Socialist Action No. 87, 1 February 1985
The scan: 087-feb-01-1985-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
the Tories
Tory NUM.
Scargill was not speaking for himself alone. In
47 weeks, the miners are still
Derek France of Silverwood put it. to walk back with ou heads held high'. This determination has forced the Tories to draw back from Thatcher's bloodlust last week.
The fall in the pound, the rising interest rates, the panic in the stock market which wiped f4 billion off share values on Monday underline the fact that the Tories are not as strong or as contident as they pre tend. They have not solved the problems of the British ruling class. They have not broken the working class.
The weakness of the City of London reflects the continuing strength of
SociAList
ACTION
'I CAN tell the miners in Yorkshire and South Wales and Scotland that there will be no betrayal by this union. There will be no selling down the river of my members.' This was Arthur Scargil's response to
hopes for unconditional surrender by the
the labour movement.
This is the context in which with the NCB take place. The stakes in une talks are every bit high now as they were at the beginning of the strike, and if the Tories overtense ver they could pay a heavy price.
There will be no blank cheques for the NCB on
La total amnesty for the 600 victimised during the strike. The miners fight is still a fight for the whole working class.
Now more than ever is the time to stand with the miners, and to give the lie clalms that the miners stand alone and sorted The slogan for the left in the movement Wiln the manes our une wow.
All out on 11
February With the
miners
against
No. 87 1 February 1985 30p
Page 2 scan of this page
Class against class
2 Socialist Action 1 February 1985
Action SociAlist
Two choices THE DAILY MIRROR, self-appointed sup porter of the Labour Party, scourge of the Neil Kinnock, launched a bitter attack on Arthur Scargill in its front page on Monday.
While happily miners' strike was lost clear to over 60 per cent of miners still on strike, nor to the Tories who are treading a good deal more cautiously that 'Mr Scargill has stabbed himselt in the back. No one did it to him'. It was not Neil Kinnock. It was not monsense has won through', the Mirror
As is often the case reverse is the truth. After 11 months of struggle the NUM executive goes into the talks with over 60 per cent of its membership still on strike, and still supporting Arthur Scargill.
It is not Scargill who is out of line with the membership. It is those who have not defended their members jobs. Not since AJ Cook has there been a trade union leader with such a record of determined leadership, and principled refusal to sell the membership short.
City
Scargill could have accepted the MacGregor plan. He could have called in the TUC general council to get him off the hook after a token resistance. capitulate in the face of the most ferocious assault on any trade union since World War! has produced a major labour movement.
In the last year the strike has become a tocus for every strand of resistance to the attacks of the Tories - for blacks, women, Greenham, and the whole labour and trade result, the Tories have been forced to back off from a whole series of attacks on the working class: on the docks, on rail, and in Liverpool.
The left in the movement has strengthened and clarified in the course of the miners strike — and this is a material factor in the current talks. Had Scargill accepted Willis, Basnett, et al,
Tories would be free to turn their attention to would now be well under way,
other sectors. In that very real sense the miners have fought for the whole working class, and
continue to do so.
Those who do not stand with the miners are
betraying the whole working class.
volved in the labour movement today, and will
continue to be involved, is a division between
those who stand on the class struggle and those
The left which has emerged in the course of
the miners' strike is a product of that divide. It
runs from top to bottom of the movement, and
ingstone has stood on the class struggle side of
The treachery of Kinnock, Willis, et al, has
shown that to deal an effective blow to Thatcher,
methods deep
and deal with the sabotage of the right. For that,
the left must strengthen itself programatically,
and organise across the movement.
to stand back and take ones distance from the
strike. The other is to stand with the miners and
fight, to be with the struggle, whatever the out-
come. At this point in the strike the left must do
all it can to strengthen the NUM in the talks. The
task for the left is still BACK THE MINERS!
Editor: ALAN FREEMAN
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and frequently mouthpiece of
proclaiming that the - something not so the
it declared
the TUC. 'Com-
the labour movement He did not. The miners refusal to
change in the British
left. As a
the advice of Kinnock, the massacre of mining and the
around Benn, Scargill and
into the labour movement itselt,
But right now, there are two choices. One is
sales
THE TALKS between the NUM and the NCB have
produced the predictable and sickening response
from the labour leaders. Their pleas to Thatcher for 'generosity' to allow an serve to cover up the real issues involved. The Tories are not interested in an 'honourable settlement'.
They are interested only in taking the next steps forward in their plans for the coal industry. Kinnock and Willis are no doubt pleased to win the praise of the media for their 'sensible and moderate' stand, but it is clear that this is merely a tactical move by
ruling against the NUM.
The Tories know that if a leadership which fights can oe removed, a icauci• ship which doesn't will be easy meat. lost sight of their objective.
The hit list of 20 pits and 20,000 jobs has been resurrected, and ine lily of London's financial experts are once again looking towards the eventual privatisation pro-
fitable parts of the coal in-
The £5 billion of public money that the
Tories have spent in trying to defeat the miners is seen by the City as a good investment for private
- provided that Cavital the miners are defeated.
Multi-nationals such as Powell Duffryn and Rio
Tinto are keenly interested in a simmea down coal ll
dustry super-pits based on the of SU- the
east Midlands, where plen-
HOIC nas been
available to help the work-
ing miners' committees
Their aim is a world-
wide coal market, with the
British ULC
component of their finan-
cial empires. The restruc
turing that they cuvsass
for coal would mean the
closures of up to half of
tne pits in Britain. and
huge imports from • their
pits in Pousards that will be make Australia. step
ing the coal industry
Britain more competitive. Change
of the MacGregor plan
The aim, set out by
MacGregor's predecessor
in 1983, of making the coal
industry break even by
1987/8 would have meant
65,000 jobs lost.
The NUM exposed secret
NCB documents in 1982
showing that 75 pits were
classified as 'short life',
and that reductions in the
workforce of 75,000 over
four years was planned.
PiECE
No, I didn't say you were gay. I said that basically, deep down, you hate, fear and despise women...
'honourable settlement'
waramont
The NCB has always denied the existence of the hit list, and of these plans. The truth however, 1s ex-
what the NUM has said throughout the strike: the government has a short term target of 20,000 jobs, and a medium term target of 70,000 jobs.
By Paul Dwyer
The effect on mining communities devastating if these plans went through. The loss of 70,000 jobs out of 200,000 would decimate the 'peripheral' areas such as South Wales, Scotland and the North East. , The cost of this, at least £480 million of 20,000 jobs, will not of course be borne by the multi-nationals.
The cost of the strike
NCB
the good of the nation'. For nation, read ruling CONS
The central obstacle to the Tories realising their objective has been, and remains, the determination of the i miners and the
eadershir Arthur
Scargill. Hence the centra
political aim which the
Tories are now pursuing is
break the Scargill
leadership of the NUM, which they correctly regard as the core of the
left in the labour move
ment.
This is why the gutter
press has been calling for
Arthur Scargill's head. It
surprise that this
chorus of reaction is join-
ed by 'socialist' millionaire
Robert Maxwell. For it is
not a matter of 'malice' on
Thatcher's part, as Neil
Kinnock claims but of
profits for the ruling class.
The Tories' plans go
well beyond the carve-up
of the coal industry. Priva-
tisation of rail, docks and
$ ACTION
What nonsense Am I not a lon standing support of Margaret Thatcher?
public services all offer profitable areas of invest ment, and in all cases will also demand attacks on
unions in those industries.,
The truth that politics is concentrated economics has been clearly demonstrated miners strike. When the whole of the bosses media unite to claim in the words of the Daily Mirror 'A defeat for Scargill is also a defeat for the hard men (sic) of the
Look!
ment....
left, the Benns who dream of triumph through a general strike it is clear that their class in terests are at stake.
And when they go ol to claim, again in the Dail Mirror's WOOS thai disaster for Mr Scargill is open he sensible left' we can l sure that it is not the interests of the labour movement that they are defending They are preparing H we're going to have an argu-
News
Photo MARK RUSHER
for another round of attacks and want the lal the movement have weakest leadership possible, to prevent it using its strength in the interests of the working class
The strength has not been broken it is this that has made Thatcher drop her demand for nana chich ensure tions ensures that the Tories still have a long way to go before the! can satisfy the demands o the City of London. ®CORMAC
..the least you
can do is disagree
with me!!
Page 3 scan of this page
Photo: MORNING STAR
THE TALKS between the NUM and the coal board should not be treated as the end of the miners' strike. As Mark mented published his obituary 'reports of my death are premature.
Despite the the strike now faces, question of the NUM signing an unconditional after 11 months large sections of the union are not broken, both the government NCB are well aware of it.
Thatcher's retreat from mand that the NUM give a written undertaking before talks could start is a clear ins accept
dication that total victory is not on the agenda. In addition to the issue uneconomic pits, question of the 600 miners who have been sacked in the course of the strike, whom the NCB has reinstated and whom the NUM will be determined to protect.
By Pat Hickey
Willis and Kinnock will continue to bleat that Thatcher 'contradicts the best conventions of character'. Bul me lask labour movement is not pleading for peace on behalf of the miners but mobilising the greatest possible support for the miners during the talks.
This means building for the 11 February day of action and for the 24 February demonstration in London, and continuing that has been built up in the last 11 HORERS. Every section of the movement should now be strengthening their links with the miners.
Whatever the outcome of the talks — and agreement is by no means certain - these links will be crucial in the battle that will open up in the labour movement The Sunday Times editorial put the matter in a nutshell, in a comment on Kinnock's attacks on Thatcher.
'The Labour leader's absurd public blusterings fool nobody, least of all the hard left activists they are designed to appease. They know, as does everybody else who thinks politics, that Mr Kinnock owes the prime minister a debt of gratitude for being determined to defeat Mr Arthur Scargill clearly and decisively.
If Mr Scargill were able to claim victory then Mr Kinnock's dif-
Twain comnewspaper
difficulties that
there is no
surrender. Even
and and the
the de-
closures
of
there will be the
said will not the British facing the CaNs the solidarity when the strike is over.
about
ficult task of turning his party into a credible alternative to would be gone ever; moderates and the Kinnock soft left would be swept aside as a triumphant Mr Scargill spread the message that militancy and mob action pay.
Exactly SO. From through Healev and through to Hammond, the Labour leadership has feared a victory for the miners much much tory for Thatcher. general council sabotages sions of TUC congress, and why they attack picket line violence.
Sabotage
They are as determined as ever to
adopted at the '83 congress. that there can be a peaceful accommodation with the Tories remains the
The Labour Party and the trade union movement they seek to develop
British ruling class. In the context of the present economic crisis such a course is disastrous for the labour movement. he lorv government wil not reduce its attacks on the working
'damaging and costly' disputes.
On the contrary, they with increased ferocity. Rail and local government are the next in line for the Tory axe, and the welfare state will face even deeper cuts. The Tories are
accommodation organised labour. They are destrov it.
The mobilisation of the forces of the state in the miners' strike should leave no doubt on that score. saturation policing of the coal fields, the unprecedentea legal allacks, and the attempts to split
winch will be used again.
They will not be stopped by the hypocrisy of Kinnock or the cowardice of Willis.
The miners' strike has clearly shown that, for the labour movement, these are the enemy within. Integral to the struggle against the Tories in the next period will be the against the labour traitors. The righ will lollow their treacherv miners with an attack on the left in the
drive business unionism, and a Labour Par-
Tories Labour
Kinnock Willis
more than a vicThis is why the will continue.
the decl-
the left
LouISC
in Neil
and Duffy. promise Focus
with out to the Hills.
The midable eliminated.
the NUM are
oppressed.
class demonstrate
Lne working class. towards cities.
ty that will be fit for a possible coalition with the SDP-Liberal Alliance
Such a course will demand the crushing of the left in the party and the unions. But those sections of the press and of the labour leadership think that the miners are crushed and
defeated al C premature obituaries.
The miners' strike has hardened and clarified the left. There are few on the left now who have any illusions
Kinnock and the dream ticket. Fewer still think that Willis and Basnett will be allies of the left against the hard right of Hammond
In the course of the strike it has become clear that the line of divide within the movement is between a leadership which will stand and fight and those whose policy is
For shameful com The leadership which has emerged in the course of the strike has become the focus for all sections of the oppressed in Britain.
The alliance which was seen at the Labour Party conference, between
the black sections. women, Irish activists, and those who will fight to defend the cities is a for-
one. It will not be easily
Throughout the country miners are joining the Labour Party with the clear intention of settling accounts with the labour traitors - with the intention of turning the Labour Party into a real party of Labour, a party that is a coalition of all sections of the
The Tory assault on the working
the next period increasingly layers that only a policy of class struggle will defend the interests of the
The attack on British Rail funds. on the closed it.
mand a leadership
leadership.
who
in the support writing
of the coming struggle.
demonstration,
the enemy within
either
take
anti-union laws.
fighting for
and for accountability.
the closed
political funds.
has te address
will deveioping = soverei: wide
ibe
Socialist Action 1 February 1985
The
enemy
within
the labour movement which stands and fights.
The struggle against the enemy within, through forging an alliance of the oppressed, can produce such a
The movement that has been thrown up by the miners' strike,
the womens committees. the activites in the unions and the Labour Party, and the thousands of miners who have fought for the last eleven months and continue to fight, will be the vanguard
The task now for the left is to continue support for the NUM, to build the days of action and the 24 February
. to keep the money coming in. It is also to deepen the political battle, to settle accounts with
In the unions this will mean campaigning between now and the union conferences to put the leadership's ac tions in the miners' strike on the agenda of conference, so that those who failed the miners can be called to ac. count. It will mean fighting any move
government money for ballots, and any move to accept the
We must also prepare for the next TUC congress and the moves by the new realists even further to the right. In the Labour Party it will mean
positive action, for reselection, against any witch-hunts,
Above all, it will mean fighting for mass action to defeat the attacks on local government, in support of al workers in struggle, and in defence of
Against the backsliding of the right, it will mean fighting for action against the anti-union laws, and campaigning for the
Finally. it will mean that the left
issel! to the task of programme in
Page 4 scan of this page
Nottingham: for a national union
4 THE RIGHT-WING leaders of the Nottinghamshire area of the National Union of Mineworkers are having a much rougher ride than they expected in forming a breakaway union.
break based on a huge disinformation campaign around the benefits union.
delayed this has meant a pause for thought in many branches in the area.
stay in the National union. has requested ecutive. member of the branch and Secretary of the National Working Miners Committee.
signatures of 10 per cent of the area membership on a pledge of allegiance to the National Union. Martyn Bower reports for
IN DECaderS of the Not-
wing leaders of the
Area Countinghamshire cil pushed thor campaign
get rid of rule through the branch
Basti of slanders against
basis slanders sangainst Arthur Scargill National Union and
the members that Rule 51, the disciplinary rule, would be used against our area after the *arle was Ovel• the case.
tions of support become even more important.
The two key dates for
the solidarity movellicul
must be February
when the Yorkshire
and
Humberside and the South
of the TUC
are calling for industrial
and the 24
February, wirel the
Liaison Committee for the
The the paying
of the TUC
groups of
workers taken
'secondary' OI,
11am-5.30pm
1 DO OTHER ORGAN BATION
PETER HEATHFIELD ТОМУ BENN
ACCOM
Socialist Action 1 February 1985 They geared up their members for a short sharp
of a split with the national
But now the NUM delegate conference has been
In Moor Green and Lindley miners have voted to
At Pye Hill the branch a speaker from the National exThis is a slap in the teeth to Colin Clarke, a
The South Notts strike committee have got the
Derbyshire their
Solidarity tasks
If the talks between the NUM and the NCB continue this week it will be no reason for the solidarity movement to start to close up shop. Indeed the opposite is
Because the Tory government and the NCB is piling the pressure on the miners public demonstra-
precisely, "solidarity' action SIDOOIL OI the NUM. The Tories hope to really WaKe USC the Employment Acts.
that the Kin-
on their and
in the in the
railways and
hard backing for the miners.
Mineworkers Defence Committee
National Conference
Solidarity with
the NUM.
OCTAGON CENTRE
SHEFFIELD
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 9th
DELEGATES: 2 per TRADE UNON ORGANISATION
BETTY HEATHFIELD JOHN TOCHER PHIL HOLT
de.
Credentials and Creche:
Ring 01-981 3289 or write to
Mineworkers Defence Committee, c/o 31 Cranwich Rd N16
policy conflict, national policy should be sovereign.
The last thing the rightwing leaders in these three areas want their members, even LUCI working members, to realise is the real implications of such a split in the union
The National Union of Mineworkers was established as a national
ironically in Nottingham in 1944.
The constitution of the
there strongly defended by the National executive because it allowed both for a unified National union ana ior area autonomy in matters related to the particular conditions in each area
working miners that uneH
evely foll
They that break-away three areas
Union.
If the Liaison Commit-
tee for the Defence of Trade
Inions had lived up to lts
name on 12 January
would have called for a na-
nonal Industrai suppag
that would
left-wing
heads
Buckton,
Keys, , Todd.
action, regional
of timid that came
workers tor
That
than action
needed force this
Call
The Metropolitan
Lon-
thcoming.
needs to be
placed
The same
unions,
London,
pressure
who will undoubtedly sup-
port the call on a regional
what
Bass. DUl azalll
about setting a national
date?
The Liaison Commithave invited the
Mineworkers Defence
Committee and represen-
TUC's to come together to
build the 24 February na-
tional demonstration.
Dennis Skinner at miners' rally are working.
The response of the National Executive on 10
expulsion as the optise
expulsion the entire Nottinghamshire area because of the disloyalty of their leaders
A special delegate conference has yet to implement that expulsion. Those Nottinghamshire miners who want to stay within the National Union are using the breathing space to win the argument for maintaining allegiance to the National Union.
Support
the move-
ment, build ulat
Ken Liv-
such registers
The
Slave sluti
months
violence.
the miners and
and
Workers Pit
Closures.
actions in
Commons
and his
Thus solidarity led by the
siderable
mobilise
the NUM.
For two events
everyulie can be
brought must
NATIONAL UNION OF MINEWORKERS
has been
national
of the
Not-
that there been threat 51 against
disciplinary rule was troduced the Not-
last
week unless
this rise
window.
The wants 'normal'
be by the
deadline of
January. They
for
under 1984 Act.
MIKE COLLEY situa-
on
the NUR members who have move coal refused to
strike.
The board and the
are and
their
tion unions, for 11-month sympathetic
was without
the 1984 Act But, always, has
MATIONAL UNION OI
MINEWORKERS
clear that National Union is expelling
the
tion'
main with the National Union the TUC and in OUL that and the Labour Party will not recognise the new organisation.
The announcement by
Coal trains must roll say BR
provoking all-out in-
They risk a fighting alliance
BR, Tory press internal to is putting
case that 27 defence
jobs, are
coal will never
its Very this
the WOlICS union have
cient way
BRB that using the 17
and in freight. have the
to
The this week that the beet
Mr
(Acting Treasure) NU
unionism' will have
sharply.
saw thousands railway.
NUM.
railaction
jobs
of the scabs union, the
fect.
near Mansfield
its 36th USI branch a simila.
to have within
this not
and
Calls wel in the rail unions.
Page 5 scan of this page
Back to work -
News
has grown over the last two weeks. Press reports sug-
CVCl Ine
on our terms
THE 'BACK TO work' movement in the coalfields
says Labour Party
wal gollg Ene workplaces.
LUI a au starl ment Dans tor coal are gel le workers lo boycoll Case or coa caally conecuons
CLO
lonal dav ot action but l
luse acmonstration gives
Not the «caviter
Icalicl
hamshire and Derby to
split the union?
Run laose dreas.
will be able to.
MARTINSON AULIC.
Scot su per cent baci wades.
Mineworkers BOTANICA
Socialist Action 1 February 1985
ainsite une arcue cr
producing oIner
the news thev rece ved
ana copper video NOHLAS.
5
Saturday 16 February
Socialist Action
Miners Meeting
Penrhiceiwber Miners Institute, Penrhiceiwber Cynon Valley,
He also called on al
WILO tiona sondaritv behind w
Page 6 scan of this page
Labour left takes on Tori Scargillism in parliament
FOR ALMOST a year now the miners' strike has dominated the whole labour movement. In the Labour Party we have seen an increasing differentiation between the majority of party activists -prepared to stand alongside the miners in solidarity committees, on picket lines, and on demonstrations — and Neil Kinnock and his supporters whose emphasis on constitutionalism has led them deeper and deeper into the camp of the right.
During this struggle the leadership of Arthur Scargill has shown the left a real alternative to the parliamentary cretinism of Neil Kinnock and his ilk:
, alternative which is, in the words of Scargill himself: 'a leadership that's prepared to stand up and fight.
This divide has found its way into Labour's parliamentary benches in the form of those Campaign Group MPs who are increasingly speaking out in sapport of the miners, against the "conventions of the House' and against the wishes of the Labour leadership.
This kind of action is Scargillism in parliament. The Campaign Group represents in embryo the sort of party leadership the left has fought for.
The Labour left must consolidate these lessons of the miners' strike, and plan a strategy to carry though trace lessons in a consistent and thorough-going way, into all areas of struggle.
The white, middle-class, male, 'conservative' hold over the PLP has begun to be broken. Target Labour Government conference is an opportunity to begin this debate.
THURSDAY before last saw the Cam-
paign Group members who'd been sup-
porting the miners in the
strike make a concerted effort to per-
suade the Speaker to grant a special
debate on the issue, for the government
to give time for a debate on the implica-
tions of the strike: the cost to public
spending, DHSS regulations,
role of the police, the safety of nuclear
power stations, the likelihood of power
cuts in the power stations, and its effect
on the mining communities.
government refused to give time for
this debate and the Speaker also re-
jected an application for
member's debate made by Eric Heffer.
So Campaign Group members all
stood together and refused to sit down;
the Speaker accordingly suspended the
lor a period
When the session resumed we had a
meeting and decided that Tony Benn
would make a brief statement on our
behalf, to the effect that we would con-
tinue demanding that such a debate
Lic blare Every day since then we've taken it
in turns to raise different aspects of the
miners' dispute. There have now been
22 separate applications
debate on the miners' strike. I believe
we're getting somewhere.
Inititally we were condemned by the
6
GOAL
NOT
DOLE
GOAL
NOT
10 month
the
we get what we want.
Line Dal t OI the governent,
a private miners' strike
its leadership. of 20 minutes
By Jeremy Corbyn
Group as a focus support for the NUM. anything without first that's what solidarity is about.
made for a as a
Socialist Action 1 February 1985
DOLE
leader of the party and most of the shadow cabinet. But we'll persist until
The wide press coverage of our action represents a paranoia, a fear on the
establishment the of the truth about getting out. isn't anything to do with the cost of coal or with energy policy, it's everything to do with smashing the NUM, and smashing
The government sees the Campaign
for parliamentary We don't do support of the miners consulting the NUM
The Campaign Group defines itself
group in parliament determined that the party should fulfil a genuinely campaigning role, and recognises that defeat of the Tory government will be
COAL
NOT
_DOLE
NO PIT
CLOSURES
brought about by a series of disputes, of which parliament is only part. It's struggle and activity outside parliament that is the key to that.
Each week at our meetings discuss what we consider to be the main items on the agenda. At virtually every meeting since the strike started, we've discussed the dispute in the coalfields. We have ensured that all the Campaign Group members are on the picket lines. We also send speakers to rallies for the miners, and we've been prominell l picketing the power stations.
1 personally have been involved in picketing a number of power stations because I think that at the moment that is the key to victory in this dispute: to stop the coal supplies coming in from abroad, to stop the oil movements, and
stop the switch-over power.
We see our function as campaigning to carry out the decisions of the Labour Party conference. Remember the party Concrete only three months
COAL
NOT
ORLE
Campaign Group
voted very, very clearly -enormous majority — for the NUM's position.
we Frustration
discussing longer-term strategy but its membership is fairly new to the House of Commons for the most part. It was established in 1982, out of frustration of the ability of the parliament to actually seriously fight against the drift in party policy -as the witchhunt, the register, the ditching or se many other Labour Party policy loomed.
nuclear had a very great increase in member.
ship. There are 38 members, a lot of whom are new. discussing is the way of building the issues and building the demands in the party at large. And we're supporting,
and by an
debate
Increasingly the Campaign Group is
government
• Tribune Group in
- such
aspects of - as the election In the new parliament in 1983 we've
What we're now
LIVERPE
ok thc sponsoring and organising a series of rallies at each of the regional Labour Party conferences, most of which are taking place moting discussion and
promoting discussion and
Quite simply the issue is this: that we have in power at the moment a Tory
trying to destroy the labour movement, ideologically trying to shift power to the right in this contry. And we have a Labour Party which has a series of laudable policies on a whole range of issues. We require the mobilisation of the entire labour movement to get into power in order to carry out all those policies.
We're concerned about the talk that too often happens (based around the media) of retreat from those policies in order to get short-term electoral advantage. I'd put is quite simply this way: if the party obsesses itself with the entrails of opinion polls on any one issue, then what you start doing is jettisoning one policy after another in order to go for
Page 7 scan of this page
es
the mythical middle-ground in politics.
The Campaign Group is trying to explain to people that in order for Labour to win power lnrougn a rulure general election, then means the lessons of the miners' dispute, the lessons of the health workers' dispute, the lessons about rate-capping, have to be very firmly put across to the public as a whole.
Control
The government is trying to shift power firmly to the right, we are trying to win power in order that we can carry out the policies of full employment and of public control of major industries ano tinance institutions. That's what the argument's about.
And you can only do that through action and through long-term campaign work. It can't be done merely by slick advertising methods or
SuStall ARCHCRS. The Campaign Group is
ohoto: GM COOKSON
absolutely determined to work flat-out for the election of a Labour government. We believe this can only be done if the party becomes
La senous calllpaigning force on all the issues at all times.
The miners' dispute has seen the growth of miners' support committees, of women's support committees, support from a lot of disposessed and very poor people in the urban areas. In my own area, Islington, we have collected in excess of £70,000 for the mining communities. There's been some wonderful links created WIld South Wales, with Yorkshire, and with Nottingham. And now we're discussing how the mining communities can help us against rate-capping — it's that kind of solidarity that's growing up.
The Campaign Group tries to keep abreast of most of the major issues at its weekly meetings, but quite honestly which ever way you look and which ever issue you care to take, at the moment the miners' strike dominates head, shoulders, and body above all those others. Because if we don't supOULL the miners if we wish miners' strike away and ignore it as some people in the party seem to want to do - then what possibility is there of winning on rate-capping, on health Culs. on local cuvercics. U11 transport policy, on nuclear energy, on tuc earweaools — a whole range of
All stand beside the miners' Issuesd issue: that is the key, that is the crucial one.
The lessons personally draw from the miners' strike for the Campaign Group is the importance and the power of a group O1 MPs sticking together and working seriously as a team. We've all consistently demanded the samue bim' and trom being
lenigrated by all and sundry, now vir tually everyone seems to be saying it's time the miners' strike was debated. That, to us, is a small victory.
We want a platform in parliament to explain how mancu money the government has spent on the dispute, the implications of a national police force, of DHSS regulations, and the implications (which | believe are very, very serious) for nuclear power in this country and the consequent problem of núc e r v ve c o e vvv v cc NUM at the moment are fighting against the decision of the Nationa Coal Board to close pits and lose 20,000 jobs.
I believe this strike is the turning point in the whole strategy of the government against coal which will eventually lead to the loss of over 100,000 jobs, the closure of most pits in this country and the development of a small number of superpits in the East Midlands which will be potentials for privatisation. That's what the government's long term intention is. To carry it out they need to defeat the NUM. We must stop them.
continue and intensify the support for the miners. intensity the struggle outside parliament. As a union negotiator I know that a negotiator is only as good as the strength of the people outside the door, on the picket lines. In this critical week we must have an intensification of picketing, particularly at the power sta-
constituency parties and affiliates, asking people to intensity support for the
tend to see the miners right through to
the Labour Party's history. If we are to win power in a future general election. it cannot be achieved if there is a shift to the right in the party, a shift to what I woma call opimon pol pontics. Il car only be achieved if we campaign on the basic socialist issues, the issues of what a Labour government can and should achieve, and educate people on that.
If we don't do that, if we don't stand up against the Thatcher doctrine of 'Competition is the God', then the
ment it shoud be nutting over.
socialism is about control for benefit of
Thatcher government is attacking
If we retreat in front of Thatcher's OIS AUCHL won't look to us as an alternative they that doesn't bother to fight when the
Organising the
fightback
DURING THE LAST 10 months support for the miners' strike has sorted many a sheep from a goat throughout the whole labour movement. While the vast majority of rank and file Labour Party activists have wholeheartedly thrown
committees and the picket lines, Bu the claro strugle is evo dis ding Westminster. More and more divisions are opening up between Neil Kinnock and the 'legalists' on the one hand — all those whose mealy-mouthed support for the miners' 'just cause' does not ext end to practical action in support of their strike, and who condemn evenhandedly the use of violence without ever fingering the police and the Tory
Violente and vi's CSICI as lon Benn, Dennis Skinner, Eric Heffer and
Group, who have found themselves increasingly at odds with the party leader-
cent years of the treacherous and anti-
than the role played by Neil Kinnock and his front bench during the miners' strike. History has set this leadership a test - they have resoundingly failed it. party activists will be foregathering in
the composition of the PLP and the policies of Labour one of the first questions on everyone's mind will be how to swop these scab leaders for those who
together all currents on the left of the party to discuss the policies and the personnel that will take Labour into the next general election. And that means fighting for a Labour government com mitted to defending the interests of the working class and oppressed in society. There is one simple way that TLG can demonstrate from the start which side it ONESOIR given pride of place on the conference Enemy within
the whole movement who 'the enemy within' really is: the Kinnocks and the Willises who are not prepared to make any fight to defend the interests of the class they purport to represent, but instead bow down before the Tory Party at every twist and turn. Target Labour Government conference is the first opportunity this year to begin to organise a fightback within the Labour Party to ensure such misleaders are never again allowed to claim the name of Labour.
TLG so far has been better representa-
of women and black people in par lamentary representatives who truly reflect the instand committed to fight for socialist Changing the complexion of the PLP will help ensure that there are no Neil Kinnocks pitting themselves against the many struggles that are to come and claiming to speak Halc
within Labour's ranks about how to win the next election. The question pos-
Target Labour
Government ed is with Kinnock or against him? Many begin to argue that the Labour Party will only come to power by a commitment to staying within the law, Wy framework of Tory anti-working class laws which are piling up on every issue from local government to controi of the
Few delegates to TLG
TLG conference will be taking up ensuring an election fought on policies that represent the real interests of the
campaigning to change public opinion, not passively to pander to it. Since the beginning of the miners' strike Labour has taken a nose dive in the opinion polls. TLG delegates will recognise that
popularity is from Mr Kinnock: his refusal to support Liverpool, his refusal to take a firm stand on
most of all his refusal to support the
the helm. Labour is seen as no alter
the
ference is a first opportunity for all sections of the Labour leit to get together
groups — like Women's Action Com-
Labour CND, like those forces fighting Tory attacks on local government — to come together to discuss united action to take Labour into the next election on a programme that represents the best
Manifesto
policy, on international policy, and on democratic rights and the law. There is
statements, but to start the discussion now of Labour's future policies. The active participation of all the groups within the party who are committed to defending the struggles of all sections of the working class against the Tory government is the best way to ensure that Labour's next manifesto and can.
portunity to spread TLG's base, which London. A successful fightback means a national fightback, across the constituencies and affiliated organisations up fensive against the NUM is not her onlj one. In the mónths immediately beforı us she will take on the railworkers and
1985 will continue to be a year of struggles against this vicious government, Target Labour Government is an opportunity for the left to gird its loins for the struggles which are to come.
GOVERNMENT
Conterenoverament & Labour rierie Labou *What Type of Labour Government?
SATURDAY 16th FEBRUARY DIGBETH CIVIC HALL DIGBETH. BIRMINGHAM Socialist Action : 1 February 1985 7
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8
A EARLY December the well Town Marxist ERNEST MANDEL Nicaragua at the invitation of the Nicaraguan Reform Research and Study Centre, under the Ministry for Development and Agrarian Zeform. He had many sons with officials responsible for sectors of the economy, for raining Nicaraguan government cadres and with leaders of the Bandinista National Front (FSLN).
Besides giving several lectures to cachers at the Central American University, Mandel also gave a public
entitled 'The World Crisis of sponsored by
icaraguan Association for the Social ences. Several hundred people at-
aded the talk, which was announced
day before in the daily Nuevo Diario.
On his return from Nicaragua, Ernest Mandel was interviewed by La Gauche — the French-language paper of the Belgian section of the Fourth
ternational. The interview great interest in showing the relation
dramatic methods,
wilding socialism in Nicaragua, and defending the country from attack by
United States.
hat was the class nature of the elec-
as in Nicaragua?
It's wrong to talk about bourgeois parliamentary elections, sons for a bourgeois parliament. My stay in the country fully confirmed
that state power
icaragua represents the workers and poor peasants. Some 450,000 armed
orking people keep their guns
i homes. It is in the context of
ch a regime that you have to define
: class nature of the Assembly, and ot on the basis of formal criteria.
much do the
arations of support for political
alism mean?
here is no way to assess individual sotivations. It is still harder to make ay predictions about future changes
attitudes. But one thing is clear -* Sandinista leaders are now saying sa: political pluralism is neither a actical maneouvre with regard to the Iban and rural petty bourgeoisie nor • concession to international public pinion, whether this be directed at ocial democrats, left Latin-American bourgeois forces or ne imperialist countries themselves.
They saying that duralism is useful and essential for * revolutionary process, useful and assential for bullding socialsin Nicaragua. It is, in particular, essenal for raising the class consciousness nd level of activity of the toiling asses, to get them involved increas-
gly in the real administration of the conomy and the state, in the struggle
bureaucratic Ine revo to ESLN.
These more and more numerous declarations represent a notable conribution to the development of interational revolutionary consciousness,
return to the original thought of
farx, of the Lenin or 1917, of Rosa Lutembourg and of Trotsky. I see it as
confirmation of what we have hen reiterating for decades.
Inasmuch as these positions are at-
ed to the reality in Nicaragua, the
tire international workers'
, the entire world working class,
1i derive immense advantages trom
Can you give some practical examples of the fruits of political pluralism for
toiling masses?
You can't dissociate political pluralsm from the self-organisation of-management of the masses. conditions the other. A combination of the iwo is beginning to take hold in
caragua. far chieved its fullest development. But he fact that things are beginning to
ove in this direction represents a
SECU forward, bv self-management
Socialist Action 1 February 1985
economist
visited
discus-
Liberation
the is
and about elec
in
than half the enterprises.
Sandinistas'
Wing to increase.
With respect
the councils (sometimes including
Christians,
strive in particular
political the prote proces. the same
Every dav.
Diario answer La Prensa,
the leaders deformations
camp and
airport Another
democrane manEs.
ICVICSSUI.
Are The
move- ing to start drawing up?
what an extent. discussion underway,
tivity of the masses,
and above all,
the counterrevolution. and One should be pointed up.
from having of political parties
the other,
ward recognising
Yugoslavia, which has been partially smothered by the single-party system.
With respect to workers' control and mass participation in the manage- Loat ment of the enterorises. production
operating The real extent of self-management differs considerably, to be sure, but it is continu-
territorial organisation, the Sandinista Defense Committees (CDS) are the bodies in the neighbourhoods that represent
great mass of the population.
They take charge of a series of state functions, such as distributing ration coupons, supervising the distribution of basic necessities and education.
As regards education in the rural areas, there are parents' consultative
DOLI parents and high school students) that
to coordinate education and the preparation of high school students for integration into
Hume, vigorous fensive. arguments are going on in the press.
Barricada and Nuevo
exposing the lies and half-truths of the opposition. For example, when La Prensa claimed that the government had kept
of the opposition from crease travelling abroad, Barricada published a list of their many trips, based on exit stamps collected at the Managua
sion. important fact, if you want to talk about pluralism and
is that there are presently strikes going on, and they have not been subjected to any sort of
You TOWNA CRESI democracy going to be reflected in the constitution that the Assembly is go-
I think so, obviously I can't predict to
That depends on the north the extent of the involvement and the political ac-
the outcome of tims of socia sunusue in unc comme monus the outcome of the WCIC
confrontation with imperialism and the
During
So far, there are two gains that
On the one hand, democratic rights, a pluralism
the right to strike, and freedom of thè press and associa tion seem to have been coditied. On
the Sandinista leadership has just made an important step for-
the right to
SOCIALIST
DEMOCRACY
AND NICARAGUA
regional autonomy for the Miskito Indian ethnic minority.
The big question left pending is
institutionalisation, alongside the National Assembly, of people's power, either in an assembly or in another form — it does not matter what the form is as long as it is real and not purely a formal 'rubber stamp' body.
other words, people's power should be established not just at the local level, in the neighbourhoods, villages and enterprises but also at the level of municipalities, regions and of the country as a whole.
This rise of socialist democracy is taking place in the context of continual
aggression Nicaraguan revolution. Isn't there a contradiction in all this!
Not at all. The Sandinista regime in Nicaragua is facing the cruellest sort of imperialist military and economic ofdrawn from the Nicaraguan revolutionary process itself and the lessons from other countries, this imperialist offensive is a stimulus for the FSLN to seek to continually broaden popularity among the masses and in-
the effective support it gets them able mobilize the entire people should there be a massive American aggres-
This orientation has crowned with success.
I think that against imperialism and its contra mercenaries, the support of the masses for the FSLN is almost total.
of a cruel revolutionary offensive. Could you give some examplesi During my stay in Nicaragua, a gang ot 200 counterrevolutionaries staged an ambush outside El Pericon, to the
city Esteli, massacred 28 workers who were going to pick coffee beans. Most of the vic-
the unspeakable slaughter telecommunications workers. Several of them were burned alive b
counterrevolutionaries, others were finished off with bayonets.
the funeral, the whole city of Esteli was in the streets shouting its grief and its determination to avenge its brothers and sisters.
What are the counterrevolutionaries trying to gain by such massacres?
The imperialists are perfectly aware that international public opi-
nion is becoming more sensitive every day to the threat of massive aggression, of the US air force bombing Nicaragua or of vading.
If such hundreds of would protest in the streets, not just in Western Europe but also in Mexico, in Latin America, ticular in the United Canada. Washington would have to pay a very high political price. In fact, it is necessary to make every effort to ¿make this political price higher and higher, to make it too high.
In these conditions, for the moment, the imperialists have chosen a • war of attrition as their line of attack against the Nicaraguan revolution They are combining the incursions of armed tionaries with a growing blockade and economic sabotage.
The gangs are operating basically from Honduras.
comouncil. even helicopter support. It is obviously the imperialists who are providing this logistical aid, termediary of the CIA.
Does the counterrevolution have a social base in Nicaragua itself.
You can't talk about civil war in the real meaning social base of the contras is a very narrOW OlIC Somoza's old National Guard, their families and their retainers, and the whole thing depends established outside the country. This base is clearly being eroded. They're starting to replace recruiting mercenaries of other nationalities rather than Nicaraguans.
Is this war of attrition effective from
view?
It obviously cannot overthrow the Sandinista regime or even undermine it. But it can place the regime in more and more cumstances. It has forced the government to devote 35 per cent of the national budget to military spending Imports of spare parts, raw materials its and consumer goods are dropping. What is more, it has caused damage
amounting to one-fourth of the na. tional budget.
Moreover, this war of attrition is forcing the people's government to been mobilise a great mass of workers continually in the army and the militia, thereby causing grave in production and in the circulation OI goods. The mount a struggle at the same time to defend the country militarily and to bring in the coffee harvest. very heavy burden for the popular masses.
Has the economic Nicaragua deteriorated as a result? and During the first years after the Sandinista victory, the material situation improved for which is something we have not seer often in the revolutions of the twentieth century. In 1983 Nicaragua had while the highest rate of growth in all Latin America.
The year 1984, by contrast, was a difficult one, a year of war economy, as the Sandinista comrades say. costs and the destruction caused by the aggressors resources bv nearly 15%. The masses understand this and accept it, but that well doesn't mean that they suffer any less from its consequences.
tion
Wing, transport
tricity, blems).
the Marines in-
crimes were committed, thousands of •people
Wing into clothing, and in par- pliances, States and counterrevolu-
They have ultraand sometime.
through the in-
of the term, since the
is made up essentially of
on camps
their losses by
counterrevolutionary point of
inbalance CULICE economic CIT1labsOs
cooperative. interruptions It's
government has
of what
That is a
situation in Russia).
The
the toiling
Illasses
collectivisation
maintain the
War necessar
reduced available
Wing, reasonable growth.
International
Can you specify what is involved in the economic burden imperialist ag gresion is imposing on the Nicaraguan
The costs of the war involve a reduc-
the quantity of goods distributed by the public network The latter in fact is more and more being restricted to rationed goods (food staples) and essential services (hous-
education, health, public which, moreover, is inadequate — and water, gas and elec-
where there are also pro-
The wages of blue- and white-collar workers are ample for paying tor these goods and services. But the! are not sufficient to enable them to get waal ney nee on the nee marke in dollars (the dollar goes for 20 times the official rate on the black market), more and more commodities are flow-
the free market, putting lUys and electrical ap in particular, out of the reach of those that have no other means than their wages.
Except for some products, there is no real scarcity. There is, however, an
between price. and And that's producing an economic reaction on the part of the
More and more people, including workers and members of their households, are preferring to take up intermediary jobs. In this way, they can earn four or five times more than they could working in a factory or a
Unemployment has disappeared. There is a shortage of labour.
Does that represent the failure of the mixed economy?
complicated than that.
When people talk about the mixed economy, they are generally thinking
remains of capitalist enterprise in the strict sense in Nicaragua. That is not where the main problems come from, because the production and exports of this sector are strictly monitored by the state (the situation is comparable to that of the NEP in
difficulties alise from the uneasy coexistence of a nationalised industrial sector that is too weak to provide for the entire population and a sector of small peasant producers that cannot be eliminated by forced
For political and social reasons, as well as economic ones, it Is essential i
alliance between the workers and the and the peasants that this
sure that this uneasy coexistence of the two sectors does not lead to imposing sacrifices on the workers, and blocking plann-
• industrialisation and degree of economic
Page 9 scan of this page
Surplus Value
THE DEVELOPING split in the Communist Party has opened up a decisive fight over the future of the Labour left. The Star is attempting to forge close links with the 'Bennite' left of the Labour Party. JOHN looks at the stakes involved.
THE development of the Labour left around Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone and Arthur Scargill is the positive development in politics for 60 years. The first truly mass class struggle socialist development since the defeat of the General Strike and the Stalinisation oł the Communist Party.
The reasons for the mass support of this current are not simply that it increasingly bases itself on militant class struggle but that it addresses itself implicitly and explicitly to the HOSL woollall strategy of building popular support
Line question of ine relation of socialism and democracy.
There should be no misunderstanding of the fundamental importance of this for any socialist strategy. The ocal une working casser orslates such as Britain, the United States, or the rest of Western Europe will abandon capitalism for a society which is actually less democratic 'parliamentary democracy' they joy at present is an ultra-left delusion. The idea that a modern economy can be run on the model of East European, Bulgarian or Soviet style planning is equally an illusion.
Western Europe will democratic or it will not exist at all.
It is in this relation of socialism and democracy also that the truly
pact of Stalinism can be assessed. This role is not simply, or in many cases even primarily, a question of the local Communist Party. the CPGB, with its 17,000 members, is a fundamental obstacle to the over-
capitalism ridiculous. The responsibility in that nela lles overwhelmingly labour bureaucracy.
Stalinism
But the international impact of Stalinism is colossal in its counterrevolutionary effect, of how strong its local Communist Party is. The great majority of the working Class perfectly well the reality of Eastern Europe. They know the supression of democracy, the enormous limitations
the right of expression organisation of the working class, the continual series of risings and struggies Dy lne Last curopean against the bureaucracy in 1993, Hungary in 1956, oslovakia in 1968, Poland throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.
Sections of the working class also know the enormous achievements of the USSR and its role in the defeat of fascism. They also, in many cases, have few illusions in the role of imperialism and capitalism.
But the ettect Stalinism, best, is to irrevocably divide the working class and therefore secure the victory of imperialism. example of this, one which shows the real situation of the working class in the imperialist countries, was seen in Portugal in 1975.
Portugal in 1975 was country in Europe, since the aftermath of World War II, in which the elements of a truly pre-revolutionary crisis and direct struggle for socialism existed. In Lenin's famous words not merely were the working class and op pressed unwilling to go on in the old way but the ruling class was unable to go on in the old way.
The Portugese army had been defeated in the wars in Africa. The economy was drained by the effort of the war. The ruling class discredited. By the summer of 1975 huge splits had developed in the arm-
together with rising self-organisation of the working class and soldiers. In short the material conditions to overthrow capitalism in Por-
although the development of revolu-
Morning
ROSS
British
than the
Socialism in
either be The idea that
with the quite regardless
world know
and
workers tionary
East Berlin
completely Czech- establish a socialist society.
material the end of World War II. France in 1968,
class struggles developed, did an equivalent
apparatus to that which
The clearest
Europe where revolutionary crisis developed
the one
classes' repressive useless in the situation
I mallaining capitalist tuie.
ter
on the other.
was
Led one Soviet, style socialism. proclaimed that the sole
parliamentary democracy.
Soviet tanks crush Hungarian revolution, 1956
socialist organisation was inadequate to actually
The degree of decomposition and chaos of the state apparatus in Portugal was qualitatively more advanced than anything seen in Europe since
While in Italy in 1969, and Spain in 1970-76 tremendous working
in no case qualitative split other. develop within the ruling class or state
existed in Portugal. Portugal was the one case in the imperialist countries of Western
both elements of a
The way the Portuguese ruling class intervened into the crisis which confronted it, in order to maintain its rule, was clear. The Portuguese ruling
apparatus was • no coercion by the state played a fundamental role
The ruling class intervened politically to shat-
of the working class along the line of divide introduced by the Socialist Party bureaucracy on the one side, and the Communist Party
The Communist Party - and in Portugal it was a particularly Stalinis-
- proclaimed the virtues of East European, Bulgarian The Socialist Party possible model of democracy was capitalist
Stalinism
and the
Labour left
Caught between a concept socialism which excluded democracy on the one nana, model of 'democracy' which excluded any attack on capitalism on the other, the Portugese working class was completely split. Reactionary demonstrations by the Socialist Party on the one side, and militant but incoherent and ineffectual mobilisations by the 'far left and Communist Party
raged throughout the summer of 1975
In this situation of hopeless split in the working class the Portugese capitalist class inevitably emerged triumphant — this being accomplished by the small scale mopping-up operations of 25 November 1975. 'Order' was restored in Portugal. Split
Of course in countries other than Portugal the split would not even naive reached point of summer 1975. Portugal was the weakest link in the West European imperialist chain. It had the oldest dictatorship, bably the weakest ruling class. class credibility had been smashed by colonial wars fought in defence of an empire which Portugal had clung to
long precisely because it weak.
Under these circumstances Stalinist Communist Party had greater support than in any other West European country. Portugal is, together with Greece, the one country in Western Europe where an old-style
of pro-Moscow all donna es and a working class in a fundamentally un-
challenged way.
In France the pro-Moscow Communist Party is now easily surpassed by the Socialist Party on the electoral field and challenged, the trade unions. In Spain the ComParty has on the declined from being the chief political
party of the working class for 40 years to a situation , where it is overshadowed by the Socialist Party. In Italy the Communist Party re mains dominant but only by distanc ing itself radically from Moscow and to a degree, the space that a social democratic party would take. Portugal therefore actually exaggerated the size of that section of the working class which could be pulled behind a Moscow-style road to socialism. In most West European countries the division of the working class would be in a far less favourable relation of forces against capitalism than in Portugal.
The international Stalinism, of the bureaucratic system Ruling in Eastern Europe, has been to give an
extra, and totally undeserved. for cracies was From Portugal however can be
seen with absolute clarity the strategic problem OT far Western Europe. This is to build a left
which is simultaneous democratic and socialist — or rather to fuse the two in the higher form democracy. That is the only way to
Socialist Action
pro-capitalist
parties
how vital 1
blockage capitalist Europe,
the
called
tions conclusions democracy of of Africa socialist •Prague
Solidarnosc against committed capitalism
socialist bureaucracy
forward Genocaus Communist Party Europe the organisation OI lne
developing Tony Scargill
since 1968, in
both split and
politically
increasingly occupying amples
Trade
prolelallal capitalist impact of point
boost the social democratic bureau-
Europe Ireland For
socialism
of socialist
left.
1 February 1985 9
break down the barriers both of the
socialist parties and the impact of the Stalinist communist
In this framework can be seen just
the emergence of the 'Benn-Scargill-Livingstone' new
. The historical represented by pro democracy Western combined with socialist deformation in Eastern Europe can only be broken down by a combined international process.
The first element in overcoming
blockage represented b the bureaucracy is showing how the sc
'democracy' of Western Europe rests on imperialist founda-
— and drawing all the practica from this. That the Western Europe and the United States is propped up by the exploitation of literally thousands of millions on a world scale. That the foundations of capitalist democracy in Western Europe and the United States is unbelievable barbarities such as the US war in Vietnam, its wa against Nicaragua, and the existence
regimes such as that of South
and srael. A struggle for democracy Western Europe is first and foremost a struggle against imperialism.
Secondly the blockage which exists to democratic socialism-socialist democracy in Western Europe is intrinsically bound up with the struggle in Eastern Europe. It is events such a the Hungarian uprising of 1956, the
Spring of 1968 Czechoslovakia, the development of
Poland, that help break up the Stalinist monolith in Eastern Europe.
The struggle in Western Europe must not only be amenao ou also a specifically European one. The social revolution against capitalism in Western Europe is intimately tied up with political revolution against the bureaucracy in Eastern Europe.
That is the concretisation today of the famous, and correct, slogan of the 'United Socialist States of Europe'.
Revolution
Finally this perspective means developing a socialist and democratic left in Western Europe. One that is 100 per cent committed to the struggle
imperialism, 100 per cent the in the imperialist coun tries, and 100 per cent on the side of
struggle against Eastern Europe and precisely out of this, one that puts
an authentically socialist Western
The importance of forces around the 'Benn-Scargill-Livingstone' left in Bevelop is there are posit
positions Benn on Ireland, , or Arthur on Cuba and Central America, or Ken Livingstone on a whole series of issues do begin to raise the nossibiitv of such alett- and many of their supporters in the base of the labour movement of course go much further. All this is despite many weakness - of which Tony Benn's refusal to come out against NATO and Arthur Scargill's wrong positions on Solidarnosc
This is a current, furthermore with deep historical roots in the strug gle of the British working class for
union liberties, civil rights democracy in local government and a whole series of other issues. In short it roots itself objectively in a defence of what Trotsky called "the nuclei of
democracy within society' Both from of view of its. . internationa orientation and its domestic policies the Benn-Scargill-Livingstone left of the Labour Party is the most advanced mass working class current in Western
of Sinn Fein
that curient to be influenced by, or deflected by, Stalinism would be an historical catastrophe for the British working class movement. That is the stakes of what is developing in the fight over the future of the Labour
Page 10 scan of this page
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Page 11 scan of this page
News
TWO ATTEMPTS to witch-hunt Militant supporters came to a head last week. In Rhondda, the expulsion of Brychan Davies was upheld by his constituency party, after being referred back by the nafional executive, while in Gillingham moves to suspend David Turner and Tony Baker for defying a ban on the sales of Militant were kicked out by the general committee.
A third person - - Mary Turner who, THOUSE not a Militant supporter, participated in a protest sale was also reprieved.
Rhondda is worrying witch-hunt for the left, not only because a small general committee voted through an expulsion against the original advice of the NEC, but also because the vole on the NEC to expel Brychan Wat of Neil Kinnock. was lost only one
The lesson from this 1s that the present NEC is a witch-hunting one. fact recently confirmed by Kinnock's statements on the Weekend programme: that the whole of Militant should be expelled, the only problem being that expulsions could only take place under the present rules wien menocI ship of another organisation had been proved.
Statements like this show the importance of Kinnock's attempt to introduce a 'loyalty clause' based on absolilc sanctity of parliamentary
democracy.
The idea of expelling the whole of Militant on political grounds was also central to the right's case in Gillingham. 'Revolutionaries, Was said,
should go and set up their
campaign
political levy.
In a letter to Jim Mor-
timer, nanonal secrelary
of the party, Peter Hain winder threat from the 84 viability of the party
AUL.
constituencies branch parties
* Please try and let LCND know your
Kate Edwards, secretary LCND,
Kinnock's
'loyalty oath'
own party'. It was clear that the suspensions were proposed as a hardeningнАн for future expulsions.
By Les Hartop and Carol Turner
The witch-hunt is just nock's ece one of Neil Kinjigsaw, albeit important one. It forms part of his plans to sanitise the party - to dissociate it from the class struggle, to John Golding: architect of past witch-hunts
Political levy
THE LABOUR Coordinating Committee this week called on the Labour Party leadership to throw its full weight behind a campaign in defence of the
The LCC calls on the specific LO T
By Graham Topley policies and to make sure that the party implements
Labour CND Annual Meeting Saturday 20 April • 10 am till 5 pm County Hall, London SEI
Afternoon workshops with members of the
Parliamentary Labour Party defence team
(all organisations must be affiliated to CND nationally) - 5 delegates - 2 delegates
All delegates an ate and aid unal hers of the
delegates by 12 April
Resolutions must be in by 30 March, more information from: c/o BBC, 2 Eaton Gate, London SWI
Casel Tal
ArTION
Tribune E
Дера base it on the lowest common denominator of opinion poll politics, appeal to the *middle ground in tae порс winning the next election
ceed this, he them. The letter 'stresses the important role that Lavour Call have in con vincing trade unionists to support the policital levy.
The letter calls for Or
democracy which argues is the best way to avoid falling into the trap of 'sectional self-interest'
designed to rebuild and maintain the links between Labour and the trade
weakened as they
unlons have been by Hain calls SUCCOSIVE Tory attacks for a national information
campaign organised by the party, and for an education campaign at local and national level on the Act's implications and how best
Ior a 'yes' vote in the workplaces.
Campaign
At the last election, 11
per cent more women
manual workers than men
voted Labour • and any
campaign should be aimed
at women in particular.
Lastly Hain called for
the reorganisation of the
Labour Party's campaign-
in support ener
support
policies. Labour cannot
silence the left wing and try to convince the ruling class that Labour really is safe in government safe, that from the point of view of their interests.
There is a Catch-22 of course: the more he pushes through this prolect. the more the average voter will rightly believe that Labour is just another political party no different than the
The real salvation for the party lies not along the TONIO of Neil Kinnock's witch-hunts but that taken by the thousands of party members up and down the country whose magnifi, cent support miners' strike has shown that Labour has within its
many that was o
It is that wing of thi lead Labour into the next elecg tion campaigning for & socialist policies that make a difference to the lives of ordinary people. win the next election he believes without two years
now must go on the offen-
policies clearly and unam
strike has shown that only Labour party higging toe ing class can hope to suc-
In the "long haul' to the next election, the political
excellent op-
portunity to put its case a
the workplace, in a way i has never previously done at the centre of the type of
local parties should be our-
including increas
ing affiliations and the ac-
tive involvement of trade
unionists in local parties.
Labour Party action is the
way to defeat the Tories'
promote
fighting
the interests of the work-
THE ANTI-CRUISE conference in Manchester town hall on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 March, organised Manchester Cruise Action Group, has already attracted a lot of support.
It will be a working conference for activists in CND and the peace move ment to discuss nOW organise nationally and inScotland in Perth 8-10 March. allocated for resolution on the miners' strike.
headed rights', the majority democratic controls over the police force.
a central theme.
Suitable resolutions include those from burgh East (No 66) that implicitly criticises parliamentary leadership
for not fully backing the dispute and from SOGAT '82 (67), reaffirming TUC September policy of full
support.
(LP) links criticis or dale
rect though this is in prin
should concentrate above
aspect of the agenda is that government that holds on-
To an extent this may
reflect the correct assess
ment in the Scottish labour
movement that the strug
gle against the Tories is
necessarily UK-wide that level. Yet just be won at
that level.
sider what would have
Socialist Action 1 February 1985
CRUISE
EMISSILES
N
Conference against cruise
ternationally india rich ed . ground-launched cruise missiles. It will provide a forum open discussion and exchange OI ideas, wel establishing an efficient national network of cruise. activists Finally, it will provide an important focus for
to the missiles in 1985
This is the first national conference against
Scottish Labour Party conference
The missing issues
RESOLUTIONS ARE now out for the first of Labour's regional conferences held for the nation of
The most obvious feature of the agenda is that there is no section
as headed lets ments in ons and 21 men
unions and citizens of which concern lack of But it is urgent to fight for conference to discuss solidarity as
happened had we had for LUC past five years Toryism a Labour majori ty in an Assembly in Edinburgh.
By Tony Southall, Hillhead Labour Party
been
revolutionarv socialists are from the many
eleanon outlined in the recent executive statement The strategy for non-compliance and it's been campaigned for most just now by such councils as Edinburgh and Stirling
11 cruise, and it is vital that as many peace groups up and down the country are represented.
Final registration date
March but the earlier surer is your place. yuu register, Do it
now!
tact: Conference
Bloom Street, Manchester MI 3LY.
Regrettably no rates rises has not yet been plac ed alongside other demands, and doesn't feature in any resolution al Perth. Such a line insisting ficke government make up on socially
spending, is the necessary only way to maximise uni ty against government and avoid exacerbating the sor of split it's child play for government to create if in creasing rates are posed as the only way to maintair
Hopefully Perth will begin to organise a rea united Scottish fightback co-ordinated by councils.
It's unfortunate, perhaps deliberate, that the agenda separates the issue of abortion from the
section women's rights, placing the one resolution on the subject beside 15 on Health Service. Hopefully this doesn't presage an ex
ecutive attempt to avoid substantial debate
Aberdeen Labour
Women's Council's (91)
that reaffirms support for
comprencisive
abortion service available
BICOUCSI through the
NHS and deplores the fact
that wasn't part of the
1983 election manifesto
There are nine resolu
tions on defence. Most ol
these call for resistance to
civil defence and promo
tion of alternative employ
ment. CULT
prehensive reaffirmatior
of unilateralism is fron
Springburn (114)
Unfortunately
doesn't deal with key ques
tions like how far this sit
beside the NEC documen
passed overwhelmingly
Blackpool last year or hot
to mobilise party
support of the disarma
campaign. Labou
CND hopes to deal wit
the first question at its fr
meeting Friday
March 7.30 which will tak
the form of a discussio
between signatories of tha
document Robin Coo
and George Roberson
and opponents Jot
Marton
Page 12 scan of this page
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