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Israel Labour

Socialist Press no. 61, 25 May 1977 · scan p. 3 · about 1,476 words

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The protest movement against Bhutto, which in the beginning was a movement restricted to loyal supporters of the right wing Islamic bigots of the PNA, grew wider and wider in scope as repression was stepped up. Specific grievances about the latest elections combined with the increasing general hosThe results of the Israeli general election have swept the Labour Alignment from the predominant position it has held since 1949 and have paved the way for a governmental takeover by the right wing Likud Party.

This party is led by former terrorist Menahem Begin, better known as the leader of the Irgun Zvei Leumi gang.

This gang carried out the Deir Yasin massacre of 1948 which sparked off the Palestine Arab exodus ot that year.

The available election results show Likud holding 41 seats in the 120 seat Knesset (parliament) compared with Labour Alignment's 33 seats and the Democratic Movement for Change's 14 seats.

Right wing religious parties including the National Religious Party, whose withdrawal from government last December precipitated the elections picked up 22% of the vote to give them 21 seats.

Left wing groups, including the pro-Moscow Rakah group of Arab Communists managed to win 9 seats.

Likud's triumph is attributable not to any major increase in its representation (it only gained an extra 2 seats) but to the spectacular drop in the Labour strength from 51 to 33 seats.

This drop is almost entirely of Labour's own making. tility to Bhutto and his policies.

As the working class came on the scene a call for strike Thousands more were drawn into struggle. Demonstrations began, not now from the mosques, but from the factories.

It was this that forced Bhutto to seek the aid of the Army. Martial Law was declared in the major cities.

The right wing opposition, which had earlier called on the Army to form an interim administration to supervise fresh elections had once again created the illusion of a 'neutral' armed forces.

But the army has clearly intervened on the side of Bhutto. It is unlikely that, in the near future, it will attempt to take over from Bhutto.

Firstly because this is 1977, not 1958: having suffered the experience of army rule the masses have only bitter memories.

secondly, the total defeat in Bangla Desh in 1971 not only discredited the army but gave Bhutto the opportunity to purge from its ranks all except those totally loyal to him.

Finally, there is the strong traditional link between the army and the rural landlords and peasants, and so far, Bhutto can count on the big landlords.

The tragedy is that the left has not been able to give a political lead to the explosion of the masses.

The right wing parties have seized the leadership so far, and army intervention has ensured that the movement did not get out of ally it proved incapable of bringing down the inflation rate from its current 40%-an inflation • which spurred on a long series of strikes.

Politcally it had reached stalemate in its belaboured attempts to negotiate a peace settlement with the Arab states-at a time when Carter's presidential victory meant Israel's chief backer was stepping up the pressure on them to reach some agreement.

Then, towards the end of former Prime Minister Rabin's rule, a series of scandals occurred which were to sink Labour.

The Housing Minister committed suicide, accused of misappropriating money from real estate deals; the Labour nominee as Governor of the Central Bank was jailed on corruption charges; and Rabin himself resigned after his wife had been convicted of holding an illegal bank account in the United States.

Sickened by these sçandals many Labour supporters switched allegiance and voted for Yigael Yadin's 5-month-old Democratic Movement for Change (DMC).

In all probability Likud wil now form a government with the National Religious Party and will try to secure the support of the DMC.

But this in itself is fraught with contradictions since the DMC is demanding as its price the sort of electoral reform which the NRP has always opposed.

But it is certain that Israel's domestic and foreign policy will PART TWO OF OUR SPECIA ARTICLE BY FAROOQ NAW (SAMAJ).

The long term aim of socialists must be to build an independent working class party capable of uniting workers and poor peasants round a socialist programme.

The immediate task is to intervene in the mass movement to expose the Right 'alternative? to counterpose socialist demands and slogans.

For example, the right has consistently invited the armed forces to intervene. While the 'neutrality' of the armed forces has been considerably exposed, the right wing will probably mount an agitation and remove a particular general or a particular office.

The left has to mount a campaign for 'troops out of all cities' and go on to demand withdrawal of troops from the provinces of Baluchstan and NWFP..

This is the time to attention of the masses those of the Punjab) to of regional minorities. politicallemand for the release of prisoners must include the working class leadership incarcerated by Bhutto in 1972-3, as well as the leaders of the banned National Awami Party.

The left must raise demands relating to the freedom of workers to organise. The concrete form these demands should take will depend on the specific situation faced by workers.

What is vital is that the left learns from this and past movements, that the revolutionary potential of the urban working class direct the (especially the rights ever.

Already Begin has jeclares i== occupied territories to be integral part of Israel and 735 refused to consider any territorial concessions outside of Sinai.

These hawkish positions have again brought to the fore the prospect of a new war.

Reaction from front line Arab states and the PLO have suggested that the emphasis will now be on military preparedness rather than negotiation.

The new situation now cuts the ground from under the feet of all those in the Palestinian leadership who have been willing to compromise the demands of the Palestinian national struggle.

Despite a full scale onslaught by the employers, by the bosses' courts and a complete lack of positive leadership from union bureaucrats the struggle against mass sackings at the Danish Berlingske Tidende newspaper firm, now a lock-out, has reached its 15th week.

Meanwhile the print unions have additionally been fined a massive aL2ֻ building in Copenhagen.

ARK £l million by a Danish labour court in retaliation for the threeweek national stoppage over wages which virtually paralysed the press last month.

And just before the national strike ended, with a sell-out deal agreed by union officials, four provincial newspapers sacked their entire print workforce and announced only half would be reemployed In other words the print employers have taken the decision to force through a massive rationalisation and attack on jobs and conditions. To do this they must crack the workforce at Berlingske.

This led to attempts at the end of April to produce a strike-breaking paper, using foremen to do the work of printers. But the response from the working class was overwhelming.

Each night from the first appearance of the scab paper a mass picket of from one to two thousand battled with the police throughout the night to stop lorries entering the building or leaving with papers.

On April 26, 9-10,000 workers marched through Copenhagen in a solidarity demonstration with the locked-out print workers.

On Thursday 28 April, Berlingske Tidende's management announced the temporary stopping of the scab paper because of so-called threats to the safety of the foremen MASS STRUGGLES The Stalinist leaders of Berlingske print-workers have b willing from the start to acc 150 redundancies (out of 1,01 spread over a period of 18 to months, but the management ! the figures every time negotiati begin again.

At first they talked of 300, now they are up in the 400 scale appears that the idea is to cut printworkers by half, as in the c of those fired by the provini papers.

At the same time as these eve most of the faculties at all Dan universities are occupied students in protest agai *entrance restrictions" and closure of the Social Science Ba Education at the new Roski University Centre.

Roskilde was started as experiment in new methods education a few years ago e rapidly became a centre for Mar counter education to bourge ideology.

Just as rapidly it became symbol of revolt to the bourge parties, and under pressure social democrats have slowly tr to undo everything and introdi normal bourgeois univers courses.

The occupations lasted 3 wee Although they did not achieve th full demands, the students w assurances that concessions wo be made, and announced th readiness to resume the struggle order to ensure education is oper up to broader layers of society.

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action resulted in a complete national stoppage.

← Contents of Socialist Press no. 61, 25 May 1977

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