"A million on the streets 'THIS IS the year that Cruise and Trident are coming to Britain. It is the year of a general election. It is a year that a majority population pose Cruise and Trident. And it is a year when the TUC and have decided upon action. How do we bring all these elements together to ensure that '83 is the year of CND?
Fred Kingdom from CND put this question to the '82 CND conference, moving resolution 14 on CND's labour movement orientation. It was really a struggle to get the answer right.
CND conferences are cloudy, bureaucratic, mismanaged affairs — full of well-meaning workshops and points of order. This shapelessness reflects both the leadership of the campaign activist Figures released during ference showed that half the membership of 50,000 are in the "professional" employment category and 20 per cent are students. Half the membership come from London and the South East.
But the potential power of the movement was sown an ane stamstic: released from a sample of the 6 June demonstration. In a demonstration of 250,000 called at the height of the Malvinas war, 88 per cent disagreed with government policy at the time.
Debate Although half were professional workers, workers and for 30 per cent this was cent were manual their first national demonstration.
Significantly, in the light of the absence of any youth debate at the national conference, statistics released gave a breakdown of age differences among CND supporters.
The conference was overshadowed by the events at Greenham Common. The heroism of the Greenham Common protestors captured the imagination of most delegates and ensured that the resolution violent direct action got the biggest VOIC DI LEWCENCHE Violent Direct Action opment in 83. delegates had some clearer ideas.
The argument "ballot for survival date' Reading smittee argued build on the support!
Push base. Dick the conThe said, Cruise. *ballot for survival them. necd political action. tions adopted by loud applause.
resolution at this conference.
massive majority.
government of the whole debate Jenny labour movement powerful ally 01-808 only While Saturday was taken up with constitutional debate and a myriad of workshops, the plenary session struggles with the relationship that Nonshould have with the overall tasks of the moveBy the end of Sunday started in the - the pro- Violent posal that CND should concentrate on a nation-wide signature gathering agams ene missues. Ann Donnelly from YCND national comthat events like the CND youth festival in May would "tremendous labour -WEE for the North West Jobs not Bombs' march.
Withecombe from Manchester CND put his finger on the issue in a more dramatic way: "1983, must be the year when we That is the issue. will not stop real and massive We must use the posithe labour movement to put a million on the streets at the end of the year. That is the way we can back up the heroism of those at the peace camps. This point received The NVDA action was presented by the mover as the most important And with peace camp leaders Jean Hutchinson's and Lynn Jones' powerful speeches the resolution was ensured a But there was serious confusion here. Lynn Jones argued that NVDA ARGUSE included action to 'bring down the speakers AUEW-TASS and Glasgow pointed out that direct action alone could not physically stop the missiles. Such action had to be pur in the context of mass labour movement initiative.
In one of the best speeches of the Prideaux from Sheffield CND explained that the mOst and in the end our *We have to use the breakthrough that we have achieved there to make our protest effective."
Conference then moved on to resolution 11, which began to look at the relationship between NVDA and mass labour movement action in a more detailed way. Leading off for a crucial amendment which supported the TUC-Labour Party day of action in August as a crucial support to nondirect action, Chris Pitts pointed out that 1983 could not be 'business as usual - that a bitter struggie was needed as was shown by the healthworkers dispute.
As a busworker, he pointed out that to get the 50 For 60 busworkers who supported CND in Sheffield into action, the TUC-Labour Party day of action had to be a vital focus for the movement.
Kathy Potter from Oldham back ed him up. "To bring all our resources she said, "We need a joint LP-TUC-CND demo this autumn.
supporters against (TACT) and others argued against this view. They said it was "partisan" - CND must maintain its "independence"
Divide But the amendment was carried after two fine specches from Southall (one time secretary of the of 100) and Madewell from Tower Hamlets CND. Tony pointed to historical experience: •We were sitting in Trafalgar Square while the right wing were busy reversing unilateralism in the Labour Party the biggest political gain that CND had registered' Stuart argued that the majority of the people had to brought into action and that was where the potential of the labour movement lay.
The debate on NATO saw pecularly lack-lustre performance by EP Thompson which expressed concern about the lack of reference in resolutions under debate to the Warsaw Pact, and claimed that our position on NATO 'could marginalise us. In one of the high points of the conference Stuart Madewell denounced Thompson's search for a new con census against the missiles This, he argued, involved forces the Tony Stuart who supported arsenal, but used multilateralism to momentum of the movement. contradiction between Labour's supRATO was an achilles heel ach would be used by the right wing to roll back the gains of the labour movement on this question.
Our job was to close the gap. in one of the closest votes of conference, CND's campaigning position -tain out of NATO, NATO out of Bri/TRIDENT CND conference voted overwhelmingly for non-violent direct action.
Britain's nuclear tain" the break up the The tion, unilateralism resolution, port for large majority. *Brihead.
money.
being should an excess.
So then the MX missiles will By Maybe the US government is a But it is thugs.
was maintained.
In the final debate an amendment Battersea, HELOVED by Linde Hoy, calling for national strike ac was defcated. In moving the Linda pointed to the crucial role that the labour movement had played in the campaign to defeat the Corrie anti-abortion bill. But sup the August TUC-Labour Party demonstration was carried by a Despite the defeat of the amend
----- pull-quotes -----
By Brian Heron NO CRUISE
CND C