their supposed stupidity - this latter being propagated by the enlightened liberal philosopher, David Hume, who even claimed That blacks had no art or culture of theit own. One strong racist influence was the church, which, especially in its evangelical period, taught blacks that they should be prateful for their emilavement: 'O Lord, I thank thee for sending big ship to my country, and wicked men to steal me and bring me here that I might know and love thee ran one 1hth century prayer for slaves.
A recurrent theme is the way in which the present racist anti-migration arguments have been presented in various forms over the centuries. For example, in the 18th century the siave lobby argued that freed slaves would be a burden on the rates thus foreshadowing by 200 years the lie that all blacks live on the dole.
The book destroys the myth that blacks have always accepted their subjugation passively, Equiano and Cuguano, two freed slaves who lived in Britain in the 18th century. toured the country fighting for total abolition of slavery, and for the rights of blacks living in misery in the ghettos of the large towns. Cuguano even showed bimself to be a conscious internationalist, in that he opposed the oppression of black people not just in Britain, but everywhere in the world. Much important information i included about the development of racism in Britain in the carly years of this century, after the post-war demobilisation and settlement of black exsoldiers. At this time racism began seriously Sat Oct 20-Sun Oct 21 Old Theatre, London School of Economics Tickets (Smitod to 500) E1 from. Sarah and Sid Wills, 49 Eler Avinue, Na RED WEEKLY READERS WELCOME Red Weekly 28 September 1973 Page 6 Thury striking over the employment of black labour. In 1919 tace-riols in Liverpool and Cardiff resulted in Victimisation of black workers in the courts, and there was a successful call for "voluntary repatriation' in 1921. which involved 627 blacks.
LABOUR'S RACISM Although Dilip Hiro's book is a more modest affair, one can begin to plean from it some understanding of the relationship of imperialisin to the British working-class movement, and the subsequent acceptance and development of racist ideology.
He shows clearly how racism is the accepted philosophy of many members of the Labour Party For example in 1958, after the infamous attacks against blacks in Notting Hill, the local Labour MP, George Rogers, demanded legislation to end the tremendous influx of coloured Immigrants. In 1965, the leader of the local Labour group in Lambeth is quoted as saying that "blacks had made the housing problem a damned sight worse -The racism of the Labour Party is not just founded on the subjective helief's of some of its members - it is based on the nationalistic, pro-imperialist, pro-capitalist politics of that party Racism, as a component of the ideas which have justified imperialism over the centuries, comes easily to it. James Callaghan argued in 1946, that immigration was justified to increase the work-force (ie, when it benelits capitalismal. Small surprise thaj in the 1960% be was one of the main architects of the racist laws to keep blacks out, when there was a surplus of labour. So much for international working-class solidarity Papers include: Catherina Hall History of the Housewife", Delia Dawin Wormer in the Chinese Revelunion"; Tim Mason Women in Nazi Gertrany': Aubrey Cowe Blick Coumcy Chainmakers: Marion Cozek 'Factory Girls in the First World War"; Anna Davin "Cult of Motherhood': Video tepe of the Half Moon History Warkshop play about children's strikes in 1911, Open wasion on Marxism, Feminism, and Social Hissory. American war in Indo China. to go to Sweden. at Colchester Militury Tatroo. GLASGOW RAID them to servicemen. The decision by the Social-Democratic Government in Sweden to permit five British Army deserters to stay, and thus avoid service in the North of Ireland has caused headaches in Whitehall. Although the permission was granted for persorul reasons", and not because they were deserters, a precedent has been created for British deserters to receive similar treatment to soldiers who have opted out of the For some time the British Deserters Support Group in Stockholm has been trying to open up Sweden to British deserters. The Group consists of Swedish radicals, and American deserters who have taken oul Swedish citizenship. Prior to this latest decision they had helped to get asylum for a handful of British soldiers in the country. During the summer a representative of the Group visited Britain, lo pass on information about the facilities available to British servicemen who wanted The seriousness with which the British Government treats this situation can be judged from the witch hunt which has been launched against groups in Britain who have been distributing a leafler informing British soldiers about the steps necessary to settle in Sweden. Most newspupers have carried a story which states that the Special Branch is trying to discover the "source" of the leaflets. This despite the fact that they bear the imprint of the British Withdrawal from Northern Ireland Campaign, and that on September 14th Pat Arrowsmith was aquitied of 'abusive behaviour after distributing them Ол Saturday September 22nd, Police raided the headquarters of the Orega Peace Centre in Glasgow, and took away copics of the leafler, and a rubber stamp which bad been used to overprint them with the Omega Centre's address. They also seized copies of the Catholie Worker, an American radical pacifist paper, and the Catholic Observer a right wing journal, Following this raid Hush Clarke was charged under the Incitement to Disaffection Act with "posession ol' leaflets with "malicious intent" to distribute The Police have referred the case to the Procurator Fiscal (prosecutor), who will decide whether to proceed with the charge. Tech nically there is no reason why a Scottish court could not try Clarke on this charge, despite the fact that the DPP in England did not proced with charges under the Disaffection Act in the case of Pat Arrowsmith. The Scottish legal system is independent of the English, aud there is a possiblity that this independence might be asserted at Hugh Clarke's expense We can expect further Police activity as a resuli of the Swedish decision. And also after the initiative by a number of pacifest groups to set up an advice centre for soktiers. The centre, to be called At Base, will give intormation about the legal procedures through which soldiers can buy themselves out, and how to form organisations in their units. Indeed Pal Arowsmith las been arrested a second time for distributing the leaflet. She is due to appear at Warminster magistrates court on November 13ch, on exacily the same charge which was dismissed at Colchester. COMPROMISE The failure of the Social Democrats to obtain an ovetall majority in the Swedish Rikidag (Parliament) should not affect the treatment of deserters. The Social Democrats hoid 125 scats, and an equal number are held by the other purties, but of these, the Communist Party holda 19. The Prime Minister Olat Palme has however stated that his government will have to compromise.
In recent years the Swedish Government has distinguished itself by its anti-imperialist gestures. It has recognised the Provisional Revolutionary Government in Vietnam, it has given shelter to large numbers of American deserters and bus issued reams of radical statements about the evils of imperialism, None of this however has preventel it from harassitig the revolutionary left, and Sweden has provided the model for successive British goveruments, with its long established legislation to tie the Trade Unions to the State, and shackle tank'and file militancy.
GAVIN ROBINSON
FOURTH
INTERNATIONAL ON CHILE For three years Communist and Socialist parties all over the world have held up the Chilean example as proof of the correctness of their theories on the way to establish socialism. The tragic end of the Popular Unity experience brings with it a series of vital lessons. Those lessons were already evident in numerous experiences from the past, especially in Latin America, from the overthrow of the Arbenz regime in Guatemala by a mercenary army, to the coup supported by the imperialists and the Brazilian militarists which installed Banzer in power in Bolivia in 1971, The Chilean events of the past three years show how illusory is the perspective of a democratic, anti-oligarchic, anti-imperialist 'stage in which the national bourgeoisie will participate, both from the standpoint of objective basis and of political possibilities. No bourgeoisie can go beyond very limited reforms without encroaching on the fundamental interests of imperialism. No bourgeoisie is prepared to put itsetf in this position unless it is guaranteed strict control over the whole process and is in a position to stifle any moves toward autonomous action by the masses. The Peruvian military regime is a classical example of this.
BLIND ALLEY OF REFORMISM The Chilean events show that even under favourable conditions reformism leads rapidly into a blind alley. If they are not generalised, those reforms which are won become threatened and increasingly meaningless in practice. But such a process of generalisation leeds inevitably towards the threshold which cannot be crossed without smashing the mechanisms of the capitalist system, Partial measures, which only encroach on various established interests without destroying them, will touch off an inevitable reaction by forces which still have at their disposal powerful resources and allies. Once again it has been proved that the petty bourgeoisie cannot be won over by simply adopting a conciliatory attitude: they must be given an anti-capitalist perspective in order to decisively resist the manoeuvres of the ruling classes.
The Chilean case exposes the absurdity of any attempt to move towards socialism without having first destroyed the capitalist state machine in its totality. This machine has been built and designed by the ruling class in order to ensure the most efficient defence possible of their system of exploitation and oppression. We are not rejecting all tactical use of legal possibili Ties or refusing to take advantage of exceptional circumstances, such as those created by the Chilean elections of 4 September. But it is necessary to understand the urgent and absolute need, in a situation of rising mass struggle, to build revolutionary organs of proletarian democracy, elements of dual power. These • instruments of the struggle for the seizure of power will at the same time be the embeyo of the totally new structures of the workers state which will come out of the revolution. SUICIDAL ILLUSIONS The Chilean reformists systematically denied this necessity, and limited themselves to promoting bodies with strictly limited functions and with no real autonomy from the constitu-. tonal structures of the state. Under the impetus of dramatic events, the workers, particularly over the past year, have rediscovered these fundamental requirements and created bodies rich in revolutionary potential, such as the industrial cordons. But their initiatives came late and were often not generalised; more seriously, such initiatives were often deprived of much of thair practical significance by the manoeuvres of the bureaucracy. The bureaucrats were determined to prevent the cordons becoming Chilean soviets and sought, after havinp deprived them of their autonomy, to integrate these bodies into a reformist and constitutional ist strategy.
Finally, the Chilean experience has once again shown that the theory that it is possible to overthrow capitalist power without revolutionary violence is the most shameful of deceptions and the most suicidal of illusions. It is a vital necessity to understand that when one reaches the crucial moment in the struggle for power, armed struggle-in some form-is inevitable in all cases. in the words of Lenin, the military question is the central political question REVOLUTIONARY PARTY The Chilean reformists challenged these elementary truths. The fact that many of them have since inscribed their names on the long list of martyrs of the workers movement neither wipes out nor lessens their crushing responsibility. The absence of a revolutionary party capable of playing a leading role among the masses has once again proved to be the decisive factor for the proletariat.
Chile will not be an historical exception", stated the declaration of the United Secretariat of December 1971:
the overthrow of the capitalist regimo cannot take place without the decisive intervention of a revolution. ary party, the conscious vanguard of the masses, The tasks which fall to such a party cannot be delegated to the Communist Party or the Socialist Party... In any event, we must reject all ideas which chim that the proletariat can come to power despite the absence of a revolutionary party, relying only on the dynamism of the revolationary process and the power of the mass movement, the weakening of the bourgeoisie and its probable, eventuel splitting, and conditions under which imperialism will be inclined to reject military intervention. We must aquatly raject the other version of these ideas according to which some substitute for a revolutionary party will be sufficient, such as a common front within which all revalutionaries are united or a united body of all the different organisations of the extreme left.
A military coup d'etat occurring in a situation like that in which Chile has been for the last few months cannot establish itself in a straight. forward fashion or through limited repression only. Everything supported the axpectation of a courageous and stubborn resistance by the proletariat; it was not excluded that sections of the army-made up, at the base, of the sans of workers and peasants undergoing military service-might revolt against the orders of reactionary officers, unleashing a process leading towards civil war. In the ovent, resis tance has developed heroically and has not been completely crushed. The second eventuality has not occurred, or at least not in such a way as to lay the basis for an immediate The problem of the armed struggle against the military dictatorship is on the order of the day. The revolutionary vanguard must carry out the necessary strategic turn as quickly as possible. The problem of the armed struggle no longer presents itself in the same terms as that of the period following on September 1970. The previous orientation would remain fundamentally valid in the eventuality of a civil war accompanied by the occupation of regions of the country by forces of the workers and peasants. In this eventuality revolutionaries will launch the call, on a world scale, for the formation of international brigades, It is necessary to push forward throughout the entire world a campaign of active solidarity, taking up the best traditions of the mobilisa. tions for Vietnam.
The Chilean workers must be defended against the barbarity of the Generals and their national bourgeois" and imperialist masters.
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HISTORY WORKSHOP IN LONDON family-work-home
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE DECLARATION OF THE UNITED SECRETARIAT OF THE