Socialist Challenge No. 104, 12 July 1979
The scan: sc-n104-jul-12-1979.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
Socialist Challenge Smash the anti-union Bill
S140P
SILNARDSC
ЗОММІТТЕБ
James Prior and the rest of the Tory cabinet have declared war on every trade unionist and every picket line.
That is what lies behind their proposals on 'reform'.
Peel off the polite language in which the Tories' intentions are couched; take away the phoney offer of 'consultation', and just what do the proposals amount to.
They mean, among other things:
Out go flying pickets, a tactic used since the start of this century by trade unionists, and exemplified by the miners' strike of 1972.
Out goes the blacking' of goods, a tactic used since the birth
HE P
of trade union
for
strike.
WE
DEFEND
THE RIGHT
TO WORK
AND
PICKE
the modern trade union movement.
Out goes solidarity picketing, again a tactic which has been used
generations by people, and most deployed during the Grunwick
If the Tory proposals become law, any worker or trade union which used these tactics will be open to claims for damages from the concerned.
James Prior wraps up this attack on the traditional rights of trade unions with cosy phrases like "democracy', the law', 'protecting the right of
working farm. recently The
people.
massive his strike. bosses
being waged.
answerable to
the individual", and so on.
That is as much dung as is the substance which comes out from the rear end of the cows on Prior's
issue is about democratic rights of working
The right of every worker to picket at a factory or depot gate, in any way connected with her or
The right of every worker to join the picket line of a fellow worker in solidarity with the strike
The right of every worker to refuse to handle goods produced or delivered by scab labour.
moved
These
generations to win.
ments, or
They the action,
display of solidarity.
preserved.
country
proposals.
'we shall not be moved'.
No. 104 12 July 1979 15p
We
Shall
not
be
are rights which working people have fought for
They were not won by cosy chats in Downing Street, by polite 'consultations' with Tory govern-
by taking out applications in the High Court.
were won by mass mass mobilisations, "illegal' strikes and display after
working class
They were won that way and that is the way they should be
Let the biggest picket line this
has ever seen seen be organised to defeat. the Tory
And let it stand together, and proclaim together,
Page 2 scan of this page
Remember Saltley, remember Pentonville
The Illegal Immigrant Unit visited
OUR POLICIES
it twitt eithe dabans faily and the trade unities after aslutions shad are in
not di the workers but of the capitalist class.
Socialist Challenge believes that the iwo vital tasks confronling resolutionary socialists art:
• To build broad-based class struggle tendencies in opposition lo class-conanorahufishi labour movement. These should
non-exclusive tauraner. grouping logether militants holding a wide range of political views.
• To begin in fight
unified democratic revolutionary socialist organisation will cal.
application of united front tactics, begIn to De seen as an allernative by thousands workers engaged in struggles.
Such an organisation should be hased on the understanding that:
The struggle for socialism seeks in unite the fight of against the bosses with that of other oppressed layers of societs - women, black people. gays strugging liberation. This socialism can only beachiered by creating new organs di poner ano deltaung wi necessary means the power of the capitalist state. intinitely more democratic Our socialism
• than what exists in britain today. with full cients for political parties and currents that do not take up arms against the vocialist state. The Stalinist models of 'socialism in the Look and Fastern Europe have discredited socialism in the eyes of millions of
throughout the world.
Workers We are opposed to them and will offer full support fighting for socialist democracy. 3 ina word sale: Captalism The interests of workers and
Iron a world scale. Capitalism has not oni! created market. has created politics. Thus we fight for working class unity on international scale. This unity will in the long run he decisive in defeating both the imperialist regimes in the West and the brutal dictatorships they sustain in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
In Britain it implies demanding the immediate withdrawal British troops from Ireland and letting the Irish people determine their own future.
The Communist parties in Europe are in crisis. Neither the 'Eurocommunist' the pro-Moscow wings have any
meaningful strategy
overthrow of the capitalist state.
Ven resolutionary sociansi parties
are mare necessary than
Conditions lodas
TOTE.
mure tasourable than over the preceding three decades. But such
parlies c'an only buill
rejecting sectarianism and seeing
internal democracy not as a luxury
but as a vital necessity. This means
the right to organise factions and
If you agree with these principles
and want Into yel
activities by Socialist Challenge
subporlers in your area, i in ne
form below and send it to us.
am interested in
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arra.
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- ad in tocialis Challenge. 328 9
*our al. london xl.
allenge 12 July 1979 Page 2
EDITORIAL dispute is taking place.
how the
for the pickets outside the factory gates.
and
, through
movement body
their
By Davy Jones
all
Related.
all those
day of the new
Immigrant Unit',
Nigger' world P.C world
years. It's only my second year.
of enough.
of us equals your record.
do it?'
Sgt. house.
the fucking English,
over the place
ever
noticed the outdoor toilet.
are
All three of them crouching
language.
The heroism of Charlie appreciated.
P.C. A: they were, Sarge?'
Sgt. X:
more
about two.
Soar in.'
up then.'
crosses.
sodelint Challenge 328/9 Upper Street.
AT THE HEART of the Tory proposals on the trade unions is the plan to drastically curb the right and effect of picketing. No more Saltleys, no more Grunwicks, that is the declaration from Thatcher and Prior. Picketing will be limited to those involved in a dispute and to the site where that
But let us remember what happened at Saltley,
police tried to stop the "secondary picketing there, and what happened at Grunwick, how the police attempted to limit the number of
In neither case were the cops successful. The reason was the mass forms those pickets took. It is that type of action which provides the lesson on how 1o fight the present Tory proposals.
But the mobilisation required to smash the new Tory anti-union laws will need to be of a much greater order than even those seen at Saltley and Grunwick. In the first place, it will bave to be oy ganised in every town and city in the country. This means the establishment of local trade union defence committees, called by an authoritive labour
organising a SCENE: A police station. It could be in any Midlands town or London. A group of police officers are sitting round the table. They look tired, but
In front of them are files. On the wall behind is a list of their names followed by empty squares. They are empty because it is Monday, the first
week. The police officers are all members of the 'illegal
referred jocularly by the unit as "Hunt the
(looking 'the triumphant sergeant next to him: 'Okay, Sarge, okay. None of us can beat your record. But then let's face it, you've been at this sort of thing for
Sgt. X: "Not to worry, son, you'll learn. Better watch it though or you'! be transferred. Your deportation rate is far too low. In two years you've only got rid of six coons. Six is not good enough, sonny boy. Not good
P.C. B: 'Leave off, Sarge. None
You excelled yourself the other day. How did you
X: 'I went into this Paki A woman was there on her own. Fifty years old. Not a word of
Smell of curry all We searched and searched. but no sign of them. Then I
•We rushed in and there they were.
In a corner like frightened little monkeys.
We lifted them into the van. The old bag wept and shouted abuse in Paki- the
squares. 'The prisoners were weeping. And then Charlie here slapped the eldest and said: "You keep your two sisters in'et or 1'l... I'll smash. your face
There is loud laughter and cheers. is deeply
'How old did you say EXIT
"The boy was six or seven, the older girl was five and the kid was
P.C. B: 'We'd have had them out on the next bleeding plane to Pakiland if that fucking MP hadn't stuck his
Sgt. X: 'I had a quick word with Harry in the Specials. He told me that our nigger-loving MP was a red. He talks on the phone to members of the SWP. Enough talk, lads, chalk them
There is a rush to the blackboard, giggles, etc. They fill the squares with
Three have nothing to cross
and look crestfallen. The sergeant is
defence of trade union rights.
' all-out action.
backed by action.
this can be
industrial action
"maximum resistance'.
BLACK
CHILDREN
DETAINED-
END
KAGIST HARASSMEN
SPLITTING OF
FAMILIES
ASCRAP 'SCRAP the immigration laws!' -Saturday by the Campaign Agaisnt Immigration Laws.
easy winner. He fills
There are admiring whistles and shouts of 'He's won again'.
Sgt. X: 'Let's go to the pub and I tell you how I forced a 4-year-ola coon in Bradford last year to tell me where his uncle was hiding.'
P.C. B: 'Yeah. Remember how we tied up his hands, and...'
SATURDAY, July 14 at 10am in the
Central London Poly,
dish Street, London W1.
Information from ANL,
151, London WC2. 01 - 240 1714.
NT 2XO. Editoral: 01-3598180/9; Distribation/ Advertising: 01-359 8371:
campaign against the Bill and for the maximum
Such committees would have three key jobs: to involve the maximum number of rank and file trade unionists to fight against Prior's Bill; to establish an organisation capable of resisting the Tory threats; and to build up the maximum pressure for
What should such a campaign lead to? The leadership of the Transport and General Workers' Union has tabled a motion for the TUC calling for "maximum trade union resistance', and 'the strongest possible defence of trade union rights. This sounds fine, but it only means anything if
As far as 'maximum trade union resistance'
translated without much difficulty. What it would involve is national, all-out
and mass demonstrations to prevent the Bill being passed and, if necessary, if the Bill is passed. Such is the only really effective
It should not be confined to the trade union movement and rank and file trade unionists. The
Southall Deh comane
SCRAP
IMMICRATION LAWS/ three IS THIS fiction or reality? The daily reports in the local and national press make it nation-wide offensive against black clear
people.
The first small step to publicise the plight of people being deported took place last Saturday when CAIL held a picket outside the main remand cannes. In
ANTI NAZI LEAGUE
CONFERENCE
New Caven-
Box
and establish the right to picket.
massive organisation, locally and nationally.
Liaison action began. - part of the picket of the Heathrow detention centre held on
there
Activity
At
to make the immigration Harmondsworth in activily
Labour Party would also do well to call for industrial action. Callaghan has already voiced his disapproval of any such call, but Tony Benn and the Labour left should come out clearly in favour. Needed, too, is an immediate pledge that any future Labour government would repeal the proposals
Prior's proposals can be defeated, just as the Industrial Relations Act was defeated; just as the Pentonville Five dockers were freed. But it will take
An emergency national conference is needed of all those prepared to take action. A campaign for this, by both the Rank and File organisation and the
Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions can be part of a basis for such unity. A date should be set for industrial action against the Bill.
The organising to prevent the Bill being passed now needs to start in earnest. As a first step the Tory offer of 'consultation' on their proposals should be treated with the contempt it deserves. It is time the talking stopped; time the organising and
-05
London, Risley near Warrington, and elsewhere pickets were mounted.
the Anti Nazi League conference this Saturday the ANL will recommend to its local branches struggle against the laws an important
Page 3 scan of this page
'That woman could so easily have
HOME NEWS FOR MANY women in Britain today, the horrors of back-street abortions remain as a vivid memory. years since the Abortion passed and there are few abortions now. But if Tory MP John Corrie's parliamentary Bill is passed, thousands will be turning once again to the back streets.
By further restricting the already inadequate legislation, numbers of women will fail to secure a legal abortion.
One of the main Corrie's Bill, to illegal after 20 weeks' pregnancy, will particularly affect young who can least cope with an unwanted pregnancy.
When she was 19, Jeanne Saint had an illegal abortion. That was in 1966, a year before the present Act was passed. It was the experience oi that operation' which led her into the National Abortion Campaign, which she is now a voluntary worker in the campaign's office.
Saint told
Sheridan about her abortion.
, I knew I was pregnant two days after late, and I told my mother. We decided to try various things until my next period was due and then if nothing happened I'd tell my father.
I tried hot baths, running up and down stairs, but my period didn't CULLIN My JEANNE SAINT: I'd walk steps then double up' immediate reaction was: "Poor little bugger. What can we do to help her?" I was bloody lucky with both my parents.
My father had a chemist friend who got me some pills, which didn't work. Then he got the address of an
News
nowhare
Gestapo time
FAROOQ Chaudry, who has worked as a porter at Churchill Hospital, Oxford, for four years, wes seized there by two police officers Tuesday of last week and taken to the detention centre at Heathrow.
This arrest came without warning, and without the knowledge of either Farooq's employers or his NUPE, which learned of it from a fellow worker who saw the arrest take place.
Farooq came to Britain in 1972, a fact which the family in with whom he then testified, so he qualifies under the amnesty for 'illegal' immigrants who
The butchery of back-street abortions
been mé'
abortionist, Durham, • I[ IS 12 come to London.
Act was My abortion illegal rather
Hotel. I
clauses in pumped the stuff into me. make abortions
women,
we'd agreed on.
lots of exercises. for
Geoffrey
period was pain in my life.
the lavatory, then that gin, douches, round and
father's two days without any sleep.
lumps of congealed blood.
baby. I went to see the WHICH abortion scene in it,
going to happen to me.
three women, 1 knew absolutely
all that different today. discovered
three weeks from Home
Britain in "73.
Farooq has
of proof is on Farooq.
NUPE, Oxford
branch.
2pm.
union, Thatcher's
development:
Bradford stayed has dealing with "overstayers'.
The new
retired nurse in and arranged for her to
was front street than back street. My father booked a suite in the Strand Palace
with him and his
secretary, who came along to keep me company. I was scared shitless.
I lay down on the floor in the bathroom. This woman had a bowl of what looked like soapy water, and she inserted a tube into my womb, then
Then I got up and nearly passed out. After that for a while nothing much happened. We spent the ni aht at the hotel and I bled a little. The ext day the woman rang and asked: the package arrived??' It was a code
I said it was a very small package, and she told me not to worry, but do
That was the last I saw of her. I think she was paid £70.
I went home and did some violent gardening. My father took me for a walk on the common, and it was then that the contractions started. It was absolute agony. I've never had such
I'd walk three steps then double up. It took ages to get home. I'd sit on
losing a bit of blood, stopped I'd walk my mother's bedroom, till I'd get another cramp and go back on the loo. I did that for
It was awful. I thought I was going to die. Finally, after about two days, it was more or less over. For a month after that I bled heavily and lost big
I was so desperate that I would have done anything not to have a
film Alfie, nasty back-street while I pregnant, and it just seemed to me like She a part of life. That it was something that happened to women, and it was
Seeing that film I thought that was the way it was and how it had to be. It never occurred to me that there could Be an alternative. Like so many young her
nothing about anything, and I don't think it's
last year, for example, that my sister who was then 18 had been sleeping with a guy for
and through sheer ignorance used no protection at all.
entered before January '73. But the
Office claims he entered
no documentary evidence to show he was here before then, which means he is now due for deportation. The Home Office does not have to prove that he does not qualify under the amnesty — the onus
His case has been taken up by
Trades Council, Oxford CRC, and the local ANL
On Saturday a delegation from Oxford travelled to Heathrow to join the CAIL picket (see page 2), and next Saturday a rally is being held at the CRC, Cowley Road, Oxford at
The detention centres, under M.
patronage, nOW looking forward to a boom. Latest
government bas begun to implement its promise to fugther tighten immigration controls by giving extra powers to the police in
arrangement, planned under J. Callaghan's regime, means
The hidden.
doesn't have the relationship with my mother as I do, so if she got pregnant she wouldn't have known what to do or where to go. It could easily have become a late abortion.
My mother spent the morning of
wedding day helping her friend have an abortion. I remember her telling me she had to empty away LICC bucketfuls of blood. woman was haemorrhaging so badly that my mother rang her friend's doctor, a woman. She just didn't want to know.
My mother told the doctor that if
that black people whose permit has expired and who then apply to the Home Office for an extension will be immediately visited and removed by the police.
Technical hitch A SIGN 'of the times. Harry, recently-qualified teacher and reader of Socialist Challenge, was among three applicants from an original 76 who were selected for interview for a post as lecturer grade one in. the general studies department Tottenham technical college, North London.
The three became irritated as they were kept waiting for hour after hour last Wednesday morning. A secretary apologised for the delay and said it was because a departmental meeting was taking place.
This indeed was the case. Shortly after lunch the short-listed applicants were informed that principal had just been told to make an immediate expenditure cut of £20,000. The three could collect their travel expenses, but there was no
Dr Milton Helpern, a medical examiner in New York, was published in a leaflet issued by the National Abortion Righes Action League - the pro-abortion campaign in the United States.
NARAL printed this picture because it was fed up propaganda of enlarged foetuses and wanted to counter it with pictures showing the alternative.
abortion as a lesser evil compared to back-street abortion.
early, is straightforward and not shocking al all.
abortions. It does show the hypocrisy of the 'sanctity of life' arguments of SPLC and Life.
reason. The photograph illustrates a reality we may have forgotten in the 12 years since the Abortion
same her house shouting best friend". The doctor came.
I was only two months and if it had been now and if I Lived in the right Tower Hamlets, I could go along as catchment
an outpatient suction method it would take just six The minutes and I'd go home the same day feeling none the worse. That's if I knew about such things.
of illegal abortion methods recently and there was a description of the
more job.
Our reader. dismayed. He considered that he stood a good chance for a similar vacancy at Edmonton college further education. But that afternoon he learned that the college was not troubling to short list applicants. The full-time post, maximum of 20 teaching hours a week, had been part-time one, with 16 teaching hours, and significantly less pay and other job benefits.
The case of the forgetful magistrate JOHN Turner is the chairperson at Tottenham North London. On 5 May last year he remanded two for three reports. college named Breen Dohan, feeding a child.
that she could not spend three weeks in Holloway without her child. The prosecuting barrister,
ThIS woman died from an air embolism during an illegal abortion. The photograph, from the files of
He considered very carefully various arguments that might be presented against our publishing it.
The danger is that this concedes the ground to the anti-abortionists by implying we support legal
In fact, we say that quite simply it is a woman's right to choose. Legal abortion, especially if it is
But this photograph shows the reality of what so many women fear — the butchery of back-street
The horror of back-street abortion is not the reuson we support legal abortion, but it is part of the
Il still exists for some women, and we don't want it back again. We believe this reality should not
she didn't come she'd stand outside «You killed my
such as killed me. clinic and with the
I was reading about various types That's National paign.
was not wholly
of The
unit which involved
converted to
have magistrates court cropped controversy black women in weeks pending One of them, a Mauritian WAS breast- and
She informed the court Inspector
realising that
with the anti-abortionist shock-horror method l'd had
The book said that if there is the slightest slip, and if liquid had into my bloodstream - if I'd had erosion in my womb or vagina, or the tube had cut me — it would hay
"Immediately fatal" words in the book. The woman in thi picture could so easily have been me.
I would do anything to avoid am other woman going through wher That's rony Im in rent to
why Abortion Cam-
an injustice had been done, west & the duty solicitor at the court asked him to go back to Turae ask him to reconsider.
duty solicitor, Christe Carstairs, did as requested. He Turner that there was no room Holloway prison's 'mother
and to remand her in would mean separating her fro child who was being breastfed.
The magistrate summone court inspector, who continged Carstairs had said. Turner rep
по doubl that arrangements will be made.' Ca was shocked. He appealed to s in chambers who said: 'I agre Dohan is unlikely to reoffeed accordingly - grant bail.
The reason why this matter
up again is because has broken out l Herald. Turner wrote a letter de Tottenham that he was informed that the
child would be Carstairs virtually calls bim a lis debate goes on...
Meanwbile, for more infon on magistrates and how they turn to page 10.
Socialist Challenge 12 July 1979 Pag
Page 4 scan of this page
Who does Joe Gormley
By Tom Marlowe
AT THE conference of the National
nesday the election result for anion's delegation announced. NUM president and the leader of the right wing in the union, Joe Gormley, polled 58 votes. John Weaver, the newly-elected Yorkshire member received 129 vot
John household name. He does not, like Gormiey, write for the Daily Express.
So it is fair to speculate that the miners at the conference voted, not so much in favour of Weaver but against Gormley and the repeated calls for moderation he has made since the Tory election victory.
Other elections conference went the same way.
Yorkshire Scargill topped the poll for a place on the TUC General Council, Scottish area president McGahey came a narrow third. But McGahey increased the share of his vote in the vice-presidential stakes, polling 160 votes against the 87 for the right's candidate, Sid Vincent.
Success tor left reflected in the conference tions. The right did not even put up a wages resolution, and in the end the vote for f80 basic for surface workers and f140 for face workers was carried unanimously.
Moving the resolution, insisted that the claim was not just a demand but an "instruction' the executive had to pursue in full.
Significantly, the conference also voted to bring forward the settlement date from next March November, a decision mean a most unhappy Christmas for the Thatcher government and the National Coal Board.
The last day of the union's Jersey conference offered declaration of militancy on the issue of pit closures. Since last year the coal board has shut down nine pits. Six years ago 281 were open; today the number is 222.
Pledged
But delegates insisted that should the NCB press ahead with its plan to close the Deep Duffryn pit in south Wales, national strike action would' follow. Scargill, on
Yehath of hose in Scotland, both
behalf of those in Scotland, pledged ali-out action in defence of Deep Duffryn
In the face of all this, Gormley appeared powerless. He was left to plead with the NCB that it should 'think again' over the Deep Duffryn
By Brian Connelly
NUT, Newham
EDUCATION cuts, introduced by
the government
extended by the Tories, affect more
than the educational standards in our
schools. A less publicised effect of
these sheerioratios in schools health ind
safety standards.
At Ilford
Newham, East London,
deterioration has become so marked
fegchers tear for the
bealth and lives.
The hazards include filthy toilets,
perpetually-broken
eering machines without guards, and
classrooms that teachers refuse to use
them during the winter.
Most serious
inadequate fire safeguards,
'appalled' a London Fire Socialist Challenge 12 July 1979 Page 4
iers conterence
speak for now?
Wedthe
executive,
hardly at the NUM
Arthur
Mick
was also resolu-
Scargill
which
to this
which could
turther
Such humility
conference.
The had promised: president, the
behalf of the
the Daily Express. the
August.
The lessons of the cuts
officer invited by the inspect the
fire alarm system which, to ALLA. rendered inoperative.
made over serious Newham
response.
School, in this
pupils' National Union
committee. windows, engin-
the Newham •- so bad in some
been arranged,
which Brigade Ilford is not an isolated one.
closure, and he admitted that with the demands for strike action to save the jobs, 'I can't stop it spilling over'.
was rather far removed from the statements which They came from Gormley before the NUM
on
Writing in the Express on 19 June
'As long as 1 am miners will never use their strength for political battles'. If Gormley thinks that strikes over pit closures and defending miners' living standards are not 'political' then he is even further removed from the real world than are the other columnists in
conference resolution on Deep Duffryn is abided by, and if the Coal Board refuses to back down the miners will be out on strike by 18
teachers school. The officer's report especially criticised the faulty
senior staff prevent had HOBBEHEYDAR
Although complaints have been
several years the education authority, teachers have received only a token
Faced with this and the recent unofficial information that the
authority cannot afford to make any CHRISTINE LEAH
improvements, Little Ilford School's
of Teachers has formed a health and safety action
Local papers have been contacted,
Teachers' Association [NUT] asked for its support, and a meeting for concerned parents
Reports from
Photne
colleagues in other Newham schools indicate that the situation at Little
But it is still too early to start stockpiling Gormley other leaders of the NUM's right have rarely won at the union's conterence.
prefer reserve manoeuvres for the union's executive
which the larges and left-wing areas such as Yorkshire are under-representea.
The left in the union will need to be on their guard and to organise against any attempt of the right to ignore or override the conference decisions on pay and closures.
But at least one thing is fairly Cena When Gormley finally does retire and take his inevitable seat in the House of Lords, he is unlikely to choose the title Lord Gormley of Deep Duffryn.
of jail!
Parliament.
the Sheriff section of this legislation.
others to do so.' and Jim Paton.
2 August. and
their
most By Hilary Hanks
community.
Keep Piers out
THE CAMPAIGN to keep Piers Corbyn, housing militant and member of the International Marxist Group, out of jail is gathering
Leading rank and file members of the labour movement are being asked to put their name to the call for Piers' prison sentence to be dropped. He was convicted of breaking the trespass law at the Huntley Street eviction last summer.
Latest signatories include Arthur Latham, chairperson of the London Labour Party, and Richard Balfe, member of the European
Piers was sentenced on 13 June to 28 days in prison for 'resisting
at the mass eviction of Huntley Street squatters last August. He is now on bail pending appeal.
Meanwhile the trial of Jim Paton, the last of the 14 arrested for *resistance' at Huntley St., reaches its final stages on 2 August. Jim was not even present at the eviction, so his case — like the prison sentence for Piers Corbyn — has grave implications for trade unionists, students, or community groups involved in occupations.
The cases are the first in which the 'Criminal Trespass Law' (Part 2, Criminal Law Act 1977) has been used on a mass occupation, and the first in which the offence of 'resisting eviction' has been contested in court. Never before has & prison sentence been imposed under any
Even before receiving reports on Corbyn, Marylebone magistrate Roderick Romain had declared: 'I consider there is only one correct sentence for someone who not ouly breaks the law but encourages
But the reality of the struggle of the Huntley St. squatters was explained by Piers in court. 'The intention of myself and my friends was to seek housing for all the occupants,' he said. malicious intent, nor did we set out to break the law.'
Despite this, and despite character references Latham and a former employer, Piers was jailed. It seems obvious there was more to the sentence than the eccentricities of a particular magistrate, and that what was being established at the court was a precedent for similar cases in the future.
This explains the importance of the defence campaigns for Piers September, but mobilisations are requested for Paton's trial at
Marylebone magistrates court, Marylebone Road, London NWI, on
Further details from the Huntley St Defence Campaign, c/o 55 Innis House, East St, London SE17 2JN. Tel. 01-701 5691.
Tories don't like
THE HILLINGDON Tories in West London are not unique in their dislike of battered women. But their vindictiveness would have grave
if repeated elsewhere. committee has just decided to withdraw funds from Women's Aid, a charitable organisation which helps battered women.
Over the past year, 60 women and 90 children have lived in the local refuge, and many more have called for advice and support. The two Tory councillors who visited the refuge revealed their priorities in no uncertain fashion. Councillor Paine was upset by the coffee stains and broken biscuits. Councillor Double (a local headmistress) was horrified at finding an 18-month-old child without a nappy.
Despite the recommendations of the director of social services, the Tory council has withdrawn its support. That women are battered, harassed, and subjected to unwelcome sexual attention are facts that the Tories prefer to ignore. They run counter to the traditional belief in the virtues of the family and the Church.
Hillingdon Women's Aid needs your help. For further details ring Pat Camnhell on 01-579-4291.
ANOTHER institution the Tories don't like are law centres, writes Hugh Richards. Somewhat odd for people who believe in law 'n order. No, not at all. The law centres, you see, tend to help the victims of Tory (or Labour) law 'n order. They provide badly-needed facilities for the local
The South London Tories are preparing to axe three such centres, at Balham, Battersea and Gørrat Lane (Earlsfield). They plan to replace them with & body under council control.
In six weeks, 26,000 signatures were collected against the closures, but to no avail. Apart from the rights of the community, dozens of legal workers will be made redundant. A campaign is under way to help the centres survive. Further information from Mike Reid on 01-223 9666.
'We had no
from Arthur
Corbyn's appeal will be heard some time in
Hillingdon's
law centres
Page 5 scan of this page
By Alan Turner THE FIRST real test of strength between Chrysler car their ten-month-old Peugeot management is now under way.
Last Thursday meeting under the tration Service failed to break the Conciliation deadlock over tiations.
Laughable
About 2,000 workers at Chrysler's Ryton assembly plant in Coventry have been on strike for more than a week over a five and a pay offer described as 'laughable' by union officials.
A further 3,000 Chrysler's engine plant, Coventry, were due to join the strike as Socialist Challenge went to press.
Peugeot-Chrysler's reaction
familiar one for a company which in France used methods to smash strikes — they have called in the law. Management is now seeking a High Court injunction to get pickets removed from Ryton gates.
The pickets are using a small building just inside one of the main
1
By Redmond O'Neill THE COMING school year will be one of militant action by students to win their rights al school participate in the struggles against the Tory government. That message from the National Union of School Students' annual conference last weekend.
conference reflected the dissatisfaction ot school around the country with the inactivity of tneir union over the pust couple of
Photo: Pete Child
provokes strike
workers alla
tough stance
pices of the
Arbi- itself provocative. management, ensure parity Chrysler-Peugeot
be hit hardest.
'levelling down' half per cent wages of the
workers at up' for the worst paid.
those who
cent.
strong-armed
inside the
These doubts years. walk-outs,
and for mass was the
schools.
I'ne conference students when the outgoing NUSS, a
Chrysler management
gates to make tea and go to the toilet. Chrysler-Peugeot is demanding the cops throw them out. Although this would have little effect on the success of the strike, it is an indication of the
being taken by Chrysler-Peugeot management.
Indeed, it seems the pay offer was
is, says part of a package to throughout the UK combine.
Because of past regional differences, this means that some will get less than others, and the Coventry workers will
In fact the offer amounts to a
— a cut to the real higher-paid workers bringing them down to the level of the lowest paid — rather than a 'levelling
Thus, even benefit most from. the offer, workers at the Linwood plan in Scotland, would get just 13 per
Management now complains that the strike would stop a multi-million pound order from Iran which is 'vital' to the company's survival, but there are suspicions that the company may be simply looking for an excuse to announce wholesale redundancies.
stem from an announcement last month from the
School students confer
Del ales sonos orgains.
organisea locally but with no national back-up.
Motions passed by the conference called for a new direction in NUSS
action to win students' rights, and pationally co-ordinated campaigns against the cane, sexism, and army and police recruitment in
was disrupted rese Young of member of Communist League, led a walk-out
OVER fivethow
Walker.
International Whall
meeting,
on the
last yea the past 50 years.
Several :
various products obtained from whales.
French parent company that Peugeot is to open five new component plants in France; a move which could mean a run down of Chrysler UK, especially in engine and gearbox production.
Peugeot took over Chrysler in a move which made the company the larges!
Chrysler activities in the UK'
French car giant suggested bad times ahead for Chrysler workers. A survey
was announced revealed that of the top eight nationalised and private companies in France, Peugeot had the longest working week, paid the lowest minimum monthly second worst accident record, and that only 10 per cent of its workers
JUW. DECLED
impose the same sort of régime here. A determined stand by all Chrysler workers - whether in Scotland or
duo of redundancies and following the rejection by the YCL's cauçus of his proposal to set up a new union. This led to a successful motion of no-confidence in the out-going president.
The elections to the national council and for its full-time officer posts reflected the mood of delegates, the majority of Socialist Alternative. Socialist ATt . to supporters of Rebel ernative is a grouping of Revolution supporters and non-aligned socialists arguing for a new left wing in NUSS.
and people attended a rally in Trafalgar Square on Sunday In support of the Save the Whale: do of the Earth, and the Ecology Party, writes Steve organbed in collaboration with Greenpeace, The rally was theed to colncide with a meetlug of the
Commission, which sets quotas in whaling and generally bows to es of the industry. have sent delegates to the coat of the sta wal whale catcha. and Russia which between as' Stockholm conference environment called for a 10-year ban ou the killing of whales. Yet over 25,000 whales were killed and over two million have been killed during
species face extinction, which — as the rally put it — 'is forever', yet alternatives are available for the
By a Clvil Servant THE MINISTRY of Defence has threatened to bring in troops to smash the selective strike action currently being taken by Professional Civil Servants.
As the IPCS
nove to
nuclear installations; explosives and fingerprint officers; toncevable occupation from officey on ocean tags, to radio operators, to
much about the strike action in the
The background to the dispute is technologists involved over the way they have fallen behind in the pay PAT Arrowsmith acquitted of three charges arising out of her general election Socialist campaign South-east. Two weeks eartier she had been cleared of two other charges.
This time Par was charged with obstructing the highway, obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty, and using insulting words and behaviour. The charges arose out of a street meeting , held by during her election campaign.
On the defence photographic evidence easily disproved the police accusation thai Pat's meeting had led to the blocking off of a road.
As evidence for the words', the police from Pat saying: bombing lies with Britain': 'All you
union's
places SOME of the vers on the NALGO conference as expressed in the article (SC 101) ander the name of Dave Burn are not a correct or full version of Dave's own viems.
A Socialist Challenge reporter covered the
Civi servant
strikers threatened
with troops
per cent.
the Institute of
stepped up their
the dissatisfaction
London executive's
structured
the Station
strike;
Power factories
functioning
Game, set, and match
to Arrowsmith
was last week Independent Cardiff Arrowsmith
obstruction charges,
views.
'insulting
produced quotes Donations "The blame for the
NALGO a correction
in this mistake this
conference and Challenge.
Socialist Unity Conference
Saturday, 21 July, noon
UMIST, Manchester Balance sheet of Socialist Unity Tasks under the Tories
enerally have risen by 70 per ce
comparat
per cem considera with the natio
weeks ago, das day
to th
governm
out: techuk
technicians
to ordnanc and dockyards,
and the other White have to do is walk down the street aud the Army will stop you and search you bater other Insuting, words were: "Some say there will be a blood bath if the troops are pulled out, I say then a blood bath now': "The police Army are responsible for killings, assassination'; and 'I an
of Amnesty Internatio and we have Irrefutable evidence ol torture by Britain'.
The magistrate found it impo Ible to convict om this evidence Insisted that Pat, 'as a candidate entitled to find a place to put forth bet
Howerer, Pat was not awarder costs and her defence campaign ne money to pay off a number of deb
to: Pat Arrows Jefence Campaign, c/o 108 Bool alisbury Rd., Cathays, Cardift
combination ot editorial confuses
misanderstanding of Dave's evaluation of the conference resulta
Socialist Challenge apologises fo
error. Dave will be writing a article in a future issue of Sac Socialist Challenge 12 July 1979 Page 5
Page 6 scan of this page
IS LENINISM As the British Communist Party debates the ! of socialist feminists challenge the very basis
By Clive Turnbull 'THE LARGE number of resolutions on inner-party democracy placed on the agend» of the 35th Congress by branches and districts, the submissions we received, and our examination of the party's procedures and structure confirm that there. are substantial operation of democracy within the Party which must be overcome.'
So says the Inner Party Democracy', to be presented to the 36th Congress of the Communist Great Britain in November.
The report, solutions to these "substantial problems. recommends a series of cosmetic changes, but there is no guarantee that even these will be passed. The CP's proposes to make amendments before the Congress.
Even if Congress does adopt the proposals the report itself remarks commission on inner party democracy: 'Some of its recommendations had not been carried out, or only partially carried out.'
Alternative
Six of the 16 members of the present commission, including national organiser Dave Cook, have produced 'Alternative Proposals on Four Sections'. In their view, 'the lesson to be drawn from this discussion of the 1957 report's recommendation is that it is vital to identify those features of the party's present practice which provide obstacles to urgently
What emerges from the report, but is never spelt out, is that the obstacle lies in King Street, the Party HQ. We are told that:
Since 1954 the overwhelming majority of EC (executive) members have been on recommended list proposed by the retiring EC,
on the initiative of the political committee.
* 'Although there are a number of non-full time PC (political committee) members, in tact
at many meetings they are not present since in
practice it is impossible for most of them to
attend regularly on a Thursday which is when the PC meets.
• PC members have copies of the main
reports in any
which
disadvantage.
* 'EC members do not receive minutes of
PC meetings.
* 'There can be very little change to what
the PC proposes in the EC because normally all
that is presented is a long verbal report not
susceptible to detailed amendment.'
The industrial advisory committees and
industrial department have never made reports
to the EC. Nor do the editors of the Morning
Star The central Communist Party officials
are accountable to no one but themselves
One of the alternative proposals from the 0f ' the
bombshell as far as many Communist parties
are concerned:
Circulate
"To enable comrades
experiences and/or holding similar views to
develop their positions and present them to the
party in their strongest form, the
concerned must be able to
together at times when the whole
discussing its policy.
'We therefore propose that
period of pre-Congress discussion individual
comrades.
organisations (branches and burgh, town, city,
ares, and district committees) should have the
right to circulate material to comrades and to
problems in
'Report of Commission on
Party
however, has no substantial
executive committee
1957 1977. but other members of the places them at factions: commission contains
sharing similar
comrades meet and discuss party is
during the others of comrades and party
12 Jely 1979 Page 6
party organisations and to hold meetings to discuss common experiences, political positions.'
The right of tendency and Communist parties has been denied for more than fifty years. The alternative proposals do not present a clear idea of tendencies, and reject the notion of factions. But they do show that some CP members at least are beginning to re-examine the norms of democratic centralism of the pre-Stalinist period.
Although opposing factions, report unwittingly provides a definition of the King St. gerontocracy in its
'Generally speaking described as a group which has drawn up a platform and campaigns for it through oné or more of the following forms: conferences, journals, circulation of documents and making contact across the normal structures of the party:
"Debate and argument which are self-appointed bodies answerable only to themselves, is not a democratic way of deciding policy. A group of individuals with sufficient financial and other publish a journal and pay fares for comrades to attend meetings would enjoy an advantage over
whose views might to the party and members.'
But what about the political con for it in draws up a platform,
A meeting of the CP's congress arrangements committee during the party's last congress in November
The Communist Party
and democracy
meetings, interests and self-appointed
faction in membership. enjoys an
tendency membership
opposing the the
description of party with
faction can be problems
between Marxists. pamphlets, the The maintained nonsense. between factions, fullest among its
resources
methods. of greater interest to its
campaigns for it
conferences, journals, etc. and, since 1954 at answerable only to itself. And it certainly
advantage over the rest of the
In a revolutionary organisation the right of
faction ensures is able to discuss positions in their clearest form. Apologists for the King St. regime argue that any political line
leadership must 'alien Marxism', or 'liberalism', or 'petit-bourgeois'.
This is a Stalinist notion; the monolithic
its infallible leadership leader?). What is Marxism, unless it is a living
problems ping enored it is peretly
phenomena? It natural to expect that there can be difference.
idea that Marxist 'purity' can be by administrative The only consistently defending Marxist positions is the
education, discussion, and members. The hundreds thousands of Polish workers who flocked to see testimony to the bankruptcy of bureaucratic the Pope on his recent VISI are a tragi
Reading through the dry text of the 60-page repört, it becomes clear that the Communist Party leadership has no conception of the need to develop a politically conscious membership who can become leaders in their workplaces,
Tory Party accountability
leadership, are encouraged LIC UCL responsibilities and develop initiative wonder
were political workplaces, union officials, was relatively low' Internal
the fullest the results evaluated, intervention
particularly in small organisations ale alive members of leading CP "have the right
The Special extreme consequences parties are in power
It is least, Jeopardise
different
(and the Engie tring union Engineering pertectly
these officials!
debate
of
decline in both party
'Report
unions, communities, or of their own party.
In the leading bodies of the CP, individuals 'emerge' as full timers rather like leaders of the
the past.
There is WILLSUCYCL recognition in the report of the need to train a
and to have the means by which to take on new 'the number of comradés coming forward as candidates for the EC who
based their as distinct from full-time trade
Internal democracy has a further function which isn't based on an abstract right of the membership to discuss policy. It is only through
internal debate that the tactics, strategy, and programme of a party can be developed. An EC with 42 members can be no substitute for drawing on all the experiences of a party's intervention in the class struggle.
A revolutionary party needs to be able to draw on the maximum experience of working class struggle, in every sector, and of oppressec lavers in society. In this way the fight for the party's programme can be most clearly tested
and hence the party's advanced. Such democratic practices are no luxury, but a vital necessity,
proposals argue that committees should explain in the party organisations to which they report, and in the party press, their reasons for disagreeing with any decision of the leading committee to which they belong if they have been in a minority'
used to have more information on debates in the CP leadership than party members, through the bug. that was found in the EC meeting room a couple of years
The method of 'closed" leadership and Cabinet-style responsibility has had its most
where Communist - in the Soviet Union, for example, with the rise and fall of Khrushchev. Political differences remained hidden from the mass of Soviet people, let alone party members.
The authors of the alternative proposals correctly point out: "One of the major concerns of others on the left is what they regard as the undemocratic character of our internal life?
But it is not just the CP's internal life that is undemocratic; so is its practice in the labour movement. The manipulation of fronts, such as
Liaison Committee for the Defence of repels many militants. In the the CP has allowed right-wingers like Boyd and Dutty to appear a the champions of democracy in the fight over amalgamation, because the CP has opposed the election of all full-time officials in TASS on th grounds that it would jeopardise the careers of
The report on inner party democracy and the 'alternative proposals' which accompany it are destined to follow the course of the report on the Morning Star. The more things change,
the more they remain the same. It's now two years since the congress that adopted the new
British Road to Socialism, and meanwhile the
membership and the
Morning Star's circulation continue apace.
Commission on Inner-party
Democracy', with alternative proposals, price
60p, from CPGB, 16 King St, London WC2.
Page 7 scan of this page
OBSOLETE? orms of inner-party functioning, a group f Leninism. We review both developments.
By Valerie Coultas 'BEYOND the Fragments' represents the first attempt by socialist feminists to develop a comprehensive critique of Leninism. As such it is an extremely stimulating and
Despite the book's ambiguities, it is written in a style and form with which personal level. It highlights many crucial areas оптешньє pracuce is a collection which no serious Marxist can afford to ignore.
The three authors are Hilary Wainwright, a former member of the International Group; Sheila Rowbotham, the Socialist Workers Party; and Lynne Segal, a member of Big Flame.
Hilary bemoans the non-appearance of a socialist alternative to the Labour Party over the past decade. Her concentrated local activities -fragments of the left, as an attempt to create the basis for the emergence of a socialist alternative to Labour on a national level.
Sheila stresses the creative spirit of '68 and the New Left, and argues that this is absent in the main groups, the traditions of '68 are to be found within the feminist movement.
Lynne is the most concrete in her approach. She explains her involvement in community — Islington, in North London -and tells us how her interrelated feminist and libertarian Marxist concepts led her to enter the portals of Big Flame.
Personal
All three stress local, experiences. political struggles. gays, and trade 'critical consciousness'. combination early different forms of libertarian Marxism, and a Marx undistorted by Lenin represents the basis for a new and popular socialist movement to 'help us meet person to person'.
It is impossible to do justice to all the issues raised in one review. Hopefully, as the authors wished, a wide debate among all sections of the left Take place Fragments. The question I wish to confront is the central conclusion of Sheila's article, that Leninism and feminism are incompatible.
Sheila considers, acts as a bock on the creativity of the class struggle. I think the assumptions of what it means to be a socialist carried within and Trotskyism and which prevail on the left now block our energy make it harder to people...
Sheila argues that neo-Trotskyism, the latter as represented by the SWP, have taken over approach of the Stalinist Communist parties.
Perceptive
Where the book is particularly perceptive is in its exposition of the feminist Because of the subordination of women we had to change ourselves both before we could organise and while we were organising. Sheila explains, women with children can't get up and speak, police on a picket line without some kind of personal struggle against their lived identity.
What happens in "private' — in the kitchen, in the bedroom — has to be an arena of struggle for us. Women cannot choose to make the personal political. - it has to be. women's movement developed independently of men.
'We had to learn to love ourselves and other
thought-
and
women will identify on a
and criticisms of the left. It
Marxist who belonged to
beyond the
especially the SWP. For her,
her local
picture:
direct, everyday Personal feelings mingle with
Movements of women, unionists have developed a
For all three, British socialism, Beyond I lE
moreover, that Leninism
Kerensky.
and self-activity and most
Trotskyism and we do not. the manipulative
critique. humanity:
oppression As
write a leaflet, or confront the highlighted
Thus the Sheba developed
state this.
women so we could trust one another without falling back on men. We inclined towards small
circles rather than rows, information and research
This movement articulated our oppression as a sex. It showed that sex-gender relationships had been neglected by socialists. It showed that it was possible to organise informally and make an impact on society. It challenged the male left's monopoly of political knowledge.
What does Marxism and Leninism actually say about self-activity? Sheila gives
For Lenin the lessons through struggle remain generally subordinate to the leadership of the party' "organisational forms workers create only have a revolutionary validity when they are under the authority of the party.'
This is a grotesque caricature of Lenin. Let's have a look at a couple of the lessons of experience through struggle' that Lenin drew. Rosa Luxemburg understood the reactionary nature of German social democracy long before Lenin did. He only began to realise it was necessary to form a separate party after these leaders had voted for support for the First World War.
Lenin changed his mind over whether or not there should be a socialist revolution in Russia in 1917, not because of Trotsky's brilliant mai ority of peasants, soldiers noted ost re not going to get what they wanted out
Do Leninists argue that the actions of the Iraman and Portuguese masses were any less revolutionary because there revolutionary party in that country? Of course
It is the masses in motion who make the
The palty revolution 'on behalf of the oppressed'.
What about relationship women and the party? Sheila herself rejects the argument that the WLM is self-sufficient.
cannot be made by Women in produ Sing te does pralysis of their Sheila does point
have developed consciousness independently of the party.
fact, the women's movement areas of struggle psychological, sexual that completely ignored by the theoreticians of the WorSes noave understood she compandise ne society without any help from intellectuals.
implies that she means they revolutionary consciousness independently of the party, but she does not baldly
Beyond the fragments?
concepts centres as services, open experience
Not a moral consciousness
, us this
OI ConSCIOusnes.
Maps
and later
'Are professionals
and lemons?'
COMERIL
no capitalism.
make the Initially,
between
A
one half of
propertied classes,
critical socialism,
has personal
have been
Weitlings." have But revolutionary
She points out that it is absurd to apply the developed by Lenin in What is to be done to the
women in the movement. Consciousness that develops from lived experiences of oppression (not always in trade unions) stresses the personal and spiritual meaning of being a socialist. Sheila quotes E.P.Thompson, who talks of the development
This is in direct confrontation with the Leninist idea of the party as a 'red zone' which sallies forth with superior knowledge to 'insert, inject, imbue' others with superior knowledge untouched by human frailties, says Sheila.
left politics the preserve who hold the interconnecting points? Have the rest of us merely to file under, like in the game of oranges
A revolutionary is not someone who has a first class honours degree in Marxism. women have come to the realisation that we need to have an understanding of all forms of oppression in our society, not just our own, if we are to have a strategy for achieving our aims and forging the alliances we need.
revolutionary analysis attempts develop a global as opposed to a partial analysis of oppression: of all the class relationships, every level of society, particularly at the level of the state. If our analysis stops at the point of production, in the home, or simply in our local community then we find ourselves trapped in
Every woman in the women's movement does not agree with the idea
There a differentiation consciousness in all these movements.
revolutionary theory COme as Lenin points out, it came from outside the factories. He wrote:
"The theory of socialism grew out of the philosophic, historical, and economic theories elaborated by educated representatives of the
by intellestuns. h social status the founders of modern scientific
Marx and Engets, belonged to the bourgeois intelligentsia.'
The oppressed need knowledge to guide them against the oppressors who have the most detailed and well drawn maps. Lenin did not argue that workers took no part in creating this ideology. "They take part, not as workers. but as socialist theoreticians, as Proudhons anc
The maintained that without this theory there could be . The ruling class is always willing to influence the oppressed.
socialist
turn her nose up at this.
Patriarchy
labour, reproduction, psychoanalysis.
NATHANI
scientific in its general, by pointing out that socially constructed,
domestic work and terrains of struggle for Marxism. No, left politics is not the
women's the WLM as a cultural movement.
used to characterise consciousness'
come revolutionary capitalism to revolutionary theory, Marxism The women's
of crucial
Polemic Many
effective as an to organisation than militarism.
public' spheres traditionally stood for. idea that the
change.
of Where alone but through winning from?
convince
their
and to lend guidance themselves
society.
It's a crying shame that
yet willing to do that.
Newcastle Socialist
no
Gramsci developed Lenin's idea of the worker
theoretician. The knowledge at which Sheila sneers is Marxism. Yet feminist theory has been developed very much by women who were academics and inteliectuals often used Marxism. She does not
Have Marxism and Leninism really been a straitjacket on women's consciousness, their self-activity? Look at the debates on domestic
patriarchy, even They have often drawn on
In fact, Marxists and feminists in the women's movement have added totally new spheres to the revolutionary analysis of society. They have striven to make socialism much more
approach to oppression in personality is sexual behaviour ordered by the society in which we live, and that
reproduction are vital preserve of professionals. No, it is not possible to dismiss
Yes, it is true that the Marxists' programme is not fully developed on these questions. Wedo have to look more carefully at the terms Lenin
the "trade union of workers. we do have to understand that the radicalisation of women and blacks touches on wide areas of oppression - the home, the school, the family, the state. But this is not the same as implying that people
"spontaneously', without recourse liberation movement in Britain has many Marxist women among its ranks, precisely because it has used Marxism as Marx meant it to be used - to develop theory, not to practise dogma. The party does not have a monopoly on the knowledge of Marxism.
The women's movement has added totally new spheres to the politics we as revolutionaries have to confront. It has shown Leninists that self-discipline and collectivity are often more
approach to efficient
It has argued for consensus, self-help, and a stress on the way we live our lives, as opposed to polemic, the separation of the 'private and
of our life that Leninism It has challenged the 'party' has a monopoly of knowledge in developing a strategy for political
But it has not found a new route to socialism. Socialism will not be built on visions
the ideological
revolutionary overthrow of this society is not only necessary
To win that debate you need to be organised nationally (and internationally), you need to have a paper to argue for your Marxist ideas
to the day-to-day struggles. You need to be able to build a popular socialist party, not a movement, that can challenge the hold of reformism in every
of struggle against oppression in our
revolutionary women like Sheila, Hilary and Lynne are not 'Beyond the Fragments' is published by the
Centre and Islington Community Press at £1.25. Available from the Other Bookshop, 328 Upper St., London NI. Add 10% p & p if ordering by mail.
Socialist Challenge 12 July 1979 Page 7
Page 8 scan of this page
77 Labour MPs back Charter 77
As tral looms
Ghana -
By Roy Alexander CONCERN for the fate of the top army brass in Ghana expressed by one-time left lame Judith Hart. But a rather different perspective on events offered last week organised by the Polytechnic Central London Society,
A Ghanaian socialist militant on a short visit to Britain outlined the background and results of the recen coup. He tressed that situation WAS one of conon social risi which najority of the корі xperiencing a deterioral standards and shortages of food no prospect for Inture
The reason for this? "Two decades
unbearable by the national wealth' which!
a is men under me
Acheampong,
But Akuffo's concern was only to
the worst excesses military, which
national descended on the country with their usual demand that everyone tighten their belts to enable Ghana to ' pay its way in the world'.
Over, neither they nor Akuffo Immense wealth whichy nythine had accumulated - like the colonel who was found after the coup to be the proud owner of five homes, 11 411001600 Socialist Challenge 12 July 1979
LAST WEEK political police preparations for biggest trial oppositionists take place at any moment.
well charges involving jail three ten
looted by imperialism
cars,
Popular has been
WAS
meeting the military.
of Afro-Caribbean obscure
WaS arrested planning denunciation the present military won him
both in the outside it. I the ЯПп! lon of livin
brass DeRI The number 'Rawlings previous coups bad control populat fact. If today you 'People involving alongside with those corruption that the executions
of the come
gains
Shortly evened up.
The recen
experts question mark
should of anily roled in the
present popular movement
about the top brass speaker correctl
central problem produces three by imperialis Page 8
the Czechoslovak completed their wil beta of anti-Stalinist in Eastern Enrope
since the 1950s. The trial could now
The ten defendants, who are all
members of the Committee to Defend
Unjustly Prosecuted Persons (VONS)
JITO • tace sentences of years. Such savage for
indictments indicate that the coming
less than nine bank accounts (Including one in London).
unrest grew, met with the usual response: repression. The killing of a worker and a student in two separate incidents provided a focus for widespread opposition to
It was in this situation that an
junior air force officer Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings
and charged coup. of corruption lespread suppor of thi army and nidst of his trial th in revolt. Rawlings by his guards and the top laken I so longe which acted to prices
she out in gre
wecessin been set up,
а доя врон
country's exploiters яте
Actions pose & liticians of shades have, at one time or another
plunder esources WIll the quietly
or til it start to tackle what.
Part to tackle what ti identified as the the system whic pro the domination or te en rofiteering, hich is base
capitalism'?
trial may be linked to an entire change of policy on the part of the Stalinist buraucracies towards opposition in
Eastern Europe
The one question not yet decided is the sentences that will be passed at the trial. These will be decided very soon by the Party Presidium. the trial can be staged.
It is thus urgent to redouble labour movement protests
crackdown. The international appeal
the release the Chartists has already been signed by • more than 77 Labour MPs, including eleven members the NEC amongst them Tony Benn, party chairperson Frank Allaun, chairperson of the party's international committee, Joan Lestor, Eric Heffer. The Charter 77 Defence Committee is now aiming for further 77 signatures of Labour MIPs.
The Eastern Europe
Campaign, which is participating the solidarity drive, has sent appeal to every single Constituency Labour Party in the country and is hoping for quick endorsements from 77 CLPs. The solidarity movement is WHAT'S LEFT Leaves Wavery Bridge us SAge one 229(8 Fordetails. Haters Rani Manchester UTOM
se uncer Samo, L Was Road, Londoni
cials. Cost £30 adu
also hoping for signatures from trade union leaders and from 77 prominent socialists throughout the Communist Party leadership is being approached to support the appea officially.
Then Labour MPs Phillip
and Reg Race establish a "Charter 77 Defence Fund' to gain material help for the families of jailed Chartists from the labour arrested movement. Donations to
should be sent to Reg Fund's Hon.
House of Commons.
the Czechoslovakia has responded vigor-
Mously to the crackdown. On 3 July 320 and people
President Husak release of the jailed Chartists. VONS has already made up for the arrest of Solidarty the ten by
in members.
the A new issue
Information Bulletin, formerly edited by Petr Uhl, has already appeared; and the journal Quadrangle, formerly
Chanta
EDINBURGH bublic mecti
Trades Council. Picardy Place
by Blair Peach Menorial Fund. Proceeds to br Shared , Conway Contasures win include roward bone irero
Griffiths, John Hurt, Alex Glasgow, Misty, Paul Foot.
Eund, c/o Phoenix School, Bow Road, London
in School or More one min Movement and the lert: school YWCA. Great Kussel St. London WC1. Crech
N1 2XP
each country. The
Whitehead These have decided to its purpose,
been the fund Race, the Treasurer, c/o movement.
The civil rights movement inside made in the
Jetter to calling for the
Those gaining twelve new efforts
of the Charter Elgin London should I Embassy, Communist
. more, killed Bla 15 Political Answer BeneFit organised
Hugo UCICHC
. Tickets: £2 from Blair Peach Memorial
BOOKS
London NI.
, 14 July, 1lam-5om
| edited by Jiri Dienstbier, is going to continue to appear. Charter 77 has also gained two new spokespersons. Jiri Hajek and Ladislav Hejdanek who fill the gap left by the arrests of Dienstbier and Vaclay Benda.
and other actions demonstrate that even before the trial opens
to crush VONS and decisively weaken Charter 77, has
thwarted. Further massive repression will still be necessary for the Stalinist bureaucracy to defeat the
This means that efforts must be
West to build more permanent labour movement defence organisations out of the present protest movement, locally as well as nationally, on behalf of the civil rights movement in Czechoslovakia.
ready to help in these should write to: the Charter 77 Defence Committee, 14
Court, Montpelier Road, W5. Protest telegrams he sent Czechoslovak 25 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8.
CH
Photo, p/
Newsletter, Issue
No 3 is now available. Includes abortion petitio
Hungary; interview with Kussian disside Holland, CREES, University of Birmingham.
cialism is the theme of the Annual Conferer sai he carson to one nelLonerance orocals economists
University, Reeds Ls2 9hr. Radice School of Economics
money desperately needed to thus at field a
REVOLUTIONARY S Coher Mili, Recar
Page 9 scan of this page
Who are the Sandinistas?
By Dave Kellaway WE HAVE always argued for the importance of unconditional solidarity with the Sandinista Liberation Front (FSLN) in the struggle of the Nicaraguan people to overthrow Somoza. The
out their political force as a basis for radically changing their living conditions.
For this reason we have repeated the call of the Trotskyists inside Nicaragua and elsewhere for the FSLN to take power without the bourgeoisie and to base their government on the development of the popular committees and
At the moment the FSLN supports a I lulles. provisional government in which the bourgeois opposition has a voice out of all proportion to its real social • base five-person junta includes only one leader of the FSLN.
This government
Latin American allies and the European social-democrats that it will not be another Cuba, and that capital will be secure in any new Nicaragua Sandino the FSLN calls on the develop their own power, and in towns like Leon a completely alternative present regime has been established. So how do we understand or define the FSLN? Ambushed
Auguste Cesar Sandino was a liberal leader influenced syndicalism nationalism who led a guerrilla struggle against the US-backed government alter liberal leaders had sold out the 1926 uprising. In 1930 the National Guard was formed to deal with Sandino. chief. After attending a dinner as part of peace negotiations with the government, Sandino was ambushed by Somoza's men and murdered.
The Sandinistas re-emerged in the 1960s under the influence of the Cuban revolution
the development political and military bases of operation which could protect the guerrilla, allow attacks on the army, and from which support could gradually
Leading Sandinista Doria Maria Tellez in liberated Leon
year
confidence in this
the fighting;
makes
SALANCI 'progressive
Yet on Radio enriched masses to
power to the
orientation,
and Mexican Ruiz, other
Somoza's father was its first
wasworking
da hence of rural
Zero,
DANDINISTA Seader Daniel Rodriguez was asked by the Trotskyist paper Combale late last
what he thought of the demand for a governinent of the fiSt. Nand the workers and popular organivations. Hereplied:
•I beliese it is unreal. completely unrealistic. It is also out of contest, because it will isolate the front and it will put us in the trap that the imperialists are making political hase, reduce our military base. isolate us and then annihilate us.
•The force of the Mandinistas lay in that we were flesible enough to see the necessit! unifying the opposition and through this 1o fortily itself... 4 ÷ 88 e merels a paper one but a real tacrical one that will be used for a determinant stage with all the sectors opposed to the dictatorship...
'One the representatives provisional government will be from the Group | of Twelve (a pro-t'LN group of capitalists)... this man Robelo C'allejas is a new type ot boss, different trom the classical ones
themsehes through regime... thes want a protound change in the institutions of the state.
be built up until the countryside could throttle the cities with a mass popular army.
1974 this prolonged with its downplaying among the urban masses, split followed. Now there were two fronts: Prolonged Popular War (GPP), led by Henry
Tamas Borge and Modesto; Proletarian Front. led by Jaime Wheelock.
On 13 October 1977 units of the FLN attacked a barracks at Massaya. militants were killed, but out of this a new front evolved called the Terceristas. This tendency
distinguished by its openness strategically with the opposition to Somoza. But it also favoured a more militarist, insurrectionist approach
sometimes known insurrectionist tendency.
It was the Terceristas, led by commander
organised the successful occupation of the National Palace
last sulllilici
released pushing
10,000 dead.
Today,
reduce our politics,
Junta.
nf Youth
an alliance that isn't
quickly than
arms) from
who have links to the
popular war degree
of work was questioned. A
and the of the September
A dozel
more reticent. towards bourgeois
together with the the Brinceno
dramatically working class
when Somoza's son was held hostage and all the political prisoners were
But they were responsible too for prematurely for ine insurrection In September 1978, which was defeated, leaving
although the FSLN has a unified council of the three fronts, it is the Terceristas who have the most weight in terms of national
It is their leader, Ortega, who is the only FSLN representative in the provisional
The Terceristas have grown much more
the other tendencies. because their lack of political definition helped them to get effective support (including
'progressive' regimes like Panama, and partly because their dramatic military exploits make them a pole of
LIC youth Several democratic governments in Europe have good links with the Terceristas — hoping to pick up the investment projects in any new regime.
The older GPP front's base is particularly strong in the north of the country, where it had "focos' for many years. It is reported that towns presently occupied by its militants show a high
of social organisation However, localised and clandestine tradition limits its
More Marxist in its formulations is the Proletarian Front, which is supported by many students. It publicly criticised the adventurism
insurrection. openly attacked the negotiations between the FAO (Broad Opposition Front) and Somoza after September, whereas the Terceristas were
It was in response to such manoeuvres, out of a concern to develop more of a mass base, that the GPP and the Proletarian Front —
and the sector the Socialist Party formed the United Popular Movement (MPU). The latter's programme did not put forward a
socialist perspective, included a whole list of popular and democratic
demands (land
concessions,
includes the old FAO sectors.
of national
FSLN, paper El Socialista (13 June): "The FSLN and the
the programme of the MPU.
followed them but then
capital.'
Tactical Two weeks government
that, the MPU
Chammarro, provisional government leader,
with the bourgeoisie in
the bourgeoisie.
FSLN as a 'splitting'
On the other hand. inhibiting such a tendency.
Refugees
regime, perhaps
partly has
per cent of the consolidation social-
FSLN and its taking place inside the FSLN occupied towns.
of Somoza.
It also particularly in relauon lo me
DORI people) intervention. and
formal denunciations practical aid
For films, speakers,
but
TW7 6BE
reform, expropriation of Somoza, transformation of the Guard, etc.).
But despite its opposition to the FAO's
allowed its member organisations to maintain affiliation to both fronts — thereby expressing a strategic unity with the "patriotic' bourgeoisie. Now the MPU is part of the National Patriotic Front, which
All tendencies of the FSLN thus accept in one way or another the notion of a government
reconstruction with the bourgeoisie. Omar Jota Lazo, a leader of the
posed it in this way to the Colombian MPU will be majority government. The representatives o the bourgeois opposition will be a definite minority... This minority will be submitted to
"The workers movement in Nicaragua Wil never be deceived by the bourgeoisie. The FAC wanted to do it and the people originally
they hecame cas conscious. They found out that their struggle was not just against the regime but againsi
later the provisional had been formed with the inclusion of an FAO leader - Robeldo. Besides
programme is incompatible with a social-democratic regime - though whether a government led by the bourgeoisie could carry out that programme is another question. For example, could Violeta
wealthy landowner and , actually lead a radical land reform as favoured by the FSLN'
Many Sandinistas argue that the alliance
this government is realistic and merely tactical (see statement by Rodriguez printed here). They suggest that it will be the Sandinista-led popular committees and militias who will hold the whip hand over
The problem is that unless you say frankly to the masses now that the bosses won't be able to satisfy workers' demands, how will you later be able to convince the people that now you must break with these honest patriots? In fact, once the bourgeoisie have had time to remodel the state institutions it will be easier for them to portray any sudden turn against them by the
, anti-nationalist move.
On one side the independent involvement of the masses and changes in the orientation of the FSLN as a result of internal debate are factors encouraging a radical outcome of the situation.
there are strong factors
First, the present prevention of a total military victory by the Sandinistas gives the US more room to create an 'interim government' which could achieve a ceasefire and form a new
backed with the carrot of massive aid, which could marginalise the FSLN (or at least its more hardline sectors).
Secondly, the devastating social dislocation of the war and social structure of Nicaragua (with the working class forming only about 20
population) makes the of sell-organisation more difficult. Finally, the political tradition of the
relatively small number political cadres mean that it could be disarmed totally in accepting a democratic stage.
Present information makes it difficult to gauge exactly the level of self-organisation of the masses, and the sort of political debates
and within the But what is clear is that there will be no possibility whatsoever of developing a working class solution without the overthrow
Therefore we need to maintain solidarity,
demand emergency aid to the refugees (who don't seem to merit the sort of media coverage given to the
and open US These solidarity demands should be raised within the Labour Party and the TUC with the aim of forcing them to translate their
of Somoza into
, leaflets etc. contact Central American Human Rights Committee 59a Church Street, Old Isleworth, Middlesex
Socialist Challenge 12 July 1979 Page 9
Page 10 scan of this page
Stop racist
show trial
By Oliver New and Asha Patel
IN SOUTHALL and Leicester the magistrates are baving a whale of • dime. The prisoners taken by the SPG crack units during anti-Nt mobil sations as well as those arrested by
Lelcester & miner from Doncaster, Martin Hughes, has been sentenced to prison for four months for alleged assault. Three other demonstrators
worker, Balbir Birk, has been sent to
alleged assault. Fines had risen to $600 last week, The Southall Defence
CLARICS present showing at least 80 people will be imprisoned when the show trials cases are being dealt with, is that even
keep the peace' for a year, with a heavy penalty attached. The reason is simple: it is to deprive them of their democratic rights and give a green
police to harass and
inding some irregularity somewhere.
Take the case of M. Sihra. He was guilty, fined and bound over for two years, with & month's imprisonment if he is convicted on any pretext.
defence witnesses'
prosecution and the defence and I
The purpose of these trials is to teach young blacks and anti-racists a lesson. London's police boss McNee said as much when he defended the
on the character of the magistrates
1n
Accountable
magistrates who sit full-time on the
sapposedly representative of the com.
aren't allowed to know because it is &
Most justices of the people with spare time or in jobs from No marks for guessing. part of the community they come in magistrates vote Tory,
character of the magistrates courts is
but lew observe. There has been no serious coverage of the present show-trials in any Fleet Street paper.
imprisoning their victims turas full
simply to expose. A campaign for the election of magistrates and judges is lọng overdue. It will not resolve too
Socialist Challenge 12 July 1979 Page 10
British justice strikes again
By Geoff Bell
AT Belfast's Crown Court last week, Sergeant Alan Bohan and Corporal Ronald Temerley were acquitted of the murder of 16-year-old John Boyle in a County Antrim graveyard last
Ine
watch
standards of British justice in the North of Ireland. For the conspiracy to free the killers was so blatant and detectable that even the Lord Chief
Robert Lowry, who sat as judge and jury, had difficulty in explaining why
1978. He was killed by the SAS squad as he was bending over a cache of
that Boyle was shot as one of a group of men armed and carrying bombs. This was a lie, and the second Army
a 'terrorist' who was pointing a gun at the soldiers when he was shot. This too was a lie, and later the Army
'terrorist'; indeed, a few days earlier he had found the arms cache and told his father, who had reported it to the
ambush at the graveyard. Boyle was killed when he came back to check if
earnest. The first move was to ensure that no more would be heard about the incident. Papers relating to the killing were sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who then sent them to the Labour government's
papers were shelved and no charges
a secret copy of the state pathologist's report on Boyle's death which showed that he had been shot from behind.
authorities' hands, and Temerley and Boban were put on trial.
authorities faced was to concoct some plausible excuse for the shooting of
photofit picture of a 19-year-old County Tyrone man, Eugene O'Neill. Working
wanted for questioning in connection with serious offences in South Derry.
poster by saying that her son was peacefully working in the South of Ireland and that her house had never even been raided. But the RUC's
defence claimed that the killers had
terrorist, Eugene O'Neill, (who) was
SAS killers freed
conference
commiller on 20 June. The full test of the resolution reads:
expressed in political. judicial and military terms. sritish *n" emer thereby estahlishing the pre-conditions for a united Ireland.'
'Brits out motion for Labour
HAMEL Hempstead cnnstituency Labour Party has passed a motion argoto the Labour Party's annual conference in October demanding
British presence in the Worth of Ireland he 'speedily
'Thisconference recognises that the British presence in Ireland. as
requiring urgent consideration; particularly since it calls into question
"Conference urger the posernment to recognise the right of all the perple of Ireland to self-determination; to realise that the continuing
at Northern Ireland conflicts with that right and there-
orderls withdrawal of British armed forces takes piace:
the man likely to pick up the cache'.
When Sergeant Bohan took to the
stand procedure Corporal Temerley didn't bother to go through — he claimed that Boyle looked like O'Neill, 'whose picture I had seen previously.
The rest of Bohan's evidence was, to say the least, unimpressive. He admitted that, contrary to the rules set out in the British Army's «Yellow Card", he had not challenged Boyle before shooting him; and he agreed in court that in the briefing before the killing it could have been mentioned that a 'killing' was preferable to a capture.
Vague
have convicted himself from his own mouth, and even Chief Justice Lowry agreed that the killer had proved an 'untrustworthy witness' whose evidence was "vague and unsatisfactory'.
did offer was that Boyle had lifted one of the guns in the cache and had been pointing it in the soldiers' direction
conclusive fingerprint evidence that
Indeed, it was agreed by the defence that two of the three bullets which
evidence about the third bullet, and it was this which provided the excuse to. acquit the killers. Because the third bullet might have hit Boyle when he was facing his assassins, and because
thai Boyle might have handled one of the arms, this allowed Lowry to conclude
the Army assumed that they were above the normal standards of good old British law and order. When the killers first appeared in court they were accompanied by four others and refused to identify themselves.
they were accompanied by an Army
suspects do not have the privilege of legal advice when they are questioned And when the detectives arrived to interview Bohan and Temerley, they
statement and told that the soldiers
Consolation
This assumption that the SAS are above the law has now proved correct. In a statement reeking of the blackest of black humour, the British Army Command commented after the trial that, "The Army will continue to carry out their task to defeat terrorism in the province in support of the civil power willingly, cheerfully and with good nature and tolerance'.
If there is one consolation from the latest example of British justice in the North of Ireland, it is that there is not likely to be a repeat of the type of farcical trial which ended last week. The Northern Ireland Director of Public Prosecutions recently announced that the DPP was bringing charges against the SAS killers of James Taylor
Taylor another innocent civilian who, according to an autopsy report, was also shot in the back, this time while out deer-hunting last September. But after all, Taylor was obviously up to no good. He was Irish.
Page 11 scan of this page
DISAGREE Policy proposal June) for Challenge We
A working.
paper to develop fully.
Will the journal, better
deserved Editorial Board.
Socialist
conference after having shown a willingness to set it up.
STEVE ROSE (Preston)
Boatpeople (1)
'THE British labour movement has to accept its responsibility for failing to
not oppose the entry
conclusion of your article on the 'boat
suggested is mobilising against the
Ît's incredible! After explaining in considerable detail the responsibility of imperialism for the plight of these people, the article completely fails to draw the obvious conclusion: that the 200H offensive on this question and make the imperialists pay for the shambles
the US should open its doors to all refugees who want to go there, and pay for the settlement of refugees who want to stay in the US neo-colonies
uted over f14 million (1974 value) to the puppet dictatorships, should also
that the exacerbated by the Stalinist heritage. But that shouldn't stop
NUKIR WEL MOSS SIDE Socialist Challenge
he paper at Moss Side Centre, Saturday, I-1. MANCHESTER SC Centre has been closed because of fire damage shortly. All mail/enquiries should meanwhile be sent via the paper's ULDHAN DU MOuD meetings:
culture and camerust society Tardiers Are Medion Road, Westwood. Texties.
on sale every Sat, Bank, High St. Further details: tel 652 7851.
NORTH EASI MIDDLESBROUGH store: Abavie For sal sear
atstand opposite W
market Stockpon High Si. DUORS slal.
benefit with live group 'Cit! ' plus disco. Fowlers Yard, Durham.
3 July, 8pm to midnight. Bar till 11pm. Adm 50р.
SCOTLAND ГОГ information about throughout ahe
please contact Socialist Challenge Books.
Queen si, flasgow. Open wea, Inurs, rn and
arangemen: (221 14P). Wide range of Fourte
arnoons
International publications.
BAD
(14 TASTE
Socialist
in the
* CORMAC
8:49
will not
It is only
possible
•made by the
will they
proletarian
in KEN MATHESON, JOE HEATLEY (Hayes) - are not fully
from
June) fails to
refugee problem.
Vietnamese
They should be ramshackle boats.
to face the
Challenge
pirates.
starving, rot in these camps.
to more than double
are, to use Lenin's phrase,
The reactionary
as almost compared Sheridan picturesquely terms for it! — a workers' state!
class exploitation it conditions under
Lowel.
there from Russia. obstacles to escaping problems are (21 June) as a new
Challenge from
SOCIALIST CHALLENGE EVENTS
supporters
but will be reopening
EDINBURGH Socialist
Cano or detals.
St) each Saturday 11am-2pm.
LEICESTER SC Saturday Mackora BOOKs BIRMINGHAM inside
1 Gre «INNITHAM indoor hallenge regularly
LEANETUN
Trades cub. Normumbenana bi
Da DCI
Scotland westminster bank.
alternative at City Centre Precinct. SHEFFIELD SC sale every
STUDENTS LALION MEETING 2.00 H
pinning the blame for the problems The themse ves where it belongs. And a campaign of practical solidarity along these lines is the best aid we can give to the cause of socialist domocracy and
internationalism
calls for
Boatpeople (2)
appears
GEOFFREY Sheridan's article (14
grasp the full significance of the South-East Asian woolly
Large numbers of people are fleeing Their They'are prepared dangers of drowning, being eaten by sharks or captured by
Even if they survive these hazards, the lucky ones only succeed in reaching an internment camp.
Currently, a quarter of a million people, many of them injured and
By this time next year, the figure is expected
not Surely Geoffrey Sheridan understands that these Vietnamese DeoDic
'voting with their feet'. They would preter to die rather than remain in Vietnam.
regimes of Hong Kong, Malaya and Thailand appear
heavenly havens when which with the hell of what wait support
I would have thought that the essence of a workers' state is that it Is a force for liberation; by destroying
provides the which human debates potential, in all its many facets,
But we find none of this in Vietnam or Cambodia. Indeed, in the 1930s, at the height of Stalin's terror, taken
was no similar mass exodus Yet the hazards and have were then very around much less than from Vietnam now. RAY CHALLINOR (Whitley Bay)
More on NALGO
rank
We welcome the article by Dave Burn
approach by supporters organising opposition in NALGO.
HAMILTON supporters sell Socialist Challenge every ballrody to be dalton sisters ecle
ror deras or local acivilics Collall John Ford, 553 Eliot Crescent, Hamilton.
Challenge suppor group meets regularly. Phone George at 031-346
Challenge activities from 64 Queen St, Glasgow. a bout Docialis Join in SC sales outside Boots (corner of Reform
Highfields Community Centre. Paper on sale at
Phone Me 9209 for itali or turday, s.
wushroom BOOKS,
MAMeN One Sunday. Chat 3iieoup
socianst chaneuge meets fortniehtlv on Thursdavs at the Friendly d
DEWSBURY Socialist Challenge sales regularly
LEEDS Socialist Challenge sales every Saturday
1lam-1.30pm. And at . Dali Farrate,
article
organising national
to at the ¡evel
on gaining and passing
motions, while having
collapse only conference, but also evident
The NAG has difficult task, rewarding
be as Dave suggests,
economic next year's Conterence
can challenge agitating on day-to-day and organising
of the up by Challenge
worked. with NAG the Low Campaign, social workers'
LIEU into building a much needed national
and file organisation NALGO.
TERESA HOLLIDAY, STEVE ANDERSON, KAREN ADAMS, MARIA SHUTTLEWORTH (Liverpool NAG)
Elland Rd - when Leeds Utd are playing at
HUDDERSFIELD Socialist in the Piazza regularly Saturdays 11am-lpm in the
YORK Socialist Challenge is on sale at the Yorl Community Bookshop, 7" almaste or troi
(1 50 3 0) at Cone Surel
South-West, write to Box 002, c/o Fullmarks, HO Cheltenham Rd, Bristol 6.
Office, Bargate.
Socialist Catens sole ever
Challenge from the Or Shops, 4a Union St, Ryde. 2 Too, ali de Magister even day. 20298 for further details. Mactisneries.
Ham-pm Regent
the * The position of Socialist Challenge
supporters in Liverpool NALGO was explained in a letter in issue:
Fighting
anti-semitism MIKE Barr (21 June) is correct to point out that opposition to Zionism only must be based on an understanding of of its colonialist and therefore repressive
and reactionary nature -then on he totally misses the political implications of taking up the question no on a day-to-day basis.
Israel is a reflection of the Jewish question, and as such is seen by the vast majority of world Jewry as 'the revolutionaries is to break British
Zionism, and this must be done not arguing for socialism general solution, but also specifically
semitism.
Burn This position is not divorced from
the practical realities of Palestinian solidarity WOIK numbers of people who can be won to support of the Palestinian cause on humanitarian and imperialist grounds who are seriously concerned the anti-semitic. Indeed,
smear anti-semites revolutionaries from our potential audience.
My experience solidarity work movement has convinced me, and my
Pay
Organised by JOHN
Supported by:
Committee,
PORTSMOUTH Socialist Saturdays 11.30am-Ipm, Commercial sales
SOUTH EAST
Soutal Tase at verma Anglia.
COLCHESTER SC supporters meet regularly For details phone Steve on Wivenhoe 2949 Tuesdays. Contact Micky on 05052 hel BRIGHTON LONDON on every tres alone all Croop PADDINGTON/N KENSINGTON supporters Portobello Rd/Westbourne Park Rd, Wil BRENT supporters sell every Saturday, 2.30pm at Kilburn Sq, Kilburn High Rd, London NW6 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD Miu on Hemel Hempstead 41037 Mick on Hemel Hempsteac sales Saturday mornings if Times Square
PADDINGTON-N.KENSINGTON meeting teend -Ineration'
July, 8pm at Meeting Room, 1 Thorpe Close WI0 (Ladbroke Grove tube)
questions last week's semitism
support
issues, infinitely
inevitably suffer
but from for
as a
appeasement) by question anti-
left and right. here are large
thence anti-
being seen Society)
Zionists delibanti-Zionists order to isolate funds
of practical in the student in these elections.
DEMONSTRATION
Smash All Immigration Controls!
March to Harmondsworth Detention Centre
Saturday 21 July * Assemble: Hounslow West tube 2pm Final planning meeting: Monday 16 July, 7.30pm, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square (Holborn tube).
REVÖLUTONARY COMMUNIST TENDENCY Bengali Youth Front, Indian Workers Progressive Forum, plus other black, trade union and anti-racist bodies.
Challenge sales Road cnanient
Challenge sales every Davey Place (opp. marker, TOWER
supporters
HACKNEY outside Sainsbury's on
Also
supporters meet details phon paper
saturdays SC grOU E7, KING SC Bill Wee UcOll Dcu
comrades, that specifically linking the
of Zionism and antinot only confuses and potentially splits the Zionist activists but makes it much easier to win mass
rights of the Palestinian people. No, Mike, the two
if taken separately, are weaker, and both anti-Nazi and anti-Zionist work must
DAVID GLANZ (Salford SWP)
EEC election
WITH Socialist Challenge in such a precarious financial position and yet a vital means of propaganda, surely there is a small question mark over the
putting Tariq Ali on the European election slate in West London.
Obviously the advantages gained by standing cannot be put in pure!! financial terms, but in terms of useful propaganda Socialist Challenge must
hopefully Socialist Challenge will be fighting for a United Socialist Europe and attacking the chauvinism of the
loss to the left if Socialist Challenge
CHRIS LUDLAM, CAROL MILLS (members of Bristol Poly Socialist
• In fact Tariq Ali's campaign was financed not by the IMG but from
raised throughout Western Europe by the Fourth International for the specific purpose of ensuring an international revolutionary presence
Newham • Defence Challenge regularly faders can bu Socialist
Sheridan' News.
gents. do HOP SL. CI Lom Pat readers ens 126 Lea Bridge Road » Socialist Challeng
HAMLETS Socialist Challengt sell every weekend: Saturdays mee womenade. luDe Sundays 10am, Brick Lane (corner of Buxton St)
Kingsland trigh St, Dalson-
IARROW Socialist Challeng
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SOUTH LONDON paper sales at Brixtun tube and Herne Hill-BR kiosks
S.E.LONDON SC group meetin
CrOsS. 1lam
Deptford High St. for paper sale in market.
speaker Focus Briana pub, Mare Sirect, 28. Europe 7.30pm,
Socialist Challenge 12 July 1979 Page 11
Page 12 scan of this page
TUC march against
childbirth
Relgocrest Ltd. for Socialist Challenge, 328/9 Upper Si, London N1. Printed by Feb Edge Lithü Lid (TU),
Now required-
By Celia Pugh CALLAGHAN'S Tory policies tracie union rights have been matched in his response to The wished to pose old Comes who planned to give John anti-abortion Bill a rough ride at its second reading on the grounds that *Labour must not be seen to take an officel pro-abortion line'.
We would remind the Labour leader that his party's conference has already done so. In recognition of the fact that -rights nothing without abortion rights, it
'Tree abortion contraception on request NHS':
The abortion battle earnest this Friday, when Corrie's Bill: has its second reading in Parliament
Under fire is a woman's right to decide when and children. The Bill proposes that the time-limit legal lowered to 20 weeks; the grounds for
Kill the Corrie Bill
POSTERS, leaflet London WC1. Tel. 01-278 0153. Make sure you
12.15pm at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar
сяторади.
anti-abortion Bill
Wlll alica. nurses, and referal agencies.
Friday the Campaign will issue a call
Abortion Act.
mean unionists, medical workers, and the already registered their to pppose the Corrie Bill. begins int
on one thing whether to have Corrie Bill must be
abortion be
•CORRIE'S
the Grays Inn Rost, reading. 310
Patterson,
report on ihe Commons debate.
Rally from the audience, Labour MPs etc
arganising noon and 2pm on 13 and 14 July.
Registered with the Post Office as a newspaper.
abortion altered to make it virtually impossible to obtain at any stage of pregnancy, and complications intro duced through an extension of the conscience let-out for doctors and
greater scrutiny of help
The movement to defend women's rights has swung into action. On
National Abortion for massive campaign to defend the 1967
A meeting and rally to will be held in Westminster (see list of events). Pro-abortion groups, trade
women's groups and youth organisations have
commitment
While they may disagree on many issues in the fight for women's rights,
Ine are unted. buried alongside the corpses of the White and Benyon anti-abortion Bills which preceded
LAW
Forced
FRIDAY, 13 July; A series of events organised by NAC to coincide with the Corre Bill's second
in actres it can patien avited
preten of the BA. To cheon Mel
Internation greetings, stret theatre, speaker.
Neverthe NAC and Women i and
mass leanieling Newellie between
Published by
NAC is approaching all these people to join together in a united campaign agains Corrie. bering the victories against White and Велуол, NAC has committed itself to
build a massive demonstration when the Bill starts its main passage through Parliament in October:
The campaign has had promising start Last night, example, a NAC speaker was invited
meeting 1D Wandsworth sponsored by the secretary of the local trades council and the president of the local teachers' association, as well as the CP, SWP, and IMG. Alf Dubbs, Labour MP for Wandsworth, spoke from the same platform.
Nearby in Streatham, Labour Constituency Pary has sent a resolution conference calling on the party campaign against the Corrie Bill. The Labour Abortion Rights Campaign is pressing for such action.
Royal Court Theatre
WHO KILLED BLAR PEACH?!
In 15 Juh
DISBAND THE SPG
Over the coming weeks, NAC will be demanding that the trade union Remem- leadership
implementing the already established policy of calling a national national demonstration against any
restrictive abortion Bill.
The meeting of the TUC General Council on Friday, 25 July, is to be lobbied. But above all it's up to all of for us to see that the call to 'name the day'
goes out from all the organisations and groups women's movements.
Unless these movements mobilise in their thousands, score wOrkIng class. countered by the stration to defend abortion rights that the Britain has ever seen.
It means a summer of leafleting, Party petitioning, meetings, to articles, and more besides. That is the
kind of campaign NAC is preparing for. It's up to all of us to make sure it works.
THIS WEEK for the first time we're publishing together the figures for the joint Socialist Challenge/IMG Fund Drive. It makes encouraging reading. The IMG Fund originally set up £20,000 — for printing, publications, Revolution newspaper, projects. Over the decided to merge Challenge and IMG Fund Drives and allocate £5,000 of the total amount to Socialist Challenge — as we explained the week before last.
The IMG Fund Drive was already well underway, and money which has come in in the last brought the combined total to over £10,000: halfway to target. Keep the money coming in and we'll make it all the way to £20,000 and £5,000 for Socialist Challenge.
Our thanks this week to:
F.D.
S. Whiteley G. Stewart M. Yates
Domestic: 6 months, £5; 12 months, £10
Name ..
Address. 'Socialist Challenge'.
Free
day TUC Congress's and
the Tories will a crucial victory against the Corrie THUN biggest demonof attending
OUR FUND DRIVE
N. Belton
D. Hines •Red Drinker Drive with a target of MB L. Irwin and other summer we T. Riley the Socialist P. Golding P. Keogh
K. Connell P. Highfield Anon Bath IMG few weeks has Anon Calendar Sale the £20,000 Cardiff Ann F. for Revo Liz Lane Week'stotal Overall joint total
£5.00 : 5.00 5.00 £8.30 was 20.00
SUBSCRIBE NOW
Abroad: Airmail, £16.50. Surface, £10 per яппит. Multi-reader institutions: double individual rate I enclose a donation for the Fighting Fund of .
Cheques, POs and Money Orders should be made payable to Complete and return to: Socialist Challenge, 328 Upper Street, London Ni-
Iranian
Trotskyists
FREE THE
KXS MANE
Nowh FIFTEEN Trotskyists of the Iranian Socialist Workers Party (HKS) are still being held on trumped-up charges of sedition in Ahwaz, in the Arab province of Khuzestan.
The turn-out was disappointing at a picket in their defence outside Iran
: in London last Saturday further picket has been called this Saturday, and all Socialist Challenge sot attendia what is part of in
what is part international campaign to win the release of these comrades.
PICKET IRAN AIR
PICKET IRAN AIR
Saturday 14 July, 2pm 73 Piccadilly, London W1
15.00 E&MZaslow (USA)
5.00
G. Benton (Holland) 5.00
15.00 Camden SC Group 5.00
10.00 2.00 4.00 Ed Mahood (Canada) 10.00
2.50 35.00 37.00 20.00 25 .00 ,50 44.00 25.00 100.00 411.13 £10,322.36
Finally our apologies to the Jewish Socialist Group, whose donation of
wrongly week to 'Manchester SC supporter'.
3-4 The Oval, London Ez.
← Socialist Challenge No. 103, 5 July 1979Socialist Challenge No. 105, 19 July 1979 →