Socialist Action (LSA) Vol. 3, No. 6, August 1980
A different group, and a different paper from the IMG’s Socialist Action of 1983–88. The League for Socialist Action were supporters of the US Socialist Workers Party’s tendency in the Fourth International who split from the IMG in 1976 and rejoined it in 1982.
The scan: Socialist Action v3 no6 Aug 1980.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive)
Uncorrected machine reading of the whole issue. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from the scan and has not been corrected or cut into articles. Each page gives the headlines first, then the columns in order, so one article runs on into the next. Expect misread words. Use it to find things; quote from the scan.
Page 1 scan of this page
Socialist
As jobless total hits 1.9m-
Protests Rock Racist Regime
This month's announcement of 1.9 million on the dole brings the jobless total to something approaching the catastrophe of the 'thirties. And even this doesn't include the thousands of women not registered for work and the thousands more on part-time working in textiles etc.
Thatcher claims, or course, that the figures are due to the influx of school-leavers onto the job market. But the thousands who left school this summer merely join the steady trickle being made redundant every day in all parts of the country. by Pete Marais
Smith down - Botha next?
Action
For a Class Struggle Left Wing in the Labour Movement
SCRAP
MISSILES
NOT JOBS
* In the West Midlands, 30,000 jobs have disappeared since January alone; * In South Wales, 6,000 pitworkers
in steel; * In the North West, 290,000 job-
ACCIDENT?
wasted on nuclear missiles, whole areas of the country - from South Despite the arrest of hundreds of Black demonstrators, the South African regime has been unable to crush the wave of student protest and strikes that have been sweeping the country for the past few months.
By June, the student boycotts, called to protest the regime's racist education system, had spread to parts of Namibia, a mineralrich country occupied by South African troops and administered as a virtual colony.
The bulk of the more than 100, 000 student protestors are from that section of the Black population classified by the government as Coloured (of mixed ancestry),
jobs are to go besides the 11,000
less are chasing 14,000 vacancies.
At a time when billions are being
cont. back page UPSURGE their real living standards.
6,000 and calling in the police.
TABU although African and Indian students in some cities have joined in.
The upsurge has not, however, been confined merely to Coloured students. It rapidly spread to Black workers who have been hit by a in solidarity. high inflation rate and a decline in
The strike wave started in Durban which has a tradition of militancy.
Thousands of textile workers struck at the Frametex Company. The management responded by sacking
After that, it spread as far afield day general strike. as the Stilfonein gold mine, where
Women
in the
1980's
PAGES 6&7
August 1980 HENCE T
YOUR VAUX SOCIRL SOCIARISM PEACE 4,500 downed tools, the Goodyear Tyre Factory at Uitenhage and Cape Town where more than 6000 meat and clothing workers walked out. The strike by the meat workers was particularly popular - a consumer boycott of red meat was organised by the Black townships
GENERAL STRIKE
The extent of labour unrest was so deep that - towards the end of June - more than 200,000 of Cape Town's African and Coloured workers took part in a virtual two-
Humphrey Tyler, in the Christ-
Price 15 p ARTY ian Science Monitor, pointed out how the action "..cut production in all major factories and greatly reduced the traffic on Cape Town's usually bustling streets and sidewalks".
While supporting the demands raised by the students, the Black workers also put forward their own demands for wage increases and an end to job discrimination;
CLAMPDOWN
As it has done during previous periods of Black resistence, the apartheid regime has sought mainly to clamp down the lud through
cont. on back page
Page 2 scan of this page
SOCIALISM STARTS NOW !
DEACE•JOBS
SWP: OUTSIDE, LOOKING IN...
page 2 (Streatham CLP)
Callaghan - and his right-wing cronies - got a rough ride at the special one-day Labour Party conference last May. Owen was booed when he called for the retention of Cruise Missiles and Healy mounted the platform to cries of 'Out! Out!'.
Moreover, they were also served notice that the gains in party demoracy chalked up at the last conterence were not to be played with. The Rank-and-File Mobilising Committee - launched at lunch-time - - argued the need to deepen them still further further, particularly around PLP accountability.
SHIFT
The fact that the right-wing came in for such a drubbing clearly reflects the shift left among party
Since the Labour leaders were uncerem oniously thrown out of office at the last election, the debate about policies and direction in the Labour Party has hotted up.
For socialists, such a debate is crucial because it is within the Labour Party that is being hammered out exactly what opposition must be mounted against the Tories and what government must, replace Thatcher when she is finally removed.
Unfortunately, many left organisations seem to view this debate -which is gaining the attention of wide layers in the unions - almost as a non-event. Only last month, Socialist Review - the monthly journal of the SWP - contributed its sideline comments.
WRANGLE?
The main thrust of the article -written by Ian Birchall - is to show how irrelevent, for the real class struggle this debate really is. The fight to 'democratise' the party, begun at the last conference, is seen as a 'long debilitating wrangle' and the opposition to the right wing, centred around Benn, as "limited'.
It is clearly true, as Birchall says, that there are severe limitations on the oppositional 'groundswell' building up. The Bennite lett, despite their rhetoric, have done
rank-and-file since the Tories came to power. There is a growing understanding that it is impossible to take on the Tories under the banner of the old leadership which lost Labour the election.
This was reflected in delegate after delegate who criticised not only the Tories but also the last Labour government. As Ron Hill (Monmouth CLP) put it: "South Wales steelworkers have been attacked by the policies of successive governments.. I won't stamp the streets for a Labour government like the last one".
Anü yer despite the radical talk - and the obvious feeling for clear alternative policies - the mass of delegates left the conference hall empty-handed. What could have been a real chance to discuss how
very little to mobilise union ranks against the Tory oftensive. Moreover, despite the calls for democracy, they have not yet sought to challenge the leadership head-on by calling for the removal of Callaghan and others who refuse to abide by the decisions of conference.
POINT?
But this is hardly the point. What the SWP doesn't seem to understand is that the fight for party democracy or different policies -however limited they may be - is rooted in the radicalisation of thousands of trade unionists who are seeking an akternative to the Callaghan leadership.
When Benn calls for MPs to be subject to mandatory re-selection, when he opposes cuts (at least verbally), he is voicing the feeling of thousands of workers who are trying to turn their party - the one they built, finance and vote for -into a tool of anti-capitalist struggie. LESSONS
Perhaps, in this respect, it might be useful for Birchall and other SWP nembers to brush up a little on their history. They might find that the Labour Party was born out of the struggles of the unions at the turn of the century and that - for all its faults - it remains the
PEACE JOBS-FREEDOM
became a talking shop used by the
right-wing.
WEAKNESS
his allies on the NEC. Their fight for party democracy certain policies in the interests of working peoplea step forward.
But counterposing the programme of a future 'democratic'
the Tories are now creating is not enough. Just how will the pro gramme of a Labour government
today, the social services being
political arm of the trade union movement.
With this under their belt, they might even take another step forward and realise that this is why 10 million workers continue to vote Labour every year and will continue to do so for some time to come.
a struggle against its bureaucratic leaders.
TWO-PRONGED
at present, will take two prongs. The first will be an attempt to make the party adopt policies in the interests of working people.
Party which launched the mass
which has pioneered the anti-nuclear fightback and which gave
posals shows that this is already beginning to happen.
place at the organisational level to force the Labour leaders, once
icies. The big debate that is now opening up over mandatory re-
and Black people?
AWARE fight for". to mobilise action against the Tories
NEC in its sparring match with the
the Tories.
This is precisely the weakness of the strategy followed by Benn and
and for
• clearly represent
its credibility
Labour government to the anarchy
in 4 years time stop jobs being axed
SIDELINES
From there, they might also realise that a fight for alternative policies in the unions must, necessarily, overspill into the Labour Party in
That struggle, which is developing
The fact that it was the Labour
anti-cuts demonstration last year,
serious support to the fight against Thatcher's racist immigration pro-
MEDECINE Secondly, the fight will also take
in office, to implement these pol-
selection, election of the leader of
slashed, or the attacks on women
Moreover, these attacks -. if they are allowed to continue - could create such demoralisation among working people that there is no guarantee that Labour would be re-elected in 4 years' time.
Many delegates, representing thousands of party activists, are only too aware of this. One Edinburgh CLP delegate pointed out that 'if the Tories are allowed to last their full term, then in 4 years' time there could be nothing to
She clearly spoke for many others - those Labour Party . activists fighting, in their various areas against the Tory cuts, jobless totals and harassment of Black people etc. They realise that the fight for socialism cannot wair four years but has to be taken up now.
And they are right. Labour can only win back its mass base if it is seen to be fighting on their behalf. The struggle against Callaghan has to be rooted in a fight to tur the party into a fighting unit against
STEP FORWARD
The lead given by the NEC in opposing Cruise Missiles like its lead in promoting the anti-cuts demonstration last year - are clearly steps in the right direction. It is actions such as these that need to be promoted if Labour is to regain
The coming Labour Party conference is clearly going to be a major event. But, unless it leads to" a fighting programme here and not 4 years' hence - the victories the left win will be merely paper ones. Socialism starts now.
the party and conference decisions being binding on the government are clear examples of this.
All socialists, if they are serious about getting involved in the way forward for the labour movement and not just commenting on it, should be in the Labour Party arguing for a clear perspective
It may well be, as Birchall says, that the Bennite left has no real intention of leading a struggle for socialist policies. It is no answer, however, to stand on the sidelines denouncing him. Such a posture can only cut the SWP off from those thousands of workers who do support him and who do believe his policies are a real alternative to those of the right-wing
Rather than standing outside denouncing him - like spectators at a cup final - the SWP should be in the Labour Party, arguing its positions and helping to put Benn - and Callaghan - to the test before their thousands of support-
Strangely enough, in a truly paradoxical way, the end of Birchall's article spells out the basic weakness of the SWP's position. He writes:
"Tribune has devoted many articles to Thatcher's policies on wages
Socialist Action DEMOCRACY
In an important move to extend the gains on party
democracy - begun at the last
conterence .. a malor new 1n
itiative has been launched by
the Rank-and-File Mobilising
Committee.
Launched at the Special
Conference last June, the
committee is supported by seven
organisanons moluang . une
SCLV (Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory), Campaign
for Labour Party Democracy ,
Clause IV. Institute for Workers
Control, Labour Co-ordinating
Committee and National organ-
isation of Labour Students (NOLS).
The Mobilising Committee
is organised around 5 basic policies. These are
1 Mandatory re-selection of
MPs: 3 Noc to de inte the Maties or
no change in the structure of
the NEC:
4 the Party must decide the
leader;
5 make the PLP accountable.
While some of the points
are blurred particularly over
: PLP :..runtability
- the Mobilising Committee is
a major step forward in uniting
the left in the fight for part!
democracy and should ee
supported by all trade union
and LP activists.
Dave McLeod (TGWU)
Below, Mike Rodney answers an article "The Labour Left against Thatcher in the June issue of Socialist Review. and anti-union laws: some of them are interesting and well-informed. But all are characterised by a sense of looking at the trade union movement from the outside, of commenting on its policies and predicting its achevements. but not at any price fighting for a line inside that movement".
Only too true. But shouldn't the SWP drink some of the medecine it prescribes for others? Shouldn't it stop looking at the Labour Party from the 'outside' before it becomes peripheral to the fight now opening up?
NEW PAMPHLET
LABOUR PARTY
Wich Way?
SOCIALIST ACTION 20p
Page 3 scan of this page
August
attacks!
A few months back, an all-party Select Cttee called for the scrapping of the 'sus' law. This was clearly in response to the anger and indignation building up in the Black community which had erupted on the streets in places like Bristol. What was the reaction of Tory Minister for Race Relations, Timothy Raisin? Speaking in the House he commented: 'I don't think we should adapt the criminal law to suit particular ethnic groups.'. In other words, thumbs down. Far from curbing harassment of the Black community - under blatently racist laws - the Tory government intends increasing it. The 'fishing' raids - as the press have dubbed them -bear ample witness to this.
NATIONALITY ACT
The contents of the govern-
ment's proposed Nationality
Bill are not yet known in any
detail. It is likely, however,
that they will be based upon
the Green Paper produced by
a Selec: Citee in 1977 of
:: Tir. aid Labour MPs.
The Green Paper suggested
two classes of citizen - the
British citizen (BC) and the
British Overseas citizen
(BOC).
It need hardly be stated
that most BCs will be white
and BOCs Black.If these
proposals become law, the
way will be open for an
attack upon the democrat-
ic rights of most Blacks in
this country to have a vote,
to be eligible for health
service treatment and for
social security payments,
and to have the right of
permanent settlement here.
RAIDS
Less than a month ago, for example, over 50 immigration officers and police swooped on nine 'Bestway' shops in London in true gestapo fashion. In a totally arb. itrary way, they seized over 30 people and locked them up for
Malcolm X
His Writings:
By Any Means Necessary
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Malcolm X Talks to Young People
Two Speeches by Malcolm X
of the most prominant revolutionaries of our times.
Auckland-Rd, London, SE 19.
Stop these racist
by Mike Rodney (CARL Steer. Cttee) between five and ten hours.
This 'fishing' expedition led to seven people being charged with various offences under the 1971 Immigration Act. One old man of 62 was deported without being given the chance even to return home!
ISOLATED?
Similar raids have taken place elsewhere. In one, over 50 immigrant workers were snatched in an army-type operation in which vans were posted outside a factory and police dogs used to patrol a neighBouring railway line to forestall any escapes.
This type of behaviour - random raids on Black workers who have to prove they have a 'right' to be in Britain - is being increasingly used to intimidate and harass the Black community.
Whitelaw's curbs give police the green light to harass Black community
It is, in effect, turning them into second-class citizens who feel the need to carry a passport with them everywhere in case of police victimisation. As in South Africa -with its vicious apartheid regime -an unofficial version of the "pass laws' is being introduced.
Malcolm X evolved, during his brief life, into the most prominant Black Freedom Fighter in the USA. Gunned down in 1965, Malcolm had begun to show thousands of Blacks the need to define their own history, to demand their rights and to stand up and fight for them. In his evolution as a Black Freedom Fighter, Malcolm became convinced that this struggle would have to be related to a broader struggle by all the oppressed against capitalism. His writings are those of one
Copies of the above are available from: Socialist Action, c/o 58,
NATIONALITY Tories against Black people.
the racist curbs of the 1971 Act,
ing electoral promises.
ust. While they have been careful
screws on the Black community. less persons.
FIGHT-BACK
raids have met with growing outrage, as at Kilburn where Black groups - backed up by the Trades
ised a mass picket.
Similar protests have been held against attempts to deport illegal immigrants' -- such as the Vaarki family - on trumped-up charges. Camden Black groups - supported again by the local labour movement - organised a number of actions, including deputations to Raisin himself.
ion by a meeting of 60 delegates from Black groups nationally to
CARL
Giving the green light to the pol- in Britain. ice to harass the Black community is not, however, unexpected. It is in Camden. merely another installment in the general campaign launched by the
Just before the election, Thatcher warned of the country being swamped by an 'alien culture' and Willie Whitelaw promised to toughen up
The 'fishing raids' are merely fulfill-
Another promise that seems likely fice to be fulfilled shortly is the Nationality White Paper due out in Aug-
RULE? not to leak any specific proposals -for fear of a mass outcry - it seems clear that this will also tighten the
According to expectations, it may drastically effect the civil rights of
CARL new Nationality Act.
Black people here and turn thousands of British subjects into state-
The Tory oftensive has not, however, gone unanswered. The fishing
Council and Labour Party - organ-
planned.
LABOUR Such moves show that Blacks in Britain have no intention of meekly submitting to the Tories' racist proposals. The most recent example of this defiance was the decis-
refuse co-operation with the police and to leada fight for Black rights.
What is important, in the coming
South London CARL Public
Meeting
by Terry Shew (Peckham YS)
Juno and Meena Vaarki- since
leaving their native India- have
spent most of their adult lives
They have roots
here and have made a real con-
tribution to community work
Yet, under a technicality in
the 1971 Immigration Act,
the Vaarki family was for
months threatened with deport-
ation and, finally found them-
selves forced out of the coun
try. The fact that doctors ad- it.
vised them that their son- suf-
fering from a serious illness-
ought not to return to India
cut little ice with the Home Of-
The experience of the Vaarki
family is not unique. Thou
sands of black people have,
under the racist powers of the
1971 Act, found themselves
victimised and harassed by the
police, given unlimited powers
under the Act's provisions.
Now, to strengthen racist leg-
islation against black people,
the Tories intend to bring in
their Nationality Act, which
could result in hundreds more
British subjects being consid-
ered 'stateless' - ie deprived of
many elementary civil rights.
all).
I: was to figh: this legalised"
racism that CARL- ic Ca":.
paign Against Racist Laws-
was set up over a year ago.
Since then, various local
groups have appeared around
the country, taking up cases
period, is that all these initiatives against the Tory offensive should be co-ordinated together into a national campaign against police harassment and the threat of a
The framework for such a campaign already exists. Last year, CARL - Campaign Against Racist Laws -was established as a broad move. ment with support from Labour MPs, Black groups, trade unions & left organisations. On November 25th, it mobilised over 15,000 in action against the Tory attempts to tighten the Immigration laws.
Such a campaign has to be concretely built in the coming months on a mass action focus, uniting all those willing to fight the Tories' proposals. Local CARL groups -of which many already exist - have to be set up and national actions
Building such a fight-back is not only of concern to Black people whose civil rights will be severely
discussion forums
Socialist Action holds regular discussion forums on the problems facing the labour, women's and black movements, and also on liberation struggles taking place internationally. If you are interested in coming along to any of these forums, which are conducted in an informal manner- where everyone has a chance to contribute- please contact us c/o 58 Auckland Road, London SE19. We will send you full details of our current programme of forums.
page 3
STOP THE
TORY
RACIST
LAWS
of victims of the Act and propagandising on the need to build a mass movement against
South London CARL, which has been in existence for about six months, has been involved in similar activities and has won the backing of a number of black organisations and Labour Party and YS branches.
MEETING
Considering that the Tories' Nationality White Paper is due out now, S. London CARL has decided to make its priority the building of a mass meeting to spread awareness of the Act and begin to mobilise forces to fight it. Speakers at the rally will be Ann Dummett of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, and, provisionally, John Tilley (Labour MP for Lambeth centrall an: Vishnu Sharma, of the India"
Workers Association (South-
Rets oin S London CARL. preparations for the meetingcontact SL CARL, c/o Lansbury House, 41 Camberwell Grove, London SE5.
eroded if the Tory proposals get through. It is also of concern to the entire labour movement.
The Tory attack on Black people has one aim and one aim only: it is to divide and confuse the labour movement, to pin the anger and resentment against soaring dole queues and falling living standards on Blacks instead of themselves. This is why it is essential that the labour movement - which on paper is committed to repealing the 1971 Act - begins to support the campaign. Only by attacking, head-on, the Tory attempts to blame Blacks for the crisis can the labour movement face the difficult years ahead united.
Already, a number of local Labour Parties, Labour MPs and Trades Councils have given their backing to CARL. That support has to be increased a hundred times if the racist offensive is to be stopped in its tracks.
REPEAL THE 1971 ACT NO MORE RACIST CURBS NO NATIONALITY ACT
Socialist Action
Page 4 scan of this page
page 4 Last month's mass demonstration against Cruise Missiles marked a major re-surgence of the anti-nuclear movement in Britain. It was in direct response to Tory Defence Secretary Francis Pym's announcement that 160 missiles were about to be sited over here. 2,000 US Air Force personnel will, it seems, accompany the missiles which will be guarded by 220 British soldiers. Pym justitied the new import on the grounds that it will 'balance' Russia's deadly SS20 long-range missile. He also went on to assure us that the weapons will only be used by joint agreement between Britain and the USA. What he was less keen to admit was that there will be no 'dual-key' system and that the button will operate on Carter's orders alone.
CUTS
The Cruise missiles - which form part of 'our commitment to NATO - come from US tunds. Tory plans to replace the ageing Polaris submarines do not. Massive increases in defence spending are already underway at a time when Thatcher is only too keen to slash health, education and housing to the bone.
When it is realised that the cost of replacing one Polaris submarine could buy the equivalent of twenty-five new hospitals, the government's priorities couldn't be better illustrated.
The Tories, who have also given £16 million for the modernisation of NATO's nuclear complex, are not alone in this. Carter also plans a massive build-up in arms over the next five years - doubling military expenditure to 250,000 million dollars a year by 1985 CAUSE
But why have Carter & Thatcher plunged so suddenly into the arms race at a time of growing recession? Why are the so-called limited resources to be spent on nuclear
SOCIALIST ACTION:
Editor: A.D.Scott.
PEOPLE BEFORE BOMBS
death-traps rather than on social need? The answers - at least from them - are predictable.
Using the Soviet intervention in Afganistan as a 'bogeyman', they have stressed the need to preserve security in the face of the Warsaw Pact. Pym's decision to site the Cruise Missiles was, he affirmed, a 'clear expression of the determination of NATO as a whole to preserve its security'.
Similar answers have come from the Shadow Defence Secretary, David Owen, who also supports the Cruise Missiles. At the special Labour Party conference recently, he declared: 'Peace..is won by making a bargain and negotiating with the Soviet Union from a position of strength'.
RED ARMY
In order to justify this position, figures about the Soviet Union's "better-stocked military arsenal' are deliberately exagerated. CND's journal, Sanity, for example suggests that figures on the actual size of the Red Army differ by as much as one million.
It also notes that the supposed superior tank force of the Warsaw Pact is made up entirely of T54/ 55s - tanks which first saw service as long ago as 1949. Others, it claims, are even older.
Moreover, in the nuclear field, it explains how the government and press have deliberately sought to mislead the public. While drawing attention to the USSR's so-called 'advantage' in 'theatre' weapons, they totally fail to take into account the undisputed advantage of the West in inter-continental 'strategic' weapons.
IRAN
So what is the build-up really about? If the Imperialists already outdistance the Warsaw Pact, why the clamour to pour yet more money into arms?
The West's change in mood began
Ass. Ed.: Alan Wilkes.
Bus. Manager: Dave Macleod.
Typeset by Bread 'n Roses (TU) 01-485 4432. Printed by Spider Web Offset (TU) 9 Rosemont Rd, NW3.
H caly wil c valLIllOwu the Shah of Iran in 1978. Three years earlier, the then President Ford had openly stated that the
ian Gult as having an 'over-riding
national interests of the USA..?. Ford was, of course, reterring to
on which US - and European -industry depended. He ended by
interrupted supply of that oil.
BULLY-BOY
vital in securing the US oil inter-
on behalf of its Western masters.
by popular revolution - Washing-
them still further.
Western powers have begun to
any longer to control the Third World through local puppets,
considered.
CAMPAIGN
This has led, in the USA as in
propaganda about the USSR's expansionist role): * developing a rapid growth in armaments;
back conscription; * discussing how to make ourselves 'sate'
black mail will not, however, be
exists among working people as
and schools to fuel further war
OPPOSITION
The task, however, is to begin
Clear attack. dows.
by Terry Viney (Croydon CLP-)
US government regarded the Pers-
strategic and economic importance'. It was, he went on, 'vital to the
the vast oil reserves in that region
saying that the USA would consid. er military action to secure an un-
The Shah's army - with its huge stock of modern equipment - was
der-neath. ests. Its role was to police the Gulf
When the Shah was overthrown -
around. ton's interests were directly threatened. Moreover, growing anti-US struggles in countries from Grenada to Nicaragua have threatened
It is within this situation that the
JICDS indulge in an arms frenzy. Unable
direct bully-boy tactics are being
Britain, to a three-pronged offensive (all "justified' by hypocritical
* promoting the idea of bringing
from nuclear attack.
Getting away with their nuclear
easy. A deep anti-war feeling still
was expressed, a decade ago, in the mass anti-Vietnam war movement.
Cutting back on hospitals, housing
aims will only deepen this feeling.
MONTY PYTHON'S
NUCLEAR GAMES
by Phil Dent (NUT)
Did you know that with a
few home-made props you &
your tamily can survive a
nuclear war?
No? Then read Protect and
Survive, just published by the
government. Or wait for one
to be pushed through your
door when the country is
faced with an immediate nuc.
The first lesson is- don't
waste your time protesting
'Your best protection is to
make a fallout room & build
an inner refuge within it.
FALLOUT ROOM
The fallout room should be
downstalrs, away lom dul
side walls and roof. Radiation
can penetrate brickwork, but
don't worry - there is a pict-
ure of a man pulling his ward-
robe against the French win-
Whatever you do, don't take
shelter in a block of flats
above the 5th floor. What's
that? You live in a high-rise
block? Tough.
A caravan is not much use
either, nor is a bungalow....
In fact, if you don't live in a
suburban semi-detached out-
side the five-mile blast area,
you've got problems.
INNER REFUGE
Here are some ideas for the 'inner refuge':
* U'se three doors from șour upstairs rooms. Lean them against a wall and pile sandbags around them. Crawl in with your four kids and stay there for a fortnight.
* Put sandbags on the stairs and live in the cupboard un-
* Live under the table surrounded by suitcases, chests
of drawers and any other
radiation-proof items lying
You will need a fortnight's supply of food until normal
now a fight within the labour movement to commit it to a clear policy of fighting Thatcher's nuclear mad-
The mass demonstration called by the Labour Party last month was a major step in that ditection as
NEC backs anti-nuclear demo
Following on the major antiCruise Missiles demonstration last month, the Labour Party NEC has decided to support
Socialist Action I won't die for Thatcher • STOP • CRUISE MISSILE:
services are resumed. Also, buy hundreds of other things including a 'loo' bucket and a calender to tick off the days.
ATTACK WARNING
Then you hear the sirens. If you are at home, shut the windows and draw the curtains. Take everyone to the fallout room. It you are not at home, then get there in 'a couple of minutes'. 'If you are out in the open, go to the nearest building' If you can't get in - because everyone's in their fallout rooms - take any kind of cover. For example, lie flat in a ditch 'and cover yourself with a coat'. That will take care of any bombs that happen to be floating about.
FALLOUT
After the nuclear attack you get up and attend to any essential tasks before the fallout descends.
If the house is on fire, you put it out. 'If there is structural damage from the attack, you may have some time be fore a fallout warning to do minor jobs to keep out the weather'. Weil..ii you can't keep out the fallout, at least you can keep out the weather.
Then you hear three bangs • the fallout warning. If you are out of doors, wipe all the fallout dust off your skin before entering a building. If you are at home, climb into your inner refuge.
It's all very simple, really. What I can't understand is why . if it is this easy - all those government officials are building massive underground shelters.
is its decision to support the CND demonstration this October. Continued action must now be mounted to commit the Labour leaders to agree to abandon any British 'deterrent' and to get out of NATO now!
another march - called by the CND - for October 26th
Joyce Gould and Jenny Little have been nominated to represent the party on the steering cttee organising the march.
The decision created a major uproar on the NEC as, indeed, did the previous demonstration. Jim Callaghan warned that supporting a march against nuclear weapons was tantamount to accepting a policy of 'unilateral disarmament'.
Clearly, the nuclear issue is going to be a major debating point at the coming conterence of the party. Callaghan may be right that unilateral disarmament is not yet party policy - but that's exactly what we've got to fight for. A good first step will be organising maximum attendance on the October 26th march.
Phil Edwardes
Page 5 scan of this page
August 80
Cuts:
As the Tory government enters its second year, its determination to rip into the welfare state continues. For the Tories, who have no illusions as to where their interests lie, the reasons are self-evident.
The only way they can put capi. talism back on its feet is by cutting workers' wages either directly (by an incomes policy) or indirectly (by cut-backs in the welfare state).
Frightened of taking on the big unions in struggles over pay, they have opted for the second. A survey of proposed public spending cuts for the coming years shows just what they have in store.
* HOUSING
Housing is to be cut by 13% in 1981, compared to when the Tory government first came to power, rising to 48% for the years 1983/4. In reality, of course, this figure is even worse since it doesn't take into account the damaging rate of inflation.
What it will mean is simply the elimination of local government housing programmes - already a tact in many areas - and a drastic increase in homeless families & slum dwellings.
* EDUCATION
Carlile's decision to lop 10% off education by 1983/4 reveals the same depressing story. State education, as we know it, is being destroyed before our eyes.
Overcrowded inner city classes, overworked teachers in inadequately staffed and crumbling buildings, inadequate resources (such as textbooks) all of these are, even now,becoming.commonplace. For Carlile and his ilk, of course, this is hardly important. The children who 'matter' can be sent to fee-paying schools where they will not be affected by such problems.
* HEALTH
At the last budget, to show how concerned they are with ordinary
TURNS SCREW
people, the Tories announced a 5% increase in health care by 1883/4. In fact, when the inflation rate is taken into account, health will have suffered a massive cut.
If you don't believe it, just look at the number of hospitals being currently closed around the country.
DEFENCE
The result of these cut-backs will not only be decrepit housing, outof-date schools and inadequate health care stretching into the next decade, but a massive increase in the jobless total.
In education alone, for example, it was recently leaked that the government was projecting cuts that would lead to a decrease of over 100,000 employees (50% of which would be teachers). Just
STOP
THE CUTS
what will happen to such redundant teachers - and nurses, civil servants and others? They will be expected to join the mounting dole queues, of course.
At the same time as ripping into services and jobs, however, the Tories intend injecting a massive 17% into defence spending. As David Dimbleby recently put it on TV, they are pouring money into defence to 'protect' the status quo from the upheav. als produced by their cuts in other areas!
RESPONSE
Thatcher's attack has, of course, sparked off a vigourous protest from the Shadow Cabinet which has condemned it as 'vicious' and 'uncalled for. They are no doubt aware of the groundswell of opposition rising among the rank-and-file which - nationwide - has led to the setting up of committees and campaigns to stop the cuts being steamrollered through. Regional 'days of action' have been called: individual unions have taken strike action; campaigns - such as that against the break up of ILEA - have been set up and individual hospitald have
THATCHER
been occupied. ongoing anti-cuts campaign.
WARNING ent the Tory proposals. it is pursuing?
FIGHT-BACK challenge Thatcher.
R
stop the cuts going through.
POTENTIAL jobs and services to act on behalf of those they say they represent.
NO CUTS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR!
NO REDUNDANCIES -FOR THE 35 HOUR WEEK!
by Tim Robinson (NALGO)
It was undoubtedly this pressure which forced the Labour leaders to call a national day of action against the cuts last year. But, while they have been willing to speak loudly and mount one-day protests, they have refused to turn this mounting anger into an
On the contrary, figures such as Jim Callaghan has issued stern warnings against unions using any industrial muscle to defend jobs or the social services. Moreover, they have given no lead to Labour controlled councils up and down the country to refuse to implem-
The main concern of Callaghan and others seems to be combining protest actions with weak-kneed appeals to 'wait' for the return of a Labour government in 4 years.
This is not exactly surprising... After all, when he was in office, didn't he slash social expenditure by a record 30%? How can he be
The Tery
some sympathy for the policies
The Labour leaders cannot be allowed, however, to get away with their toothless threats against the Tories combined with a masterful inactivity. They have to be forced now - as Ted Knight explained at the recent one-day conference - to lead a real fighting campaign to
Such a campaign could begin to draw together the various struggles that have emerged -against the break-up of ILEA, against cut-backs in nursery provisions, against hospital closures - into a national fight to halt the Tories in their tracks.
This wouldn't mean that these campaigns would lose their 'independence but that a real working relation between them could be developed on a common objective:
The potential for such a campaign clearly exists. It will grow cuts. stronger in the coming months as more and more people begin to feel the pinch of Tory policies & begin to get involved in defending
While building around these issues, they should be taken into the Labour Party to commit it to supporting them, first locally and then nationally. It is only in of inflation. this way that the Labour leaders can be pinned down and forced
Parents protest
ILEA break-up
by Sally Bowdrey (Streatham CLP)
The Tory attack on ILEA has provoked a widespread response. Teachers and ancillary workers' unions, Labour Parties etc - all have declared opposition & held local protest meetings.
One interesting development in the growing opposition has been the setting up of boroughwide parents' associations determined that the break-up of Britain's most progressive education authority does not occur.
Starting with WASP, similar organisations have been set up elsewhere as in Lambeth where,
SINGLE-ISSUE
Since its formation, LAMP has held public meetings, leaflettongs and organised letters to the Lady Young Committee. It has gathered a wide response and, at present, has a representative in all of the borough's 128 schools.
The ability of LAMP to draw in such wide support -trom left-wing Labour activists to parents representing the ten Catholic schools in the area -is no accident. It stems from the fact that it is willing to unite all organisations & individuals - whatever their other views - on the concrete task at hand: defending ILEA.
A CUT IS A CUT...
Phil Davenport (Postbag, June Socialist Action) is missing the whole point about rate increases.
Phil says that rate increases 'give the council a breathing space' in the fight against the
What he doesn't realise is that a rate increase is a just another form of cut- it's a cut in the 'social wage' received by working class people because they will forced to fork out more from their own pockets to finance social services- at a time when real wages are already being beaten down by the effects
Surely, whether or not a Labour council gets forced out of office as a result of refusing to do the Tories' dirty work is not the central question. As the recession bites deeper and deeper, and attacks on the working class intensify, the labour movement will revert much more to the original role which it was set
page 5 ADVANTAGES
Although many of us in LAMP recognise the Tory attack on ILEA is just part of their general thrust, limiting the campaign to a single issue with precise objectives has a distunct advantage.
First, it enables us to build the widest opposition to the Tory attack - and that, after all, is the only way that ILEA will be saved. And, serorcy it allows many people toe! through a concrete stret with the government:. can open their minds io ::.=" aspects of its policles.
YOUNG CTTEE
Building the widest possibie alliance is key since - although the Baker Report dropped -the Young Cttee will soon be delivering a new one, possibly this September or October.
The very fact that the Committee has refused to include teachers, parents or members of the ILEA on it - i.e, anyone concerned with education! -gives a clue as to what it may come out with. Even though it might - under pressure - recommend the retention of ILEA, it could still do so with such reforms as to make its dissolution by another name.
In this sense, continuing to build the campaign on alongterm basis remains the only viable perspective
Council leader Knight:
fight to raise the rate up to play, that is to be an independent political voice of the class- and not to retain power of this council or that council at the expense of forfeiting any real defence of our basic rights and living standards.
Socialist Action is quite right to make its demand on this issue 'No cuts, no rate increase'.
Ian Gumbrill
Page 6 scan of this page
- National Child Care Ca
page 6
Statement:
A recent issue of Socialist Challenge contains an article appraising the national conference of the LSA in late spring. ine arce correct ly points out that the LSA affirms its full solidarity with the Fourth International.
It goes on, however, to call the LSA's refusal to immediately fuse with the IMG - after a year's discussion between the two organisations - "irresponsible' and to imply that the LSA is building a 'dead-end bureaucratic sect'.
SECT?
But for socialists, the word 'sect' has a scientific meaning. It refers to an organisation whose programme and perspective cut it off from the broad labour movement. In this sense, the left in Britain is indeed littered with 'sects' (many of whom the IMG has sought to fuse with).
It would be difficult to apply this term to the LSA, however, since it has- ever since its inception- always fought against the sectarian attitudes among the 'far left', particularly when it comes to an attitude to the Labour Party. 'Deadend' and 'bureaucratic'- the other epithets used- are, presumably mere slips of the pen.
CONVERGING
The IMG is correct, however, in pointing out that the LSA-after a year's negotiations- did decide to slow down any fusion perspective with the IMG. This was not a whim. It was based on a re-appraisal of political questions.
When the LSA approached the IMG for discussions over a year ago, it was on the basis that the general perspectives of the two organisations seemed to be converging. Despite the odd difference in tactics, it was widely felt that fusion was a pratical possibility.
This is not to say that the LSA did not have differences— particularly over the Socialist Unity issuebut that it felt the dynamic of both organisations was moving together.
THRUST
The decision of the IMG at its last conference, however, to orient to-
thousands of Labour supporters.
right-wing allies in the labour movement).
around the following demands:
programme for those already on the dole.
living to offset inflation.
that put profit before people. & labour movement.
L.S.A. & THE 4th INTERNATIONAL
wards the SWP with a fusion perspective- regardless of the SWP's hostility to the FI both politically and organisationally- led the LSA to reconsider the position.
It was felt that the IMG's orientation to the SWPand deepening of the Socialist Unity campaign- was dangerous for
* First, it could cut the IMG off from the broader labour movement where major possibilities exist; * Second, it could lead to the IMG accomodating to the SWP's sectarian views and practice in its attempt to make fusion a viable possibility.
PRECEDENTS
Such considerations were not viewed as unimportant since, in the LSA's opinion, the IMG had earlier made considerable adaptation to sectarian forces during the Socialist Unity offensive. of joint candidates against the Labour Party was a case in point.
From this perspective, it was generally felt that the IMG's orientation to the SWP- which is hostile to the Labour Party- is incompatible with a serious orientation to the labour movement.
POSTPONE
It was for these reasons that the LSA, while maintaining full solidarity with the FI, decided to slow down the fusion between the two groupings, in order to test out the two different lines in practice. period of time would allow both organisations to see whether they were moving together or, as the LSA suspects, apart, on the vital question of orientation to the laDOur HOYCLICIl.
Naturally, within this framework, the LSA wishes to maintain the most comradely relations with the IMG, to continue discussions and engage in as much joint work as possible.
A more detailed view on the question of 'unity of the left' is given in LSA pamphlet Splits & Fusions- Methods of building a Revolutionary Party, price 20p from 58 Auckland Road, London SE 19
WHAT WE STAND FOR
Socialist Action sees as its central aim building, within the labour movement, a class-struggle left-wing fighting for socialist policies against those which lost Labour the last election and disillusioned
Such a left-wing should support not only policies in the interests of working people but also their allies among the youth, Blacks, women and oppressed national minorities. It is only by showing that Labour champions the rights of all the oppressed and exploited that a really united offensive can be organised against the Tories (and their
Socialist Action believes that a fighting left wing should be built
* Hands off the unions! No curbs on the right to strike or picket!
* For the 35-hour week! End unemployment by work-sharing
(with no loss of pay) and introduce a mass public works
* Oppose all wage curbs. For wage increases tied to the cost of
* Open the books of all companies claiming inability to pay a
decent living wage or threatening redundancies. Nationalise those
* Tax the rich not the poor. No cuts in the social services - for
social spending to be tied to increases in the cost of living. * For women's rights. For the right of all women to abortion on
demand, free nurseries, equal pay and opportunity. Support NAC. * Fight racism. Repeal all racist immigration laws. Defend the
right of Black people to organise as they see fit in the community
* For the right of all oppressed nations to determine their own
own future - Get the troops out of Ireland now!
* For a safe environment. End nuclear reactors and base an energy
strategy on coal. Explore alternative energy resources.
a continuation Its running
The Thatcher government is • deadly serious about its economic strategy. In order to solve the problems of big business, the rights of working people have to be savagely eroded. Doubly hit by these attacks will be women.
Hospital and nursery closures * Attacks on abortion rights - as
under the Corrie Bill
they do not want; * Cuts in social services will hit jobs
cleaners and cooks - hardest.
' by Carol Kees (National Steer. Cttee)
On July 5th, over 200 people from as far afield as Aberdeen to Cornwall met in London to discuss setting up a national Child Care Campaign.
Representing many organisations from thé labour & Women's movements, the conference opened on a lively discussion with speakers from other camp aigns (such as Angela Phillips from NAC) giving the benefit of their experience.
The workshops that followed - taking up issues such as 'how to run a campaign' to community control of facilities' -were both lovely and informative. A report on the discussion in the workshops will be circulated to all who attended the conference or who request it.
CAMPAIGN
In the plenary session after, a motion presented by the London Nursary Campaign to formally set up a national organisation was accepted. A national steering committee of 27 was elected by the conference, representing people from all parts of the
PARAN CONSE
OFFICIAL STRIKE
PERCENT "seventies will compel women - once again
• to become responsible for the UNITY care of the young. old and sick:
The Employment Bill will make it doubly difficult for women to return to work after a pregnancy:
- will seek to force women to have children
of women - as teachers, nurses,
and political parties). of the workshops.
MASS ACTION place in society.
WOMEN IN
TO A
WORKERS IN
THREATEN COPY
CUTS
The meagre gains won in the
- when women won increasing economic independence - are over. The central thrust of the Tories is to push women out of the workplace into the home where she is expected to provide those very services the state should provide.
That the Tories are aware of this can be judged by Social Services Secretary Patrick Jenkins reply when quizzed on the impact of cuts on women's jobs. If the good lord had intended us to have equal rights to go out to work, he wouldn't have created man and woman".
It is clear that, if the government's offensive is going to be halted, then country and different organisations (local child care campaigns, women's groups, trade unions
It was agreed that further discussion on the aims & structure of the campaign should take place at the next conference in 6 months' time. Meanwhile, the steering cttee was given the brief-at its meeting in August - to discuss concrete proposals for the campaign stemming out
These included producing a national newsletter - to advertise the aims of the campaign and its activities - and setting a 'day of LABOUR action' to formally launch it.
The fact that the conference was so well attended - mainly in terms of representatives from the labour movement - was a clear indication that concern over childcare is growing.
More and more women are realising that unless the cuts in child-care facilities are stop- Party. ped - and more facilities provided by the state - women will never be able to take an equal
Socialist Action
- NUS
serious struggles will have to be
waged. Women will need to seek the
widest unity among themselves and
the most powerful allies they can.
Yet, it is precisely at this stage
when unity is needed • that the
Women's Movement, which won
some notable successes in the
seventies around the abortion issue
has become divided.
NAC
This was dramatically shown on
the mass NAC demonstration last
year against the Corrie Bill. A num-
ber of women - chanting "Not the
unions, not the state, women must
decide their fate" - clearly opposed
the TUC presence on the march.
Such a mood was apparent at the Conference Resolution:
"This conference, recognising that a comprehensive child care service is essential for women's equality, agrees to set up a national child care campaign. Its
overall aim will be to build a mass national campaign around
the demand for comprehensive
flexible and free child care
facilities provided by the State".
This is why such a campaignfighting for this basic right - is so urgent today.
Many people at the conference however, were aware that build ing a mass campaign - with roots in the local areas - could only be achieved by taking it into the labour movement.
This will involve not only fighting for the issue in union branches - forcing them to make the TUC implement its Charter for the under 5s - but also in the Labour
The campaign should clearly see its focal point in forcing the Labour Party to pledge, in its manifesto, to halt all cuts in
Page 7 scan of this page
August 80
THE SO'S
NAC conference shortly later where some feminists argued strongly tor the campaign to be limited to women only (thereby cutting it off from the labour movement in terms of membership and affiliation).
Such an attitude is not only unfortunate. It is dangerous. Do these feminists seriously believe that unions are a threat to women's rights? Do they seriously believe that the TUC - which was fighting for abortion rights - can be placed in the same category as the government which was trying to curb them?
SHORT-SIGHTED
How do these feminists expect to be able to rebuff Tory attacks except by unity with their most powerful allies? And what do they say to those millions of women who are union members and whose fight, within the unions, was key in getting the TUC to support NAC?
This doesn't mean, of course, that unions — or the Labour Party -will 'spontaneously' defend women's rights
Moreover, in many unions, women - while being an overwhelming majority of the members - are grossly under-represented at all levels. In CAWU, for example, there are only three women on the Executive whe temae member hop stands at 72%c.
POTENTIAL
This position clearly has to be challenged. It can only be challenged, however, by women being in the unions and fighting for them to take up issues of female discrimination. The fact that the TUC and Labour Party were won over on the crucial question of abortion rights shows the potential that exists.
The need to be in the unions
paign Launched
child care provisions and make
resources available for all child-
ren under 5 and after-school
centres for those who require
them.
If you are interested in affiliat-
Anne Williams (NUT) fighting for them to pioneer women's rights is going to be doubly important in the years ahead when the Tories have launched a direct attack of female employment. This has now become a central question of women's rights.
It is only by being part of the labour movement the anti-union laws, the cuts etc -that women's rights to a job can be protected. This doesn't mean that women don't have specific rights to advance, but they can best advance these by organising within the general struggles of the labour move. ment against the Tories' attacks.
CAUCUSES
Key to doing this will be setting up women's caucuses in the unions where women can discuss their specific problems and fight to get the unions as a whole to support their demands. Such caucuses already exist in unions like ASTMS and the NUT.
A similar action must be undertaken in the Labour Party. The women's sections must be turned from organising 'garden fetes' into caucases fighting to advance women's demands inside the party. Building actions in the unions and on the streets, women's caucases could become a way of taking them into she Latcar Party and pledging it to a programme or women s rights when it returns to office.
Key issues could be the struggle for an adequate child-care system, for abortion rights and for 'affirmative action' for women's rights.
It is only in this way the struggle of women as part of the general struggle against the Tory offensive - that we will be able to defend (let alone extend) our rights in the coming years.
ing to the NCCC - or finding out
more about it - contact: NCCL.
Surrey Docks Child Care Project,
Dockland Settlement, Redriff
Rd, London SE 16. Affiliation:
£2.50 (indiv), £5 (local groups).
£15 (national organisations).
SAME
UNDER
Nicaragua. On one side are the
- fighting against
raguans- the workers and poor peasants.
fits of a few. tion 21 years ago. by seeing
when Somoza fled.
FOR THE MASSES
trol and run the country.
owners and given to the poor and the factories.
tion forward
write.
land holdings.
PEOPLE'S ARMY
NICARAGUA
A decisive battle is shaping up in
bosses, the rich landlords and their supporters- the government and bosses in the United States. On the and countryside. other side stand the mass of Nica-
The outcome will decide whether Nicaragua will be run in the inter- people. ests of the majority, or for the pro-
A victory for the masses will see the establishment of a government which would create the conditions for a victory over illiteracy, hunger, rampant disease, and unemploymen
as did the Cuban socialist revolu-
Nicaragua started down the road of the Cuban revolution when, in economic position July last year, a mass uprising of workers and peasants overthrew the brutal dictator Somoza, who
CENTRAL SANDINISTA
A DE TRADAJADORES.
BOACO had ruled the country. The revolution was led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), who formed the new government
OPPOSITION Right from the word go, the Sandinistas took measures which benefited the majority. And they organised the masses to start to take con-
Land was taken from the big land-
peasants. Trade unions were form- culture. ed; Somoza's property was seized; the old army was destroyed and a new revolutionary army was formed. Committees were established to help run the neighbourhoods
1980 has seen further steps taken by the Sandinistas to consolidate the gains won and push the revolu-
A literacy campaign has been launched, with the aim of teaching moaning. more than half the adult population, who are illiterate, to read and economy.
On 2nd March, the government took over more privately-owned SABOTAGE
Having constructed a professional Sandinista People's Army (EPS),
SHOWDOWN LOOMS IN
the country now find themselves in. for the defense of the revolution from its enemies both at home and abroad, the fsin has now launched voluteer militias in the workplaces aragua.
The government has also shown that it intends to push forward with its top priority of improving the quality of life for Nicaragua's
The 1980 Plan for Economic Reactivation which has been announced sets aside 62% of the budget for heaith, education and housing, compared to the 17% set aside in Somoza's 1978 budget.
But in implementing these policies, and achieving the goals set, the government faces extreme difficulties. Nicaragua is in a desperate
Somoza ordered massive destruc tion of factories when he knew he could no longer hold on to power.
world.
This came on top of the effects of world-wide inflation, the 1972 earthquake in the capital Managua, the corruption of Somoza's regime, and the disruption of industry and agriculture during the civil war.
Also totally opposed to the direction that the revolution is taking, are those bosses and big landlords who have remained in Nicaragua
This tiny minority still controls key sections of industry and agri-
They have formed the Superior Council for Private Enter prise (COSEP)- the equivalent of of the CBI in Britain.
COSEP has denounced the 'anarchy and social disorder', the 'takeovers of enterprises' and has warned of the 'grave consequences of the new government's measures to spread more equally the resources and wealth of the country.
But they are doing more than just
They are deliberately trying to sabotage the Nicaraguan
Coffee growers have refused to complete their harvests, and cotton producers are threatening not to plant crops. Industrialists are illeg. ally smuggling out equipment, raw materials and money, and are slow-
page 7 It is now one year since the victorious revolution took place in the Central American republic of Nicaragua. A.D. Scott reviews the position that the 2½ million gallant workers and peasants of
ing down production.
These actions indicate that a de. cisive showdown is coming in Nic-
Either the bosses and landlords, with the backing of the US government, can continue their old ways of exploitation and repression, or the workers and peasants, under the leadership of the Sandinistas, can take over completely the running of the country.
But the Nicaraguan masses have already shown- through their historic struggle against Somoza and their determined efforts to rebuild their country- that they intend to put up a massive fight to push forward to their goal of building a new Nicaragua.
AID NEEDED
To help rebuild Nicaragua, the Sar. dinista government has appealed:: aid from supporters around the
Cuba, also a poor country. has re. sponded generously. It has pledge: £25 million in direct aid and has sent hundreds of doctors and tead! ers to Nicaragua. Trade and aid agreements were signed with the Seriet Union in March
However. the United States e
many of the proc.ems: aragua faces- they helped to install and backed Somoza's brutal and corrupt regime- has turre: t back on the plight of the Nitra an people. • The US congress ras frozen a £35 million loan promis: i earlier.
Unable to send in troops to militarily defeat the Nicaraguan revolution because of the deep antiwar sentiment at home, the US rulers hope to starve the Nicaraguan masses into giving up their fight for a better life
That is why we in Britain must build maximum solidarity inside the labour movement for the heroic people of Nicaragua
PATHFINDER
NICANAGURN REVOLUTION "We represent
the immense
majority of „
humanity.
Fidel Castro at the UN
Page 8 scan of this page
page 8 Last month,Socialist Action supporters in London called a public meeting to discuss the way forward for the Labour Party Young Socialists. Addressed by George Hold and Graham Weight, the meeting was attended by over 30 people and a lively discussion followed the main speeches.
Both speakers touched on the ways in which the Tory attack was affecting young people today. What with Thatcher's policies, George Hold explained, "the only forseeable future for thousands of young people leavingschool is the dole queue".
Cuts in education-in training courses and vocational facilities at i liege-only made the unemployment statistics among school leavers evell worse.
DEAD-END
All young people are affected by these policies, George went on, but certain sections are hit doubly hard. "If you're Black,the situation is doubly hard since unemployment is made more intense by the racist attitudes of employers
What should the attitude of soc-
lalists be to drugs - particularly
cannabis? Should they support
or condemn the practice?
Below, John Hicks presents his
view. In next month's Socialist
Action an opposing viewpoint
will be printed.
by John Hicks
The Misuse of Drugs Act - the
legislation which in this country
is directed against cannabis users
- has the effect of restricting
peoples' choice in the way that
they spend their limited amount
of free time.
Cannabis is used in a way com-
parabie to nicolne or alconol -
or even caffeine - as a way of
facilitating relaxation. The laws
against the use of cannabis are
accepted only because there is
a widespread myth that the drug
Is harmful.
SCIENTIFIC?
Every so often, the government
SOCIALIST ACTION
LPYS MEETING
and police alike"
The same is true for young women. Cuts in abortion rights or in nursery facilities-which the Thatcher government has been pursuing are an attempt to drive young women back into the home and deny them a right to a job.
"Is it any wonder", he pointed out, "if, after leaving school and being faced only with the pittance handed out by social security, explosions like that at Bristol take place?".
CAMPAIGNS
Echoing some of George's point, Graham Weight went on to show that the problems facing young people today were having an increasingly radicalising effect. This offered,he said, a real opportunity for the Young Socialists to boldly move out with a dynamic policy and win layers of young people into its ranks in the fight for socialism. But, he stressed this won't happen "if the Young Socialists concentrate on endless talk and passing endless resolutions of no concern to the real interests of young people
DEBATE: Socialists and Cannabis
commissions a 'scientific report' - carefully vetted before publication - which claims that cannabis 'destroys the brain', impairs sexual performance, causes 'violent psychoses or leads to the consumption of hard drugs like heroin.
But a survey carried out in 1973 by the BBC showed that 39% of people between the ages of 17 and 39 had used cannabis...If these reports are to be believed, nearly one-third of the entire population would be in a pretty bad way!
The truth of the matter is that there are no known harmful effects of the drug
REPRESSION
Why, then, has the government been so far unwilling to consider legalising the use of cannabis? To give a satisfactory answer to this question, it is necessary to look at the whole context of the role of repressive legislation in capitalist society.
today".
ago? Was it because it had been unable to link up with the real issues of concern to young people - the fight for abortion rights, the
ment?
WAY FORWARD
The key task before the YS was, he ended, to turn it into a real
a role- an organisation that wins young people around clear issues.
struggles against the cuts- partic-
up of ILEA- and against sexual discrimination and for black rights. An acid test was also the need to inscribe on its banners
the YS so far has a dismal record
the need to take up the needs of young workers to fight for train. ing schemes, for apprentices rights and for proper union representation.
DEBATE
was a lively one, with a supporter
cy in the YS- disagreeing with many of the points put across, and arguing for a more 'propagan. dist' line,
suggested that one of the ways in which YS branches in London could begin now to get involved in concrete campaigns was to lead the fight against the Tories' racist laws by affiliating to CARL -the Campaign Against Racist Laws-
anti-racist movement.
There are in fact many laws on the statute books that are there purely and simply to ensure that vast numbers of working people 'break the law' when they take sume percy momma delivity. The anti-cannabis law, the age of consent and the notorious sus' law are all cases in point.
DEMOCRATIC RIGHT
These types of law are used by the police as an excuse for harassing and intimidating people, particularly young Blacks. The drugs laws allow the police to stop and search people on the streets without any form of warrent.
Whatever might be our own personal opinions about the use ot cannabis - or for that matter alcohol, tobacco etc - as socialists we must always defend & fight for democratic rights. That is why we must give our wholehearted support to the demand 'Legalise Cannabis now'.
Why is it,he asked, that the YS was still as small today as it was a decade
fight against racism and unemploy.
their faces. campaigning organisation in which young people can find a voice and
It should be taking part in all the
ularly around issues like the break- HARDEST HIT
'Troops Out of Ireland', on which
Equally important, he said, was The debate following the speeches
of Militant - the majority tenden-
At a more concrete level, it was and helping to build it into a mass
by Liz Easton (NUS)
labour market.
TACTICS capital.
flation soars.
Youth and the
Jobless Total
by George Hold (Peckham YS)
Prior to last year's general election, the Tories' advertising machineengineered by Saatchi and Saatchi - was campaigning vigourously with giant-sized posters proclaiming 'Labour isn't working'.
The posters showed a dole office with hundreds of people queuing outside. After a year with the Tories in office, this advertising campaign has slapped back into
Between May and June, there was a 10% increase in the jobless total - pushing it up, at 1.6 million, to the highest point since the end of the last war.
The section of society that will inevitably bear the brunt of this 10% increase is that which is already the hardest hit - young workers and those who are leaving school this summer. Among schoolleavers, unemployment increased by 137,509 to 186,926. This is expected to rise still further this month, with the bulk of schoolleavers coming onto a shrinking
For many young workers, the situation in which they find themselves is becoming more and more desperate: over 50,000 people under the age of 24 have been out of work for at least one year.
This worsening unemployment situation is not simply being imposed by the government because the bosses refuse to provide jobs unless they can continue to roll in the profits. Unemployment is yet another area where the astute Mrs Thatcher and her coterie of Tory ministers can make political
They know that a large pool of 'reserve labour' can have the effect of weakening the ability of those still in employment to keep the level of their real wages up as in-
Moreover, they can exploit the very divisions they have created -fostering the illusion that 'young people today' are 'scroungers' or "lazy'. And, coming straight from
Socialist Action school without any experience of a workplace, young people are isolated and less aware of the need for an organised struggle along the lines of trade union achon cle COSMETIC But what of the 'Youth Opport. unities Programme? Is this perhaps a serious attempt being made by the government to shield young people from the effects of the deepening economic crisis? The impression that the YOP is designed to create is that youth can use it to escape from the dead-end of the dole scrap-heap, by getting an apprenticeship-style training for a skilled career.
In reality, however, the YOP is no more than a cosmetic measure to keep official unemployment figures down, and also in many cases a means of providing cheap labour- a state-financed £23.55 per week- to capitalists or to public sector projects which can conveniently help to disguise the cuts
In many cases, employers 'discover at the end of the training period that they do not have a vacancy. Not, that is, for a trained worker who will want union rates. But another 'trainee' who just happens to be provided free by the government - that could be a different story.
MASS CAMPAIGN
Because of the position of young people in the field of unemployment, they will become more and more thrust to the forefront of the struggle. But in order to adopt an effective role, they will need to have a focus around which they can organise.
That focus must be provided by the Labour Party Young Socialists, which is the only youth org anisation which has the potential for developing into a truly mass organisation which could have an audible voice within the labour movement generally.
In order to attract young people to its ranks, the LYPS should begin now to organise an active response to the Tories' attacks, by building a mass campaign which can overcome the isolation of unemployed youth today.
Page 9 scan of this page
The Origins of the Labour Party
PAY THE NURSES ! ASTMS: New Militancy
August 80
Education for Socialists
Writing in Red Mole in 1970, a few months before the elections, Robin Blackburn dismissed the early Labour Party as a 'bureaucratic manoeuvre'. Facility almost always has a knack of distorting the truth. The early Labour Party was not hatched (as Blackburn implies) in the com mittee rooms of the then equivalents of Callaghan or Williams. It was born despite such figures out of the escalating struggles of the labour movement, at the turn of the century, and the hesitant understanding of ever-wider layers of a common interest to
The creation of the Labour Party took place, interestingly enough, in a period similar to our own in several respects. Its seeds were embedded in a decade of shocks and upheavals sparked off by the growing threat to Britain's dominance in world trade by the industrial powers of Germany and the USA. In order to retain their slackening grip over the world market, British employ. ers resorted to a well-coordinated attack upon workers' living standards and rights almost identical to the one we have witnessed over the past decade or so.
An intensive drive was heralded to reduce wages, introduce 'speed ups (productivity deals), abolish restrictive practices and break the backs of the unions which had grown enormously in the preceeding period. (Trade union membership, between 1885 and 1890 alone had tripled).
Such an offensive, coupled with the attempt by the employers to create a ready supply of scab labour' in the National Free Labour Association, gave rise throughout the 1890s to a whole wave of 'lock outs' and provoked Sunkes
In spite of the pittance
which nurses are paid, the
government's contempt-
ible offer of 14% is in
reality a savage cut when
inflation shows no sign of
abating from its current
level of 22%. And in some
areas, health authorities
are considering rent in-
creases of up to 100%
for nurses' accomodation.
In the wake of the 31%
award to the doctors-
the Tories know that they
need support from some-
where- nurses represent-
atives were told at 10,
Downing Street, that the
nurses could have 14% and
'not a penny more'.
CYNICAL
Thatcher hoped that the
nurses 'can find it in their
hearts to be well pleased'.
In other words, she was
giving notice that the Torie:
are willing to cynically ex-
ploit any reluctance by
some nurses to take action
in defence of their living
standards.
But evidence of a deter-
mination to fight is al-
reday materlalsing. Last
month in Glasgow, a 700-
TAFF VALE
The impact of these struggles on the consciousness of the labour movement- particularly newly. unionised sectors who lacked the conservațive approach of the older craft unions- should not be minimised. They gave birth. siowy and hesitating!!, to a growing awareness among more militant layers of a common interest of the labour movement that had to be uncompromisingly defended.
Up to that point in time, as Pelling is eager to point out, 'there had been little concept of 'labour' as a distinct class in the community, and there was often intense hostility between the semi-skilled and older craft unions. The of-
strong march took place,
demanding a 30% pay in-
crease, a freeze on rents,
and an end to hospital
cuts and closures.
was strong pressure from
delegates to the annual
conference of COHSE,
one ol the three nurses
unions, for decisive action
from the leadership. At
the time this article goes
to press, preparations are
going ahead for a nation-
wide mobilisation during
the resumed negotiations
with management in July. BACKING
One thing is predictable-
that if the nurses stand up
for their right to a decent
living standard, they will
be subjected to a vitriolic
barrage of propaganda from the Tory press.
For this reason, the widest possible backing from all sectors of the labour and trade union movements will be crucial. Not only is the nurses' claim well-deserved on its own merits, but it must also be recognisea tnal tne government has to be shown that workers will always come to the support of those sectors which are under attack.
increasingly centralised through the creation of Employer's Federations, slowly began to overcome 'craft' and 'sectional' differences as the unions increasingly identified together around the
Even though this process was
among the new!! gradually spread to the more craft-conscious unions whose interests were clearly endangered strike action, was seen to have There
MOBILISE
Trade union and Labour
for demonstrations and
pickets.
must be shown that the
nurses- or any other sec-
tor- will not bear the
by Sylvia Brookes
fensive launched by the employer: need to defend the cause of labour.
LIBERALS Partywas to fall.
Liberal Party.
Democratic Party.
most obvious in the initial stages
unionised. it
labour movement.
by attacks upon trade union autonomy which reached a climax in the Taff Vale judgement of 1901.
This 'judgement', forcing the railmens union to pay the employers damages for all losses incurred in
MPIRE
DEFEAT
Party branches should ex-
press their support for the
nurses' claim and mobilise
Thatcher and Co.
brunt of the bosses' crisis.
large majority.
mucn wider implications. It was clearly recognised that this was a threat not only to the railmen's union but to trade unionism itself, since, if any union could be made to legally compensate a company for losses incurred in a strike, the unions would be rendered virtually powerless.
It was in response to such attacks upon the unions, no longer on a sectional but on a national basis, that the fertile ground was created on which the propaganda of the early socialist groupings such as the Social Democratic Federation and the Independent Labour
The deepening awareness among unions of common interest to defend- that of the labour movement- began to drive a wedge through the "mariage of convenience which had hitherto caused the unions to clutch at the apron-strings of the
Up to that point in time, the majority of the unions- particularly the craft unions- had trailed behind the Liberals in much the same way as today's labour movement in the USA supports the
The unions advocated support for the Liberals in exchange for the latter's policy of free trade (which guaranteed cheap food prices) and a less antagonistic attitude towards the
The sharp offensive launched by the employers, however, cemented in the labour movement a growing awareness of its class interests and pushed growing layers inside the unions to break from the alliance with Liberalism and seek an independent political voice.
The advent of the Tory govern
ment has clearly begun to af-
fect ASTMS members, as
could be seen in the militant
mood at conference this year.
The NEC's compromise line
was challenged a number of
times and- on certain signifi-
cant items- defeated.
The mood of the conference
was registered at the beginning
when the NEC's vague motion
of opposition to the Employ-
ment Bill- pledging no real
action- was challenged by an
amendment from the floor.
The amendment clearly im-
plied the need to break the law
to defend members' interests
and pledged solidarity with
other unions under attack.
While the NEC won the day,
its position was challenged by
a large minority.
The NEC didn't have it all their
own way, however. Its posi-
tion of support for the Ed-
wardes Plan- axing 25,000
jobs at British Leyland- was
challenged by an emergency
motion from the Birmingham
district. Despite Jenkin's op-
position to the motion- which
deplored NEC acceptance of
the plan - it was carried by a
What this showed was
page 9
STEP FORWARD
Such a process did not, of course,
Unions such lake place overnight. as the NUM decided to break from the Liberals as late as 1908. Nev. ertheless, it was out of this deepening awareness of a common class interest that had to be defend ed that, in 1899, the Labour Representation Committee was formed. The LRC, sponsored by a loose federation of trade unions and socialist currents, set itselflimited objectives, it is true.
It wasn't even sure whether its aim was to set up a party, let alone a party based on clear socialist principles. Its aims, as originally defined, were as limited and fuzzy as they are today, ' to ensure that working class opinion should be represented in the House of Commons by men sympathetic with the aims and demands of the la. bour movement and whose cand. idatures are promoted by one or other of the organised movements.
Behind these unclear and hesitating words, however, lay a radical change in consciousness by important layers of the labour movement which 'marxists' such as Robin Blackburn contemptuously dismisses when comparing the Labour Party with the Demo. cratic Party in the USA. A radical change because, in the decision to promote candidates 'sympathetic with the aims and demands of the labour movement' lay an aware. ness of the need for these layers to create a political voice for Themselves
This fact should not be underestimated by those- particularly outside the labour movementwho see only its negative features represented by figures such as Callaghan or Williams. The Labou Party symbolised, in its creation,
an important step forward in the awareness of millions of workers. an awareness of lnemselves ds d class with distinct interests which had to be fought for not only at an industrial but also at a politica!
level.
By RALPH WOOD
the growing worry about job
prospects in the face of Tor!
'rationalisation' schemes. It
was implicit in other motions
relating to new technology-
seen by many at the confer-
ence as a threat to jobs, living
standards and union organisa-
Motions were passed oppos-
ing any introduction of new
machinery without ASTMS
agreement, and any 'voluntary'
redundancy schemes. Any in-
creases in productivity, it was
stressed, should be paid for by
the shorter working week and
not longer dole queues.
LABOUR PARTY
A similarly militant mood was
apparent on the question of
the Labour Party. Several mo-
tions were put endorsing the
position of last year's confer-
ence (mandating of MPs, elec-
tion of the party leader and
NEC control over the Manifes
to).
What now remains to be seen - as the Tory attacks escalate-
is whether the NEC will live up
to some of the positions which
conference has adopted. Cer-
tainly, the ASTMS left will
have to organise seriously in
the coming months to make
sure the the leaders support
any group of workers who
come under attack
Page 10 scan of this page
page 10
Half a year after thousands of Soviet combat troops entered Afghanistan, the government in Kabul is still facing stiff resistance from counterrevolutionary guerrilla forces.
Operating in numerous small bands, the insurgents stage hitand-run actions from Afghanistan's rugged mountain regions or seek to create disturbances in the cities and towns. They attack Afghan and Soviet military units, burn schools, destroy hospitals, mine roads and bridges, and murder supporters of the revolution.
The rebels claim to be fighting for Islam, but they are actually fighting to preserve the class interests of privileged layers of Afghan society. Their armed actions are aimed not at liberating' Afghanistan, but at obstructing the land reform programme, literacy drive, expansion of women's rights, and other progressive measures enacted by the PDPA regime.
BACKING
As it has from the very beginning this counter-revolutionary drive has received open encouragement and covert material backing from the Imperialist powers, particularly Washington.
In mid-February, a White House
Scial admitted that the General
Were Agera had begur o . many oi them of Se make, to the Afghan rightists through Pakistan. New Vira Times correspondent David Birder called it the CIA's first : ceration "of this nature and magnitude since the Angolan civil war ended in 1976".
Some reporters travelling with the guerrillas have confirmed that they are receiving US-supplied weapons.
FACT?
The Western governments have backed up their armed support for the guerrilias with a campaign of lies and slander in the press. Even the wildest assertions and rumours, it seems, are good enough to tarnish the image of
By LEN WAGSTAFF PETR UHL
Afghanistan ~
the press lies
Kabul's
Moscow and Kabul.
On report claimed that Moscow
nuclear missiles in Atghanistan; another that student protesters were being shipped to Siberia to 'teach them a lesson' and yet another that 12 to 17 year old schoolgirls were being massacred by Soviet troops on the streets of Kabul.
The obvious aim of such stories is to bolster Washington's charge that the Afghan regime - besides being inept and on the brink of collapse - is bloodthirsty and completely unpopular. The Soviet troops are pictured as facing opposition from virtually the entire Afghan population.
FIGHTING
Nevertheless, there has been serious fighting. Pravda, the
RELEASE PETER UHL!
Petr Uhl, a leader of Charter
77, the Czechoslovak civil
rights movement, was sen-
tenced to five years in prison
last October despite protests
by Communists, socialists,
and trade unionists from
around the world.
crime was to defend the demo-
cratic rights supposedly
guaranteed in the Czecho-
slovak constitution,
Although Czechoslovakia's
Law on Imprisonment states
that the prison conditions
should be 'humane', Uhl is
being held under circum-
stances that amount to a cal-
culated attempt to destroy
nim..
Confined at the notorious
strict regime labour camp at
Mirov, Uhl is not allowed to
keep any written material-
not letters from his family,
Former political prisoners walk away from the freed by the mers Aghanistan i proment Pul-E-Chakri prison after being Soviet Communist Part! daily
issue, stating: The struggle against the bandits in the mountains is no easy matter.
Kabul radio reported on June 8 that during the previous two months, 140 persons had been killed during clashes in Kabul. Thirty schools were reported to have been destroyed, as well as one hospital. The radio report accused 'criminals' backed by Washington and the Chinese regime of being behind the disturbances.
The Soviet press agency Novosti reported on June 13 that there was fighting in the suburbs of Kabul and that "bandits are shooting peoples' power representatives, poisening the water, terrorising the population & even trying to infiltrate into the capital in small groups'.
not eveii a copy of prison
regulations.. He is also ban
ned from keeping pictures of
his wife and children..
Uhl is allowed only
one-hour visit from a close
relative every six lo digill. His only months, and that meeting
must be supervised by
guards, and nothing but fam-
ily matters discussed.
Because of the extremely
heavy work to which he is
subjected, his chronic bron-
chitis has become acute.. Uhl
is forced to carry loads weigh-
ing as much as eighty-six
pounds up sixty-seven steps.
Defenders of Uhl and the
other Charter 77 political
prisoners are asking that pro-
tests against these conditions
be sent to Czechoslovak em-
bassies..
behind
by Pete Marais
The prison, on been crammed with up to President Hafizullah Amin had been deposed.
OVERTURES :: Me: 10
to the conflict. considered.
for.
Cuba and Ethiopia
the outskirts of the capital, had
15,000 inmates before
hind it.
In an effort to undermine the outside backing for the rightist insurgents, the Atghan regime on May 14th issued a proposal for a negotiated 'political settlement'
Specifically, Kabul demanded a "clearly expressed commitment' by Washington 'not to carry out any subversive activities against Afghanistan, including activities from the territories of third world countries'. A similar commitment was asked of the Pakistani regime. With an end to outside interference, the statement continued, a withdrawal of Soviet troops could then be
Both Washington and the Pakistani regime spurned the offer, refusing to give the kind of public commitments that were asked
DEFENCE COMMITTEES
In response to Washington's hard. line stance, the Afghan regime has taken limited measures inside the country to step up detence against the counterrevolution.
The Karmal government has established armed militia units in Kabul and other cities and towns. A report in the March 30 Washington Post described them as "an adaptation of the Defence of the Revolution Committees set up in
A commission has been set up to study proposals for a second phase' of the land reform programme. New peasant formations, called Democratic Peasants' Unions, have been established in various parts of the country. Trade unions have also been ex. tended. Although the working
Socialist Action
PUBLIC DEBATE
AFGHANISTAN•
Soviet troops in or out ?
Socialist Action and Workers Action
Wed 6th August 8.00 pm at
Lansbury House 41 Camberwell Grove London SE5.
class in Afghanistan is quite small - only about 330,000 industrial, transport and communications workers out of a total labour force of 5.6 million- unions have been set up in Kabul, Helmand, Kandahar, and other areas since the PDPA came to power. DEFENCE
If the counter-revolutionary bands are to be decisively defeated, however, it will be necessary in the next period to organise the workers and peasants to a much greater extent than before.
The Soviet intervention into Afghanistan was a clear aid to the revolutionary process there. It was a firm rebuff to the guerrillas, and their Western allies, who were trying to destroy the real gains of the PDPA regime and take Afghanistan back to the teudal age. What is needed now - to defend that revolution and take it forward - is to harness the strength of Afghan's working population be
Support the
Musicians!
by Jason Hill
BBC musicians are on strike
because the BBC, implement-
ing the cuts imposed by the
1 ones, plans to sack one
third of its musicians and
disband five orchestras.
To fill the gap left by the
sackings, more of the BBC's
output of music will be in
the form of commercial
records and tapes, le less
musicians emploved. and
more 'needle time'. There
is a long-standing agree.
ment between the BBC and
the Musicians Union on the
level of employment of
musicians and the amount
of 'needle time'. The BBC
has now decided unilater-
ally to break this agreement
The musicians need supp
ort from other trade union-
ists in their fight against the
Tory cuts. Trade union
branches should pass
motions instructing their
members not to cross MU
This not only
pickel llnes.
involves unions whose mem-
bers work at BBC premises,
but also tnose wnose mem•
bers deliver food, mail and
other supplies to BBC stu-
cos ana onces. Nor does
it only involve union
branches in London; there
are regional or local studios
in most major towns.
A victory for the music-
ians will be a step forward
in the fight against the
Tory cuts.
No sacking of musicians!
No trade unionist to cross
MU picket lines!
Victory to the musicians!
Page 11 scan of this page
August 80
the ANL?
Last month, the NF marched under the banner 'Kick out the Iranians and Lebonese'. With 700-800 supporters stepping out from Hyde Park it looked like one of the strongest protests the ultra-right have launched for sometime.
But where was the opposition? Where was the ANL which-only • ew years betore - had been ...- :00.000 onto the
'Nazi Front"?
The answer is quite simple.As a national organisation.the ANL nu longer realiy exists. Despite its promise of a few years ago, it has now declined to such an extent that its branches are no more than empty shells.
STATE RACISM
The reason for this is not difficult to discover. While it was able
Dear Socialist Action
I've been browsing through your paper and liking quite a lot of the articles. However, on reading 'What We Stand For', I was appalled to find that you do not take an unequivocal stand against nuclear weapons!
As an old stager may I appeal to you all to consider the proposition that our socialist aspirations and our interim demands may be valid beyond question. Yet what is virtually certain is that a world nurturing a build-up of nuclear weapons will sooner or later burst asunder. There will almost inevitably be an unimaginable holocaust unless there is an early change of direction: our aspirations will then be of no account. Our demands will appear retrospectively futile and irrelevant, if we can still think before expiry. 1am not suggesting for one moment that we should not have aspirations; nor that we should not make demands and strive to maintain jobs, hospitals, public transport and so on. But in heaven's name let us not forget that we have to survive (not least of all our children to make possible the achievement of a viable soc-
Whatever happened to
by GRAHAM WEIGHT (Dulwich YS)
to pull thousands of young Black and white youth onto the streets, many of them - as time progressed - began to realise that turning up once in a while to combat the NEwasn't enough.
They realised that, despite the filth pushed out by the NF they were not the main threat. The main threat stemmed from the Tory government which,by tightening the Immigration Act and 'sus' law, was deliberately whipping up race hatred against Black people.
The extent of disillusion with the ANL by the black community was shown recently in Bristol, when they told the ANL- which had come to 'defend' them from police harassment- where to go. Clearly they realised that the ANL was not really concerned with building opposition to racist laws, but only in 'parachuting' itself in at a time of publicity.
CARL
Far from getting involved at this stage with mindless 'confrontations' with the NF, the Black community has become involved in more serious campaigns. One of these is the Scrap 'sus' campaign and the other, and more far-reaching, is the campaign against the 1971 Immigration Act (CARL).
This campaign-mainly with the
the Indian Workers Assuciations-mobinised a mass 15000 strong demonstration last November against the Tory proposals and local CARL groups are now beginning to develop around the country.
As socialists, our main struggle against racism today should be to win as much support as possiblefrom within the labour movement
- against che racist immigration policies of the Tory government and to build CARL.
POST BAG
ialist system. Let us put right our priorities before it is too late!
May I therefore hope that you will include in your demands: 'Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament as a move towards global sanity, survival, and socialism'?
Fraternal grettings Frank Viney Bromley, Kent
Dear Cde,
In last month's Socialist Action, you devoted a major article to the May 14th rally. Like many other papers on the left, you conclude that this was the "biggest protest yet' against the Tories.
That is true, but I think the left really must learn to look facts in the eye. The turn-out on May 14th while significant, was lower than almost everyone predicted. It's no use trying to blow the situation up and, at the same time, blaming the trade union leaders for it not being bigger.
If the rank-and-file had really felt the need to tackle the Tories, they would have turned out despite their leaders, as the steelworkers did. The truth of the matter is that, while there is an
The Troops Out Movement (TOM) held its latest twiceyearly national conference on
ference was devoted to the plight of Republican prisoners held in the six counties of the north.
branch of the RAC-Relatives Action Committee- spoke in detail about the four-year-old
to wear their own clothes, for
in the labour movement, was carried. of army installations, selling
and TOM stalls at festivals. full-time staff.
jectives, since early February.
active minority in the unions
ity are still apathetic and have
government's policies.
to keep up morale'.
Sandra Hill London
Dear Socialist Action
proposals set out to do is to Caliol.
Socialist Action supporters
organisation.
Andy Sharpe Watford
28th June in Edinburgh. A large proportion of the one-day con-
Representatives from the Derry
"blanket' protest conducted by the prisoners at Long Kesh who aim to regain political status, and the protest by women prisoners
free association, and to organise their own education and recreation- to be taken up especially
It was also agreed that TOM would organise a delegation of about 500 of its supporters to go to Belfast to picket an army station, and that TOM will support a demonstration being planned by Sinn Fein to commemorate the start of internment. Plans were discussed for the expansion of activities such as the picketing
TOM's pane: Tranps Out pub-
bates within the Labour Party:
Another result of the conference is that TOM will be strengthened organisationally with a national Steering Committee elected by conference, and a headquarters for the campaign, with
held at Armagh, for the same ob-
Whilst morale amongst the Re-
willing to fight, the vast major-
not yet felt the pinch from the
It's no use pretending otherwise
The new nationality proposals are an insidious attack on black people in this country. What the
create a form of second-class citizenship, which means that the government will be able to take away basic rights from black people like, for example, the vote. They also pave the way for the possible introduction of a "pass law' state, by requiring 'overseas citizens' to carry their passports or some other form of identifi-
should take up this issue whenever they get an opportunity, be it in their union branch, Labour Party ward, YS or anti-racist
TROOPS OUT
CONFERENCE
publican prisoners is high, the inhuman treatment to which they are being subjected in response to the campaign could eventually lead to the death of a prisoner, an RAC speaker said. Should this occur, delegates were told they could be sure that 'all hell will be let loose'.
The issue of the prisoners was a central theme at the conference and it became clear that much of TOM's campaigning activity during the next six months will be centred around it.
A resolution which called for the "political status' demandsthe right to refuse prison work, There is growing resentment within the Labour Party's rank and file at the parliamentary leadership's 'bi-partisan' policy on Ireland- ie refusing to challenge the ruling class's repression Letter from H Block
They show you the excreta on the walls And tell you how we have done it all But they don't tell you why Of taunting screws that made the soft ones cry They taught us how to cope with dirt They who have done it long before When they kicked our slops around the cell floor And bade us clean it or be beaten more Call me sir you rebel swin‹ And on the floor you must dine A dinner topped with a dirty spit And tea that smelt of urine Far better it be to inflict our own thorn Than to lie down and take it issued with scorn They can perform cosmetic operations for visiting British MPs Who in turn make a cosmetic statement To put the enquiring population at ease The propaganda that they spread is dirtier than our cell wall But amidst the torture and the dirt The prisoner he walks tall
page 11 there. TOM's decision to step up work in the Labour movement can only be welcomed.
TROOPS OUT
NOW!
TOM has launched a new pamphlet, entitled 'No British Solution, giving a detailed analysis of Britain's involvement in the six counties since partition took place. It is available from Box TO 2a St Pauls Rd, London N1. price 50p plus postage.
Page 12 scan of this page
Socialist Action
Who killed
by Sylvia Brook (NUT)
Richard 'Cartoon' Campbell
died in Ashford Remand
Centre on March 31st.
He is yet another number
to add to the official list of
273 deaths in police custody.
Three months have passed
and still no explanation for
his death has been given.
ARREST
Richard was arrested on 1
March, allegedly attempting
to break into a sports shop
in Brixton. He spent a week-
end in Brixton police station
and was remanded to Lewes
prison after appearing at
Camberwell Magistrates
Wales to the Merseyside - are being turned into industrial deserts.
And the policy is quite deliberate. As Eric Heffer pointed out in the Commons recently, the jobless total is part of the Tories' strategy. Throwing thousands on the dole will, they hope, force wages down and profits up, thus making industry more 'competitive'.
The laws against the unions they intend bringing into the next session will, they also hope, finish off any resistance that will be left.
RESPONSE
What has been the response of the Labour leaders to the latest figures? Jim Callaghan tabled a polite
6 ISSUES - £1.50 12 ISSUES -£3.00
Richard Campbell?
Court.
A week later, he admitted
attempted burglary and was
sent to Ashford Remand
Centre. Three weeks later he
died in the hospital wing.
From the time of his arrest
to the time of his death -
four weeks - none of his rel.
atives were told where Rich-
ard was.
ILLNESS
The family were later told
that Richard was mentally ill;
that he had given a false
name; that he refused food;
that he tried to escape and
had to be 'restrained'. If all
this is so, why was no effort
made to contact his relatives?
JOBLESS TOTAL
motion of 'no confidence' in the
government & announced that -
when returned to office in 4 years -
he would save jobs by introducing
"selective import controls'.
In other words, apart from mak-
ing a few pledges for the future:
nothing. What Callaghan - and his
TUC allies - have to be told is that
we cannot wait another 4 years. By
the time Labour is returned, millions of jobs will have been lost as indus-
tries close and the social services are
mutilated.
FIGHT-BACK
Last May, under mass pressure,
the labour leaders were forced to hold a 'day of action' against Tory
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SOCIALIST ACTION c/o 58 Auckland Road, London SE19.
saw him the day before he
was arrested & a friend saw him the day he went to Ash-
ford - on both occasions he
ever, a probation officer who
saw Richard twelve days before he died described him as
'haggard and drawn' and as having lost 'a phenomenal amount of weight'
CAMPAIGN
of Richard Campbell held a march from Balham to Brix. ton to demand a public enquiry into his death. Supp-
orted by groups in the Black and labour movement, the rally at the end linked his fate to that of Liddle Towers, Jimmy Kelly and Blair Peach.
Socialist Action supported the march and the decision to build a really determined campaign to find out: what happened to Richard? How did he die? Why did he die? Lift the lid of police brutal. ity and legalised murders!
The family and friends of Richard have started a campaign to demand a public enquiry. For further information, contact: FORC, 136a Lavender Hill, London SW11 or phone 01-672-9643
(Continued)
enough. What is needed is a real drive in trade union and Labour
it's too late.
TUC this September around the
(ASTMS)
His mother, Jean Campbell,
Black leaders.
was happy & fit as usual. How-
On 5th of July, the Friends
figures.
ALERT policies. But one-off protests are not can be measured not only in the
Party branches to force the leaders into a determined fight to remove the Thatcher government before
A first step in this will be to the country. support the lobby for jobs of the
demands 'For a 35-hour Week' and 'Fight to kick the Tories out now'.
By LEN WAGSTAFF
few years ago". back down.
A new devastating slump
SOUTH AFRICA (cONT.)
repression. Well over 1000 students have been arrested and detained, under the regime's various security laws, as have numerous
These include Curtis Nkundo, former President of the Azanian Peoples' Organisation, and Bishop Desmond Tutu, general secretary of the anti-apartheid S. African Council of Churches.
Where demonstrations & strikes went ahead, the police and army were let loose with a vengeance... By the end of June, it was estimated that well over 32 Blacks had been killed and 175 wounded. If anything, these are conservative
The seriousness with which the regime views the growing 'unrest' numbers arrested or the threat -by Jaap Cillier, top government official - to ban all Black trade unions.
It can be seen, above all, in the fact that the South African army has for the first time ever been placed on a war footing within
Not even during the mass urban uprisings of 1976 and 1977 -which were put down by the use of the police and army - was the regular army placed on such an alert. They are no doubt aware, as an ANC member told the New York Times last month, that "... the lifespan of the regime is much shorter than any of us thought a
Mugabe denounces S.Africa
Earlier this month, Robert Mugabe - recently elected Zimbabwean PM -closed down the South African mission in Salisbury.
Mugabe's reasons were clear and to the point. "South Africa", he said, "has a policy of destabilising our region, mounting attacks, org anising sabotage and continuing to disrespect the principles of peaceful co-existence"
Despite South Africa's threat to cut off trade links with Zimbabwe - and use military force if Zimbabwe allows its land to be used as a base for South African freedom fighters - Mugabe has refused to
Speaking before a meeting of the OAU (Organisation of African Unity) in July, he continued to show support for the liberation struggle and called on oll African countries
The dangers facing the apartheid regime have caused concern not only in Cape Town but in London and Washington too. For them, South Africa remains the only reliable bulwark they have in the region after the fall of Mozamb. ique, Angola and - most recently - Zimbabwe.
Maintaining stability in the area - and preserving their massive investments there - depends to a large degree on the strength of the racist regime which acts as a 'police-keeping force'.
This is why the upsurge among the Black population - led by a determined Black working class - frightens them in their boots. Such an upsurge might not only topple apartheid but also take over their massive economic in -vestments on behalf of the work. ing population.
BACKING
This is why, despite the embargoes placed against Iran or the hysteria whipped up over Afghanistan, neither Carter or Thatcher have seen fit to denounce the mass repression against the Black population in South Africa.
But time is not on their side. Despite all its repressive techniques, the white minority regime is finding it ever more difficult to hold back the struggle by 22 million blacks for democratic rights.
It will be up to us in Britain to help them in this struggle by ensuring that the Tory government gives no aid to its racist allies. to draw up a 'concrete programme of aid'.
Mike Hopkins
← Socialist Action (LSA) Vol. 3, No. 6, June 1980Socialist Action (LSA) Vol. 3, No. 10, October 1980 →