties ance their organisation. Underlying all the differences bet WOIkCO ll 1934, he compared favourably the tendencies and ween causing them to proliferate - is one com- successes inside the ILP of the "minority of the movement who mon element: the revolutionary par had decided to enter it, with the ty, its programme, tactics and orga- barren organisational autonomy' of nisation, are put forward just as one the majority who had stayed outside factor among an element many, helping the situation along, but not Nevertheless by the summer of as the indispensible means for the 1936, Trotsky had become a strong advocate of a rapid break with the working class to make the socialist ILP and immediate entry into the revolution. It is this, the political liquidation Labour party. He makes it clear the of Trotskyism, which has been the basis of his attitude in the import- ant interview with Collins published essential characteristic of Pabloism in this volume, taking into account since it crystalised,as a political ten- dency within the Fourth Internatio- the specific international stration and the stage of development of the nal before the split of 1952-3.

movement in Britain. As a result of experience in Pabloism France and Belgium, Trotsky had grown convinceo or the tremena- ous possibilities that unfold them- The position of Pablo's suppor- selves inside the mass reformist organisations. Unless we accept that ters is crystallised in this passage by perspective, we can play no sig- Harry Frankel, a member of the nificant revolutionary Minority of the American Socialist history of Great Britain.* It is clear Party that was sponsored by Pablo that he saw this development in the i order to attempt to deredtoppo light of the increasing acuteness of sition to his political line from the the international situation', and that majority of that party's leadership.

he did not hesitate to advise that Writing in 1953, Frankel brings out 'Our first attacks must be directed clearly the Pabloite submergence of against the inconsistency of the cen- the fight for leadership and prin- ciple into the abstract scheme of an trists". He also discussed the poss- ibility of making use of the already "objective process which will sup- established independent paper Red posedly set all things to rights: Flag and of negotiating with those "Difficulties will not crush us.

who considered themselves We have confidence in our analysis groups to be his followers but were not of our epoch. That analysis and prepared to follow his advice.

the confidence which flows from it are two fold: The revolution will conquer, and the revolution will right itself! (emphasis added) We

ASSESSMENT

know what the precise cannot forms and tempo of this process It can only be a matter for will be, and how its two facets will regret that this proved to be the work out in relation to one another last significant statement that Trot- We do know the moving forces of was able to make about the sky this twofold process. Knowing this enables Marxists to live without national in Britain. particular, illusions, without whining, without what we lack is any assessment of for 'quick cha- desparate hopes the experience ofcentry work in the nges". Ill founded hopes and last- Labour party in that period, when.

seeds of sisillusionment, despair sow the as the notes indicate, some people disappeared altogether into the coils and desertion. Labour Party bureaucracy, of the "We hase ourselves upon the ob- and others stuck by a sectarian jective forces in the world, (emph.

refusal to make the necessary turn.

added)and we feel sure that these Obviously, it is necessary now objective forces will in the long to make unis assessment ourselyes run remedy subjective defects."

as part of an ongoing struggle for The New World Reality and the the development of the Trotskyist Frankel New Confusion" by Harry movement in Britain. In recommen- April 1953. International Secreta- ding these volumes once again to all riat Document

1951-1954 /SWP)

of comrades as

DUEL

Vol. 2, p. 81] these questions, it is taking up necessary to repeat that we cannot hope to understand them simply by Opposed making a mechanical transference of the events and problems they cover to those that confront us The difference was clearly expres today, selecting quotations to justify of action seems sed by Morris Stein, writing for the whatever course most appropriate. What we must try majority within the Socialist Wor- is the essential method kers' Party on the eve of the SWP's' behind the theoretical and political split with the Pablo leadership struggles they reveal, and bring the the International Secretariat, in No- heritage they contain into the strug 1953. (The SWP is pre- vember that lies before us for the vented by reactionary US legislation building of revolutionary leadership from being affiliated to any inter- in the working class and the estab- national organisation, but it was in lishment of socialism. 1953 in political sympathy with the Fourth International, and is now a ympathising organisation of the

BY JOHN DOCHERTY

USFI.

Stein attacked the Pablo- *The Rise and ite resolution on Decline of Stalinism' because it:

IMG ABSTAINS

stands on its head the Trot- kyist concept that the key to th world revolution is in the hands of the subjective factor, i.e. the revolutionary party. Instead of the revolutionary party being the necessary element in the engulting revolu tion by its own inherent power re- the subjective factor. This

COVES

formula transforms the traditional parties, the agencies of de- workers' feat in the past period, into agencies of revolution in this so-called new Committee documents 1951-1954, SWP, 1974; p. 78). wheel has now turned full The or the pd me sees in shie sone movers in the split with Pablo in 1953, have returned 10 310 UnDERED CO

LEO UNBASY

bloc with Mandel's Pabloite Inter- national' since 1963. Not only that, but the pro-SWP faction within the IMG (Tendency C) now takes the lead in subordi neting the political independence of 'single-issue Trotskyism to cam- women's libe- paigns - abortior ation and the Troops Out Move Yet the nent at the present tim ituation in 1975 is i many res- opposite of that in the early 1950's, when the retreats en- forced on the working class in the US and Europe made the isolation of the Trotskyist organisations larg ely unavoidable, and facilitated the growth of Pabloism But Stein's words remain essentially true.

And his standpoint - irrespective of thi or that manoeuvre or theory pro- duced by the Pabloites from month to month - remains the essential basis for understanding the develop ment of the IMG and the USFI The conduct and outcome of the IMG conference discussion demon- strates this clearly The organisa- *bloc of tenden- tion consists of a cies. held together by political am- biguity. Three of the four tenden cies had their positions published in Red Weekly before the confe- rence; delegates were flooded with a total of 37 pre-conference dis- cussion bulletins (the volume of large was not paper, though mail. in the recent history of the Since three tendencies (A, B' and D) in one form or another suppor- within the

USFI

SWP

against some delegates were elected on the basis of votes for two tendencies Moreover, while the two larzest tendencies (Tendency B, led by John Ross and Robert Pennington, which gained an overall majority o and Tendency Pat Jordan and Robin Blackburn) both claimed to be the true inte spreters of Mandel's perspectives for Europe and Britain. Mandel himself abdicated every responsibility of international leadership by refusing to intervene or take sides in the political struggle between them.

He was unable to intervene be- cause to have done so could well have produced a split in the IMG and would certainly have croded the combination which supports him

SWP.

against the Mandel has in fact, stood aside from the politi- cal disputes in the IMG ever since Ross's tendency took over the lea- dership in the Spring of 1972.

At the recent conference, there- fore

IMG

the and the

USFI

leadership declared more clearly than ever before - both publicly members and to their inability to fight through their political differences and then unitedly on the basis of policies understood and accepted by all the cadre. The publication o faction positions in the IMG's paper is th public expression of the fact that feel themselves to IMG members be first and foremost supporters of this or that opinion or tendency and only secondarily members of a single organisation. This is under lined by the fact that delegates for support tendency positions shifted scarcely all in the course of the conference discussion Thus, while some of the forms of democratic centralism were pre- its living seryed, content, the active sittine for conse stoner within revolutionary and the organisation class, was compictely lacking. Democratic centralism does not mean "peaceful coexistence" of diverse elements, but rather provides the framework for the struggle of opposed tenden- Ernest Mandel cies to be carried through within the Party and thus strengthen theoretically and in its united practice. An example illustrates how the IM's politics - though painted in broad strokes - essentially dependent on those of the reformist • bureaucracy. and Stalinist The (B) majority tendency position (The Strategic Line of the IMG Red Weekly, February 27th quotes Trotsky's essential statement on the united front of the working class organisations: "The problem of the united front •grows out of the for the urgent need lo working class the possibility of a united front in the struggle against capitalism. But there must be, says the IMG leadership, a concentration around a few demands of the Transitional than (rather the Programme So how Programme as a whole). the 'few demands' to be iden tified? No problem for the IMG leadership - it is clear what type of united front action the MG must Page 5 attempt to create, and with whom.

The "decisive field of battle' turns the defence of living out to be standards, organisations and socia conquests of the working class. Well! We did not think that these are a few issues. Certainly. such a statement is of no help in concentrating one's political forces.

The IMG must make a criterion "systematic attempt to gain united action with left social democracy *the weakness of revolu and given tionary Marxists in relation to the present leaderships it follows that 'only united action around specific questions on a partial and short- will be possible term basis But, 'specifically', the statement men tions only the Troops Out Move- ment, the Working Women's Charter, and the anti-anti-abortion campaign Limits This is the key to why the IMG dissolves the fight for programme into "activity" on a string of 'issues Behind the grandiose generalisations on the need for unity, the working class is made to accept, in practice the limits set by the "left" burcau crats This is the opposite of what the Workers' Socialist League fights for: unity on policies which answer the immediate prob lems of large sections of the working class and in doing pose as SO sharply as possible the need for an alternative leadership to the reform- ists - whether left' or right.

This is why precisely because the forces of Trotskysim small in relation to the hold still exercised by the bureaucrac the WL takes as its main duty to clearly to the advanced pose workers the need for revolutionary leadership, not subordinating this campaigns which hedged round by reformism from the word "go' In this difference how the method of and specific demands the Transitional Programme can be made a living force within the mass movement - is contained the whole history of the struggle against Pabloism. The present policies of the IMC leadership are only their particula "interpretation' of Mandel's line that there Europe vanguard "mass spontaneously breaking with the politics of the Stalinists and reformists. In England the IMG majority points that this out *left vanguard social democratic. But the recipe is same. on the one hand on the 'objective process reliance to break the hold of the bureaucrats the labour movement; on the other the party's activity hemmed round on every side by the fact that the hold is not yet fully broken. Political paralysis feeds internal confusion. largest two tendencies in the IMG both claimi themselves on Mandel's to base positions. If this is so there is basis no for tendencies they exist only because Mandel dare not commit himself, and the tendency leaders •diplo- are too matic to demand openly that he take position. Under such conditions it is impossible for

IMG

members to develop and fight politically, and consequently the mood is one of cynicism and impotence. One story circulating at the IMG conference told an

ING

member asked Mandel what he if would do Ross (the JOnn majority tendency's main "theore tician) were to declare that black was white. And the internationa 'leader' replied Well, in England perhaps.

Page 6 All over the world, both the fighting tremendous strength of the working class and peasantry against imperia- and the possibility of lism, defeating capitalism in revolu- struggle, tionary have never been clearer. gains of the The tremendous National Front in Liberation Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge in promising to end impe- Cambodia, rialist rule of a massive part of South East Asia, are striking mortal blows at the world domination of international capital. Yet they are only a purt of the struggle which continues for natio- nal liberation and against capitalism on a front from Mozambique with the victory for FRELIMO and the guerilla liberation struggle in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) to Portugal.

The working class in the metro- countries of the politan immediately strengthened by these movements on the road to revolu- 'under-developed" countries But if there is one great school of pessimists and reactionaries who ignore, write off, or oppose these the developments "population and resources' lohby.

WARNINGS

Their warnings world-wide starvation, poverty and unemploy- ment blame "overpopulation" and living standards western workers instead of capitalism's greed and its harsh contradictions as it under- goes its economic Bicaresl

-CYCL

A good example the BBC was he Race of Ramine cocumcuary 18th March. It started on saving of the under-developed DY. countries: "There is a connection between the fact that we eat more and they eat less. This programme is to demonstrate that cónnection".

It ended with "Northern afluence caused this famine. It has to be sald caused it and wc

CHOW.

condone it, it is our fault".

EAT LESS

month's in this report headed 'Can "Ecologist' magazine Britain Survive?" dedicates itself to giving advice to the Government on how to reduce the balance of payments deficit of British telling workers to by capirasm, eat less meat (as if we could afford much anyway) and have children. The same magazine issued in 1972 a document now well-known among environmentalists titled "Blueprint for Survival which concluded that yields unlikely to increase, and that Britain's should therefore be population stabilised at "30 million, probably less". These people just take impressions world food production. the difference between 'advanced' and "underdeveloped" countnes, etc. the witnour secing ocnind

TRESE

workings of imperialism and its world market. In fact the possibilities of world food production havc

HEYEE BEG

Until the late sixties at greater. production -/was increasing much faster population, with the exception of few countries which limited production to avoid huge surpluses, as in the USA, Sweden and Norway.

In most advanced countries production per man in agriculture was increasing up to the sixties 5% per year, by around far in excess of increases in population or demand. In Britain total output was increasing at 2.7% per year and

THEORISTS

demand at only 1.2% (0,8% per in population and year increase 0.456 in consumption). In New Zealund, one of the most productive one man in agriculture could sup- average

TOTI

TAmuIC American living standards.

ADVANCES

The revolution in agriculture is continuous and brings enormous

SUVATCES

"TOTE

TCCARIOTES

raising animals to the technological like new fertilisers, mnovanons modern water sprinklers to cover 7,200 t. spano haresteti fo of. a 12 acres of sugar beet in one day, and so on. But it is at this point of 'surplus" that production comes up against capitalist market relations. Over- producnon mcans prowueuon ord surplus to the market, to available sales and outlets, not surplus to human needs planet. the Indian poor Capitalism is only interested in demand backed by the ability and by the ability of the pay capitalist to maintain a rate of profit on investment when he sells his commodities on the market.

The onset of a surplus to demand on "free" the market immediately threatens the capitalist with loss of his profit prices fall.

-TERTEFS

Thus extra food - which is of benefit to all - 1s scen as a major tareat ny the capitalist producer who sets out to destroy it in order to preserve his own position. As a result, suptus is declared long before cnough is produced to adequately feed the the world's population. certain AS mentioned

ITELUY

efficient agricultural producers like America were holding back product- ion early on, but in the carly seven- ties every food industry employer world was realising that 3 in tne surplus would cut prices and that 10 save protus, producuon wouc have to be cut.

CUT

In this country

DOLELO

LECECETU

was cut from 590,000 in 1970 to 525,000 1972. The Potato arketing Board spent £18m buyin ip surpluses in 1971, most of whic just rotted. The Chairman of the British Egg Authority claimed in 1971 "there are 1 million too many layers in the country". The Financ- iai Times quoted a leading bacon curer in January 1972: "There is too much bacon about; we have to rectily it by somehow making less bacon. That is what we are setting ahout doing now".

OF FAMINE

In 1971 all previous world rice Marx examined the forced emi- production records were broken for gration from Ireland, Scotland and England during the 1840's "bronght the tourth successive year, the price fell and producers and growers out- about by landlordism, concentration did each other in acousations of of farins, application of machinery dumping ic. fooding cach other's and introduction to the sol markets. In June 1971 the Unitec agriculture on a great scale". He "Here it is not the Nations Rice Study Group urged commented. rice exporters, especially Japan and want of productive power which Italy, to cut rice production 'or at creates a surplus population; il is least avoid measures which encour- the increase of productive power age it. which demands a diminution In October 1971 American farm- and drives away

BOSHSUOT

with a wheat crop up 18% on 1970. cannot

WEIG

LATLELCT TE CIO DUI

CDVOI

their stocks to a price aocomodate an infinite number of prevent The US a high birth Department human beings,

BHBES

Agriculture planned to reduce feed rate is absolutely vital in areas of grain acreage by 25% in 1972 and underdeveloped agriculture.

to take 38 million acres (bigger thar the arca of the British Isles) out of production of maize and barley.

FAMILY

SURPLUS

In the conditións of monsoonal The Common Market harvested countries for instance, which include 75 nearly half the world's population, million tons of cereals in 1971, 12% up on 1970. Grain merchants peasant tarmer needs a large labour force to get preparation bought up all the storage space in and planting done in time in the short rainy season. Since the hasic organisation of such farming is the family unit, a large family is essen- tial if such work as land clearance Ior more intensive agriculture to be carried out. Obviously the raising of the level of technology in these areas could now assist in the over- coming of these problems, but until his takes place the peasant farme a large family. las need of Or again, the Indian peasant, for example, knows that with the abys.

ma family, thát if he has tên ch l medical facilities available ren maybe four will survive to keep him when he is too old to work There is of course no other means of support available to him. This is attempts to introduce from why *birth- outside purely arbitrary ontrol" through capitalist-sponsor N CLOUVC oroEEac mu fail until the advance of living standards and social benefits like improved medical care and pensions convince people that large families not for them to survive. But this brings the question: how can the benefits of production reach the people themseives, the workers and poor peasants in underdevelop- ed countries, and how can the tech- nical level be raised in the face of exploitation every day on the world Europe, reputedly even crossing to the western capitalist Czechoslavakia to use disused chur-

MUTKOL

and the crippling interest ches warehouses. states, -France

CLE

rates charged on loans from banks acreage under barley by 600,000 amd finance houses. acres. Surplus was also used as 'aid' to "underdeveloped countries - conve- niently removing unsaleable over-

STRUGGLE

production and getting in exchange cheap raw materials for industry, a payment in local currency to This necessary development of build up profitable foreign capital agricultural technique and product- holdings, a question ol systematic ivity, and the defence of the maj- imperialist impoverishment of the ority of the world's population in Third World to which we will return the 'underdeveloped' countries from later. the famines caused by the rapacious exploitation of imperialism, dep-

DEBT

ends precisely on the revolutionary struggle against capitalism. The A surplus does not solve the and

DOPUIALOR

CUVTOnTAENTA ury increases them. but thetrict, ny fe so-caltede wantos on the contrary increases so-called 'surplus'

AD SEUCEOT

Increased plenty stands mockingly goods and means of production to by the side of pauperisation and safeguard profit and by attacking Advancing technique and want. the working class, stand as defend- productivity increases agricultura! ers of the most vicious excesses of unemployment. The Green Revol- capitalism. ution wheat strains are barred to It is capitalist relations of produc- the small farmer in underdeveloped tion that destroy 'surplus' food and countries bee use bound down with bring rocketing prices at a time of debt and y ous landlordism, he possible plenty. As stated to begin afferd special machinery, with, the revolutionary movement tools, irrigation an1 fertilisers for of the working class is the only them on his small-holding.

The force capable of taking control of bigger farmers can profit, increase the forces of production to satisfy mechanisation TEHE TEORiTE.

STEWET

want and carry out a planned food workers. Unemployment increaces policy. The next article will exam- and few can afford what is abund- ine these issues in more detail.

antly available. EEC report for 1971 Thus an stated "There are an estimated 14 million families in French agric- By R. Roberts ulture living in poverty out of a population of 4 million Lotal families" 300,000 farmers farmworkers left the land in the EEC in 1971. SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursdav, 17th April, 1975

LETTER....

CP HINDERS

FIGHT

Two delegates from Isling- Trades Council have (ton written to us about two artic- les about Islington in our last issue, the first concerning the occupation of Crosfield Elec- and the second the tronics lanti-fascist demonstration in Their letter points Islington. out that the Islington Trades Council has not played such a full part as may be desirable in these two issues. "In the Trades Council meeting of 22nd March, the Trades Counci chairman, a Communist Party mem- ber, refused to allow any discussion of the Crosfields occupation, allow any motion of support to be Rut forward. As the Crostields shor stewards have pointed out, London is becoming an industrial wasteland.

By refusing to mobilise the working class defend the jobs at to Crosfields, the Communist Party is opening up the real possibility of mass redundancies in the Islington area. "At the same Trades Council meeting the acting secretary explained the considerable amount work he had done towards organising the anti-fascist demons- tration. Unfortunately most of this had been directed towards sh s and even polia winning loca support councillors, chiefs fot demonstration against the National Front and it was left of the Trades to one Council delegates (a WSL member that the organised

UWTEI

working class was the only forco but could deteat tascism. in spite of this, not even the affiliated Trade Union branches had been notified. Consequently the demonstration was smaller than need have been and the fascists were able to hold their march as planned. *Thus the partial success the demonstration, renorted Socialist Press, was in spite of the Trades Council executive, beyond of the demonstration. the calling t is worth noting that whilst th ull Trades Council also called fo for a * second anti-NE support call demonstration, was Communist Party opposed by members "By pedalling the idea oI a unity with the police and liberals| the full ! and refusing to mobilise strength of the Islington working class on either of these issues, the Communisi Partv nas once adain demonstrated how they capitulate to the needs of the ruling class.

Workers Diary Glum times for the religious continue (reports our ecclesiastical correspondent). A federal appeals court in Cin- i74 Teanis co Stato d a Ohio, has ruled against a 1974 which prohibited the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution as scientifio fact, and which ordered school science text-books to include the biblical account of the Creation!

This set-back to the bible-bashers was followed by the ruling that to forbid "the teaching of satanical belief" violated constitutional guar- antees of free speech US satanists are believed to be overjoyed.

As if this were not cnough. religious confidence has reached a after the death of Mr new low Denys Christian (sic!) who jumped from a 13th floor balcony, believ- ing God would save him - only to be harshly distilusioned. If Christians continue to test contidently predict that the mater their beliet in we can laws of natural selection further diminish the size of Sunday congregations.

BLOCKADES NO ANSWER

SOCIALIST PRESS. Thursday, 17th April, 1975

UNG

RAL HIGHERE

WEDERUN

LAGRANT S

FALNING

TRANT

MINERS

Students demonstrate for increased grants.

NUS:

Charles Clarke, Stalinist- the backed "Broad Left' candidate, was elected the new President Union of the National of Students at Llandudno last casily can "rank ousting week, right-winger John Randall. standing, The Socialists International specialise. candidate, Terry Povey, moved into second place with an increased vote over last year, while the Workers Revolutionary Party continue to move from weakness to weakness, only 5 all picking up votes in the reflecting that party's complete failure to challenge the opportunist,

NUS

reformist leadership of the NUS.

on growing vote for Is and the removal of Randall struggle indicate the heavily bureaucratised Tayers hear to who frequent NUS conferences. The blatant inability previous leadership to lead success- ful struggles in students' an embarassment even to the Stalinists who had maintained alliance with Randall against the revisionists during most of this term of office. Executive The recent blockade by small fishermen of large num- the big bers of ports in Scotland and the North East is the latest in a succession of protests by small producers against wors- economic conditions. ening shop prices, Welsh farmers Last year, the Bristol picketed docks against the imports of cheap cattle, and more recently angry egg producers picketed the Plymouth docks, turning back a consignment of French eggs.

The fishermen's blockade was ises to review EEC fisheries policy in general, and to consider the possibility of a price floor for fish imports, together with an agreement by Norwegian fishing companies to raise the price of frozen fish exports to Britain. No 'solution' which results in a raising of food prices can be supp- orted by the working class.

Nevertheless, the problems of small the small fishing fleets are real. Over the last twelve months costs, including fuel, insurance, and wire the region of cables have risen in 20%. However over the same period landing prices for fish have fallen; in some cases as much as 50%. The most important factor in this price 'cockups" in Surrey! only reply legitimate Executive strikers -

HIGHER

GRANT

Chancellor. AU The Executive's of law to administer justice.

passed against position, retract his statement unequipped to defend students in struggle.

•BROAD

Executive conference with a string excuses.

LEFT'

Similarly occupation 1318

EXCUSES

to take the president's position.

Yet while reflecting some of hostility the membership the vote for is also shows that vote for IS also shows such frustration amongst students Bile phonde to protest and student protest of any political under- line which IS they were The need is clearly for a principled leadership in the NUS.

its Vice-Chancellor" determined to

RENT STRIKES

which must reactionary Vice-Chancellors.

Some of the bankruptcy of In current tendencies leading the shown in the discussion was Rent Strikes. This is NUS official policy as a tactic in the for increased grants, Yet adopted at Margate last year, many of the Executive doubt they The re-elected deputy president Alaistair Steward (Broad Left had the nerve to accuse a Surrey University senting students carrying out of- for his own tactical by fall has been the increased exports small

OUT,

of cheap frozen fish to Britain by Icelandic and Norwegian fishing companies. st inflation and redundancies.

This fall in price has been of no comfort to the housewife, however, since the retailers and distributors At the conditions. have maintaied and even raised lining their pockets at the expense of the small fisher- their catch. basis of all sorts ucers, and at the

DEMANDS

The actual demands of the small fishing boat "skippers" varied from area to area, but generally included on this question. the demand for a curb on all fish imports from outside the EEC: a fifty mile fishing limit around the coast, and, significantly, no exten- sion of the National Dock Labour the Scheme to the fishing ports. This the frozen fish latter demand highlights a clash of them to agree interests between small producers price competition a little.

and the organised working class.

As the recession gathers pace, find themselves trapped in a vice. On the one hand the rising prices of suppliers, and the reluctance increased banks to extend credit to 'shaky place the latter hooks of the Small D15Ine556s continually on the verge of bank- supply components ruptcy. On the other hand, to the extent that they employ wage lab- This was his except legal aid to the 280 rent face summonses from their Vice-

COURTS

idea of "support" therefore is to hand over students to the bourgeois courts An now a burning issue in the area.

overwhelming vote of censure was Stewart for this This strike, and he was forced to but he in the struggle against unemployment.

the Executive, and The

COMA CLOSIO!

fought. every Executive member is equally lead or Students are abandoned to face demorilisation sharing on full pay. employers must be opened isolation or even victimisation for carrying out NUS policy, and the committees of building workers.

appears each of industry under the can be developed. then advance the Birmingham was left to collapse, demoralisation followed the right wing moved in

UCATT

and T&GWU Day

BETRAYALS

Labour government, are taking a hard line with students, further to reduce Charles Clarke showed the level standards and divert onto the of understanding which opens the of backs students, door to such setbacks and betrayals.

workers and lecturers the whole when he suggested that the problem burden of the increased costs of of the Kent rent-strikers was that higher education. the confronting can only be done in controntation "particularly reactionary nature of the trade unions concerned with who was and in head on struggle with the smash the

NUS.

NUS.

Yet no way forward was offered.

greatly encourage all and that the Labour government establish a sliding scale of students grants linked to the rising cost the defence of the free education system won in struggle by the Prentice and the working class. they claim to be "excessive" dem- producers come int ands the workers. ollision with the organised worker suppliers' complaints about the cost seeking to protect themselves again- of production, of transport and trade, the only Extension of the Dock Labour Scheme to all ports is essential "Show us your books, we demand control over fixing of prices".

to defend dockers jobs and working this struggle small producers mus same time it would of course increase the costs seek links with the trade unions and housewives. Monopolies which are for the small fishermen of landing Here can be seen the thus exposed as there ce posthe ing standards be obstructing of rightward political movements of small prod- workers and small producers must same time the be nationalised without compen- ludicrous nature of nay simplistic sation. The nationalisation of the banks *progressive anti-monopoly alliance and insurance companies and their between workers and small produc- merging into a unified state bank ers and traders which is the favour- ite tactic of the Communist Party is the only way to guarantee sutti- cient credit facilities. The exprop- ration of the banks in no way means It is nevertheless true that the nationalising deposits - the state way forward for fishermen and all bank will create much more favour- other small producers lies with the able conditions for small depositors working class and not in seeking than can private banks. "goodwill of monopolies like Such a programme can of course companies asking carried froward by only be to moderate their strength of the working class. It is in the absence of such leadership

OPEN BOOKS

that the small producers will turn to the sorts of protectionist meas- ures that were The interests of the working fishermen and which will not only class and the small producers come be strongly resisted by the working together under a programme to open class (especially where the price of industries tha food is concerned) but which will and materials be no real protection and feedstuft to small producers at fishermen in the face of a world inflated prices, falsely citing what economic recession. Pare

SUPPORT MERSEY

STRIKE CALL

The Merseyside Joint Contruction Committee has called for strike action throughout the Liverpool area on May Day.

The stoppage, which is expected to be 100% solid, is in protest against unemployment in the building industry - which starts at 11.00 together with the march from Islington Square to the Pier Head, gives an important lead policy on which the action is the It is not enough simply to protest against unemployment.

A programme must be advanced on which workers can fight.

This must be based on the demand for a sliding scale of hours - work To achieve this the books of the building work sharing administered by and In this way the struggle for the nationalisation of the building management of elected committees of workers From such a nationalised industry workers could demand for public works to ensure stability to the industry and full employment for bullding workers.

We urge building workers in the Merseyside area to fight for branches to advance this programme on this fight against unemployment through ut the industry.

demand that the trade union leaders extend aiming their living

COWLEY

college

CUTBACK

They know this in motor track speed from 26 per hour to night working after Easter, planned production will have dropped from announced that short-time working will continue at least until the end of August They claim that they now have 37,000 Marinas in stock emphasise the importance of the These cutbacks decision of the shop stewards at the plant to fight for the opening of the books of the company.

The fight must be stepped up for work-sharing on full pay and the nationalisation of British Leyland with no compensation to the major share-holders.

BLMC

answer must be

STEWARDS

TO MEET

The British Leyland Joint Shop Stewards Committee has called a conference of shop stewards from the motor industry and supplier firms for Wednesday 23rd April in the Digbeth Institute in Birmingham. This is an important initiative the limited and not be to must speeches by bureaucrats and fake lefts - Jones,Scanion and Benn have been invited but must be a forum for the widest discussion attractive to the on a programme for the defence of jobs motor industry. The WS will campaign this conferent the putting forward inges shop sewards rom all car a policy for at all for and component factories to attend.

BUDGET AXES JOBS THORN

Page 8 The budget presented by Denis Healey on Tuesday is heavily deflationary and represents a direct attack by the Labour government on the living standards of the working class and poses massive increase in unem- ployment. The VAT increase alone is estimated to reduce the Labour force in the already hard-hit electrical goods industry by 40%. It is a budget designed by Wilson to shore up crisis-ridden capitalism and to please-the An increase in road fund licenc from £25 to £40 will be another blow at a car industry in which sort time and voluntary roadn- dancies are already widespread, and which will anyway sutter

ASTMS

Motion This motion was passed by the Charing Cross branch of ASTMS on Wednesday 9th April: This branch unconditionally supports the struggle of the workers. soldiers and tarmers of Portugal for socialism and against the restoration of tascist reaction The struggle for socialism can only be carried forward on the basis of full freedom for all working class tendencies, and the strengthening of the organs of dual power which already exist, uniting them as the basis for a workers government. For this reason branch condemns the action of the Portuguese military government (supported by the Portuguese Communist Party) in banning the two Maoist parties the MRPP and the ACC and in jailing dozens of their members.

Branch requests the secretary to write to the Portuguese embassy protesting against the ban, and calls on other bodies of the Brit- ish trade union movement to similarly oppose the ban.® This was passed nem, con., with WRP members in the branch abstaining. £500 monthly development fund The struggle for leadership within the trade unions and the splits now developing within the Labour Party show clearly the necessity for a pap er fighting for the principles and programme of Trotskyism in the working class. It is precisely for such a situation that Socialist Press has been. established. Our paper is already winning a very favourable response from a large number of new readers. But such success only underlines the need to develop our paper into a weekly, and expand its coverage.

For this reason we are fighting for a £500 per month developme ent fund. Donations should be sent to: Socialist Press, 11 Lower Basildon Near Reading, Berks. Healey from the overall drop in workers Iving standards brought about by Healey's package. Cigarettes are up 10p, beer up 2p a pint, The struggle of local authority electricians for parity with sub- contractors entered a new phase last week. A national meeting of shop stewards and area officials of the Electrical Electronic Telecommunication and Plumbing Union took place on 12th April, at the Kenilworth Hotel in London.

it showed the strong feeling of electricians from every part of the country for the expansion and intensification of their industrial action, together with the determination of the EETPU leadership to nead off an all-out struggle. Since the break-down of talks with the employers in the previous week, rank and file action in support of the claim has been stepped up.

London electricians, for exampic have begun a work to rule which ob- uges them to use mublic transnort in order to get to their jobs.

Else- such as Leeds, Sheffield

WACTE

and Birmingham, there have been complete stoppages, though the amonacaoes crocrca te electrici ans at the Woolwich ferry back to work after they had been out for two weeks. The clear purpose of the London mecting was to hold back demands from the membership for an all-out national stoppage, Peter Adams.

'Starved BIRCH Back' According to Archie Hood, strike leader, the Glasgow dust-cart drivers were 'starv- ed back to work. It is certain they were not def- eated by the troops, but by Hood's fellow CP members on Glasgow Trades Council, who clused to orianise any support.

ing action except one demonstra- tion on a day when workers would have to sacrifice their Easter Holiday pay to attend.

They were defeated also by the T&GWU leadership who, in the name of the Social Contract refused to declare the strike official, and by the treacherous Council and in the Labour gov- ernment who brought the troops in to break the strike. We call on trade unionists still to move of troops by Wilson. Printed and Published by the Workers Socialist League, 31, Park Bertmouth Hil, London NWS 1HR Printed hy Trade Union Labon whisky 64p a bottle and wine 24p a bottle, alongside a 2p in the E increase in income tax. The overall impact on the retail prices index is estimated at 2%. Even Hugh Scanion was forced to admit that this "quite deliber- ately put the whole burden onto ordinary people, cutting their purchasing power", and was "diametrically opposed" to the course proposed by the TUC In addition, a £1,000m cut in public spending will produce further cutbacks in the building industry and in the civil service.

Out of that figure E150m will be cut from food subsidies, alongside the ending of price controls, thus giving the manu- Tacturers free reign to raise prices The fraud of as they choose. food subsidies is exposed for what it was - a smokescreen to

SPARKS DEMAND ACTION

EEPTU national officer, told the meeting that action should be in creased only "where possible.

He said that the support of other unions.

such as NALGO, had been obtained.

but he failed to clarify what form Union such support would take. General Secretary Frank Chapple turned up to attempt to explain that it was impossible to organise any national action since some local authorilies were paying more than the contractors rate, and in any case, the Union "did not have the money to pay strikers for more than about six weeks. These statements showed that the leaders of the EEPTU are embarking on the same road of betrayal as lea- ders of other local authority workers The T&GWU offictals refused to mobilise the entire union against the breaking of the Glasgow dustcart At Ringway Air- strike by troops. port in Manchester, there was also i refusal to extend the action when the conditions of all local authority workers were threatened. Militant statements at the London meeting reflected a very different feeling in the rank and file. However, the extended action that was agreed at the meeting will only be dissipa- ted and the union leadership allowed to sell out if the action is not linked to a programme to strengthen the demands and develop the fight for workers control. As shop stewards from the Workers Socialist League pointed out to the meeting, only

SELL-OUT

Suspicions are rising in Cowley that Reg Birch, the Maoist joint general secret- ary of the AUEW, has agreed to accept the latest British Leyland pay offer on behalf of members in the BLMC Body and Assembly Plants.

This same offer has already been rejected by AUEW members in both plants, and includes a clause which says that the deal "settles all outstanding claims" on behalf of the union, thus abandoning the claims of mech- anical maintenance men in the Assembly Plant and several sectional claims in the Body Plant. In exchange the company offers a settlement which is in ellect a wage cut. win no clause to relate it to the rising cost of Iving. To accept such a deal would mean Birch openly acting in defence of British Leyland again- st the struggle of his members for wages and in defence of agreements. SOCIALIST PRESS, Thusday 17sh April, 1973 About 250 G&MWU mem- bers have been in dispute avoid the vital question of the nationalisation of the food in- since 2nd April at the Thorn dustry, while propping up the Colour Tube plant at Skelm- monopolies with state finance.

ersdale, over the defence of This is the outcome of the an agreement. social contract, in waich th TUC leaders pledged Wilson A mass meeting on 5th April they would hold back and sab- unanimously voted for strike otage wages struggles in exchange action and a 24-hour picket was for price controls and a curb on mounted on the gate. At 3 a.m unemployment. Now workers on Monday 8th April however are confronted with the realty the management's security guards -soaring prices, growing unem- (ASTMS members) attacked the ployment, and the continuous four pickets on duty, only to be attempts of the trade union driven off when more pickets leaders to hold down wage arrived. settlements. The management's actions This budget shows the urgency follow the settlement of the of developing the campaign to annual wage review in which defend jobs based on the demand they succeeded in getting specd- for a sliding scale of wages - work up and de-manning. in exchange sharing on full pay and the occ for a backdated increase. This upation of plants in the event was followed by a programme of redundancy or plant closures.

of voluntary redundancies, but sufficient workers had volunt- eered, the dispute began As one former steward told Socialist Press "In my opinion the disnute was created by man agement in the hope of more workers leaving the factory at no cost to them. The union must a policy which includes work make it quite clear that anyone sharing without loss of wages, and leaving must be replaced, carry- a sliding scale tied to the cost of ing out their mandate, which is living as determined by trade to resist redundancies" The unionists, will ensure that the demand for work sharing on full living standards of the men in dis pay is clearly the only way Thorn pute are safeguarded and improved.

workers will be able to combat Furthermore, the expansion of this offensive by the employers.

public worke linked to abolition

MAY DAY STRIKE

altogether of private contracting for local authority work is an The Workers Socialist essential step in the defence of League declares its critical jobs and conditions support for the one-day The workers at Leeds and Glasgow strike on May Day called who have been out lor well over ten weeks in this and a related dis- for by the Liaison Comm- pute know that, however important ittee for the Defence of their isolated action, it will not in Trade Unions, to free the itself be enough to win their aims.

Shrewsbury 2. This must unless it is immediately expanded into a nation-wide stoppage, with prepare the start of general the full support of other local strike action to force their authority unions, including NUPE release. and staff associations. them stands tradition experienci and routine, and most important.

CONT'D FROM PAGE 1

with them stands bourgeois society as a whole which slips them ready- serted as a red herring by the made solutions. Wilson leadership to pave the way It is therefore vital that the struggle for remaining in the capitalist against Wilson is carried out not simply on the Common Market EEC.We are also opposed to all nat- ionalist opposition to the Market, issue, but broadened to include such as the 'Get Britain Out Cam- fighting the social contract and the use of the law and of troops against paign, whose meetings are uncritic the trade unions, posing instead ally reported in the Communist Party's paper Morning Star, But we socialist proposals to defend the will give critical support to Heffer This means a fight working class, and to any left MPs who take up the to release the Shrewsbury Two struggle to bring the PLP under the and support for all sections of control of Labour Party Conferences, workers fighting to defend living and to replace Wilson as Party leader, standards The way forward for At the same time we give our support every Labour Party member must to all independent campaigns organ- be to fight the betrayals of the Wilson leadership and expose the ised Labour movement against the Common Market. fake lefts in the Labour Party's Such struggles can only politically sand Labour Party Cres buttons In each trade union branch strengthen the working class by exposing both the class collaboration must be fought for declaring no of the right wing icadership and the contidence in Wilson and calling for his resignation ineoretica contusion and spineless- ness of many of those MPs who like At the sane time they must call to parade themselves as "lefts".

on Heffer to lead this fight, and Heffer's reluctance to fight his for left MP Sidney Bidwell to make good his statement that dismissal reflects the formlessness Wilson himself might "face the and lack of political perspective of prospect of the sack" and become these lefts which renders them im- a "candidate for the boot" if de- potent in the face of the right wing As Trotsky wrote in 1926 feated at the Labour Party's special conference on April 26th.

*This can be explained by the fact that a party cannot confine itself Only in this way can Heffer's stand be transformed from an to isolated lelt campaigns but is compelled to have an overall system individual gesture into a serious stand for principle in the Labour of policy. The lefts have no such Party. Anything short of this will system nor by their very essence can they. But the rights do: with be a betrayal.

WORKERS SOCIALIST

LEAGUE

MAY DAY MEETING

NORFOLK ROOM

CAXTON HALL

Thursday May 1st 7.30 pm Admission 10p