Socialist Action (LSA) March–April 1979
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 Mar Apr 1979.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.
Page 1 scan of this page
FIGHT THE CONCORDAT!
Action
A demonstration the same day mobilised over 80, 000 in central London demanding that their leaders call an all-out stoppage in support of their wage claim.
low paid at Callaghan's wage-slashing policies. It was the high point of a growing revolt as, over the past month, ever-wider layers have been drawn into action, contain the situation, as in the case of the ambulancedrivers. Suprise
Undoubtedly, this upsurge took Callaghan by surprise. When he postponed the election last October, he took a calculated risk. He assumed that his TUC allies, who had spinelessly supported his wage-cutting policies, would continue to enforce government pay policy.
After all, they had supported the first three rounds of the Social Contract - despite escalating unemployment.
His faith in the TUC was not misplaced, When the first serious challenge to the 5% norm with the fireman's strike last year, the TUC did their utmost to 'isolate' the strike and demoralise the men back to work.
What Callaghan left out of his calculations was the rank and file.
Having suffered a substantial drop in wages during three years of the Social Contract, they were LLO longer willing to stomach more pro-capitalist policies. The militancy and determination of, first
IRAN:
THE POWDER KEG
February llth saw the climax of the growing mass action against the Pahlavi dictatorship which, for years, had banned democratic unions, filled the jails with political prisoners, denied womens rights and trampled on those of the national minorities which make up 60% of the Iranian population.
A mass uprising in the streets of Tehran - leading to armed confrontations with 'elite' military corps -toppled the Baktiar government appointed by the Shah in a last desperate bid to head off the growing unrest.
The defeat of the Shah and the appointment by the Ayotollah of a Provisional Government - headed by Dr. Barzagan - has by no means however solved the problems that mobilised millions on the streets or decided the outcome of the revolution.
Socialist
A Socialist Monthly, Published in the Interests of Working People The 'day of action' expressed the pent-up anger of millions of the
often pre-empting their leaders' attempts to
the lorry drivers - then the ambulance drivers, cleaners & hospital workers - forced their vacillating leaders into calling actions which exploded the 5% norm.
Hysteria
Callaghan's reaction to the upsurge was to launch an anti-union hysteria, shrilly denouncing the strikers as irresponsible' and branding the action of pickets as 'terrorist' He vas backed-up by other members of the cabinet who threatened everything from a sixmonth wage freeze to introducing a 'state of emergency'.
The extent to which Callaghan - and his TUC allies - have moved to the right can be seen in the Concordat recently arranged between them. This agreement, hastily cobbled together in response to the mass pay revolt, is designed to assure employers that a future Labour government will be able to carry out its austerity measures by relying on the TUC to
Unity?
For many months, disparate forces marched together under the label 'Khomeini's peoplé' because they were all united in a desire to overthrow the hated Pahlavi dictat-
Armed opposition to the Shah's rule.
orship. The uprising itself was the
result of escalating actions which
seemed as if the entire nation was involved in a common struggle.
CONTENTS:
Editorial 4
Vietnam 9
Ireland 10
Intemationalism 5
Ecology 6 Joe Hansen 2 March / April 79 curb rank-and-file democracy and break strikes.
The proprosals it contains are almost identical to those which appeared earlier in Barbara Castle's 'In Place of Strife', or the Tories more savage Industrial Relations Act.
Concordat
While the document does not put forward any precise pay norms - to avoid embarassment to the TUC before its own members -it does propose that there should be an annual 'economic assessment' when both sides of industry sit down and work out a pay ceiling.
In order to force workers to abide by these norms, the document tables major inroads into the
Workers, who had been on strike for months, set up elected committees demanding workers' control in industry. Peasants, in certain cases, seized the land. Universities were turned into popular bases of opposition to the Shah. Towns throughout Iran saw the creation of 'neighbourhood committées' which helped mobilise mass demonstrations like that on Feb 8th when over 1 million poured into the streets of Tehran against the Baktiar gov-
The unrest spread into the army which had been the main bulwark of the Shah. Rank - and - file soldiers and airmen - like those from the Doshom Teppah air base - began to identify with the peoples' demands, distribute arms and set up committees demanding the right to free speech, to participate in politics & to elect their own officers.
Constituent Assembly
Now that the Shah has been overthrown, however, there exists no concensus as to the development of the revolution or the type of society to emerge out of it. On the contrary, it is clear that growing
Abortion Rights 2
Labour Party 4
The N.H.S. 7 Teachers
Low Pay
Gay News
The A.N.L. 3 160
C6C NOW NOW
NUPE says £60 NOW democratic rights of trade unionists. It talks, for example, of strike action being a 'last resort', and the need to avoid strikes altogether during negotiations.
It poses the need for secret ballots' to break the solidarity of workers and open them up to the anti-union propaganda of the TV and press. It goes on to talk of the need to end 'secondary picketing' (ie. solidarity action) in a way distinctly reminiscent of the Industrial Relations Act. Labour will, in other words, do all the Tories want - without legislation. Election
The 'Concordat' was obviously hastily put together as a platform
continued on page 8
divisions have arisen amongst the once united forces on clear class lines.
The tasks of the Barzagan government -appointed from above by the Ayotollah - were sumined up with unusual bluntness by the New York Times (Feb 8th): "Barzagan's mission is to preserve the continued hegemony of the nationalist bourgeoisie in Iran and protect it against the revolutionary forces unleashed by years of strife, strikes and militancy".
The New York Times is dead on target. The Barzagan government has grouped around it support from the Iranian bourgeoisie - remnants of the old, discredited National Front - which has become increasingly frightened of the power and independent action of the masses. It has been this fear which has prompted it to refuse to 'legalise' parties of the left and to postpone the elections to a Constituent Ass -embly in which the masses would be free to choose their own government.
continued on page 10
Page 2 scan of this page
JOSEPH HANSEN (1910~1979)
page 2
Last November, over 500 trade union delegates attended a conference to discuss the issue of abortion rights. The conference, called by NAC and LARC*, was sponsored by 5 national unions and attended by delegates representing a wider spectrum of the labour movement: teachers, engineers, transport workers & the public sector,
The fact that the conference so well attended is indicative
ALL OUT
MARCH 31st
Nowhere in the world are women guaranteed the absolute right control their fertility, the absolute right to decide whether they want children and, if so, under what conditions.
Millions of women incur mutilation and death because their right to contraception & their right to legal abortion under safe conditions are denied by civil law & by the church. Women suffer physical injuries from clandestine abortions; they are sometimes imprisoned, and always humiliated, because they demand this right...
The laws 'liberalising' abortions that have been passed in such countries as the United States, Italy or Creat Britain impose ere limits on the right to including time limits & the denial of this right to underage and imm -igrant women, as well as the 'conscience clause' that "legitimises' doctors' refusal to perform ions.
Under these laws, women must often give proof that they have been raped, that they are prone to 'mental instability' or that they run 'grave risks' to their health in order to get an abortion. And in most cases the final decision rests with the medical profession.
Women do not confront these problems only as individuals. Throughout the world, women are struggling for the right to control their bodies under adequate conditions & to decide when and if they children.
The struggle for the right to safe legal abortion has been led by the women's liberation movement, But this struggle concerns all ments and individuals who are fighting for democratic rights & iustice.
Women's right to control their bodies, to contraception and abortion, and to refuse forced sterilis -ation, have become international
questions that have called forth debates and confrontations around the
world. The forces opposed to wom-
ens' rights to choose are powerful.
They include governments, church
es, the medical profession, politic-
al parties and anti-abortion groups
that force women to suffer and fie in the name of morality.
of the struggle to defeat these forc-
es will have an impact on all
battles for elementary human rights.
WOMEN DEMAND: * The right to control our own
bodies * The right to contraception * The right to abortion * The right to refuse forced ster-
ilisation.
LABOUR & ABORTION
the wide impact upon the labour movement that the struggle by NAC to secure abortion rights has had over the past few years.
Threat much Many trade union leaders address-
Led the conference, extension of abortion facilities and pledging opposition against further was attacks upon women's present abort-
of ion rights.
While the latter is not an immediate threat, it is clear that it could well become one after the next election when SPUC might try to get another Private Member's the Commons as James White did a few years ago.
Having sustained a major campaign to roll back the 1967 Act for a decade now, almost certain they will up the anti-abortion offensive in the coming sessions.
Activity Alan Fisher (Gen. Sec, of NUPE) was particularly forceful in pledging his support against this reactionary alliance. nor against abortion", he said. "Abortion, the right to choose, basic right of our women members which we must fight for...".
France, - and voting for action if restrict- While pledging support, however sevchoose, ive legislation is put on the books -
many union leaders were quick to point out that this would depend on the rank-and-file who 'lagged' behind their leaders on this issue. abort- This hoary old chesnut, which
has often been used in the past as want
On January 18th, Trotskyist militant Joseph Hansen social died. He was 68. Joe's death will
be a serious loss both to his comrades in the SWP(US) and the Fourth International dedicated his life to building over many decades.
His loss will be particularly felt by those who, over the years, had the chance to personally experience his dedication, maturity of judgement.
Joe Hansen joined the Trotskyist movement in the USA over 40 years ago during the Depression. His early The result years were influenced by
close association with both Leon Trotsky - to whom he served as secretary between Jim Cannon, founder of American Trotskyism. Throughout his life, as a leading member of the SWP and the Fourth International, Hansen tried to apply the and organisational principles learned from these great revolut-
by:
Sabina
Roberts!
calling for an
union like the NUT,
Bill into
less interest, leaders to
gains of the
it is womens' rights.
Labour Government
"I am neither for
is a
the fight for their rights.
Drawing unionists into acti vity in
Two years ago,
Hansen
of the Cuban revolution.
generation.
In the
leading
which he ary journalism.
political insight and
the late '60s.
very
1937-40 - and
Joe politics Street sect, he
CANPAIGN
an excuse for inactivity, iust does not bear close examination. In a
for example, ions in it has been the members who have been far ahead of the leaders in trying to get the union committed to the struggle for abortion rights. If in other unions there has been
then it is up to the 'lead' by raising the issue and trying to mobilise wide support for all actions to defend
'Paper support' - like the resolutions passed by the I. U. C. and Labour Party conferences in 1976 - are not sufficient to stop anti-abortion moves and pioneer a woman's right to choose. Only by raising the issue in the unions and by mobilising mass support for action in the streets can the labour movement become an ally for women in
direction. wide layers of trade support of women's rights would make it much more difficult for the Labour government to 'flout' the democratically arrived at decisions by the TUC or Labour Party conferences
both the TUC & choose
In the post-war years, Joe played an important theoretical role, contributing to the major new questions facing the Fourth International at that time, own such as the nature of the Eastern European states and the unfolding
His writings on these issues - particularly 40 on Cuba - became authoratitive works which influenced an entire
early 1960s, he played a month, very important part in trying to restore the unity of the Fourth International which had suffered from a harmful ten year split. His editorship of Intercontinental Press 'set up soon after the re-unificati on in 1963) was a model of revolution-
Probably Joe Hansen's most important contribution was made during the last decade of hislife, when he led a successful fight within the Fourth International to reverse the erroneous 'guerrillarist' line adopted by the majority in
Considering this to be his greatest achievement, Joe's writings on this issue are a model to young revolutionaries on how to
Broue. conduct a debate with scrupulous accuracy, non-factionalism and in a precise and lucid manner.
In the last few years of his life, ers, Joe was forced to suffer a vicious frame-up campaign conducted by the denizens of the Clapham High
the WRP, which accused him of being a 'CIA agent' or 'accomplice of the GPU'. JOE S. E. 11 had no need to defend himself
Socialist Action
NATIONAL ABORTION
Labour Party - mainly in response to the Benyon Bill - passed resolut-
support of a woman's right to abortion on request. The Labour government ignored such decisions however and - backing down before SPUC's reactionary pressure - set up a Select Committee to investigate abuses under the 1967 Act.
The result was a major inroad into women's rights since access to abortion for 'foreign' women was severely curtailed as was the time limit under which abortions could legally take place.
International Woman's Day
Mobilising mass action to force the Labour leaders to abide by conference decisions should be the focal point of all those involved in the struggle for abortion rights. The action proposed at the Conference, to support International Woman's Day, could be the first step in this
This day, on which millions of women around the world will be demonstrating against reactionary laws, could become a springboard in the ongoing fight to make Labour leaders oppose all anti - aborti on moves and support the right to
Tony
against Healy's Stalinist slande r s., which were prompted no doubt, by the growth of the Fourth International and the disintegration of his
sectarian forces. His record is spotless. It is one which, through his loyalty to the banner of revolutionary socialism for over
years, and his maturity of judgement and personal sincerity, is an example to us all.
At a meeting in New York last
La fund of $20, 000 was set up to help publish all of Joe's more important political writings. Such writings will stand as an object lesson to thousands on how to approach and analyis the great events of the class struggle from a revolutionary viewpoint.
The way to honour joe Hansen is not just to mourn him. It is to continue the task to which he dedicated his life: building the Fourth International. Publishing Fund
Sponsers of the Joseph Hansen Publishing Fund include: Robert Alexander, Tarig Ali, Robin Blackburn, Hugo Blanco, Pierre
Ken Coates, lama ra Deutcher, Bernadette McAliskey, Louis Sinclair, Mary-Alice Wat-
Ernie Tate, Evelyn Reed, Nahuel Moreno.
All contributions to the fund -which should be in by March 31 -should be sent to: Joseph Hansen Publishing Fund, 32 Lambeth Towers, Kennington Rd, London,
Page 3 scan of this page
THE WAY FORWARD
March 79
The ANL was launched just over a year ago. It was launched at a time of almost unparalleled hysteria against the Black community.
For months, the Tory press had indulged in 'scare stories' against illegal immigrants. Leading Tories, following Powell, had called for tightening up immigration quotas. Margeret Thatcher herself, in her 'hawkish' role, was soon talking of the dangers of white people being swamped by Black immigrant s, calling for 'pass laws' and encouraging voluntary repatriation.
Sheltering behind this racist upsurge, the NF stepped up its activities. No doubt flushed by earlier electoral successes, it intensified its anti-immigration campaign and launched deliberately provocative marches through high immigrant areas.
Step Forward
The launching of the ANL was a major step towards stemming this racist tide. Within a few months, it was able to draw tens of thousands around its meetings, carnivals and mobilisations to defend Black people (as at Brick Lane).
It was no doubt the very success of the ANL - combined with later criticism of Thatcher's sharp shift to the right on immigration - which begar to worry sections of the rulire ciass. Papers which had orig -inally been sympatherio io che ANL anti-nazi image (like the Times) began to denounce it as an left plot'.
W'hat the mass actions of the ANL showred was the tremendous potential for drawing thousands of young people into the fight against racism. Such actions vividly exposed the cowardice of the Labour leaders who, instead of organising a real opposition to the racist backlash, were spinelessly bending betore it.
Limited
While the mass actions of the ANL have undoubtedly helped to stem this racist tide, however, the potential they held within them has not yet been realised.
Since its inception, the ANL (dominated by the SWP) has focused almost all its propaganda, activity and mobilisations around the NF.
As ANL press secretary Peter Haines put it (no doubt speaking for most of the steering cttee):"I see it (the ANL) as an emergency operation. The Front has been making ground electorally, in the schools, in the working class generally. It is an emergency job of propaganda
EDITOR: Michael Hawley
BUSINESS MANAGER: Dave
The Anti-Nazi League & The Struggle Against Racism :
and activity to stop just that"
Undoubtedly, combatting the NF influence is an integral part of any anti-racist campaign. equally no doubt, however, confine the campaign against the NF - a relatively small ultra-right group - is to seriously misjudge what is the real menace facing Black people today.
Not only does it exagerate the importance of the NF at this stage su: :: leares masses of people disarmed in the face 'ultra - thrust of the ruling class
momer che legalisec racism the State as enshrined in a succession of racist immigration acts.
Racist Climate The relative growth of the NF (which should not be exagerated ) has not, after all, fallen from the skies. It is rooted in the racist climate whipped up over the years by increasingly racist laws placed on the statute books by Tory and Labour governments.
The present Immigration Act is merely the climax of a whole series of such acts which can be traced back through Callaghan's 1968 Immigration Act, Wilson's 1965 White Paper to the Tories' original Commonwealth Immigration Act of 1962 which, for the first time, made entry into Britain dependent on a colour bar.
Such acts do not merely discriminate against Blacks coming into the country on the basis of colour. They permeate all aspects of the lives of those Blacks already here, rendering them, in effect, second class citizens.
SOCIALIST ACTION
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Anne Williams
Macleod Published by SOCIALIST ACTION, 58 Auckland Rd., SE 19 Printed by Spider Web Offset (TU), 9 Rosemont Road, NW 3. (phone: 01-794 6575)
pected illegal There is a warrent and to
that to to a struggle Such powers
ice,
to Bradford.
Logical Conclusion The pelled.
of the Tories or the
laws themselves.
of the real
Diversion at this
serious error.
today.
the ANL.
Splits?
that to raise
Under their provisions, the poiice are empowered to arrest sus-
immigrants without deport "troublemakers' without right of appeal.
are used by the polas Blacks are only too aware, to intimidate & terrorise the immigrant communities from Southall
importance of these Acts cannot be overstressed. Once it is accepted that Blacks can be denied entry on the grounds of colour, and denied democratic rights in Britain on the same grounds, then racism has received official approval. All the Race Relations Acts in the world cannot change that.
It is the climate of racism created by such acts - which suggest that Blacks are somehow to blame for high unemployment or poor housing - which the NF feeds off. All the NF has done, after all, to push the 'logic" implicit in such acts to a conclusion by suggesting that Blacks should not only be denied entry but should be forcibly ex-
It is no wonder that Labour leaders find it quite impossible to argue against the immigration policies
NF. How can they when, by implementing racist
they implicitly accept thai Blacks are a 'probler':
The concentratior by che ANL or the NF 'threat' is, in this sense, a
Concentrating exclusively on a small, ultra - right group has meant downplaying the issue of legalised racism which is the main thrust of the ruling class
not have
This is the reason why certain forces, who hold racist views, were able in the initial stages to support
The Federation of Conservative students for example (which split from the ANL in September) was only too happy to join in the anti-Nazi "rhetoric'. It was only too happy to do so because it allowed them to hide their racist position on immigration behind a smokescreen of liberal demagogy.
Some of the very forces who hook). have stood on ANL platforms denouncing the NF for racism (i.e. Sid Bidwell) have been those who have called for tighter immigration curbs against Black people, who have called for cutting back on dependents and for introducing pass laws for Blacks in this country.
It has been argued, of course,
the issue of racist immigration laws in the ANL would only lead to quarrels & inter nal dissension. This is partially true. It has already led to the split action. off of the Federation of Conservative Students when the Thatcher pro posals on immigration came in for criticism earlier this year.
Raising the issue of immigration may have alienated these forces
page 3
Campaign Against the
Immigration Laws
The recent publicity given in
the media to Asian women sub-
jected to 'virginity tests at
Heathrow airport has once more
high - lighted the racist nature
of the 1971 Immigration Act.
Such violation of human rights
has been passed off as 'isolated
incidents'.
In fact, they are only one asp-
ect of an Actwhich reduces
Blacks trying to enter Britain
to second-class citizens. Dis-
criminated against on entry on
the basis of colour, those few
who do manage to get through
immigration controls can be
arrested without a warrent &
deported without right of appeal.
Recognising the importance
of building opposition to an Act
which legalises racism in Brit-
ain, the formation of CAIL* is
a welcome step forward, It has
the potential, though small, of
winning wide layers into a real
struggle for Black rights. If it
moves out boldly, it could pro-
vide a concrete political persp-
ective for the thousands of rad-
ical youth and Blacks who have
been attracted to the anti- racist activity of the ANL.
A campaign drawing on such
forces could see its focal point
as fighting, within the labour
movement, for the Labour gov-
ernment to implement the 1976
Labour Party decision to repeal
the Act.
* All those interested in supporting CAIL (Campaign Against Immigration Laws) or finding
oit more about it should contact: box 135. c/o Rising Free,
182, Upper Street, London N. 1
but would it have alienated those thousands of young people who supported the ANL, the young 'punk' youth and Blacks who responded so magnificently to its appeals?
Moreover, such a stance would
alienated it from the Labour movement where it should have sought support. In 1976, the Labour Party conference passed a resolution against the government calling for the repeal of the 1971 Immigration Act. Taking up this issue would have allowed the ANL to gain the support of Labour activists in a joint campaign to implement the democratic decision of the Labour Party and to challenge the policies of the Labour leaders (instead of letting them off the
Such an orientation would have meant a fight to win the Labour movement to a clear anti - racist stance by challenging head-on the right of its 'leaders' to implement racist laws. It is, after all, utopian to think that a fascist menace can be stopped if we cannot e ven get the labour movement to put its own house in order.
Perspective
Despite the confused orientation of the ANL, it has won thousands of young people into anti - racist
What now remains to be done is to give that enthusiasm a sharp focus by increasingly centering the campaign around the need to repeal racist immigration laws.
by: Bob Swart
Page 4 scan of this page
page 4
EDITORIAL: abstract debate. Since its inception,
ary party in national terms.
method & approach to the building of such a party.
Women's Liberation Movement.
Over the past period, however, erences between the two organisations were decreasing. to be growing agreement on the nature of the Transitional and its tactical application in Britain, common recognition of, for example,
of the fight for socialism;
a mass Troops Out Movement);
er question) and the struggle for Gay rights.
with unity in action in the class struggle - is a correct
for the building of a mass revolutionary party.
Nevertheless.
radely fashion within a common organisation.
scale radicalisation of the 60s has,
sibility of fusing the two organisations.
The L.S.A. and the Fourth International At its conference late last year, one of the central areas of discussion was the relation of the LSA to the Fourth International. This was not an
the LSA has always had an internationalist perspective, publically identifying with both the programme &
The LSA has always rejected the 'insularity' prevelent among wide layers of the British left who see the task of building a mass revolution-
While identifying with the FI, however, the LSA had many differences with the IMG (its British section) which seemed to reflect a different tended from an orientation to the Labour Party to an evaluation of the
the LSA has considered that the diff-
This seemed to be reflected in a
* the need to build a class struggle left-wing in the labour movement, around democratic and transitional demands, as a central task;
* the need to see the struggle for women's liberation as a key aspect
* the need to elaborate a programme for youth and set up a youth organisation capable of drawing thousands of rebel youth into anti-capital-
* the need to combat racism both by supporting Black Power & fighting, within the broader labour movement. against racist Immigration
* the need to defend the right of the Irish, Scottish and Welsh people to self-determination (by building, particularly in the case of Ireland,
There has also been a common approach to newer issues thrown up by the class struggle, such as Ecology (particularly on the nuclear pow-
The LSA believes that the growing political agreement has been paralleled by agreement around the nature of the revolutionary party. IMG's attempt to create an internal democratic atmosphere - combined of 'democratic centralism' and corresponds with what the LSA has
The LSA considers that the tradition the IMG is trying to establish is an object lesson to the left on the application of Leninist party building. Allowing for common programmatic agreement, tactical differences should be comradely debated out without the need for splits or expulsions which have helped cause the present 'fragmentation' of the
It is only by fighting for a true concept of democratic centralism that this fragmentation can begin to be overcome and the foundations laid
This is not to say, of course, that tactical differences do not still
while supporting the IMG's non-sectarian attitude to
regroupment of the left, would not necessarily agree that the tactic of
'Socialist Unity' is the best way of accomplishing this task.
Moreover, such a move could be seen as cutting across a serious
orientation towards the Labour Party which will increasingly become
the focal point for opposition to Callaghan's pro-capitalist policies in
the LSA is convinced that the programmatic agreement
between the two groups - and the coming together on many tactical iss-
ues - means that remaining differences could be debated out in a com-
The LSA believes that the possibilities opening up for Trotskyism in
Britain - and internationally - are greater than ever before.
more recently, been given a central
thrust by the deepening struggles in the labour movement which
drawn thousands into conflict with their reformist leaders.
Moreover, the Communist Party is unable to 'take advantage' of the
situation since it has become rent with internal divisions stemming
from the contradictions facing Stalinism as a world movement.
The possibility for building a pole of attraction to the left of the ref-
ormist and Stalinist organisations is clearly posed. Overcoming the
fragmentation on the left - by regrouping those forces who share
common programme - is the first step in this direction, It is for this
reason that the LSA has written to the IMG for discussions on the pos-
ions facing socialists century.
to offer support to Labour.
a clear alternative to it.
socialists have taken question past.
such as Labour,
were
An Infantile Disorder.
revolutionaries today.
the following article
last year in
engel.
of Lenin
Communist
instructions without
an
they
decide.
The wide-
have
parties.
politics.
WHY SOCIALISTS SUPPORT T
LABOUR P
What attitudes should relatively small groups of revolutionary socialists take towards reformist and bureaucratically- run mass workers parties, such as the British Labour Party? This has been one of the major quest-
this The SWP, for instance, holds that it is completely wrong
They view Labour and Tory as being policies. essentially the same in practice. The SWP run in elections against the Labour Party and pose as
City. Again,
This current line stands In sharp contrast to positions
on this at various times in the It also stands completely challenge opposed to the ideas of Lenin. Lenin's attitude towards parties
and the question unable of participating in elections,
clearly set out in his achieve. classic "Left-Wing Communism:
We believe these ideas continue to provide a clear compass for
Lenin's ideas are outlined in ment. by Ian Angus. This article was originally part of a series published
the Canadian
Socialist paper 'Labour Chall-
Many of the British supporters
The Communists who oppose d any support to the Labour Party were quite aware that Lenin disagreed with them. The Communist International, under the leadership
and Trotsky, was profoundly different from what it became under Stalin's control.
Where Stalin insisted that the
parties obey his question,
Lenin and Trotsky wanted to build
International of intelligent, thinking revolutionaries. These
men and women were not to be
dictated to - if they were wrong,
would have to be convinced.
As William Paul said at the
founding convention of the CPGB:
"There is no one in this audience
to whom I yield in admiration for
Lenin, but as we said yesterday,
Lenin is no pope or god..... On
local circumstances, where we are
on the spot, we are the people to
The local Communist leaders
were the people on the spot - but
that did not mean that their decis-
ions would be correct. Many of be?
them were inexperienced; others
had been miseducated by involve-
ment in sectarian or opportunist
The Bolsheviks had
gathered the most dedicated
militants into a new International.
Now they faced the far more
difficult task of educating these
militants in the artof revolutionary
What was at stake was not just a
difference over affiliation to the
Labour Party, but a much more
Socialist Action of the Russian Revolution took a sectarian attitude to the British Labour Party and elections. Angus points out that it was only the intervention of the leaders of the Third International, particularly Lenin, which brought unity to the warring factions of British Communism and won the majority away from their ultra-radical and sectarian
The British CP made zig. zags and took many wrong positions because of its political immatur-
largely due to Lenin, the party corrected its course and, as a result, increased its size and influence. They were beginning to provide a real
to the status-quo policies of the Labour leaders.
Unfortunately the party was to benefit for long from the clarification Lenin helped
The bureaucratisation of the Soviet state, culminating in the consolidation of the Stalinled ruling clique after Lenin's death, led to the degeneration of the world communist move-
The various parties became pawns in Stalin's foreign policy deals. As a result the CPGB, for instance, helped the Labour Party and top trade union leaders betray the 1926
General Strike.
important question: What kind of
party would the Communist Party
J.T. Murphy, a former leader
of the Socialist Labour Party,
expressed the essence of the
question in his account of his
experiences atthe Second Congress
of the International, held in Moscow
from July 23 to August 7, 1920:
"My experience in Russia..
had shown me the real meaning of
the struggle for political power.
Instead of thinking that a Socialist Party was merely a propaganda
organisation for the dissemination
Page 5 scan of this page
March 79
ARTY
you must be
unity of all workers.
a Labour candidate.
to the masses in practice that the Labour leaders prefer their close relations with the capitalists to
If Labour refused an electoral alliance, Lenin suggested, the Communists should run candidates only in constituencies where their candidacy would not cause defeat of
was a
page 5
wrong with the Labour Party and its programme. The revolutionaries would, in effect, be saying to the British working class: "You believe that the Labour Party can satisfy your needs - we disagee, and here's why. Lets work together to put Labour in power and then we'll see which ofus is right.
The Communist Party ought,
Page 6 scan of this page
WINDSCALE & DEMOCRACY
page 6 France.
the attendant radiation hasards. Dangers Radio-biologists & ecologists who opposed Windscale at the Public Inquiry headed by Justice Parker, pointed out the lethal dangers contained in such fast-breeder react-
Since the first accident
reactor blew killing three US GIs, there have been a further 2,000 recorded accidents through a failure of the cooling system, 'meltdowns' and radiation leaks.
These accidents were 'minor'. One scientist recalled the US Atomic Energy Commission Report as early as 1957 which predicted that in a really serious explosion, over 50, 000 people would be effect ed by radiation sickness. would die instantly and an increasing incidence of cancer would develop over the next 10 years, leading to another 45, 000 deaths.
The Atomic Energy Commission was talking of explosions of 1000 megawatts capacity. Windscale is proposed as 1300 megawatts. Waste
It is not just danger from major accidents which makes these reprocessing plants a potential time bomb. Scientists at the Inquiry gave evidence that normal working would dramatically cancer risks among employees. As Dr Alice Stewart reported, a 26% increase in cancer had been detected among workers at Hanfold Atomic Energy Works in
Teachers
as the united left candidate for Treasurer of the N. U. T. Q. There are 45, 000 teachers unemployed at present. What action do you think should be taken to remedy this situation?
A. The key question relating to unemployment is class teachers would be particularly ready to respond to a call for action against oversize classes because they know all pupils would benefit from such a move.
The union leaders should be forced to instruct members to refuse to teach any class over 30 la target which, in itself, would employing an additional 55,000 teachers) andto make itclear to the employers that, if necessary, would give full support strike pay - to any members suspended for so doing.
Q. NUT leaders have recently put in a wage claim for 36. 5%. should be the attitude of the left?
A. To restore teachers' salaries to
their 1975 value would - as the NUT leaders claim - require an average increase of about. 35%. leaders pin their faith in treated as 'special case', however, as we were at the time of
In April last year, a demonstration of over 3000 mobilised in central London against the siting of a nuclear re-processing plant at Windscale. The demonstration - called by Friends of the Earth - shows the mounting concern at the spread of nuclear energy programmes which already seen mass opposition develop in countries from Australia to
Such concern is no accident. Windscale symbolises the fears for a future geared to a 'plutonium' economy, fast-breeder reactors and all
Washington State.
More important still, the disposal of atomic waste creates even bigger problems. It has been estimated that the annual waste from a re-processing plant like Windscale is 1000 times the radioactiv ity of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
While Justice Parker accepted that windscale would mean more "discharge into the sea and atmos-. phere, more material for burial at Driggs, more dumping in the deep oceans, and more storage of highly active waste", he thought such problems could be solved.
As some scientists have pointed out, however, some forms of this waste remain radioactive for up to half a million years. Creating greater storage dumps of lethal material creates a huge since what would happen if natural accidents 'disturbed' the nuclear graves?
Motive
The obvious question is - why should capitalist governments be so intent on introducing an energy source which poses such a threat to human life & the environment?
The answer, of course, is simple: profit.
Having squandered many of the increase earth's fossil fuels - such as oil, natural gas and coal - they are now desperately seeking alternative fuel sources. the forms such as solar & wind power, geothermal & tidal power,
BUILDING THE S.T.A.
Interview with DAVE PICTON, ex-editor of Socialist Teacher, who ran
Houghton. What they refuse to recognise is that the Houghton award was a response to several years of militancy among teachers on wages, and have done their best to destroy that militancy over the years by destroying the autonomy of thelocal branches.
There is no doubt that claim, which is far in excess of the government's 5% norm, supported by wide layers in union and that the leaders will be require ander some pressure to take action in its support. The by other public sector workers will it undoubtedly act as a stimulant to - including many teachers who have seen their wages eroded over the last few yeals.
The task of the left in the union will What be to make that pressure as great as possible and to try and win the widest support against any backdowns. Fighting at the for a cost of living clause inbuilt The NUT into any settlement could help to being offset inflation and wages are not eroded as occured after the Houghton award.
has environment,
return on investment.
is literally
Democracy
programme, 'hush up', attendant risks. risk
edience, Such contempt for transporting it.
Other energy
which rets Act. this year.
and that they themselves,
the NUT
will be the
recent achons
decisions,
same time
areas.
ensure that
of women in the union?
by Anne Williams offer the prospect of a safe & clean
are ignored by them because they offer no immediate
What this shows most clearly is the increasingly irrational and action. destructive nature of capitalism which - in its search for profits-
willing to build trolled A-bombs in our midst.
In order to push ahead with their
they are forced to as far as possible, the The accidents already associated with nuclear plants are kept under lock and key and when they are raised - as at the Windscale public inquiry - ignored. The scientists and ecolog -ists who gave evidence there noted the clear biais of Justice Parker in collecting material & declared support for a policy of civil disob-
democracy will dramatically increase if a nuclear energy programme goes ahead. The NCCL has already pointed out that to 'protect' the plutonium a massive police sur- A system veillance will be needed not only on workers in the plants but also on those involved in shipping and
Preventative measures would The also be needed to keep information about it secret. These would include greater press censorship to supplement 'D' notices and increasing use of the Official Sec-
The use of these laws ences.
Dave Picton
Q. How important do you think the recent debate on racism in the union has been and what has been the reaction of the NUT leaders?
The NUT leaders have sought to restrict this debate to matters of school curriculum and organisation While important, they have refused however to back any demonstrations against racism, to oppose racist immigration Acts or to make NF membership incompatible with
central. membership of the union.
One of the tasks of the left must be to make the union's conference
which are anti-racist or believe, paper, a practical reality by pioneering mobilisations against racism. The left has made a start here and the Executive's decision banning
clear, branches from affiliating to the ANI has been hotly contested in many
Q. Has the left pioneered the role
Socialist Action already applies to workers empl oyed in nuclear power plants who are thereby denied all protection under the Health & Saftey Act and who can be prosecuted for strike
Campaign
It is for these reasons that the opposition growing up to Windscale (like that internationally) is anticapitalist and should be supported by socialists, Such opposition is reacting to the irrational nature of a system which, having squandered the earth's resources, is now unleashing a destructive timebomb in their thirst for profits.
It is quite clear that alternatives to nuclear energy are, with today's technology, quite feasible. By husbanding existing resources & searching into alternative energy sources, a safe and clean environment can be assured.
It is clear, however, that this can only be achieved by removing the present irrational systen: and creating a planned, rational economy which places human need before profit to a select few.
• in which co - operatior: replaces competition; in which homes, hospitals and schools are given priority rather than nuclear death-traps like Windscale.
building of a mass - action campaign against the spread of nuclear energy plants is a key issue today. Such a campaign should fight within the labour movement to win its leaders to opp ose all forms of nuclear energy
A. The STA, in particular, has played a major role in raisingmany issues relating to the status of women in education, and in society generally. The fight on abortion and the right of women to choose, has been a major issue which has been hotly debated at the last few confer-
The leadership, of course, frightened of the union taking positions on broader social issues, have opposed supporting this question and affiliating to NAC Q. What should the STA be concentrating on in the period ahead? A.On numerous issues, S. T A. members are now beginning to see the need to mobilise much wider layers of teachers in struggles that are of immediate concern to them. Wages, class size, opposition to closures, and the issues of racism and women's rights are, I think,
I think the STA should focus its activity around these concrete questions in the coming year and, I
the political climate is changing in a way that will allow a strong response from teachers to demands that are formulated in a
coherent way.
Mobilising support on these issues should begin to lay the basis for a solid class-struggle opposition in the union to oppose the present leaders of the NUT and TUC.
Page 7 scan of this page
March 79
The Failure of Labour's Policies
propoganda against workers involved in industrial action.
employees in the service industries, such attacks.
David Ennals, Secretary for the Social Services, fired the shots:
"I appeal to those who are taking industrial action, for God's suspend it... They can no longer take it out on the patients. is no doubt some people have already died."
Now that the dispute has been settled, it is timely to ask ourselves about the extent of concern Ennals and the Labour leaders in general have shown for the of our National Health Service over the past few years and whether the Tory press have ever felt the need to expose its shortcomings times other than during industrial action.
Government Cuts
As chance would have it we don't have to look very tar for the answers. Just two days Ennals appeal to the hospital workers the annual report of the DHSS was published. The report showed that in certain areas converted shops, with their windows boarded up and their cielings leaking, were being used as doctors' surgeries, and that in industrial cities like Liverpool, for example, rates of illness and death are significantly above the national average, the provision of doctors is at its most meagre. Such is Ennals® real concern for the sick,
The solution proposed in the DHSS Report is alarming. In order to provide additional health clinics to cover the gaps in primary care, expenditure on the hospital service will have to be diverted. proposition totally ignores fundamental causes of the
The Labour government has once again shown its concern for gay rights by delaying the reform of anti-gay laws in Northern Ireland. The Homosexual Draft order, a measure to bring the laws of Ulster into line with that of England and Wales, was an attempt to answer the appeal made by the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association to the European Commission of Human Rights.
However the prospect of having too few friends in the House of Commons is too much for Callaghan, and the measure has been shelved inorder to keep the government in office. In an effort to get the backing of the seven official Unionists, the gay law reform has been dropped like a hot potato.
As all forms of homosexual activity in Northern Ireland are at present illegal, any measure to 'liberalise' the law would be important step forward for the gay community in Ulster. It would also represent a significant victory in response to the recent attacks on
CRISIS IN THE N.H.S.
Over the past two months we have experienced the usual barrage of
brunt of this assault have been the hospital workers, who like many
are most vulnerably
first LOW
PAY
sake
The re state
TOOT
at yoUSu
ness" within the NHS. Five years ago under the Barber cuts, after Conservative government reduced
capital expenditure on the NHS by £1ll millions. This is not very surprising. The Tories cared much for public spending. A year later, however, government came to power.
Labour leaders promised radical measures after a barren period where of the Tories in office. In fact, they
did nothing to restore budget. Instead, in Labour government cut the NHS bill by a further £75 millions. A s a result queues for hospital treatment have lengthened dramatically, and reports of people dying while on the waiting list have become increasingly widespread.
Such a Private Sector Benefits
the "sick- However, one of the key problems
GAYS UNDER ATTACK
the gay rights movement in Britain, - from the attacks on Maureen Colquhoun MP; prosecution, victimisation of Frank Kelly.
However bringing Ulster law into line with that of England and Wales is not enough by itself, since legislation on the mainland represents at best a liberal tolerance of homosexuality, providing you are over 21 and do it in private. In Scotland, as in Northern Ireland, all sexual acts between men are outlawed. Although three gays have recently taken the UK government to the European Court of Human Rights over the archaic Scottish laws, Strasbourg alone cannot solve the problem.
But anti-gay attacks will continue, and more often than not with the complicity of the government. The tasks ahead must be to build specific campaigns within the Labour Party, the trade unions, as well as outside the Labour movement in defence of gay rights.
Taking the
placed for
La new factory in
NHS.
at €20 per kilo,
A s result
During industry.
Money also
Plan. th e
hospital treatment.
never
Wilson's The
the NHS allowed for private
1976, the
under-subscribed.
doctors brings other the Gay News to the present
spent on advertising
and medical schools.
The Real Problems
made out of our health.
drug firms, anies,
Labour refuses to deal
the Daily Express.
Dru Benson
by: Terry Viney
for the NHS is not necessarily the
shortage of public money. but the
way so much of this money is used
by government for the benifit of
private drug companies, private
health insurance schemes, and
private medical practice.
La Roche is a Swiss drug
firm with annual profits around
€150-£200 millions. Last month we learned that the government is to
give the firm £45 million to build
Scotland. Roche national. are experienced exploiters of the
With their products Valium and Librium, which they produced N.
they were able to make sales to the NHS at £1, 962 per kilo for some years. In 1970 the NHS was paying out £10, 000 a day just for Roche tranquilli s e rs.
drug companies consistently produce a higher rate. of profit than any other manufact- the Black,
flows freely to private health insurance schemes such as BUPA and Private Patients
The function of such organizations is to enable some individuals to jump the long queues for
Private Practice Thrives
Badly needed money is also diverted out of the NHS and into private hands by the way doctors are employed by the state and the attractive opportunities they
work. The BMA resisted the attempt to put doctors in the employ of the NHS. Instead the government agreed to preserve their freelance status. As a result doctors are able to set up practices to their own convenience at the expense of the needs of the population. The areas offering greatest opportunities for time, an additional private income, (the south and the city suburbs) are relatively well supplied. Working class areas are correspondingly
This leads to the kind of disequalibrium brought out starkly in the DHSS report.
The independence enjoyed by
problems, ments, especially in the field of advertising. Each year £32 million is
drugs.
Included in this cost is the £10 million a year paid out to drug industry representatives who make the rounds of surgeries, hospitals
Fantastic fortunes are being
While the NHS is ailing - unable to meet people's essential needs - the
the insurance compthe advertising industry and private consultants are all thriving. These are the fundamentai problems the DHSS
with. These are panies", the kind of issues which do not find their way into the front page headlines of the Daily Mail and
But they do help to explain more clearly why the industrial action taken by the hospital workers last month has been only one of a series of dis-
page 7
what we stand for
It is becoming daily more apparent that the leaders of the labour movement offer policies not in the interests of working people but of capitalism.
The LSA sees as the central task today the building, in the unions & Labour Party, of a broad class-struggle, left-wing against the pro-capitalist policies of these leaders.
The struggle for such an altern -ative programme, based on the method of the Transitional Programme, should incorporate the following points: 1) The fight for socialism is inter-
Concretely, this means giving full support to national liberation movements (particularly in
Ireland) by mobilising the widest possible support around the right to self-determination. 2) The struggle for socialism is not merely 'economic'. It seeks to unite all the exploited & oppressed against capitalism. Concretely, this means giving full support to
Women's and Gay movements fighting for their liberation. Building mass actions - & winning support for them in the labour movement - is key to uniting workers and convincing the doubly oppressed that socialism has answers to their problems. 3) The struggle for socialism is inseperable from that to defend and extend democratic rights. Socialism as a system has to be infinitely more democratic than what exists in the West today. It is for this reason that socialists give full support to the struggle for socialist democracy in the deformed and degenerated workers states in the USSR, Eastern Europe & China.
The LSA is convinced that the present fragmentation of the left is a 'handicap' to achieving these aims. It therefore seeks to obtain as much unity as possible by supporting united-front campaigns on concrete objectives. At the same
the LSA encourages regroupment of the left on clear programm atic positions.
putes at our hospitals. Waiting lists have grown because our health has never been taken too seriously by successive govern-
who are more concerned to protect the interests of private companies like Roche rather than provide a fully viable NHS. Need for Mass Campaigns
The record of this government over the last few years demonstrates the unwillingness and the inability of the Labour leaders to support such a viable health service. It is therefore essential to build a mass campaign challenging the leaders hip of the Labour Party to improve the NHS. Such a campaign should be organized around the demand: "No to Hospital Closures". Implied logically within such a campaign would be the further demands for "The Nationalization of the Drug Com-
and "The Abolition of Private Medicine". Only by raising such issues in the Labour movement will wide layers of working people dissatisfied with a deteriorating health service, face up to the limitations of their own Labour government and see the need for socialist policies.
Page 8 scan of this page
BUILD A LEFT WING IN
page 8
For months, NUPE leader Alan Fisher -and his counterparts in the T&GWU and CMWU keep the lid on the mounting protest among public sector fed up with low pay and crumbling social services.
Under mass pressure from their members, they finally declared selective stoppages in support the £60 minimum wage and 35 hour week claim. Such action was not intended, however, to win decisive victory for the low-paid, but to allow Fisher and Basnett to gain a few concessions from Jim Callaghan, whose policies they generally accept.
This is why both were willing to join in the chorus of condemnation from government figures to the Tory press, against rank-and-fil e workers taking unofficial as in the case of ambulancedrivers.
The fruits of this strategy were
revealed in the recent deal establishing a 9% increase with a promise of a comparability study later in
original claim, it was sold to members on the basis that the government had 'scraped the barrel dry' and that further action could lead to redundancies and further cuts in
NUPE & GMWU workers - who had been urging all-out action - was one of confusion and anger. London Divisional Council of the GMWU, composed of shop stewards
representing 150,000 workers,
there were protest
actors
walked out in disgust, as in Salford
or Manchester.
The union leaders astutely calcul-
ated, however, that many workers,
- seeing the selective strikes as
ineffective and beginning to
the financial 'pinch'- would be
for the coming elections. It is
designed to eliminate actions such
seen by the Labour right-wing as
seriously undermining Labour's
by millions of the low-paid for a
decent living which is jeopardising
Labour's electoral chances. Rather
it is the pro-capitalist policies
that the government has pursued in
eroded wages and created massive
Such policies, coupled with anti-
union harangues - only serve to
alienate working class support and
boost the Tory claim that the
unions are 'wrecking' the economy
and need to be disciplined.
Callaghan's attacks on strikers
only open the door to Thatcher who
has been quick to claim that Labour
cannot control the unions, whereas
her policies, involving legal curbs
on picketing, will do
Alternative
The only way to curb this drift
to the right - which
door io the Tory wolves - is by
NUPE
- tried to
workers
drawn towards a settlement that would isolate the more militant areas and leave them little alternof ative but to drift back to work. This
is precisely what happened.
NUPER
says action,
insult.
Lessons The acceptance of the deal does not, in this sense, reflect lack of militancy among NUPE members who forced their leaders to declare action which, in itself, broke the back of the government's 5% norm. they could see no alternative for winning their claim.
The key question for militants in the public sector is to learn the lessons from the strike to ensure such set-backs don't happen again. The first weakness, as many aware, stence on limiting action to selective strikes which inadequate for dealing with a government intent on making the paid a test case for its wage freeze policies. Only an all-out stoppage would have had an impact.
The second weakness was the union leaders determination to presfeel ent the claim as a 'special case,
thereby dividing the struggles of
FIGHT THE CONCORDAT (continued from page]
fighting for a clear class-struggle alternative to the policies of the Concordat. the low-paid must springboard for campaigning, in the unions and in the Labour Party, for policies which can unite the whole Labour movement in opposition to Callaghan's austerity programme.
Elements for such a programme already exist. The fight for a 35 hour week inorder to tackle unemployment has - since the POEU pioneered it - become a component of most wage claims. united with a demand to cuts in the social services and the introduction of a massive public works programme to increase the number of hospitals, homes and schools.
Similarly, most wage claims argue the case for an increase, in terms of the need to catch up with inflation during the period of the trick. Social Contract. Why
this argument into a demand to protect all trade demanding that wages should pegged to rises in the cost of livopens the ing (as calculated by the Labour
movement)?
Cited action by all public
Weakness Many militants
and called for an all-out
Wing to call
Both recently,
NUPE
SOYs rank and file democracy,
the Lovinsults
their own members.
For GMWU
It reflects the fact that
WCTE was the union leaders' insi-
were totally
lowSuch policies
The mass strikes of
serve as a both It should be end all
out similar policies,
Heath governments?
not extend
unionists by be
the low-paid and weakening their no retreat
What was needed was un- For a sector workers in a common front.
are, of course only too aware of these weaknesses loss of pay.
strike What needs to be more clearly stressed, however, is the reason why the union leaders were unwill-
such action.
Despite the militant speeches of Basnett and Fisher, both of them em. essentially support the policies of the present Labour government.
for example, signed the Concordat, whose thrust is time. to support wage limits by curbing of shop
Accepting the need to curb pay, ings. were therefore forced into a position where they tried to curb rather
At no stage did they seek to
pro-capitalist policies. When the government said it had scraped the kitty dry, they didn't question its intent of paying a 25% increase
a drastic cut in defence spending inorder to boost the public sector and public sector workers wages.
nurseries. at branch,
It is quite clear that a fight for decent wages and jobs - not to speak of defending the social services - cannot be won by the existing
capitalist policies of the present
lesson of the present strike is the need to fight for clear alternative leaders.
Fisher which will provide a real channel for the discontent and militancy of millions of workers.
NUPE) was set up by militants to fight for such alternative policies and to demand greater democracy
Recall the Labour Party!
opposition to any attacks democratic rights of the unions - could begin to unite thousands of trade unionists and Labour Party activists around a common programme. The focal point of this struggle should be the recall of the TUC and Labour Party conferences.
After all, what mandate does the TUC or Callaghan have for cutting wages and boosting unemployment. 3oth the TUC and the Labour Party, at their last conferences, decisively threw out the 5% norm (the latter by a 2 to 1 majority). What mandate do either have to come to an agreement to curb rank-and-file democracy and to strike break? Did not the Labour movement throw
struggles, during the Wilson and
Demanding the recall of the Labour Party conference could begin to expose the undemocratic nature of Callaghan's policies and begin to elaborate an alternative on which to fight the coming election. Those leftwing Labour MPs who have declared their support ship and for the wages offensive have a
special responsibility in this fight which should be started now. All talk about a leftwing manifesto
Socialist Action
CAN Policies
* For action to win the pay claim,
on conference policy. £60 minimum wage and opposition to all forms of wage freeze. For automatic increases in wages to compensate for the effects of inflation.
For a 35 - hour week with no
* No cuts in staffing at any level, no cover of unfilled vacancies. Defend jobs and services by national strike action against the cuts. No to the cash limits syst-
* For full union democracy, For 100% union membership and for monthly branch meetings in work
For the regular election stewards for each section/dept at sectional/ dept meet-
* Unity of the union against all attacks on Black people. Stop all deportations of hospital workers through the work permit system. Opposition to all racist immigration controls. Campaign against fascists holding positions in the union. * For the full development of women in the union. For the implementation of the demands of the Working Women's Charter, notably on maternity leave &
For creche facilities district, area and at national meetings
within the union. Although CAN is a new organisation whose policies are unclear in certain ways, it can provide a pivot for militants determined that the next struggles are not sold short by the union
The policies CAN advocates -if taken up and fought for boldly both in the union and in the Labour Party - can begin to pose a serious alternative to the pro-capitalist policies of the union bureaucr'acy and Labour Party leaders.
Richard Munro
which does not base itself on the
real struggles opening up, and
which does not confront Callaghan
head-on, is merely... empty talk.
Fighting for such a programme,
allied with other demands in favour
of Labour's allies, would do much to offset any tendencies in the union
ranks, disillusioned with the Lab-
our governments policies, to think
of disaffiliating from Labour or abstaining in the coming election.
Such a trend would be disastrous. We must not leave the task
combatting right-wing Labour
only be returned to office on a
clear union-bashing programme.
The task of defeating Callaghan is
the task of the Labour movement
That is why campaigning for the
return of a Labour government is
a key issue for all socialists.
Campaigning for its return is not to identify with - or have any ill-
usions in - the Labour leaders.
On the contrary, such a campaign
has tobe coupled with a fight for
the removal of its present leader-
programmie in Iay -
our of one based on the real needs of working people.
A.D.Scott
Page 9 scan of this page
HANDS OFF VIETNAM !
March 79
invasion of Vietnam - begun on Feb 30th - and pulling out their troops.
Why did they send them in, in the first place? What reperassions will
this have? Below, Mike Strange answers these questions.
On February 20th, Chinese armed forces swept into North Vietnam. The official reason for the invasion
ions' by the Vietnamese into
reason was given by leading Chinese Stalinist Teng Hsiao-p'ing during
Washington inorder to strengthen ties with US
the fact that Vietnam needed to be 'punished' for its part in the overthrow of the bloody Pol Pot regime
Talk of 'punishing' the Vietnamese did not go down amiss with China's new-found allies in
regime has found it expedient 'condemn' the invasion & call for
Vietnamese troops from Cambodia and Chinese troops from Vietnam",
But Washington's attemptto strike a pose of benevolent 'neutrality' is meant entirely for public consump-
The Carter regime knew of Chinese intentions some time before and assured Teng that the 'operation' would in no way undermine the anticipated profitable trade between the two countries.
To reveal the US administration's real attitude towards the Chinese invasion, one has only to compare its calm reaction in recent days to its hysterical response in January
government stridently condemned Hanoi for aiding the insurgents and declared its refusal to even discuss normalising relations with Hanoi until its troops
Washington's unofficial 'approval' of the Chinese invasion is not
stems from the pleasure at seeing growing discord among the workers states. More important, however, it fits into the long term anti-Vietnamese campaign US Imperialism has been conducting for some time now.
Ever since it was forced out of Indochina in 1972, US Imperialism has sought to economically strangle the Vietnamese revolution. It refused to accept Vietnam's modest $4.75 billion dollars claim to repair the damage from nearly ten years barbaric bombing and
On March 24/25 at City University, the 1979 Socialist Femin-
ist annual conference will take
place.
The first day will be devoted
to discussing the general activit-
ies socialist feminists are In -
rolred in. This will be brokers
On March 16th, Chinese officials announced they were ending their
turned down any idea of 'diplomatic!
This campaign intensified last year in retaliation to the series of revolutionary measures that swept away the last remnants of capital-
from South Vietnam and
under a single planned economy. They obviously feared that this revolutionary impetus could set the masses in neighbouring Thailand and Kampuchea into motion. Military Backing
paralleled by attempts to militarily strengthen the brutal rightwing
8th) reported the
Chamanand as saying that "The US has agreed to speed deliveries of
response to the continued fighting
General Kriangsak was also
article, that "The US has reassured us and given us confidence that if the situation around us escalates, the US will not stand idly by".
It was not just Thailand but the
Kampuchea that was also seen as a vital counter-balance against the 'spread' of the Vietnamese revolution. As the Far Eastern Economic Review (Nov. 8th) put it, Australian government believed that ".. it is essential to preserve (Kampuchea) as an independent buffer between non-communist Thailand and Communist Vietnam.
It was for this reason that every major imperialist power lined behind the bloody Pol Pot regime during the civil war in Kampuchea last month. It is also for this reason that Thailand is now providing a refuge and base of military operations for the remnants of Pol Pot's army in its clashes with the new Kampuchean government.
It is only against this background
imperialist-inspired campaign against the Vietnamese revolution that the Chinese invasion can be understood. Ever since Chairman Mao 'clinked' champagne glasses with Nixon 7 years ago, Peking has increasingly viewed the Vietnamese revolution as 'de-stabilising' factor on its borders and an obstacle to improved economic and diplomatic
Socialist Feminist Conference
uction.
The second day will, drawing
on the political ideas emerging
on Saturday, be devoted to a
more general discussion on soc-
ialist feminist politics. Papers
should be sent to: Conference
D'arnirg Croup. 2- Villa Road,
by Michael Strange
escalation of Imperialism's anti-Vietnam
only too anxious to identify with its new-found friends and jump on the
This explains their hostility to the expropriations of the capitalists in South Vietnam, using the fact that many were of Chinese national origin to portray the measures as 'racist'. It also explains their military build-up along the Vietnamese borders and Ieng's sabre-rattling in Washington during his recent visit to America.
The fall of the Pol Pot regime last month was clearly seen as a dangerous step forward by Peking. It threatened to de-stabilise the
across their attempts to forge ties with US Imperialism umbrella of 'peaceful co-existence'!
obviously designed to help 'cont-
mese revolution and to teach Vietnam - which Teng arrogantly
a sharp lesson.
There can be no doubt that China's invasion is restoring capitalism in Vietnam or at offering an opening for a massive influx Imperialist troops. Either of these directly threaten China's aim is, quite simply, to preserve 'stability' on its borders to facilitate its dealings with
Dangers
Whatever its aims may be, however, the dangers of the invasion are acute. In the immediate sense, they lie in the support given to the rightwing Thailand regime, which may increase its military support for the remnants of Pol Pot's army still fighting on the Thai-Kampuchea border, and the rightwing guerillas fighting the Pathet Lao in Laos.
In the longer term, the danger lies in the cover China's invasion provides for Washington's manoeuvres to advance Imperialism's basic aim of rolling back the advances made by the Vietnamese revolution.
Hands Off!
Defenders of the Chinese and Vietnamese revolutions must demand that Peking unconditionally and immediately withdraw its troods =om Vietnam and end its
...
back the revolution in South-East Asia.
page 9
Iranian Trotskyists
Raise Demands
In the deepening revolutionary situation since the February insurrection, the following demands have been raised by Iranian Hebz-e-Kargarene-e Sos-
, Iranian Section of the Fourth Inter-
* For the development, and co-ordination of the democratic committees of the toiling masses in the factories and offices, armed forces and in the neighbour-
The Committees should be run
ed by the toilers and the soldiers, and with all political parties and viewpoints given equal rights.
The objective is the formation of broadly based councils or soviets
delegates to fight for the needs, interests, and rights of the masses. * For workers' control of the factories and offices through the work-
of the enterprises to the workers committees and public, Immediate expropriation of the properties of the Shah and the royal family, and
of the banks, oil industry and other key branches of the economy. * Build the alliance between the
credit, adequate machines and fert-
for the peasants. Access to adequ-
* Against the attempts of the capitalist government to rebuild the old
the rank-and-file soldier s committees should elect all officers and forge links with the workers committees and armed civilians to build an armed force under the control of the soldiers and toilers com-
* Against the attempts of the government and the Islamic Revolutionary Council to impose censorship and restrict democratic rights. The
committees serve as the only guarantee of the protection and extens-
* Key democratic rights that must be fought for now are freedom of religion and seperation of church and state, equal rights for women, and for the right to self-determination for the oppressed nationalities, including the Kurds, Azerbai-
* No imposition of a governmentor of a constitution from above. For immediate convocation of a freely elected, sovereign Constituent Assembly to decide these and other questions facing the masses. * No capitalist government can meet the demands and needs of the toiling masses; the opposite is the
For a workers and peasants republic, a government based on broad democratic councils of the
* For the defence of all the conquests of the revolution against domestic reaction and imperialism. *Workers and Toilers of the world: Come: resides the Irarian Revoiution by demanding that the imperialists keep their hands off Iran!.
Page 10 scan of this page
Who is behind the
Last month, Gerald McIlwaine - along with other members of what has become known as the 'Shankill Butchers' - was jailed after being convicted on kidnapping, the sectarian attacks ofthis loyalist gang were
Picked up at random in a black taxi driven by Moore - a member of the gang - they were taken to Protestant areas, tortured and finally butchered to death with an axe or by having their throats cut. UDR
All the brutal aspects of these murders were brought out at the trial. What did not receive such prominence was the fact that Gerald Mollwaine, leader of the 'gang', was amember of the British army-controlled UDR (Ulster Defence Regiment).
The UDR was formed in 1970 as a replacement for the B-Specials. Like the B-Specials it has gained a widespread reputation for its violent anti-Catholic bigotry. Unlike the B-Specials, however, it is part of - and under the control of-the British army.
Involvement by British-controlled UDR individuals in such sectarian violence is not new. As last month's Irish Tires put it: "Scores of UDR members and ex-members have appeared in court on serious charges and have been found guilty of sectarian killings".
Law and Order
The fact that such individuals are members (or ex-members) of the UDR gives the lie to the British government claim that the army in Northern Ireland is there as a 'neutral force' restoring 'law and order'.
The only order the army is there to restore is one based upon the bigotry and privileges of the Orange State which has discriminated against the Catholic minority for over 50 years. They have tried to restore this 'order' by a systematic campaign of harassment, torture and victimisation of the Catholic community.
If figures such as Mollwaine decide to take the law into their own hands - organising private 'gangs' for the assassination of individual Catholics - it is not an accident. They are merely carrying to a logical and savage conclusion the role the British army is being called on to play.
Responsibility
The fact that it is the British army which is the key force oppressing the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland places a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of British socialists. What we do - or not do - to champion the right of the Irish people to self-determination will seriously contribute to the outcome of the struggle.
Building a mass campaign calling for the immediate withdrawal of
British troops would have a major impact. It would give renewed courage to the oppressed minority (who have been through a demoralising period), undermine the morale of the British army and isolate the loyalist murder squads
by removing their main support.
Such a campaign should set itself
the task of forcing the government
to withdraw the troops (as did the
Socialist Action-
SHANKILL BUTCHERS?
assault and gun charges. The 19 victims of
innocent Catholics. mass anti-Vietnam war movement in the USA), or of bringing it down. Failure
It is a major condemnation of the British left that, ten years after the entry of troops onto the streets of Derry or Belfast, there still exists no mass campaign calling for their immediate withdrawal.
The failure of the left to unite in building such a movement is not only an example of their failure to give concrete aid to an oppressed nation fighting for its rights. It is also a failure to understand that this struggle has a direct effect upon the British class struggle too.
It should not have to be pointed out that the repressive laws used against the minority are passed and enacted by Westminster. They are, therefore, a direct threat to the civil liberties of the British people, as Roy Jenkin's 1976 AntiTerrorism Act proves.
A campaign in defence of the right of the Irish people to self-determination would also strike a blow for the defence of democratic rights in Britain too.
UTOM
One of the major causes for the lack of a mass-action orientated campaign has undoubtedly been the sectarian in-fighting of the left. Movement after movement has been started-up - the ISC (Irish Solidarity Campaign), AIL (Anti-Internm -ent League), TOM (Troops Out Movement) - only to disintergrate through internal wranglings over slogans and tactical issues.
One of the most important recent steps forward has been the launching of UTOM (United Troops Out Movement) which has been ableto launch some modest, but serious, actions. The LSA wholeheartedly supports UTOM and believes its main thrust should be towards building a mass-action campaign around the slogan "Troops Out of Ireland Now'.
We would lend our voice to that of UTOM in calling on all forces of the left, supporting its platform, to identify with the campaign.
Michael Hawley
IRAN
The Powder Keg
The main aim of the government has been to rush to establish stable capitalist rule by calling on the masses to give up their arms, abandon their self-elected committees in the army and industry and return meekly to work. They fear the dynamic of a situation in which the masses, increasingly self-confident, could continue the democratisation of Iranian society in a clear anti-capitalist direction.
A key target of their attacks have been workers in the oilfields and other industries who (as the Tehran daily Kayhan reported on Feb 19th) "are not listening to the Ayotollah Khomeini" and over whom "leftist groups have an astonishing amount of influence". Correctly insisting that the Ayotollah's government was elected by no - one, they have refused to abandon their elected committees and demands for legalising workers' control and opening the books of companies to public scrutiny.
Curbing such committees has been a major aim in restoring stable capitalist rule and is the reason why statements from the Barzagan government have become ever more shrill. On Feb 20th, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, a principal advisor to the Ayotollah, was reported in the New York Times as denouncing "those rebellious elements who are trying to form workers' committees and threatening demonstrations if oppos. ed".
Alternative
The attacks on industrial workers has gone hand in hand with a more general attempt to restore 'order' by curbing the initiative of the masses. Calling on people to return the arms seized during the mass antiShah mobilisations, the government has ordered Iran's 450, 000 soldiers to return to barracks & accept the discipline of their former proShah officers.
Such moves have clearly brought the government into increasing conflict with rank-and-file soldiers who have set up democratic cttees fighting for their right to free speech, to participate in political activity, and to "elect commanders we trust, not appointments from above".
What the government fears from these committees - in industry, in the army and the neighbourhood -is that, representing the democratic interests of the masses, they could become an alternative power structure to their unelected rule Organised on a regional & national basis, they could lead the struggle for elections to a genuine Constituent Assembly in which a Workers and Peasants' government could emerge.
Prestige
The government's repressive moves have, of course, won the approval of anxious officials both in London & Washington. The Ayotollah Khomeini, who was earlier reviled by US officials & the mass media for refusing to come to a deal with the Shah, is now seen as the main force for shoring up the
March 79
crumbling capitalist state and curbing any encroachments on private property.
There can be no doubt that the Ayotollah is well-placed to carry out this task. The fact that today, however, he is forced to oppose - and not champion - the aspirations of the Iranian people will increasingly undermine his prestige. Growing layers will begin to see that the only way of defending the gains they have won - and of extending them - will be by seeking a socialist outcome to the revolutionary struggle.
Such a process has already begun to open up not only in the opposition developing to the Bazargan government among soldiers in the army and workers in the industrial cent.res. The fact that the Ayotollah has begun to curb the rights of women and the oppressed nationalities - in particular the Kurds - has drawn wider layers into anti - government action. On March 8th, for example, there was a 5000 strong demonstration in Tehran by women protesting the role reserved for them under the Ayotollah's Islamic Republic.
Opportunity
Such a situation will open up major opportunities in the period ahead for revolutionary socialists ' such as those organised in the Socialist Workers Party, Iranian section of the Fourth Internationall. By championing the rights of the workers -& their allies among the peasants,
Political prisoners released from
Savak jails.
soldiers, women & oppressed national minorities - they have a real chance of winning thousands to see that the solution to their problems lies in breaking with capitalism & fighting for a socialist republic
It is not just a question of supporting the demands raised but of helping to build the popular organs of power that have already sprouted up in the factories, army and neighbourhoods and trying to link them on a national basis. Such organs, representing the real interests of the mass of Iranians, could be-
gin to pioneer the call for a Workers & Peasants government within a democratically - elected Constitvent Assembly.
by Tim Robinson See page 9 for position of Iranian Trotskvists.
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