Our Problem: Leaders Who Won't Lead and Blame Us!

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by the cuts to those terrified of the massive nuclear build-up; from jobless school leavers to pensioners-all are saying the Tories can't be allowed to get away with it much longer.

Somethings got to be done: if we don't get the Tories out there'll be nothing left.

The working class have realised if they don't defeat the government no-one else will-they realise what's at stake.

Given this massive hostility to the Tories, why has so little happened to threaten their rule?

The reason for this can be seen quite clearly in the attitude of the union leaders at this years TUC Conference.

In the face of Thatcher's massive attacks not one single effective action was organised from this national body of working class leadership.

They were desperate to get through the week without a demand for strike action against Tories being placed upon them.

Instead their whole strategy was to list the dire effects of Tory policy and to seek talks with Thatcher to make her see reason!

So we saw the degrading spectacle of the national leadership of 12 million of workers crawling to Downing Street to plead with Thatcher "to sit around the table and see some sense"

Thatcher saw sense alright! She saw that the leadership of the working class were determined 'not to rock the boat' and to head off and dissipate the militancy of the working class which could threaten the Tories' rule.

Every opportunity that could have been developed into full scale confrontation with the Tories has been sabotaged by the trade union leadership by whatever means they could use.

The examples are endless. There were the strikes at Adwest Engineering and at DHSS office Brixton-both major struggles against Priors anti union law. Not only did the union leaders not support these strikes (the TGWU would not even make the Adwest strike official) but strikers were attacked and abused by national officials in their militancy.

De take the case of the struggle of Eileen Crosbie the Nottingham Nursery teacher who look a stand against inadequate staffing levels used by the 136 nursery nurses, and was sacked teach an oversized class. Eileen Crosbie in defence of teaching standards.

But they weren't called out on indefinite strike action: they were only called out on ineffective selective actions here and there. Eileen Crosbie was left victimised by the NUT leadership-who should have called for national supporting action to defend her. They didn't.

Eileen Crosbie lost her job-along with 40,000 others (mainly women) workers in local authorities throughout the country.

Or take the case of the defence of St. Benedicts Hospital in Tooting. This hospital occupation again received national publicity and had widespread support from both the trade union movement and the community in Tooting (where nine hositals are up for closure).

St. Benedicts was regarded by many as a beacon in the fight against health cuts, showing the way that no only hospitals but also schools, nurseries and factories could be defended against closure.

It was vital that the occupation there was supported and defended so all could see it was possible to save these jobs and services and resist attack.

As soon as the St. Benedicts occupation was threatened ., as soon as the attempt was made to move patients, equipment, immediate strike action should have been organised at a national level with all resources being given by NUPE in getting their members out in London and spreading supporting strike action to other section.

Fisher

Instead what did we see but Fisher (as the new leader of the TUC) coming down on the picket line, wringing his hands at the suffering caused as patients were dragged out-but totally ungrepared to organise the strike action necessary to stop such suffering.

Some of the tame excuses these leaders use to cover themselves for leaving such struggles defenceless, unsupported and for not organising against the Tories are examined on Page 2.

Most argue like Ron Keating Assistant General Secretary of NUPE that there is so much "fear in the land" that it is impossible to conceive of large scale action by next January, alone now!

Keating's argument along these lines at the conference "Crisis in Local Government" called by Lambeth Labour Council was heavily attacked and was shown to be the well worn excuse of all the trade union leaders.

A speech by Alan Thornett from British Leyland's Cowley Assembly Plant stressed that it is not the membership, but the leadership who won't fight.

Union leaders create demoralisation and apathy and then use it as a shield to hide behind.

The same arguments exactly had been used in BL by the TGWU and AUEW leadership.

By offering no national lead and by instructing their members back to work they had actually supervised the acceptance of the Edwardes' plan, of plant closures the 25,000 redundancies and the sacking of Derek Robinson.

The men and women workers of BL have now refused the final' offer by mass meetings and have shown their willingness to fight on an overwhelming scale.

Yet once again they have been stabbed in the back by their leaders who have ignored a 2-1 strike vote and called off the action. Sections that take up the challenge and fight the Tories in the next few months must not be allowed to be isolated in their struggle like the steelworkers were.

Other sections like the waterworkers, Fords miners and above all the public sector unions must come out in national action to bring down -the Tories this winter and replace them with a workers' government accountable to those that have put them in power.