Socialist the anti-Cruise campaign.
Will me young people were on the picket.
Missiles in Blackpool.
campaign. clothing factory, explains how he became involved in "I went to see The War Game. What I saw shocked and horrified Until then I had no idea what a nuclear war would be like - also ! was shocked to find out just where the war drive was coming from. So without any hesitation, ! decided to do something about it.
, cabited bean refusing show The War me Ait of the BBC about them refusing to show The War Game.
About 25 people came along to a meeting after the picket, we discussed our future plans for Youth Against the Missiles in Man. chester.! also volunteered to speak at the March against the For the first time I felt really great about being part of something which was fighting for a cause. I personally think that other young people will get a lot of satisfaction from the Youth Against Missiles I have told my friends at work about Revolution Youth and Yout!
long enough to know anything. We know that we don't want our future threatened by a nuclear war.
'I now see it as my aim to bring to light the horrors of a nuclear war to as many young people as possible. I think a lot of kids in our area will come to our meetings and demonstrations, and will fight closely with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
It would be an enormous boost if every national trade union were to urge its branches to join building LOCA missile groups and CND They should also help to set up and build groups such as Engineers against the Missiles, and Busworkers against the Missiles.
Bases We have years to stop Cruise. can't wait for the return of a Labour government; we need to start organising ourselves now.
Stopping the missiles will require trade union action such as refusing to do any work connected with mega-death weapons and their bases.
The conference should Socialist Challenge 23 October 1980
THE siting of Cruise and Triand the setting up of the and setting up of Soviet SS20 missiles show that a new arms race is underway. This is obviously in part caused by the deterioration of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Why has this deterioration occurred?
You can start that question by debating when these relations broke down. One conventional view is that detente broke down with the advent of the Carter adJanuary Sae with trumean and Kennedy Democratic presidents -tend to be less secure in their handling of international affairs. Although the crude theory vocating this is simplistic, it has some merit.
Parties The Republican Party is a more solidly-based ruling class party a clear hegemonic ideology. But the Democrats are an alliance of different interests, although of course a bourgeois party, they need to cement their alliance alternative ideology, and it tends to be antilaunching various moral and world scale, Democratic presidents tend exacerbate relations Soviet Union. This applies to Eisenhower and Nixon. It cannot however explain the difference between Carter and Reagan.
ins neory nas. some which should be registered, but I don't think that it is the main casull - there are two much important reasons.
LIULC first is the upsurge of revolustruggle in the and the second is the revival of a new rightist militancy in the United States.
The of these factors relates to the way the Americans DOCISLOOG American eyes it covered not just limitation and post-1945 division of Europe, but also a moratorium on revolutionary advances in the World. The 'rules of detente' included a counter-revolutionary stability thesis. Yet what we' seen since the mid of revolutions or at least radical upheavals in countries which were thought to be stable elements in the world system. Status quo The most spectacular was the Iranian revolution of 1978-9: but there was also the fall of the US's oldest ally, the Ethiopian regime, which fell in 1974; the nationalist the Portuguese colonies and Zimbabwe; the temptea revolution — wouldn't SAtghanistan in 1978.And then successful there have been developments in Nicaragua, El Salvador and the Caribbean -Grenada, Jamaica, etc. have therefore been a number of countries where the USA has felt that the status quo has broken down; or where the influence of the Soviet Union has dramaticalwhere the Us's influence has declined, without a Soviet advance.
If one looks at the record more closely in each of the countries where the Soviet Union has gained ground or where the US as lost out, it was the United States which took the initiative.
Socialist Challenge 23 October 1980 Page 8 dramatic as we adscale, In Angola the CIA decision to to back the UNITA the Holden Roberto led Cubans going in, with Soviet backing.
In Ethiopia, where the Russians didn't support military junta until the end 1977, the Americans couraged the Somali invasion -The which brought in the Cubans and the Russians.
Third Iran In Iran the USSR wasn't involved in the revolution, but the US had been for 25 years.
Afghanistan, the reason that the old 1978 was because the Shah of Iran, backed by the Americans, Third ter epine Was crush the left.
replied by itself with results that we all ‹now. All these things backfired series on the Americans.
These events have given the impression that there is a massive Soviet After Angola in 1975-6 and the Soviet intervention in the Horn of Africa in 1977, BrzezinSLaULCO talk "linkage'.
The irony of the situation is that at the height of the Vietnam war, when the Russians and the Chinese were actively supporting the Vietnamese in frontation with US imperialism, at- the Russians and the Americans were quite capable of negotiating probably because the spheres of Soviet influence were clear, and partly I think because there Republican administrawas a tion.
There Shift The developments that I've outlined Ilavc ideological shift to the right in even the United States which is given a special twist by the fact that the United States is today dependent on the import of oil in a way in which it never was before.
Thus although they had to acCOOL Hosing Cuba, they are not prepared to Nixon and Brezhnev sign arms treaty "lose' forces of have it — to the sense of imperialist has been undermined.
The atmosphere phobia of and the affair. The Reaganite candidates are an in dex of this.
And in counter-revolutionary was overthrown in Rapid case in point But it's The arms race.
of the colonial revolution?
Third sense that they're designed what they call the 'central front ADOUl - that is Germany offensive deployment in Centra Europe; and I don't think an of a direct con- fensive intention, although it ob viously has an offensive capaci to defend itself. Given the switch inion is in China's stance, tional position than in the first cold war.
the American ideological system that they have superiority parity with the one is an essentiale ber caused America's popular ideolog.
not just in the arms race but il anything. the best' politically and internationally as satisfactory and the Soviet Union is that they China, are number one and the others fit into place.
- in the sense that the Saudi Arabia. confidence of xenoand chauvinism in the United States has been greatly in reased by the Iranian hostage Moral supporting aimed at the Third World. The Deployment Force is a not so clear why struction of the MX system a rational response to the rise I depends what you mean b! 'rational'. It's not rational in the to meet an alleged Soviet threat on my view is not in fact there. Th Soviet Union does not have an Soviet availability There is , otherwise it wouldn't be abl the Soviet weaker convenThen respects. It is an essential part of have negative Soviet Union essential part •We're the biggest anc positive also militarily, economic effects.
the Americans regard vis-a-vis Europe new arms race whether The second rational aspect is the economic pressure that it brings to bear on the Soviet Union By forcing the Russians to spend living much more on weapons they put immense pressure on, for examconsumer goods are scarce enough at the best of times.
aspect in which it's rational and that is the extent to which it holds together the ideological consensus in the United States and the Western alliance and Japan as a whole.
there's aUSO the nuclear economic benefit. In a recession Soviet the arms companies benefit from a new arms race. Whereas in the Soviet Union the arms race will effects on the economy and on the availability of consumer goods, it would ap pear that in the United States and She Was face col naive AL LEAD race will have counter-recessional But it is irrational in one final respect. The Russians will not be intimidated or terrorised by a into changing their policy in the Third World, Afghanistan anywhere else. Neither will they refuse to compete in a new arms race because of the effects on the standards of their own people. This is not only because the Soviet leadership is stubborn but because they calculate tha their own people will blame th new consumer restrictions on the Americans, as they did the Olympic boycott.
I want to ask you a question about the threatened use of weapons by the Union. Many left believe that this is wrong either from a moral point o view - this is the point made European Nuclear armament campaign the point of view of revolutionary politics.
For example, the supthe Militant endenc! argue that the Soviet Union should give ur the use of nuclear weapons and rely on a combination of a workers' militia and the class consciousness of the Western proletariat.
Is unilateral nuclear mament a feasible optio the Soviet Union?
I think that the only fe argument against the poss by the Soviet Union of n weapons 1s the moral on any practical grounds, tunately, the Soviet Unior own best interests has to nuclear weapons. i say inl an historical point of view When the Soviet Unic not have nuclear weapon did threa covertly with the use th And indeed the very dropp the bomb on Hiroshim: Nagasaki has been shown tr been partly motivated, no desire quickly to end the wa Japan, but to intimidat Soviet Union in the negoti over the post-war division world, and to keep the Union out of the main re:
of US imperial inter alcd that time - - the Pacific Ri I cannot believe that the has now become benevolent towards the system in the Soviet Unior
----- pull-quotes -----
Against Missiles, and they are coming to our next meeting. 'The older people I have talked to tell us that we have not lived
FRED HALLIDAY, a member of the New Left Review editorial board, is the author of Arabia without Sultans and the Penguin book Iran. He has written ex- tensively about Afghanistan,
Interview with Fred Halliday Plane takes off to bomb Vietnam from American aircraft carrier
which he times. Socialist him about and the res Union.