Bailiffs Smash up Nursery Occupation

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A squad of over fifty police and bailiffs finally evicted the occupiers of the South Oxford Nursery at 11.30 am last Friday.

Iwenty parents, trade unionists and campaign supporters along with fourteen nursery children left the building singing after bailiffs brutally smashed their way in by two separate entrances, showering broken glass over the nursery.

Earlier the same day, at 7.30 am, a much smaller contingent of police and bailiffs had failed to implement a County Court possession Order when noone from the Council hierarchy turned up to give them the authority to break down the doors.

Possession order

The previous day Judge Verney had granted the Council's application for the possession Order and, in a display of predictable vindictiveness, had awarded costs against five named respondents including Ted Eames, an unemployed teacher and parent who had been helping to run the class, Ann-Marie Sweeney a parent and NUPE vice-chairman, and NUPE Divisional Officer George Anderson.

The extensive national coverage given to the eviction in all the media reflects the impact the six week occupation has had as the only principled direct fight against the cuts outside the London hospital occupations.

What the bourgeois press and television omits of course is any reference to the effect of the campaign on the Police and bailiffs barge in to also been doing its share of running as the fight over the nursery has reopened the cuts question in the teachers' union.

Jack Steadman, Divisional Secretary, clearly thought he had buried all opposition to the cuts in education last January when he masterminded an abject sell-out which ended the teachers' nine-month dispute cover staffing levels.

However Steadman himself was nearly defeated in his own branch when he barely managed to manoeuvre through a derisory amendment to a motion tabled by members of the nursery Occupation Committee. he nursery class Steadman was forced to use the last resort of frightened bureaucrat to maintain his position-and launched a witch-hunt against the nursery campaign leaders.

NUT members must decide now whether they want a trade union or a debating society. If they want a union, they must build an alternative leadership that is prepared to fight the cuts instead of merely mouthing 'concern' about them.

The actual occupation of South Oxford Nursery Class may have ended, but the class itself will continue in a nearby building whilst the campaign is stepped up to demand the immediate reinstatement of the 30 places and the lost jobs.

As reported in last week's Socialist Press, the County Council refused to see a Trades Council delegation to discuss the nursery.

Trades Council officers, who on this issue can call on the clear backing of wide layers of the workers movement must insist that the negotiations go ahead as The continuing struggle around the South Oxford Nursery has shown the vital role of principled leadership in giving a determined direction to the fight for basic rights.

The League takes up , Trotsky's call in the Transitional ProDetails East gramme to "Turn to the Woman Worker!" For this to be anything more than an empty cry the labour movement must not only fight to maintain existing nursery provision but also ensure that such inadequate provision as exists is improved and extended.

This means carrying on the fight to break the Lib-Lab coalition at every level.

Action against the cuts will be the theme of a nursery campaign rally in Oxford on Saturday May 27.

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