Socialist Action (LSA) Vol. 3, No. 6, June 1980

Socialist Action (League for Socialist Action) · June 1980 · 12 pages, 19,816 words read by machine

A different group, and a different paper from the IMG’s Socialist Action of 1983–88. The League for Socialist Action were supporters of the US Socialist Workers Party’s tendency in the Fourth International who split from the IMG in 1976 and rejoined it in 1982.

The scan: Socialist Action v3 no6 Jun 1980.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive)

Uncorrected machine reading of the whole issue. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from the scan and has not been corrected or cut into articles. Each page gives the headlines first, then the columns in order, so one article runs on into the next. Expect misread words. Use it to find things; quote from the scan.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Page 1 scan of this page

Socialist

MASS ACTION SHOWS WAY

HANDS OFF IRAN!

On May 14th, over a million workers responded to the TUC call. In defiance of the hate campaign unleashed by the Tory press - and orchestrated from Downing Street - demonstrations and rallies took place throughout me country

The hundreds of thousands who demonstrated on that day clearly showed their willingness to fight a government which is trying to drag us back to the 'thirties"

They know that the savage cuts in social services, the escalating jobless total and the anti-union campaign are going to get worse in the years ahead - if Thatcher is allowed to stay - and not better.

And they know that holding a few protests - combined with talk about the return of a Labour government in 4 years time will not help. It will then be too late to defend the jobs and services that will have been axed by the most ruthless Tory government since the war.

What is needed is not idle rhetoric. It is not trips by TUC

Dave McLeod (T&GWU)

Carter defended the military raid into Iran last April as a 'humanitarian act. Its aim was supposedly

Action

For a Class Struggle Left Wing in the Labour Movement

SUNDAY

leaders back and forth to Downning Street - but action. The Labour leaders mustn't be allowed to 'rescue' the hostages in the US Embassy and bring them back alive. The fraud in this claim has become increasingly obvious.

If Carter had really wanted to save the hostages, all he had to do was return the ex-Shah to the Iranian people for trial. The fact that he has not done this shows the safety of the hostages was furthest from his mind.

As the Christian Science Monitor

have been killed had the raiding party reached the embassy in Tehran.

AIM

But if the aim of the 'raid' was

whom would have been killed -just what was the intention besuggest that Carter's intentions were far broader than originally imagined.

The New York Times claims that US officials have now admit ted that they were ready to use

-130 gunships to Iranian troops'

ers, from aircraft carriers based in the Arabian sea were put on alert for immediate action.

Iran, were also prepared for

on the day SAVAK agents. What action? Documents found in the wreckage of the crashed US aircraft include maps pinpointing the city of Qum (residence of the Aya-

DAILY

MIRROR

PER NATSOF

• BLUES +2 to ignore May 14 as an isolated "protest'. They have to be forced in its tracks. to see it as the beginning of a mass not to save the hostages - most of tollah Khomeini)...

hind it? Growing evidence would

HYSTERIA strate any The They have also acknowledged that fighter-bomb-

CIA operatives, 'infiltrated' into

Iranian hysteria. / alongside ex-

Labour Conference

CARL

NAC

Nuclear Power

Cuba

Afghanistan

June 1980

SUN

MIRI

NIGHT MACHINE CHA

UNITY IS STRENG

campaign to stop the Tory attack

see page 2

It would appear, from growing evidence, that the 'raid' launched by Carter was part of a much bigger ettort to deal a blow to the Iranian revolution by toppling its elected government.

question of the 'hostages' wa in this sense, merely camoflage behind which Washington could hide its act of naked aggression. It fits in with its deliberate attempts, over the months preced. ing the raid, to whip up an anti-

Carter sought to blame oil shortages' and 'soaring prices' on the Iranian revolution. He began to encourage racist attacks on Iranian students, threatening many

Price 15 p

ALL OUT

JUNE 22nd

On June 22nd, the Labour

party is calling a mass march

in London against the Tories'

increase in defense spending

and decision to site US Cruise

missiles.

soon.

Thatcher's boost in defemse

spending — at the same time a

health, education and housing

are being cut to the bone - is

part of a general war hysteria

being whipped up.

Her support for Carter's inva-

sion of Iran, her sabre-rattling

on Afghanistan, increases in

army pay and talk of bringing

back conscription' are all

danger signs.

A mass rally on June 22nd

will be a major step in showing

the Tories that working people

in this country have no interests

in arming themselves to the

teeh with 'neutron' bombs or

supporting military interven-

tions - like that of Carter -

against other working people

around the world.

NO CRUISE MISSILES!

WITHDRAW FROM NATO!

CUT DEFENSE SPENDING! with deportation. The pro-Carter media began to paint the Iranian people as religious fanatics' compared with the moderate Shah. All of these moves were clearly aimed at whipping up a war mood in the West which would give Washington the freedom it needed to launch a brutal military drive against the Iranian revolution.

SPLITS?

The abortive results of the raid"

State Cyrus Vance, who claimed opposition to military acts, is indicative of this.

cont. on page 12

Page 2 scan of this page

May 14th: Keep up

(Un)Employment Bill: Prior

page 2

BASNETT

ATTACKS PRESS

CONSPIRACY

Before May 14th, the entire British press couldn't spare enough ink and paper to bury the TUC call to action. 'Day of Shame' ran the headline in papers from the Mail to the Sun.

Any group of workers prepared to grin and bear the Tory policies was guaranteed a place on the front page. 'We

Want to Work' or 'Rank-and File Rebel Over Day of Shame' followed each other in quick successon

Having done their best to break union resistence, they then proceeded after May 14th) to ignore the mass turnout around the country. 'Flop of the Decade' declared the Express: "Fiesta Fiasco', echoed the Mirror (supposedly a supporter of the Labour Party).

Was this just a coincidence? Hardly. As GMWU Gen. Sec., David Basnett pointed out recently, the similarity in tone and even slogans was part oi a well-orchestrated offensive hatched in Downing Street.

Only weeks before, Basnett explains, the editors of five national dailies held 'secret'

meetings with Mrs. Thatcher.

•It is common knowiedge in Fleet Street that these meetings took place. They agreed upon a strategy that there would be some continuity netween mie bauers as lu

what was happening".

wnat was in lact agreed was that the Tory press should unleash a hate campaign to

break, belittle and dismiss

union resistence.

Who, after reading the sust-

ained barrage of Tory propa-

::cedom oi the press" What

ireedom? The freedom of a

few self-appointed press

barons to saturate the mark-

et with their class-ridden

prejudices?

What about the freedom of

the millions who turned out

on May 14th - but who lack

the capital to run papers like

the Sun or the Mail - to

present their views?

Doesn't the smear campaign

from Fleet Street make the

need for a mass daily paper

for the labour movement all

the more urgent? A paper

that will combat the lies &

distortions put out and that

- by guaranteeing an honest

and open debate - will be a

model of what press freedom

should be all about?

JAMES PRIOR: Supposed to

be 'soft' on the unions. He is

now in charge of pushing

through major attacks on the

WHOLES.

Throughout the steel strike, one of the major factors that stopped the Tories in their tracks was the mass pickets that were organised. Up and down the country, steelworkers -and other workers mobilised in solidarity - brought the transport

by TIM ROBINSON (NALGO)S Over one million workers downed tools on May 14th against the Tory government. In what was the biggest protest yet against Thatcher's attempt to drag Britain back to the thirties, over 130 rallies and demonstrations took place up and down the country from Glasgow to London.

More than half of Britain's coalmines were shut aitogether. Liverpool docks came to a standstill. About 250,000 workers in Scotland stayed away, closing down every shipyard except one. 50.000 NUPE members- bearing the brunt of the governments cuts programme - stopped work in the London area.

In what was a clear slap in the face for the Express, attempting to use the courts to prevent NATSOPA members from striking ing, all the print unions came out.

CAMPAIGN

This mass protest took place in the teeth of an hysterical anti-union campaign whipped up by the Tories in the preceding weeks. Papers such as the Sun or indulged in the crudest witch-hunt of union leaders and prominantly featured the smallest examples of groups of workers willing to 'defy the TUC call'.

Happy enough dealing with Callaghan's verbal 'fireworks' in the Hue:: Commens the Tores were clearly driven to a frenzy oi fear at the thought of mass action on the streets. Parliamentary opposition is one thing, millions of workers taking direct action- to defend jobs and living standards -is another.

They no doubt remembered the fate of the previous Tory government which was unceremoniously tossed out of office by the determined action of the miners.

'FLOP'

The campaign of lies from Fleet Street continued after the Day of Action. The TUC's call

and production of steel to a standstill.

It is the ability of workers at the grass roots to take this type of initiative that the Employment Bill

or, more aptly named, Unemployment Bill - now being ramroded through Parliament is designed to crush.

For the Tories, being able to destroy the ability of rank and file trade unionists to defend their living standards and jobs is central to pushing home the offensive they have undertaken. The Bill aims to do this in a number of ways.

RIGHT TO PICKET A central thrust of the Bill is an attemptto curb 'secondary picketing' which was used so successfully during the miners' strike in 1974. Under Prior's Bill, workers will only be able to picket outside their place of work - picketing of suppliers or other depots being made illegal.

Mail was widely declared a flop' because —millions of trade unionists reported to work as normal.

Papers like the Sun or Express used this to show that the majority of British workers supported the government's policies and were hostile to the TUC action. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Of course, the Tory propaganda barrage did have a marginal effect on some layers who still have not felt the effects of Thatcher's cuts

proposes that 'illegal' pickets be taken to court and sued for damages by companies who can prove business has been affected.

SOLIDARITY ACTION It is not just secondary picketing, however, that the Tories want to eliminate. Under the Bill, they

such as that by the miners for the steelworkers this year or the mass

the Grunwick picket line a few years ago.

CLOSED SHOP Another major plank in the Tory armoury is to launch an attack

clause for religious objectors is

of 'conscience' or other 'deeply held personal convictions.

NUS

CATSOP

NATIONAL SOCIETY OF OPERATIVE PRINTERS REAL AND or plant closures. • despite the mass turn-out

and ineffective.

ACTION In order to give the Bill bite, Prior equally hit out at 'solidarity' action

support given by trade unionists on

SECRET BALLOTS

upon the closed shop. The 'get out'

going to be drastically widened to include objections on the grounds

the bosses.

involved.

itself.

But in the main, far from being hostile to the TUC call, the mass protest wasn't bigger simply because the TUC action appeared irresolute

The Day of Action, after all, was not called as the start of a serious campaign to mobilise the labour movement against the Tories. On the contrary, it was raised last February as an alternative to the

MATERNITY LEAVE The Bill not only attempts to attack union rights but will doubly affect oppressed strata such as women workers. At present, all women are guarenteed maternity leave and the automatic right to reemployment afterwards.

The new provisions mean that they will have to give much longer written notice if they want their jobs back and, even then, they will not be guarenteed them.

Other provisions in the Bill include extending balloting provisions for the creation of closed shops and for strike action. All in the name of democracy, of course. The real aim of this is not to further but to erode the democracy of mass meetings by 'isolating' union mem bers and thus opening the up to the propaganda of the mass media and

Socialist Action mass feeling for a general strike building up around the steelworkers dispute As the Financial Times put it: 'Early this year, however, when the steel strike was underway and the Wales TUC was being particularly militant, the TUC in London came to see the day of action as an alternative to a general strike; something that would allow the labour movement to let off steam without going too far.

How right they were! Having issued the call to get themselves off the hook in February, the TUC then did everything possible to downplay it. Refusing to turn it into a one day strike - despite calls from unions such as the NUR - they declared it was purely a 'voluntary' affair. Little publicity was issued to counteract the Tory campaign. No campaign was und ertaken to explain the issues

LIMITATIONS

How seriously the TUC itself took the call can be measured by Len Murray's speech on the day

Replying to press attacks that it was a 'flop', he declared that the action was not a strike against the government. It was merely a symbolic act to stimulate debate and make the Tories 'reconsider' their policies.

It was this weak-kneed leadership which determined the response of many rank and file members. Hatred of the Tories is undoubtedly deeper than ever before But, as the steelworkers strike showed, workers know that this is a serious government and that only a serious and determined camp. aign can stop them.

Why bother - many of them thought - to support an action which the TUC doesn't even think serious enough to call a strike over? Port Talbot is a good example. Steelworkers there took part in a 3 month strike with the Tories (many voting against a return to work). Yet almost none of the workforce responded to the Day of Action.

Of course many of the proposals in • the Prior Bill are not new. They can be traced back through Heath's ill-fated Industrial Relations Act to Wilson's In Place of Strife which was thrown out, after mass action, in the late sixties.

One thing, however, is new about • Prior's Bill which shows that the Tories have learned from the "mis fortunes" of previous governments. The main thrust of this Bill is towards curbing rank-and-file militancy. This explains the emphasis on the picketing provisions.

This also explains why the TUC have not taken such direct action against the Bill as they did with its predecessors.

CONCORDAT The main thrust of the TUC, after all, has been to try to persuade the Tories to allow them to keep pickets in line with the provisions

Page 3 scan of this page

June 80

the fight!

Why? Because, as their experience showed, it would take more than a half-heatrted protest - which the TUC couldn't bother even to turn into an official stoppage - to halt the Tory offensive.

STRUGGLE

What was surprising about May 14th was not the amount who didn't participate but the amount of grass root support that did. The thousands of union and Labour Party members who downed tools on the day did so not only despite the Tory hate campaign but also despite the TUC's cowardly backdown.

The demands that echoed on the rallies up and down the country -'Tories Out', 'General Strike' - show that they know only decisive industrial action can stop the Tory offensive against jobs and democratic rights.

In this sense, these workers bear a heavy responsibility. If the labour movement is to present a united front against the Tory ass ault - and not be divided as happened on May 14th - they will

tightens curbs

they themselves established under the last Labour government in the "Concordat'. Even May 14th was used, as Murray himself almost admitted, as 'pressure' on the government to open up a dialogue with them on this question.

It will take more than this, however, to dissuade the Tories from their purpose. They have no intentions of entrusting the TUC with 'controlling' its own members after the winter of discontent' last year when - in defiance of the TUC thousands of workers struck in protest against the government's pay ceiling. They no longer trust them.

In order to push home their offensive, the Tories intend to use all the power and backing at their command - the police, the courts, the press to intimidate workers from defending their jobs and living standards in the big battles that are going to open up.

have to launch a serious fight

within the unions and Labour Party

to make the labour leaders live up

to their responsibility.

ACTION

One day protest actions - combined with rhetoric about the

return of a Labour government in 4 years - will not defend jobs, living standards and the welfare state. And the millions who did not turn out on May 14th know it. Only a serious campaign, a fighting campaign, can do that.

In this sense, at no stage must the labour leaders be let off the hook. They must be forced to see May 14th not as a 'one-off" act but as the begining of an ongoing campaign to defend worker's rights.

They have to be forced into org-

anising mass opposition against the cuts; to lead the fight against unemployment (expected to rocket to 2½ million next year) and to organise mass solidarity with any group of workers victimised by Prior's anti-union Bill.

DEMOCRACY

It is only by increasing the pressure to make the labour lead* ers act, that a really united defence can be mobilised against Thatcher's attacks.

whora Labour gorernment is returned, it will be committed to a programme in the interests of

As part and parcel vi this fight, the question of democracy will come ever more to the fore. It has already been raised at the last Labour Party Conference and is begining to find its echoes in the unions too.

It is only by fighting to extend democratic control over the labour leaders that we can ensure that they will carry out policies in their members' interests and that they can be removed if they won't.

FIGHTBACK Confronted with a determined Tory government intent on taking the unions back to the times of Taff Vale, it will need more than words to defend our democratic rights. It will take more than trips back and forth to Downing Street. We have to make it absolutely clear to our leaders that, as far as we are concerned, none of our hard-fought rights are negotiable.

Rather than discussing with Thatcher, what the TUC should now be doing is building on the turn out on May 14th to prepare mass resistance to the Prior proposals. The Tories should be left in no doubt at all that any attempt to use these provisions against trade unionists will meet a mass resistance.

HANDS OFF THE UNIONS!

MASS RESISTANCE AGAINST TORY CURBS!

MAKE LABOUR PLEDGE TO REPEAL THE ACT!

Scotland-which has felt the

Tory axe harder than most

areas- led the fight-back ag-

250,000 workers struck on

strations.

In Glasgow, an estimated

through the town.

ground was closed, train ser-

vices decimated and many of

shipyard

demonstration marched in a

strong anti-Tory protest.

buses, railways and SOGAT

printworkers were all out.

place in Aberdeen (1,500),

Greenock (1,600), Cumber-

ed work

of the North-west, big rallies

5,000 marched through the it is also the movement which - as on May

the Tories

real chance for delegates to ex-

rally anti-Tory action.

GAGGED

for Callaghan -

parliamentary pussy-footing

on delegates who turned up.

its opposition to the Thatcher Kinnock

ainst the Thatcher government.

May 14th and thousands took

to the streets in protest demon-

15,000 - including busworkers,

railway workers and a strong

NALGO contingent- marched

The under-

the local factories and shipyards

closed- including Talbot Lin-

wood, the Govan and Greenock down.

In Edinburgh, a 7,000-strong

The

Smaller demonstrations took

nauld, Ayr and Dumfries. In

the city of Dundee, an estimat- in 1971.

ed 20,000 workers- covering

all manufacturing and service

mausines and tanspor- stop-

in England.

In the industrial strongholds

also occurred. Manchester wit-

nessed a march of 7,000 with

big contingents of busworkers

and postworkers. In Liverpool,

citv centre where the docks and

Camell Laird shipyard were out.

The Labuar Party a specst conterence on May 31st was an unusual step. Called by the left-dominated NEC, it was clearly a response to native resolutions. growing pressure within the labour

14th - has been involved in mass forward actions to defend its living standards and democratic rights against

As such, the conference offered a

change experience and thrash out a bold, fighting policy which could ded.

millions behind them in ACTION

But did the conference do this?

Hardly. Although the very calling of a special conference was a rebuff

who wants anti-Tory opposition to be contained to

- the Labour NEC virtually placed a gag four years time

Submitting a statement declaring

fine.

movement today.

National Round-Up

In Sheffield, 5,000- mainly made up of engineers and miners- took to the streets. Small demonstrations took place in Bradford (2,000), Blackpool, (2,000) and Leeds where all the buses were out, many facttories closed and some schools took half-day strike action.

In Britain's biggest industrial complex in the Midlands, the response from the factories was patchy but significant protests were held. In Birmingham. over 5,000 demonstrated with particular support mrom the construction sites which closed

Similar demonstrations took place in nearby Coventry (5,000), where the buses were out and Rolls-Royce Parkside closed down, Leicester (3,000) and Stoke where the demonstration of 3,000 was the most mil itant action seen in the town since the protest against Ted Heath's Industrial Relations Act

Bristol, with over 7,000 workers on the streets, probably held the biggest demonstration

All the major factories were affected to some extent or another, although the buses were still running.

In Wales, mass action by 27,000 miners brought all the pits in the South to a standstill. While demonstrations occurred in most maior towns. they were smaller than elsewhere. Lian-

Labour Conference

-words but no action

delagates would not be allowed to submit amendments to it nor alter-

This gag on democracy meant that what could have been a real debate on the way

- resulting in action became nothing more than a rally.

Leader after leader took the rostrum to denounce Tory economic strategy. The cuts were attacked, Prior's anti-union curbs exposed, unemployment figures deri-

But, apart from the ritual opposition to Tory party policy, what lead was actually given in combatting these attacks? None whatsoever. The main thrust was to counterpose the programme of a future Labour government - in

• to the anarchy the Tories are now creating

A great deal of emphasis, fom MPs such as Skinner to Benn, was placed upon the New Economic Strategy proposed. The increases in social expenditure promised, the extension of public ownership etc, are all

The only problem, however, is that they have very little to do with the real problems facing the labour

How can the actions of a future Labour government help working people today. confronted as they are with massive inroads into the welfare state, an unemployment situation threatening to reach two and a half million next year, soaring inflation and a broad-side against the democratic rights of the unions?

page 3 dudno saw a lively march of 2,000 organised by the Wales TUC and in Cardiff 1,000 took to the streets.

In the North and South-east, trade unionists took to the streets to demonstrate their opposition to the Thatcher government. Brighton saw a lively rally of over 2,000 and Conservative-controlled Bournemouth was confronted with the demonstration of over 1,000 through the city centre.

In London, sizeable demon.strations took place in almost all ares. 2,000- mainly public-sector workers- - turned out in Haringay. In Islington, 1,500 joined a rally organised by the local anti-Cuts Campaign. 2,000 took to the streets in Fiayes and 1,000 in Ealingdespite the local Tory council's protest- to meet at a mass rally in Southall Park. 8,000 workers took to the streets in Hackney and a further 2,000 in Lambeth. The biggest action in London was undoubtedly the massive march organised by print-workers in detiance of the Express management's court action to stop then For the TUC, the 'Day of Aition' may be over. But for these hundreds of thousands of workers up and down the country, it is only the begin. ning of a long-term struggle to stop the Tory attacks in their PROTEST But the Labour leaders didn't have it all their own way. Reality intruded into the conference when a number of delgates, who got to the rostrum, denounced the undemo. cratic way in which the conference had been organised

Many of these also pointed out the inadequacy of talking about what Labour would do in four years time and the need to think about what Labour is going to do now in the teeth of a major anti working class offensive and how to carry forward the momentum of May 14th.

It is Labour activists such as these who, in the period ahead, will have to continue the fight to turn the Labour Party outwards. to make sure that it can provide a real leadership in the labour movemen: against the policies Thatcher is pursuing

George Hold (Peckham YS)

Page 4 scan of this page

page 4

Bristol, Miami

690T 'Worst race riots since Watts' ran the headlines in many US papers following the explosion that shook Miami last month. The burning and looting that took place in the next few days was described in nervous detail.

The ostensible cause of the riot was the release - by an all-white jury - of four policemen accused of killing a young Black. But, as many Blacks later pointed out, this was just the spark in a powder keg of anger and frustration built up over many years of racial injustice.

FRUSTRATION

Miami are nui mited, hunerer. to the SA. Only a month or so earlier, a similar upheaval took place not 3,000 miles away but in St Pauls, Bristol, where thousands of young Blacks exploded into action after a violent police raid on a local cafe.

After three hours of street fighting, the police were forced to withdraw. Once gone, the Black youth (supported by many young whites) gave vent to their anger by looting shops and setting fire to Lloyd's bank.

As a young Black social worker. who had lived in St. Pauls for many years, explained: "It has gone so far that these kids could not take it any more, and were just letting off their frustration". BIAS

What frustration? Frustration

Malcolm X

His Writings:

By Any Means Necessary

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Malcolm X Talks to Young People

Two Speeches by Malcolm X

of the most promina:

Copies of the shove are

Auckland Rs.

the same struggle

against a society which - as recession grows - has nothing to offer them but ghetto housing, dole queues and dead-end jobs at miserable wages.

Thatcher's policies may hit all working people - but they hit Blacks twice as hard. The growing jobless queues for youth are a scandal - but in places like St.

Pauls or Brixton, they are twice the national average.

Cuts in housing are criminal but they fall doubly hard on Black urban ghettos like Southall or Lewisham. Cuts in education affect the prospects of all children, but they fall twice as hard on Blacks consigned to already

inner-city scnouls.

DISCRIMINATION Moreover, this discrimination against Blacks is reintorced by' the racist climate being whipped up by the Tories. Thatcher was elected to power on a clear racist ticket which included giving the police greater powers - under the 1971 Immigration Act - to harass and intimidate the Black community.

These powers - combined with the infamous SUS laws - have led to a systematic persecution of Black people. As the same social worker went on: "A lot of young kids in the neighbourhood are being continually molested by the police when they go out walking.. They are taken to the police station, told to say things they know nothing Malcolm X evolved, during his brief life, into the most prominant Black Freedom Fighter in the USA. Gunned down in 1965, Malcolm had begun to show thousands of Blacks the need to define their own historv. to demand their rights and to stand up and fight for them. his evolution as a Black Freedom Fighter, Malcolm became con-

•*le would have to be related to a broader struggle ins: iapitalism. His writings are those of one

about and then charged" Police harassment of this kind has built up an explosive atmosphere which - as in Miami or St Pauls - can be detonated at any moment.

NERVOUS Of course, the Fleet Street press has tried to portray the incidents at Bristol as a 'black versus white' conflict. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

The Black youth who took to the streets in Bristol were not directing their anger against the white members of the community (many of whom joined them in the battle with the police). When

single incidenie vi anti-ünite VIDICHCC.

They were directing it against a system which condemns them -because of the colour of their skin - to ghetto housing, dead-end jobs and the dole queues. They were directing it against the representatives of this system - the police - who are there to enforce its racist bias.

ENQUIRY

ment so nervous. They are only too aware of the anti-capitalist implications of this struggle - and of the fact that it could spread to other areas in the months ahead where identical problems exist.

This is why they have set up a public enquiry to look into the causes of the upsurge. They no doubt hope that leading Race Relations experts - such as Alec Lyons - will be able to defuse the situation.

But no enquiry can remove the causes of the Bristol explosion any more than they can that in Miami. Those causes lie in a system which is built on poverty and racial injustice.

SOLIDARITY

blems facing Black people - as those facing all working people -is by struggling to remove that system which creates poverty & racism. That means developing a united fight against the Tories

is ard unemploymen: plans.

But it also means supporting Black people in their self-defence against police attacks and winning the labour movement to fight seriously against the racist laws which condone police violence.

CARL group.

groups. their lives.

CAMPAIGN by Mike Rodney This is what has made the govern.

migration controls? of day.

CURBS

The only way to resolve the pro-

Phil Edwardes Is a case i polli.

S.L. CARL PLANS ACTION

On May 20th, many anti-racists and activists in South London met to- rights. gether to build up the South London

Present were representatives of numerous YS branches, Labour Party wards and socialist

They were not alone. Following the call at the CARL conference last March for local groups to be set up, a number have already begun to emerge. In Leamington, for example, the ANL, Trades Council and other organisations have merged, and in Stoke the local anti-racist committee (NORSCARF) has decided to prioritise work around the Tories' Immigration Act.

Such moves represent a growing awareness that the struggle against racism today must be centred around the Immigration Act which is used to justify the oppression black people suffer in all aspects of

Not only that. As Bob Swart, opening the S. London CARL meeting stressed, unless the labour movement can be won to fighting these laws, "...it will be divided and weakened in the fight ahead against the cuts, the growing jobless total and That-

CARL: WI

(CARL National Steering Ctte)

STOP THE

TORY

RACIST

LAWS

At the founding conference of CARL - the Campaign Against Racist Laws - last year, a major debate opened up. Should the campaign concentrate its fire on opposing the 1971 Immigration Act, or, on the contrary, all im-

It was strongly argued by some - whose position was rejected -that all immigration controls are, by their very nature, racist and that a failure to adopt this position was a political error. Many left tendencies - such as Workers Action - argued in this way.

If such a stance had been taken, there is no doubt that the mass CARL demonstration last year -which brought out over 15,000 -would never have seen the light

As one Act has followed another, entry into Britain has become increasingly dependent on a colour bar. Black people are not only kept out because of the colour of their skin but those who

do manage to slip past the immig ration barriers are subject to

curbs which - in reality - turn

them into second-class citizens.

They can be arrested without a

warrant, deported without right of appeal and - under the climate

of legalised racism these Acts cre-

ate - subjected to the most vicious

forms of police harassment. The

police attack on Southall - and

'attack is not too strong a word -

Socialist Action

cher's general attack on democratic

In the lively discussion that followed, it was agreed to maintain CARL as a broad, united front organisation open to all willing to support the campaign's general aim.

While stressing the need to take up the general question of immigration, however, it was also suggested by members present that the group should concentrate on particular cases of victimisation in the South London area.

OUTWARD

In order to draw in local support for the campaign, it was agreed to send speakers to as many local union and Labour Party branches as possible, seek affiliations from them and produce a mass leaflet for distribu-

It was also agreed that the closest possible relations would be kept with black organisations in the area and co-operation be sought in joint activity.

If you are interested in attending S. London CARL meetings- or helping it to grow- please contact Bob Swart, c/o Lansbury House. Camberwell Grove, London SE 11.

by RICHARD MOORE RACISM

The aim of these immigration laws is not just, however, to curb the number of black people entering Britain. On the contrary it has become - in the hands of the Tories and their right-wing

and divide the Labour mureme

This can be seen most clearly in the recent Tory proposals to tighten the curbs still further. It was widel! recognised that these curbs would do hardly anything to stop the trickle of biacs par. ple entering the country since the 1971 Immigration Act was virtually water-tight in this respect.

The real aim of these proposals - backed up by Thatcher's pre-election speech about the country being 'swamped by an alien culture' - was to whip up racist feel. ing. As the jobless total soars, the Tories hope to pin the anger and resentment on black immigrants as a convenient scape-goat.

FIGHT-BACK

It is in this context that socialists have to work out the best way of combatting this racist thrust that has been growing up over the years and which, at a time of mounting recession, can reach dangerous proportions.

It goes without saying that all socialists support 'no immigration controls': ie the right of all people to enter and leave this country freely. But does this demand serve - at this precise time - to combat the racist attack being mounted by the Thatcher government (with the connivance of Labour's right wing)?

On the contrary, far from challenging this racist attack head-on, it becomes an obstacle to uniting the labour movement against it.

ECONOMICS At the present time, there are thousands in the labour move.

Page 5 scan of this page

A Womans Right To Choose

June 80 ING

The NAC Conference - held in Leeds last month - should have been a cause for celebration. Main-

ly through its efforts, a mass campaign had been launched which had succeeded Inrowing

ich Way?

ment opposed to racist laws and ready to challenge the explicitly racist curbs in the 71 Act. The fact that the 1976 Labour Party conference called for its repeal -and 1e: 60 Labour MPs sup-

CARL demonstration last year is proor or this.

These forces, while opposed to racist immigration laws. do not

They would argue that, in a period of growing recession, it would be utopian to abandon all immigration controls. (Thus Benn, while supporting the CARL demonstration, is a firm advocate of import controls.)

These arguments are, of course, radically wrong and have to be challenged. But should we refuse to collaborate with these forces in the fight against racism simply because they do not share the same economic views as socialists on how to resolve the present economic crisis?

SECTARIAN

To ask the question is to answer it. Those forces who stand rigidly on the 'no immigration control position (like Workers Action) should ask themselves: Are they prepared to allow black people to go on being victimised until the Labour movement has been won to a simon-pure understanding of socialist economic strategy?

Such a position would hardly differ from those who consider the fight for women's rights as "unimportant'. They would argue that women - or black people. should passively wait until the labour movement has been won to a correct understanding of socialism and then - and only then -can a united fight be forged.

What such forces do not grasp is that the labour movement will never be won to a clear socialist perspective until it identifies with and supports the struggles of the doubly-oppressed against the discrimination and harassment meted out to them.

NO RETURN TO

BACK STREET

APARTIONS

REE / ABORTION

ON DEMAND

NOW

John Corrie's anti-abortion Bill into the dustbin, where it belonged.

The major discussion - after such a victory - should clearly have been how to carry forward the struggle by campaigning for a woman's right to choose.

OFF THE HOOK

The 'no immigration controls' argument. however. not only diverts the cueston away tror

ers vii the hook. Jim Callaghan and others - who operated the Tories' 1971 Act with vigour -would reject this argumen: on be acceptable to most of the Labour movement.

Calling on the Labour leaders to repeal all racist immigration laws, on the contrary, puts them firmly to the test. Do they or do they not believe that black people should be allowed into this country on the same basis as white people?

Such a stance not only challenges Thatcher's racist thrust head-on, but also puts the Labour leaders to a firm test by calling on them to break their 'unofficial" alliance with the Tories and lead a real anti-racist struggle.

PROCESS

There can be little doubt that the setting up of CARL - and the mass demonstration it launched last year - was a major step in this direction. By focussing its demand around repeal of the 1971 Act, it opposed full-square the Tory onslaught and opened up a serious debate inside the labour move-

This step has now to be built upon. Up and down the country the call for the repeal of the 1971 Act has to be raised in union and Labour Party branches. Local CARL groups, which are being set up, should be supported and forces mobilised for national actions.

Such a process can begin the task of winning the labour movement to o a clear anti-racist stance which will be key in the years ahead. The call for 'no immigration controls' will only set back this positive development and lead to the left posturing in splendid sectarian isolation.

AUTONOMY

conference

250 activists

be limited to them.

based campaign

widest possible support.

60,000 strong demonstration

the Corrie Bill.

support such mass action could have been mounted? And does

been stopped?

CLASS ISSUE

womens campaign

to the entire labour movement. sions in the labour movement.

Winning IlC support to: fight-back regards women's rights, are a disaster. This is no-where more true

launched on the welfare state.

are at stake here. As old-age

for elderly relatives? Women. As

it that will be expected to look

local councils

to stay at home to care for the young? Women.

SET BACK The net result of these cuts will be a severe set-back for women's rights. It will mean thousands, forced out of a job, becoming

single-parent families, it will mean living on a pittance doled out by the state.

Tne already schemes Wandsworth working mothers country either to find untrained baby-minders ( at a cost they cannot atford) or to leave their jobs to care for them.

RIGHTS This situation is inevitable in a society were ine responsıbillty I01 children still falls almost exclusively on the shoulders of the woman.

Unfortunately, the major debate at

which drew over was whether or not NAC should become an all-women's campaign. Several women, hostile to the labour movement, argued that abortion was a woman's issue and, as such, the campaign should

Such an argument, if accepted, would have condemned NAC to impotence in the years ahead. The very fact that NAC had been able women to defeat the Corrie Bill was precisely due to its ability - as a broad-

to draw in the

As many women argued, the mass

Page 6 scan of this page

When Will It Ha

page 6

Socialist Action

the need for a coherent strategy in fighting back.

take up the struggle against racism initiated by CARL. setting up isolated currents like the SCLV

Party, would begin to join it.

present, its columns for debate.

thousands of Labour supporters.

right-wing allies in the labour movement).

around the following demands:

programme for those already on the dole.

living to offset inflation.

that put profit before people. & labour movement. leaders.

London SE19.

SOCIALIST ACTION:

Editor: A.D.Scott.

supporters meet

On May 12th, the first national conference of Socialist Action supporters took place in London. Attended by comrades from Labour Party and Young Socialist branches from all over the country, it was a major opportunity to discuss out the major problems facing the labour movement and

The first session concentrated on the major attacks being launched on working people since the advent of power of the Tory government. In a lively discussion, many comrades spoke from their direct involvement in anti-Tory struggles, from building the anti-cuts movements, aiding the anti-Corrie or child-care campaigns to fighting to make the labour movement

The discussion revealed unanimous agreement that the only way the Labour Party could become meaningful in the period ahead was to turn outwards and begin to pioneer the struggles underway against the Tories. It was only in the course of getting involved in real struggles that a broad, class-struggle left-wing could begin to develop in the unions and the Party itself against the right-wing policies of the Callaghan leadership. Building such a left-wing, it was also stressed, could not be done by

- good though their policies were on a number of issues - but by trying to gain the maximum unity in action on given concrete issues (such as the anti-cuts fight). It was by united action on given issues that a lead could be given to thousands in direct anti-Tory struggle and that many, seeing the relevence of the Labour

Socialist Action -it was agreed - should generally reflect this orientation. While offering many good analytical articles, it was felt that it should come out more regularly and have a number of more punchy, concrete articles reflecting issues which Labour Party members and trade unionists are involved in. It was also suggested that it should open up, more than at

What We Stand For

Socialist Action sees as its central aim building, within the labour

movement, a class-struggle left-wing fighting for socialist policies

against those which lost Labour the last election and disillusioned

Such a left-wing should support not only policies in the interests

of working people but also their allies among the youth, Blacks,

women and oppressed national minorities. It is only by showing that

Labour champions the rights of all the oppressed and exploited that a

really united offensive can be organised against the Tories (and their

Socialist Action believes that a fighting left wing should be built * Hands off the unions! No curbs on the right to strike or picket! * For the 35-hour week! End unemployment by work-sharing (with no loss of pay) and introduce a mass public works * Oppose all wage curbs. For wage increases tied to the cost of

* Open the books of all companies claiming inability to pay a decent living wage or threatening redundancies. Nationalise those

* Tax the rich not the poor. No cuts in the social services - for social spending to be tied to increases in the cost of living. * For women's rights. For the right of all women to abortion on demand, free nurseries, equal pay and opportunity. Support NAC. * Fight racism. Repeal all racist immigration laws. Defend the right of Black people to organise as they see fit in the community

* For the right of all oppressed nations to determine their own own future - Get the troops out of Ireland now! * For a safe environment. End nuclear reactors and base an energy strategy on coal. Explore alternative energy resources.

Socialist Action supporters, while fighting for the above demands,

seek the widest possible unity of all forces in the labour movement

around concrete issues. They also seek to encourage the widest

democracy in the labour movement to allow all currents to argue for their point of view and for decisions to be mandatory on Labour If you would like to find out more about Socialist Action - or contribute to it - write to: Socialist Action, c/o 58 Auckland Road,

Ass. Ed.: Alan Wilkes.

Bus. Manager: Dave Macleod.

Typeset by Bread 'n Roses (TU) 01-485 4432.

Printed by Spider Web Offset (TU) 9 Rosemont Rd, NW3.

Last month, another chapter was added to the story of 'near misses' in the nuclear power industry. This time, it was the turn of the people of Cherbourg in Northern France to narrowly escape a 'melt down

An electrical fault, caused by a small fire, knocked out the plant's cooling system for about 12 hours. The plant was rapidly closed and, due to radiation leaks,

be weeks - if not months - before it could be opened again.

in time - and a melt-down had occurred - over 4,000 people would have been stricken by radiation sickness. An increase in cancer would have led to yet another 45,000 deaths over the next ten years

WARNING

During the danger period, when

Washington march, last

month, for a Non-Nuclear

tion in iran, the demonstra-

by many of those present

against this act of war.

a contingent of hundreds

from the Harrisherg. Penn-

negun mole lau a vcal azl

declared one banner.

at the end:

us. No-one died: but hear

this..

still counting".

IRAN

marchers came a group of

ia's United Mine Workers

chanting "Nuclear power,

They were joined by more

United Steelworkers.

Citizens Party, a newly-

dle class reformers, whose

representative at the end

the nuciear question and

Iran.

er, "that when Mr Carter

'greatest friend of demo-

clear power plants. And I

ian people had one major

thing in common:

ainst nuclear power".

Harrisburg, Cherbourg...

engineers announced that it would

If the fault hadn't been detected

25 000 MARCH

IN WASHINGTON

More than 25,000 joined the

World. Coming only a day after Carter's military provoca-

tion also registered a protest

The procession led off with

Three Mile Island disaster that

"We almost lost Pennsylvania'

Jane Lee, a Harrisberg dairy

farmer, explained in the rally

"No-one died at

Three Mile Island, they tell

GREEN LIGHT We had 13 hyperthy-

roid cases, eight crib deaths

and nine still-births and we're

Not far behind the Harrisberg

coal miners Irom rennsy val

hell no -why not union coal?'

than 40 protesters from the

Other contingents repre-

sented anti-nuclear coalitions

across the country. Signifi-

cant was the support of the

formed organisation of mid-

pointed out the link between

"I want to remind you",

pointed out Barry Common-

went to Iran three years ago

and proclaimed the Shah the

cracy", he sold him eight nu-

want to remind you that the

first act of the new regime

that overthrew the Shah wa

to stop those nuclear plants".

Commoner went on to de-

nounce the hypocrisy of the

Carter regime and point out

that the American and Iran

"We are

all for peace: we are all ag

no controls were operating, what did the authorities do? Did they evacuate the workers in the plant? Did they warn the local population of the dangers and try to evacuate them rapidly from the area? Like hell they did. They set up a strict wall of secrecy. They clearly decided that risking the lives of thousands was more important than giving political ammunition to the mass anti-nuclear movement in France which has been fighting tooth-and-nail to reverse the government's plans to build another 40 reactors

against the plans to cunt inen plant at Plogoff, in Brittany, only à few weeks earlier, obviously persuaded them that discretion was the better part of valour.

Have the near-accidents at Harrisberg or Cherbourg persuaded the Thatcher government to rethink its nuclear programme for Britain? Not on your life. Only last month, they announced the go-ahead of a 10-year expansion of these nuclear death-traps at a cost of over 1 billion pounds a year.

These plans have been given the green light despite the claim by the CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board) that it will be hard-pressed to meet its government-imposed cash limits this year.

Moreover, the financing of these potential time-bombs is being sought through massive cuts in health, education and housing. While Thatcher can find the money to build Harrisberg-type reactors all over the country, hospitals and schools are closing down through

"In case of emergency, repeat after me: Our father....

Socialist Action

BROTHERHOOD RAILWAY CARE

STOP NUCLEA

lack of funds.

REASON

The obvious question is - why is the government so intent on rushing into a nuclear programme whose threat to health and safety has become increasingly obvious over the years?

The answer is not too hard to find. Behind Thatcher stands a powerful industrial lobby intent on the massive profits to be had out of a nuclear programme. Arnold Weinstock's GEC, for ex-

Nuclear Corporation.

As instability in the Middle East - and massive increases in OPEC prices - make oil an increasingly unstable energy source, livest ments are more and more being poured into the nuclear industry. What do health and safety matter when profit is at stake?

REACTION

Unfortunately, far from challenging this gamble with death, both the previous Labour government and the TUC have given it their stamp of approval. It was, atter all, Energy Secretary Tony Benn who pioneered the nuclear energy programme and his TUC allies wh:? backed him up.

Apart from demanding that "safety precautions should be looked at more closely, the TUC has publically announced that it sees nuclear power as a major factor in promoting economic growth and providing extra jobs.

Such an attitude has a callous, almost ostrich-like disregard tor the safety of union members. The

NUCLEAR POWER

PLANT

Page 7 scan of this page

June 80

LUNGE O

technology for 'safe' nuclear power stations does not yet exist - as the numerous near-accidents to date have proved. As long as they continue to function. there will be continual threats of radiation leaks... nuclear waste... and, worst of all, 'meltdowns'.

JOBS

Nor only do nuclear reactors threater lives but they also -contrary to IliC logic- are a direct menace to jobs. One job in the Nuclear Energy industry costs at least £600,000 in investment, as compared to as little as £150,000 for a similar job in coa! or electricity

Not content with seeing thousands of jobs go to the wall, the TUC also seems to be prepared to sacrifice hard-fought for union rights as well (which is one of the reasons Thatcher is promoting nuclear plants so fervently). Workers employed in power stations can be denied all rights under the Health and Safety Acts.

Moreover, they can be denied the right of free speech - under the Official Secrets Act - and, most important of all, they can be denied the elementary right to strike. Wasn't it Tony Benn him-

ABOUT NUCLEAR POWER

This new pamphlet - written by

prominant socialist activist Fred

Halstead - presents clearly and

simply the central facts about

the dangers to health, safety &

life caused by nuclear radiation.

The main topics covered are:

* the cause of radiation;

* the specific dangers of each

kind of radiation;

* the specific dangers at each

stage of its production - from

mining to the disposal of waste

fuel:

*how nuclear power plants

work;

The energy industry is spend-

ing millions to make it seem

that nuclear power is shrowded

in complexities only 'experts'

can understand. It is a nuclear

smokescreen.

Halstead's pamphlet can cut

through that smokescreen.

Len Wagstaff (Vauxhall CLP)

pen Here?

self who threatened the Windscale workers, on strike in 1978, with court action?

' CAMPAIGN

Despite the short-sighted attitude of the TUC, however, there are signs that opposition is growing in the labour movement to the leaders' short-sighted views. The Yorkshire area of the NUM - led by Arthur Scargill - has come out ag ainst the nuclear strategy and offerred an alternative based on coal. Similar resolutions have been pioneered in other unions such as NALGO and ASTMS (which posed last year a sharp criticism of the TUC Energy Report).

Such opposition has to be coordinated and carried into the labour movement against those who proclaim that there is no alternative to nuclear power. Nuclear power, it must be stressed, is a threat to life, jobs and democratic rights.

There is easily enough coal to provide the basis for energy needs for hundreds of years ahead, during which time research could be developed into alternative sources such as solar power.

MASS ACTION

It is not enough, however, merely to pass resolutions through union and Labour Party branches against Thatcher's attempt to tur Britain into a mudlea: timebums. What is needed is a mass

campaign on the streets.

Last year, Arthur Scargill helped sponsor a mass conference of anti-nuclear activists in London as a beginning of such a campaign. Trade union and Labour Party branches should be urged to affiliate to the campaign - or its local groups - and to take an active part

in building mass action on the streets.

Nuclear power is not just the

concern of environmentalists. It is the concern of all working

people and it is working people

who should take the lead in de-

manding:

NO NUCLEAR POWER! FOR A SAFE ENERGY STRATEGY BASED ON COAL

WHAT WORKERS SHOULD KNOW

Available from: Socialist Action,

c/o 58, Auckland Rd, London,

SE 19.

N0 EXIT

PADIATION

the Cuban revolution, Washington

the plight of the several thousand Cubans at the Peruvian Embassy in Havana.

clamouring to escape Cuba for the

the almost 10,000 freedom-loving Cubans", declared Carter late last April

But what are the facts? Is Washingten genuinely contemed with these would-be emigres or, on the contrary, are they being used merely as a pawn to discredit the Cuban revelurior?

LIMITS

Cuba who do want to get out and

cannot be placed, however, at the door of the Cuban leaders who

- have freely allowed those who want to leave to do so.

provided them with food, water, toilets and medical supplies. It has

Embassy without hindrance.

get out of Cuba is because - quite

not willing to take them! QUOTAS

that: "The USA and Spain are the

from Cuba, which has granted far more exit permits than there are opportunities to leave"

Clear Alliance.

Party, la bour movement.

Workers

power.

As part of its smear campaign against and criminal actions are then praised

has gone out of its way to 'dramatise' from the jaws of communism!

AIM

They have been portrayed in the Western press as victims of political persecution by a 'totalitarian' regime, clear. They are not really concerned

'free world'. "Our heart goes out to

Cuban leaders.

important a

Cuban revolution.

It is true that there are people in

who can't. The responsibility for this

the "free world'. from the beginning of the revolution EXAMPLE

The Cuban government has told the people at the Peruvian Embassy that they are free to go to whatever country will take them. They have

offered them safe-conduct passes so they can travel back and forth to the refugees'

The reason why these people can't and other governments

simply - capitalist governments are

Writing in the New York Times last month, Jo Thomas pointed out

only countries accepting immigrants

compound"

VIOLENCE

The 'lack of opportunities to leave is a polite way of saying that the USA and Spain severely limit the number of visas they will allow. To date, for example, the Carter government has only been willing to allow 3,500 Cubans into the United States.

This means that thousands of Cubans who want to leave have no way out unless they hijack boats -often taking the crews hostage - and to continue guarding the Embassy as force their way past the US Immigration authorities. These dangerous

WELSH ANTI-NUCLEAR CAMPAIGN

Last April, over 200 activists gathered at a rally in Cardiff

to launch the Welsh Anti-Nuc-

Present were representatives from anti-

nuclear groups, the Ecology

Plaid Cymru and the

Discussion centred on government plans to site

nuclear plants in North Wales.

These plans would not - it

was argued - bring jobs to

unemployment black spots

but actually replace workers

in labour intensive industries.

Ernie Roberts (Vice Presid-

ent of Plaid Cymru) actually

quoted government docum• tracks.

ents to show how nuclear

plants were to be used as a

weapon to erode the militant-

cv of strong unions such as

the miners or electricity

Other speakers concentrated on the dangers of nuclear

Jonathon Porrit

Anti-CubaCampaign

by Washington as "heroic escapes'

The reason why, of course, Washington imposes these quotas is

with helping the "freedom-loving' Cubans but with manipulating the issue of Cuban immigration as a propaganda tool to discredit the

This has bedeme particulen

tionary ferment throughout the area - from Nicaragua to El Salvador -when working people are looking

By holding down entry quotas -thus forcing desperate acts on the part of Cuban dissidents - they can portray Cuba as some sort of 'island prison' denying its citizens access to

The way Washington has used the incidents at the Peruvian Embassy is the clearest example of this. Cuba, Peru and other Latin American governments have an accord under which their respective embassies may grant asylum and safe conduct to those they consider 'political

In recent months, the Peruvian

- no doubt inspired by Washington have made it known that those who entered their embassies by force would, by virtue of that tact, be accepted as political refugees.

As an Agence-France press report recently stated, as regards the Colombian government: "(it) will only accept those would-be refugees who crash their way into its

Clearly, such a move was designed to incite violence among Cuban dissidents and paint the Cuban leaders as a repressive force. They were not disappointed. On April Ist, six Cubans stole a bus and crashed it through the gates of the Peruvian Embassy, killing a guard in the process.

The Cuban government's refusal

a result - and their call on anyone wishing to leave Cuba to report to

page 7

(Chairperson of the Ecology Party) stressed that there was 'no such thing as the peaceful use of the atom', Rogers, Euro-MP for South Wales, Backed him up by ask. ing: "If nuclear power stations are so clean, why build them away from large urban centres - why not build them in Battersee, Whitehall or the gardens of Buckingham Palace"

Rogers went on to call for a mass campaign of civil disobedience - similar to those that have arisen on the continent -as the onlv wav to stop the governments programme in its

The meeting eventually passed a motion opposing nuclear power stations in Wales - and we came duced waste - and set up a delegate conf erence for June to decide upon the structure of an ongoing

by Alan Wilkes the Embassy compound - drew thousands more there

Despite the fact that the Cuban government was clearly willing to help all those wishing to leave the island, the Western press turned the event round to create the opposit: effect. The descending of thousar: :: on the Peruvian Embass! was ra: as an attempt by 'freedom-loving Cubans to escape trom the laws a totalitarian regime.

FOR

NOT

NO MOKE

TAX PAYER:

MONEY

FOR CUBA!

RESPONSE

The fact that about 10,000 anti

socialist forces have descended on

the Peruvian and other embassies ir

Havana has had little effect on the

mass of Cuban workers.

In response to the lies and dis-

tortions whipped up in the Western

press, they have mobilised in their

millions to defend the Cuban goverr-

ment and the revolution. They

realise that the real problem is not

one of a repressive government hold

ing people in Cuba against their will

but one of capitalist governments

keeping people out.

They are only too willing for

those who do not support the aims

of the revolution to leave. Because. • contrary to the smear campaign

whipped up by Washington and its

allies, they know only too well that.

as Castro explained earlier, "The

struggle for socialism is voluntary;

that was and is our view".

Pete Marais

Page 8 scan of this page

page 8

LEANE

SCHOOLS

ALONE

The Tory government is launching a vicious attack on education. Last July, both Westminster and Wandsworth councils requested that control of local education be placed in their hands. Under this impetus, the government set up the Baker Report which recommended that ILEA be broken up.

Labour-controlled ILEA was accused of being 'unaccountable" (would they say the same about the police), having consistently bad exam results and of overspending. This frame-up of Britain's most progressive educatlonal authoritv was obviousiy motivated by Tory aims to ram

Breaking up ILEA, the Tories

When Wandsworth council

asked to withdraw from ILEA

last year, without consulting

parents. teachers or governing

bodies, the response was swift.

Beginning in September, par-

ents held protest meetings in

school after school in the

borough.

By January, the Secretary

of State had received 116

"representations' (of which

only 3 supported the Wands-

worth 'go it alone' policy).

Wandsworth council, for ob-

vious reasons, has refused to

comment on how many let-

ters it has received from par-

ents denouncing their 'break-

up' decision.

When the Baker Committee

began to make its report-back

in February this year, how-

ever, it became clear to

Wandsworth parents that the

council's move was merely

the first step in a well co-ord-

inated Tory attack on ILEA.

FACTS?

During March, therefore, we

continued our campaign by

petitioning across the bor-

ough and the collection of

ignatures 1s still going on

15,000 copies of a leafler

were distributed and street

meetings regularly held.

The support gained from

Hands Off ILEA!

no doubt thought, would throw education back into the local boroughs and force the poorer ones - like Lambeth or Newham - to make savage cuts in teacher employment and educational provisions.

As Haringay councillor Steven Corbyn pointed out, it would mean "...a severe curtailment of educational opportunities and an enormous job loss for teacher and manual workers"

THREAT

The Baker Report, however, was so clearly biased that it even em-

were so obviously distorted that

WANDSWORTH PARENTS FIGHT BACK

these activities was enormous.

since the attack launched on ILEA by local Tory councilLOTS - and their supporters on the Baker committee - were

ginning to the end.

They were merely an excuse for trying to break up the comprehensive system and ram home a series of cuts which is easier on a borough by borough basis

CRITICISM?

The criticisms levelled against ILEA by the Baker Report

Lac o democrauc au countability? But isn't it a fact that the 35 GLC councillors are the only directly-elected members of an Education Committee anywhere in England? * Lack of financial accountabilly. but Isn l l equally a fact that if ILEA is to be indicted, so can local county councils and the police as well? * High costs? It is true thai ILEA does spend more per pupil than the national average. But isn't it a fact that it is responsible for a greater number of Higher Education Institutions and 88 special schools for the handicapped?

SOCIALIST ACTION PUBŁIC FORUM Which Way for the YS?

Speakers: George Hold (Peckham YS) Graham Weight (Peckham YS)

they were rapidly shot down.

While making a tactical retreat, however, the Tories have not given up their hopes of demolishing ILEA. Only, recently, they set up a study group of ministers, headed by Lady Young (Education Minister) to present a second report, ready for September or October this year. Its aim is clearly to produce more 'credible' reasons for disbanding the authority, or least 're-structuring' it.

REACTION

The Tory attack is meeting, however, a growing response within London's labour movement. The London Labour Party recently called on CLPs to oppose the break-up and many of the lattersuch as Streatham - are holding public meetings to whip up support on this issue.

The South East Region of the TUC has become involved and is Sally Burrows (NUT) helping to co-ordinate a campaign by local unions and Labour Party branches against the Tory plans. In Wandsworth - where the Tory council is pushing hard to get out of ILEA - à strong and active parents' organisation has already swung into action. holding meetings and demonstration. Clearly, what is necessary in the coming months is to co-ordinate a massive and de Tories to save ILEA. This means getting resolutions through local unions and Labour parties, holding public meetings and calling for demonstrations which can involve everyone who will be affected by the Tory plans: teachers, parents and school students. Cuntact 13-15 Stockwell Rd, SW9.

by Sally Bowdrey (WASP & Streatham CLP)

And isn't it also a fact that

it has a legal obligation to

pay teachers London Weight-

ing?

* Low achievement? Poor exam results was a central trust of the report. But, as for exams, isn't it a fact that the

figures used in the Report are

generally acknowledged as

sults in ILEA are no worse

than anywhere else in the country?

OFFENSIVE

The Times Educational Sup-

plement - hardiy a radical journal - was forced to sum up

the Baker Report as a 'hasty and unbelievably superficial

document'. Wandsworth par-

ents obviously share this view

as can be seen ov their deter.

mined effort to resist any

Tory attempts to break up

ILEA

Although the Baker Report

seems to have heen shelved

more recently, the fact that another committee has been

set up under Lady Young to

continue investigation into

ILEA clearly means that the

Tory conspiracy is not yet over

If it is to be stopped, this

will mean extending the 'Save

ILEA' campaign we launched

in Wandsworth into other bor-

oughs and showing the Tory

government that parents have

no intention of seeing the

clock turned back on the ed-

ucation of their children.

in Llandudno.

real challenge. young workers?

SIDELINES

Toric.

"battles to come...

ening silence.

concerns of youth. ''Detend ILEA" : o and that exam re-

issues and struggles.

EXAMPLES

Blacks oppression.

For a Mass

Fighting YS

Last April, over 2000 Young Soc ialists - representing 260 branches - turned up to the annual Labour Party Young Socialists Conference.

The Conference was faced with a

How could it relate to the thousands of young people drawn into political activity over the past years on issues as wide as abortion rights to unemployment?

How could it draw these layers into the YS, turning it into a mass socialist youth organisation with roots among college and school students, the unemployed and

The fact is - it didn't even try. Of course, there was a lot of rhet-

Delegate after delegate got up to denounce the Tories in ringing terms and speak of the major

But when it came to practical proposals - particularly relating to young people - there was a deaf-

No lead whatsoever was given to the thousands who turned up on how to build their local branches by relating to the O: MARCH FOR A

NICI FAR-FREE

SURE •

For older YS members of course, there is nothing new in this. It merely reflects the sad state of the YS - dominated by the Militant tendency - which prefers preaching socialism abstractly from the sidelines to getting involved in real

Alf.

This could be seen most clearly in the 'debates' thet took place on the questions of women's and

The Militant dominated majority had absolutely nothing to say about the mass anti-Corrie or CARL demonstrations -which drew thousands of young people into action - for the simple reason that they had opposed them! ome.

They opposed them - and the independant organisation of women

Socialist Action READ

INTERCONTINENTAL PRESS

Intercontinental Press

Somoza at Bas as People Rise in Nicaragua

Workers Upsurge in Tunisia

or Blacks inside the labour move. ment - because they see such moves as 'splitting the working class. Such an attitude not only cuts the YS off from thousands involved in anti-Tory struggle but can lead to dangerous attitudes.

When Anne Twentyman, from Moss Side YS, moved a motion supporting women's self-organisation, she was jeered at and wolf -whistled by Millitant supporters Such sexist attitudes fit in with their Plunder Women' poster (which shows Margaret Thatcher as an obese bikini-clad Wonder Women).

'DEBATE'

It is clear that, for Militant, the YS does not exist as a campaigning organisation seeking to get involved

merely a passive organisation in which they can preach from the side-lines.

In order to make sure that reality does not penetrate the YS, they have now reached the extent of almost eliminating debate. Conference meetings have virtually been transformed into Militant rallies from which 'real' issues - from the growing anti-nuclear movement to the struggle in N.Ireland - are carefully excluded.

The fact that 50 out of the 260 branches supported a resolution calling for greater democracy in the YS is an indication of how frustrating and demoralising Militant's strangle hold is.

BREAK-THROUGH

It is clear that if the YS is ever to get out of the ghetto into which Militant has dragged it then a fighting policy is needed. As a Socialist Action leaflet distributed at the Landudno Conference put it: "It's no use talking about leading a campaign against the Tories by itse-

What we need todo is draw up a series of campaigns that can draw thousands of young people concretely into anti-Tory action".

On June 18th, Socialist Action supporters art holding a public meeting in South London to discuss exactly how the YS can begin to move boldly out and overcome its stagnation. Speakers will include prominant YS members George Hold and Graham Weight. members - and adults - are welc-

Graham Weight (Peckham YS)

Page 9 scan of this page

AFGHANISTAN: The truth!

-Education for Socialists: MARXISM AND FEMINISM-

June 80 Five months ago, thousands of Soviet soldiers moved across Russia's southern border into Afghanistan. Afghanistan was thrust to the center of world politics.

Carter claimed that the Soviet intervention threatened peace. The capitalist media poured out stories about mass murders by Soviet troops - accepting the most outlandish assertions of the ultrarightist guerrillas. labeled "Russia's Vietnam"

The Afghan events and the responses of the U.S. government pose many questions for working people. What is happening in Afghanistan? Why are Soviet troops there? What is Soviet foreign policy? Is the Soviet Union or U.S. big business the cause of the war danger?

The Truth About Afghanistan by Doug Jenness (Pathfinder Press. S.95) is a pamphlet that answers these and other questions.

REVOLUTION

In April 1978, he explains, a revolution began in Afghanistan. A dictatorship backed by landlords, capitalists, and the neighbouring shah of Iran, was toppled. The new government began to institude desperately needed reforms.

Hundreds of thousands of peasants got land. Women and national minorities were granted more rights. Trade unions were legalized. A literacy drive was launched. care and sanitation began to be extended to the countryside.

The landlords, usurers, and dope peddlers who had profited from the old order organized armed bands

The Truth About AFGHANISTAN

—Doug Jenness-

What is the relation between

marxism and feminism? What

role have marxists played - and

can they play - in the fight for

women's liberation!

These questions have been at

Ine ool old maor ceDale n

the women's movement over

the past decade. Many women,

rignt v relecting the down-

playing' of women's rights in

the labour movement and the

'left', have come to question

whether marxism has anything

to offer at all.

Beyond the Fragments -

written by Hilary Wainwright

and Sheila Rowbottom - is a

case in point. The authors

adopt the sterile position of

counterposing the women's

movement to the marxist

tradition which - they assert

- has historically undervalued

the struggle for women's lib-

Callull.

BREAK-THROUGH

Nothing could be further

from the truth.

Dynamics of Women's Liber-

- a pamphlet written by

Socialist Action supporter

sabina koberts - nerps rerule

such myths. 'Marxism", she

the counterrevolutionaries.

world

survival.

Afghanistan was

came in.

Why? explaines Jenness.

the imperialism.

Health

investments

from

develop? • What have been its achievements?

intervened?

Union?

determination? • Are we moving toward war? and oppression" rise on cass society.

family unit;

Her, socialist, revolution.

TRADITION

Revolutionary

to try to reverse these gains. Washington, which feared the impact of such changes on other countries in the region, helped finance and train

In the closing months of 1979, it appeared that the rightists were making some headway. With greatly increased outside help, they hoped to soon threaten the government's

That's when the Soviet troops

COLLABORATION ?

"It (the Soviet government) feared the victory of the counterrevolution and the establishment of a hostile US backed beachhead along the thousand-mile border between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan,

The Soviet Union's aid to Afghanistan stems ultimately from the fact that it is a workers state. But it is governed by a privileged bureaucratic caste that extracts privileges

progressive planned economy established as a consequence of the Russian revolution.

The basic goal of the Soviet rulers is to make deals with Washington and the other imperialist powers. They fear revolutions in other countries as a threat to the pros pect of peaceful collaboration with

But such collaboration is impossible in the long run because US big business relentlessly pushes for more markets for goods and

for more protits.

This drive toward world domina-

Pathfinder

• Han do the A ghan rero ution

• Who are the "Muslim rebels"? • How has the U.S. government

• What is the role of the Soviet

• What about the right of self-

explains, "far from ignoring

the oppression of women,

has always viewed it as cent-

ral in the fight against a soc-

ial system based on injustice

The first part of the pamph-

let explains the significance of

Engels' analysis of women's

oppression. Limited it might

be, she argues, but it was an

historic break-through in that

* showed that women's opp-

ression was not natural - or

rooted in any inherent infer-

iority - but grew out of the

* explained how the oppress-

ion of women has been cont-

inued through her role in the

* showed that the fight for

women's liberation can only

come about as part of a wid-

Sabina Roberts argues that

marxısm has not only provided

the women s movement witn

its most important theoretical

tools but - equally important

- a tradition for fighting for

women's rights from the First

tion means that Washington must seek to undermine and destroy the Soviet workers state.

UNION

Jenness compares the Kremlin's response to that of a union bureaucrat forced to oppose a union-busting drive:

"When the Kremlin sent Soviet troops into Afghanistan, it did not do so out of revolutionary motives. but as a detensive measure. It sam the US and Pakistani-backed guerrillas as a threat to the Soviet workers state. which is their base of

Butlike the case oi union bureaucrat taking action to defend the union, the Soviet action coincided with the interests of the Afghan workers and peasants in putting down the counterrevolution".

Jenness points out the fallacy of the portrayal of Afghanistan as Russia's Vietnam: "The fact is that the Soviet troops intervened in Afghanistan on the side of the forces fighting for the interests of the workers and peasants, who are

International to the present.

As evidence, she cites the

mass, independent women's

movement created in the pre-

World War 1 years by activists

in the German Social-Democ-

ratic Party.

She goes on to describe the

big impetus to women's rights

given by the Second Internat-

ional calling, throughout

Europe, tor demonstrations

in favour of universal female

suffrage. It was these demon-

strations, she adds, which

created the tradition of Int-

ernational Woman's Day.

SOVIET UNION

Most important of all, she

shows the major step forward

in women's rights achieved by

the Bolshevik revolution in

Russia in 1917: the introduct-

ion of equal pay, the right to

child-care, abortion, divorce,

and socialised laundries and

canteens

This part of the pamphlet

should prove particularly int-

eresting to those feminists

who - often through lack of

information - see in the marx-

ist tradition something allen

to the aspirations of the pres.

the big majority, and against the reactionary ruling classes, who represent the interests of a minority In Vietnam, on the other hand, Washington intervened on the side of landlords, capitalists, and other privileged rich, while the bulk of the population supported the fighters of the Front"

THREAT

The real threat of war stems trond big business and its government in Washington: "Today, clashes are toiling masses to take conval of iriel innies anü resources anal from the masters.

"In response to these struggles." Jenness explains, ment has intervened time and again in colonial and counties to protect the investments of the American ruling rich. The US. ruling class has used every means at its disposal military intervention to economic pressure to blockades, CIA plots. and arms sales"

"A victory for the counterre-

ent women's movement.

They confuse - the author

would stress - marxism with its opposite,

turned the clock back on

women's rights as it did on

those of all other oppressed

layers.

was carried on by Trotsky

who saw regaining women's

rights as a central task of de-

fending the gains of the rev-

olution.

COUNTERPOSED

That tradition - the author

stresses - continues today.

Socialist Action supporters

have advocated the building

ol a mass maependent won-

ens' movement fighting for

its rights.

They have been active in the

fight for abortion rights, for

child-care and equal pay. AS

the author points out:

women, we will refuse to put

aside, or downplay, our fight

for anyone and we are rightly

suspicious of anyone who

tells us to do so

But, she says, being a femin-

be a marxist also, as Beyond

trick? yUl, zevolulos....

TRUTH National Liberation

Never extended

the big .. struggles by the

Bas United States

tions in Asia, "The US govern-

semicolonial austerity people.

from

Osborne Hart

Stalinism, that

The marxist tradition

page 9

Seller of

the Month

Last month's 'Seller of the Month' award goes to Graham

Weight (Peckham YS) who

distributed over 100 copies of

Socialist Action. Graham's

'I'm a brilliant salesperson!

No, seriously, one of the

things Socialist Action

supporters in Peckham have

learned is always to keep a

few copies of the paper with

It's not just a question of

selling on a demonstration.

You're always meeting new

people - in your union or

on your estate - who are

beginning to get interested

in socialist ideas. You'd be

surprised how many you

can sell that way'.

volution in Afghanistan", he concludes, "would embolden the imperialists to try to defeat the struggle of the masses in Nicaragua. Grenada, Kampuchea, Iran. and other countries in the midst of

'The Soviet Union, on the other hand", writes Jenness, "has played a different role in relation to the colonial countries. It does not have an economic system which demand foreign investments. It has no bie corporations - like Exxon - wit: profits to protect. The coloni revolution does not threaten: the same way as it does in the L's In some cases. the Soviet l:

had a detensive characiet not been the cause of war. The threat of war. including

To counter the spread of revolu-

, Africa, and Latin America, the US rulers are increasing military spending, trying to reinstitute the draft, and imposing

on American working The lies and distortions about Afghanistan are sucker bait aimed at persuading us to go along

The Truth About Afghanistan answers the lies with the facts. It is well worth reading

Evelyn Reed

WOMAN'S

EVOLUTION

from matriarchal Clan lo patriarchal lamily

the Fragments supporters

believe. On the contrary, it

allows one to be more effect-

ive as a feminist since one

has a clear perspective of how

to fight for women's rights.

by Sylvia Brookes (ASTMS)

Page 10 scan of this page

page 10 ol ounterl Steelworkers from Caldicot picketing in Bristol

The longest national strike since the war ended last month. The final deal - a 16% increase coupled with productivity strings and job loss - - was a clear sell-out of rank-and-file steelworkers by the union senten.

There was nothing unexpected about this. Sirs and other ISTC leaders had, throughout the 3 months' stoppage, sought to find a compromise with management at every turn. They delayed the entry of the private stee!workers (producing over 26% of total output) and opposed the flying pickets set up c chiefly by the South Yorkshire Strike Committee. Finally, over-riding militant protests to continue the strike, Sirs accepted the 16% increase to be paid for by 12.000 of his memers Jobs.

Despite the union leaders sell-out, however, in no way could the outcome of the strike be seen as a Tury victory. On the contrary the government was quite unable to břeak rank-and-filé resistance and was forced to settie on terms hardly conducive to its long-terin dillis

Despite Joseph's threats, the original 2% offer was gradually raised to just over 16%..

Most important of all, the steelworkers strike has clearly raised the temperature of the class struggle. Rank-and -file workers were not, at the end of the day, demoralised but hardened in their anti-Tory hatred and this spirit has communicated itself to wide layers of the labour movement.

TEST CASE

There can be little doubt that this is exactly what the Tories wanted to avoid. Originally, the steelworkers were chosen for a confrontation because Joseph was convinced that they would offer little opposition to their rationalisation plans - massive redundancies, 'productivity" proposals and low wages.

After all , the union had shown their weak-kneed attitude in the past, agreeing to plant closures and erosion of working conditions that had already led to drastic cuts in the workforce. Where better - the Tories calculated. than in steel to implement their

and sympathisers can donate to it.

- please send cheques or postal orders to:

STEEL: THE LESSON S an)

strategy of making workers pay for the crisis?

Fearful of taking on the 'core' unions such as British Oxygen workers or the miners - who had already brought down a previous Tory government - they no doubt hoped to use the defeat in steel to demoralise stronger sectors of the labour movement in the next wage round.

CAMPAIGN

To this end, a campaign of hatred was whipped up against the steelworkers. 'hreats of ever-more re dundancies were designed to split the workforce and draw 'weaker' layers back to work. Pickets were denounced in the press as 'union ni-nov uC olcc WCiC iven the green light to intimidate the militants and cart them off to the courts

..m... .....m= Tory offensive, however, strike remained 100% solid. No sector of British Steel workers crumbled even though those from plants such as Corby or Shotton -which were facing almost immediate shutdown - seemed to have little to gain from strike action.

Moreover, the massive flying picket operation that was mounted within days of the strike being called grew more intensive. Towards the end of the strike -despite Sirs' opposition - docks railways, steel stockholders and

rivate industry were seriousl!

eginning to teel the pinch

SOLDARITY

Most important of all, as the strike began to develop, it drew behind it the support of a wide layer of the trade union movement who clearly of strength with the Tory government.

Railway workers refused to transport steel and dockers to handle it. Thousands of miners -South Wales and South Yorkshire - formed mass pickets at the pri-

vate steel corporations (as at

Sheerness and Hadfields).

What was even more significant, solidarity actions - such as that

called by the South Wales TUC. brought out hundreds of thousands of workers in a one-day

general strike. Fearful of the im-

pact of steel plant closures on the

region, the one day strike showed fund drive SOCIALIST ACTION, unlike the bourgeois press, has no vast funds to promote it. It relies purely on sales and on what readers

If you would like to make a donation-however small, it all helps

SA Fund Drive, c/o 58 Auckland Road, London SE19.

the tendency implicit in the battle to broaden out into a general confrontation with the Tories. The threatened national dock strike a month later contirms this trend.

It also falls on the shoulders of the TUC who could have won the strike any time they wished to. Far from backing the call by the South Wales TUČ for an indefin tsTCoppeTu internned de erately to undermine it.

SURPRISE There can be no doubt that the Tories were taken completely by surprise by the determination of the steelworkers and the growing momentum among wide layers to turn it into a general confrontation with the government. The situa tion loued set for a repeat of the 1974 miners' strike which led to the removal of the Heath government.

What saved the Tories was the intervention of the trade-union leaders. At every stage of the struggle, they sought to undermine its effects and prevent it spreading to other layers. Responsibility falls not only on the shoulders of the ISTC leaders who opposed flying pickets or who -for over a month - refused to call out the private steelworkers.

RADICAL

While the intervention by the union leaders may have got the government off the hook, it certainly hasn't helped them in their long-terin aims. not manage - as they had hoped -to use the defeat of the steel workers as a "precedent for other

the - seeing the Tories firmness - will Wine hicaa: no doubt be cautious in the coming period, stronger sections such as the miners will hardly have been intimidated.

Moreover, the union leaders temselves have come in for a severe criticism by the rank-and-file whose experience in the strike has revealed the limitations of the bureaucrats' perspective. When Sirs announced the deal, the ISTC centre was surrounded by militants denouncing the sell-out and demanding a continuation of the strike.

CLASS STRUGGLE

It was these workers who throughout the strike, had taken the lead in organising rank-and-file resistance and winning over broad layers in solidarity. It was saw it as a trial they who had set up the unofficial

strike committees - such as that ir

South Yorkshire - which had or

Shey d ho had fought tonsrganises. the flying pickets.

More important still, it was

they who had fought to turn the

strike from one merely around

wages into one against redundan-

cies as well. It was they who had

mounted the call 'No Redundan-

cies! For 20% index-linked!'

Whìch began to catch on among

the rank-and-file.

militants who

nationally and begin to fight for

a clear class-struggle alternative

to the vacillations and sell-outs of

the ISTC leaders. For, it there was

one lesson to learn from the steel

strike, it was that living standards

and jobs will not he defended ag-

ainst Tory attacks by the present

mis-leaders.

Only a serious alternative to

them, rooted in the rank-and-file

will be able to offer policies - and

a fighting spirit to impose theso

policies - which can defeat the

ruling class assault.

(Croyden CLP)

Koolnson s cast

TUC intervened delib SACKED

The reasons given?

This local union.

have been disciplined.

The Tories did

F.REU.. "! under pressure.

cold feet.

cuts. dropped.

who had fought to organise FIGHT-BACK

Council's stance.

In the coming period, it is these

need to organise

own support.

more stringent?

cuts?

NO VICTIMISATIONS !

Last February, Dereck Robinson was sacked from British Leyland for daring to oppose management's decisions. It was a clear case of victimisation of an active trade unionist for political reasons.

, it would seem. is not unique. His treatment has set a precedent for managements elsewhere to 'get rid of' active trade unionists. Latest in line are Brixton DOE members of the CPSA who are currently being singled out and ictimised.

Phil Cordell was the first affected. Cordell. secretary of the South London CPSA branch for DOE workers, was sacked on April 30.

that on April 11, he attended a lobby of the CPSA National Executive, following a mandate from

No other union members from other DOE offices

* that on May 1, he signed an ANL advert in the South London Press (in line with union policy which sponsors the ANL both locally and nationally). Other civil servants signed the advert but only Brixton members were disciplined with warning letters

* that he attended the TUC lobby of Parliament against the Corrie anti-abortion Bill. Again, many CPSA members in other areas did so although only members in Brixton were disciplined.

LAMBETH LABOURLEFT

ORGANISE

Last year, when the Tories announced their swingeing cuts in the rate support grant, the reaction of Lambeth Labour Party was sharn

..: elected to improve and not cut såtvices, they forced Council leader Ted Knight into launching a mass campaign against the government.

It was clear, however, that the Council only launched the action

As the time approached for them to draw up their 1980-81 budget, they began to get

Worried that they might become isolated and a number one target for Hesaltine, the y issued a document arguing that rate increases were the only way to uffset ands.

In the event, a massive 49.9% rate increase was accepted together with rent increases of €1.50 a week for council tenants and a cut in 'uncommitted growth items'. All semblance of a campaign was

The Council's retreat, however, has not been accepted without opposition. Last month, at a public meeting in Lambeth, many local supporters of a no cuts/no rate increases position met together to work out a fight-back against the

However the Council poses it, Lambeth Labour Left agreed, these increases will only pass onto Labour supporters the burden of the present crisis and undermine their

Moreover, it was argued, if Lambeth is already prepared to back down. what will it do in future years when the Tory cuts become

Will it be forced to escalate rents and rates still further - at the same time as imposing

Socialist Action Phil Corddell

RESPONSE

When news of Cordell's sacking broke, the outrage was such that there was a one-day walk-out at the Brixton DOE. Since then, the CPSA has authorised a two-day official strike (with pay) and pressure is mounting for further action. Cordell, however, is only the first to receive this treatment. The fact that two other branch officers are likely to be dismissed, for breaches in discipline, shows that a concerted attack is underway on the de moratic rights of union members and their organisation. It is clear that examples like that of Phil Cordel! will multiply if the Prior antı-union Bill goes through later this year. This is wny support must de bunl up locally for Cordell's reinstatement and nationally to stop that Bill becoming law

Phil Edwardes Lambeth Labour leader Tri mighr. STAND

Far better, it was agreed, for Lambeth to make a stand now while it still had the support of local residents than in a few years time when its politics of retreat have alienated and demoralised thous.

At the same time as projecting a fighting alternative, however, the meeting recognised that it was vital not to begin the struggle in isolation That is why it was decided that one of its central thrusts should be org. anising an all-London meeting in June to bring together all the forces standing on a no cuts/no rate increase position.

CAMPAIGN

Such a campaign can only be built, however, by concentrating not on persuading local councillors of the 'error' of their ways but by turn turning outwards and bulding sup.

port in the public sector unions and

tenants associations for fighting

policies.

It is by involving wide layers in a

clear no cuts/no rate increases cam-

paign - in the local areas and on an

all-London basis - that the forces

can be mobilised to give Labour

Councils the backing needed to

defy the Tory government and its

savage cuts.

The next meeting of Lambeth

Labour Left is in the Lambeth

Town Hall at 8.00pm on Friday

June 27th.

Bob Swart (Streatham CLP)

Page 11 scan of this page

June 80

Karl Davis Little is known about the Arabs who seized the Iranian Embassy in London last month. They claimed to be using the incident to oppose the Iran government's oppression of the Arab region of Khuzestan.

Allowing for the fact that this was true, their action could in no way have helped the Arab people win support for their justified struggle. On the contrary, it merely played into the hands of the Thatcher government who has used the incident to whip up nationalist hysteria.

Benn calls for

DEMOCRACY

'At a lunch-time rally held on

May 31, day of the special Labour Party conference, Tony Benn called for extending stillfurther the

democrac relors m une party.

While supporting the changes already aired at last year's conterence, Benn added two additional points. The main one was to call

the Parliamentary Labour Party to be more accountable by having it pledge to abide by party policy decided at conference.

This major new step to be welcomed by all Labour activists fed up to the teeth with seeing Labour governments walking roughshod over conference decisions was elaborated on Benn betorehand in a broadsheet bilise for Labour Democracy'.

Labour candidate should be obliged to sign a form promising support for the manifesto and that the PLP be called on to give annual reports of cuts actions to conference.

The grouping backing the broadsheet Rank and File

Mobilising Committee intends holding a series of meetings to rally support for this key demand up and down the country. We should all make sure they get it.

Criminals or Victims?

PROUD "It made us all proud to be British" said Thatcher following the raid of crack SAS thugs on the Embassy on May 6th. "I think we had best consider how we can turn this superb operation to the best advantage of the American hostages"

This 'superb operation' resulted in the death of 5 Arabs and injuries to two of the hostages - was carefully planned. The government had, of course, declared that they wanted to settle the matter 'peacefully'. Facts show that this was a fraud.

PUBLICITY

The London police cheif John A. Dellow, in charge of the negotiations with the Arabs, told a news conference on May 6th that the occupiers had dropped their original demands. "I think", he pointed out, "that after making a certain amount of publicity for their cause, they just wanted to leave safely". But the British authorities had 'given no consideration at all to this'.

EXAMPLE Why not? Because the government saw a perfect example in the occupation to drum up anti-Iranian hysteria and 'back' Carter's military raid in Iran a month or so earlier to

Phil Dent(GMWU)

Over the past 10-20 years, the pottery industry has seen a steady advance in production techniques. This has resulted in a gradual decrease in the numbers employed in this traditionally labour-intensive industry Since the advent of the Tories, however, reaucuon has begun lo lurt. more into a gallop. interest rates, overseas compe'Mo- tition and the increasing cost of raw materials has led to large numbers being laid off. Many of these have worked in the industry all their lives and are too old to train for new jobs - even if, in places like Stoke, they were available.

WAGES Meanwhile, those workers left in the industry are finding it ever more difficult to keep pace with inflation. Take home pay in the potteries is about

rescue' the hostages. They proceeded to surround the Embassy with police and SAS commandos, just waiting for a pretext to move in.

That pretext came on May Sth when according to the police, a dead hostage was place outside the which door. At 7.30 that evening, crack commandos crashed in, leading to the deaths and injuries that took place.

TERRORISM "This operation, an outstanding success, will show the world that Britain will not tolerate terrorism", crowed Whitelaw the following night. Coming from an ex-Minister in charge of N. Ireland, who for years had unleashed terror against the Irish people, that was a bit much.

For Whitelaw and his ilk, people have to play by the rules. These rules are that oppressed people must meekly submit petitions to seek support for their grievance while they, alone, are allowed to employ force.

The occupation of the Iranian Embassy was misguided. It did nothing to help the cause of the Arab people. But, compared with a government whose aim is to support repression around the world the occupiers were innocent (if mis guided) victims.

Potteries hit hard times

£45 a week and many workers, if they are to achieve a living wage, work atrocious hours.

Clocking on at 6.00 in the morning and clocking off at 10.00 the same night, while not ususal is certainly not unheard of.

RADICAL The effects of lay-offs, poor High wages and long hours, however, is beginning to have its effect. Growing layers of union members are beginning to question their leader's lack of resolve and demand much more result policies.

Lay-offs are likely to be a particularly vital question in the coming years. pottery workers are not against new technology, growing feeling that it should be used not to throw people on the scrap-heap but to shorten the working week and develop better living standards for all.

Dear Comrade, governell. programme.

Liberals? the

Labour Party. meetings.

Mick Watson (Preston)

Dear Comrade, are forced to

While

there is a process there".

POST BAG

Just over a month ago, the Friends of the Earth and other anti-nuclear groups called a mass demonstration in London which mobilised over 15,000 against the suicidal plans of the Thatcher

The socialist left, apart from a few paper-sellers, were virtually absent from the demonstration which was led by the Liberals. David Steele was the only prominant politician to give support to the aims of the march and pledge to take them up in the Liberal Party

It seems to me that the question of nuclear power is going to become an increasingly important one in Britain (as on the continent where it has developed into a mass movement). Isn't it too important an issue to leave in the hands of

Isn't it time that the socialist left began to recognise the threat posed by nuclear power not only to human safety - and that is monstrous enough! - but to democratic rights and trade union conditions? I would like to see Socialist Action, which I know has always supported the anti-nuclear movement, giving much more reguler coverage to it and helping to stress the importance of it within the ation.

Dave Purser (North London)

We would agree with Cdc Purser criticism of the left on this question. A major article in this months Socialist Action will, we hope, begin to redress the situation. -Ed.

I read your paper at this year s LPYS conference and was impressed by the fact that you were the only tendency to make concrete proposals for turning the YS outwards into a real campaigning organisation.

I think many of the points you mike deserve full encouragement by! young people today 'smoke pot' and those YS members who want to get actively involved in issues instead of sitting passing resolutions in branch

Certainly, it would be a step forward to see local YS banners on campaigns such as those of TOM, NAC or the recentiy-set up Campaigri taking up this issue in next month's Against Racist Laws (CARL).

Please find enclosed £2 for a year's sub to Socialist Action. I particularly liked the article Socialists and the Labour Party' in the last issue. As an ex-SWP member, it summed up my feelings exactly. Dave Cummins (Margate)

Almost alone of all the 'lett press', your tendency has supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. While you (rightly) criticise the motives behind Moscow's intervention, you end up by saying: "... despite Moscow's bureaucratic methods and conservative motives, the dispatch of troops was an important aid to the revolutionary

Just how can you justify this? The entry of Soviet troops was a clear violation of the right of the Afghan people to self-determination.

page 11

Isn't this why opposition to the troops is growing, as witnessed in the strike that hit Tehran only a few weeks back? How can an intervention, resented by the mass of the Afghan people, be an "important aid to the revolutionary process there"?

Moreover, the entry of Soviet troops has been used by the Western governments to smear socialism (once again!) and portray as it as an agressive system opposed to demo. cratic rights. This campaign — - however hypocritical it might be - does have an impact on working people. While we expose the hypocrisy behind Carter or Thatcher's campaigns, we also have to show how Moscow's action has given the West the excuse to whip it up and detract attention from its own manoeuvres.

I might add that quoting Trotsky on the situation in 1938 does not give the answers to the problems we face in 1980 Phil Edwardes (S. London)

Dear Comrade,

Irecently attended a debate on Ireland between Militant and the Troops Out Movement at Peckham YS. What struck me most clearly was that — despite Militant's so. called socialism - they refuse concretely to support the right of the Irish people to self-determin.

When it came to doing something - like building a mass movemen: to get the troops out of Ireland -Militant found every excuse the: could not to get involved in the

help the Irish people and will not help to build the YS either. I think a lot of YS members who attent? the meeting saw that very cleari! vira ham Weight (Peckham)

What is Socialist Action's attitude towards cannabis? Many

it is often used by the police to vic timise and harass them. Do you think Socialists should support the

'Legalise Cannabis' campaign? DE (Bradford)

An important point. We will be

Socialist Action. Ed

In last month's Socialist Action, you carried an article on Lambeth Council's decision to increase the rates by 49%. The main thrust of the article was to criticise Ted Knight (leader of Lambeth Council) tor

backing down rather than 'confronting' the Tories.

I'm not sure what Socialist Action

was suggesting the council do. Lambeth (alone among most councils) ran a determined campaign against the cuts which led to a mass demonstration last October. It was

faced this year, however, with a clear

choice: either put up the rates or be removed from office.

Should the council have meekly

been removed? Should they have

allowed the commissioners to come

in and butcher the services it has

taken so long to build up? Rate increases may not be popular, but a: least they allow us to offset most o

the Tory cuts and give the council a

breathing space with which to carr

on the fight.

Phil Davenport (Hackney)

Page 12 scan of this page

fora PUBLIC ENQUIRY

Socialist Action

At least one thing emerged from the Blair Peach inquest in West London last month. That was that Peach was killed by the police. The jury's verdict of 'death by misadventure' places the responsibility fair and square at the door of the SPG thugs.

It was hardly avoidable considering that 11 witnesses at the inquest testified to having seen Blair struck to the ground by SPG members.

RIDERS Moreover, one of the 'riders' added by the jury that in future SPG members should be under firmer control by their officers - clearly suggests that, on that fateful day in Southall, these members were 'out of control'

As Paul Holborrow, ANL National Secretary put it: "We regard the verdict as establishing beyond any reasonable doubt that the police killed Blair Peach. We think that the riders indicate that the SPG is an uncontrollable private army and has a licence to kill". Get your head

together

with

Socialist

Action

10,000 people marched through Southall to commemorate Blair Peach a few days after his death JUSTIFIED?

While holding the police responsible for Blair's death, jury's verdict ('death by misadventur) held that the violence used by the police was justified' or reasonable'.

Such a verdict is hardly surprising considering the 'guidance' given by the coroner, Dr throughout the trial. At one stage. Burton emotionally declared that the 'police murder theory' was unacceptable. In his summing up, a clear attempt was made to bulldoze the jury into bringing in a verdict which let the SPG thugs off the hook.

Similar bias could be detected in the fact that the Cass Report -included detailed evidence from relevant witnesses - was withheld during the inquest from the jury and the counsel representing the ANL and Peach's family.

INQUIRY The ANL and Blair's family, however, are not leaving the matter there. They intend using the evi-

Name

Address

£ 3.00 for 12 issues c/o 58 Auckland Road, London SE19.

REMEMBE

SH CHAGGA

to campaign for a public inquiry however, the into Blair's death has already received a substantial amount of backing.

throughout the labour movement.

John Burton, victims of police violence as the

to what amounted to a vicious attack.

similar tactics against anyone op-

pickets to demonstrators. We all have a reason for avenging Blair Peach.

PROTESTS

Peach inquest,

denouncing judges and coron-

ers for manipulation juries to

return verdicts they want.

Martin Flannery, MP Shef-

field, Hillsborough, declared:

"Deep

Patrol Group there are a group

of thugs who can get away

with anything because no-one

will find them guilty".

Peach to those on Liddle

Towers and Jimmy Kelly

both of whom died while in

police custody

continued: "I sawthe brutality

of the SPG on the Grunwick

picket lines and, believe me, it

was brutal and terrible. Short

of a battle, I have never seen

anything like it in may life".

as Michael Meacher have called

for a public enquiry into the

death of anti-racist Blair

Peach to clear the air. Ad

Flannery summed it up: "The

overwhelming weight of justice

in our country is heavily

and trade unionists".

Iwo dence that came out at the inquest

'draft'.

- a call that

This call should be supported

Peach was killed last year for daring to oppose racism. Many others were

Carter's moves.

Southall community was subjected

AGGRESSION

If Peach's killers are allowed to get away with it, the green light will have been given for them to employ

posing social injustice - from strike

is not ruled out

Hearing the verdict in the Blair

Labour MPs Iranian planes.

have added their vioce to those

within the Special

COMPLICITY

Relating the verdict on Blair

Flannery

Flannery and other MPs such

weighted against demonstrators

Support grows

for Tameside

A.D.Scott months ago, Tameside

Trades Council was disaffiliated

by the TUC for calling a confer-

ence on Ireland. Speakers invited

included a representative of the

Irish Republican Socialist Party

(IRSP) which the TUC clearly

found 'objectionable'

Following an appeal, more than

20 other trades councils have now

come out against the TUC

attempt to place a gag over Tame

side's mouth. These include New-

castle, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford,

York, Preson and Southampton.

Instead of reconsidering the

position - in the light of growing

opposition - the TUC has now

decided to escalate 'disciplinary'

action. Only recently, it has

threatened to disaffiliate South-

ampton and Plymouth Trades

IRAN

Vance, and those who think like him, are fearful that Carter is pressing ahead too quickly with his warlike aims. They are worried that this will not only fuel the anti-war feeling among American workers - thousands of whom have already demonstrated against the introduction of the Iran.

Equally important, they are concerned that such actions might deepen anti-imperialist feeling in the Third World and create increasing shifts towards dependence on Moscow. These concerns are also shared by Japan and European governments who have adopted a luke-warm attitude to

Despite these rifts, however, and despite his inability to whip up a war frenzy, Carter has continued his belligerent moves. Not only has he detended the raid but he has also gone on record as saying that another action of this type

The dangers of another act of aggression can be seen trom the fact that US naval strength in the Indian Ocean has recently been increased to record strength. his includes 34,000 troops and 400 aircratt, some of which have already been used for intercepting

The repercussions such an act would bring in its wake do not have to be underlined. In any confrontation with the USSR, which could develop, newspaper reports have already suggested the Pentagon favours immediate resort to tactical nuclear weapons.

In this war-drive, of course, Carter

June 80 Councils for their support to Tameside

Intimidatory action of this kind is not likely to work, however. Tameside has no intention of cancelling its conference. On the contrary, it has decided to press ahead with it and it will now take place on June 7th at Manchester Poly Students Union.

All Labour movement bodies are urged to support the conference not only to protest the TUC attempt to prevent free speech. Equally important, it is vital that the issue of Ireland - which has been smouldering for the past 10 years — should come up for a serious debate within the labour movement. The conference organised by Tameside could be a first step in that direction.

continued from page 1 has already received the blessing of the Thatcher government (which has also sponsored a massive in crease in arnis expenditure ). Lord (arrington knew of the raid before it took place and has since been the main support of the US in en. forcing an economic blockade on

The Labour leaders, it is true, expressed concern at Carter's action. Peter Shore, spokesperson on foreign affairs, called on gov. ernments worldwide to "make plain to the : USA that warlike measures will not work'

While expressing concern, how ever, the Labour. leaders have not denounced the hysterical campaign being whipped up by Thatcher and Carter against the Iranian people nor have they on ing impused on lat.

JUNE 22ND

If Thatcher's war-drive in Britain is to be combatted, it is clear that the labour movement must launch a mass opposition to interterence of any kind in Iranian affairs

On June 22nd, the Labour Party NEC is calling for a national demonstration in Hyde Park against the Tories' increase in defence spending and the basing of Cruise missiles in Britain. This demonstration should be supported and promoted throughout the labour movement.

Some of the demands that should feature centrally on the demonstration are those opposing Carter's war moves and the complicity of the British government. HANDS OFF IRAN!

STOP CARTER'S WAR DRIVE ! END ECONOMIC SANCTIONS!

Something wrong on this page?