continues account of a jubilee that really matters for the working class sixtlein anniversary Russian Revolution.
Within the space of five days.the of Petrograd. 23-27 February Petrograd ground to a halt as strikes swept the city. The revolution had begun.
23 February was International Day. date originally been chosen by Second International as part of the fight for women's rights. In 1917, in Russia, no call for action had SOLDIERS come from any organisation, including the Bolsheviks. was expecting strikes onstrations.
he women textile workers of the Vyborg distrid of Petrograd mougne ornerwise ane wen on strike. Finding themselves with a an accomo une workers Darues.
Bolsheviks, Mensheviks
Hagane choice but to follow. 90,000 workcis took up une women s cad The working class was on the move. de Ionowine day Petrograd was on strike. The day onstrations demanding /Bread', *Down with the autocracy, Down with the war'.
his 1917 a plan had been drawn up by General Khabalov, the local mililary comanuc. insurrection. Petrograd had been divided into six districts and then further sub-divided into areas. Each area was allocated a regiworkers and soldiers nad taken ment or soldiers. Ine ponce and Between troops were put under command, WnHe ine troops from the Don region of Kussia were -D aced control of General Chebykin, the had retrotrad the forces, as troubleshooters.
Nobody Khabalov's plan did not use all demthe 150,000 members of the Petrograd garrison but a small section of 10,000 plus the 3,500 police, the military training schools and the two regiments of Cossacks. They, he had hoped, would prove to be and reliable.
Throughout the five days the crucial question in every worker: mind was how the soldiers would react. ne ponce were renownee for their brutality. half of lusions abour winnine une porci over; in two days at least 28 demwere occien uo m me demonsid tions.
With the soldiers different SENC and the chance to go home. Even the Cossacks, the most conservatcrush ive among the army, felt sympathy towards the workers' demands. At Erikson factory nothing to stop the workers leaving the factory by passing under the bocles or their norses.
a single On 25 February the strikes were Cossaci still spreading. Now 240,000 workers were out, and had been joined ine SChOO! students.
armCd Nobody had Was Masses TEC snowing.
Later shoe ar une POLICE they did but that viassive place.
For the last six months this column has consistently reported the various anti-Unionist manoeuvres of imperialism and its army of occupation. With the formation of the Relatives Action Committee, the fightback against the removal of political status began in earnest. facade of 'Peace at any Price' People' area of West Belfast blatant policy of increased repression, mingled with the crude forces of the Northern Ireland Office's propaganda machine, such as the unforgettable 7 Years British policy in Ireland.
resistance against repressive Roy Mason's efforts to step up army brutality in the ghettoes behind the exploded in his face as first the then the troops themselves were bundled out of the Turt Lodge In the absence of any political initiatives from Westminster, Mason's Enough' campaign, rapidly exposed the real bankruptcy of From virtually every nationalist area of the Six Counties the same including the Provisonal Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Socialist Part and former members of the Republican Clubs, is actively campaigning for troop withdrawal, political status and repatriation of Irish prisoners of war incarcerated in English jails. little doubt that these latest displays of militancy can lay a real basis for creating a mass anti-imperialist movement throughout Ireland convened in Belfast last weekend. Peoples Democracy, Red Republican Party, Irish Workers Group, Socialist Workers Movement, Movement for a Socialist Republic [Irish section of the Fourth International), Socialist Women's Group and a number of individuals attended. demands which would coordinate the local struggles and stimulate a • "Troops Out Now'. In Newry a broad based front, As the overall weakness of Britain in Ireland becomes clearer there is It was to discuss this question that a conference of the far left was The intention was to hammer out agreement on a limited number of the anti-Unionist masses. In the event. uD a lei committee acainst repressm. restoration of Dollical sialus. ine commies spons and individuals, with all organisations free to put forward th programmes At a time when the crisis of leadership at all levels in the Irish worki class becomes increasingly pronounced with every stage of the decline o imperialism, it is crucial that all the forces involved in th working class unite around a programme which will provide a clea alternative for the struggle for national independence same can be said for the recognition the conference gave to the role of women in the current struggles, and the allow for tneir tunest pancipation forces, to reach out to a broader spectrum of the anti-Unionist masses, to fight for the right of all tendencies to advance their own positions and fight HIve HIGH MIKE PINTER In this regard the conference represented a significant step forward. Th need to take practical steps to - such as positive discrimination in The testof the committee will be its willingness to co-operate with other