Dawn Police Raid Smashes Squat

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On | Friday 9th January, at 6.50 a.m., about 1,000 police, armed with riot-shields and axes and using a heavy lorry as a battering ram, attacked a block of flats in South London.

Doors were smashed to pieces with the axes, and the 50 or so inhabitants thrown into the street with their belongings to find somewhere else to live.

The reason for this, apparently senseless, violence and destruçtion?

Renovated

The flats belong to the Tory-controlled Greater London Council, and the inhabitants were squatters.

Kilner House, near the Oval cricketground, has recently been renovated by the GLC, who hope to make some money by selling off the flats at prices ranging from £19,000 to £22,000.

All this is in line with government demands to sell off council housing stock -bolstering private ownership, while leaving thousands of homeless on the streets.

Homeless

The squatters, about 100 in all (including families with children) were all otherwise homeless. Their 3 month long occupation highlighted in the most dirgct way possible the scandalous Tory policy on housing.

After the police exercise, the GLC are now faced with the task of re-renovating the flats.

Since the UCATT branch in the GLC direct works department are blacking the work, the Council are going to find it Published by Folrose Ltd for the Workers Socialist League, Bl Printed by Morning Litho Printers Ltd (TU), London hard to election It is Council Police smashing into Kilner House flats:

find buyers before they in May. to be hoped that a new Labour will be returned-one that can / Box 5277, London WCIN 3XX. be forced to tenants in the sale of council let these flats to council normal way and stop the property refused to stand for a place in Michael Foot's shadow Cabinet.

Numerous other right-wing MPs, including Roy Mason, have made dire threats that they will stand against the Labour Party as "independents" if their constituency parties don't re-select them. The MP for Newcastle has also threatened that about 50 MPs will flee the party, rather than risk being made accountable to their members, or forced to fight for socialist policies.

Of course, this blatant form of blackmail is hailed by the capitalist press as "standing up for principle"

While it is to be hoped that these reactionaries do desert the Labour Party, and leave the way open for a greater fight for socialist policies, it is, unfortunately, not a foregone conclusion.

The likes of Roy Mason and David Owen know that if they leave the party, they are also leaving behind the activitists who do all the work to get them elected.

The whole party apparatus, the finances and links with the trade unions will be left in the hands of people who might actually implement policies which benefit the working class.

The best thing that Labour Party activists can do now is to renew the fight for a socialist programme and hasten the departure of these reactionaries into the arms of the Tories and the Liberals where they belong.

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