question.
WHY IS ABORTION such a con troversial issue'? Is it because the Catholic church has been checking the rule book and has declared against abortion? Hardly - the real reasons are more down to carth.
An important clue was given by the consultants work to rule. The first service they axed was abortion. That's important because of what the run down in the health service fand other social services) means.
The ruling class can't afford to foot the welfare bill any more, They are looking out for a return to the pro 1945 situation when all these social jobs (care of children, care of the elderly, care of the sick and so on) were carried out by the workers themselves That meant most of all by working class women. Social services were carried out at home.
The consultants in their half conscious way have recognised th's. For them abortion is not an important operation. Tell that to a housewife in a low income house: hold burdened down with washing cooking, cleaning -and children.
But the consultants were just reacting in a sleepy way. There are far clearer minds around. They understand that if the working class is going to be made to pay for the crisis of social expenditure then that means increasing the repression of women and tying them even more firmly to their tasks in the bome. That is why right wingers in the Tory party and fascists like the National Front are against abortion, They want to extend control over women in order to make them the pack horses of the social services. Defence of the right to abortion is now more than ever belore a vital task of the left.
PROBLEMS However the ruling cluss have some problems. They are very polit ical poople. They want support for all their ideus, not just a few of them. Up to now the most important tepresentatives of capitalismi have ignared the abortion issue. Organisations like SPUC, powerful and dangerous as they are, have a serious disadvantage. They are single issue organisat Jons. They have only one idea, The bourgeoisie prefers something better than that different issues are comine up at once. Jill Knight is trying to start an anti-gay crusade in the social services (she has demanded the removal of homo sexuals from social service jobs). A Last week the Women's Conference of the TUC voted overwhelmingly to back abortion on demand and free contraception. This important move comes at a time when even the present, very limited right to abortion is under attack. JANICE MILLS looks at the debate over abortion and speils discussing homosexuality in the class room, Talk about decency and motherhood and rantings about the decline and fall of the Roman empire no longer come from the right wing lunatic fringe only but also front res pectable bourgeos politicians like Keith Joseph as they attempt to explain why it is a good thing that the health and education services are being axed They're starting to tie it all tog Judith Gray of ASTMS (Medical Practitioners' Union moving the motion for abortion on demand which was overwhelmingly passed by the Women's TUC last week ether. They can make it relate to what is actually happening to people in their own day-to-day lives. And the SPUCs, the Mary Whitehouses and Lord Longfords of this world have given them a base. Literally thousands of people doped by the stupidities of religion can be mobilisod in defence of the family, and againest the interests of women. Thousands of peopie are ready to accept homosexuals as scapegoats for the failure of capitalism SPELT OUT The one missing ingredient has now been given to them by James White, He has spelt it out that there are people in the labour movement quite ready to back a reactionary attack over sexual matters. He has indicated the possibility of organis ing workers apainst abortion and for the family, agaist the interests of class, It is not an accident that he has picked on the abortion issuc. Control of child hirth is the single most important issue in the frecing of women. More than anything else it is their function as child bearers dat keeps women tied to the home and therefore keeps them oppressed The ruling class are only starting to experiment with their new opportunitics. But they are beginning to understand that workers can be mobilised on sexual issucs That, an in the Manchester SEE strike, male worker can be used against women workers. That ideas aboubAbe Furly and decency can be used to confuse and split the working class just as much as racast and nationalist proj udices. They are only starling, bul If the left thinks that women's liberation is just about equal pay, it is in for a rude awakening. If backward ideas on women and the family go unchullenged in the workers move ment then it will start to digits own grave. If we are not to be defeated tomorrow then we must fight today. FOR THE STEELWORKERS of Ebbw Vale, April is drawing close. Ir brings with it the British Steel Corporation's "promise of 300 redundancies - the first of 4,600, The initial sound and fury has passed. The dust raised by the one-day strike and demonstration has settled. Neither sound nor fury, however, have moved Foot and the to scrap the steelworks. Now, with some demoralisation setting in, all eyes are turned to the Works Council to give a lead.
ing water like mad. Their demand for no redundancies remains, but they have no strategy to achieve it. NOT NEW steel union, the Iron & Steel Trades by its old name of BISAKTA- I bedevilled by a history of craft narrowness and right-wing leadership.
stronghold, were built in the 1930s to provide cheap sheet metal for the booming British car industry. This has partly cushioned the steelworkens from the ups and down whuch afflicted other sectors of the steel and Port Talbot have had to fight to defend their jobs and living standards, despite the backsliding of BISAKTA, Ebbw's labour relations were boasted as the best in the coun try. in other words there was no tradition of struage.
way to stop the closure. The Works Council adopted a policy of no clos ure without alternative employment.
tion representatives came in 1975.
on 'alternative employment and petting guarantees from BSC and the Labour Party, The production representatives pointed out that such guarantees were not forthcoming and neither were any new jobs.
mcant little. Steel is the foundation unities. There is no chance of any large scale new industries moving in.
al. Recoenition that steclmaking is the only future for working people in the area has made no closure and Do redundancies the demand.
demands the independent action of ity itself. Refusing to accept closure tion. Steelworkers are saying that steelmaking must stay and the Labour Government must invest in the line the furnaces.
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Now however there are better chances for the ruling clasa. A lot of
out why the whole workers" movement must take a clear stand on this gay teacher has been victimised - for
working class women and aginst the interests of the whole working
the opposition on this issue should have got underway long since.