Socialist Challenge No. 126, 13 December 1979
The scan: sc-n126-dec-13-1979.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 HANDS OFF ZIMBABWE
THE DESPATCH of a govenor (in the shape of the portly
Lord Soames) and several hundred officers and soldiers to Zimbabwe represents a desperate attempt bi Britain to shore up the existing social order there.
True, some cosmetic changes will be acceptable. instead of white settlers. New tame politicians to replace Smith and his gang, provided the replacements are acceptable to South preservation of the basic structure of the existing "security forces.
These are the aims of the Tory government.
The four senior British officers already in Zimbabwe are veterans of the Kenyan and Aden civil wars. The regime in Kenya is the model which the Tories would really like, but they are prepared to settle for something worse.
The Patriotic massive political pressure from the frontline states, has made a number of concessions editorial, page 2). The central point, however, is whether they will agree to disband their armies in the field and bring their soldiers under British control.
If they do, the result will be a series of massacres. If they do not, many of the concessions will not amount to all that much as far as imperialism is concerned.
The recent air raids on the guerilla camps in Zambia are the strongest indication yet of what would happen the Patriotic Front disband their armies and assemble in camps supervised by the British.
It does not matter much whether Thatcher and Carrington have agreed to stop referring to the guerillas as "terrorists'. They eliminated on some pretext or the other.
Britain will aim to bring the Front into line politically or military defeat. It would prefer the former, but it will not flinch from the
Any illusions could prove to be fatal.
In addition to the there are other equally sinister though more powerful forces in the field.
South
Black men acting
Africa. The
There
Zambesi. paper (see Zambia. bush.
the Mateke Limpopo. would still be
alone.
anything to
why we ensure its immediately.
score
Union Jack
African troops.
When the white Rhodesian General Walls denies all knowledge of their presence he is telling a deliberate and cold-blooded lie.
is battery of African howitzers at Chirundu on the
They are
There are South African guards on the railway line north of Beitbridge as far as Rutenga.
There are South African pilots flying Puma helicopters and hunting Patriotic Front guerillas deep in the
There are South African patrols in
Hills, north of
These forces owe allegiance to the apartheid regime in Pretoria and to no one else. When Carrington says that there will be no 'witch-hunt' of any elements inside the white settlers' army, he is, in effect, assuring the South Africans that they will be left
We do not believe that Britain has
offer the people Zimbabwe. We are opposed to any British presence in Zimbabwe. That is
demand that Britain South Africa get out of Zimbabwe
SIRES WHY continue to support all those fighting against the 'security forces'.
And that's why we believe that ame deal which led do be disarmi. Not the guerillas would be suicidal. just for the Patriotic Front, but for the majority of people in Zimbabwe.
LUSAKA O
ZAMBIA
South
R: LIMPOPO
the
of
and
Chirundu
ZIMBABWE-RHODESIA
Beitbridge
S. AFRICA
SALISBURY
Rutenga WHY WE OPPOSE BRITISH TROOPS
No 126 13 December 1979 20p MOZAMBIQUE
R. ZAMBESI
BEIRA
Page 2 scan of this page
No British solution for Zimbabwe
Sack the AUEW executive!
Nationalisation from Meccano parts?
OUR POLICIES
Capitalism is in crisis. The leaders of the Labour Party and the trade unions offer solutions that are in the interests not of the workers but of the capitalist class.
Socialist Challenge believes that the two vital tasks confronling revolutionart socialists are:
• To build broad-based class struggle tendencies in opposition
class-collaborationism in the lahour movement. These should
won-taclusirt grouping together militants holding a wide range of political views.
• To begin to fight for the creation unified democratic revolutionary socialist organisation which can, through
application of united tactics, hegin to be seen as an alternative by
Lousands workers engaged in struggles.
Such an organisation should be based on the understanding that:
The for seeks do unite the fight of
#workers against the with that of other oppressed layers of sociely women, black people. gays struggling for liberation. This socialism can only be achieved by creating new organs of power and defeating with all necessary means the power of the CARS SE infinitely more democratic Our socialism
• than what exists in Britain today, with full rights for political parties and currents that do not take up arms against the socialist state. The Stalinist models of "socialism' in the USSR Eastern Europe have discredited socialism in the eyes of millions of workers throughout the We are opposed to them and will offer full support fighting for socialist democracy. C capitatists are irreconcilabie The inferests of workers and
on a world scale. Capitalism not only created 1a.
created politics. Thus we fight for working class unity 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 datin America and Asia.
In Britain it implies demanding the immediate withdrawal British roons 1rom letting the Irish people determine their own future.
The Communist parties in Europe are in crisis. the 'Eurocommunist the pror-Muscow wings have any meaningtul strateg! for overthrow of the capitalist state. ten revolutionary socialist parties are more decessary than hefore. Conditions
fasourahle than over the preceding three decades. But such parties rejecting sectarianism and seeing
internal democract not as a luxury but as a vital necessit!. the right to oruanise factions and
Il you agree with these principles
The involved
activities hy Socialis C'hallenge
supporters in your area, fill in the
form helon and send it to us.
Him interested motion got get n my acidist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 2
Socialist Challenge, advertising: 01-359 8371.
Iral to began to emerge.
things in common. character,
ostensibly the
and
that they are
front
of British state are not negotiable.
House catchphrases. socialism
troops, despite
hosses
their
By Steve Harper, AUEW Chiswick No 2 Branch
all the national handling of the sacking contmucs lo mount.
Among the and to remove the executive
world.
all those
world
Africa
freland and
Neither
the
are
built by
This means
more
EDITORIAL
WHEN the troops went into Britain's oldest colony in August 1969 it was as peacekeepers — or so the world was told. It only took a few months for the
Zimbabwe is not Ireland but it does have a few
The troops who fly out to African CUlU this: week going to keep iwo warring factions white settlers, irrationally understandably fighting to defend their privileges, and the Marxist terrorists, fanatically devoted to the subversive idea of one person, one vote.
Zimbabwe and Ireland also have in common
'non-political' issues questions on which both major parties will have an identical line because, of course, the interests of the
And it is those interests which lie behind the despatch of British troops, not "peace' or 'legality" or 'majority rule' or any of the other Lancaster
We will continue to refer to them as British
official THE number of branches of the Engineering Union seeking to remove
executive over Derek Robinson
latest call for support for Robinson and for a ballot
- which is presently conducting an inquiry into Leyland's charges against the sacked convenor — are branches in sourn, day, Sheffield, Greenwich, Southampton,
328/9 Upper Street, London NI. Editorial: 01-359 8180/9. Distribution and
are
judiciary, and civil service
people.
bipartisan
was denounced by everyone Communist Party, Labour MPs fraud.
terms is a grave
of "Commonwealth Monitoring Force'. Of the five | with Ireland: the problem will not go away. British i
and the Chiswick No 2 branch.
Rule 15, paragraph 5 of the union rule book provides for a recall ballot if 10 per cent or more of the branches call for it.
A two-thirds majority vote of the membership in a ballot would then be
order dismiss executive, including Terry Duffy, the union president, who is leading scabbing operation against Robinson.
But at a meeting of the North London AUEW Broad Left on Satur-
La leading Communist member in the union argued against
nations sending troops, the two black ones, Fiji and Kenya, are only providing about 60 between them. The bulk are from Britain and the rest from the ' kith and kin' in Australia and New Zealand.
The troops are going to police a settlement which is unjust and racist. We will not labour the point, since we have spent many weeks pointing out that 20 per cent white MPs and a white army,
do not precisely correspond to the best interests of the Zimbabwean
We would simply draw attention to the virtually identical terms of lan Smith's 'internal settlement' which brought Bishop Muzorewa to power. That
Patriotic Front, as a racist
For the Patriotic Front now to accept such
setback tor the people of Zimbabwe, and one imposed by the brutat excesses of the white regime as well as by the political shortcomings of the Patriotic Front leadership.
But Zimbabwe has another thing in common
the moves to recall the executive.
George Anthony, president of the union's North London because the right-wing executive was likely to win it. He maintained that we should simply fight for strike action to gain Robinson's reinstatement.
Anthony also considered that the the executive would use a technicality find the sacked convenor 'guilty the charges laid by BL management.
Party Anthony's argument should not I besupported. While we certainly need
continue
right of
governor, Lord Soames, and his team.
inspiring one, since internationalist position
the . largest possible campaign Zimbabwean self-determination.
Hands Off Zimbabwe!
Troops Out Now! district, said divisive, strike action lies.
challenging
in the back
Fi to of
would
wing.
By John Kirby
had
plant's
OL TOUCC
continues
CONCLOS
to the
factory
Wing Union
continue Airfix,
Support
Egan, •all-star
| troops are being dropped into a situation from which they will not easily disengage. As long as there is substantial opposition to the settlement, as long as the Patriotic Front keeps its guns — and as long as the white forces try to doublecross them, as they surely will — the Zimbabwean struggle will
In that context our task is clear. It is not simply to quibble about this or that loophole in the Lancaster House accords, but to question the very
Britain to impose its solution on Zimbabwe. Most practically thai means the demand that British and Commonwealth troops be immediately withdrawn, along with the British
The example of Ireland is not allogether an
those who take an are still only a tiny minority within the British labour movement. That is why we must seize the opportunity now to build
in defence of to continue the pressure for strikes, the call for a ballot makes it clear where the blame for demobilising the
Exercising the basic union right of national executive over the way it has stabbed Robinson to directly call the executive to order.
Even if the executive wins a ballot, the left in the AUEW would be able to put the issues on the table. . And that help prepare campaign against the re-election of the right AIRFIX, the owner of Meccano, has second thoughts about the 40-minute notice it gave to the nine hundred Meccano workers about the closure. The company has now offered them 9 days' pay in lieu
At a mass meeting last Monday ins orter was cordlaly wwwn out The occupation at the Merseyside plant, which began a fortnight ago, Management had attached a few its redundancy pay offer, including a demand for an end occupation; no industrial action; and for access to the and warehouse, which contain stock worth f2.5m.
Aș Dick Fitzpatrick, an Engineersteward, put it: intention is to keep the plant open, not just for 90 days but for all time. Negotiations along these lines between the unions and although the company appears determined to close the plant. One idea presently being discussed by the workforce is to call on the loca council to take over the plant as a municipal workers' co-opérațive. and donations to:
Meccano Fighting Fund, c/o Mike GMWU, Edge Lane, Liverpool L7 2PE
oin the Party
€5
*socialist challenge xmas party i Fund-raising extravaganza for you favourite socialist newspaper - with cabaret scheduled to interfere with history. For tickets, ring Davy on 01-359 8371.
Page 3 scan of this page
London teachers on the move
HOMENEWS
Thousands fight
cuts in Avon
THE TORIES education. Not just cutting it back, but further boosting the system of privilege in our schools.
But thousands of teachers and school preparing themselves to fight for the right to be educated.
Inese are lie lory plans.
The Tory Association of County Councils calls for 'the obligatory provision of free school transport, school milk, school meals, free nursery education and the education of they are 6 or after 15'. Dismantled
Grammar • schools are
comprehensives in some areas like Tory Bexley dismantled, 100,000 'assisted places' will be introduced at direct grant schools.
Meanwhile, primary prehensive schools will teachers sacked.
Education is being crucified.
One the areas of cut-backs iș Avon County Council in the West Country.
Cuts totalling f4 million means that 400 teaching jobs must go in the Bristol area by the new year. Job wastage is the main method.
But teachers are being sacked. And its likely that at Christmas about 100 supply' teachers, mainly women, will be given their cards.
Reaction
The reaction from working people in the area 1s a poweriu one. biggest strike in Bristol since the war took place on 15 November. demonstration that day 7,000 people marched; teachers and white-collar and manual workers and many other public sector employees.
The demonstration itself was the product of a mass meeting of 1,500 teachers who, two months earlier, had gone out to fight for the action.
Photo: LINDA WESTMORE
London Authority offices last week
No to Tory
privilege in
our schools!
pummelling But local determined industrial unions. largest workers, students are shoD toor.
engineers' union. end of The Avon national leaders, subsidised confrontation.
people before the working class a lesson.
battle stations. being defend jobs, Iney
are being right, not a privilege.
combe closed,
biggest The
On the
students,
cuts in London. past Inner London
IcaCHers are also
the support •of Workers in the tobacco factory in Europe, Wills, have reproduced material from the campaign and distributed it ot the
Arrangements have been made to address the District Committee of the
Tories, like their are looking for By taking traditionally weak sections like the teachers, they hope to teach the rest of
The Avon teachers are taking up
deserve our SUVIL. To stup the and continue the fight for education as a School students on the march against
Authority controlled by Labour.
committees. two Labour Livingstone, voted against all the cuts.
be proud of them!
education sub-committee
full authority anyway!
cuts.
NATFHE.
Bernard Regan, Association, urged joint
NO national action against education cuts. No action with other unions. Refusal to oppose all cuts.
Refusal to act against all education
These were some unfortunate decisions taken by the National Union of Teachers' special conference on the cuts last Saturday.
The only positive vote was for local action, organised at the discretion of the executive, to oppose some kind of job loss and compulsory redundancy.
Faced with the sharpest attacks on education for years, the NUT executive has refused to take the measures necessary for the defence of the most basic educational rights.
Sacrificed The school meals service, product of working class pressure for reform, is one of the things to sacrificed. 'Would you so meas barricades defend service? read the speakers" provided for
EIGHT thousand teachers demonstrated on Tuesday of last week against £21m cuts being proposed by the Inner London Education
The demonstration coincided with meetings education sub-committee and immediately afterwards of the full authority. The cuts were voted through by 29 votes to 28 in both
• councillors, Charlie Rossi
constituency mandates and voted for a package which provides for cuts in school meals and free school transport. The Tories would
Two members of the National Union of Teachers on the
were out drinking tea in the corridors during the vote. They had been seen a few moments earlier with Sir Ashley Bramall, Labour leader of the ILEA, who apparently told them it wasn't worth voting as the package would get through the
There were large contingents of school students demonstrating Their main demand was for recognition of the National Union of School Students and a joint fight with the NUT against the Tory
There were also delegations from the National Union of Public Employees and the union for teachers in higher education,
Secretary of the East action by movement to reverse the ILEA's Tory cuts package. The NUT Education should have been with the other 50,000 trade unionists on the 28 November march, he said, but the national and London teachers'
TORY DINNERS: WARNING. THESE MEALS MAY BE A DANGER TO YOUR HEALTH
IF USED OVER A LONG PERJOD OF TIME WILL CAUSE MALNUTRITION
Union leaders duck national action
trade
the 907 be
meals full-time officials. notes In this crisis, the executive has by moved to the right. To seek support The rest defied their headteachers'
the march
own employees.
London Teachers the whole trade. union
the
No more!
Dait
with NUPE?' defeat.
most provision,
own
From Socialist Teacher
support leadership had not campaigned for this.
Regan called for the election of teachers who would join with the labour movement in fighting the cuts — Dick North and Vanessa Wiseman to the national executive and Dave Picton, Mike Lewsley and Amanda Leon to the London executive.
The professionalism of the NUT executive is not going to stop 20,000 teachers getting the sack. Only classwide action will do that.
*Socialist Challenge membership of the NUT has declined by 4.5 per cent this year. The drop in membership is in fact 1.5 per cent. Now drop these charges! AROUND 100 teachers from the Newham area of London were on the march and now 37 of them face disciplinary action. The charges are that they went on the march 'against the advice of their
- despite the fact that the Labour controlled council had passed a resolution allowing its employees to attend
The Newham Teachers' Association is being urged to support its members. It should call on the Labour council to support its
The Education to drop the charges.
•There will be a picket of the council meeting or 9 January against any cuts in teaching jobs. The picket has been called by a conference of the Newham Cuts Committee.
for its course, it utilises to good effect equivocal feelings that many teachers still have about the trade union movement.
'Would you be daft enough to ally president-elect Jack Chambers asked the conference The NUT has for the moment turned its back on other trade unionists, on the fate of the welfare state, and the threat to the most basic and hard won educational reforms. This can only lead to isolation and
It is up to the left in the union to lead an opposition in defending the basic levels of educational which the prepared to forsake.
The one card vote at Saturday's conference demonstrated that over a third of the membership is willing to action against redundancies. That is a basis for the left to build on wrongly reported last week that the council should order the Director of
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 3
Page 4 scan of this page
The foetus comes first'
Young women come together
SOCIALIST
CHALLENGE
EVENTS
ABERDEEN: SC sold Saturdays ourside C&As - for more into phone Colin, 574068.
EDINBURGH: SC on sale every Sar, Princes St, Box 6, Ist May Bookshop, 45 Niddry St. PADDINGTON at SC Westbourne Park Road sale
Ladbroke Grave Tube Station. Junctual Thursday at 5.15pm al BRISTOL: SC on sale !1-1, 'Hole in Ground". Haymarket. contact Box 2,
centre
BRIGHTON: For more info
BATH: SC sale at 1985 Books, Roma sadis. Phone 20 298 for moredetails Saturdays BRADFORD: SC available from Fourth Idea
14 Southgate.
LOYER. For more info about local activities available
hone 46113
OXFORD: SC sold Fri, Kings Arms, Cornares, C2. or Kre in phone 47, 2a
Herne ll ok kiosk. telle Hieh all. Also on sale sat l-i, ana laurro mornings at Brixton tube.
GRAVESEND:
1ГОП ligets, Gravesend. available from Dundee City
LUNGE
square outside Boots, every
saturday
Central Station, Thurs, Fri S-6pm HAMILI. Hamilton suppures shopping
John Ford. 53 Elliott Crescent, Hamilion
upstalesbro Spencer Market, Stockion High clevelane care arou Middlesorougn, Greens
NORTH WEST IMGtradeunion school. Topics:
building a national opposition workshop anc
union branch readsal be y as
unemployment. ror delalls LOblaul Italianese
WOME ABERAT AND
NEW PAMPHLET: FOR YOUTH Women's Liberation Published Socialism.
Revolution. Price 10p. [plus pop]. 10 for £I (post tree).
From Revolution, 50, London N1 Donations gratefully received.
LIVERPOOL AMAS SUVAL: rn I4 Dec, Dal
'Better Frights' Disco plus food. Stanley
1 Centre, Upper Parliament St. Food,
Merseyside Campaign
Laws; 10 Jan, The Cuban Richmond St (off Washington Square). JOnD NrOY
PADDINGTON group presents.
of Jonah Who Will be 25 in the Year 2000. worker both
No under he Waina hore and m ton
Ladorone tues
London W11 A film not
contacted at PO Box 50, London Ni CHION SU sale 1l-1pm Regent St (Brunel Centre)
TOWER HAMLETS SC supporters sell papers every Fri 5-6pm, Sat 11-12.
SHEFFIELD SC on sale every Sat. 12-1pm
Fargate.
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 4
Benyon-
By Valerie Coultas
e 554 0196 or write:
clever tricks in the
every
anti-abortion Bill. prevent grave or
phone Nick,
London
Wedg meets res. 1y.
11-1 outside
centre,
pregnancies.
By Jude Arkwright
YOUNG women
held in London
and young
problems conference
Union of Union of School Students,
Parents, and advice about by
were common issues raised.
PO Box
Czar. generally do.
Creche available: By Jean Mackenzie
15 Dec, ON PAPER, Lambeth
— starts at 2pm.
speaker from attitude Revolution women.
at 15a, painters, carpenters,
depot - street cleaners.
council North St depot and
to tina oul
the women themselves. 15 and 52). Followed
24 Powis to be missed, rarely
14 December, women's union, every Sat., General prepared 10
.30, Sun 10.30-12.00
at work.
WILLIAM Benyon has been up to some very
Commons' standing committee discussing John Corrie's
Under the pressure of their advisers - the
Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, and Life - the 12 anti-abortion MPs on the committee of 17 have decided not to alter the time-limit of 20 weeks proposed by Corrie.
But a new clause has been added by William
Benyon which will allow abortion beyond this
limit in order to preserve the woman's life; to
permanent injury
physical or mental health; or to terminate
pregnancies when tests have proved that the
emergency procedure for an abortion when a
woman's life is in danger requires
mean that, when speed is of the essence, (wo
signatures will haye to be obtained.
Benyon was also responsible for bringing
back the original working of the 1967 Act to
allow for abortions whenever it would be less
risky than childbirth, but he added the word
*substantially greater risk'.
Now Michael Ankram and James Dunn
have added the word "serious' to this clause so
that it will now only be possible for women to
have abortions if a pregnancy
physical health or a substantially greater risk in
"substantially', will make it far easier for the
powerful anti-abortion lobby to take doctors to
court for allowing women to terminate their
Two further amendments make the aims of had their first chance to get together at a conterence
Among the 120 women. who the were school students, college students
women had just started full-time employment.
For many of these young women it was the first opportunity to talk about
we confront. The was sponsored by the women's committee of the National
Students, the National and the National Association of Youth Clubs, and the newspaper Revolution.
boyfriends, lack of the contraception, the difficulties of getting abortions even after you've plucked up the courage
If you're female and under 16 you get trod on, even more than women by
One out of two women
council which has been in the forefront of
+ has a healthy employment of
tree surgeons, and - at the council's North Street
There is just one problem. The
is proposing close the disperse the women street cleaners to other depots in the south-west London borough, in spite of strenuous resistance to this by
Their objections relate to general needs of women workers, and the fact that both the Labour council and the
Ine Iransport and Workers' Union, are override these needs great. deal about the problems that women commonly face at
There are several reasons why the
her
for social on the dole in this country is under 25.
Things are going to get worse not better with the Corrie Bill, which will make it very difficult women to obtain an abortion while
cuts will throw opportunity' the window schools and colleges.
The women's -liberation movement has had a big impact on young women. Militancy ran high at the conference about the Tory attacks on WOllcH Tempers
But tempers also rose over the intervention of radical feminists after
lunch break. The feminists, several wearing war paint disrupted the session by screaming about Revolution, the youth paper that had been heavily committed to building the conference, being written
men dominating conference.
Lambeth women workers stay united!
women at North St depot wish to continue to be based there. moving to the other predominantly male depots would take a number of the women further from their home, which with childeare problems would put in doubt their ability to continue
This problem could be overcome if nurseries facilities were available, resistance to the Tory cuts, it shelved a
plan to extend child-care proyision in
Difficult
The women street cleaners have a further reason for wanting to remain at their depot, which has
extremely difficult for them to fight
the issue within their union.
They consider that being together North St has reinforced
confidence about doing a traditional
male job, and strengthened
the majority of this committee crystal clear. Benyon persuaded the committee to allow a statutory instrument to lower the time limit. By delegating authority to the Secretary of State
Services, the time-limit could be reduced without even a parliamentary vote.
MPs on the standing committee are worried about the 'conscience'
Revolution supporters and other women tried to explain that we had wanted as many women as possible involved but they were not open to persuasion or debate. 'equal women were completely bewildered by what was happening. It was their feminist meeting. feminists had a similar approach to the women on the anti-Corrie march who rushed to the front ignoring the feelings of the thousands of women trade unionists who had been building the campaign for months.
The radical feminists who came to the young women's conference did radical not seem to be interested in building a broad movement that could attract
because they supported the socialist youth paper Revolution and worked It's about time the
ability to confront hostility WiCH Unfortunately, hostility has come from the depots to which the council is proposing to more the women next month.
Reactionary
against the employment of women in manual jobs, and their reactionary DISCIEL view on this issue coincides with their racist attitudes. Several of the women street cleaners are black.
that if they are split up there will be no effective voice within their negotiations with management. made it As if all this wasn't the women at the North St depot were suspended from work for six days on November, management announced the proposed closure of the depot. their
of doctors. They are worried about the unborn
child. But they have no 'conscience' about the
number of women who will die through unsafe
backstreet abortions because of their arrogant
bigotry.
The standing committee has also decided to
recommend to doctors that the
method of abortion that avoids killing
foetus before
unless, it would cause a 'substantially greater
risk to a woman's life'.
opposed to a great risk of the woman's life
being in danger — even if an abortion is taking
place — the foetus comes first!
place in February.
Campaign is calling for a mass
Tuesday 5 February, backed by the South-east
Region of the TUC. On the Friday there will be
an assembly outside the House of Commons to
express the feelings of women about this Bill.
month of January
anti-abortion fanatics
committee and their friends in Parliament do
not easily forget.
OVER 200 people marched through Oxford
against the Corrie Bill on ! December.
emphasis had been on winning the support of
young people in particular and the march was
overwhelmingly composed of University and students,
school students and young workers
the National Abortion Campaign, ended with a rally outside Hertford College workplace of John Patten local Tory Patten is a reactionary Catholic who supports the Corrie Bill
Many youn
me that these radical
We also
should from
much of this
office.
A number of the men have spoken
not to take inter-union However,
Not surprisingly, the women fear
TGWU branch or in
bad enough, Trainee day that Socialist
The reason for the suspension was
• should use s the
termination takes place
Presumably if there is only a small as
The third reading of the Corrie Bill will take
The National Abortion • lobby on
Pro-abortion campaigners should make the
La month that the the standing
The
together with some The march, organised by the local branch of
home MP sisters who use these bullying tactics was challenged. Everyone should be allowed to put forward their views at women's meetings. Magazine
Despite all the hullabaloo we decided to launch a young women's magazine. Instead of giving young women tips on what to wear we'd discuss how to organise. Rather than having a problem page we would have a page where we could talk about the common features of the oppression of
thought that national meetings were useful and that we
organise much larger conference at a summer school.
Women interested in setting up the magazine are invited to a meeting on 8 January at Spare Rib, 27 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1.
that the women's shop steward had informed management that several of the women had threatened to ring the
wives of councillors saying that the
had slept with women in the depot. A council inquiry failed to offer any evidence that such threats had beer made. The shop steward resigned her
, Lambeth Trades Council discussed the dispute last week, but decided
action because of the problems involved. general management committee of Norwood Labour Party is now looking into the issue
Offers of help to Jean Mackenzie.
c/o Socialist Challenge, PO Box 50. London N1 2XP.
designer needed for Challenge. Positive
discrimination will be applied. For
further details ring 01-359 8288
and ask for Alan.
Page 5 scan of this page
Southall trials: lawyers protest to Lord Chancellor
ARGUMENTS FOR
SOCIALISM
MARXISTS CRITICISE capitalism fundamental counts.
of society, creamon or wealtn; second, THE LAWYERS defending people arrested in Southall on 22 and 13 April have been in a difficult position. On the one hand many of them have felt that by taking part they nave given a sempiance or lusuce and Tairness to a process in which those. qualities have been, on the singularly lacking.
On the other hand they have been constrained from speaking opesty.
sending Chancellor FORTE abnormally high corridor ree. it excessis el! severe sentences and ite lact inat the defendants are being tried over 20 miles away from their homes and the place where the alleged oftences occurred. expected to contain the signatures of nearly all of the 30-plus Hostile
The eases have been tried by stipendiary magistrates from London specifically sent to Barnet Magistrates' Court for the purpose.
stints. With one exception they have been uniformly hostile to the defence.
The exception was Bourke who sat for two weeks end of October. He convicted 43.3 per cent of the defendants who appeared before him, opposed previous average of 90 per cent. He was succeeded by Michael Johnston Wad. 'only" reached an conviction rate of about 70 per cent which led to a further falling off in the overall rate to between 77 and 78 per cent.
However, he infuriated defence lawyers byasking leading questions of police officers to elicit information favourable to the during cross-examination. On one occasion, after a series of interruptions while defence counsel was cross-examining, there was a blazing row as a result of which It 1s DUCTSOON counsel and Mr Johnston have both lodged complaints against each other. Vernon Hunte
In one case Mr Johnston tried, that of Vernon Hunte, charged with three assaults on police officers, the arresting officer, one PC Mutch oi Rochester Row, admitted that there had been 'gauntlet' of officers on the stairs of 6 Park View
on two First, capitalism
developing its potential for the
capitalism Is a regime of the denial of freedom, a society of
whole
LATE s lawyers
inner
Christopher 2 ne
Inalviaua
arrested.
Hunte some of those officers may assaulted him, prosecution both
chief and
long run.
defending ted with each evidence that
out of the house.
other chand, the injuries
police that OI
exploitation and repression.
A socialist society would have to overcome both these fundamental features of capitalism. requirement for society which is free from exploitation and repression is the abolition of all forms of oppressive and debilitating work. The drudgery of eight or more hours of daily work is the way that the working class under physically and mentally ground down. horizons are stunted.
To overcome this situation it is necessary to automate all forms of productive labour. Total automation, from the extraction materials, to final production of goods in factories, is not a pipe dream. of micro-chip self-regulating and self-repairing production systems is even proceeding under capitalism. Already some factories are totally run robots.
But capitalist society faces an insuperable obstacte to total automation. In order to make profits capitalists need to employ workers the exploitation of labour power is the source of surplus value.
Moreover, to realise their capitalist class needs wage earning workers to buy the goods produced. Thus the elimination of work cannot be achieved under capitalism. A society without wage labour is no longer a Callas ANC.
How would a society based on automation
BARNET
COURT
NO
ONLY GIVE
inside which Mr Hunte had been
He also conceded that though Mr
was obviousy under arrest have which could have accounted for the severe injuries he received. It remains to be seen what effect this admission will have in the
In many cases arising out of the incidents in 6 Park View, defendants and witnesses completely unconnec-
other have given they were severely beaten by police officers who made them run the gauntlet downstairs and
This had hitherto been vehemently denied by police witnesses who, on the pock
were unable • lo give satisfactory explanations of some of
received by the defendants. But the admission did not save Vernon Hunte, nor did the fact
the identification
Even when developing
made? capitalism
of raw consumer The
technology and
by profits the
For power.
THUG.
SINCE YOU HAVE
PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS, I SHALL
YOU ONE MONTH
PRISON
evidence against him was extremely shakv. He was convicted and received six months imprisonment, he had no previous convictions. A record?
The Vernon Hunte case raises another interesting point. How many people can throw missiles through the same average sized domestic window al lie same bine • accordig lo loc police and most of the magistrates, it would seem that some 30 people can do so and that each can be separately identified by separate police officer
t a range of some 50 feet. Ir memorable case, police actually claimed to nave discerned
marks on an individual defendant's face and was believed.
The resolution of such questions would, of course, have been easier if the prosecution had deigned to supply the defence with written statements, something they still refuse to do until
function? First, all members of society would be entitled to a share of the products of society.
we total however, at first the production of goods will not be limitless. Therefore decisions will have to he made about the allocation of society's products. But HOW will these decisions be
This is where the question of democratic councils open to all citizens comes in. Under
SOCIALISM =
AUTOMATION +
WORKERS
COUNCILS
capitalism decision making is concentrated in a few hands. For most ordinary working people, participation in decision making means voting every few years in elections. The very structure of capitalist democracy is precisely designed to ensure that the masses do not have any real say
The only way to overcome this is to ensure that decisions in post-capitalist society are-ll
THE YOUNG MAN IN
THE DOCK IS A VIOLENT
HIS MOTHER AND
FATHER ARE LIARS,
AS ARE HIS FOUR
WITNESSES
FiEt THE Pan GE OFFICE! IS A MAN OF 71 HIGHEST CALIBRE the very last minute before the court begins. although maintained its refusal in the face of pressure from magistrates who have otherwise not been noted for their favourable attitude defence.
the non-service of statements that it 'deplorable brushed aside the excuses. The cases were not trivial, he said, because although the charges themselves may not all be very heavy, the allegations upon which they were based were. (In a number of cases the prosecution officer charges or not made them, although warranted on the alleged facts order prevent the electing trial by jury.)
Mr Badge objections groundless • since ine offered to Police Solicitors' offices to copy the
focal areas, and in le
automation,
basis. Overall decisions
from the councils.
passage. the
the forced labour of capitalism,
the drudgery of factory
be: Marx's morning, an artist fisherperson in the afternoon.
These two features
the fundamenta initial festures
to capitalist anarchy in production, &
international
the hands of democratic councils open to all i will be the subject of a future colen
FREE
having them'
Action 1979. 17 December AS WE paper,
Committee
that there is a
prosecunlon.
towards the ordinated COLLIE.
One of them, Peter Badge, said of organised
situation' and prosecution's The
dropped nedyy to raise
in defendants booze
also said that any based on expense were
delence THERE go to the Metropolitan Pentonville
prisoners.
members of society. These would be based on
period before total automation was reached on workplaces. The would be federated on a local and national
would he fore. national and international bodies of delegate.
Many people find it difficult to conceive ol a society in which work was abolished. In fact, it won't be. As Marx pointed out in & famous
Critique of the Gotha Programme: under socialism labour will not be
but labou carried out for enjoyment. With the ending ol
work, there will be a tremendous explosion of intellectual work sne
People will be able to choose to engage in both manual and intellectual work, to choose to
works, carpenter the lunchtime 200
- the development of technology and democratic decision making an
society. But to carry this through means an e
technology which oppresses humanity, and i international splatheatio
means ownership and control of production out of th
TE I TATT 6 751 response. 25 EnTER i De: was short and simpic -
Courtstaffi TIRE IE ItTe I sa IDE ME SORE I This article appeared it the Lega Group December
DATES TO
REMEMBER
reported in last week's there bein mounted outside Barnet Magistrates Court to protest against the Southail
People's appeal to all anti-racists to ensare good turn-out. 19 January 1980 SATURDAY 19 January 1980 is Southall Saturday nationwide. The £100,000 for the defence fund in one day by co action throughout th The 'event' is beiny jolntly by Southal Campaign Committee, , the Frienda of Blair Peach Committee and the Anti Nazi League. aim to organise i fund-raising event in each town t reach the target. A fortnight ago thi Haringey branch of the Internation. al Marxist Group organised & soch money for the Defenc Fund. Members cooked one dist booze was brought entry those brought attending. Nearly a hundred pound were raised for Southall! 20 January 1980 will be a picket outside prison for Southal
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 5
Page 6 scan of this page
Why Charlie Haughey will play the green card
IRELAND
Troops out
conference
By Ronan Brady Over biannual conference of the United Troops December in London. The highlight of the conference was a discussion on the H-Block prisoners led by Walsh, a from the Belfast
Republican prisoners, most of whom are in the 17-20 age bracket, "beaten, brutalised and force-washed' by prison officers.
She detailed. how women in Armagh Prison lot harassment', were locked up 41 hours a day, and were denied the normal prison facilities.
The UTOM conference went on to decide that its major activity over the coming months would be to build for
a national day of action on the
Block prisoners March. series local and demonstrations are planned and there will be a major rally in London to which a former 'blanket' prisoner will be invited.
As well highlighting prisoners' issue the conference also agreed to place increased emphasis on work labour movement. Encouragement will be establishing a 'troops out' current in the Labour Party.
Line rest or the conrerence was taken up with establishing a national
campaigning structure for the Troops
Out Movement. For the first time the
movement will nationally
elected steering committee and its
own office. The steering committee
was given authority to appoint
office worker. The conference also
decided to rename itself the Troops
Out Movement.
The decisions reflected the feeling
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 6
would include Unionists.
were regional
talk to the Provisional IRA.'
Atkins: 'I don't know..'
of the majority at conference that
La national presence in order to take advantage of the
achievements of British government policy in Ireland continue. Two weeks ago the Tories secured the resignation of Gerry Fitt from the leadership of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. A more Republican-minded Now the Tories have helped to bring down Irish Premier Jack
Haughey, long time leader of the 'green' wing
Thatcher and the fumbling North of Ireland Secretary Humphrey Atkins did not plan things that way. On the contrary their intention has been the normal British one over the past ten years; to create a consensus in Ireland which Catholic side in the North, and a collaborating
Instead the Tories policies have shattered what remaining consensus there was. Because their proposed conference on the North ruled out discussion of the "Irish dimension' the SDLP announced its boycott of the talks, and Fitt, a supporter of them, fell from power.
Thatcher's insistence that the British Army be allowed to fly over the southern side of the
proved the final fall of Jack Lynch, conceded the
HUMPHREY
DUMPTY
HUMPHREY Atkins is possibly not Thatcher's favourite minister. Along with the media, she has had her time cut out trying to disguise the fact that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is a complete idiot.
This task was not assisted by a press conference given by Atkins at Stormont Castle in Belfast on 20 November, the day when the government presented its Green Paper proposing a conference on the North of Ireland; yet another British "solution' to its war which has already ground to a halt.
Atkins was asked the following questions by a reporter from An Phoblacht/
AP/RN: 'If you could come down to earth one minute, Mr Atkins. Given the likelihood of the conference flopping, what with the apathy among the parties etc., and the intractability of the situation, as was the case in Zimbabwe, will the British government consider instigating Lancaster House-type talks with the equivalent of the Patriotic Front in Ireland - the IRA?"
Atkins: 'Because I don't talk to, eh, terrorists...'
AP/RN: 'But that's how the Tory Party and the British media have referred to the Patriotic Front. And indeed Mr Whitelaw, your cabinet colleague, spoke to the Republican Movement in June 1972, and in fact flew them into England
Atkins: •Yes. But look... first of all I am dealing with Northern Ireland and not Africa, and secondly this is 1979 and I am sitting here and I am not going to
AP/RN: 'Well it wasn't Africans Mr Whitelaw flew into England for the
Atkins: I am sorry, I just don't mind what happened in 1972, we are in 1979 now, and I have given you the answer to your question — No.'
A reporter from the Cork Examiner then said: 'Excuse me sir. What is the difference between the Patriotic Front and the IRA?"
There was widespread laughter as Atkins continued: 'I am the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, you see, and I don't know anything about the
lunlues
oppor-
British demand. The hardline British attitudes have also helped Haughey secure the leadership of Fianna Fail. British ruling class circles are now in a state of semi-frenzy about what Haughey will do with that leadership.
The Tory government may console itself with memories of other 'deep green' leaders of Fianna Fail. Eamon de Valera and Sean Lemass executed and interned members of, and their former colleagues the IRA. Haughey will become another poacher turned gamekeeper is a dangerous assumption. signs are that Haughey will have little option but to play the green card.
On Haughey's part this would not be out of some ideological commitment to a united Ireland, the truth is that the only deep felt ideology Haughey has ever displayed is the securing of his own advancement. But at this
politics promoting the stage in irish national question as a major issue could achieve just what Haughey is after.
This is because Fianna Fail faces problems not confined to the North of Ireland. Rising unemployment, an increasing militanc trade unions and the turning sour of the Irish 'economic miracle' means that Haughey faces grave difficulties on the economic and social front; difficulties which he will find it difficult to resolve. And yet Fianna Fail badly needs a cause to promote which can win traditional supporters and prove electorally advantageous: the issue of Irish unity fits that bill ideally.
Many attributed the last government's defeat in the polls to its failure to promote unity. Public opinion polls since have indicated wide support for a British withdrawal from Ireland. The election of Haughey, revealing his stature as Ireland's most popular politican, is further evidence of nationalist sentiment. What Haughey is best known for was his trial in 1970 on charges of gun-running to the Provos. was subsequently acquitted, involvement in these activities, which he said WCIE government policy,
By George Kerevan
Troops
Ashton,
North of Ireland.
Glasgow, Aberdeen which will
socialist Harr
years.
The withdrawal of British troops from Scotland in
But that
The
Irish back its British imperialism He but
established his must go.
Record for Xmas
THE LATEST LP of People of No Property) has just been released and is
revolutionary songs with a wide and about social conditions in the North of Ireland, especially housing; about economic exile in England; there's Bread and Roses as a recognition of women's part both in the war and in the future. Also included is a song in support of the struggle of the blanket prisoners in England's Tombstone, H
the troops out, one which recognises how the dole or a dead-end job in England, plus advertising lies, explains to troops why 'people in this • country (Ireland) hold you to blame'.
to the Angry brigade and a reminder of the resistance of prisoners
Ex-soldier's Scottish tour
SCOTTISH branches of the (United)
Out Movement. have over organised a speaking tour by Brian
an paratrooper who has served in the
Ashton will speak in Edinburgh,
Stirling, Dundee and SeNC of meetings build for the Bloody Sunday Commemoration march Birmingham at the end of January. Sharing the platform will be veteran
McShane, a campaigner for Irish freedom for over 50
force . progress of (U)TOM restructing a broad.
based movement has produced a
important in Fianna Fail whose founder, Valera, led the Republican side in the Irish
The rest of Haughey's politics are a mixture of opportunism and reaction. A millionaire turkeys for Christmas - he has consistently championed the interest of the richest five per cent in Ireland, a bracket in which he falls. As a former finance minister he oversaw one of the greatest capitalist bonanzas in modern Irish history when he sold mining rights in Ireland to
Most recently he has been associated with
Plannin
legislation, an effect of which is to outlaw the sale of contraceptives to unmarried women.
Yet that legislation did Haughey little harm
— the grass roots of Fianna Fail. This is strongest and it was the grass roots, through the
establishment's choice of George Colley.
But the real credit for the apparent swing to Republicanism within Fianna Fail must go to those in the North of Ireland who, for the past. ten years have maintained their struggle against national question in Irish political life has been once again confirmed by the Haughey victory; and the myth that there is no interest in the South of Ireland for what happens in the North
What the Haughey victory says to Britain was aptly summed up in a comment by Neil Blaney; a Euro and Irish MP. , who was also involved in the arms smuggling scandal in 1970. Said Blaney, just before Haughey was elected, 'It has come to the stage now where the very dogs in the street know that the British
BRITSO Britain called Hull Jail Riot.
Finally, not to forget how people fighting, there's a 17 verse story of Eddie Gallagher, Rose Dugdale and It makes you feel good without superficial: without being optimistic.
Brits Out is obtainable by post
Committeel, c/o 2a St Paul's Rd.
variety of responses. One was typified by a (U)TOM benefit concert on 1 December which drew an audience of 200 Another, and altogether different attitude was seen оп - 2 December when a group of Orange Loyalists alacked addressed by Eamonn McCann in Glasgow number (U)TOM supporters were physically assaulted Such incidents are of nuisance value and indicate the frustration of the Loyalists at the "Troops Out' • successes in Scotland. They are best combatted by maximum publicity for every (U)TOM activity, the latest of which is to organise a major push to a debate on Ireland at the Scottish TUC In April Details Brian Ashton's tour from Box 32, Niddry St, Edinburgh.
Page 7 scan of this page
Labour's myths and realities
Narrow victory for Portugal's right
By Julian Atkinson THE CURRENT vitality Lahour left poses the question of its potentiality and limits. argument that the 1945-50 be miment is the movdes hich mose
aimed examenanon or toat expenence.
Mark Jenkins'
Labour's High Tide theme, providing us with a mass of new and carefully researched material on the period, with a useful chapter on the activities of the inside .the Labour previously unpublished minutes of the Beyanite group.
The author's stated challenge the contemporary 'mythology" which denies that the Bevanite movement was the broadest Labour current this century and attributes to it weak and purely
with a negiect of trade union struggles.
Jenkins fails to point out that this "mythology' is itself the product of a rather broad current, including Ralph Miliband and David Coates, could scarcely be described as left, let alone ultra-left.
Deficieney
Jenkins argues deficiency, opposed aforementioned imaginery ones, was
NdOIHY of the develop a cohèrent_ of the states of East Europe, while the organisation of Bevanism was more than adequate for its perspectives:
It had a full domestic programme and did not need one that was more radical, *the adoption would, in any case, have infringed thé sovereignty of conference', author claims.
He is hard put to relative ineffectiveness of the Labour influence ine ee canlyow in influence in early development which accounted for by the fact that Labour lefts have always felt a deal more uninhibited when in opposition.
This® flows® from thẻ weakness of reformism, which is not
incomprehension of the state.
Responsibility
To believe that it is possible to move gradually towards socialism by parliamentary means implies that the working class must take responsibility for the and 'socialișt policies' within the context of capitalist HRAEC predominantiy market economy.
Labour government is forced, regretfully. discipline trade ULUNALS. trade unionists in prison for taking unofficial strike action was one of the specialties of the
By Martin Meteyard
IT SEEMED that last week's Portuguese
elections had resulted in a big defeat for the left.
basis of overseas vetes [but expected to go to
the right], the right-wing Democratic Alliance
[AD] had 125 seats in parliament. The left as a whole had only 121: 73 for the Socialist Party, 47 for the Communist Party, and one for the far-left UDP.
Despite
right-wing parties in Spain and West Germany,
AD pulled in only 45 per cent. The CP and SP
alone won more than 40 per cent: and when you
add on the votes of the UDP and six other left
rau cnn oo carnan uc barue vi the labour movement actually won a majority
of the votes cast.
government is a political setback which will
make it harder for the labour movement to
regain the offensive, in no sense does it signity
LABOUR PARTY
of the
Tony Benn's Labour
close
Bevanism
examines this
Trotskyists Party and
aim is to
parliamentary
who
that. the real impose wage freezes •CY& Ok LIc
the went along with this.
Hevanites
characterisation
BORSPETC
really idle to talk about a which sector, he said.
the would not be
explain the IoIC DUweI It was the
largely ened the welfare Bevan, Harold
central which economic consequences.
Michael
La Lavdul raily dulC
was let loose.
Jenkins
implement
and a pamphlets with a wide sale. thus doubt, to influence of Beyanism Putting just the
1945-51 Labour With four seats still to be allocated on the
eSLIKt But the votes tell a rather different story.
Dalking
KeiL.
In other words, while the election of afr AD
'Today's Labour right was yesterday's lefts.'
government. Sir Stafford Cripps; the
'30s, was obiged to and restraints from 1947-49, and the Labour lefts
In 1949, Aneurin Bevan commented that 'our people have achieved a material prosperity in excess of their
‚lan Mikardo wanted a tougher socialist wages policy — 'It is
planned economy with an unplanned wages
Mikardo argued that socialism
possible unless the unions gave the TUC General Council
Korean war which finally pushed the lefts off the fence.
The rearmament programme threat-
state and forced Wilson, and John Freeman to resign from the Atlee government. It wasn't the war itself
the problem, but its Foot wrote in Tribune that US soldiers were dying to 'uphold
"The return of the Tories in 1951 caused the flood-tide of Bevanism, as resentment over che policies of Atlee and the right
provides much ucagut, evidence to show how the Bevanites were able to hold a massive series of metines up and down the country and to produce a regular supply of
The point is well made that thè
was felt not Parties but within the unions as well. borsuildolr Labour The high mark of Bevanism within the unions was when, in 1954, it took on
that the working class is defeated.
What it does show is that the class struggle is sharpening. And this was reflected inside the vote for the left. The CP, which controls the CGIP trade union federation and has defended the land reform in the southern region, boosted its share of the vote 14.6 to 19 per cent. Meanwhile the SP's vote fell from 35 to 27 per cent.
The SP, in fact, paid the price for trying to capitalist stability government for much of the time after the April 1976 elections, it collaborated with the IMF to impose an austerity policy which has led to a 10 per cent drop in living standards, 13 per cen Ie ou mc ea ıæ æe ț
It was the SP, too, which tried to reverse the and make labourers give up the big seized. The logic of this position was so clear that the SP's agriculture minister left the party to join AD.
Arthur Deakin, the general secretary
the Transport and Workers Union, in support of the NASD - the dockers' blue union and its right to organise
What Jenkins fails to however, this qualitatively different from sending a Tribune 'brains trust' stewards meeting It was also quite atypical for the Labour lefts.
Bevan resigned Minister of Labour in . 1951 over NHS charges, after he had supported Deakin against striking dockers and caused seven of them to be jailed for conspiring to organise an illegal strike. Decline
From 1954 Bevanism was decline, with its main leaders splintering to the right. In 1957 Bevan came out against those calling for unilateral disarmament and in defence Britain's possession of the H-bomb. over ine whole of this period the constituency left declined as the left in the trade unions increased
Jenkins states that Bevanism was broader and better than previous Labour lefts, such as the Independent Labour Party and the Socialist
but doesn't seriously argue this case, still less prove it.
.The evidence furnished Miliband and. Coates tends to point in the opposite direction a secular decline of the Labour lefts as they become less effective generation by generation. This question certainly needs further discussion.
The other unsatisfactory theme of the book is the influence of the Cold War on Bevanism. Some points are
federation.
Alentejo
Trotskyists of the PSR.
Portugal.
put
broadcasts
to crime'.
the agricu tura estates they
has been achieved.
tellingly made, such as the oscillation General of sections of the Labour left between Stalinism and Incredible illusions were held about President Truman, who was seen as a grasp, left social democrat.
1956 showed the shop between events in East Europe and the West. But the link is over-emphasised and is overlaid with a Stalinophobia which Stalinist tolerance for the democracy.
And Jenkins' lessons for today?
He appears to agree with Bevan that 'the task of maintaining the unity of Labour falls primarily on the left'.
If the Bevanites were to have had a in elaborate LUlC would have committed forming a party within a party. of have further refined would have sovereignty of conference Several those present-day extreme left have evolved a 'theory of the defensive", envisaging that organs of dual power will only emerge to defend a government from attack.
Jenkins adds his pebble to this wobbly pile existing conterence policy. by serious left-wing revolts encompass this element of preserving what is in the party leaders who seek to direction of party policy from what been mutually (emphasis in original)
The fundamental Bevanism is that rather than fostering the mass activity of the working class
Finally, last year the SP split the trade union movement by setting up a rival to the CGTP
• f cc this in alliance Social-Democrats [PSD] — the main party in AD, whose leader Francisco Sa Carneiro is likely to be the new prime minister!
The need for working class unity around a joint union plan of action against austerity was at the centre of the campaign of the Portuguese
Unlike all the other parties, the PSR also
major emphasis on the struggle abortion rights. Affer giving over one of its IV
to the Portuguese campaign, the PSR was charged by the Church and a smail right-wing group with 'incitemen!
In temselves the elections have solved nothing for the Portuguese capitalists. Big class battles lie ahead. And with new parliamentary elections required in October 1980 under the constitution, followed by presidential elections in 1981, political stability is the last thing that
.either
US imperialism.
The Soviet invasion of Hungary in
inter-relaționship Jenkins
disquieting TES betrayal with
crimes of social
October 1952 Jenny
organisation, they
Ine sin of To their policy
undermined
on Labour's
which left Labour
his defence of
'The most Socialists organisation Mu ras• azalisl las.
change the
agreed upon' lefts criticism of by for
abortion
Sa Cameiro
in struggling against capitalism, it
- when in power - opposed such direct struggles, or sought to divert them into the higher purpose of voting in Bevan and Co., so that they could wage the fight where it counted - in Parliament.
contents hiraself with reiterating that the logical thrust of Bevanism was the democratic renewal of the Labour Party and the unions. Just what this democratic organisa tion amounted to can be glimpsed from an episode which took place in
Lee, Bevan's wife, happened to glance at a page on his typewriter while he was preparing ar article for Tribune. She rang other kev Bevanites who hurried ronng to consult with Nye. The message on the type-script? Merely the dissolution of the Bevanite group. Squaring-up
Jenkins fails to square up to the dual class nature of the Labour Party
Calle of both working class and bourgeois politics. There is no gradual or constitutional way that the party in its entirety can be won unambiguously for the working
have to forge an not simply to remove Callaghan, but to take on the power of the state. Bevanism does not point in that direction. It merely shows that today's Labour right was yesterday's *'Bevanism — Labour's High Tide',
Mark Jenkins. Published by Spokesman Books, £12.50. Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 7
Page 8 scan of this page
FIGHTING PRIO
THE MASS picket which put the frightners on the Tories — Saltely gates during the miners' strike in 1972. The new Employment Bill would make
anti-union law, published last week are to:
strikers' own workplace.
extending the use of secret ballots.
*Making a worker prove that his
employer prove that it was "fair'.
Why Tories
want to give
pickets the
heave-ho
By Pat Kane OVER a hundred years ago, a Tory government tried to make picketing illegal. government. elected in 1970. same. Now the Thatcher government, the Prior proposals, is attempting to restrict one of the most basic weapons of the working class — the right to effective picketing.
In 1871, the Tories introduced the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which bears a striking resemblance to Prior's law. The Act made illegal "threats or molestation'; 'watching or besetting premises', or 'persistent following'. Now the proposed legislation 'intimidation' and 'secondary picketing'.
The Tories continually try to introduce these laws in an attempt to deal with the activities of the working class through the criminal courts. Picketing becomes a crime, and the punishment is imprisonment.
Saying 'Bah'
• In 1871, seven women in South Wales were jailed for saying Throughout the 1870s, workers were jailed for picktullg offences In 1973, government, 24 Shrewsbury were tried for 'secondary picketing', and two of their leaders jailed.
Each time capitalism faces an crisis, it has to confront the strength of the working class, and it has to fight the traditional methods of struggle, such as picketing and the closed shop.
Picketing is as old as the themselves. Groups of workers picket because they want 1o win. Ordinary workers have no other strength. They don't have access courts or the mass media; and they don't control the armed forces or the police. All they have is their collective strength.
That's why effective important. People picket to stop goods or other workers entering or leaving factories, offices, mines or docks. A few solitary workers standing outside a factory gate can neither stop a heavy lorry nor persuade several thousand workert-not to cross the line. What makes picketing effective is strength of numbers.
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 8
NO MORE talk about talks; the fist this time. The main aims of James Prior's proposed
*End effective picketing by restricting it to
*Counter democracy in the unions by
*Undermine closed shops by requiring an 80 per cent majority vote to secure them, and giving anti-union workers every chance to opt
dismissal was unfair, rather than having the
Here PAT KANE examines the implications of the proposals on picketing, ballots, and the closed shop, and PHIL HEARSE reports on victimisations at Fiat in Turin, which might well have inspired management at British
The Heath tried to do the through outlaw
such pickets illegal
'Bah' to a group of scabs.
under Heath's building workers down production.
warehouse. trade unions
picketing
thousands of workers
Rank & File
Code of Practice
100 per cent closedpickets;
Most workers had never heard the phrase 'secondary picketing' before the lorry drivers' strike last winter. The media wipped up bysteria about the actions of Transport Union militants who picketed places other than their companies' depots. For the large majority of workers on strike there is no point in simply standing outside their own factory. If the strike is solid, then the factory is closed anyway, and in many industries it only takes a minority of the workforce to close
What point is there in a miner standing outside a closed pit while imported coal is keeping the power stations running? Similarly, if a company has a large stockpile of finished goods these have to be stopped from leaving the
Secondary picketing can mean the difference between workers winning quickly, or the employer being able to ride out any strike.
The other form of picketing which the Tories dread is the solidarity picket. When the working class can begin to break out of the sectoralism and isolation imposed on them, the real strength of the workers becomes even more clear. The need for united action against the government and employers becomes more of a reality.
When the Yorkshire miners arrived at the Grunwick picket lines, it became all the easier to campaign for support throughout the labour movement. The issues involved became clearer to
- George Ward was an anti-union employer, whom the police defended
1 No crossing of picket lines; sanctions to be applied ag
individuals breaking closed shop: 3 For full rank & file discussion and
Vision making by traditional
a pickers to te positioned ar vateve
locations necessary It win inte dispute and in sufficient numbers to
be run by • Sonor call orade by imparty
To cartement or disputes Witnou
«ni rebor backs to, and decision
making by. ine members concerned
against the Grunwick workers demanding union recognition.
The same happened at Birmingham during the 1972 miners* strike. The miners, in order to win, had to stop the power stations. They placed pickets on railway lines and ASLEF members stopped their trains and wouldn't pass them. Arthur Scargill organised 'flying pickets' and when 10,000 arrived outside the Saltley forced it to be closed.
The ruling class could see organised labour, and it had to sever the muscle of rank and file workers in order to stop these types of actions. When there is only a handful of pickets — as Prior now proposes easily controlled by the police. Thus the right to picket is also about the effectively. not simply the introduced attacks on the right to picket. labour leaders have always tried to contain the ability of the shop floor ieadership to take actions independently of the official structures. Last winter, for example, the TUC gave into the hysteria of the ruling class after the success of the lorry drivers. The future of the Contract was being challenged by the actions of these. workers, and it was soon smashed by the Ford pay strike. The main political project of the Labour government was being destroyed, and
IF THE restrictions that Prior wants to attach to the closed shop ballots were applied to Westminster then he, along with the rest of the Tory government, would never have been elected.
MPs rarely obtain eighty per cent of the poll to send them to Parliament - the percentage vote that Prior now requires in order for the closed shop to be established.
No British government in this century has received such a high proportion of the poll in a general election, but the Tories hostility to working organisation obliges them to 'rig' union ballots.
The Tories want to stop the extension working class organisation, by placing huge obstacles in front of any trade unionists who want the closed sho The right to vote was first won by the activity of the working class. As little as 60
women were still ! the labour leaders
Like the Tories,
Saltley Gate
Sociat Contract.
engineers restricted in numbers
coke depot, they
the power Already
- they can be Tories, and the
right to picket
effective picketing
Tories
The
implementation.
dockers,
Prior proposals.
denied the right to vote. 1 ne fight for universal suffrage was something that everyone sup ported.
What's involved in the Prior proposals totally different. The Tories want to
Secret
the ball
restrict the rights of trade unionists. It is not simply matter of more "democracy", but democracy for whom?
There will not be any closed shop ballots that the employers and the government don't think they in advance there is any doubt about the outcome, then they can always rely on the 80 per cent rule to had to respond to thi chalienge to their authority.
they : tried to restrict th power of picketing. The TUC General counci concocted the 'Concordat', an agreement betwe en the union leaders and the Labour governmen which aimed to salvage what was left of th
The which the proposed were remarkably similar to Prior's.
They recommended that pickets should b
and controlled. by the union officials. Like the Tories, they wanted t curb the independent activity of the rank and fil
we have seen the way in whic Prior's law has been employed at the Charin Cross Hospital. Against the propaganda of th
conservatism of the unio leaders, we have to get back to the tradition strength of trade unionists — such as the right t
The Rank and File Code of Practice poin out how to raise effective picketing. Every trad union body should adopt it and fight for it
In the 1870s, the Criminal Law Amendmen Act was defeated by the mobilisation pf 50,00 workers. The Industrial Relations Act of th Heath government was smashed by the actions o
engineers, and miners. If we are t
the same type of actions are needed to defeat ti
Page 9 scan of this page
the day. The ballots are ed from the start.
The problem with the pting system - which the
want used nsively within the unions — at it takes the running of
tbox
ions out of the hands of the ple whom they affect. These ballots will not. be trolled by trade unionists, by the Tory government
by the employers. The icipation of ordinary union abets will be restricted so
there little Ivement by the rank-andanion members as possible.
a so allows mass ia to directly intervene in ballot. Terry Duffy, the
-wing president of the
Union, LICCHER er through the postal ballot em, and his main support e from the national press. The press was able to reach ly more workers than the quated voting methods of
AUEW. ( With the full sing of the media; Duffy Idn't lose.
oderates'
secret ballots, imposed ler by the union leaders or government, always favour
more tale
'moderates' are usually
people who support icies like the Edwardes'
the rationalisation of building
Zanu steel, cuts, controls like the cial Contract'.
The likes
those who support its cres. As wiln pickeung, Ine sed shop. one of tacles that stands in the way hose policies.
Closed shops grew through-
industry along with the elopment the shop vards movement.
Before the closed shop, doyers coula urcal marvid-
workers separately. They ild operate different wages
conditions 1U1 each iker. The policy was divide rule.
The purpose of the closed p is to defend the collective ength of the working class, a to ensure that there is equal
and conditions bughout the workplace. ollective The closed shop allows on members to receive the etits of collective strength. prevents the victimisation of susands of militants.
The closed shor makes lective action possible, and it vides tramework nocracy through conectve
making. the lective strength of the shop
that the Tories want to
The democracy of the
the
ers is not the same as the
ISLAW
democracy that we fight for.
stand for the participation of ordinary union members in the running of their HIROIS
The propaganda ot the Tories is that the secret, postal ballot is the best way to attain this. The right-wing leaders agree, while the wing wants to stay with the old system based on badly attended union branch meetings.
They all fear the participation of workers in the unions.
Many people point balloting used
SYSECHI National Union of Mineworkers and argue that the Tories' VOTING in a miners' union ballot. These ballots controlled by the NUM and are accompanied by mass meetings
Victory at BOC
By Tessa van Gelderen
THE claim by workers British Oxygen for £25 across the board, shift allowances, and drivers' meal allowances has been met in Management cared in Transport and General Workers Union's demands after two days' overtime ban.
The average increase is 42 per cent. This means that the shop floor will now be better paid than the foremen. claim lasts. for 20 culminating in a rise of £32.65 on the basic wage in two stages.
It the length of settlement that raises a smali question mark over what is, undoubtedly, # massive victory for BOC workers. But a clause in the settlement states that if inflation goes over 30 per cent it would be renegotiated.
Although the company has said that in the event of a Tory wage freeze would Experience has shown that this honour the
ACCLICUL.
is by no means automalic.
proposals should be supported. active
controlled by the union. They are accompanied meetings, and the leadership both right and left actively campaign for their views.
When the ballots are held; what the question on the ballot union form say; what left result from the decision — all
these are decided by the elected representatives of the NUM.
Prior wants to manipulate active the trade union
through the imposition balloting. to the Socialists have to fight both the the Prior proposals
democracy unions. Many of union leaders who will oppose Prior will themselve have been elected in their entire term of office.
Democracy is about collective decisions and collective action. Labour Many union branch meet-
because during the last Labour government they were used to support the attacks of that government.
In the Labour Party, the debate is over who controls the activities of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
We have of Labour Party official; for the right to re-call them, the active participation of the full membership in this process. Many of the leaders of the trade unions and the Labour Party have authority accountability. Mass meetings, workplace ballots controlled by
accountability of MPs to the Labour Party conference are all ways of conducting that fight. The battle against Prior is battle democracy, not less. It is a fight against restrictions of trade whether from the Tories or the labour leaders.
John Walsh, convenor of Hackney BOC, believes this is a real danger. But both he and Micky Baulter, Hackney, that in the event full. freeze they would have to take to the On the Lories.
There is no doubt that the BOC workforce organised and very The fact that after days of industrial management capitulated indicates the strength of the BOC months, workers. No doubt manage-
ment was moved to reconsider its offer because or ine total the support for the overtime ban
among its workforce.
With a proposed strike in the new year, this would have resulted in a long and costly dispute for the company.
The level of militancy organisation which has led to this extremely favourable deal still will be the
that 20-month implemented in full.
by
hulass
action will
movement
of
of the
the trade
never attended to fight for the By Phil Hearse every union and
and for
strategy, without breaking unionism. and the
militants sympathising more
the
unionists.
soldiers and militia 'terrorism' deputy con-
consider
01 Я
Lama's strongly
militant.
only two
who utilised FIAT-government
reinstatement.
and
workforce's
deal
NECE
Victimisation
Italian style
PRIOR's proposals for 'reforming' the unions are just part of the Tory strategy for undermining working class resistance to its policies.
sacking convenor Derel Robinson at British Leyland fits in with that
and corresponds 10 developments in the car industry in Italy, where the government is similarly preoccupied with
the strength
At the giant Fiat car plant in Turin, 61 union
have been sacked for with "terrorism' and the Brigades. Fiat Turin, like Longbridge in Britain, is one of the biggest factories in Italy and a stronghold not only of union militancy but also of the far left organisations.
Since the sackings, in early October, Turin has been an occupied city with thousands of
drafted in to
On 16 October the unions organised an assembly of five thousand shop stewards from the Fiat plant to debate the way forward in defence of the victimised militants. The meeting was marked by a heated debate between Lama, leader of the Communist dominated CGIL, the largest Italian union federation, and Caforio. one of the victimised militants and a member of the Italian Trotskyist organisation, GCR.
Although Catorio's call for a general strike was loudly cheered, the meeting voted for
proposal for nation-wide two-hour stoppages by all engineering workers. two-hour stoppages took place on 23 October, involving hundreds of thousands of workers
these two hours for discussion on how to fight the sackings:
'Main enemy'
Unfortuantely, the Communist Party used the meetings to denounce terrorism as the 'main
tactic coincided with offensive and demobilised the building of mass action to win
The CP's response was not new. For months. alongside the Socialist Party, it had campaigned against terrorism and the far left, creating the
was the background to the victimisation of the FIAT militants. It is this campaign which has enabled the government 1o get away militarily occupying Turin, and for the bosses in Venice and Pordenone to use strong-arm tactics
DEMONSTRATION in Turin against the sacking of 61 militants at Fiat in October
against strike-pickets.
work-load through speed-up.
recent
trades
threats of redundancy.
allegedly
Red bi-lingual paper called 'Fiat-Seat —
Complicated
combat
Italian labour laws, 1t5 aborious
have been
These
place to gain reinstatement.
Levlandisobvious
further
were widespread
La decisive attack, unthinkable even two years ago.
the day after the sackings, effectively
Fia!" +
which
with
The Turin episode is part of an international offensive by the Fiat group to restructure its operations in the face of the world-wide recession in the car industry. This involves a drive to both rationalise through redundancies and increase the
Fiat's Spanishbased subsidiary, Seat, has transferred most of its operations to Italy and started a speed-up campaign. This has led to a series of strikes and
Car worker militants from the LCR, the Spanish section of the Fourth International, and the Italian CGR are beginning to campaign to co-ordinate an international response to the Fiat-Seat offensive, and have produced a joint
- Stessa Lotta — Misma Lucha' (Fiat-Seat, the Same Struggle).
The struggle to re-instate the 61 militants in Turin has been complicated by the nature of the
which enable dismissed workers to sue their employers through the courts. Unlike industrial tribunals in Britain, the Italian courts have the power to order employers to re-instate unjustly dismissed workers, which is what the courts have done in the Turin case.
Fiat responded by promptly re-sacking the militants and now the case is once again making
way through courts. IT 1 unlikely that the judges will be able to impose their will on the immensely powerful Agnelli family who control Fiat. Meanwhile the workers
de-mobilised and becomes increasingly unlikely that a big struggle will take
The parallel with
Since the 'hot autumn' of 1969, when there
occupations, the Italian working class has been among the most militant in Europe. Now the Italian bosses are opening up
which would have been
The sackings at Fiat are just the beginning;
4,500 redundancies wère announced at the Oliverti factory in the
La at PASTE ParThe struggle is not only hampered by cheir refusal to initiate the kind of mass action necessary to counter the employers, but their years of tacit support for right-wing Christian Democracy, and their extraordinary position of blaming Italy's crisis on the 'terrorists' rather than the bosses, is preparing the road to defeat.
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 9
Page 10 scan of this page
PROBLEMS MOUNT UP FOR KHOMEINI
INTERNATIONAL
Ten
trotskyists
released
TEN MEMBERS section of the Fourth International, the Socialist Workers Party [HKS], were freed from Karoun jail in Ahwaz last week after being held since June.
Reports reaching Socialist Challenge at the weekend indicated that the ten had been released on bail. more HKS members are held.
Iwelve of the 14 were sentenced to death in August, but an international defence campaign forced the Iranian authorities to revoke the une dento sece cenencen o ne imprisonment.
The identities of those released are not yet known.
WHAT'S LEFT
ENTRIES are 5p a word; semi-display column inca. weadlne: bom rmoay berore publication. All payments in advance.
Buk for southern Airca comrades desneralery needed TOr Inis
pare so sookstor soulnern Airica. BOx 10 Soçialist Challenge, 328/9 Upper Street, London
'THE National Left Wing Movement in the
- lls lessons lor todav
The Genera Picion. w harledale ka/caicdon ian Rd, London N1. Tube: Kings X. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST LEAGUE
peakers from the ICL
Group Workers International Marxist Group
Saturday, 15 December, 10.30am to 5.30pm ror teais o vente contacten urus. tel
NORTH WEST NAC. Regional Conference Saturday 15 December, to organise against the
Small
в 9.30 ат.
Kegıstration 61 Bloom St, Manchester 1. 061-224 4392.
Fairweather's article in Spare Rib ›ehind the slogans', fakes place on Thursday 13 Euston Road, Lon
BROADSIDE Mobile workers Theatre need: new members to help take our shows on racism,
control, and the women's groups and schools. versatile socialist actress, an actor (singing ar aavanase die an commument cesiole
experience to. so Holden House mordein r laci London SveV-40o O E elen somalist camb meti una discus Briente Subshoud ea
Brixton. 7.30-9pm, first floor, 52 Acre Lane,
MAS party for Chile organised by the ASTMS
Vest End branch and the Latin American centre.
'Town Hall, Fr. 14 Dec.,
American 1ood. bar. stalls. £l entry, 25p camanas a colaren A l momes wı co o &
hose fighting for human rights in Chik Presrong Trades co unel aho against unemployment Confed. On Suri. huidents union, rvde Ko. Prestor
Intercontinental Press/Inprecor ERNEST MANDEL writes on the meaning of the conference in the latest issue of the weekly Intercontinental Inprecor [Vol 17, No features include an eyewitness report
the mobilisations Grenada, and a document by Chinese
Wang Xizhe, return to genuine Marxism in China.
Individual copies cost 30p. 10p p&p, but subscriptions work out much cheaper at fll for a year [48 issues], £6 for six months [24 issues], - от €3 for 10 issues. should be made out to 'Intercontinental Press' and sent to: IP/I, PO Box 50, London N1 2XP.
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 10
of the Iranian
By John Leadbetter Four
still being
popular ratification
sentence. referendum.
remained empty.
the province's affairs. tz a
vital reid
while local
Workers Actior
Kurdish people.
Ballot In the
captive
UMIST announced that
oportunitv to cast a vote'
Clearly embassy al, The Feelings Eileen
hoped for.
House,
with the onset of winter.
require a cooling in proclamations from Qom. Rhetoric For all
imperialism's response to the
trade union
Called sponsored by the пооло 4pm, at Poly rion-aligned
Press/ 45]. Other
*For
Cheques/POs
threats against Iran
THE ballot boxes were wheeled out in Iran last week Tor tae unira ume this year as Ayatollah Khomeini called for
of his new Islamic Constitution in a two-day
Tabriz, capital of Azerbaijan proyince, polling stations
Massive 41.Khomeini demonstrations took over the radio stations and the offices of the province's governor-general, and demanded greater local control over
Members of the armed forces joined with supporters of the Moslem People's Republican Party [MPRP], Iran's largest opposition grouping, to organise a general strike in the city;
people occupied airport and refused landing permission to a planeload of Islamic Guards - Khomeini's 'hitmen', fresh from their campaign of violence against the
Kurdish provinces themselves, ballot boxes were stolen and burnt; while in Baluchistan, the governor-general was reported to be
demonstrations protesting against the constitution. Even in the Persian-speaking areas. the turnout for the referendum was low. After two days of voting it was
polling stations would remain open overnight ensure 'that everyone had had an
events around the US produced consensus which Khomeini must have
Popular though the demand for the Shah's extradition might be, it does not override the more pressing issues facing Iranians
As the temperature drops, there is a visible
response to pious
of
Khomeini's anti-imperialist rhetoric, he is unable to make a single constructive proposal for rebuilding a social and economic order which can genuinely challenge
parasitic grip. The unveiling of the Constitution shows that there is no
US HANDS
CHE TRAN DOWN NITH AMERICA (MERAD NO US WARSHE IN IRAN PICKET OFTHE USembassyin Londonon the weekend to protest Carter's war
KHOMEINI and enthusiasts
automatic equation Khomeini's religious mumbo jumbo and the consciousness of the masses
What has taken place Azerbaijan holds particular dangels for the Khomeini regime. The people
Tabriz are no newcomers SUELEIC. The Azeris constitute the largest national grouping in Iran after the Persians, actouiling Iol quarter of the total population.
As far back as 1906, during the constitutional movement against the old Qajar dynasty, Azeris provided many of the leaders of the left faction. NO CRiTE
WAR
between 1 Tabriz followed the example of the soviets of workers in Russia, setting up councils or anjomans which took over the functions of the central state. Direct intervention by armies of the Russian Czar was required to defeat this movement.
The Bolshevik revolution inspired a new wave of struggle against Tehran over a in which the Azeris again provided many of the leading cadre. This time it was the armies of British imperialism which intervened
revolution, installing Reza Khan on the throne.
Even this did continuing tradition of struggle. In 1946 an autonomous republic was declared, based on Tabriz — in the same year that the Mahabad wa. neighbouring Kurdish people. Again, the struggle was defeated because of international factors
Stalin's withdrawal of the Army from Iran, where it had been during the Second enabled the military to move against the republics; the Tudeh (Communist) Party, which significantly during struggles, capitulated to Stalin's line and urged surrender to the Shah. The result was another against communist militants, in which the responsibility of the Tudeh was clearly recognised. remembered today.
Compounds
The Azerbaijanis, like the Kurds, have little to learn from Khomeini about imperialist imperialist responsibility for the years of exploitation.
The stand taken by Ayatollah Shariat-Madari difficulties facing regime, since it introduces divisions
city of Qom. express
particular, Ayatollah
clergy oppositional monitoring
Bazaar A strong amongst
'ICaSOL
of the
The maintain workers in the trying to
The
choose Shariat-Madari
Kurdish war.
Concede
to prevent
Already
not prevent a be taken
Republic of established by the the struggles
Kurds.
Red
World War,
had grown
the year
against
mass pogrom
Kurdish
and still demonstrations
manoeuvres and
compounds the the Khomeini
their needs
within the clerical movement in the
Shariat-Madari is the recognised leader of the Azerbaijani people, the second ranking Ayatollah in Iran after Khomeini himself, and the head of the MPRP.
In August he led a widespread boycott of the elections to the Council of Experts which was to amend the constitution, and he has continued to
opposition LO Khomeini's attempts to place the reins of the country in the hands of the clergy. In
has criticised for claiming such prominent position at the head of the state itself, and his self-appointment as conariat-Ma-dari argues teat the
Shariat-Madari argues that
should play an essentially role to government, secular authority ensure respect and obedience to Islam rather than actually wielding it.
Azerbaijani presence the bazaar merchants Tehran, however, is a more material
for the positions ShariatMadari puts forward. His criticisms
government s economic policies reflect a growing impatience among the petty bourgeoisie for the economy to get going again withoul clerical interference
government's inability to discipline anule the factories, to stop inflation or to re-establish trade or any stable basis is one of the most important long-term factors working against Khomeini. In the meantime Shariat-Madari's MPRP acts as growing focus of opposition for the disoriented bourgeois secular forces
maintain their religious
demonstrations in Tabriz inject a more urgent dynamic to this power struggle. Clearly, for workers and the oppressed, there is little to
OCLWECT Khomeini and But in the short term, Shariat-Madari's intransigence ties Khomeini's hands in any strike against the Azeris on the lines of the
Khomeini has been forced to concede that no action will
regard the agrement oas been reachess rior agreement has been reached Shariat-Madari. It will be far more difficult for the government to isolate
of the Azerbaijanis through manipulation of the media than it was during the war against the
Khomeini will have to face the political demands which the Azeris raise head-on, without being able to side track into Islamic demagogy. Not even raising sianders on questions of anti-imperialism will provide a way
the Azeris mobilisation America in recent weeks means that they have passed the test already on that score.
leaders have already issued statements in subport of the
in Tabriz. In. fact Khomeint's writ has essentially ceased to run in the huge north-western regions of the country.
This is the clearest indication to date that the dynamic of the revolution 1s pusning derou ine poundares idil down for it by the Islamic hierarchy; that to resolve their problems the workers and oppressed of Iran will have to seek answers of their own rather than rely on Khomeini to meet
Page 11 scan of this page
What attitude should we take to
INTERNATIONAL
event ol revolutionaries everywhere. merely did it bring down one of the most repressive dictatorships in the world, but it challenged imperialist interests in an area which Washington regarded almost as its own property.
However, some organisations have been cuck condemn the course taken by revolution under the leadership of the FSLN. Here FRANCOIS OLLIVIER explains the position of the Fourth International.
SECTARIANS, while they generally recognise that a revolution has begun in Nicaragua, refuse to take into account that it is a living process with its own TAYLOSI Instead mechanically counterpose their own schemas to reality and denounce the FSLN | leadership. reconstruct the bourgeois state and repress the mass movement.
1 nis ieaas to a alterent response to the administrative measures which the FSLN has taken against sections of the far left. Frente Obrero
The most important of the latter is the Movement of Popular (MAP) which leads a trade union current known as Frente Obrero (FO
Workers Front). This started off as a Maoist-inspired split with the FSLN in the early 1970s, but changed its line on China when Peking lined up its foreign policy with US imperialism.
MAP has a dominant influence in the editorial team of El Pueblo, an important daily paper in the capital, Managua.
There also three sectarian organisations allegiance to Trotskyism. the Revolutionary Marxist League (LMR); the Socialist Group (GRS), formed by militants of the Costa Rican OST, which split with the Fourth International along with
the Leninist-Trotskyist Tendency; and members of the Bolshevik Faction (which has also split with the FI) who remained after the expulsion of the adventurist Simon Bolivar Brigade.
From the start of the revolution these sectarian groups developed a conception of the transition workers state as taking place through
sele decrees nationalisation of the economy, total agrarian reform, etc.) which the actual represented mere pious wishes.
Reactionary
This conception reactionary measures corresponding interests of the masses.
Costa Rican OST attacked nationalisation of the banks. It aiso attacked, did El
withdrawal of 500 and 1,000 cordoba banknotes as a measure aimed at the masses. In fact it was aimed at the capitalists and the speculators.
This also led the GRS and the
Bolshevik Faction to
construction of
professional revolutionary army
some me which
necessary to defend the against the imperialist threats,
which the FSLN has declared will be combined
militias.
The sectarians, convinced that the
FSLN walts
bourgeois state and repress the mass
movement; call for the immediate
convocation or a nigner body lo
defend democracy: the Council of
State or a constituent assembly.
The revolution in Nicaragua
the FSLN?
hope
Not
revolutionary
the they
trying to
Action
'Workers and novement led by the FSLA
smaller claiming
These are the bourgeois
Revolution
sectarians not
isolated undermine legitimacy of the FSLN.
Amalgam
La continuing its organisation
(immediate
entire letts and
situation
revolutionary decadens
led them to
several the
Thus the
Bolshevik Faction,
Pueblo, the
oppose
centralised,
not by repressing them.
absolutely Authority
country alite explicitly with the LMR and
the FSLI against the weakened its
DIE SANDINISTA
TRABAJADORES
TELCOR
leasants to power
Frente Obrero took part in several meetings called by the Chamber of Commerce to demand the immediate convocation of the Council of State - an institution which, as originally envisaged, gave important weight to
and conservative elements of the anti-Somoza front.
In proposing such a policy, the
only hold down the below its present level of organisation and consciousness - they serve the interests of the bourgeoisie, which seeks in every way
the aulllullly and
In September the FSLN, while
policy and mobilisation, launched a campaign against the ultra-
FSLN leaders and articles in its daily paper, Barricada, made an amalgam between the ultra-left and counter-
Somozists Such followed by were luci arrests: 70 militants of FO, suspected of having arms, were held; an LMR leader, Barzenas, was twice detained and briefly held before being released; and an Argentinian militant of ine made
Carlos Petroni, was also arrested at this time.
We condemned the expulsion of the Simon Bolivar Brigade as a retreat
administrative methods when the FSLN had other means of handling this problem. Ultra-lettism has to be fought politically, by explaining the mistakes of these currents through discussion in the mass movement and
We say clearly that making an amalgam between militants of FO or
the Somozists counter-revolutionaries was false. It obscured the political campaign of the
authority in some sectors where these militants had a tradition of anti-Somoza struggle.
The use of such methods also
strengthens confusion inside international workers movement and makes it more difficult militant solidarity with the Nicaraguan revolution.
It would appear, however, that the FSLN has begun to modify its initial positions. In a speech on 22 October, interior minister Tomas explained: 'We think that prison isn't the best place to carry out a dialogue.
Impatient
Similarly, an article in Sandinista, the journal of propaganda secretariat of the FSLN,
'We need a conception which allows us to unite the efforts of all revolutionary tendencies. ' It ended by calling on 'the impatient left' to take its place in the revolutionary process.
These words were followed by actions. All the militants of FO were freed, and were welcomed as they left prison by Borge and their families.
This is a good sign; although ine
FSLN hasn't yet properly claritied it: position on this problem, and the discussion must therefore continue.
But our criticisIns disagreements with the FSLN
within framework unconditional defence of revolution in Nicaragua. Liberation
That is why, when taking position on each problem that arises, including the liberation political prisoners (though obviously not those who carry out sabotage or take arms against the FSLN!), we take it up with the FSLN as one group of revolutionaries to another.
We will have nothing to do with a campaign for the liberation of all political prisoners of the initiated by the OCI in France, which is a substitute for and is opposed to even the most elementary solidarity work. For us this is a against the Nicaraguan revolution.
These organisations, which claim allegiance Trotskyism, discredit it by such actions.
OBREROS
CAMPESNOS
PODER
CARA
placards on this demonstration of Sandinista workers. Ultra-lefts fail to recognise the revolutionary dynamic of the
the this we put forward a campaign to
defend the
build That
claiming allegiance to Trotskyism, to the revolution,
revolution on the march.
borge
Poder
the
By Brian Lyons
A WORLDWIDE solidarity with Nicaragua is already underway and shows concretely the possibilities for movement in Britain.
has been formed and aims to collect £3.50 per worker by the end of the year. School students in Norway, who contribute a sum each year to social
and projects, have decided to donate their
are of money to Nicaragua.
the pledged funds for the construction of
La municipal hospital in Esteli and is establishing contact hospital workers towards this. In Australia a series of public forums have Nicaragua, while in New Zealand the certain organiser of the Northern Storemen
and Packers Union bas fund-raising appeal.
tie USA calling on the government to provide aid, and Washington DC
kind Council issued a statement demand-
that the "unconditional reconstruction aid for rebuilding of campaign democratic Nicaragua'.
Perhaps the merely working class solidarity comes from Against Canada, where 'Operation Solidarity'
VIVA
FSLN
PR
DATO
Nicaraguan revolution. FO militants
the confronted with
WORLDWIDE
SOLIDARITY
Congress. campaign of chartered
building a similar
In Spain a solidarity committee garment
In Communist
The campaign in Switzerland has
in solidarity with Swiss contribute
over £1,000. been held on also
issued a In
A number of union branches in
passed resolutions
Labor
government grant
free and
best example of committee
ELFSEN
SENTE
*In addition to the release of the
militants reported above, Argentinian member of the Bolshevik Faction, Carlos Petroni, was released and deported on 9 November. LMR members who were being held were freed on 22 November. was launched by the Canadian Labor
August they a plane for Nicaragua loaded with 75,000 pounds of food and other urgently needed supplies Another exemplary action has come from the unions in the food and
industry, who have negotiated agreements with various companies to send food and clothing worth nearly £250,000.
France the Revolutionary Youth (JCR) has launched a campaign to raise 50,00l French francs (about £5,500) for the literacy campaign in Nicaragua. Mon recently, a huge rally of 2,500 peopl
with Nicaragua organised by the French section of the Fourth International, which raised
Feminists in France are organising to raise funds for child-care centres in Nicaragua.
Britain the Nicaragua Coordinating Committee has already raised over £1,000 and is organising nationally so that various regions it Britain will raise material aid for corresponding regions in Nicaragua. The committee is presently launching a campaign of sponsorship from the trade unions and the Labour Party & part of a build-up towards a solidarity conference in the spring.
Contributions and sponsorship for the campaign should be sent to the
addressed 10:
Nicaragua Coordinating Committee. 20 Compton Terrace, London NI.
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 11
Page 12 scan of this page
BUILDING A PARTY TO 11th World Congress of the
THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL has sections (recognised by a world congress as having proved their ability
WALC Trotskyist positions struggle) and organised sympathisers in the following countries: Africa Organised sympathisers: Algeria Senegal
Nigeria Asia Sections:
China (based in Hong Kong) India Japan Sri Lanka
Europe Sections:
Austria Italy Belgium Britain Portugal Denmark Spain France Greece Holland Organised sympathisers: Finland Iceland Ireland as well as in some East European. countries Middle East Sections:
Iran Israel Lebanon Organised
sympathisers:
Egypt Iraq Oceania Sections:
Australia New Zealand North American Sections:
Canada/Quebec Organised sympathisers: USA*
Latin America/ Caribbean Sections:
Bolivia Chile Mexico Colombia Peru Organised sympathisers: Panama Argentina Puerto Rico. Brazil El Salvador Dominican Republic Venezuela Ecuador
*The SWP in the USA is prevented from being an official section by reactionary legislation.
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 12
fight the class
By Ernest Mandel military Middle persistent capitalist economy,
system.
last month.
Luxembourg
anti-imperialist Switzerland
to the crisis West Germany
conditions? revolution not 1974-75, countries?
Paralysis
Norway
Turkey
placed on the agenda
back Into acula
such opposing
such a way. movement and war.
defeats imperialist
French Antilles This
victorious.
MOTe
Uniled Secretariat of the Fourth International
CAPITALISM is currently undergoing its worst crisis since the start of the 1930s.
The defeat of American imperialism in Indochina has brought about a situation inside
has prevented any massive intersention against revolutions. For the first time in a long while, capital lacks a world policeman to defend the key strategic political and economic positions of the international imperialist systemn.
This has heen seen in the fall of the Shah and then Somoza, which in their turn have seriously weakened the situation of imperialism in the
Fast and Central America. faltering of the which , will lead to a new recession in 1980, underlines the depth of this historic crisis of the capitalist
was the general framework resolutions and theses adopted the World Congress of the Fourth
Three questions are immediately posed. Is imperialism now paralysed before the rise of
and anti-capitalist throughout the world? Is a capitalist
possible, and if so under what Why have the advances of the been more significant since particularly the
The answer of the 1ith World Congress to the first question was unequivocal. been no military weakening of imperialism. In
States goes. Its paralysis from 1974 to 1979 can only be explained in political terms.
For some time it has been feverishly working to end this situation. It is setting up specialised intervention forces in the middle cast central America, the Far East, and the Mediterranean, and is using every means to change the political climate of opinion in the USA so that new counter-revolutionary
Such adventures will cost imperialism dear on the political level — in the United States as well as internationally. Ine nigh price makes l hesitate. But that won't prevent it from going
The Fourth International therefore calls for sondanty wim acveloping revolutions aganisl
counter-revolutionary the irresponsible idea imperialism is no longer capable of reacting in
The reply of the 1Ith World Congress to the second question was no less unequivocal. The depth of the crisis means that capitalism can't extricate itselt through limited measures therefore preparing for 'solutions' similar to those of the 1930s: the crushing of the workers Crisis prolonged
But to do this it first has to inflict major
on the proletariat in countries on movements in a series of semi-colonial areas. And the international relation of forces is much less favourable to it than in 1929-42, so the crisis will be prolonged.
The decisive battles are ahead and not behind
will create the conditions for the working class at last to overcome its crisis of
all CulCI decisive battles with a good chance of emerging
As to why the extremely grave crisis of the international imperialist system hasn't led to more decisive gains for the revolution, the reply of the 11th World Congress was also clear.
In the imperialist countries the working class has to confront an enemy infinitely wealthier,
powellul MOTe experienced, *Semi-colonial counties. Experience shows that resourceful it cannot be brought down by semi-spontaneous actions, even when they are as broad and
developing
The
undoubtedly
for the 11th
forces
'solution
imperialist
There has
as the United
can be
May' in İtaly in 1969.
which is up to the task.
interventions,
that
credible apparatuses is still absent
. It 15
Luen Uncle
series of countries the beration
beginning to countries
into the West and the permanent semi-colonial world
austerity offensive with
Marxism' even
the
klassen
skampf
I SOLIDARITE Redstrend EVOLUTION gesToppl NICARAGUA
EPIA UNI ZIR WORIA KAI ZIR KYBEPNHTIKH TON
H KYBEPNHIH KAPAMANAH BANDIER АПО ТО 0/
ROSSA
impressive as those of May '68 or the 'creeping
There has to be a revolutionary leadership
There have to be new revolutionary parties which the masses already regard as useful instruments in their immediate struggles. And the organisational weakness of the FI's sections and the political weakness of the centrist organisations mean that such a
alternative to Tetonas
The situation is complicated further by the very nature of the present world crisis, which extends beyond the imperialist system and the capitalist mode of production to the system of bureaucratic domination in the workers states.
It is true that these countries have not been hit by a crisis of over-production and massive
- which confirms the analysis of the Fl that these are no longer capitalist
different mey economic and social problems as a result of the impasse of the bureaucratic system.
There is increasing discontent in broad layers of the population, in which workers are already playing a preponderant role in Poland and are
do so in China and The political revolution in bureaucratised workers states is ripening along with the rise of the proletarian revolution in the
But as long as this isn't victorious, international bourgeoisie is able to couple its
ideological •oftensive t can go on about the "crisis or
while the deep capitalism which Marxism predicted and alone can explain continues to worsen.
That is why the Fl lays so much stress on the defence of Marxism and its theoretical gains against the offensive of the bourgeoisie and the
COMBRTE
NO ES
SUFICIENTE
HAY QUE IR A UNA HUELGA GENERAL
ROTFRONT
CSSR:
Repression und Widerstand
KATAITOAH
EPTATION HA DYIE
39 XPONIA
To DIRECT ACTION
Extradite the shah!
End war
threats
against
Iran.
Sulasili for dictatorship
Stalinist dictatorship and its heirs.
through. mass mobilisation and of
for the workers
experience to embark on
crisis
flow three kinds of political tasks: 1. The defence revolutions in progress.
This especially
the
the
the Peruvian masses,
strike.
of
native bourgeoisie
stage of dual power, to smother
THE MILITANT
send back the Shah!
kle
HEIRAN struggle through persistent daily propaganda for the 'socialism we want', for our model of society in transition between capitalism and
our programme for the of the proletariat - which has nothing to do with the monstrosities of the
We fight for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie
action which allows politicisation of the vast workers. We fight for the maximum workers democracy inside the trade unions and other mass organisations. We fight
to develop their own self-organisation in the most diverse forms, starting from their current struggles todav
Only this will give the workers the necessary
generalisation and centralisation of workers councils (soviets) in a period of revolutionary
From this analysis of world developments
and extension
means the Nicaraguan revolution, whose anti-capitalist and internatgonalist dvnamic is tar trom exhausted and has already extended to El Salvador. It must be understood in the context of a more general upturn of the revolutionary cycle in Latin America, with the huge upsurge of workers' struggles in Brazil, the determined struggles of
and the failure of the military coup in Bolivia after 15 days of general
Nothing is yet decided in Nicaragua. . The
retains its strongholds.
Imperialism and the Latin-American bourgeoise want to treeze the situation at the present
and then destroy the revolution. International solidarity to prevent this was one of the essential tasks
Page 13 scan of this page
CHANGE THE WORLD Fourth International
ROUGE
le 24 dans la rue AVORTEMENT ET
CONTRACEPTION
ELIBRES ET GRATUITS
" ils pastendent lé STIES BLAD LE
VUU DEHORSCEGOUVET.
KlasseKampen
Værsgo
Dog spis! that the FI set itself at the 11th World Congress.
Defence of the Iranian revolution against imperialism's blockade and threat of a brutal military intervention Khomein represents the last resort of the Iranian bourgeoisie, thanks to the prestige he acquired through his intransigent stand against the hated regime of the Shah. But the masses, encouraged by the victory against the Shah, are driven forward by genuine anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist aspirations hardly in a position to satisfy.
Revolutionary Marxists will only gain mass influence if they participate today in each stage of the anti-imperialist struggle while defending the whole their advantage each opening to possibility of independent organisation of the proletariat and the defence of the oppressed national minorities.
The struggle against capital's austerity offensive. affecting alt the capilalisl semi-colonial ones as well as the imperialist countries. Its immediate aim is to freeze and reduce real wages. to introduce massive and permanent unemployment through redundancies and factory closures, union organisation, to get rid of the most militant workers' leaders Leyland), to restrict and then seriously limit the right to strike.
The workers' response must aim for unity to be effective. The reduction of the working week
- the 35-hour week in Europe of pay, with obligatory proportional hiring and workers control over the central demand around which a united struggle against unemployment must be developed.
and coordinated struggle.
But it is also necessary to put forward an
contre de coat de Internationalen de
BORT MED
BORGARNA!
-NYVAL!
TARI KRAFTEN!
TЛ170
is equally important.
3.
which Khomeini is
ripening
programme, taking
extend the cavalri various
This is an: international offensive Prague;
countries the organiser
weaken trade
(Fiat, British
without loss
work-rate, is the
an internationally
bresche
Warnstreik der Lehrer - Seiten 889.
was tun
NEISTI
X-R
anti-capitalist alternative. This must be centred on a united front poncy. government of the mass workers' organisations in each country, whom we call on to meet the immediate demands of the workers, to break with the bourgeoisie to carry this embark on the road to socialism.
Defend and free the political prisoners of the bureaucracy. The appearance of a bolder political opposition operating publicly in the bureaucratised workers states is one sign of the change in the world situation, a sign of the
of the anti-bureaucratic
The international workers movement has a duty to organise the largest possible defence
for the political prisoners of the bureaucratic dictatorships. names symbolised this campaign for the llth Congress of the FI: comrade Petr Uhl and the Charter 77 supporters charged
the Soviet worker of the first independent group in the USSR for 40 years; the Chinese worker Wei Jingsheng, condemned to 15 years in jail because of his stand for democracy.
The 11th World Congress of the FI took an important step forward in the centralisation of
lorces calling all sympathising organisations to co-ordinate their etforts in four areas.
*An international solidarity campaign with the Nicaraguan revolution.
*The coordination of labour action in defence of workers whose jobs are threatened by the same multinational. initiatives are already underway: between Fiat (turin) and Scat (Barcelona); Ford (Britain) and Ford (Valencia).
es femmes et la crise..
gauche
TOUS ENSEMBLE
IMPOSONS
LES SOLUTIONS
OUVRIERES!
workers power.
women's liberation
and Good sense
majority
political burning
Three The between
tel
Khlebanov, numerous.
workers' where they are a
category are:
SCULIUIT. and
general; *defence revolution exposed attacks by Africa, Palestine);
movement
Two
and between *defence of
rood
Vroww en man : ongelijk in ch verald van de arbaid... waarom SOCLALIST REPUBLIC
As Britain COMMANDS dod Lynch OBEYS
the Irish people say PISS OFF 'HATCHER
STOP LYNCH.
Les enjeux du congrès de la FTQ p.4
LUTTER
OUVRIERE
Soutien actif au Front commun
NON A LA LOI 62!
LE LIVRE BLANC DU PO P.3
EDITORIAL: LES RESULTATS DES ELECTIONS PARTIELLES P2
*Thecoordination of actions against nuclear
*The coordination of specific actions of the
movement, particularly action for the right to free abortion on demand.
The congress showed its realism and good sense by limiting those actions in which we seek to coordinate the interventions of a series or
sections sympathising organisations. Obviously this small number of campaigns doesn't cover (far from it!) all the
topics of Cass struggle revolutionary struggles in progress. But the FI is still too weak to mobilise its forces effectively for a greater number of objectives.
congress drew a clear distinction such campaigns and those of a propaganda charac-
necessity be These will. consist essentially of articles in our press, backed up in countries
issue with Duolid meetings and participation in campaign bodies.
Among the most important subjects in this
*defence of the Kampuchean people against the starvation attempts of imperialism and its allies in South-East Asia;
*defence of the Indochinese revolution in
of the sectors. of the colonial to particularly imperialism (Zimbabwe,
*defence of national minorities or especially oppressed nationalities (Irish, Basques, Kurds);
*defence of tortured political prisoners in Argentina, Brazile, Chile, Uruguay;
immigrant workers in the imperialist countries against the discrimination
and repression they suffer;
but torward
programme in this area; *defence of soldiers struggle against
use of nuclear weapons.
which political and adopted:
section have elections
campaign to defend trade union
America.
Important battles
In France, in this regard.
relatively small
wide -
struggle for the socialist revoluțion
workers • basic
will be carried out.
power) and
political campaigns,
Springboard
and
described above. more
forward.
The objective
bureaucrati movement, the
stepping possibility
leaderships virulent pursuit of South revolutionary
advance.
whose concrete outlines
socialist revolution.
*the struggle for a 35-hour week;
*the struggle for the whole programme we
women's liberation movement (for the first time in the history of the international workers movement, the ilth World Congress of the FI adopted a global
democratic rights, a NATO and the other. imperialist military alliances, and against the
There is a precondition for the achievement of these tasks, however, which was understood and accepted as such by the big majority of delegates at the lith World Congress, and
underlies in a practical sense all the organisational documents COLLEC and step up proletarianisation of our organisation.
The Fl today already consists in its majority of unionised wage-earners. It counts in its ranks numerous union leaders at a factory and local level. Hundreds of members of its Spanish
won positions in trade union
In Sri Lanka, the FI section spearheaded the
rights. In Brazil the forces turning towards it play an important role in the trade union opposition which is fighting for the political independence of the most important proletariat in Latin
Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, the United States, Peru Mexico, Japan and Colombia, forces which are part of the FI or sympathise with its ideas have been in the forefront of important battles against the bosses' austerity offensive, against the union bureaucracies' tendency to capitulate
But the number of workers in basic industry
among wage-earners and union militants in relation to their weight in the workers movement as a
and above all their decisive weight both in the daily class struggle and in the
That is why the 11th congress decided to continue and step up the proletarianisation of the Fourth International by suggesting to the sections the measures necessary to increase in a decisive fashion the number and weight of
industr organisations. This decision in no way implies a mechanical schema. It takes account of the particular conditions in each country and leaves to each section and sympathising organisation the power to decide the way in which this turn
This has nothing to do with 'workerism'. In no way does it revise the important theoretical gain of our movement that the proletariat is made up of wage-earners in their entirety (those under economic compulsion to sell their labour
workers in industry. It rejects all temptations to adapt to the working class milieu as it is. It is combined with a stronger emphasis on the need for central
and on the theoretical grounding of our militants and our cadres.
The Fourth International has developed considerably from a numerical point of view over the last decade, even if this growth has slowed somewhat over the last two or three years in the imperialist countries for the reasons
We now have to use this increased force as a springboard for a new leap
conditions the crisis engulfing capitalism and the traditional
leaderships ot new progress of the world revolution - will aid this leap forward. The
proletarianisation, the of influencing maJor workers' struggles throughout the world from the inside, a change in the style of work of our national
and organisations, the vigorous policy of non-sectarian regroupment will all help to create the subjective conditions for this new
Success here will mean a new stage in reaching our goal, one which is still distant but
Male how becoming visible: the creation of the world party of the
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 13
Page 14 scan of this page
LETTERS 328/9 UPPER STREET LONDON N1
LETTERS published on this page will normally be cut to at least 400 words; 10 ensure that the maximum number of readers can express their views.
Anonymous letters will not be published unless there is a very special. reason, but real names will be withheld from publication on request.
Split to Fuse
WHILE agreeing with comrades Hearse and Packer's analysis of the split in the USFI, their conclusions do not necessariv follow from it. 'The point about the split is that it is a sectarian split, carried out by those who put their own factional interests before those of the International as a whole: The Fi was therefore justified in expelling them.
What is inconsistent is to then appeal to the sectarians for unity, or to accept the hypocritical statement of their supporters in the IMO that the fight goes on' — the fight for a split? The correct reply to this by the IMG would be to instruct them to cease their splitting activities, or else be expelled.
This result would then have the welcome effect of removing the chief obstacle — the sectarian current in the IMG — to the formation of a unified revolutionary organisation in Britain with the Socialist Workers Party, and clear the way to beginning the task of building a mass revolutionary party as the British Section of the Fourth International. Splits and fusions are a necessary part of this process. J. STRĄUTHER (Liverpool]
Credit and debit ALL credit to your paper for covering the rise and fall of Hull News. Noel Hibbert's post-mortem (29 November) was certainly controversial.
He argues that too much reliance was placed on professional journalism. I judge this to be untrue, but the point is that money problems caused the paper to die. Specifically, the lack of launch capital and political resistance by advertisers.
He also argued that the strength of the paper must lie in its base of paid sales, nor in advertising. But paid sales were not the problem, advertising was. While political resistance by advertisers is inevitable, nobody has yet come up with a formula for a mass circulation local paper not dependent on adverts.
Your contributor wrote of factory subscriptions. He knows perfectly well that the Newsagents' Federation had demanded exclusive sales rights outside the city centre. He talks of a smear campaign. In fact the local press ignored Hull News (naturally enough) while the radio was subdued but sympathetic.
After working alongside Noel tor four years, I find it typical that he should casually double the amount of money he is supposed to have raised in ine labour movement.
BRYNLEY HEAVEN, Ads Manager, Hull News.
And another AS a Hull News activist, I would like to reply to Noel Hibbert's article (29 November). Apart from waffle and factual 'mistakes', Noel produced a semi-accurate account of events, but he didn't mention a major factor in the newspaper's failure - -the isolation of Hull Trades Council from the ocal workers' movement.
First, the waffle. What does seeking advertising from 'businesses least tuned into competitive markets' mean? Unfortunately, the SWP bookshop can't manage £1,000 a week
More seriously, Noel raises the myth of the professional journalism mistique. We all attempted to involve
but a weekly newspaper needs a # me it bare
Aren'i Socialist Worker andl Socialist Chailenge run in this way?
Anoiner faise argument is that the venture surfered from a media red «art. Ihetact is that the local Istaser totally ignored us. and
Ace i locals Charte
BAD
TASTE Humberside, I'm sure we would have been informed of any attacks from
A basic problem in running a trades council newspaper is the trade council's isolation from the working class in Hull. Despite being more left wing and active than most, Hull Trades Council is essentially a paper tiger. On May Day marches, for example, only two hundred people can be mustered, half of them from left groups.
A manifestation of this isolation was the lack of starting capital raised from the labour movement for the newspaper. Apart from the donation of £500 from the dockers — the trades counch bresident and another executive member are dockers — other donations were pitiful. The AUEW district committee, for instance, gave us the princely sum of £2.
While £25,000 was necessary to launch the paper, we only raised a tenth of that sum. When the printers saw our first editorial they demanded weekly payment of their bills, and since the advertisers paid on a monthly basis, we immediately had a cash-flow problem.
The mass of workers in Hull do not identify with the trades council or its newspaper, and this relationship was worsened by the downturn in class struggle under the Labour government, the legacy of which is still with us.
A possible solution is to publish a large number of copies of a free newspaper to be distributed to most people, perhaps at their place of work. I understand that this is what Sheffield Trades Council is attempting to do with Forward.
Such a paper could adopt a left-wing perspective and take in advertising, because a sufficient number of individual capitalists would advertise if enough people would see their adverts. This could raise sufficient funds to produce a newspaper which a largish number of people would want to buy.
GEOFF COLLIER (Hull)
Child-care OH DEAR, does Tommy Cusack (Letters, 22 Nov) not realise that the "task' of childbearing can only be done by women? Or has this fact escaped his notice? Is it really the ideology of woman as mother that prevents men helping with the shitwork or is it really because housework is a bourgeois fetish? JESSICA H. NORRISH (East London]
Marx and men I AM sure nearly all letters to Socialist Challenge have to be cut for reasons of space, but the cuts that were made to my letter (22 November) set me up like a coconut in a shy for replies like Louise Smith's last week.
The central points of my letter. were, first, that Sue Landau's view that the cause of women's liberation could be advanced by women journalists scabbing on the NUJ's fight to have its members reinstated in their jobs had to be opposed. And secondly, her claim that men have historical material interests as a sex separate from those they have as a class and that this was a Marxist idea had to be denied.
Unfortumately, all these references were the ones that were cut. Perhaps this is what led Louise Smith to believe that I was concocting a theory in order to dismiss the politics
of the women's movement.
In fact, I was neither trying to speak on behalf of women, nor trying to define who is and who isn't a feminist, but merely restating what I believe Marxism - from Engelsto Evelyn Reed — has said is fundamental to a materialist understanding of women's oppression.
Of course, the activity of the women's movement has caused the development of this theory and the
would say that the basic conception that women are oppressed as a sex is a function of class society has very well stood the test of time.
a Chinese wall in theory between the interests of women and those of the working class as a whole. This led her to advocate actions which undermine the fight to win male workers to an understanding that it is in their own interest to support the campaigns of the women's movement and of women generally.
had on stressing the class content of the fight for women's liberation.
arguments further than that, but I hope that Sue, Louise, and other readers will accept there is a genuine and important debate, and that 150 years of Marxism cannot be dismissed as 'crass and sexist garbage' just because most of it was written by men.
TOMMY CUSACK [London NW1]
Whose sell-out? LAM moved by anger to reply to the article 'Why has the Patriotic Front agreed' (22 November). At the very moment when the Front needs support, SC prints an article accusing it of betraying the liberation struggle
In reality the concessions the Patriotic Front are forced to make reflect not so much their weakness as the strength of British imperialism. one political consequence: abandoning the Zimbabwean liberation struggle to the clutches of imperialism.
Front for capitulating to imperialism is disgusting when the national ZEC demonstration on 11 November could only muster 3,000 people, a large Front supporters.
by its absence. It made no serious attempt to mobilise support for and build a large anti-imperialist demonstration.
and all supposed socialists in Britain — the building of a genuine anti-imperialist movement in Britain, which will tie the hands of British imperialism and prevent it pressurising movements like the Patriotic Front. Until that movement is built, for SC to condemn the Front is tantamount to siding with imperialism
Victory to the Patriotic Front! Hands off Zimbabwe!
LEROY SMITH [Bury] Blunt speaking YOUR editorial on the Blunt affair (22 November) was a mixture of reaction and rubbish:
the cover-up done on behalf of a ruling class homosexual, you think fit to devote a paragraph to the alleged sexual relationship between Princess
I IN THIS DREAM THE BRITISH ARMY SUICIDE EN MASSE development of some rival ones. But I
and parasites'.
I thought Sue's original letter built I concentrated in the few words I
It's impossible here to develop the and gays.
long?'
sexuality?
Economics
on the economic crisis.
SC's inversion of reality can only have
For SC to condemn the Patriotic
The British lett was conspicuous
That is the real task that faces SC
capital tends to fall capitalist lines. • (1) In an editorial concerned with
, 15 BADRAY ABOUT THAT?
Margaret and John Bindon. The only way this can be understood is that the ruling class is 'corrupt' because of its 'loose' sexual morality. Since when has this been the position of SC?
(2) (The Blunt affair) showed how scared our ruters are of those of us who stand outside the palaces of Westminster and Buckingham. The degenerates and parasites who occupy those buildings are truly frightened of the wrath of the common people'. We can leave aside for the moment the questions of just how 'frightened' they are, and of whether Labour MPs, for instance, are 'degenerates
The passage quoted is a bit ambiguous. because we do not know whether the type of degenerate in question is the homosexual Blunt or he high-lving Princess Margaret
People who do this from the left neglect the fact that the decay of a mode of production results in increased open sexual immorality not only in the ruling class but in the oppressed classes too. Any attacks of this kind on the ruling class therefore inevitably rebound onto the working class, and particularly onto women
(3) The editorial ends: "And it they are that unsure of themselves, the only question that remains 1s why have we tolerated this scum for so
. This ridiculous piece of rhetoric is thrown in because the editorial can come to no useful conclusion, being based on such weak politics. When will you write a sensible editorial on the subject of
DAVID ETHERINGTON [York]
IVERY much agree with Ken Tarbuck's remarks (Letters, 29 November) about your centre-spread
First, let me say that I think it is very good that you are now having more basic propaganda material in the paper. However, it is probably due to neglect of this in the past that two of the three articles in the centre-soread were based souare von bourgeois rather than Marxist economics. The most essential point that such propaganda needs to explain (rather than continually assert) is why this is a capitalist crisis and why the workers are not to blame.
The reason is that the crisis is ultimately caused by the long term increase in the amount of capital
materials relative to that invested in labour power. Since surplus value and profit are only made from labour power, this means that the amount of profit made on a given amount of
It is this above all that is responsible for the long term fall in the rate of profit (not the amount of profit, as you say) since the early fifties, and thus for the present crisis I'his crisis theretore on v arises because production is organised along
Your articles, however, presented a different story. To explain the depression of the 1930s, you quote J K Galbraith. The problem was 'the bad distribution of income', so that working class incomes were too low to buy capitalists' consumer goods.
This does not explain either that or this crisis, however, because if working class demand is insufficient' you have to explain why demand from capitalists for means of production and luxuries does not counter-balance this. This theory leads you to the conclusion that raising working class incomes would lead to 'an increase in
WAS ONLY A DREAM!
STRANGE economic activity', which is the opposite of the case.
The second argument you present is that the 1929 crash was produced by stock market speculation by promoters, gratters, swindlers, imposters and frauds' who diverted money 'which could have been invested in new plant and machinery (into) the stock market'.
However, a half page devoted to moralistic attacks on speculators cannot explain why it is that they speculate rather than invest productively. The reason was and is that the rate of profit is too low, for the reason already explained.
One of the articles starts: We all know that capitalism causes the misery and deprivation that people suffer in their daily lives.' It is precisely because we do not all know this that Marxists have to prove it! This is a difficult thing to do, but it is certain that it will never be done by relying on bourgeois economics, which sets out to prove exactly the opposite JAMIE GOUGH [London WC1]
Memorial
THE Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize for 1979 has been awarded to Dr GA Cohen, Reader in Philosophy at University College, London, for his book Kari Marx's Theory of History. A Defence, published by Oxford University Press.
The prize, to the value of 2100, is awarded annually and is intended to recognise and encourage outstanding research and writing in the tradition of Isaac Deutscher
The prize for 1980 will be awarded in the autumn of 1980 and a jury drawn from among the sponsors will consider work published or in
Any such work should be submitted by I May 1980 to The Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize, c/o Lloyds Bank, 68 Warwick Sq., RALPH MILIBAND, on behalf of the Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize
THEMASSACRE
OFTHEINNOCENTS How profit now endangers health
From unextracted lead, Since petrol-firms with countless wealth
Think more of greed instead.
Does no one care that we must breathe
Such lead-polluted air, Orthat the petrol-firms bequeath
Such harm without a care?
The death rate on the road is known
y in rigures or despair.
But profit, greed and wealth disown
High rates of lead in air.
Though we with pent-up anger groan
Atlead with every breath The baby and the child are prone
Much more to harm and death.
King Herod had the children stain
And nousands wen were ocad How heartless are the firms that gain
By pain of cursed lead.
© N. Racine-Jaques, 1979
The lead content of petrol is higher Britamn than in most other countries. Lead i an accumulative poison. the
biblica story; also alludes to a Parliamentary slang
Government Bills not sufficiently advanced lo de passea durine the session Cassell's New English Dictionary. J
Page 15 scan of this page
Crossroads, an adult Toytown
UNDER REVIEW
a realist
FOR only the second time in a long musical
career, week.
London, reinforced his following here.
combine tight laconic, subtle yet razor sharp lyrics. from nis early days as songwriter for, amongst
Streisand, through the
enjoyed with his song Amazing Dancing
ability to write popular, interesting music has
never been in doubt.
are generally either the best session around at the time or exalted musicians l their own right; Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voorman. Joe Waist and Clarence 4 hite have
all played on his albums.
apart. Though far from słoganizing of much of
the new wave, his
political. They reveal a sharp zaztezes: di the
and alienatior
imperialist heartland of the United States.
parody as in Short People or Pr
which begins:
We may not be perfect. knows we try
happens
In other the
straighiforward. Rednecks
attacks overt Southern racism:
By Sue Aspinall THE WORLD of Crossroads is an adult Toytown. The scriptwriters are , probably being animated by the spirit of Enid Blyton and haven't told anyone their secret.
In the suburbs there is a grown-ups Toytown, with an antique shop, a doctor's surgery, a grocers, a post-office, garage, a care ana a morer. Ivo one who lives there knows factories, large corporations, bureaucracies, department multi-story car parks, newspapers or hospitals. They have never heard of trade unions, they find accommodation with amazing ease, burdened with poverty or ill-health or large numbers of children.
What Crossroads suggests to its millions of viewers is a world seen through Thatcher's spectacles: the petty bourgeois grocer's daughter's view of life. At Crossroads motel, the microcosm of the universe, cares about her employees stand by them as long as they work hard and do the right things.
Family
The fact that in this case the boss is a woman gives the whole enterprise even more of a "family' feel. cooks, cleaners,
workers nadase marchanics, farm
workers secretaries
Boss-mers. They all ene
boss-mother. have terests opposed to hers. never any silly talk of wage rises. or complaints of injustice
Within this cosy family is the central. nuclear family Mortimer, Jill and Sandy. But it's an famo-date Masher orime has deen rather battered modern family tragically widowed, Jill is divorced and does not have custody of her children, and Sandy struggles with his handicapto 'make a go of it' in the family business. nave all raceu daversity ananave
Randy Newman,
Randy Newman played in Britain last
The two concerts, at the Dominion in
already substantial
He again showed the ease with which he can
progressive music with
commercial others, Barbara success Simon Smith and his Bear, his UY12 Short People, Newman's
The musicians who accompany his piano
players
But it is his lyrics which really ser New man
songs are often directh
Sometimes this is actised ot 1220ks
tical Scicace We me likes be let metics
But all around even our old friest her e
Let's drop the big our sad see sta
mentage of Birmingham
La farm,
about vast
one is the boss • and will made mistakes, but they The receptionists, There are nuclear families in the series. and her uncle live together. the inThere is visited her son in America.
and two
of Mrs. tamily.
Within this
problems.
They
By Colin Robinson
We're Rednecks, we don't know our arse from a hole in the ground We're keeping the niggers down and the hypocrisy of Northern liberalism You're northern nigger's a negro — he's got dignity.
Down here we're too ignorant to realise The North has set the nigger free.
He's free to be put in a cage in Harlem, New York City, Free to be out in a cage on the South side of Chicago.
Newman's views on religion are to be found in God's Song which he introduced last Sunday with a unique song in which God speaks directly to you through me — it'd be better if Dylan was hecon rous Jewish, New Orleans drawi singer I burn down your cities — how blind you must be, I take from you your children and you › ow bessed we are Your all must he crazy to put your faith in me That's why I lose mankind
It doesn't seem likely that increasing saces * ill destroy toman's sensitivity in ite may i ectually Listes all you forb Oth it's lovely at the tay "The seamless whole of the little motel world'
battle on with family loyalty and dignity intact.
no other competing Alison David Hunter sees his ex-wife and grown-up son from time to time. Diane has just
KITTEE ning surprising absence of the mum, dad
kids model enables the emotional focus to stay on the motel and the family business/business as
secure world untouched by unemployment, homeberness case a more res.
moral ones.
Currently there is the tale of repressed young Alison who is the domestic slave of her religious Bible-thumping uncle: will she be able to break away
La rather = r=
HE DOTE IN ETE
78: E] from him to establish her own idențity without hurting him?
Then there was Jill and custody proceedings for her daughter - but she ended up doing the Right Thing in nobly giving up her child Thereis also another bizarre story run-
present ex-schoolteacher who once seduced a pupil and is now up to further shady behaviour the motel's
TROTSKY ON TV Frosty i programme 'on
(including interview
with Pierre Frank) will be
shown on BBC 2 on Monday 17
December at 7.30 p.m.
accountant — his ploys or will she continue to be the deceived by his superficial charm?
Most of the narrative impetus is situations settingich individuals situations morality can be tested. Bad behaviour an dishonesty.
Agreed, selfishness indulgence Good respectful, dignified, honest, LCH
working and never breaks the rules
Tonnanne source of narrative suspense. All the major characters are single — Diane, Jill, David, Meg and Sandy -and from time to time a possible partner is investigated for one or other of them, "comes to nothing'. Sexual love is rare
I DE nas in
But
motel will Meg see through
individuals
fraud, : deception,
and sexual behaviour hard-
old interest is an underlying
- Verso pbk, £5.25.
- Benny,
Tel. 01-2260571
although it usually
TE TUTE HOL TIE CIT
Fact =207 woodcaly. The set E= 4azi5 from the same anties sit is camera movement aterizaa from the same seai in the stade
Low-budget
Actors make entrances and exits across the confined space — but there is very little sense of moyement their part either, It seems strange that television drama is unable to use even basic outdoor locations to convey a more 'realistic' sense of the world, of cars and streets and buildings and fields and other people - and that it
fact reverted to basically theatrical, not cinematic, techniques.
low-budget ideology perhaps the whole idea is that the world should not intrude — it would disrupt the seamless whole of the little
world, tne extended family within which individuals can wrestle undisturbed with their consciences. Because, after all, there's nothing else to wurry about - is there?
The Other
Bookshop
The Young Lukacs and the Origins of Western Marxism. by Andrew Arato and Paul Briener -Pluto Press, £4.95.
Fascism and Dictatorship; by Nicos Poulantzas
The Socialist Register 1979, Miliband an
Saville (eds) — Merlin, £
28 Upper Street, London N1 2X
Socialist Challenge 13 December 1979 page 15
Page 16 scan of this page
Socialist Challenge AGAINST PRIOR
By Alan Turner
THE WEEK which saw the Employment Secretary James Prior introduce his long-threatened antiunien legislation ended with promises of the type of action which can send the Prior Bill to a shredding machine.
*The steel uniors called an all-out. indefinite strike due to January. And requests are being made for help from dockers, miners and transport workers. One aim is: stop the import of any scab steel into ine coully
*South Yorkshire Labour leaders and union delegates, week-end put out the call for a general strike in South Yorkshire against the
for 18 February resolution urged the national 24 hour strike.
Neither has Prior's Bill escaped attention. Even Len Murray, general secretary of the TUC has said: 'We shall do everything in our power to stop the legislation getting on the statute book and to obviate its effectrs if it does."
Background
The background to the rising tide of anger against the Tory government and its class allies in understandable.
As far steel workers concerned not only are the planning to cut another 32,000 jobs, but the nationalised steel industry has offered their workers an astonishingly low two per cent pay increase. And this at a time when inflation is running at 20 per cent. Unice upon a time workers were told accept either wage cuts or job cuts. Now they are being told to accept both.
Just where those cuts could lead to was outlined meeting by John Methven, director
Methven forecasting an unemployment total of
PICK
• PIC
9501
Registered with the Post
tory start on'?
second TUC to call a
mausery
three and a half million. are It is SUMI Tories forced the
Confederation into
would be dramatic.
imports were stopped at the
DIVOLC
reported
in for the last few years. newspaper.
FIGHTING BACK
warnings that have right wing leadership of Iron and Steel Trade
putting out strike call. The impact of such a strike
If no steel was produced and if British industry topped grind to apart.
While there is no denying the crisis which the steel industry throughout the world faces a successful strike in this country would immediately offer a way out of the defensive position steel workers have found themselves
Southall cal
Published by Relgocrest
The prevention of scab imports would also be a direct challenge to the Government's proposals on 'secondary picketing. Pickets at the docks would be violation of Prior's union-curbing laws. But they would also show why those need to fought; a strike which permitted the import of steel into the country would be no more than a paper tiger. As far as the steel workers are concerned 'secondary picketing' is the only effective weapon they have.
So the message to take into the new year is one of worker fighting back - against Prior's laws, against wage-cuts and against the destruction of the welfare state.
PICK
TRIALE
paign committee
KEL
Ltd. for Socialist Challenge.
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