This is what has made the govern.
migration controls? of day.
CURBS The only way to resolve the proPhil Edwardes Is a case i polli. 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 imIt 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 create - subjected to the most vicious forms of police harassment. The police attack on Southall - and 'attack is not too strong a word - 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.