Homeless used for Tories' GLC witch-hunt Top Tory exposed as 'deep throat'

Scan page 4

Picket outside Camberwell magistrates court at beginning of trial of Kim Gordon, editor of SWP's Flame, paper for blacks. A thorn in the flesh of local police for some time, Gordon faces three charges arising out of Lewisham, carrying possible sentences of 6 months jail. Trial is by stipendary magistrate.

This week, County Hall saw the opening of a bizarre public enquiry into complaints by a housing activists group against GLC housing staff.

The group claims that GLC officers planned to demolish a group of houses at Crystal Palace that they wanted to take over and that the Council had ordered should be renovated.

They also complain that they were denied access to Council documents that they have a legal right to see.

Their complaints are contained in a pamphlet produced by Ron Bailey well known organiser of squatters movement.

to Tories Much of the evidence he puts forward was obtained during a break-in which he claims to have committed at County Hall last December.

Bailey's action on the basis of this evidence was to turn to the Tory administration at County Hall to defend the houses against GLC employees!

This presented the Tories with a splendid opportunity for a propaganda campaign against their staff at a time when they are seeking every chance to cut jobs.

Investigation

They called a full scale public investigation, overriding rights in the officers' contracts about answering complaints from the public.

At a launching press conference, Tory leader Horace Cutler was able to make sweeping accusations of corruption and dishonesty against County Hall workers:

"At any time there are about 12 mini Crown Agents situations at County Hall and everyone knows this" he claimed.

So, by a neat transtormaton, the libertarian demands of the activists are turned into a public witch-hunt against council workers by the Tories.

Evictions

The recent wave of evictions against squatters bi : the same Tories is neatly cal nouflaged and attention Stop this Frame Uk ((belon tested o sham 6, aket Cimberwell (Green,9.30am directed away policies which shortages and conditions.

What a gift for with the London elections less than away.

The investigation to last three months first day produced share of surprises.

In his pamphlet, Bailey refers to an unnamed very senior person at County Hall who had given him information as to the GLC's plans for the houses in question Trap Under pressure tron the investigation he stated that the 'deep throat was no less than Horace Cutler himself, the politician with most to gain from calling the enquiry!

How is it that people with obvious and serious concern about London's housing problems can fall into this kind of trap?

The answer to t the conception of common to many ical housing activists.

The squatting movement developed into a widespread from the Tory lead to housing lousy housing the Tories Borough six weeks is likely but the its fair his hes in the state non-politphenomenon 1960s heavily the anarchists.

Faced with t of vacant hol side by side w deprivation of understandable to seize it direct But their analyse the reasons for simultaneous shortage and overproduction led inevitably to their failure to build support in the labour movement as a whole.

Left to work out confrontations with the Thousands of readers during most of the past week will have missed the daily mixture of paranoia hysteria and entertainment that passes for a daily paper.

The cry of pain from the newspaper barons has been considerable, and was echoed respectfully by print union leaders.

Owen O Brien, general secretary of NATSOPA, went to the lengt is of appearing on a Radio 4 phone-in to reassure the frantic petty bourgeoisie, who seem to have a monopoly of air time on these programmes.

The papers themselves have been cautious about how to react to their little local difficulties. But there are already signs that the editors are prepared to launch a public witch-hunt against the militants in the machine rooms Two weeks ago the Sunday Express launched a peculiarly feeble attack on the SWP. Based imost entirely on an after dinner speech by Percy Roberts, Mirror Group chairman, it was mainly notable for its lack of penetration and comic generalisations. (For example the mid influenced by he appearance Ising existing ith enormous housing their response was ly. inability to ... Ca ...1 their state (in the form of bailiffs, police and local authorities) with the anarchists it is not surprising that many adopted the reformist views of the liberal journalists and academics who seemed to be the only people left taking any interest in them.

Bailey calls for expanded legal rights to information about local government decisions-not for council plans and accounts to be opened to elected trade union committees representing council workers and the local labour movement as a whole. The SWP "Makes no secret of its ambition to change the whole character of society in Britain today".)

Roberts complained that remarks made by O'Brien at a meeting with management had been handed out in leaflet form to workers the very next day, and had been published in Socialist Worker the same week.

He also stated that he had "every reason to believe" that strikers had been paid a full day's pay, before going on strike!

Significantly, this article, which has caused more mirth that consternation among newspaper workers, was reprinted in the newspaper trade paper UK Press Gazette, where it was dubbed "an important contribution to investigative journalism.

To give a further sign of the times, the same issue reported that Anton Betz, publisher of the West German paper Rheinische Post had categorized the strike against redundancies arising from the introduction of new technology as a political strike In its own more considered style, the Obserrer has been giving the same warning.

He has failed to realise that the function or the state, both at national and local levels is to support the system of production for profit which itself causes the problems that he campaigns against No amount of moral demands on Tory councillors or Labourites will change this. As the affair of the Crystal Palace demolitions shows clearly, without such an analysis, not only will housing campaigns fail, but they will be used by the ruling classes for their own ends "Britain has the most competitive newspaper press in the world, offering readers a wide choice in political attitudes, analysis or entertainment... ...And we would add without false modesty, our belief that the breadth of choice and of opinion represented by our newspapers is an important factor in making Britain one of the most stable democracies."

After a long editorial bewailing the problems besetting the poor capitalist on all sides, the paper concluded with a series of warnings, of which the most significant was that the "will and spirit of those who own and manage newspapers" would not last forever.

Despite the differences in style this is essentially the same warning as the UK Press Gazette made when it billed the Sunday Express witchhunt as "a contribution to the coming bonfire of malpractices which undermine union officials and managements alike."

Managements are arming themselves for the major battles to come. Alread y their newspapers are soundi ng the charge.

Scan page 5

sU AL KE "Give us our head, put us on shov win the support, the allegiance, and the enthusiasm of young people"

This plea, addresied by Labour Party Youth Officer Andy Bevan to the right wing Callaghan-Healey leadership from the platform of the Labour Party Young se

----- pull-quotes -----

NA MORE