Socialist Action No. 167, 5 June 1987
The scan: 167-jun-05-1987-SA-UK.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
VOTE LABOUR
No. 167
ACTION SOCiAList BUILDING AN ALLIANCE FOR SOCIALISM
IN EVERY CONSTITUENCY
5 June 1987
30p
Inside: • Tories and the unions
Oliver Tambo speaks
Why black people should
support Labour • Unilateralism • Sinn Fein's campaign
Page 2 scan of this page
A 'traditional working
2 Socialist Action 5 June 1987
ACTiON SOCiALiS
Right wing
continue to
sabotage Labour
THE MOST bitterly humorous intervention of the election campaign so far came last Monday with Eric Hammond's speech to the EETPU conference. According to Hammond he has blazoned the way for victory against the Tories.
to declared: supports our policy of one member one vote in the Labour Party for the leadership and for the selection of members of blasted. Now hardiy a voice is raised in their suas against Militant. Initially our port. Even the office of the leader of the Laboul Party correctly warned the London party tha their support for ding Labour voters.
Hammond's acolyte, EETPU president Paul Gallagher, the struggle against: 'the perception that far too many pcoole nad or tre dominated by fanatics, committed to extreme policies, catering exclusively to the most bizarre minority causes, the advocacy of inverted racism,
Hammond went on to attack the Todd, general secretary of the TGWU, and John Edmonds, general secretary of the Labour's campaign to concentrate on traditional working class issues such as unemployment, the health service and schools. This call was made at the height of the Atkin.
'What were the trying to demonstrate? Their influence? Don't the know that Neil Kinnock's tough independence asset. Neil has almost single handedly brought our party back from the brink of oblivion...The last thing he wants or will need is pressure from trade union leaders with little experience of real elections.
We must judge from this that Hammond concludes that concentration in campaign on its proud record of expulsions, or its failure to support lesbian and gay rights, is the way to political success.
It is therefore worth making a balance sheet of the contribution of Labour's right wing in the last four years to Labour's possibility of victory in this election. tribution of the right wing, of course, sabotage every mass struggle events that could have turned the relation of forces against Thatcher and best deprived her of the possibility of victory at the election.
Hammond was the miners. holding out against rate capping. The EETPU organised with Murdoch against the print unions at Wapping. struggies that, more strengthened her labour movement.
Secondly Hammond led the opposition to every move that would have support. In particular the EETPU has opposed every move to strengthen Labour's women's organisation — and also led opposition to adoption of the policy of the national minimum wage.
Thirdly, as Hammond accurately claims, the EETPU has been in the forefront of promoting the witch hunt. And all the evidence is that every time the witch hunt has been put in the forefront Labour has slumped in support. Even Todd and Edmonds call for a 'bread and butter' campaign, which Hammond denounced right wing, is more electorally Hammond's witch hunting - as has been seen so far in the campaign.
The balance sheet of Labour's right wing in the last four years is clear. They have set back every single struggle that could have weakened Thatcher Labour. They have cut off Labour from the key new areas where it could have expanded its appeal. They have thereby not only labour movement's position in the country but worsened Labour's chances of winning the election.
In the last tour years the Labour right, with Hammond as their most tative, has been the best ally of the Tories within Labour's ranks.
the conterence Hammond
growing constituency of opinion
parliament. Recall the view was
peculiar causes" was offen-
went further. He claimed credit for
Labour Party, a party
tor nomosexuality of discriminatory feminism. cal Dy KOr
GMB. for
Switch hunt against Sharon
For mina is our biggest
Labour's election
The single most important conhas been to the decisive
bitterest foe of the He led the opposition to the councils
It was victory by Thatcher in these
than anthing else, government against the as insufficiently popular than
- and which would thereby have aided
of support, in particular women,
weakened the whole
extreme represen-
the poll.
Events so far have also decisively answered the question of what:
framework of campaign Labour should have been running. The most fundamental political lessons, that the party
the political agenda wins, is actually being to some degree abolied
Take what was happening prior to the election Labour accepted an agenda dictated by its opponents. Walworth Road was thrashing around trying to
that it coula bash Black Sections. Before that
the message that wasn't really a party that supported lesbian and gay rights. It was the same tactic Militant at ce 1985 con show could "bash
sciously right wing conference
What was the result? abou enteres une canpaign in a disastrous posi LON. the NEC and Kinnock were in full cry witchhunting the Black Section and Sharon Atkin, Labour's support was down at 29 per cent. It was third in the polls in one
Speech
It was the same follow-
1.8E conference and Kinnock's 'bash Mili tant' speech. Labour's lead over the Tories fell from a five per cent lead to no lead
all following that performance
The same occurred with the 1986 conference and its 'I will die for my country' speech and the general bash the left' tone of the conference.
Labour went into the 1986 conference leading the lores bv tour per cent. Bv a month following it Labour was three per cent behind Worsening or Labour's posi- Conservatives tion by seven per cent in two months.
The facts show that the witch hunting, bash the left, line is unpopular in terms of Labour's standing in the
There is simolv no factual doubt about it.
The reason for this is not that Militant, for example, is popular. It is that the working Class community regard such issue as
The poll taken in Liverpool this election. showing that only two per cent of the population considered that Militant was the decisive issue in the election, compared to
per cent who said that unemploy-
Will Labour's weakness on women
cost it the election?
class campaign?
SO FAR the Labour campaign, given what could have happened, has been better than one could have expected and than very many party members feared. Naturally it has nothing to do with a socialist campaign, but at least the leadership has not been committing disastrous own goals. The result is that unless something catastrophic is done in the last week of the campaign, there is every chance that Labour's vote will be significantly above the level of 1983. That will be an important element in the relation of forces. Every worker in Britain will feel more confident if, on 12 June, Labour has significantly increased its position in
ment was, illustrates this point perfectly. If Labour allows its opponents, or the Fleet Street press, to dictate the political agenda, the lavou movercul osc Point The point was shown bentectv cervasineeec ton started. As soon as the CICCLIO1 Wal announced thank god, Labour dropped all the 'bash the left, expel the black section, denounce the gays' emphasis. It in stead began to pump out an unremmitting stream of material on the theme of 'save the health service, cut unemployment, save our schools The result is that the to 35 per Mt. By 27 Laboul lapiul Way it hit 37 percent Apart from inserting •arrolkrock's speech a Militant into the first TV broadcast, bluntly didn't affect things VilC or tne other Labour, for once, stuck to what Bryan Gould explain ed in Labour Party News:
Our opponents will be lob. bing hand grenades at us throughout : the campaign, trying to distract us from the issue on which we can WIll just going to have to discipline ourselves and keep plugging away at our central themes developing our campaign ir properly thought out fashion rather than just responding other parties are doing!
Labour, in short, began to try to set the political That is began to recover rapidly in the polls because it was dealing with issues which really affected working class lives.
Reason The reason that Labour not within striking difference of winning, nowever, shows up just what is the weakness of conception of 'working class issues' is.
The single biggest wenkies or this campaign is Labour's tallure to win over women The national polis show Lauvu. behind the Tories among only per cent
men. But it is 12 per cent behind among women.
The figures in London more shattering middle or May shinted middle May showed Labour 4 per cent behind the Conservatives among men and 23 per cent among women. The beneficiaries were the Alliance -stood at 15 per cent among
men and 22 per cent among
To give some : idea what that means if, on the national figures, Labour were running at the same level among women as were among men it would be four per cent higher in the national polls and breathing down the Tories
Yet Labour has easily the best policies for women
this election. The introduction of a national minimum wage is the single
party that would benefit women demand for a Ministry for Women is sunported bv 64 per cent of women. Yet the words "national minimum wage have scarcely been mentioned in the campaien
conference launch campagn tor a winistry I01 Women but since then littk has OCCI little in fact that polls show that the majority of women thought that the proposal for such a ministry was a
emphasising
traditional working class issues' jobs, housing, of education Labour has recovered from the absolute disaster it faced on the line of 'bash the it blacks, abandon the gays and lesbians, we can bash
recovered to a level at which
election. The steps which are necessary •to win,
into the framework pushed by the leadership.
Single
This framework started long before the election The single biggest crime of the Labour leadership in the last lour years was Ils lallure to support workers who wele engaged in with the Thatcher government Failure support the miners, rate-capped councils,
back the NGA and SOGAT Wapping allowed Thatcher to the blows against the labour movement which allowed her to even have possibility of winning the
Election
election.
It is not possible that round in an el campaign because th
of the relation of which determine
decided campaign but outsi The most crucial Labour's activity had and must sta Thatcher wins supporting every sect the working class th struggle.
What the campaign sho clear. First Labour fight to set the agen respond to th ouiers deconomes * its campaign by supp every struggle whier place outside and bef election. Third it car today the expands its to 'traditional (male) wc
class issues' abo
deal These conclusior
not "looney propaganda. They a the facts established th
the election campaign
Page 3 scan of this page
Election '87
Unilateralism
put to the test
AFTER A WEEK of unremitting pressure over the defence issue', Labour called its first London press conference of the election campaign on Thursday 28 May. Polaris would be scrapped within a fortnight of Labour taking office Neil Kinnock said. Nuclear deterrence is 'unnecessary", he said. First because a Soviet occupation IS nonsense); second because the Soviet Union has no intention of invading Western true). Despite thehue and cry that followed - and despite all predictions to the contrary — Labour has not fallen in the polls.
In: the nock's Army'
1naveHosI Sunday, the EUCS and Alliance, backed up the press,
the Soviet threat. But,
Duory. the
out Turaterausl Friday 29 Labour
issue the
the Soviet will in-
and bv putdisarmament
the
of avoiding further on 'the
Should
arms the opposi-
EVElI unilitcu
has already to EVERY CANDIDATE will putting the Manifesto before the electorate, making it absolutely clear that the commitments in it will be the policy of an incoming Labour government. That is our job and given the enormous urgency of defeating Mrs Thatcher and substituting a Labour government, that is the information the electorate must have. But in facing the challenge of tactical voting, which is a strategy of destroying the labour movement and socialism, Labour candidates stressing the long-term commitment of the Labour Party to a better life for our people.
From the point of view of the electors, the election must de aboul ineir own
ical matters ske an. daco
.the dole queues and the restoration of full employmcal, an ena to.tne nousing crisis and major building uceillc. end to the cuts in the health service, its expansion, and the restoration of its basis free of charge; the need for lifelong education on combrenensive basis• the portance of giving retired ople dignity and a tull life based on a living pension; the ending of low pay and against women and black people; and of course, the ∞ e • r race which is bankrupting
and leading millions of deaths around the world.
Labour candidates will be listened to if they address their arguments for
not 'feasible' (which
Europe (which is
tain is loser that
'Soviet is totally
much shape going
Since Kinnock's
ment, the media have
knows
Ivusl
ding
in line.
"Tories Ill on nuclear tamnbe ec
Labour
that nonstory another:
' But
electricians? leader Eric
opposed to
ment.
leader forced 'Mr Kinnock weathered the storm well. His and false
The election and after
Labour will inevitable be
change around the linkage between those demands and the changes that
By Tony Benn MP would have to be made to realise them.
Labour was set up by the trade unions and others to fight for jobs,
Scnoois TOH good health, pensions and peace. And when we speak of representation it cannot
Shmtled lo parlamenl The NUM was representing LIHC uluers their struggle, and so were SOGAT and the NGA.
The labour movement has come to learn that this task of campaigning is not solcy conunecto eectora campaigns but must develop around struggles
people to meet their basic needs. That has cerLalnly been true over the last five years, when the
int be anto, and il has
the party, and it
arcume lls ove nuclear issues have not done him
much damage his supporters feared. But he
still not man who
prime minister.'
Alongside all the garish headlines and "searching for the right wing split', the faithful. bourgeois press have struggled tind statistical proof for their assertions that
emphasises getting rid of the bomb. They have failed
'More voters worried
nour s defences ' claimed the Sunday
limits lasl wcckenu. Labour's greatest liability in the election campaign is now its detence policy, according to this week's poll CONCUCLed TOT the helped to build a network
support and political cuucal ol aroulnu the country.
Therefore when the election is over, whichever ministers are in power, we know that that struggle wil need to be sustained and developed. Not least
Labour Decaust
power the IMF and the
EEC, NATO and the City MIS and MI6 will be trying to destroy it. A necessary Phen would be to sustain s our campaigns LADON covermmer. that its policy could be imDlemented and also campaign to prevent others that might blow o colase.
However you look at it, this election be
Inlusi
een as a part of a long
J ULCoS duHOt «oesho of 'democracy for a day' after which we revert to a mere fan club parliamentarians wallll! for the signal to do it all over again. It is this depth
commitment the historical perspective and the idea of a manitesto o demands — that will prove
be the answer shallow psephological calculations associated with lacucal voun?.
I am sure every Labour candidate will be wanting to put socialism back onto the agenda through seeing the process as a continuum
Observer by the Harris
Research Centre,' the arti-
cle began.
defence has jumped
place, as
and voters
L COn•
Sunday one have
already ICIULCU
audyses
Peter Kellner, no
unilateralist, summed this
us, writing in the Indepen-
dent on Monday 1 June
'This weekend's
present a conundrum,' he
began. "They register that
defence has become a ma-
jor election issue in voters
minds, that most dislike from the early days of the movement to the moment wnen we snall secure a ma jority for the transformation of our socielv. One factor above all is helping us in this, and it is the new hope for an end to the cold war which has emerged as esu e toroacer initiatives in disarmament
evident changes Soviet Union innie direc taking inside the tion of democracy
British socialists have long seen Ene need TO1 democracy the USSR and the socialist countrie nily we may have been slower to see that it was that same retreshment of democracy that we require in Britain to deal with the crisis symbolised by the Social Democrats who now present themselves aş a challenge.
DOIT S policy but that Labour's overall sup Doll rau ul ocen uculcu
by late last week.'
the four Hull.
reasons Kellner gave wa that 'those who say their loyalties al f swaved defence tend to be non-
Labour voters already'
morning of Tuesday 2 June, TV-AM's rolling ICLCTC opinion from Saturday 30 May to Monday 1 June,
only one percentage point
wewlalo mne toul point margin of error for this poll.
Meanwhile, CND last week published the results of a survey conducted fol them by Gallup betweer 8-13 May on SUDDOII OI policy. Overall, only 45 per cent of respondents approv. ed of Tory policy, while 41 per cent disapproved and 14 per cent didn't know
While there is wariness about Labour's position there is not support for the Tories defence policy
Events of the past week all go to show what nucieal disarmers in •Lilc party have occial call.
1983. Promising to SUICC
Britain nOl albatross for Labour.
But, like all other policies which ai c viciously opposed by the ruling class, the popular majority which potentially exists for nuclear disarmament anone unc cicclolaid of this country has to be fought for and won. That can only be done by a conSISICII! policy that starts from pointing out the truth
If Labour does not win the election the right wing will undoubted v launch a massive campaign deman.
ped. The evidence of th campaign is clear. Not on-
Hulaterd nuc cal disarmament necessary if
does not campaigned for. lead to Labour's support falling.
It is significant that the two main targets for the Conservative attack since thev came to power have been two centres of democratic influence: the trade unions, democratically reflecting their membership; and local government, democratically reflecting community. If anyone had any doubt • the creative power of democracy the
that the Tories have tried to cramp it, confine destroy it should be cases and some cases enough of the direction in which we should be moving when the opportunity comes
1 am quite sure that il these considerations are in the minds of Labour
Caltdidates, the appeal we make will be one that commands a majority support.
Socialist Action |
STOP
ACISI
idions
Alliance
shows
its true
colours
ONE OF the delightful things about an election campaign, like any major political event, that it forces political positions clearly out into the open. Where people and parties stand in the political process is cruelly exposed. For no person, and no party, has this been more true at this election than the role of Owen and the SDP.
role of the is to supDOTE cherism come out
Express well on 31 Dr speech tas
and loathing the party to belong
has been he might split the and
of relief. the orie steady and the VULT wayering the Alliance least Dr one blessing COUBUE
cusure that dim, dangerous, posturing Gordon innoc will
5 June 1987 3
TOWERHAME
HONE LESS FAMI
in the Sunday. Times the same day, put it even more accurately: 'His (Owen's) historical achievement Lo ave elvls malce dominate Britain with the smallest poll percentage o any modern Tory leader.
This message evel to. SD
Pornhee oargisto seateot
Nottingham North quit on Saturday declaring he was 'absolutely disgusted' with their campaign, and that it had demonstrated they were clearly 'second class Tories.'
have
reported
open
Before .weeping tears
has been
some
Liberal Most
publicity from the role trolled Hamlets council.
On 150 Bangla families
Club in
policies the council. owe
order to services them and
The council
Desh!
Tini Alliance's daily press con ference Steel was bundled rapidly into his car avoid being photographer near the demonstration He would not speak to th demonstrators or bez their case.
Page 4 scan of this page
4 Socialist Action 29 May 1987 Militant not an issue on Merseyside THERE are lies, damned lies and opinion polls - but not always, especially in key marginals like Liverpool's Broadgreen. is the issue because
And there
them.
Labour with 48 per cent U1 LIC VOLC II Labour swing in Manchester marginal WITHINGTON, a key marginal and the only Tory held seat in the Manchester city area, seems likely to be won by Labour according to a recent poll by Mori for Granada Reports.
The poll gave Labour 46 per cent, Conservative 31, Alliance 22, and others indicate a 15 point lead - and a swing of 10 per cent to Labour's candidate, Keith Bradley.
The figures represent a huge switch since the 7 May local elections and a boost for the Labour campaign in willington.
IS STRENGTH Support our fund drive! SOCIALIST ACTION urgently needs the financial support of its readers. We have resumed weekly publication in the election period but this requires a big increase in income - much bigger than can be covered by extra sales. That is why
are asking every single reader to make a contribution, no matter how small, whatever you can afford, to our election fund drive.
Readers Newport have the right idea. They have produced the fund miss guru we show ou this page. All profits from
The local victory.
candidate,
According to Keith Bradley's election agent: 'Labour Party canvass returns back up the Mori poll published by Granada Reports which shows that the voters are turning to us as the only viable way to get rid of the Tory MP who is little known in the area vet votes tor policies which harm our lealth, education and local services.
This swing to Keith Bradley, a prominent member of Manchester Citv counci. 1s interesting in the light ot the progressive policies associated with he council which have been lambasted locally and nationally by the press, and the highly unpopular 20 per cent this will go to Socialist Action's fighting fund.
Not every reader is in a position to organise a major fund raising initiative ike this. But we ask every reader to make a donation
• no matter how large or small, it will help get out our newspaper.
Please senc Contestions to Socialist Action Fund Drive PO Box 50, London N1 2XP.
Unity Strength T-shirts, available at £4.50 each or £3.75 for bulk
ten more, from Geoff Holmes, 4 St
Newport, Gwent. Make cheques payanic lo Socialist tion.
Labour
increase
wollalc ate.
education.
Take
and other
Kenneth anti-
has started
Lili. Labour government Brent and
tion policy that denenls
this society.
pally. can racist aws and for democratic
local No
one will
in the ir
will get nothing Tory Party.
Tories disgulse
Hamlets they al c
Bangladeshi families racist Tower Hamlets.
Sparkbrook constituency, once contemptuously
Two weeks ago the disputes appeared to comt to a head. Mr Mohammed Yousaf the Sparkhill ward, Cial resigned from the bartv atter years. He alleged neglect ot the constituency's nous ing, social and educational problems, adding that when neer dealer constituency meetings
WaS LU 'whip the Asians into line'
He went on to urge
Aslans In sparkbrooK LO
for the Tory candidate OLICI party
members followed
ing display of discontent.
Outside Sparkbrook many assumed that they were watching the depar-
Why black people should vote
vital on June. isn't enough. The Labour Party Black Section argues that black people should also join the party and join
work ensure Labour is committed to anti-racist socialist policies Those policies will only be consistently addressed by the party we work and organise to oring them aboul.
By Kingsley Abrams, Secretary, Black Section
It is important that the black community builds alliances with other tions of the working class.
Only by being active in the Labour Party and In ine labour movement huld the alliances that wil allow us to lead the strug gle for the elimination of racism in society.
The Labour Party Black Section has already played a fundamental part in that. We have nol only increased the profile of black people and raised the necessity for our self-organisation in the Labour Party, , but the Black Section has also played a vital part in beginning to forge such an alliance by its role Labour Left Liaison, the umbrella organisation
different campaigns within the party.
Tackling racism and sexism is fundamental to LuL, as well as supporting
Hattersley's credibility gap in Birmingham
MR ROY HATTERSLEY is not having a good election campaign. Despite his prominent role as deputy leader of the Labour Party in the usual round of rallies and TV and radio programmes, the local and national press have carried regular reports of unrest
among what he
Yousaf was broad
position chair been
port. So what drove and others out the
the first place wing: the
position in the Spark OOOK on the
anti-imperialist campaigns and struggles, and fighting
democracy countability within the party and against all witch hunts. Alliances like that are a vital of our strategy
not roots in
tant part the Labour
Black rally
Section developed
ing outside.
tation of people There are 200
There
councils.
Will be al
for black At
creasing
black munity Broad-
The Black
walls li
Party and the labour movement whole.
working com-
important to play. They Stall casting vote for a
that WIl
sovichy. receiving end of several attempts to 'whip it into line'
expulsions, intimidation and disruption of its meetings have all played a part in this.
Mohammed Yousaf,
as the chair of the ward
has been a target of regular abuse at ward meetings
and was recently accused or assaull winger after Yousat stent one right
ed in to prevent a fight
He was also facing possi ble disciplinary charges for
allegedly describing con-
racists.
It was by-now familiar pattern intimidation aimed at drivIllg of the party
without burdening the National Constitutional another case. Not surpris- Committee ingly Sparkbrook's right
wing were 'ecstatic' when
Yousat decided to go
But Yousaf's decision simply due
pressure from the party's
Letter
WHY on earth did you
choose to publish that
terrible photograph of a
CPSA/SCPS picket to illustrate vour article
*Civil servants step up action' in the 8 May
edition of Socialist
Action?
The photograph I am
referring to shows male memoers of the union
standing in the
foreground, holding their placards, smiling at the camera - the women members firmly
in their place in the DICKSONG WELLOUI placards) huddled
together. One can only
picture the scene -
Right lads, grab : placard, let's get our
photo taken - out of
the way, please, ladies'.
I realise that this photograph may right wing. The deepening discontent among many Sparkbrook
black and white -very real
Sparkbrook boasts some of the worst housing and unemployment in the West Midlands. There is a growing credibility gap between Hattersley's campaign against Section and against the left carried out behalf lardina roy folk', and his lack campaigning around any of the issues that actually effect them.
in this vear's local elec tions Labour's share of the vote fell from 68 to 55 per cent across the three ward. in the Sparkbrook consti tuency while He DRES share increased from 18 to
This brought the Tories within 356 vote: of taking one of the : seats.
Now several Muslim religious leaders, Imams, have expressed public support for Mr Nazir Khan, the Tory parliamen-
Election '87
represent the reality of civil service which have a predominantly female membership (over 70 per cent of CPSA members are women) but whose full time officers and national officials are most v male But there is another reality, which is that there are a lot of women playing an active role at a grass roots level
There are women organising pickets and standing on picket lines during the curren dispute. Couldn't you have published a photograph of them' And il I one wasn't available couldn't you al least have censored this one? I really did find it offensive
Paula Wilkes, CPSA, Equal Opportunities Commission Branch. tary candidate What im pact this will have on labour's vote remains to be seen
But for Sparkbrook's right wing there are bigger fish to fry. Not content with driving members out of the party they are now talking 'restructuring the Sparkhill ward: and of course, Sparkhill might not be the only ward to suffer this fate
As Kevin Scally, now
Sparkhil ward treasure
after his successfu paign - for reinstatemen
Clearly if we lose the general election the left will be blamed There will be a crack down on left wing wards and individuals.
"The closure of a left wing ward in Hattersley's constituency would be signal to other right wing contrict to do the same That's why the whole of the Labour Party should be following these events.
Page 5 scan of this page
Sinn Fein's election campaign
Election '87
ON 11 JUNE the test of British policy in northern Ireland will be the vote of Sinn Fein
has been directed to the goal of eliminating mass sup-
Belfast.
Sinn Fein's campaign was manitesto entitled For
and Peace. This argues that the
the war in Ireland is British withdrawal and Irish self-determination. Within this framework, Sinn Fein supports every possible step to improve the living stan-
discrimination suffered by the nationalist population in the six counties.
Sinn Fein takes up specifically women's rights and also demands an end to
Irish languege and culture, that the recognised as a bilingual 4cd.
The Irish Times on
T HAD to stand naked while they checked my clothes. Prison officers rub my hair and ears and like an animal | have to lift my feet so they can inspect them t00'.
That's how Ella O'Dwyer, now in Durham prison, described her experience of strip-searching while on remand in Brixton, where she was on average stripped 50 times a month.
In the four years between ineir introauchon In November 1982 and November 1986, 2000 strip searches were made of
Armagh and later Maghaberry
There were never W1SU11. more than 30 women held at any one time.
They are justified grounds of "security'. In al that time oniv one five
perfume were ever found on prisoners.
Now systematic strip-searching has been stepped up in British prisons. Irish women in British jails, are immediate targets, but others have been subjected to forced strip-searching: black Williais rested at Greenham and Faslane after disarmament demonstrations and
- the only party campaigning for British withdrawal and a united Ireland. Britain's entire policy over the last two years
port for Sinn Fein. In the general election they had hoped to see this reflected in a collapse of Sinn Fein's vote and, above all, in the defeat of Gerry Adams by the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) in West
Monday 1 June reported on the start of Gerry Adams campaign in the Ballymurphy area of West Belfast as follows: this small republican enclave, which boasts wall graffitti, new murals urging
cover the gable walls. The
echo the surcel pavelnents same message and every seColil lias brand new Adams poster in the window. He didn't have lo canvas his face was enough to contirm the vote.
Study
Of course not every area is as solidly republican as Ballymurphy, but nonethe-
Sinn Fein reports that COS, its initial canvas returns
miners' wives.
Anne Matthews, leader of Southwark Council, recently visited Ella O'Dwyer the methods: 'Durham wing was originally used in 1961 as a special and punishment block for male escapees. In 1965 the wing was converted for the arrival of the train robbers and the Kray brothers.
'The conversion includes dog surveillance and other forms of maximum securitour sets of electronicaliy lau gone
numerable other
and gates, guarded all the time, been photographed, been checked over with a metal detector, then stared at by two warders during every minute of my visit
Yet she knew that Ella would be stripped when she left.
Strip-searching designed to produce the
anxiety SurCS. and fear through what all women who have suffered it have called humiliation' and 'sexual violence'. has resulted severe weight loss among women prisoners, marae. menstrual problems and other il-
Call HERs Pea
Sinry
Féin ADAMS'* Gerry show it is holding and even slightly increasing Ils vole
gaining support
the register for the first time. Action
The SDLP's appeal in the election was to have neen naser on une bere ils the Anglo-Irish Agreement was to produce tor the llai tionalist community. But these have not materialised. The promise steps towards disbanding of
notoriously sectanan UDR and reform of the Kut nave ocen exposcu as completely false.
The and UDR treatment of the nationalist
not better since the agreement signed
Y au something exposed by the ruthless harassment and in-
republican funerals.
So, the SDLP have shitted their tack somewhat to attack Adams for refus-
Plus scal al Westminster. They argue he has tailed to represent nis
Support the strip-search demo!
Inesses:
Many groups and
Britain and Ireland have stated their opposition to strip searching. People such as Peter Barry, Irish Minister of Foreign Antal and Cardinal O'Fiach have called it degrading and inhuman.
In Britain many trade unions have policy against
as does the National Organisation of Labour Women and the National Union of Students. So has
constituency and win material concessions. Sinn Fein's responds that what concessions the nationalist community has extracted from Britain have been a result of mass campagns and the republican struggle not the SDLP's lobbying
Opinion
Sinn Fein do take up seats in the Dublin parliament, Leinster House, but they do refuse to attend the • Westminster parliament which has no legitimacy in the nationalist community and in which. in anv case representatives of the na tonallst community Lall never constitute more than a minute and insignificant
So it appears that the ¡lall. chance the SDLP have of defeating Adams is
persuade sufficient Unionists to vote 'tactically' for them to keep out Sinn Fein. This is precisely what Joe Hendron, the SDLP's candidate means when he says Unionists 'may well fee that a vote tor trank Millar is wasted'. Frank Millar the general secretary of the Offical Unionists and their West Belfast candidate.
Nonetheless the SDLP
the Westminster and Dublin goyelleuls
Left
Alongside the efforts to politically undermine Sinn Fein and build up the SDLP
are sinister developments.
Election workers
West Belfast estimate they have 6-8 cases of election workers being harassed in various ways by the security 101CC. avuse scalcics. arrests and so on every 24 hours. This has included: Martin McGuiness, Sinn Fein candidate in the Foyle constituency, being held by the RUC in Newry; Gerry although again it undy- Labour Party,
by the kind of statement in its election manifesto. 'We
will replace present strip-searching practice with more effective and acceptable security measures
Although many of the
arguments against strip-
searching have been won, ' the practice goes on - and
with increasing frequency.
1S vital that this in humane treatment of
women is stoppeu. Stop strip searches in Maghaberry and Durham
5 IL
STRIP SEARCHES
End imperialist violence against women
National demonstration
DURHAM Saturday 13th June
2pm
CRECHE AVAILABLE
O'Hara, chair of Derry Sinn Fein, being held by the
UC for the best part of week; Eamon IcKenn having his nose broken by British soldiers whilst putting up posters for Sinn Fein in North Belfast and so on.
More Wo vie sut way that Sinn Fein workers are being made the targets of sectarian assassination attempts. Normally, loyalist astarily selected catholics. assassins down But in these cases they are specifically targetting Sinn Fein workers. Enemy
Alex Maskey, Adams' election agent was shot at his home and is still seriousQuin, a sinn Pein wAlex ill in in North Belfast, was shot by men in RUC uniform, when he refused to open his JTOM LneN Another Belfast Sinn Fein WULKCI. brendan Davie. was shot in a shoemakers' shop.
There is strong evidence for collusion by the security forces in these assassination attempts. They were all car-
squads who had detailed knowledge of the ments and habits of their intended victims. That typ of information cannot be gathered by loyalist assassins strong republican areas. The only people In a position gather that type of information would be the security forces.
If Sinn Fein succeed in holding their vote with the
sini, ahe Daulin gepres-
sion, Dublin government, Ine britisn govern ment political party in the
will be a colossal victory and a maior deteat tor the entire strategy of British im-
The demonstration
organisea by le stop Luc
Strip-Searches Campaign in Durham on Saturday June 13 at 2pm is a step towards this.
Passing policy by itself
will never do anything
alld
all others like it, should have the sunport of al those who want to stop
this assault on women
For more information, including tickets for coaches and speakers contact the campaign c/o 01-609 1743.
WOMEN
conference
in Newcastle.
By Polly Vittorini, Delegate, SOAS
NUS.
the post of women's
this election, and anti-imperialist
sexual harassment, 'Charter for Women'.
for
tampon machines
the way to involve all women!
Conference mandated its
ing against
laws, , and for supporting
by a Campaign Student supporter
istence of the Zionist state of Israel. electing places for black, Jewish, lesbian, Irish,
political clarity of conference
At present the
Student stand on a platform Labour.
Socialist Action 5 June 1987 5
TER
Women students in
THE WOMEN's campaign conference of the National Union of Students met last weekend
The women's campaign of NUS has greatly increased its power for the
first time this year through the creation of the post of women's officer as a full member of the NUS executive elected by women. This parallels the demands of WAC in the Labour Party and is in itself a victory for women in
Of only two candidates for the post, both were Labour Party members and supporters of WAC. However, Julia Grant, who was elected, was the only one of the two who supported the creation of
officer at last conference. Most of conference was taken up with
politics were entirely absent from the agenda, which dealt with
access to education and a
the charter, which was proposed by 'Socialist Students in NOLS called for the women's campaign to 'go back to basics'
in toilets, better lighting childcare and access courses — on the basis that this would involve as many women as possible. Perhaps next year we shall hear demands for a campaign for women's toilets on all campuses as
elected representatives to prepare such a charter, while campaign-
strip-searches was discussed because of lack of time! Meanwhile, motions for campaigning against racist and sexist immigration
women fighting apartheid in South Africa were not prioritised. The situation of Palestinian women was mentioned only once throughout conference, in a husting speect
and it is in dicative of the true situation that both candidates for women's officer support the continued ex-
Another resolution calling for a Labour victory in the general election in the interests of women was also not taken for lack of time, even though it had the written support of half the delegates. Clearly women's conference is not prioritised by NUS and it needs more time and resources.
Conference also voted to introduce a system of
Line women's committer reserving , disabled women and women with children who would be elected by closed caucuses. This means that the number of candidates for women's committee will be greatly reduced and roughly two-thirds of conference will not have a vote on eight places out of nine. This will limit not extend democracy and
National Organisation of Labour Students do not stand a slate for elections and no candidates apart from those of Campaign
of support for
Page 6 scan of this page
6 Socialist Action 5 June 1987
THE most important issue a
- this election is the Thatche government's assault on strength of the labour movement — against the trade unions, the support of the Labour Party, and against Labour's use of local government to oppose government policies.
Previous issues of Socialist Action have looked at the scope of Thatcher's attack on local government and the Labour Party. But for eight years the centre of the political stage has been occupied by Thatcher's assault on the trade union movement. The defeat of ASLEF, the defeat in British Leyland, of the NGA at Warrington, of the NGA and SOGAT at Wapping, and of the miners have marked offensive.
But beneath the surface other shifts, with profound long term consequences, are taking place. These will continue to operate whatever government is elected. JOHN ROSS looks at the trends in the trade unions linked to the growth of the 'dual economy.
hE overall scale of setbacks suf
fered by the trade unions sinc 1979 is obvious. Membership has fallen from 13.4 million in 1979 to 9.5 million in 1986. Days lost in strikes fell from 29 million in 1979 — an exceptionally high figure, to 2
million in 1986. The number strikes fell from 2,400 to 1,050.
Loss of membership in the strongest unions is as high. In 1979-86 the TGWU
lost 31 per cent of its members, the NUR
28 per cent, GMBATU 23 per cent, the
A EU 20 per cent — the last figure being
a considerable underestimate.
NAMer with COrSE, have bone sector unlon.
maintained their membership. The only
unions which have
Natul
membership are BIFU Banking,
surance and Finance Union) in the ex-
PAssing fine lattee main through
- the latter mainly through
amalgamations.
The most serious anti-trade union
laws this century have been imposed. The
right to effective picketting, to boycott
goods produced in workplaces in dispute,
to take immediate industrial action after
mass meetings, have all been removed.
The courts. have developed the con-
tidence to seize the assels or major
unions - such as the NGA, TGWU,
SOGAT and NUM. The new package of
antı-union measures the
manifesto would enshrine the right to
scab, ban high turn out workplace ballots
in union elections, and replace them with
lower turn out postal ballots, and ban the
closed shop.
The number of victimisations has
significantly increased. More than 800
miners were sacked during the NUM
strike. Derek and
Thornett were victimised in
Leyland. A less publicised series of vic-
timisations has taken place in other
industries.
Entire industrial sectors such as steel
have been decimated. The printing in-
dustry is golng troug a revoluton
which is severely weakening union power.
Privatisation is also a major threat to the
unions in sectors such as health and local
government.
Rank and file organisation has also
decreased. The number of manual shop
stewards in manufacturing
around 130,000 in 1981 to 80,000 in 1983
— a 39 per cent fall in the number of
shop stewards compared with a 33 per
cent fall in manufacturing employment.
The total number of full time shop
stewards in manufacturing in the same
period fell from 8,000 to 2,000.
If these aereals wett the
developments which had taken place
under Thatcher then, indeed, the Situa-
tion would be bleak. However beneath
the surface important shifts have taken
place which pose not simply great threats
to the labour movement but also major
the that
openings. Most are linked to the development of what has become known as the dual economy. The changes involved are extremely radical and demand a clear, and new, strategy from BOVCHICHL.
TO understand the task s te first the trade unions today the first fact which must be grasped is that, despite the defeats, the fall in union membership is still, as yet, limited in Britain compared to comparable While the unemployment now anything seen in British history, the decline in union membership is still not as severe as in the recession of the 1920s and 1930s.
Between 1920 and 1928, the first eight NUPE and Only the years of the inter-war recession, the trade
unions lost 42 per cent of their membership. By 1933, the trough of the inter-war period, they had lost 47 per cent. The 27 increased
per cent decline in trade union memberLIl- ship since 1979 is therefore,
significantly less than in previous periods of recession. The absolute level of trade union membership is twice that of the inter-war period 1970s, still the highest level in British history.
But the most important new, and long term, developments flow from the restructuring of the capitalist economy. This is the tendency developing in all imperialist economies today, to restructure the workforce around a core of permanently employed workers, cases well paid, and a periphery of part Tory time and temporary workers with few
rights - with the gap between the two sharply increasing. the 'dual economy', is the characteristic feature of the recession.
The trends towards a dual economy in Britain are clear. Since the depth of the recession, in 1981, the number of full time workers has decreased from 16.6 to Alan 15.6 million. Simultaneously the number British of part time and temporary workers has
increased from 7.0 to 8.1 million.
The sex balance in these workforces is totally different. Of full time workers 69 per cent are men and 31 per cent women. Among part time and temporary workers the proportions are nearly reversed - 38 per cent are men and 62 per cent women. The economy, short, reconstructed around a core of full time male workers and a periphery of short term and temporary, mainly female, workers — with the periphery increasing Tennon in size compared to the core. Outside
even the periphery are 12 per cent of the work force who are unemployed - on the understate Onicial igures.
Within that workforce itself major shifts are taking place such as steel and mining in decline and the private service sector and certain high only tech sections of manufacturing expan-
ding. The number workers is constant v rising comparea to the number of manual workers.
The differentials affecting these two parts of the economy are rapidly widening. Those on the boundary of the bot-
Thatcherism,
the unions
and the
dual economy
the
crease of 25 per
through unemployment.
historically periods of recession. scale and length of exceeds
This strategy politically successful
south of the as yet, Labour and started Alliance.
This developing.
and, apart from the
dous strategic problems
industries and those
centrated in many sperous conditions. organise among the 'periphery'
This development,
and the Thatcherism.
. economy
'new realism' in the unions.
the new realist trend.
being actually accurately described by
point to a shrinking of..
workers...
workers in the "market" or
collar
track).'
of the WU,
tom 10 per cent of earnings have seen an increase of income of 6 per cent since 1979. Those on the bottom quarter an increase of 9 per cent, those on average ear- new nings an increase of 13 per cent, those on the top quarter an increase of 20 per cent, step down the path. and those on the top 10 per cent an in-
cent. Two million workers have been forced into poverty
of thousands of
In addition to the differentials pro- unionists duced by the direct increases in wages, membership? Thatcher has sought to consolidate these economic divisions through other means
- in particular subsidised sales of coun plications of new cil houses and shares. The aim of this has been not only economic but political - trade unionism to reinforce the position of a relatively prosperous section of the working class that will vote either Tory or Alliance.
has been relatively - aided by the dreadful record of the last two Labour governments. In 1979 and 1983 three million workers, the great bulk of them skilled or living in the more prosperous
country, stopped voting voting Tory and vantage'.
of the workforce, and the divisions inside the
the working class working class that are being consolidated by other means, evidently pose tremen-
for the trade unions. First how to organise and maintain traditional trade unionism among the 'core' - in particular among the new
sections of the working class where Thatcher has con-
creating relatively proSecond the new layers of temporary and part time workers. Finally, how to recreate the
the labour relative unity of the working class that has been broken by the dual economy
political offensive of Tee development of the day
undoubtedly with the SDP. helped reinforce the development of
The skilled unions — the DETPU, ABU.
NCU — with their main base among the 'core' workers, are the centre of
The social base of 'new realism' was
John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, in contrasting it to developments among the working class as a whole: 'industrial, demographic and technological trends
. well-organised sectors and the growth of a new class of exploited workers ... New jobs are being overwhelmingly created only in private services, and these jobs are primarily for part-time women LIC manual
'I cannot... see much appeal to these
. "business" unionism promoted by some commentators and unions. This model seems merger. geared only to a small part of the workforce (generally on a secure inside
Bill Morris, deputy general secretary today.
at the conference to
launch the union's 'link up' campaign, aimed at organising part time and temporary workers, also correctly described
realist strategy of the EETPARI. Rusiness unionism is a shori
The single union deals, the sweetheart approach, follow as night follows day, and you end up in a ghastly parody of the old craft unionism, crossing picket lines, selling out the jobs
your fellow trade OOOS UW!.
Edmonds, in April 1986, could also correctly draw out the trade union im-
realism: 'Business unionism is the epitome of ... sectional
That kind of approach tends to depress all the social and ideological values the trade union movement is meant to represent in the cause of narrow, sectional gain. And you might also jeopardise a few civil rights in the meantime, for example, the right to strike or the right to be represented in the way you want to be represented. You are giving up something fundamental in order to achieve a very narrow sectional ad
New realism is a strategy to attempt to protect the most privileged sections of
- and the unions that contain them. It is prepared to accept, and requires, the destruction of other sections of the trade union movement -as was shown at Wapping and in the 'one union' deals of the ÉETPU. As a strategy it involves selling large numbers even of its own members jobs in order to secure , nign wages for tnose tnat remain - the strategy of the EETPU in the power supply industry and John Golding in BT.
in line with their social base new realist unions vote most determinedly in
movement against the demands of low paid workers, women and black people - and against workers in the public sector. They are the chief opponents of unilateral nuclear disarmament, the strongest supporters of NATO etc. They are also the unions which have been most prepared to enter into contact
The politcal problems in the core sector, in particular its expanding sections, explains part of the significance for the trade union movement of the TASSASTMS merger. Despite drawbacks, concentrated in the undemocratic practices of TASS's Morning Star dominated leadership, and its backward policies on issues such as women and racism. tne policies of the TASS-ASTMS merger represent form of traditional aggressive trade unionism in the core sectors - an important counterweight to the policies of the 'new realists?. While it organises
among white collar workers, with only TASS stretching into
nevertheless a TASS/ASTMS merger would provide an alternative to that of the EETPU/AEU. That is why both the Tories and the SDP have set the task of trying to prevent the
Among the new sections of 'core' workers, in particular the high tech industries, there are only two mass roads
The first the open class collaborationism of the new realists -
E no strike deals, one union deals, political collaboration with the SD Liberal Alliance. The second is an gressive traditional unionism ASTMS-TASS type. Socialists, as part their strategy in the unions, must g strong support to the TASS-ASTN Her zer - • while fighting to correct t wrong positions we have outlined. THE second key development
taking place among 'periphery' and in developments in the periphery to u core of the labour movement. A understanding the developme taking place here requires a historie perspective it is worth outlining.
The reformism of the British labo movement, based in the power of Briti imperialism, meant it historically dressed itself primarily to the topmo layers of the working class the most oppressed. Trotsky put t point very well: opportunist organis Bon ov luch vely nature concentie their attention on the top layers of t
The majority of t working class. working class movement collaborated the international policies of British b perialism, failed to take up
Page 7 scan of this page
E
N
demands of women workers, it actively promoted racist policies, it failed to organise youth.
The price paid for this backwardness, even in the most immediate terms, let alone the crime it represented against the Oppressed, and the historical consejuences for the labour movement, was normous. Taking simply the electoral consequences, for example, it condemned the labour movement to 16 years of Tory government between 1951 and 1974
- Labour defeated the Tories in the vote among at every general election from 1945 to 1974 but the Tories appealed over the heads of the male working class to women to win the elections of 1951, 1955, 1959 and 1970.
The significance of the present development is that the labour movement can no longer allow itself such luxaries. What is involved in the attempt, and necessity, of nonse to begin lo organise in the 'periphery' is a reversal of be entire historic trend of British trade
Some implications of the necessity of he unions to start to organise among the
periphery, where the overwhelming maority of workers are women many black, are beginning to penetrate
NUDE
APOLOGISE
FOR VOTING
CONSERVATIVE
the trade union movement. Some were spelt out by Bill Morris in Tribune on 23 January discussing the 'link up' campaign: First, the trade unions will have to come to terms with their own history; their own failure to represent the very people who are now being pushed into the secondarv labour force. Most temporary and part-time workers are women ... chila care nas in the past been at best a marginal issue for trade unions, as have many of the other central concerns of women workers. That was never right, but now it could be disastrous.'
Edmonds also spelt out some of the implications in terms of his proposed strategy for the unions: "We have got to put together strategy that does something for all working people... A system of legal minimum rights, cluding pay and hours guaranteed, untair dismissal guarantees on day one for any service, any length of hours.
'We have got to campaign for such changes, which above all will help the unorganised. This will put the trade union movement on the side of the oppressed and disadvantaged, which is a side of the argument we haven't actually been on for some time. It also puts us on the side of which is good
because we have tended to be on the side ot men...
Edmonds actually doesn't have a strategy to deal with this situation. But the pressure on him, remarks, shows the new situation clearly.
is also beginning to show in new policies being adopted by the unions.
The first step, one decisive for the future of the labour movement, is support for the policy of a national minicy by the TUCand Labour Party at minimum Adopica as official their 1986 conferences, it has, however, not been pushed by the Labour Party.
The NUPE membership, the union which led the fight to get the minimum wage policy, has reaffirmed it is not going to give up the fight for it. NUPE'S 1987 conference adopted a policy of demanding a national minimum wage be set at two thirds of average national earnings This would mean a minimum of £120 a week — as opposed to the £80 a week which has been mooted by the TUC and Labour Party.
Equally significantly, the NUPE conference rejected tying the introduction of a minimum wage to wage restrictions on higher paid workers — by voting to oppose any wage restraint measures under a
Labour government. Maintaining both positions is vital to have any ability to unite the working class. If a minimum wage is tied to support for wage controls higher paid workers will simply vote Tory and Alliance alu support the new realists. The policy of the minimum wage is decisive itself because it attects the entire low paid section of the working class — the entire periphery.
The second development is the shift in the unions position on women. With a tremendous delay the huge increase in the number of women in work - U. three million since 1950, is working its way consistently through the unions. At its 1987 conference NUPE became the first major union to elect a majority of women to its executive. GMBATU has introduced a system of reserving one quarter of its executive places for women Without developing systematic policies in support of women workers it is quite impossible to organise in the "periphery.
The third development has bee
L the extension of struggle, •an political development, into new sectors. The period immediately prior to Thatcher's election saw an unprecedented wave of struggle by public sector and health workers -the winter of discontent. Following this 1982 saw the longest ever strike in the National Health Service. A year later, 1983 saw the first national strike in the water and sewage industry. This year has seen the first CyCl national strike telecommunications.
Most significant of all however, has been the struggles waged in the last two years by the teachers and civil servants the first serious campaigns of industrial action ever waged by these groups. Furthermore the political fund ballots saw not merely every union vote to retain its political fund but new service unions, the IRSF and CPSA, voting to establish political funds. NALGO will be voting on the establishment of a political fund at this year's conference. Another important campaign among white collar workers is that to unify the two TUC atfiliated teaching unions - the NUT and NAS/UWT.
In short, while severe setbacks have been suffered in traditional sections of the working class, industrial action, and
trade unionisin has been spreading far more. widely than previously.
The concentration of much of this struggle in the public service sector is perfectly logical. The development of the dual economy creates a highly productive, highly paid, manufacturing sector which is serviced by a low paid service sector. A large part of the most vital of these services are in the public sector. While the government can privatise individual industries such as telecommunications, gas or steel, it cannot, in the present relation of forces, dismantle the health service — the largest single employer in the country, the education system, the civil service, or, despite its best efforts, local government. Even the process of privatisation in sectors such as
health and local government, while
viciously anti-working class and anti-
union, is still limited in its scope.
Combine this inability of the govern-
ment to dismantle large parts of the
public sector with its constant attempts
to undermine spending on it and you
have a recipe for prolonged conflict in the
public sector — not simply in the tradi-
tional industries, which have been sub-
ject to vicious rationalisation, but also in
the public service sector.
The trends we have seen over the last
years in the public sector are therefore
not an aberration. How rapidly there will
be an upturn of struggle in the "core'
private sector almost certainly depends
on overall developments in the interna-
tional economy an upturn of output
and growth would be the biggest stimulus
to a revival of struggle in the private
sector.
What the trends of the last eight years
represent is clear. The development of the
Socialist Action 5 June 1987 7 dual economy, under the impact of the recession, is not just dealing severe blows to the trade union movement. It is also transforming its character. A greatly In creased weight of women and the public sector is accompanying the development of strong right wing trends in sections of private industry - and in shortly to be privatised industry. Such trends have been seen in other countries — notably in Japan, which has the most developed 'dual economy' of all, and where for years the trade union movement has beendominated by a division between right wing private sector industrial unions and more militant public sector ones.
The net effect of the Thatcher years on the trade unions must therefore be understood in a complex way. The defeats which have been suffered are very real. The trade union movement is weakened and on the defensive almost
But at the same time the impact of Thatcherism, and of the dual economy, has politicised unions. It has spread trade union action into sections of the working class that have never experienced it before. It has pulled thousands of women workers into struggle - - and forced even hardened traditional unions, and their leaderships, out of sheer necessity to reorient their unions' activities to winning women workers. I has made the public sector a chief battleground.
If Thatcherism has pushed back the most advanced points of trade unionism it has also enormously broadened its
How quickly, and how thoroughly, there is a recovery in the 'core sectors depends probably more.on the economic situation than anything else.
All of this indicates the underlying trends of the situation - the direction trade unionism is being forced to take. The second Thatcher government saw, in the miners strike, the most advanced class struggle, and the most advanced leadership, in peacetime for sixty years. It took quite a different type of leadership to develop a strategy tying together the
simply with trade union solidarity but with women, black workers, and whole communities. But the miners, and their leadership, were able to achieve this only because they drev smaller, 'molecular,
developments which had been taking
place Wilt liC : working class. The
miners gave the first central leadership to this profound development taking place
within the working class - but they did
not create the process itself.
These developments indicate the task
which the left faces in the unions in the
developing 'dual economy' Inside the
core there is the fight to defend even
traditional' trade union principles and
politics against the onslaught of the new
realists. Here there is a necessity of united
action, and organisation, with the Com-
munist Party, straightforward social
democrats, and others in the traditional
Broad Lefts. This is an absolutely
necessary alliance in the fight against the
Hammonds, Lairds and Goldings.
The second fight is to organise in the
"periphery', including large parts of the
public sector where demands
women, and black people, are absolute-
v central ana ine new realist forces
relatively weak. In the public sector, in a
number of cases, the fight is against the
Communist Party and 'broad left' forces
with which, COLICI it is
necessary to unite to oppose the new
realists. This situation differs from union
to union. There is no common tactics
although the basic forces - the class
struggle left, the Kinnockites, and the
realists — operate, in different relations
of forces, in each union. But what is
beginning to emerge is an agenda of
common problems stretching across dit-
ferent unions — one whose chief feature
is the consequence of the rise of the dual
Developing the basis to unify these
concerns and struggles in the face of a
deepening offensive by the employers, is
the chief task of the left in the unions in
the coming period.
Page 8 scan of this page
HOW THE WEST SUPPORTS
APARTHEID
8 Socialist Action 5 June 1987 IT HAS TAKEN many years of struggle to reach the point at which we are today. In that period, tens of thousands have been killed, injured and imprisoned within South Africa. Thousands of others have suffered a similar fate in Nambia. The rest of Southern Africa has also seen enormous numbers of people die, economies forced to the verge of collapse and social programmes brought to a halt.
Precisely that scale of destruction has onlv served to confirm the view among the of apartheid violence lat iney dare not give up, but have to fight with everything they can lay their hands on, to end the system that has brought about so much suffering. It is that resolve and determination by millions of people which guarantees the defeat of the Pretoria regime and the liquidation of the apartheid system.
And yet there are those in this country who doubt the certainty of our victorv. hese calculate that ihe racist regime is so powerful, and the white minority so steadfast in its commitment to the maintenance of its domination, that the oppressed are condemned to a futile and self-destructive battering at the ramparts of the racist fortress. These positions have resulted in a policy which amounts to appeasement of the apartheid regime.
By Oliver Tambo
In terms of this perspective, it is required that this regime should gradualby retorm the apartheid svstem out of existence. To do so, it is considered necessary that the supposed retormers should work their wonders in a situation of stability. Consequently, it is viewed as a sine qua non for the aboiition of the apartheid system that the forces that are fighting against this system should be kept in check by repressive means.
The major western powers have not departed from their old positions. According to these, the white minority regime is seen and treated as the defender and guarantor of the perceived interests of these powers. We, on the other hand, are viewed as a threat when must be deall will cuc propriate manner. The decisions taken in the various capilals to relale lo lne ANC, did not in any way imply that there had been any change of attitude towards our policies, strategy
Issues
On all major questions pertaining to the issues we are discussing, the coincidence of views between the Pretoria regime and the powers that be in most of the West, persists. Where the racists aescribe us as a communist Western governments go so far as to order secret investigations of the ANC to establish the extent of this alleged communist domination. Pretoria calls
The West on us to renounce vivichce. calls on us to lay down arms. When the sole aggressor in Southern Africa talks about so-called regional security, the western powers condemn 'cross-border violence from all sides. The white minority regime conducts a vigorous campaign against sanctions and is Joined in that campaign by the western powers.
We can go on ad finitum and speak even about the questions of formulations and terminology. for example, our armed struggle is never that, but is either terrorism or violence. The limpet mines we use are never simply limpet mines, but are either of Soviet or communist origin. On the other hand, the guns and planes that Pretoria uses with such are British, American, French, Belgian or West German origin, but are mere guns or nanes. he conclusions to araw Irom all this are obvious to all honest people.
As things stand, the Pretoria regime
and
knows that it can continue to ignore the call negollahons governments of the maJor countries have undertaken, almost as a matter of principle, that they will not act against the racist regime despite its continued failure to respond to the universal demand for an end to the apartheid system and its replacement by a democratic social order. It was obvious from the very beginning that Sir
Howe's Africa, last year, would not succeed, precisely for me reason lal bowl wie British government and the EEC were committed to avoiding any ettective
against apartheid South Africa.
Measures
It the kev to negotiations were in our hands, we would long have used it to open the door. have been proposed for us to adopt, namely, the cessation or suspension of our armed struggle or the unmaterai proclamation of a moratorium, will do not pile doout accolarvis The Pretoria neconae nor pecause lnerers an armed struggle, but because it is unwilling to give up white minority domination
The source of violence in south Africa, Namibia and our region is the apartheid system and the racist regime. What must cease is the violence that
arises from the administration of aparbecause the theid. For that to happen, the system of
white minority domination must be brought lo all cla strange reasoning that we, the victims of violence, should be asked to respond to the continued terror of the Pretoria regime against the peoples of Southern
our armed resistance, porarily or permanently. The Pretoria to soutr regime has blocked the path to negotia-
Umons. une recent wrestly cecon in South Africa have confirmed PW
mination to resist all change and further to entrench the apartheid system.
tries that awaited the results of this it-
their answer.
Such measures as the position in which they
in fact, to connive at its perpetuation,
refusing to an alternative democratic power within
• South Africa, an indigenous product of struggle
then have to decide whether it takes the side of this alternative power and the rest of the anti-colonial and anti-racist
it seems to us
Africa by committing ourselves to cease
whether temmations which
united.
Botha in his view that white South Africa stands with him in his deter-
lo icalsallull The governments of the Western counPeace legitimate electoral process now have
This places the western powers in
say we have to choose either to work for the total elimination of the apartheid system or,
as they do now. Sooner or later they will come to realise that there has emerged
which holds the future of South Africa in its hands. The West will
exists,
forces of the continent of Africa made.
up of nearly five hundred million people, or whether it ties itself to the doomed course followed by far less than five million Africans of European origin. It is no longer possible to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds
The broad perspectives of our country's democratic power are spelt out in the Freedom Charter. Organisationally, it is represented by many for-
recognise the leading role of the ANC in the struggle for a
democratic and non-racial South Africa. Whether or not they support or engage in armed stuggle, they are at one with us in seeking this outcome and are active in the struggle for
I should staie here that when we
are fighting for a united, alle Ul- alid.
Africa, we mean what we say. It is very clear to us thal uness our county becomes such an entity, we shall know no peace. To propose any so called solutions which fall within the parameters of the apartheid system is no more than to prepare a recipe tor a continuation ol the conflict which has already claimed too many lives. As longs as this system
whatever guise it assumes, so long will the Front Line and neighbouring states be victims of aggression and destabilisation. For all this to end, for
In Depth
these crimes to become a thing of the past, South Africa must become a democratic country, with guaranteed liberties for all citizens, with equal rights for everybody regardless of col our, race or sex.
Given the changing balance of strength in our country and the shift of the strategic-initiative into our hands there is a sense in which the apartheid forces are becoming the opposition to the ascendant democratic movement rather than the other wav round. the recent white elections demonstrate this point inasmuch as the Botha regime contested them on the specific platform of opposition to the ANC
The boycott campaigns, from thei inception in the late 1950s, were aimed at the total isolation of apartheid South Africa. This objective is inviolate and neeas to be pursued witn even gicale vigour. At the same time we must take into account the changes that have taken place over time. In particular, as in almost every other field of human endeavour in South Africa, there has emerged a definable alternative democratic culture the people's culture permeated with and giving ex pression to the deepest aspirations of our peopie in struggle, immersea ir democratic and enduring human values. Power
As in politics, trade unionism, education. sport. region and mam other fields, these developments at the cultural level both contributed to and are part of the emergent alternative democratic power at whose head stands the ANC. • Without doubt the develop ing and vibrant culture of our people in struggle and its structures need to be supported, strengthened and enhanced In the same way as apartheid South Africa is being increasingly isolated in ternationally, within South Africa this people's culture is steadily isolating the intellectual and cultural apologists of apartheid
The moment is upon us when we shall have to deal with the alternative structures that our people have created and are creating through struggle and sacrifice, as the genuine representative of these masses in all fields of human activity. Not only should these not be boycotted, but more, they should be supported, encouraged and treated a the democratic counterparts withir South Africa of similar institutions and
internationally. This means the ANC, the broad democratic movement in its various formations within South Africa, and the international solidarity movement need to act together.
Everywhere in our country, and atter a vear of national state of emergency, the democratic forces are at work to expand and strengthen their ranks and to raise the level and intensity of the offensive against the apartheid regime to new heights. For its part, this regime prepare itselt atrocities, for the campaign of repression of which PW Botha boasts - as though to shoot and kill children, to imprison and torture them and their parents, to carry out one outrage after another against independent Africa were the worthiest activities that one could ever imagine
terrible collision between ourselves and our opponents is in evitable. Many battles will be fought and many lives will be lost throughout our region. Yet the outcome is not in doubt. Having reached the crossroads the masses of our people have decided that our count) must advance as rapidly as possible to the situatio where they, black and white, will govern
Whatever the cost, there is no doubt that we will win.
The above are extracts from a speech made by Oliver Tambo, presi dent of the ANC, on 28 May in Lon don. He was speaking at the Canon Collins Annual Memorial Lecture.
Page 9 scan of this page
'Nicaragua will survive'
International
THE following don by ALEXANDRO BENDANA the Nicaraguan foreign ministry.
ty Campaign.
ALMOST eight years ago a small country in Central America backdrop of one of the greatest military powers on earth independence would be possible. That dream began to materialise in 1979 with the victory of the Nicaraguan people and the insurrection by the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
The dream not merely to turn out the dictatorship, and was not merely to establish a new course for the Nicaraguan people. bul also to lake lito account the frustrated avil allulls peoples everywhere Latin America, who also had a dream and were struggling for their freedom and for
We dreamed that it was
LO LIC eradication of the illiteracy rate of 52 per cent, of the malnutrition that claimed the lives of 2 out of every 5 children before they reached the age of 3. And yet
tramework of commitment and the principles of political pluralism, economy and of a foreign policy or non-angument.
The Reagan administration from the time of its own Republican Par-
platform proclaimed that the Nicaraguan revolution had reversed. And it gave the Contras a job to go about executing the obiectives of American foreign policy
to destroy the Sandinista revolution, march into the streets of
We too re hat Piney
report today that have not marched through the streets of Managua, that they will not march through the streets of Managua; that they are be ing beaten, first and foremost not only because Washington, not because the crisis of the decomposition the contra leadership, but on account one ance struggle of the people of Nicaragua
That battle is still being waged, the war has not stopped. And may be entering its most dangerous stage, oCcause the Reagan Adminstration
LEADER of last month's coup in Fiji, Lt-col Sitiveni
armed forces and promoted to the rank of colonel. This honour was bestowed on Rabuka by the Queen's representative in Penaia Ganilau. The move provides further evidence of British government support for the overthrow of the democratically-elected Bavadra.
It takes place against a background of mounting opposition government. Sugar mills scheduled to start crushing cane a week ago remain idle as a result of industrial action. Fields have been burnt near coves are snal l a show of defiance against the new regime.
The huge wave of protests has caused unease amongst the governments of New Zealand, Australia
Britain, keen to maintain a pro-Western stability in this
are extracts of a speech delivered in Lon.
general secretary of He was speaking at a 'Blood Money' rally organised by the Nicaraguan Solidari-
dared to dream, to dream that in the is not convinced that it cannot overturn the Sandinistas. Notwithstanding seven years of struggle, the Nicaraguan people
be because we happen to believe in the people as we believe in people everywhere.
Why have the Contras failed? Could it be that the steady stream of atrocities would not find the sympathy of the Nicaraguan people?
We would hope that the Reagan Adminstration will think twice; will listen to the voice of the Latin Americans and bargain
supporters which say thạt there is a way out. which 1s called negotiation. That it
possible reach political solution in order to end the bloodshed.
would hone that
thil heed the orders on
heed orders the World Court, 27 June 1986, when in effect it convicted the United States of
state tell ulis against Nicaragua; ordered it to desist in that cease-firen, ordered it to OUC CU cease-fire, pay reparations.
would ask the United States to listen to
which are demanding that Latin Americans be giver a chance to solve their own problems, that the ciples of the United Nations Charter be allowed to apply in Central America, because the peoples Central America will not accept second class citizenship, feel that those principles will apply to all of us or theyhe will apply to none.
principles ICS DECI for the self-determination of the peo-
the internal affairs of slate, or non-resort to the
Britain backs Fiji coup
Rabuka has been placed in command of the country's
Fiji, governor-general Ratu Sir
government 'Timoci
key region of the South
Pacific
By Jon Silberman
The US was strongly rumourea to nave master minded the coup following
the islands of General Vernon Walters, US ambassador the
United Nations and an individual with a long history
CA-backed coups.
Now the US has joined New Zealand in cutting coloul aid. Other
use of force in international relations, the peaceful disputes. We believe that these must be allowed and they must, they must apply the crisis in Central America
Those voices I'm sad to
not being heard.
Every indication is that the Reagan administration remains obsessively committed to its objective of overthrowing government. We need only to listen to Reagan and his speeches. The policy and
of GENUIN destroy Nicaragua are responsible in great part in getting this administration into the morass that it has
The implications that the voice of reason will not be heeded; the Reagan administration continues military build-up. At this very LICe over 5,000 American troops in Honduras. . There boe or ohip pts. Hardly warships parked a day goes by without spy overflights and now hear that largest military exercise there's been in Central Americar history is about to take place: 50,000 men aircraft carriers practice invasion landing - for what?
What we denounce todav are the actual preparations for direct military intervention in Nicaragua. If
economic measures taken include insisting that all FiJall tade Is palu 101 In duyance in hard currency. The imperialist collapse of the Fijian dollar as a result of the economic problems associated with the decline of tourism ad ding to the industrial action against the coup.
There is now open talk of an external military tervention, possibly by New Zealand. New Zealand has
Fiji and established the country's 1949,
alilly which maintains close links.
No externalv imposed solution be it by the Queen's representative in Fiji itself, or by the government of another imperialist power will answer the demands and aspirations of the Fijian people independence, democracy
Nicaraguan people demonstrate their determination to survive the Reagan administration
does and he the cobea
and have failed complishing theirs, then Ineres ov one rodel! and that is the road of
direct intervention.
The pretext would be a simple border incident which wouldn't even ap pear on the international news Honduran and Nicarag-
torces. as there ClaN been or an appeal by Honduras, or an appeal by Costa Rica, its great neighbour the north, against Sandinista communist invasion'. American military troops, American military advisers with the consent of Con-
gren, a0 miles enem 0ess
miles from our border.
They have already begun to prepare the Contras in American piloted helicopters. What happens if one of those helicopters with American personnel strays over our border. will not hesitate to defend our national territory anc our sovereignty. And if these get killed, we could have a new 'Gulf of Tonkin'.
Nicaraguan government will spare ab-
political accommodation. We will back Contadora, we have backed it, and we will back the new initiatives that are being
forward all in the
their own government.
imperialist
Britain, France as well as Australia and New Zealand have launched an international campaign ole devs a descen
mask
Press reports of Libyan and Soviet 'interference' have been the backdrop to the announcement by the commander-in-chief of the
Pacific fleet, Admira James Lyons, ol an armade of warships being sent to exercise in the Pacific, the likes of which 'hadn't been seen In more ran a cecoc
Despite the rhetoric, no evidence been forthcoming to justify the claims of interterence'. All that has happened is that the Soviet Union signed the Rarotonga Treaty - - banning nuclear operations in ine souln racic - and
name of avoiding an impending disaster. defence and on the basis or will the defence OI the Nicaraguan people's
right setdetermination; we will
whatever the general interests that other parties might have, including United States - bụt they Call be considered. or allowed to be considered legitimate, in the legitimate interests of any
the death and wally. widespread destruction of the Sandinista revolution, because simply unacceptable and we will nizut to tue cue.
Nicaragua will survive. It may take further
walll. further suffering, but we will survive because we believe that this battle w are waging is not simply tor the future of our own people, of our own children; we know that there is a beacon in Central America that is being watched by cher, and that that light
that that light cannot be allowea to go out, because it represents the lght of hope the ligh of freedom, the light of the possibility self-determination small nations.
We have the historical need, we have a historical duty to people everywhere which gives us the strength to continue.
has been prepared to buy local fish at more just rates lan une imperlalsis have been prepared to tolerate
Meanwhile, Libya has established diplomatic relations with the government of Vanuatu. The imperialist powers are seeking pressurise ine governmen of Vanuatu which is trying
break tron economic dependence on Australia and New Zealand and its former colonial rulers, Britain and France
They are equally trying to prevent the emergence of governments Timoci Bavadra in Fiji, a product of the breakdown of racial divisions amongst workers and farmers, whose
Vanuatu in becoming
of NonLUC Aligned Movement, and to itself police the Rarotonga Treaty.
in Sri Lanka
country's Jaffna peninsula.
over civilians, large tea plantations exist. cent or Ine country's descedants of Arab traders
Tamils
Colombo.
number of demanded 'Eelam'
post-independence period.
India. Sinhala
then known
and riots by
came out for autonomy.
ween the
the militant organisations.
months has been basically inettective.
ver cent or me oucces or me tular
Tamils
Socialist Action 5 June 1987 Behind the violence
THE Sri Lankan government has launched an all-out military offensive against Tamil militants in the
More than 8000 government troops have been emoloved in the biggest ever raid involving land, air and sea activity. Accorang to Ine baberagon tigers or laml belani the heavy fighting has to date claimed the lives of
the government aerial bombing raids have targetted residential areas.
In the following article abridged from the 8 May issue of the US socialist newsweekly, The Militant MALIK MIAH explains the background to the present campaign of state terror against the Tamils.
THE LATEST violence in Sri Lanka must be seen in the context of the struggle of the Tamil minority to end decades of ethnic discrimination in jobs, edúcation, land distribution, and other spheres of life. Sri Lanka is a tear-shaped island with a population of 16 million people. It is mostly flat or rolling except for the south-central plain where mountains and the
A British colony until 1948, Sri Lanka is composed of two major ethnic groups: Sinhalese and Tamils. The Sinhalese are 75 per cent of the population, with a majority supporting the Buddhist religion. The Tamils are 18 per cent of the population, with most following the Hindu religion. There is also a smaller Tamil-speaking ethnic Muslim community - 7 per
inhabitants who are
The Tamils are divided between Sri Lanka Tamils (those who first migrated to the island over 1,000 years ago), and Indian Tamils who were brought to the island as labourers by the British colonialists in the 19th century to pick tea. The Sri Lankan Tamils (12 per cent of the population) are mainly concentrated in Jaffna Peninsula, the Eastern Province, and
Since the 1950s a majority of Sri Lankan Tamils have favoured autonomy for the north-eastern area
Since the late 19/0s a growing Tamils, especially the young. have — an independent homeland.
The roots of the current civil war go back to the
During the struggle against British colonial rule both Sinhalese and Tamils fought together in the independence movement. A central demand of the struggle was to end the privileged status of English and make Sinhala and Tamil the national languages But soon after independence the main capitalist party, the United National Party (the party currently in office), pushed through parliament three anti-Tamil laws. These denied Indian Tamils their right to vote, which they had had under the British, as well as the right to citizenship. Many were told to go back to
Sinhala chauvinists, led by the Buddhist clergy, pressed for a Sinhala Sri Lanka. (The country was
Ceyion.) By 1956, parliament adopted the 'Sinhala-only' language law. Few Tamils
speak Sinhala, and even fewer Sinhalese speak Tamil.
This chauvinistic action by parliament led to protests
Tamils and other supporters of democratic rights. Even Tamil capitalist politicians
From that point on, Tamil parties pressed for full equality. A fully-fledged guerrilla war, however, did
not break out until 1983. After a military clash bet-
army and guerrillas left 13 Sinhalese
soldiers dead, anti-Tamil pogroms resulted in some
2000 Tamil deaths. Tens of thousands of Tamils fled the country and thousands of youths signed up with
Since 1983 at least 5500 people have died, most
of them Tamils killed by the army or 'Home Guards'
— the mainly Sinhala paramilitary outfits. The Jaff-
na Peninsula is essentially a liberated zone under the control of the Tigers, who recently set up a parallel administration. The eight army bases are surround ed. The army's main fort in Jaffna City, for example
is only accessible by helicopter gunship or sea. A government blockade of the region over the last five
While the Sri Lankan government claims it is for a negotiated settlement with the rebels, its real policy
has been state terrorism. Since 1985 the army has
doubled its strength from 11,500 to 24,000. Nearly 15
- 5 time:
the amount spent on the armed forces 10 years ago.
The government gets military aid and training from
such countries as Israel, Pakistan and South Korea
Special 'anti-terrorist' training is also provided by a
British security agency, Keeny Meeny Services:
Despite this fire-power, the Tamil militants continue to grow and gain support. This reflects the
broad sympathy they have among the Tamil popula-
tion, including an increasing number of Indian
Page 10 scan of this page
10
of socialism
held up as the new gospel of the Labour right. Its influence can be seen in many aspects of Labour's election campaign. COLIN FOSTER reviews Hattersley's book.
It is an interesting comment on the way political pressures have built up in Britain that the Labour right currently feels compelled to spell out a political philosophy. As Hattersley himself remarks: 'The Labour Party has been antiHuicicclud NOt so muCalE theory as in practice. became Benthamite movement which insisted that its members could iccoznsc numar naoouess when they saw it and did not need anv theoretica
favour of its exrension. in-
favour of its extension.' deed Hattersley points out: 'during Harold Wilson's leadership pragmatism was elevated into a major socialist virtue.
Hattersley claims Inal this was a grave weakness because it gave credibilițy to wnat he terms. in a typically generous and tolerant phrase: 'the of political riff-raff who in- Cl illy filtrated the Labour Party I trie lale sixties ana earl seventies. Hattersley has theretore explicitiv set out to provide a 1980s ideology for the Labour right the way that Crosland's The Future of Socialism provid-
one in the 1950s and 1960s. How does it measure up?
Reviews
Actually, must be said, the tirst six pages ol the book are extremely im-
- ¡ving u to te rave reviews from Labour right wingers printed on the cover. Hattersley smashes into what ne terms: 'the nineteenth century view of liberty: the fallacy that it is no more than the absence of restraunt.' Hattersley rightly ridicules this tenet o' iberalism and its classic expression by those who deend the bible of 19th cenLurv iocraism. Joll o udrl Mill's On Liberty, by the claim that. I0Cily s il more than the absence of coercion.
Hattersley correctly makes the point that Irecaom only exss weed there is a positive possiblity lo enjoy ll- . without tnat it is a hollow sham. He writes ot the retorms ot the 1943 Labour government that: 'We.. had not previously been denied the right health, education and decelll nousllg. ancie was IO statute which forbade us to live in a proper house or ac. cept adequate health care. In the decades before the war we nad simply been unable to afford the price of enjoying such advantages. It was because of that practical experience that 1 came
regard the idea of icoalve ecuON as the absence of coercion — as a cruel 1oke.
On the grounds of the falsity of purely formal noeror purely lorma. 'equality' the old 11 plus exam: day, it seems impossible that anyone ever honestly believed that children from the slums • badly housed, badly fed, badly protected from disease and enjoying
no acqualnlanice with books — could be said
Socialist Action 5 June 1987
Superficial theories
ROY HATTERSLEY's Choose Freedom has been
to have acquired any sort of equality with their well provoed suburban contemporaries, just because they took the same examination on one or two mornings of their mutually twelfth year •.. Jean Flood, when Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, described the situation witht scholastic clarity: "Social as DIUUCI well as academic selection is al work SCools.
This is another way of putting the famous phrase that: the law is open to all, just like the Ritz hotel'. But
absolutely correct point ana a most central one of socialism - it was criticism of purely formal acnmnons or noerty and freedom that led Marx to become a Marxist.
Formal
Against the false, purely tormal. TUCa negalve freedom, Hattersley rightly LouncI bosco positive view of liberty freedom to work, freedom to be wel housed and educated.' He correctly argues therefore: 'Rights are 110L in themselves, enough. They must be acompanied by sufficient economic power lo ave uter ancorencal ex istence practical meaning.'
Hattersley then points out that these goals can only be acmevea Dy
of state which, alone, can ve cuc resources to health, education. protection trom poverty which can make positive liberty real: "The true object of socialism is the creation of a genuinely free society in which the protection and extension of Inovowa liberty the Idea
What has
UI COuIsE, 'enabling state' by Shef-
material with
pand and iberty.
boring
He makes the claim, for that:
the resul-
wilulc. DIC Dd
ly and -ed with social
- there are
there
COCAIN foreign policy.
Keduy" greater inequality the world
CHOOSE
could there be than the imperialist
Dyoicil. system of exploitation of the majority of the coununc ote worla Dy states șuch as the UȘ or Britain? It is worth quoting on that the theses on the colonial question of the Second Congress of the Communist International:
'An abstract or formal equality in particular is in the very nature of bourgeois democracy. Under the guise of the equality of the individual in general, bourgeols democracv pro claims the formal or legal equality the property owner and the proletarian, the exploiter and the exploited.' Socialists in the iniculauona Culauona also: 'must base themselves on an equally clear distinction between the oppressed, dependent and subject nations and the oppressing; exploiting and sovereign nations' In reality in the pursuit of 'equality'
rowilere Is this more applicable than in the international field - in LIIC struggle against imperialism. Equal
Similarly, in the field of economic exploitation Hattersley puts forward an extraordinary position. Talking of equality he claims: 'The same rule applies in the labour mual bargare wnere
cula denends or the com. bination of working men and women to Cicalt countervailing force to the strength of even a single chue over.
But this is not 'equality' at all. That is simply the rignt ot a trade union to limit decisions that are not taken by employees at all but by capital.
This takes us to the core of the issue. Marx made the point that inequalities in usLaDuLon. wuchs widl Hattersley deals with, are a
FREEDOM
THE FUTURE FOR DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM
product of 'inequalities' in production: 'Distribution
MOs superficial interpretation of
But DIOULCLS UCIUI C distribution becomes distribution of products, it
distribution of the means of production ... It s cvuent a une dsmou. tion of products is merely LccuL s SuRou tion, which is comprised in the production process anc determines the structure of production. It ls capital. private ownership of the means production, which constantly generates inequality in income.
Demand
As the second congress ot the Communist Interna. tional put it: 'The real
of classes' something
theory of SOCaS Hu
the of the
It cluse Wal
private
imperialist Lavilal.
sexism.
actually well worth and
nine tenths
and wrong
death.
Hattersley, by
254 pp. £3.95.
has been made by women.
On the negative side, traditionalist suspicion and outright hostility
feminist influences tinues to prevail in some parts of the union. This may partly account for the tiny numbers of women wil, cven now, galn cec tion to various conferences aliu colululices ll dl dltitude which has no future.
Over 40 per cent of the lola workiorce, ana over yu per cent of all part-time workers. aic women employers are increasingly chosing exploit such workers. That renewed exploitation occurs precisely because of the continuing oppression of women -. British society. Io contront the new realities, the union musl ucal Wil sexismuLs own ranks. aul bras vla ouatoalt del 1l
On the positive side, the current big campaigns 'Link Up' and the 'Living wage campaign' are heavily aimed at women. . The incluSIUl 01 uculanlus • IUI employer-provided cervical cancer screening in national negotiations and the call for union involvement in the cuno cde campaign also reflects this.
Eve he bon the new wave of struggle over edual pav tor work of
our strike'
ed inconclusively. MORRIS, were there and gave us this report. 'THE NATIONAL Liaison Committee was born after the strikes December/lanuarv gathers together those who have tron ranks of the movement. It is the meeting place : ot al those who want to defend and ever the main gains of our movement unity at the base HeLenuevn subae ie democracy — as a result of which
Hulilllle about our strike, despite the results obtained.
read one of the resolutions adopted by the comer cac, bie dst or lls kind.
Although all unions representing rail workers w cl c formally invited attend, only the CFDT (the union federation asoc aler WItl the Socialist Party) sent officia observers The leadership of the CGT (the federation led by the Communist Party) opposed the conference.
The liaison committee made clear that far from wanting to pose as another union, wanted to encourage maximum unity.
'All the unions were invited the meeting because we want to finish
TGWU — what policies
for women and black people?
THE T&G has a substantial membership of women and black workers. In the wider labour movement there has been a trend for the demands of these workers to be taken more seriously. The T&G's reaction to this trend has been patchy. The greatest impact
equal value. The AIDS forced the
sexuality would
antuces These
coming traditional Pressure
notably of W Ullicl.
women's advisory ltatll..ceo
produce own magazines, 'radical' been oclmulicu The of
the recent decision
and TUC delegations. French railworkers take stock
'We regret nothing about
THE FRENCH rail strike at the end of last year end-
With four unions involved and half of French rail workers not organised at all, local strike committees played an important role in the strike. Following the strike a national liaison committee emerged out of these strike committees, and it convened à 200 strong conference in Paris on 23 May. NUR members, MIKE COLLEY and CHRIS
with sectarianism and the ovsos WnCa have already caused such
The morning session discussed the nature of the culiullllc offensive now being prepared by management for the railworkers 1 ne French national railway company. the SNCF wants to breal even in lyou to do so it is planning massive redundancies, privatisation of certain sectors of the industry and productivity increases International greetings were given by railworkers from Britain, Belgium, Italy and Spain the beginning of the afternoon session, the bulk of which taken up WIL. workshop discussions.
There were workshop on uniting the different unions; on the crisis of the workers movement; an assessment the strike Conlullces. taluia links; a workers' plan for the industry; and perspectives for struggle and tactics Following reports back from the workshops. adopted TeSO uLIOl was eretimg to coSATu in unanimously
News
ference, the union's position appears to broadly DOSILIVC although the preference is for an electora college which would reproduce the union's block
witul use WOle? conference
It is noticeable that the same level of awareness on racism and' the needs black workers has not been seen so far in' the T&G. Bill Morris, , who must be considered one of the most pro.
black unionists in Britain, has led the union in hardening stance against Black Sec tions in the Labour Party.
Aaom ee
sional pamphlet or Asian language leatlet. there ha been nothing comparableto the publications coming from the women's adyisory committees.
The union was clearly ConsCOu of significance of the dispute involving Chinese catering workers Wheelers Brighton. Nevertheless the union generally prefers not to acknowledge the specific ssues onree anceo oac. people, or to follow the example uliul like NALGO or NUPE. There is not even an advisory com mittee network comparable to that existing for womer nC uDCTs
As a result the union is much more pooriv eauie ped to deal with the tide of racism which continues te threaten us.
South Africa expressins solidarity with the strike o! South African rail workers and protesting the murders G une x sunkers
The resolution was also adopted. It called for the continued existence of the national liaison committee and local strike committees the produc-
of local papers and the establishment of a na tional journal. An amend ment e or sing the existence two national Suke committees during the strike was added.
major problem facing railworkers in Hrance is their civision in to the various unions and the resulting large number of unorganised workers. demonsträted The conference
the desire for unity and the continued combativity of the railworkers.
Although the full demands strikers were not won, the morak o lie worklorce euris high and there is a strong
with this CONVICUUI greater unity and organisaton. next time round thi railworkers can win.
Page 11 scan of this page
In the Unions
gOWA NO
O STRIN
NCU members demonstrate their opposition to strings during their strike earlier this year.
NCU tells Golding to go
THE ANNUAL conference of the National Communications Union, meeting in Blackpool this week, has been dominated by the fall-out of the national strike earlier this year.
The all-out na- general secretary,
John Golding, was deepenhistory when
key engineering group voted by 76,672 to 35,262 to censure the executive for its handlcent 1112 of the dispute; and by 62,708 to 50,686 to call for Golding's resignation. substantial ine cenca comerence also voted to its
members. strongly caccutive. The resignation calls did
not simply come from the
ecutive last of the union, but also from
branches previously the union's membership associated with the right
'no' to the WIllg. course by the
Speaking to the motion, Geoff Graham from Carlisle said that he had a lot of Golding as 1U1 and the political operator but that Golding had failed to live previous
up to nis pre-ciccuon piomises to provide leadership - Cruve Ilas been eliminated, *hung' NEC. With traditional right
wing areas with course of those dominated by the
ASTMS in conference
THE annual conference of ASTMS was dominated by the proposed merger between the union and TASS. We carried a full report on this, by conference delegate PHIL PAXTON, in last week's issue of Socialist Action. In the following article, Phil Paxton, a delegate from the union's 3 divisional council, writes in a personal capacity on other issues debated by conference.
DECISIONS of control Over multinaASTMS conference and
for the expansion of in-
issues other than the merger with TASS motion sought to build a AVI were largely routine - against reflecting the concern government's latest of delegates on green paper on the trade employment and trade unions. The union, which has union issues and looking to the election of a versities, declared its Labour government to
to lor solve these problems. proposals to replace stu-
lent grants with student The conference voted to support the TUC and instructed the policy minimum wage, to fight paign against these proagainst une growing trend buses, Other HOLOIN towards short fixed-term sought to protect the en-
vironment, extend public Collaels,
union's Broad Left, humiliating delivered to Golding's, and
executive s,
Golding immediately
tention
the But the
ecutive was
ecutive shows the
ullull -
its the
ponues
The discussed that of
•i Lolluvi
BT. been suspensions, housing, and redress the balance between military and non-military research.
On international issues a speaker from Im. perial College received considerable support from the conference for ASTMS members who are relusing to work Star Wars projects at Imperial and other colleges.
Conference supported increased tions against South African and building solidarity campaign for Moses Mayekiso of the
Anet Workers Union and four OutI peopit Caracu with high and sedition by the South Alrican State
The conference also
six black South African
lakilg the railworkers strike. CULCLUI
LONDON
TELECON
POWER
SIRINES
and,
John
sacked.
morning, press were
asked that
Amended
postlion
made for more
Ali beniell union
to
Staffs Ireland
which heard general IDATU strikers
and
and
excited
composite
Harper
impact
willin delegates to the agreed
and to
anti-Irish
Associated
United
delegates
of
Dunne's
united
the
Notts miners strike
LAST month, miners at Thoresby collery in North Notts staged their first lightning strike shite belore ult imposition of the overtime ban in 1983. The strike, over payments for working in we coots. rank and file UDM members and NUM men in action against management.
Attempts by UDM
NUM members from a calllecl RecuY IU discuss the strike resulted in an overwhelming majority of men walking out in disgust. NUM members at Thoresby regard this since as markig d
FOR the second time within a year, supporters of the Conservative trade unionists organisation have sought to attack the union through legal Canes.
Last year, Alan Paul, a political adviser to the Tory local authority in Wakefield, complained unsuccessfully to the
NALGO's method of electing its national executive.
Now Paul has upped the stakes. Along with a colleague, Simon Barron Fraser, he is seeking an injunction to prevent tne union proceeding with its "Make people matter campaign
Their counsel is Senior Colman
MANCHESTER engineers are redoubling their efforts to mobilise
strikers at Senior Colman. The strikers, who have all been sacked, have been out since January in defence
organisation.
A major
CPSA elections
CIVIL servants battling against the Tory government for a 35 hour week and a £15 pay rise have elected a
executive in ballot results due to be announced this week.
Broad left candidate,
SHOP stewards at Ford, Dagenham, were at the plant gates on 21-22 May collecting on behalf of striking South African railworkers.
The collection was the latest in a campaign Teachers new strike call
IN addition to their strike action against the Tory government's withdrawal of their negotiating rights, NUT members in
Socialist Action 5 June 1987
major step forward towards bringing rank and file miners i back into the unity of the national union.
Thoresby is part of a
in which rank and file unity has begun to be reforged. • This growing strength of the national uno is aso renectcu f the industrial tribunal victories of Notts NUM leaders Paul Whetton and Mick McGinty, who were framed up and dismissed by British Coal for their union activities.
response to these gains
new round of attacks on
Votts NUM. They have so far failed to set Tories take NALGO to court demonstration and rally has been called Dy the local distric of the CSEU for 4 July
A support group for the strike has been established, and its first street collection last weekend raised ELUU.
The strikers received a majoi
and Militant supporter, John MacReadie has been elected the union's
ecretary. He polle
22,399 votes to 16,52 for the right-wing candidate Barry Ainsworth and 11,584 for the CP-backed Broad left '84 candidate, Veronica
Ford workers against apartheid
of actions in the plant which had led earlier unis year to une company's decision to Hese late will
South Africa. Jointly organised with Rail Against Apartheid, it raised over £200.
London are being balloted by the national union for a one-day official strike on 16 June.
The move comes in
11
Whetton and McGinty back to work, and they Council member Steve Abbot on another trumped up charge
The local Justice for Mineworkers Campaign plans to make the issue
the sacked miners a
rally in Mansfield in the run-up to election day is being planned, and prominent national and local speakers are being invited
At a recent 'Justice' rally in Kirkby some 400 Jules anu dules • WIVE heard Tony Benn , Peter Heathfield, Alan Meale and sacked Nottingham East PPC, , Sharon AlKIl, sptak In suppori of the sacked men.
over
pay. last year. The boost with the news that Manchester direct works unions have told the city's architect to kick into touch plans to employ Senior Colman air distribution equipment in 41 buildings being planned. The order was worth f¼ million.
Bayne.
MacReadie was the target of a press witchhunt when he won the last year's election for general secretary Allegations of ballot "irregularities" forced a re-run in which John
Ellis, the current genera
secretary topped the poll.
One hundred and twenty Dagenham workers attended a public meeting organised by the 1/1107 branch of the TGWU where local Labour candidates spoke on the election.
response to a campaign for action by the union's inner London division who are fighting plans bi ILEA to compulsorily redeploy 1300 teachers.
Page 12 scan of this page
the West Midlands?
last month,
the West Midlands.
The events leading to the worsening of Labour's position started with the H HOS CLic.
Hat tersley and other right wing MPs warillle Linda Bellos and Bernie Grant not to come to birmingham to speak at a Black Section meeting.
This focussed naOna media on what woie otic wisc llave Ucci.
virtually unnoticed 1icCulc
The racist hounds were then unleashed by the removal . or siaron Alkin
candidate for Nottingham East by the April meeting of Labour's national executive. Having released a racist campaign, LAbOlI LICR D OCcCuCu LU reap the results in the form of a strong Tory advance.
A shift to the right cost Labour control of the Birmingham city council in the local elections. It has
PHOTO: George Makir
uNteies hu Carilin ! Enterorises, PO Box 50, London N1. rimtehy anore Ld. U, Logaa do
SOCTALiSE
ACTiON
Will Hattersley cost Labour
ON 11 JUNE Labour may well pay a high price for deputy leader Roy Hattersley's witch-hunting attack on the Labour Party Black Section. Polls in most of Britain show Labour advancing in almost the entire country. The one exception is in the West Midlands. Judging from the local government election results
and according to several regional surveys cartied out during the general election campaign, support for Labour is seriously dropping in Hattersley's own Birmingham area and throughout
left the Loteshhan tye Tories with fewer two of the parliamentary seats that Labour currently holds.
By Annie Brady
In the 1983 genera CUI Labour Dorcu» er cent of the vote in th Vest Midlands, comparec per cent for the Tories and 26 for the Anaece A pOll In April showed Labour down five pol collls with the Tories up two per cent and the Alliance up three Current polls also show Labour still doing badly in the .region.
Dul Yy for Midlands Independent KAC1O shows the threat of Labour losing three senus.
Erdington Walsall South Wolverhampton North East. Channel 4 Demonstrators protest Birmingham council's decision to abandon the race relations and equal opportunities committee
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News survey of Dudley West on Monday 1 June soweene Tories had a growing lead in their seat there.
However, far from 1 uLii2 campaign designed to counteract the problems that Labour is clearly facing in the West Midlands, Roy Hattersley ana le rigat wing on bir mingham council reacted
goverlilell election results by shutting down the council's equal opportunities and race relations committee.
John Spellar, who briefly held the Birmingham-Northfields seat for Labour up to the 1983 election, has argued mnal Ladour must auck d wave of hostililty centred UDOI Black Sections and Follows the local elections liberation' This where the Tories captured two seats from Labour councillors in the constituency.
Having unleashed
and capitulated to racist wave with their WIlCO Roy HaEtersley the Labour right in the West Midlands look likely i delive Labour a harsh blow on 11 June.
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tain's largest black newspaper group.
prove of the setting up of Black
This latest poll stands in sharp contrast to the only other .of ty Haris s carried GlL •v 1983 Then ony 16 per cent
those surveyed ported Black Sections, compared . to 60 per cent who didn't.
This recent survey commissioned by Hamsib group deves pers. which cludes Asian, Caribbean and African Times, was conducted among 1007 Asians and AfroCaribbeans across country showed overalí 72 per cent suppor for Labour among
seople in this country
This appears to be drop on the Commission for Racial Equality figure of 81 per cent of people supporting Labour in 1983. However, the two results not directly comparable.
Thirty-three per cent
THE TORY Party in Tottenham is running a dirty campaign against Labour candidate Bernie Grant. But its main effect has been to create a split within the Tories own ranks.
Former Tory councillor for Haringey, Michael Con-
alt alolie didate in the local elections Sushil Vig, are publicly call-
for a vote for Alliance's parliamențary candidate Stuart Etherington
Vig told the Hornsey Journal last week: '1 may be forced to vote for him after 27 years as a Tory to try and keep Grant out.' Vig has already contacted "severa) hundred hardcore Tories
Black survey shows
Big growth in support
for Black Sections
THE LABOUR PARTY Black Section is fast gaining ground within the black communities according to a Harris opinion poll published this week by Bri-
Support is growing despite the attacks the Black Section ha: suffered at the hands of the Labour leadership anc from the media. Asked 'do you approve or disap-
Sections in the Labour Party?', 39 per cent of black Labour supporters wanted to see Black Sections established.
of all respondents in the Harris survey, regardless also of political affiliation, favoured setting up Black Sections in the sup- Party, compared to 45 per cent who did not. The proportion for and changed quite noticeably however when the supporters only were quesof tioned: 39 per in- favoured Black Sections, while 44 per cent did not.
By Carol Turner the an Commenting on black survey, Marc Wadsworth Labour Party Black Ln auoa cral "These results obviously mean that we have maiori. black ty support for Black Sections among black party members "The poll also reveals that our arguments are becoming Liv1e
Tottenham Tories in chaos
who, he claims, will do likewise.
But the split among the Tory Party in Tottenham isn't a straight forward case of tactical voting. In the last election the Tories over 13,000 votes to Liberals 6000.
The Tory split from the fact that the PPC for their area, ervT. phy, is an extreme winger. Coney ToHa Hornsey Journal: 'He treats people like dirt. Ihe way he the behaves towards there was always going to be a backlash. And now here it
Murphy, however, more than just unpleasant.
He has a track-recoro as an out-and-out racist.
During the recent local lection :Murphy → who denies hes a racist - ci
understood Labour supporters.
were not for the hostile media and rebeated against tacks on us from
figures in the labour moveLabour ment, believe
would be majority support
cent among them too.
The most results of all came from a breakdown of support for Black Sections on the basis of social class. Only 14 per cel r black proress ollal supported their establish-
the Ill il. compared
per cent support from un-
Sec- skilled black workers
said: As the Caribbean
Times points out, this provides 'a counter claim to the argument that Black Sections are only popular with the middle classes'
Marc Wadsworth told Socialist Action: 'This poll clearly is the proof positive of our
culated a leaflet showing a white man being hit on the head, next to a Broadwater Farm Estate sign. slogan read: "You are about mugged polled Another of his leaflets call-
the ed for 'Dirt, Violence, Filth,
Theft Gypsies out arises rouental
Writing in The Voice of 26 May, Mark right unearthed some of Mur-
. Ine phy's ulsavUu. y DaDE
June 1986 he turned up uninvited to a race equality people committee meellng
racially abused councillor and Black Section supporter Makanji.
According to Makanji's solicitor, quoted in Harrison's article, Murphy said: "Your brain comes from the sewer You apartheid"
campaign for bla organisation Labour Party. Th give the Back s clear black , man
position than ever 'The Harris su plodes the myth th Section are the pre the black middle c vindicates our emp campaigning am rank and file wuke WIw de ! oppressed section among class and who are
perly catered for b the Labour Party uraod CHHO!
key power structures
'We are there stepping up our ca
for black self-orga and representation dramatic creased vigour f
this tremendous This proves thai workers want Bla tions despite th paganda we've hea certain sections of with 37
party. 'Only black per lead the fight
ransmus this com
continuing within the Labon and to build across the Ja DOll ment, we will ensi anti-racist socialist are at the top of L agenda.
In May 19771 was expelled fro Wood Green Tory gi
The 'disruptive and
table' behaviour. Li here same year he
suspended from the London Cons
of Association, by a 33
More recently I was suspended fror Harrison cil meetings after he
cushion al the
In and • SLVE
woman councillor phy's written "apol the Haringey chief e Labour officer said he was s
can l all lae lay Narendra and square in th
where he deserved i Murphy's cand so far has divided t Tories. But, needles Murphy has nol deserve repudiated by the n
Tories
← Socialist Action No. 166, 29 May 1987Socialist Action No. 168, 19 June 1987 →