Socialist Challenge No. 127, 20 December 1979
The scan: sc-n127-dec-20-1979.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
ALIVE, WELL AND LIVING IN 10
ST
SCROOGE IS DOWNING
How to make
an H-Bomb
No. 127 20 December 1979 20p Also:
Petr Uhl in prison
Labour's Love Lost
— A Xmas Pantomimı
Rhodesian Saga — A Letter from Soames
Page 2 scan of this page
Socialist Challenge, 328/9 Upper Street, London N1. Editorial: 01-359 8180/9. Distribution and advertising: 01-359 8371.
OUR POLICIES
C'apitalism is in crisis. The leaders of the Lahnur Party and the trade unions offer solutions that are in the interests not of the workers but of the capitalist class.
Surialist Challenge believes that the iwo vital tasks confronting revolutionary socialists are:
• To build broad-based class struggle tendencies in opposition
lahour movement. These should
non-exclusive In grouping together militants holding & wide range of polluical yews.
In begin in light for the unified democratic revolutionary socialist organisation which can,
application uniled front tactics, begin to be seen as an alternative by thousands workers engaged in struggles.
Such an organisation should be based on the understanding that:
The struggle for
seeks te unite the fight of
workers against the with that of other oppressed layers of societ! — women, black people. gays struggling liberation. This socialism can only he achieved by creating new organs of power and defeating with all necessary means the power of the capilatist state. 2 than who Our socialism will
more democratic I than what exists in Britain today. with full rights political parties and currents that do not lake up arms against the socialist state. The Stalinist models of 'socialism' in the USSR and Eastern Europe have discredited sncialism in the eyes of millions of workers throughout the world. We are opposed to them and will offer full support to all those fighting for socialist democracy.
3a wot eat captain The interests of workers and
on a world scale. Capitalism has not only created a wond market, it has created politics. Thus we fight for working class unity on an scale. This unity will in the long run he decisive in defeating both the imperialist regimes in the West and the brutal dictatorships they sustain in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
le Bmmediate pithdrawat ing
withdrawal British troops from letting the Irish people determine Their own future.
The Communist parties in Europe are in crisis. Neither the 'Eurocommunist the pro-Moscow wings have any meaninglui strategy for overthrow of the capitalist state. Nes revolutionary socialist parties are necessary than hefore. Conditions toda! more favourabie Than over the preceding three decades. But such
only rejecting sectarianism and seeing internal democracy not as a luxury but as a vital necessity. This means the right to organise factions and tendencies.
If you agree with these principles and wall involved activities by Socialist Challenge supporters in your area, fill in the form helow and send it to us. dist Challenge 20 December 1979 Page 2
character.
in October for
appeal against the verdicts. and the photographs,
through
of
socialism Benda. A video
• judge's office.
hearing, their
Britain Platts-Mills OC.
The
Vice-President
for all
the
Exclusion
But his exclusion
leaflet circulating world
international
the Committee
crackdown.
ABOUT PETR UHL
Ireland and Uhl is, and
told is that he is a Trotskyist.
Petr. nor that when I first met him,
For a revolutionarv viarxist
Never are might be actual political positions built by Rotation in
EDITORIAL
THIS THURSDAY, 20 December, Petr Uhl and the other four civil rights. campaigners in Czechoslovakia Jailed
"subyersion' appear before the supreme court to
1111º time just published Britain, reveal that the judge at Petr Uhl's trial has been doubling As g senior official in the Czech political police. The pictures, which appear in the latest issue of Labour Focus on Eastern Europe, show that the judge's office has been used as a base for spying operations on the flat of one of those sentenced in October: Vaclay
camera trained on Benda's flat has been wired up to the
In response to the appeal court
CHERISI Charter Defence Committee is sending one of the most prominent socialist lawyers
trial: John
Platts-Mills was expelled from the Labour Party in May 1948 for going to Prague to hail the victory of the Communist Party take-over. He is President of the Haldane Society and
the International Association of Democratic Lawyers,
Moscow-backed lawyers' which Czechoslovakia's legal profession belongs.
At the time of writing it is still not clear whether Platts-Mills will be able to attend the appeal court hearing.
would major international scandal amongst socialist and communist awvers
On this page we publish, for the first time in the West, the text of a
in Prague explaining who Petr Uhl is. It is written by Petruska Sustrova, a close friend of Petr Uhl and a member of
to Defend the Unjustly Prosecuted [VONS] which is the target of the regime's present
IF YOU WANT to find out who Petr
you ask someone who knows him, the first thing you will be
His political beliefs are certainly the thing that people know about
I don't know how he got his political convictions, bur I do know
over years ago, he was already a Trotskyist
Given the fact that it is not only the Czechoslovak media which tries to equate terrorism and Trotskyism,
useful to outline Petr's He is supporter of the revolutionary line in Marxism, which takes as its starting point the idea that after the socia revolution it is necessary to prevent the bureaucratisation of the state by establishing a regime of self-manage-
This means that people should run years things themselves: that they should not hold official positions permanently but that there should be a rotarion
not 2=
Charter 77 appeal-
'About Petr Uhi
cer vove a vendon defence of legality like Charter Petr Uhi has been activities of Charter 77 from the start and has also helped to form Committee for the Defence of Those Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS). It is because of this that he is now in prison with nine other members.
This is not the first time that Petr has been imprisoned. He spent four (1969-73) in prison 'subversion'. At that time, I was a member of the Revolutionary Youth Mo emen: and I can well remember
SABATOVA, wife of Petr Uhl, outside the court in Prague
77. Jaroslay Sabata, who had also been released in December 1973. their reasons for getting married was the so that they could keep in contact il either was regulations only correspond with members of their family!
some of Petr's characteristics. I have for had many opportunities in discussions and meetings to learn from timo his immense patience. dez jeroaded : LUE TETE
at te apartmeni. Isualy Per was followed by polic
In 1974 he married the daughter of
One of
arrested again. Prison pertil Itiales from
It would be wrong not to mention
male Inn
! correct and necessary.
whenever he went out.
Imagine going out for a walk and being followed by two heavies and a car crawling behind you close to the kerb. Imagine picking up a letter and having one of these gentlemen leaning over your shoulder to see who it's
Imagine visiting friends and them asking whether the heavies are with you or just following you
Anyone who can put up with this sort of pressure without losing thei
sincine into extremely
• ¿ = TED TE I
writiced his own defend the hers. I think you can belief that it is risk rather than renounce one's right to do what is
Page 3 scan of this page
'A national strike for wages and jobs on 2nd January
Nuts & Bolts of Meccano
It's that time of the year... The next issue of Socialist Challenge will be published on Thursday, 3 January. Don't hangover — hang on!
By Gordon Gibson
FIFTY-five thousand jobs in South Wales are under the axe as a result of the rationalisation announced last week by Corporation.
Between 11,000 and 15,000 jobs are to go in steel with the closure of either Llanwern or the giant Port Talbot works, or the partial closure of both. The social consequences in Port Taibot and Newport will be horrendous.
Between 10 and 15 pits will close as a direct result of the steel cuts. taking around 10,000 miners' jobs. I inese poverty of the '30s will be a reality again for many communities in south Wales.
Hundreds of millions of pounds have been ploughed in to both works over the past decade. New furnaces, rolling lines, harbour - all now scheduled for the scrap heap — are a testimony to the lunacy of capitalism.
There has been a buzz of activity all week, with emergency meetings of regional union organisations, union MPs, and MPs rushing to the Tories. No one has thought yet to call mass workers' meetings. 'WE CAN take all the industrial action we like —and from 2 January we will be stopping the movement of all iron ore, steel; and coal for the steel industry bọt shutting the plants Corporation wants to close?
That's a comment from Archie Kirkwood, divisional officer for the National Union of Railwaymen in South and Central Wales, and chairperson 01 te committee. It indicates the scale of the problem now facing some hundreds of thousands of working people whose livelihoods are on the chopping block thanks to the Tories' plans for the steel industry.
The executive of the rail union has ordered its members to ensure that: 'Nothing will move, whether it is raw material or iron ore.' reason is plain enough, as Kirkwood explains.
Iron ore Is shipped through the Port Talbot Tidal Harbour and is then transported to the steel works at Port ¡alool Dy Llanwern by rail. The latter involves seven full train-loads a day.
Add to that the transport by rail of coal to the steel works, and of the finished product to LIVERPOOL council last rejected by a five-vote Labour move for a council take-over of the occupied Meccano factory. Liberal and Tory councillors united to-
motion put Hatton.
Hatton explained: has to show absolute solidarity with the Meccano workers and ensure that they're kept in a job... so we're asking for the factory to be municipalised.'
immediate alm Meccano workers is to get the parentcompany, Airfix, to agree to 90 days' working notice during which they can find an a Lemanye closure redundancy. So far Airfix has offered
pay condition that the occupation ends.
Steel leader's answer
the British Steel cuts go inrougn, ine
and a deep water
Crushing to see
TUC vision
stops here-
really this is simply the British Steel
Welsh TUC's economic
through,
The
into South will be
convevor belt and to the blant ai co-operative, week forcing Airfix to keep the majority a ореп are being Meccano solutions. fight by Derek is not realistic. "The council with a fight by
seriously challenge the Tories.
Мессало. of the Merseyside is
councillors indicates.
on
It was Dafydd Ellis Thomas, Plaid Cymru MP for Merioneth, who made the most decisive statement of the week, calling for a action organised through the Wales TUC and supported by all Welsh workers.
Meanwhile the Labour machine calls for Port Talbot to be made a special development (again). Others annea ton Market funds. 1 ne Labour left and Communist Party call for import controls. And having heard it all before, everyone sits back to shed a tear over the funeral of Corby and Shotton.
Wyn Bevan, convenor of the electricians at Port Talbot and a solid Labour left, gives a lot of ground to Thomas in this hallowed land of social democracy. 'I think for once he's talking a lot of sense, ' he says. about. We know what sort of response we are going to get from the government, and if the trade union leaders aren't prepared to give a lead to their members then the trade union movement in this country is well on the way to being finished.'
Wyn Bevan expects events to move quite fast. Local and national TUC meetings are ; various parts of Britain, and the number of rail
Tolsthreatened by the likely closure of Port
Llanwern rapidly Nationally, about 18 per cent of rail freight comes from the steel industry.
The steel works in Wales were located in areas of high unemployment, shaping much of the economy of the region to the needs of steel. Already the plants at Shotton and Ebbw Vale have been axed. With the new effect on jobs in the steel, rail, and - in Kirkwood's words — will be 'tremendous'.
The figure he puts on it is 50,000 more on the dole queues in Wales. If BSC's plans that figure would multiplied by something like five to give the full impact of the closures nationally.
For Archie Kirkwood, the answer lies in subsidising coal production so thai British steel more competitive market. He's not very confident that this ides - which would require the lories to reverse their whole economic strategy — considered, let alone implemented.
And that, it is fair to say, is as far as the vision of the labour leaders goes. municipalisation, or factory discussed by ine answer? possible 940 Meccano workers alone to reverse Tory policy
Only by linking up British Steel and Their British Leyland workers could they
under But there is a way to defend jobs at
The labour movement on totally behind the occupation, as the move by Labour
recore A united campaign by the labour movement could force the council to take over the factory. A first step in a campaign would be a local conference of the labour movement to organise
the corporation.
the and Steel
wages and involved.
'It's no good farting
jobs. Even pledged active support.
sign on the dole now. climbs.
closures the
‹ 0a
go
have to
on the European
will even be the campaign and practical solidarity with Meccano.
Would a council take-over be the
Meccano workers have a fight on their hands with any new management.
They have already taken the first steps in a fight for workers control.
occupation has put movement of stocks and machinery
control. occupying workers have Meccano's books and discovered repayments made by Meccano on a £2 million loan from Airfix -
of Meccano received the loan.
All 940 jobs at the factory be preserved. If demand falls and there is less work then work-sharing with no loss of pay is the answer.
presently taking place. The Transport Union has put forward a programme calling for: the dismissal of the BSC management; a stay of execution for all closures and job losses until 1982, and a public inquiry into the running of
When this is rejected, the union is pledged to action
Wyn Bevan says: "The date set for the Iron
Confederation strike, January, should become a national strike for
jobs, with everyoouy gelling
It will be a tremendous first step if 2 January
should make that their first weapon in the fight. Only massive strike action will save these jobs.
The National Union of Railwaymen already given practical support to strike, by declaring that nothing will move into or out of the steel works, and the miners have commited themselves to action in defence of
North Sea oil rig workers have
But many are waiting for the lead from the steel workers. If we are to wait for Bill Sirs the ISTC general secretary, we might as well
Sirs will fight over the 2 per cent offer, but STEEL union leader Bill Sirs with Keith Joseph told them to get lost last weekend
Many new way to prevent deals which are against would the interests of the workers, and the latter should machinery is removed without the workforce.
would not please Margaret Thatcher, The but it could be carried out if it is fully opened supported by the movement.
The removal but no government and its replacement with having ¿ Labour government committed to the full nationalisation should compensation of all bankrupt firms is probably the only way the jobs of the Мессяпо workers could be defended
Llanwern! in the wrong job.
The likes of Wyn, the militants, steel
has January " and tor the ISTC Wales militants
industrial just won't be.
Len Murray after Sir
£1,000 to
The right to access to the books of management could be the
reach ensure that no or installed agreement of the fiver.
• boost.
A take-over by Liverpool council
Pat Stillman Cardiff IMG local labour N. Long Oxford IMG of the Tory K. Martin
Teesside SC without E. Mahood Anon •V. Coultas Week's total
not over the closure. He says that as he didn't call a national strike over Corby wouldn't be fair to call one over Port Talbot or LOCO E
Wyn Beyan takes a different view. 'ISTC members will have to tell Bill Sirs "If you won" give us support then we don't need it." If we cemovesome union leaders in then they can remove some union leaders in the process. any trade union leader is not prepared to figh over the loss of 52,000 jobs,' he adds, 'then be':
miners, otbe workers and Dafydd Thomas should be making plans now for mannis. This needs to be the priority for d following sieets
instrial acon up to pre fist
action
edundancy date in March is a necess for
uilding an active campaign to defend jol that defence is left to the Bill Sirs am co-thinkers on the TUC General Conso woons and mining valleys out wa to g
TWO WEEKS left before the end of the year and we still need anothe make our target! This week's total of £473.24 was boosted by the £325.74 raised at the Socialist Challenge Xmas Party last weekend IMG branches Xmas socials and raffles bring another £500 each week we might still Individual supporters too should spare us a thought over Xmas and dror Let's send Socialist Challenge into the '80s with a massive financia
Our thanks this week to: £10
2.50 Wandsworth NUT member
10
19 £473.21 OVERALL TOTAL £1,448.75
Socialist Challenge 20 December 1979 Page 3
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Labour's Love Lost
Tony and Callaghetra, As They Like It, etc., etc.) PERSONS REPRESENTED KING CALLAGHODGE THE LAST MACBENN, Pretender to the Throne COATSKY, Earl of Nottingnam THESCAR OF GILL STUART WINDMILL, Bishop of Battersea ROBERT ROW, Earl of Cambridge JOAN, Duchess of Leicester MACDUFFY, A villain of no fixed abode SIR MICHAEL FOOTSTAFF, A turncoat THEGHOST OF KING SALVADOR ALLENDE
Enter CHORUS, dressed in a boiler-suit.
I am here to start the play, To make you think of things That you will not see today.
To make your imaginations work So that you will not shirk From drawing your own conclusions. But first a few handy hints for all:
That it might not take place.
Macbenn, with your help, And if there's confusion l'li be back Unless by then I've got the sack.
Scene I - A clearing in Sherwood Forest,
OF LEICESTER MACBENN: Time is short, my friends
It is good that we meet
SCAR OF GILL:
COATSKY:
Mygood Lord,
MACBENN: Noble, brave Coatsky,
The next round.
JOAN OF LEICESTER:
MACBENN: Well spoken, tall and cautious lady,
MACBENN: I shall be with you soon.
(Exit all except MacBenn)
MACBENN:
Sorialist Challenge 20 December 1979 page 4
LABOUR'S LOVE LOST(Incorporating Machenn, Bennlet,
Prologue Think, when we talk of workers, that you see them; Marching forward proudly, their fists raised high And if you feel really moved we'll let you cry. Imagine when we talk of barricades that they are here, Do not let the words 'general strike' make you fear
is going to win the race.
near Nottingham.
Enter MACBENN, COATSKY, SCAR OF GILL and JOAN
To understand our defeat.
Our defeat, my Lord!
What does this mean, It was Callaghodge who the battle lost, Thou were hardly seen.
lagree, l agree, I agree, agree, agree
I have only recently joined your list But of one thing I am sure, We lost because of traitors in our midst.
Only a great mind could have harboured A thought so profound Which might help us win
Calm down, MacBenn, calm down.
My noble friends
We have many battles to win Many enemies to rout; Remember 'tis capitalism which be the original sin.
Our cavalry is still assembling And in its tail will lie the sting.
But now away with you all; I prepare for what is to come.
SCAR OF GILL: My Yorkshire lads grow impatient,
Don't keep them waiting long.
SCAROF GILL: Joan talks of patience and caution,
But make sure Thy speech in Barnsley Common Is not about class peace
O, that this too too awful situation would melt, Thaw and resolve itself soon Or that Methodism had not fixed Its canon against class war and Extra-parliamentary solutions!
How depressing, overpowering and Are the depths to which we have sulek.
While in office we laid the basis for all That our enemies do.
MACBENN:
falls on his knees.)
MACBENN: (Exit Ghost)
MACBENN:
FOOTSTAFF: unimaginable
O, Clem! O, Nye! O, Clem!
The state of welfare thou constructed Is over And we ourselves are to blame.
Our labour empire is under threat:
Steel, cars, docks, shipbuilding are under MacDuffy is a scoundrel and Moss is a wet. That it should come to this!
But seven months in office! - nay not so few, not So awful a government: that it has already Accomplished in 28 weeks what would have Taken us four years or more; so hateful That it cares not if our workers live Or die.
But did we not do the same?
True I did protest, but few know that For 1 never discarded my Cabinet hat.
Let me not think of it:
Frailty thy name is MacBenn.
But now must I grip myself End ali crazy businesses And prepare our forces for the fight. 'Tis not, 'Tis not too late Labourism has not been transcended by crue
It is unnecessary to smash the state.
VOICE: MacBenn, listen to me.
Who calls?
(Enter ghost of the Martyred King of Chile suddenly. MacBenn
Your majesty! Can this be true Is this a mirage I see before me?
Be thou a spirit of health or a Vision of doom?
Bring thou tidings of joy or Forebodings of gloom?
GHOST: Mark me, I am the spirit of
Thy old friend Salvador.
Speak great one, thou seest all.
Shall I rise or shall we fall?
GHOST: My blessing with you,
And these few concepts in thy memory retain Banish all old thoughts from thy head Or else like me thou shalt end up dead Our enemies will never relinquish Their hold upon our state.
The peaceful road we yearned for is Burnt and purged away; Our enemies are strong But we could be stronger.
The cock crows; I must leave.
Remember well my words sc Your widow does not grieve.
MacBenn revenge my foul and Brutal murder! MacBenn beware The Ides of Parliament!
Thunder and lightning, Brimstone and hell, Methinks that was no ghost, But a disguised Ernest Mandel! (Enter a white-haired Sir Michael Footstaff)
God save thy grace, MacBenn!
My young friend We have walked through many a lobby
And soon thou shalt be king.
(MacBenn pretends not to have noticed the old man. He turns ‚as if to walk away. But a loud fart from Footstaff detains him.)
My friend! My Jove! I speak to thee My heart!
MACBENN (to audience):
I know thee not old man: get thee to the Upper
How ill white hairs become a turncoat
attack. together Then I wish he would not fart!
House
I am annoyed by thy face, Make less thy body hence,
Leave moralising;
Than Callaghodge.
Thave turned
Go, then, and plead with Callaghodge to exercise His patronage
The wall
(Exit)
Enter MacDuffy and Callaghodge, arm in arm
CALL: Before thou speak, O brainless one,
My congratulations.
MACDUFFY: MacBenn, MacBenn CALL: 'Tis not as easy as it seems.
To fulfil my schemes. 1am old and despised I should go now, but MacBenn must not win.
MACDUFFY:
CALL: But all these men thou mentions
Are in the enemy camp For the task that lies ahead We need a different stamp Now listen carefully.
(He whispers in MacDuffy's ear.)
MACDUFFY:
CALL: Thou art a crude knave
And I shall ensure a Handsome reward falls Thy way.
And methinks I see a louse.
For me thou art a nightmare,
I consign thee to permanent
disgrace.
Know the damage ye have done is thrice greater
Reply not with empty words Nor with thy renowned demagogy: Presume not that I am what I was.
And never again shall I need thy
company.
Consult thy daily mirror on
But believe it not when it says MACBENN WILL FALL.
Scene II -- An antechamber in Callaghodge's castle in the
The sudden death of Squire Robbo Has weakened the forces of MacBenn.
I hear his name wherever I go Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Upon what meat does our MacBenn feed That he has grown so great!
Give the word, my lord, And we shall teach the Cheeky swine a lesson That he shall not forget.
It will need brains bigger than yours
"Tis true l am a fool But I have friends In many high places And their advice is often good.
The Prior of Westminster, Lord Edwardes of the Transvaal, Prince Conor Cruise of Orange, And Police Chief McBall.
So my liege and leader I can still deliver The forces that will bring about MacBenn's downfall.
There is one danger in that My troops might mutiny or desert. They might say 'We prefer another regiment, "We like General Moss's hat.
But I shall do thy bidding; I shali ensure that every soldier under my command Is created in my own image.
He salutes his officers, Touches the forelock When his betters pass, And assiduously licks Every piece of grime and dirt • Off every Gentleman's arse:
Page 5 scan of this page
If he whose piace thou took Is now a Lord in ermine clad Inen Inou slall De a Duke.
But beware the Scar of Gill.
He is audacious, nasty, brutish But it anvone can put Mackenn On my throne He will.
MACDUFFY:
But this I know:
You frown, my Lord?
And the Mick of Gahey?
Emm of Lynn?
MACDUFFY: Thou art right,
In its youth
Ability to think or speak Or write.
CALL:
Away with thee, Thy loyalty over-compensates For thine idiocies.
(Exit MacDuffy)
I always preferred men Who were fat Like Hattersboy.
MacBenn always had
A lean and hungry look.
Hethinks too much He smiles only with his lips Not his eyes He is a danger to the Labour realm. It will be a hard battle.
Scar of Gill.
Enter MACBENN, WINDMILL, ROW, COATSKY MACBENN: Good day my Lord Bishop, my Lord Row WINDMILL ROW:
MACBENN: I have read your manuscripts
COATSKY: It isthe birthday of St. Clement my Lord.
MACBENN:
Once more into battle, dear Comrades, once more
Without fear of war Let it not be said abroad
I am dull, I know; and those sparks
That others possess I lack.
The Scar of Gill stands alone;
We have a friend in Lord Gormless.
And the yeomen loyal to the
The Celts are with the Scar.
The blow my head received
Has permanently marred my Scene III — Barnsley Common. A platform on which sits the
(in unison) Good day your Highness.
And have incorporated the main points In my address. What day is it?
(mounts platform amidst cheers)
"Tis time to storm the citadel
Callaghodge.
Till he is gone
Yeomen of Barnsley Surely you recall
Squire Robbo
Besides the point.
Than most weapons.
Grow more deep;
That is why we say Prepare for battle,
ALL: The Scar of Gill
The Scar of Gill He's got the power And the Will.
When the Scar gives us a shout We his yeomen will come out For we are all fighting fit Quit, Finchley Witch, Quil Finchley Witch Quit, Finchies Witch Quit.
Curtain
Epilogue.
CHORUS:
The war is over, And ours has just begun.
That British workers could not dislodge A despised old dreg called
There is no hope of further advance No forward march, no gain The Witch of Finchley Will rule as well as reign But once our own house we do repair Then let the Witch beware.
The Battle of Saltley Gate Which decided Edward's fate.
"Tis true that times have changed somewhat We lost battles at Grunwick At Corby too and now the death of Has struck us a bitter blow But in quiet stillness and humility Our Lords Row and Windmill have prepared An Alternative Economic Strategy Whether it can ever work or not is It exists, it is here, and more powerful
With every passing day the
Cuts inflicted by the Witch
Our country could become a desert
Of despair and demoralisation.
I know these truths as does the Scar of Gill.
But wait till we sound the call
Before you hurl your cannon ball,
And now let us raise our voices and sing
Your favourite hymn.
Thus far and no further can we go today, So go home and sleep and dream of What you did not see or bear; But if MacBenn disappoints you No reason or room for despair, Many battles are lost and won before
WHAT'S OFF
free from: Box 62, London Wi.
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International'. A Spartacus publication. Available •HOW the RCG capitulates to Imperialism'. RCT public meetine. Ine onone box, shourn so, boxin:
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GAY liberation, Ireland, Racism, the fight against ine tories — les tae same tie wauk world over and why you have to join the SWP. XMAS quiz: Who will mention Ireland first on Command please, to: Humphrey Atkins, Hous Foot in the Daily Mirror or Tony Benn
situation in Outer Mongolia after the Albanian PUBLIC AUCTION: For the last forty years Ernie Roberts has marched on over 5,675 demonstrations, spoken at 659 public meetings. His shoes (vintage Jarrow 36, Spanish Civil War dem Act 1971, Cuts Lobb Enterprises, Boxing Day at Wembley Stadium. A boxing spectacular: The Mad Colonel vs PLO Heavy. Referee: Ayatollah BORN 10 RC and SH -
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Socialist Challenge 20 December 1979 Page 5
Page 6 scan of this page
The present for the person who has HOW TO BUILD YOUR ( H-BON
your own H-bomb. Peace on earth and goodwill to you all.
Part one: Getting
the ingredients THE HEART of the H-bomb is a successful Once you've got your A-bomb made thiroshima. Ail yoe have 19 do is set easy them up so that when they detonate they'll start reaction.
Uranium is the basic ingredient of the A-bomb. 'When a uranum atom's nucleus splits apart tremendous amount of energy. And it emits neutrons which go on to split other nearby üranium releasing more energy, in what called a 'chain reaction'.
There are two kinds of uranium, the rare UI-235, used in bombs,
more common, heavier, useless U-238. contains less than one per cent U-235, and in order to be usable in bombs it
: 'enriched' to 90 per J-235 and only ten pe
Ten pounds of U-235 is all you need to make the present that goes with a bang this Xmas.
The problem you face is how to get the uranium. Our advice is to steal it.
Stealing uranium might sound a bit dangerous but it will give you something to do on Boxing Day when Billy Smart's Circus is on TV: Uranium
If you are worried about the morality of thieving, you can console yourself with the thought that Her Majesty's Government breaks international law all the wallull.
It works like this. According to a motion passed at the United Nations in 1974 no member state is permitted to import uranium from Namibia as it is controlled - illegally according to UN law by South Namibia's Rossing mine, the world's largest open cast uranium Zierated by our very own Rio Tinto
Britain has ignored this resolution and imports 42 per cent of its uranium needs from Namibia. So if the government can break the law, why not you? And the route by which uranium arrives in Britain provides the clue for the would be hijacker.
starts . OII in the unenriched uranium oxide. The first leg of the journey is by plane, Africa Marseilles Hijacking planes hasn't proved too successful of late so it's best to wait until the stuff reaches Europe.
Theft
Dac
ONE OF Margaret Thatcher's Christmas presents to the nation is 160 nuclear missiles of the cruise variety: Last week the Tories agreed that these missiles can be sited in Britain, part of the nation's contribution to NATO. Maggie has also given the go-ahead to the building of 15 new nuclear reactors of the type which went wrong' in the Three Mile Island accident in the US.
Some people think all these bombs and nuclear waste coming to Britain is a bad thing. But quite frankly radiation isn't as bad as it's made out. Of course if you get too much of it you may feel a bit under the weather, but there are advantages. Spraying the country with a good dose of radiation can help speed up the evolution process, it can weed out the namby-pamby, whimpering type and even create whole new genetic forms. All in all it's an exciting prospect.
But we have one grouse with Maggie. Why should a boring old nationalised industry like the Ministry of Defence have a monopoly of H-bombs? We say a bit of private compelition would give the H-bomb industry a well needed kick up the backside (not to mention what it would give the rest of us). So here we are folks. The Xmas present for the person who has everything — how to make
SPRINGHELIS
successful A-bomb.
saying
hydrogen-fusion
it releases
nuclel,
and but
S IVORY cent U-238. time to get
BRITAIN'S uranium trail Africa.
mine, where eventually UN Works near Preston.
As far
form of the
over France 'Fissile Plutonium'.
it woud be simple
it's transported shoulin't be too difficult.
The problem
Pater Sullivan SAHARA DESERI
hands. fluoride uranium
your ANGOLA from
several NAMIBIA poison ROSSING OO :
Windhoek SICK).
T'S AFRICA
rest, which is destined for Britain, is flown to Orly airport in Paris from
LANECKOU Britain, reaching Springfield as making the bomb is concerned it is best to steal it in its most convenient hexafluoride form. But for this you might have to break into either the Narbonne plant or the Springfield plant. If you choose that
hexafluoride is usually stacked in 10 litre bottles or the bottles
in 55 gallon steel drums. The drums are usually marked
'Danger:
But as far as thieving is concerned
to steal the uranium en route to Springfield.
this
then face is
meie is sold manium arid
1. Pour a few gallons of hydrofluoric acid into your newly acquired uranium oxide. Use plastic jug and gloves to prevent dissolution of
Part two: The conversion process POUR a few gallons of concentrated hydrofluoric acid into your uranium oxide. This converts it into uranium tetrafluóride Now you have convert the tetrafluoride to hexa-
the gaseous form which is convenient separating out the U-235 from U-238.
To do this bubble fluorine gas into
container of tetrafluoride. Fluorine is readily available in tanks
chemical-supply firms. careful how you use fluorne.
times more deadly chlorine, the classic World War One
gas (ask your grand-daddy about that one; he'll laugh till he's
Anyway once you have a generous supply of uranium hexafluoride the final enrichment process can begin. This is where it begins to get really exciting.
Transform the gas into a liquid by subjecting it to pressure; you can use a bicycle pump. Ther make a simpic home centrifuge: fill a standard size bucket one quarter full of hexafluoride. Attach a six foot rope to the bucket handle. Now swing the rope (and attached bucket) around your head as fast as possible. this up for about 45 minutes and then,
gently put the bucket on the floor. The U-235 should have risen to the top where it can be skimmed off like cream.
Repeat this step until you have the required 10 pounds of uranium. Mind that you don't put all the enriched uranium into one bucket. Use at least two or three and keep them in seperate corners of the room. This will prevent one of those nasty nuclear accidents we keep reading about.
Now it's time to convert enriched uranium back to metal form. This is accomplished easily enough by spooning several ounces of calcium ravailable from BooLs) into
2. To separate U-235, the "cream," simply prepare a homemade centrifuge with a bucket and six feet of gloves. It is
of constructing the thing. for
Be It 1s than
calcium will react with the uranium
fluoride, a colourless salt which can easily be separated from your pure, enriched uranium metal.
prototype fast reactor at Dounreay in
Winfrith in Dorset.
metal from these sources would make liquid things a bit easier,
guarded, so it might be easier to bribe people who work there. This is quite easily done.
Keep Part three:
Stuffing your
A-bomb YOU WILL now have three or four bowls of uranium metal. Keep the bowis pounds of uranium and pack it into a nemspneric sice bowl. malleable, like gold, so you should have no trouble hammering it into a bowl to get a good fit. Take another your five-pound hunk of uranium and fit it
into a second stainless bowl.
'subcritical masses' each brought together will provide the
La pinch.)
AFEW PRECAUTIONS
IF YOU plan to make more than one bomb, it might be wise to wear
pretty dangerous stuff you'll be handling so a few precautions are in order. It's best to hold your breath while you
Never make an A-bomb on an empty stomach. If you find yourself dozing off while you are working or if you begin to glow in the dark, take a blood count. Prick your finger with a pin, place a drop of blood on a microscope slide and place it under a microscope. If you count much over 0.3 per cent white blood cells, call a doctor.
critical
enriched uranium
Fission
almost done. figure out but they are
type of gunpowder potassium carbon
Now take five
Uranium is
with a lew These two stuffed bowls are the
WICH
3. Now add calcium tablets, available at your local health-food store or pharmacy. (Dolomite will do, in
are mass which makes you A-bomb what it is. But keep them a respectful distance apart until you are good and ready to ignite
Hollow out the body of an old vacuum cleaner and place your two bowls inside, open ends facing each
As far as the A-bomb goes, you're The final problem is to how get U-23: hemispheres to smash into each other with sufficient force to set off a truiy effective fission reaction. Almost any
cablesive can be used (easy to make •with nitrate, sulphur and all easily available), blasting caps or TNT. The latter twc can be stolen from a building site.
But if you want to minimise th
"risk factor" it is best to try to get al
'even burning explosive' Common!
called 'plastic explosive' this is knowi
in the trade as C4. It is manuracture
by the Dupont company but is als
"available' from IC1.
Once the explosives are in pl
hook up a simple detonation de
DALLICS. a switch
some wire. Remember it is esse
that the two charges, one on ea
of the casing. go off at once
Page 7 scan of this page
inless-steel mixing bowls. (It be shaped almost as easily as admother's most dense plum aing.) Repeat with second bowl. Part four: Putting
your H-bomb
together
THE HEART of the H-bomb is the fusion process. Several A-bombs are detonated in such a way as to create thé extremely necessary to fuse lithium deuteride into pucleus slams nucleus, two created, and if this happens to enough deuterium nuclei rapidly enough the resuit energy, the energy of the H-bomb. purchased on costs about f500 a pound and you will need at least 100 pounds, so maybe you should steal that as well.
everything
WN
1B
Hammer the uranium into small 5. Hollow out an old vacuum cleancircuit to battery, switch, and alarm clock.
high temperature
When lithium into the deuterium helium nuciel are
amount of
deuteride can be the open market. It
magazine 'Seven Days' er, and prepare to stuff everything inside. 7. Close container. Attach a simple detonation device hooked up in parallel
Radiochemical Bucks.
jars A-bombs.
placed refrigerator would do.
other at the same time,
lithium deuteride
1,000 times the
With acknowledgements to the US
obtainable from Centre, Amersham,
Place the lithium deuteride in glass
surround with Attach each one to the same detonators so that they go off simultaneously. The container for the whole thing is no problem. They can
When the detonator sets off the four A-bombs will slam into each
creating four critical masses and four detonations. This will raise the temperature of the
to 100,000.000 degrees centigrado The result: at least
punch of the puny A-bomb that levelled Hiroshima.
6. Mold C4 plastic explosive around each bowl.
What to
do with
of ours what you
obvious things tọ living
sorts of
secondary pickets.
What to
do with
the
AFTER four moderately
Don't old
radionctive a few
up a notice so start playing near the
your bomb
WE ONLY tell you how to make the bomb, it is no concern
do with it.
And we can hardly be blamed if you let it off accidentally
But there are a number o
do with an H-bomb. You could sell it and make a pile of money, although with more and more countries getting bombs these days the market isn't what it was.
Or you could simply use your bomb as a deterrent. A discreet sticker on the door of
saying 'This Home Protected by H-bomb' will discourage all
unwelcome visitors, from left-wing paper sellers to
the waste
your A-bomb completed you'll have a pile of
fatal radioactive waste. This has to be got rid of.
You can flush it down the
about polluting the ocean, there's so
wingte there more bucketfuls won't make things much worse.
Alternatively you can bury the stuff, just as governments do all the time. Bury it in yow back garden but it's best to put
the kids don't waste.
Otherwise you'll soon find the kids will have retired to bed. THE end product, tested in Upper Street.
Socialist Challenge 20 December 1979 Page 7
Page 8 scan of this page
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Page 9 scan of this page
SOAMES reviewing the police and army in Salisbury The fight for abortion rights Abortion, Liberation and Revolution IMG, 25p
THIS PAMPHLET outlines clearly why the struggle for free abortion on demand, an essential right if womer are to have control over their bodies, is an integral part of the fight for the working class to have control over their lives.
It does so by setting the struggle for women's abortion rights in an historical, international struggle Colleal. The identifying how control of their own fertility has been taken away from women, and what has happened in Britain show how in capitalist society the freedom of women to control their own fertility is determined by interests of the ruing example: 'US aid to Bolivia promised in return for population control,' and the 1967 Abortion Act was introduced in Britain '... when the medical DIOJESSIOI beginning to be concerned about the effects that thalidomide was having:
Although reference to the Corrie Bill is made only in passing, there is a yery practical section dealing with
and class
sections
For how
ABORTION LIBERATION& REVOLUTION
ATIONA MARXIST GROUP
we should fight for women's abortion rights emphasising the need
work together on specific demands and in specific areas..' with
*... people who are willing to be active in the struggle for abortion rights but who may not call themselves feminists or socialists."
Abortion, Liberation and Revolution is useful in that it gives a broad overview of the issues involved in the fight for abortion rights. However, in dealing with such a wide range of issues in a brief pamphlet there is little developed argument, and clarity and brevity are sometimes achieved at the expense of glossing over important details.
One of the sixteen pages is taken up almost entirely with a full page picture of Marie Stopes, under which is written, 'In the early 20th century the work of Marie Stopes began to make safe and reliable contraceptives available to working class women.'
This of a woman who justifies her views about contraception saying, society allows the diseased, racially negligent, the thriftless, careless, the feeble-minded, the very lowest and worst members of the community to produce innumerable tens of thousands of stunted, warped and inferior infants.'
ANTOINETTE SATON
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
To:
Her Majesty, The Queen, Buckingham Palace, London SW1
Respected Ma'am;
This is the first of my fortnightly reports to Your Majesty on the state of affairs in our Given the special interest of the Queen Mother in the future of our brethren, 1 would be grateful it she could bi shown these letters as well.
As Your Majesty is aware, I was not in favour of my hasty despatch to Salisbury. It would have been more
the cease-fire before I arrived. Pota Carrington's insistence, won the day, helped by lan Gilmour's strong, silent act.
Margaret, as you know, is extremet susceptible to advice from knighs and peers! Moved
So l arved and was graien: Gibbs. The man was in tears. He = 7 likeable old buff mored. though be preferred me to arrise decked tur plumes rather than my trilby.
On my first day as Governor 1 received visits from the Bishop, Air Marshal McLaren Commander of tions) and the Police Chief, Allum. The Bishop was in excellent spirits and assured me that his party would win it the elections free. I asked 'would or should', but he missed the point.
At the end of our discussion he said that if things went badly he was sure we could find a diocese for him in a safe, white zone in Britain. The two cities he mentioned were Cheltenham and Hove. I have dropped a note to Willie about this so that there are no problems at Immigration.
McLaren and Alum were not very hopeful about the results of a and fair election'. unless we intervened decisively the Patriotic Front would sail to victory McLaren was extremely straightforward. He said that if I did not intervene he was certain that the Afrikaaners would. Allum backed him up and said that while he was
pleased to see me, the real decision:
were being made in Pretoria
Disagreeable
rather took place while I was sipping the excellent port which Your was king enough bongo-wongos who
AN APPEAL from the Federation of Worker Writers Publishers to the literature panel of the Arts Council to running of co-ordinator's wages in conjunction with the Gulbenkian Foundation has been rejected As Federation is flat broke - last month saw the end of its present grant from the Gulbenkian, consider a re-application until June the 1980. the The Federation links hundreds of working class writers, joined forces across the country to read and publish new work. The lack of immediate finance means that it will be unable to continue developing,
The Rhodesia Saga
A Letter from
Soames
Government House,
Salisbury,
Southern Rhodesia!!
digest the
Now I problem.
'newest' colony.
security forces
hoverer.
The Blessed TaTe
Tional oic
Deputy
Combined Opera-
this time.
Your servant, were fair and
PS.
Majesty
the Prince
'free They sala that arms
that happens. disagreeable episode
grateful Majesty
back Nkomo
Worker writers' appeal
and Community in worldne
co-fund the office and
literary merit'. result the
which is unable to has 256
35р рб р. have
. bookshops.
organised a demonstration demand. ing that I order the release of all political prisoners. Not only was I still digesting the jugged hare, but Tiny Rowland had given me an explicit assurance that Nkomo's boys would be kept of a leash till I had time to
political situation. Have written to Peter Carrington teiling him to give N a ticking off.
must come to the real wearing my trilby rather than the more traditional cocked hat was not out of mere personal preference. simply seemed more fitting in vice of the fact that we have hardly aur force on the ground. I have bees gives so power by Your bajesty's gentrico to enforce try authority. The : bai
Preoria and i cos site Jal can preven do Tid a Zame and
TUS IT IS DIE FEE
IC CENTE ET ISSIM IN THE JIT
Peril
TE EIDE == arrived. The sacres regard Tar as a bad omen. And I must confess bus much I miss Dickie Mountbatten. His advice would have been invaluable at
most loyal and obedient
Soames
Kaunda is anxious that Your visit Southern Rhodesia as soon as possible, but 1 would advise against it because of the security problem. Though a visit by
of Wales should be seriously considered.
PPS. I have just had London on the phone. They inform me that the talks are going well and that, in particular, Tiny Rowland is very optimistic. But 20,000 armed blackies still remain in the bush. I am sceptical that they will ever agree to integrate themselves under our command.
The Mau Mau, as Your Majesty no doubt recalls, only handed in their
Kenyatta firmly ensconced in power. Nkomo and Mugabe are a long way from that and there will be many more deaths before
request: I would be if Your Majesty would intervene personally to ensure that we are spared a personal visit by the PM. There are too many problems as it is...
i fostering and encouraging the growth
class and socialist literature that has occurred over the last five years. This is beczuse the Arts Council 'considered the whole corpus of work contained little, If any, solid
The Federation is appealing for help through donations and also sales of its first anthology, Writing, which
pages is illustrated throughout, and costs only fl plus
Donations and orders I (cheques and POs made payable to I the Federation] should be sent to E Floor, Milburn House, Dean Street Newcastle upon Tyne, Nel ILF. The book can also be ordered through
Socialist Chailenge 20 December 1979 Page 9
Page 10 scan of this page
THE HOLIDAY
INTERNATIONAL
My very dear friends,
I am writing these lines to let you in the free world know what life is like for us here. Perhaps you will be able to do something for us, perhaps you will be able to bring pressure to bear on influential people in your country. Or perhaps you won't. Perhaps they don't want to know.
Still, I thought it was worth trying to give you an idea of our lives, to give you a few ordinary details — the sort of thing we are so used to that most of the time we don't question it, we don't imagine there is any other way of living.
What made me, for a moment, realise the absurdity of our position was when I decided to invite my dear friend Susanna to stay. Nothing extraordinary, you might think. She lives in District Y, which is under the jurisdiction of our Government, and only a few hundred miles from the Capital City, where I live as you know. Our cities are both on the national railway system.
But District Y is under martial law. As you will appreciate, this makes contact very difficult - especially as Susanna and her husband Michael are Dissidents. think perhaps Susanna will be able to get through th border checks. It would be easier of course i
- that would
and from all its problems, which include th problems of rearing children there
Picture the border between District Y and Districts W, X, and Z. Granted they only do spot checks on the travellers, and there are only a handful of security personnel on the gates. But look harder and you see closed circuit TV cameras. Behind the wooden walls of the transit channels, guards are watching a row of screens, scanning each face as it passes, checking bodies and packages. Woe betide if you so much as have a political book showing in your pocket or your bag. Far worse if yours is one of the many faces the guards have committed to memory if yours is the face of a Suspect. (They wouldn't have any evidence against you, of course, or you wouldn't have got as far as the border but if you are a Suspect, they want to stop you travelling, they want to stop you going to W and Z and telling what you know about the abnormal conditions in District Y.)
Certainly Michael would never get through, though he needs a holiday as much as Susanna, Even if they don't know he is coming well, he if not more. wouldn't he get through? works on an underground paper, the main underground paper. In strict terms that is not illegal, but of course it's enough to make you a suspect. Your loyalty to the regime is definitely in question. And Michael was in jail for a long period, held without trial. They had to let him out in the end along with many others after international protests. But they know his face very well, and they are waiting to pounce. If they could find an excuse for jailing him again they would. And meantime they certainly won't let him out of District Y. Not because of what he would do, but t because of what he would say.
if they knew he was coming, there is not a
chance that he would slip through the net. A hand would reach out and stop him as he passed through the security channels. •He would be taken into a back room where they would take his details, ask for identification. (Even though identity cards are not ssued, still you have to carry some kind of ID, or its absence is grounds
for suspicion.) Then they would feed his details into the computer and in a few seconds back comes the information. 'Michael A. Dissident. Underground journalist. Jailed for so many years. And so on. They would keep him
prisoner for several days, then issue him with a document forbidding him to leave District Y,
and send him back to his city. They might ever
try to trump up some charge to send him back
jail. don't have to worry about
evidence, as they did away with trial by jury
contemplate a holiday is to contemplate going Michael
to jail.
And if they didn't know he was coming?
Well, they might pick him up in the transit
channels, and they might not. Probably they
would. His is the kind of face the guards are
told to memorise - because of who he is,
mean. And if they hadn't memorised it, well, he
is a young man, , he wears jeans - not a suit, he
doesn't have the money for a suit, except for his
wedding suit, because as you know it's hard for
Dissidents to make a living even if they don't
Socialist Challenge 20 December 1979 Page 10
By Liz Curtis underground papers pay nothing, people work on them for love, or idealism, or because they care about humanity, or whatever way you want to put it.
In a way it's an academic question, because how do you arrange for someone to come on holiday from District Y without the guards knowing? Tell me how it is possible. I would love to know. Life would be so much easier. You see, they will know Susanna is coming, and that might make them stop even her. She needs a holiday so much. She is so tired • She is only twenty but she looks much older. It's the strain.
But the mail goin into District monitored Millions of letters every day al scanned by machines, their contents photographed, fine needles spun to extract the contents and then replace them again so that you would not know they had been touched. Usually you never think about it. You take it for granted that the letters you write must
innuendoes, hints suggestions, allusions, never facts or names or descriptions or analysis — or truth. But when for a brief
Toulouse-Lautrec
work on underground papers, and anyway | moment you think about it — well, it's terrible, devastating, to think that you cannot sit down and write what you really want to say. Even photographs — ! have no photographs of my beloved friends in District Y. I cannot carry with me a plastic folder full of photos of my dear ones, as other people do. Why? Because they dare not have their pictures taken. Ever wedding photos, christening photos, have been taken by the guards and put on file, and often never even returned - though with all their machinery you know they could copy them and return them if they had any heart.
I have a phone, of course. Susanna and Michael don't have a phone. They can't afford one. But they can always find one to use if they want to phone me up. But then, my phone is tapped. Yes, even though I live in the Capital City, not in District Y. At least, I think it's tapped, I'm pretty sure. This is one of the problems, never being able to find out for certain if your mail is read, your phone tapped, but always having to live with the likelihood, the near certainty, the logical probability, that I someone is listening, watching.
How do I know? Well, I have never hidden my feelings where Dissidents are concerned. I have always preferred to live with the unease of knowing you are being watched, of knowing that one day the knock may come at my door too, that my carpets may be ripped up and dear victures torn off the walls — rather that that ive with the unease of going against the dictate of my conscience, the dictates of humanity.
So I have shown my face at protests, I have had my name taken and been photographed many times. And mine are the sort of views that go on file on the Central Computer. That's what the guards are there for - didn't you realise — to monitor people like me. Though God knows they must have trouble keeping up, there many of us now Besides, I know for a fact that most of the details of my life are on file. My sister applied for a job with the State once. She is not at all a Dissident, as you know. Far from it. But they didn't give her the job because of my record Poor thing - she never asks any questions, she keeps her head right down, but still her name is on the Central Computer, because she is a relative of mine.
This has been going on too iong to think of it as a game. There is no fun in it, no glamour. I have been in it too long to enjoy subtertuge, coded messages, dodging the guards, worrying whether I will be allowed to keep my job. And for Susanna it's a thousand times worse. She has no job — how could she with two small children, even if there were any jobs for such as her, an outlaw in effect. Michael has hardly any money. Her father is nearly dead - he turned to drink from the strain. Three of her brothers are in jail, and the other two are only twelve and six years old. Her mother is old with worry. And on top of it all is the martial law, the guards, the surveillance, and worrying how lọng Michael will remain out of jail. You can understand why she needs a holiday.
I suppose i will have to write her, and disguise what I am saying about the plans for her holiday. It would be so lovely if she could come here, and rest, and walk in the park, and go to the pictures, and chat, and discuss, and analyse, and maybe meet a few people and tell them about District Y. Though that would be a small part of it - the main thing is for her to have a rest, and go back refreshed and full of the energy they need so much.
Then she will phone me, and we will finalise the arrangements, though without ever saying exactly which day she will come, or on which train. But then there is a problem. If I don't know when she is coming, how will I know if she has got through? How will.! know they haven't held her, that the guards are not interrogating her, suspecting her of being on a mission for the Dissidents!
I suppose Michael can phone to check if she is here. And if not, we can start phoning the guards - though it could be days before they admit they are holding her. So you see, there are always worries, always fears.
Well, my dear friends, 1 hope these lines have shown you a little of what life is like here, and most importantly, what life is like for Susanna Michael, and for so many in District Y. I have heard you talking about Dissidents with sympathy, but I'm not sure if you understand.
You will understand by now, I hope, where that district is that I call District Y. For you and I live in the same Capital City, indeed we live in the same street. I felt you might understand better if I wrote this down and posted it through your letterbox. It might make you spare a few minutes to think about it. You never bothered when I tried to talk to you.
You know that I am not talking about Eastern Europe. You will perhaps understand now when I say that your free world is our police state. And I hasten to add that this is not an essay on psychiatric disorder, or alienation, or la condition humaine. I am writing about the here and now, about reality. Reality that can be changed if only you will join us
With hopeful best wishes from your friend. London 1979.
P.S. I hesitated for a few days before sending you this, and in the meantime I have heard that Michael has been taken to jail again. They have nothing on him, as he signed no confessior despite the torture, but they could hold him on remand for malay months. So there is no question of Susanna leaving Belfast just now,
with food parcels to make for him and his
laundry to collect, and less money than ever and
the children to mind. So there we are. Maybe we'll try again next year.
Page 11 scan of this page
THE MONOCLED MUTINEER
ROSE TINTED SPECS ON SPORT
UNDER REVIEW
The Monocied Mutineer William Allison and John Fairley Quartet Books $1.95.
ON THE eve of the Passchendaele offensive of September when hundreds thousands of soldiers appalling conditions, 100,000 British soldiers at the Allied base camp at Etaples* mutinied. They pitched battles with police, shot officers and policemen known for their brutality, and took over the town of Etaples.
The leader of the revolt was the incredible Percy Toplis, at that time only 19 years old. When the revolt was over, the revenge of the authorities was savage. Dozens of men were shot out of hand.
The story of the mutiny at Etaples has been one of the army's best kept secrets. It was not until 1978; after questions asked in the Commons by. Labour Moonman, that the government even admitted that the revolt had taken plale, The Monocled reveals the whole story, together with the amazing tale of Toplis himself.
Disaffection
: The revolt at Etaples took place against the background of the weariness and disaffection Allied armies.. After three vears war, the jingoism of 1914 had replaced by cynicism and revolt. French army had broken into openly political rebellion,
of the Socialist Russian division fighting Western Front near the Swiss border declared for Bolsheviks situation of the Westeen none,
Western Sluallull hundreds of deserters themselves in bands, hiding from the military police,
But the immediate cause of the uprising. at Etaples ruthlessness of the army instructors, and the savagery the discipline. No one knows how many British soldiers were executed discin inary oftences at camp. But just before his death in 1978, the famous dance leader Victor Sylvester revealed how he had been forced to take part in five shootings at the camp:
Struggling
"The first man I had to help kill was a private in my own regiment, the Argyli and Sutherland Highlanders ... The victim was brought out from shed and led struggling to a chair to which he was then bound and a white handkerchiet placed over his heart as the target area. rolling down my cheeks as he went on trying to free himself from the ropes attaching him to the chair.
'I aimed blindly and when gunsmoke had cleared away we were further horrified to see that, although wounded, the intended victim was still alive. Still blindfolded, he was trying
POLITICS IN SPORT
great
died in
fought
mibtary
military House of MP Eric
Mutineer
war
of the
of been The an
led by Party.
the
and
Front, -organised
the
military
for the Etaples
the chair.
the poor man's temple.
officers.
the town of Etaples itself,
The tears were
hospital for
the
ordered to stop them.
Pluto Press, £1.95 THE NEW Big
suspicion that Ine routinely repeating
anything new.
of the problem. plenty
apolitical sedentary politicos.
Tha sporties Paavo
to make a run for it still strapped to
The blood was freely from a chest wound. An officer by in charge stepped forward to put the finishing touch with a revolver held to the
Such events as this infuriated the troops, as did the privileges of the
Only officers were allowed in to
and the commander, BrigadierGeneral Thompson, spent a large part his of 1917 trying to establish an officers'
venereal diseases. The patience of the soldiers snapped on 9 September 1917, when 1,500 soldiers burst out of the camp into the town of Etaples, brushing aside a detachment tion.
The revolt was spontaneous and Big Red Diary 1980, Politics in Sport
Red Diary is disappointment. It is as well produced as its deservedly successful predecessors, probably better. But it provokes
Pluto now idea profitable than giving also
Perhaps the subject matter is part
There is certainly interesting information, especially on women in sport, but it seems as though the book has been compiled by a team divided between
sporting types and chosen have smuggled in Nurmi the runner, Fausto Coppi the cyclist; and Babe Ruth the baseball player — all three admirable,
The life and death of the incredible Percy loplis-
mutineer, racketeer, master of disguise
unorganised. It was given organisation and its demands were formulated
Private Percy Toplis. At first, some of the men molested nurses on
camp; Toplis organised detachment to guard the women's
and issued instruction:
'Leave the women alone — get the military police.
• Toplis derived his authority from
extraordinary personality reputation. Although between ages of 14 and 16 he was a miner, since the age of eleven he had been in trouble with the law as a confidence trickster and master of impersona-
*Private Toplis he was only occasionally. In the confusion of the Western Front he spent most of his | but none very political.
The politicos reply with a picture of Lenin playing chess and, convincingly, an account of the war between Honduras and El Salvador started by a disputed goal at football. They quote Orwell pooh-poohing the
of international goodwill sport. Fair enough, but they should
record the football matches between British and German soldiers in the trenches in 1914. Sport united the working class rather better than the Second International.
The number of irritating omissions reinforces the feeling that this is a moneymaking venture rather than an attempt to say much about its
subject. Kerry Packer cautiously praised for cricketers' wages (wrongly in view), so why no mention of the 1973 professionals' boycott of Wimble-
time wearing the uniform and gaining the privileges of an officer, hence his penchant for wearing a monocle. He organised himself leave, returned to England, impersonated a war hero (on the strength of general which he
financial advantages) before getting ted up and going back to France. On the second day of the revolt at Etaples Brigadier-General Thompson decided to tour the camp in a staff car. and He soon came upon the talking crowd
Thompson attempted to address the troops, but they and shouted him down.
Toplis jumped onto the car and dictated the soldiers' demands, the opening of the town of Etaples, an don?
And why more Muhammed Ali on Black Power or
Vietnam? Why nothing on the black English footballers? Why no martial arts? bullfighting?
Edward Heath winning the Admiral's
in Cup? Why no account
Cromwell stamping Ireland (or didn't they know about it)!
Perhaps these are just my own idiosyncrasies, but for one omission there is no affair. Basil D'Oliveira, one of South
*misfortune' to be black. of struggling to home, he came to this country and raising eventually began a Test career for my england at an age when most paver.
would be thinking about retirement. But when the time came to tour
increase
began.
Toplis,
Britain in Special
beginning.
police
rejoined the
depot Here
affluent RAF:
the police. releasing
be raised.
swindle unofficial judges,
HEHICTOIS
Percy Toplis of soldiers.
surrounded his car
PHIL HEARSE no quotations from establishment
refuse him cancelled and even
of Oliver
OU cricket in previous
inhabitants excuse: the D'Oliveira
had the After years make his mark 1960, and
appointed 1960, not 1961-2.
right.
all-round improvement of conditions,
the ending of punitive drill, and an
In Eventually the
authorities capitulated to most of the
demands, moving out many of the
army instructors and military police
But when the men ended their revolt,
the court martials and executions
Disappeared
disappeared. He madenis way backly course, promptly
disguise, hunted by the Branch and military
intelligence: But the most extraordin-
ary part of Toplis exploits was just
Within a few weeks of returning to
his home he was arrested for passing
dud cheques to a jeweller. Totally
unabashed, he gave a false name to
were unable
establish his real identity.
When he came out of jail in 1919
being short of money he unbelievably
army own
name, being sent to a Service Corps
near Bristol. This depot
controlled large stocks of petrol,
short supply to civilians at that time
Toplis participated in the organisa.
tion of a massive black market racket
to transport owners in Bristol, untilhe
was transferred to the army's main
supply depot in Salisbury Plain.
The lived an even . more
extraordinary life Organising mon
rackets, he paid other soldiers to do
menial chores, openly masqueraded
as a variety of senior ranks, and spent
most of the week in London, living an
"society' and
returning for Thursday parades.
Shot Dead
But eventually he was intercepted train military police
imprisoned, he escaped and joined the
Six months. Discovered
again, and on the run, he was framed
for a murder he did not commit, and
eventually caught and shot dead by
His fatal mistake was policeman WRO
recognised him, enabling the alarm to
He was buried in an
unmarked grave in Penrith, where he
was cornered and killed.
So what are we to make of Percy
Toplis? From his eleventh birthday,
when he was birched for trying to
tailor, he loathed and
despised authority. Police officers,
generals rercy naica inc
whole damn lot of them. He took
them on in the only way he knew,
using his own talents and wits.
As someone who knew him at the
time remarks in the book. today he
would be regarded as one of those
walking personification of Robert
Frost's maxim that 'freedom is the
willingness to be bold'. In 1980 a
group of ex-servicemen are planning
to place a memorial stone at loDis
unmarked grave with the inscription:
*In Grateful Memory of Percy Toplis:
The Monocled Mutineer".
South Africa the English cricketing
dropped D'Oliveira from the team. After protests he was reinstated, only for South Africa to
entry. tour was England has neve played South Africa again.
Finally, and again in contrast to
years, there an unfortunate number of errors. It is correct to point out that women can't be sportsmen, but neither are all the
of Czechoslovakia Czechs. Billie-Jean King now has 20 Wimbledon titles and Hungary scored seven goals at Wembley, not six. The Mexico Olympics were in 1968 not
Frank Worrell was West Indian captain in
Surely a diary should get its dates
RICHARD CARVER
Socialist Challenge 20 December 1979 Page 11
Page 12 scan of this page
Socialist Challenge SPEND XMAS BEHINDBARS
Christmas in Ruzyne Prison
ON 23 October at the Prague Municipal Court Petr Uhl, Havel, Vaclav Benda, Otka Bednarova and Jiri Dienstbier were sentenced to a total of nineteen and a half years in prison for supposed "subversive activities". Their real "crime' was to try and defend ihe Czechoslovak constitution and fight for civil liberties. They will spend Xmas in Ruzyne prison. Letters can be sent to them: via Eastern Europe Solidarity Campaign, e/o Vladimir Derer, 10 Park Drive,
London NW11.
Registered with the Post Office
REMEMBER
THOSE WHO'LL
Vaclay China as a aerspaper. Publisked by
WEI JINSHENG, & leader of the democratic movement in China, was sentenced to 15 years. His 'crime' was to be one of the editors of the unofficial journal Exploration which dared to argue that the majority of people in China today were deprived of power. Letters of protest can be sent to the Chinese Embassy, 31 Portland Place,
London WI.
South Africa
Relpocrest Lid. for Socialise Challenge, 328/9 Upper St.
Jail
•London N1.
P.O.
Armagh THIRTY SEVEN of the women political prisoners in Armagh jail will bespending twenty one hours locked up in their ceils for demanding political status for republican prisoners in Armagh and in H Block. These women are denied access to reading educational and writing materials, and are not allowed lo freely associate. The daily regime of harassment and beatings by both maie and female screws has become a way of lite for these women whose 'crime consists of supporting the republican matement in its desire to rid Treland of the British Army. Adresses for Xmas cards to send to women in Armagh snd men in H Block via the Irish Republican Socialist Party, e/o Bookmarks, 265 Seven Sisters Rd, London N$.
THESE THREE boys' sole crime was to trespass in a white area of South Africa. James Mange, one of twelve blacks tried for 'attempting to overthrow the South African government by high treason', for daring to try and overthrow the apartheid regime, was senteneed to death. Al present he is still in prison along with his comrades who face sentences ranging from 14 to 19 years. these freedom fighters via the ANC Treason Trial Defence Committee, c/o Charlotte Streef, London WI. Letters can be sent to
Printed by East End (offset) Lid, Bax 82, adon Ei
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