Socialist Challenge No. 211, 3 September 1981
The scan: sc-no211.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
Challenge 3 million people want to know
MARCH FOR JOBS, B'HAM 19 SEP
No. 211 3 September 1981 25p
MAN?
MISSING. Lionel Murray, General Secretary of the TUC. While more than 3 million people are on the dole, Murray is striving for the record of the most invisible trade union leader of all time.
The TUC's inaction is now criminal proportions. Plaintive pleas to the government to change course are useless.
Worse, when workers do struggle to defend their jobs, as in the magnificent factory occupations by the Lee Jeans and Laurence Scott workers, the trade union leaders at-
Unemploved and strikers 10r
Socialist
HAVE YOU
SEEN THIS
tempt to sabotage their struggles.
This year's TUC will discuss an elaborate plan to 'reconstruct' Britain. But that plan is useless and utopian, unless the TUC leaders are prepared to fight, here and now, against reaching the misery of unemployment.
That means leading a massive campaign of action to bring down the Tories and for socialist solutions like the 35 hour week with no loss of pay.
TUC's plan for the 'Reconstruction of Britain' - see centre pages.
JoBs
NOT BOMBS
Page 2 scan of this page
"practise' Grenada invasion
Editorial.
PO Box 50, London N1 2XP Phone 01-359-8189/8180 (editorial and distribution)
Stop them
blocking our
right to speak
ONCE again Whitelaw and the police have used the excuse of a National Front march to ban demonstrations.
In the past six months blanket bans on marches have been used six times more than all through the '70s - a total of 403 days.
It is deeply disturbing that there is virtually no reponse from the labour movement, from organisations.
Nothing shows the bankruptcy of the leadership than its failure to defend the democratic right to march in support of its political views.
Caught up in the London ban is yet another national solidarity with the people of tional demonstration in support of Asian youth in Southall; and hospital workers in protest againt new rates of pay.
At a time of mounting opposition to the Tory government as they dismantle the economy, militarise the police, commit us to adventures in the Caribbean and endorse the bomb how can we possibly muzzle us?
The right wing organisations like the National Front hand they can claim that it is they who are the target of the speech and on the other hand, without lifting a finger, can stop their opponents from exercising their speech.
Peter Hain of the Anti-Nazi League warns that the bans dangerous because of their anaesthetising effect on all progressive activity' this is true.
More and more organisations are tailoring their plans in anticipation bans. So they call rallies meetings rather than marches have the potential of reaching more people.
Stop the Tories and ultra-right from pushing free speech off the streets and into the back rooms. Raise the issue in your trade unions, labour parties and other organisations - before it's too late!
18 Bans ordered since March
5 March, ban for 21 days in London Metropolitan Police area. 20 March, ban for one month in Leicester. 21 March, ban for 21 days in Wolverhampton. 21 March, ban for 29 days in Leeds 22 March, ban for seven days in South Yorkshire. 25 April for one month in London Metropolitian Police area 19 June, ban for 23 days in Coventry. 11 July, ban for 35 days in London Metropolitan Police area. 17 July, ban for 10 days in Walsall. "8 July. ban for seven davs in Oxford "E July. ban for 30 days in Plymouth 2e july. ban for 17 davs on marches in Grimsoy
Seeino pes and Si-aio se
.. =2
civil rights bodies or left
of the working class more
demonstration in Chile; a na-
La march of American neutron let them
are delighted. one
attack free
right to free
are 'extremely
of or indoor which
1=2.3-=:=s=
By Toni Gorton BRITISH destroyers have been involved in a NATO exercise in 'dummy run' of a future invasion of Grenada, according to Fennis Augustin, Grenadan High Commissioner in London.
plans to •send a Margaret Thatcher volvement in a military exercise which is threatening a fellow commonwealth country.
The exercise entitled Ocean Venture 81 is under the joint command of the Us armv. Havy and Alli torces with MOLO than 120,000 military personnel trom 4 countries. It is touted as the largest maritime exercise since the Second World War.
Rear Admiral Robert P McKenzie,
who •was charge of the Caribbean phase described the cise as a show of military might
'We're here to reinforce in the eyes and minds of those watching, military commitment around the world give an example OI the ability of one facet of the US capabilities to respond in the carlobean Dasil, ne said.
The Admiral revealed the thinking behind the millary manouevres In tne area - 'The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 was the last time we looked seriously at this part of the world.
'During the period in between Castro seizea or. the unemployment and unrest in the region spread terrorism, revolution and communism. Grenada are esad Cuba and
practically one country
Earlier this year an arTice enter menace threat to America's Caribbean Oil Koutes' appeared in the May-June issue of National Defence, the Pinochet of Chile with ex-dictator Gairy
Support grows for Salvadoran
liberation movement
THE governments of France and Mexico issued a
joint statement last weekend in support of the
liberation movements in El Salvador.
They recognised the Farabundo Marti Na-
tional Liberation Front (FMLN) and the Revolu-
tionary Democratic Front (FDR) as 'a represen-
tative political force' with whom the government
should negotiate to find a political solution to the
The statement ¡merican State Department that has recently stepses is its military aid to the brutal regime of oгхr burge
Reagan and Thatcher
the Caribbean that is
special letter to protesting British in-
right wing journal of the American Defense Preparedness Association.
claimed that Grenada has strategic importance in the Carib. bean. 'It is viewed as an important addition to the Soviet hegemony by Warsaw Pact strategists.
The author, Timothy Ashby, explained within a five hundred mile radius of the island are oilfields and refineries which current supply 56 per cent of the consumed the caster seaboard of the United States.
Ashby reckons that Russian-built MiG-27s overde Grenada could destroy facilities in Trinidad and St Lucia In ten minutes, in Venezuela in 17-25 minutes and in the Antilles in 35 minutes.
Now all of this could be the simple rantings of the ultra-right, except that it is echoed by the military spokespeople the Ocean Venture 81 project willet Rear Admiral McKenzie pointed to 'the importance of the Atlantic sea lanes, along which trave over cent of the US's imported oil, 65 per COlL bauxite and other strategic and nonstrategic imports.
'new (US) Adre istratine
will take a more active inLEI CO America's vital Caribbean DIOCCLINS
interests was received coldly by the
significant step should be used by the movement in this country and abroad to ine campaign for recognition of the FDR • is he legitimate representatives of the " reople and for an end to militar!
- International
Maurice Bishop, Grenada PM predecessor did.'
He goes on lo say, 'A re-institution of the is and's westminster-stvie
would be a goveruucll.. lcCcosary towards United first Nations step
supervised elections a la Zimbabwe.
*Given control over their own political destiny again. there is everv reason to believe that the people of Grenada will follow the example OI Jamaica in electing a democratic pro-Western government.
It was the destabilisation programme launched by the CIA that gave the recent victory to Seaga's right wing Jamaica Labour Party in Jamaica. It is clear that the schemes of invading Grenada have a similar aim of creating the conditions for a return to a pro-US government
From the moment that ex-dictator Gairy was overthrown March 1979, the USA has been considering ways isolating smashing Maurice Bishop's People's Revolutionary Govern-
Mercenaries training in Miami and Atlanta have publicly admitted that they are preparing for possible invasions of Grenada and Nicaragua.
In June 1980 a bomb exploded close to where the leadership of the People's Revolutionary Government was sitting, killing three youths and injuring almost 100 people.
The main imperialist weapon against Grenada is the blocking BOUC OI needed economic aid to build their international airport, and to repair hurricane damage
Along with direct in-
the US have been responsible for an in-
ternational of vilification Call of
Grenada.
Grenada's Prime Minister Maurice Bishop is appealing for internanona. support and says that his government is convinced of the threat from 'documentary and circumstantial evidence and recent intelligence reports'.
In Britain on August around 100 people mainly black, picketed the US embassy in Grosvenor Square demanding hands off Grenada.
The Grenadan High Commissioner, who had
Central America
National Demonstration
Sunday 20 September 81
Assemble 1:00pm
Clerkenwell Green ECI
March to Trafalgar Square
FOR THE RESTORATION OF TRADE UNION RIGHTS IN CHILE PReE ALL POLITCAL PRISONERS IN LATIN ANCHICA
just returned from Grenada, claims that 'his people are in a mood ol total readiness to defend Grenada and that the Us government should know tal icy run luc ualizel Ul having to destroy the entire population While the US government has since denied that military exercise had any sinister intent, socialists in this countrv should remain alert to the possibility of an invasion and of Britten insent.
The gains the Grenadan, Cuban and Nicaraguan revolutions must be defended.
Solidarity with
the people of
CHILE and
LATIN AMERICA
No Tory Arms for Chile
No U.S. Intervention in
hall
NO AID, NO TRADE, NO GUNS FOR FASCISM STOP TORTURE IN CHILE
Page 3 scan of this page
A LARGE swathe of southern Angola lies devastated in the wake of the invasion last week by two South African armoured columns.
Villages have
destroyed and cattle slaughtered. peasants have disappeared into the scrub bushland or sought out the new towns under government control.
regime's history of Angola.
The first South African motorised column met stiff resistance from LOOOS
quero, inside Angola on the main road north from the Namibian border. The second, which included more than 80 vehicles and 32 tanks. was engaged in heavy fighting a little to the south on the same road, at Xangongo, site of a strategic bridge over the Cunene River.
The South Africans
supported by their air-torce. which has unchallenged control of southern Angola's airspace. Last week, while
around Catequero and Xangongo, South African planes were bombing tho
Cahama (160 LOWIL miles north of the border) and Tchibemba (250 miles north).
Battle
According to Le Monde (28 August), South African jets also bombed Angolan defence positions
Porto Alexandre, coastal city 250 miles north of the border.
By last Sunday, South African troops had fought their way into Ondjiva, the capital of the southern province of Cunene, after a three-day battle.
1 ne South Africans were reported to be occupying nine other towns in
unene and fighting was raging at Cahama, despite South African claims that their forces were being withdrawn back across the Namibian border. Several civil airports in northern Namibia were closed during the operation.
Meanwhile, the Angolan Defence Ministry cancelled all military leave
Angola's President José Eduardo dos Santos appealed to the United Nations to get the South
African attacks ended. He
hinted, Secretare General
Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, that
Angola might ask Cuban
forces to join the frontMIne the South
Africans. Strikes
.. Last week's invasion,
entitled Operation Pro. tea,' was without doubt
South Africa:
front runner
for Reagan
been razed, bridges
Terrified
JIM ATKINSON reports on the apartheid
aggression against
RO
INGOL
A
The targets are often civilian
the biggest South Atrican invasion in a ne the of the country's independence from Portugal. Then, a 'flying column' penetrated more than 400 miles InLO Cities like seizing major CRUC Lobito and Benguela, in a bid to prevent the People's Move ment for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) from coming to power.
However, the arrival of early 1976, after some 20,000 Cuban troops, the South Africans forced to admit failure and withdraw into Namibia. South Africa then resorted to a deries of cross-border strikes, which gradually grew in intensity until southern Angola was engulted in an almost permanent state of war.
Ostensibly the targets
N1
were guerrilla camps of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO), which fighting the Pretoria regime from Namibia. But often the
were civilian Namibian refugee camps, roads, railway lines, villages, wells and bridges. Raids
The South African aim
only to A 11 SWAPO directly but to force the Angolan government to curtail its support for the Namibian freedom fighters. So far, however, the MPLA has refused to be intimidated.
Earlier this year, President dos Santos said that South Africa had been responsible for the death of 2,000 people and damage worth several billion dollars during its
International
* LUANDA 200 Miles
BENGUELA
Lubango
Mocamedes
Cahama ~ Catequero
Cumpne R
Ngiva 200 Miles raids OVC. the previous three years. He said that South African forces had flown 290 bombing missIons staged 70 overland incursions and 50 landings helicopter borne troops.
One of the most cruel attacks came in 1978, when South African force attacked a Namibian refugee camp at Kassinga, slaughtering 600 refugees.
Operation Protea had been preceded by weeks of South African military in-
cursions and assaults. In June, as many as 3,000
South African troops crossed the border. In Ju ly, South Africa was
reported to be trying to clear a 'buffer zone' along SWAPO or strengthen border,
its bargaining position future talks on Namibia.
On July, the
ANGOLA
/Xangongo ¿Namibia
SOUTH AFRICAN COLUMNS
NAMIBIA
Angolan defence ministry announced South African troop had advanced up to 90 miles into southern Angola and had occupied SCVCI LOWIIS Then on 24 August, just before Operation Protea the defence ministry said that 45 people had been killed in a series of South African air strikes.
Ally
Meanwhile, South Africa has also been training and supplying an antigovernmell LCIULISI grout the misnamed National Union for the Tota
whose leader, Jonas staunch South
filtrate from South African bases in Namibia and operate mainly in the sparsely-populated savan
N
, ZAMBIA
Caprivi Stovango R. Strip
BOTSWANA nah of the eastern pro vince of KwandoKubango.
Often they are supported directly by South African troops, according to revelations made to the Guardian earlier this year by Trevor Edwards, British mercent wando who fought Kubango with special South African force, 32 Battalion.
The unit, he said, is composed mainly of foreigners some of them British mercenaries who had fought previously with the Smith regime's army against black nationalists in Zimbabwe.
The local population in southern Angola lives in constant terror, Up to 450,000 people have bee ditrian and UNITA. at ...sheir displaced South tacks, while more than 50,000 Namibians have
sought refuge Angola from the South Africans
South Africa shows no sign of retreating from its belligerent stance. January deliberately
Geneded theeks held iN
Geneva vince auspices on the future of Namibia; and still Pretoria seems determined to hang
colony there.
Noting the audacity of Operation Protea. the Guardian commented
Botha's forward policy to contain forces African nationalism • The defence budget is raised by 30 per cent. African Na tional Congress offices abroad are mysteriously bombed. The fight against SWAPO is taken on to foreign soil. Independence talks for Namibia are stalled. Covert
The apartheid regime has been encouraged in all this thonald Reagan, Washington
like Carter before he to recognise government because of the presence of Cuban troops in Angola - though they clearly constitute an essential reserve force the face of the constant South African attacks.
Reagan, moreover. has urged Congress repeal the Clark Amendment, the legislation adopted in 1976 to halt the CIA's covert involvement in the war then against the MPLA. And, in • April, a senior State Department official, Lannon Walker
UNITA's leader.
Jonas Savimbi, for talks ir Morocco
During the same mon
th As star erica
State Africa Chester Crocker, went to Luanda, the Angolan capital, MPLA that the US would the
withhold recognition until brought the UNITA counter-revolutionaries into the government and evicted the Cuban troods
Stance
Washington went out
of its way to let Pretoria off the hook after Opera. tion Protea Chester
Crocker said that the US would not weaken Is sup
port for Pretoria "to curry
favour elsewhere'; and a
State Department
spokesman argued that the
South African incursior
into Angola had to be seer
"in its full context', namel
the use ol Angolan ter
ritory by SWAPO.
This admission
hostility to the Namibiar
people's struggle for
dependence received higi
marks from the rulers o
apartheid South Africa
'We al C obvious!!
pleased tha the Uniter
adopts mor
realistic stance thar th
others. said an official u
Cape Britain
France and West Germar
verbally condemned th
African attack o
Angola, but they continu
resoluteiv to oppose
posing sanctions agains
South Africa to force
halt to the attacks.
After all, like thi
United States, the
have a hug
economic stake
South Africa and se
its racist rulers as
strategic bulwark
inferests
southern Africa. Socialist Challenge 3 September 1981 Page 3
Page 4 scan of this page
A national issue-a national fight
Black workers conference
By Patrick Sikorski ANY idea that the fight for jobs at Laurence Scott is about to fade into obscurity has been firmly knocked on the head over the last week.
occupied their Manchester factory closure. weeks ago.
Dennis Barry, Scott's convenor, will be speaking alongside Tony Benn and Dennis Skinner at the maing Committee rally at the Labour Party Conference.
Scott's workers will be al ine TUC in Blackpool on 10 September, the day
the Healey/Benn/ Silken debate. They hope lo be on tne platorm of Benn's election campaign ramy In varcaester on
ollecting money and sur COLCIUC. and will be port at the Labour Party anti-unemployment demonstration Birmingham. Desperate
But AUEW General Secretary, John Boyd, and his presidential poodle' terry Durry, are acsperale
isolate the Scott's workers. lo cover up their sell out of this 19 week old
more and more open sabotage of the nationa solidarity campaign.
According Manchester MP, Ken Marks, they have approached Labour's Chief Whip to protest about the 60 or more Labour MPs
'There is a certain amount of management and trade union collusion against black workers'
ON 12 September a conference of black workers will be held in Birmingham to discuss the problems and organisation of black people in the unions.
Socialist Challenge spoke to two of the organisers, both TGWU shop stewards about how they see the conference.
Rudi Gayle Experience to date has shown that black workers are less than white workers in the trade union move. ment as a whole. blems of black workers The special are not recognised.
I think there is a certain amount of management and trade union collusion against black workers interviews ana promotion and so on.
difficult to explain how active it is.
Societv and therefore the, products of that society
Socialist Challenge"s Sprember 17i
Laurence Scott
For over four months, Scott's workers had
against until being brutally evicted a few who have supported the struggle since it was made unofficial. Their aim is to
prem the Labour party
from the Labour building up. Pressure
The national leaderSeneral he oress Transport and General Union
intense remem
pressure AUEW to stop strike and hardship Day and to SCOLCE any moves to give official backing to picketing.
The TGWU in Manchester have issued letters for use by Scotts pickets signed by district secretary Wise TWO members not Warner, which adto cross the official picket line.
However, the TGWU is part of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU which terminated
backing August
Efforts by the TGWU steward at Scotts - John Maloney to obtain
ratification of this lla" local backing have come
Walls Key national officials are 'on holiday' or 'out at the
I think the collusion takes form. Management and trade
ofticials torm the view that certain things should not happen.
of one very clear case There
La black worker British Leyland's Castle Bromwich body plant who applied for change to a job in the
That was refused although he was well qualified
The Commission fot Racial Equality took up
ment admitted that he
been retused * because shop stewards and members in the tool
Page 4
On the march... moment'
John says, "the nationally scared stiff of having an
split VOCI LICI AUEW over Laurence Scotts, which would lead room did not like blacks to work there.
very difficult expose this kind of thing, it is hard
widespread is this kind of practice. We very widespread
think that unions should operate
meet the problems of black
But for this to hap-
organise themselves to confront racism and acceptance of racism witnin ine unions
We need to join up with workers who are opposed to
to fight. ir the COSM unions as well as against management.
Home News
SOLIDARIT
WITH
LAURENCE
COTT
SIT IN
to a major row with the other CSEU unions.
Meanwhile supoprt from AUEW branches continues to roll in at the rate of over twenty a day.
This is the ending to
NALJONAILY KEODENISED GIVE US YOUR
SUPPOR
l28 for 4
Black workers have led important struggles like Grunwicks SC Batchelor As a black worker and trade unionist | would like to declare that 1 am giving support to the black workers conterence.
I would also call on all black workers trade unionists to rally to the call and support this conference by attending and let discuss together.
•one of the •estions I would like to see raised with the various
unions and the TUC are as follows: 1) Why is there still so much discrimination within the trade unions? 2)Why the trade unions talk so much of
opportunity and yet not take any active
just one of the messages of support accompanying those vital cheques: 'The rank and file of the union are with you even if those we employ are not.
UNL
INNOPD
JR
LD UN
1 Hrs steps to put it into prac LIct ever witnin their own ranks? 3) Does the TUC keep a record how many union officials are black
why not? Sust over so percent Bearing mind that black workers belong to unions compared under 50 per cent of white workers? 4) Have the unions taken a strona stance with grievance procedure concerning racial discrimination against black workers employment Place their of 5) Does the union insist that a clause be inciud. ed in our contract: of employment thạt employer is an equal op.
What you can do
Make sure your MP and constituency Labour Party support the Scott's fight.
TGWU members are urged to ask their branches to support resolutions, noting the official support from the Manchester District, and calling on the union nationally to have supported the endorse this position and put out an appeal Laurence Scott to all branches for a Manchester MPs
port Scott's financial.
Messages of support and donations The Laurence Scott Strike North West MPs Committee Romiley, Cheshire.
Copies Copies ine To resolutions
Kitson, Assistant General Sec Transport House, Smith Sq, London SWI Bill Hayward TGWU Regional Secretary TGWU Souse Crescent, Salford, Greater ManSt, Clayton Mean Chester it. John AUEW branches supporting Scotts Thes and work place groups Alose bar the strike unofficial in the first weekard
73RE, Sheldon 225 SE chley 331, Brooklands
K, Liandudoo Eastbourn
2. Bristol 5-106 BE, Bilbrook, She ch, London, Preston, Glasgow South 2, Nuneaton, Fiern Baret 35FE. Broun
portunity employer, if not why not? 6 What steps are the unions taking that much widespread racial discrimination does not continue in the recruitment Tor employment among our black youth? 7) What are the unions doing regarding the promotion of black workers? Are they seeking to eradicate the present system where promotion does not go by one's ability but by the colour of one's skin?
Brothers and sisters
Black Workers Conference Saturday 12 September Digbeth Civic Hall Birmingham
I shall be attending the
Birmingham.
Name...
Address.
Union (if any)..
Occupation (if any).
Send to: Steering Committee
Conference, 177, Antrobus Rd, Handsworth, Bir-
mingham 21.
outh 82 BE, Blaby 292 BE, Heat
Nottingham N, Lucas On Aycliffe 118
burnie The following MPs
continuing fight at
- Manchester, Open y: Bob Litherland - Manchester Central; Ken Marks -
Coundroft, Oidham West; James Callaghan ch including also the Liver. pool Group of MPs
Рату - Ето, Soda ne:
Alan Roberts — Bootle; Frank Field -
Nationally Hole an
Wood Green; John Silkir
Bakado
Wala, Nor Lyn - York, D. A
Wolver Barerse So - Eton and Slougt Jeff Rooker - Birmingham, Perry Barr
I believe that this con-
ference should and will
seek to organise
Within our own unions into pressure groups in
order to promote oppor.
tunities which we have been denied for so long
In addition we hope to protect the interest of black workers
within their working environment.
Brothers and sisters
believe that these issues effect our very existence both at home
al tne place we work. conference of black workers, on September 12th at Digbeth Civic Hall,
for Black Workers
Page 5 scan of this page
THE BBC have decided to call off the 1981 Dimbleby. quite right too. An impartial and balanced broadcasting cannot have Thompson explaining British public that great danger of cinerated in a nuclear holocaust. Nor can viewers be subjected to Edward Heath's criticisms of Thatcherism Surely balance means maintaining the status quo, the BBC did neutral figures like
Fury and
panic on
By Bob Pennington IN disguises a growing panic, the Healey camp are lashing out in all directions. Healey who has never been known for his attachment to inner-party democracy or for his tact and sensitivity, screams Labour extremists'.
This is ironical coming from a man who is against MPs being accountable to the labour movement, and
the idea that anybody but MPs should have vote when the Labour leader being elected.
Home
Actually Healey would feel far more at home in
corridors the Kremlin where leaders like him ai c not put to any trouble by an and demanding rank and file.
Healey's supporters
trightened at the idea of being accountable
and to ne cabour rary the trade unions that they are threatening to split if Benn wins.
snowing how much they respect and revere democracy they are letting, it be known that a handful of MPs are not going to be told what to do a ma-
the unions. Levy
One of Healey's aides has tipped off the Guardianthat the possichity nf up on the possibility some unions paying thei political levy direct to the PLP Their big hope here is, of course, frank Chap ple who runs that model of democracy. electricians' union.
What has stepped up the war, is that the leadership race is now taking on
the appearances heading towards a photo finish.
Lowdown
A balanced view!
McNamara, lecture and World Bank, and the
ment
tunately available. they are Squeak
being in-
for 'impartiality" 1982.
Mind
and that
get Robert
the right
an unprecedented burst of fury which
about 'Stalinist tactics of
that it could go 53-47 per
cent either way, and even
some of Healey's sup-
porters at Westminster are
only claiming that he will
win by two percent.
Healey is expecting
the best 55 per cent of the
unions' 20 p votes, Benn
aUvu and
Silkin will get around 25 to
30 per cent providing
collects the vote oI ine
Transport and General
Workers Union.
Ploy
It is not yet certain that
Silkin, the right-wing's last
and most desperate ploy,
will however get the
TGWU vote, hence the
fright in the Healey camp.
Inside the CLPs, Benn
is ont of his teo rivals.
front two rivals.
Iwo nunarea ana twelve
constituency parties have
nominated Renn agallis
35 for Healey and eight for
Silkin. will probably
give Benn close to 75
cent of the CLP vote, with
Healey and Silkin sharing
out the
At Westminster things
are not so
Use lucky to ge
more than 20 per cent of
section
like Judith Hart and Warr-
ington's near-failure Doug
Havie . who ignored the
vote for Benn at his own
union's conference did
their duty to the right by
splitting the vote and sup-
porting Silkin.
The virulent campaign the Healyites makes
clear what is at stake in the
The right
Labour leaders lo ac The latest prediction is... the representatives of the
let
the
president the establishphilosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin, to take on the job. Unfor-
none of Was
So now we will have to wait
until spring
you was near squeak; or as Sir Alasdair Milne, managing director of BBC television says, it was 'a cock-up on a
Denis Healey - a model capitalist state the labour movement is being challenged that challenges the whole basis
When people are fighting for their political lives like the Healyites are right now then they will use every dirty tactic in the book Meanwhile those Tribunites who have gathered around Silkin the political cowardice oI leIt reforUnilateralism ERC is etiood idea, having getting VUL the •. Trade union votes kèy to Benn victory
TUC 8
grand scale'.
Obviously some fool
Seveso listeners. However, our tender
were saved by big man himself, Trethowan, BBC directol general, who thinks anything that might upset Thatcher should be dropped.
Fortunately Trethowan has f the Board of Goleirens his chairperson of the Board
Thatcherite, but then so woulc vou be if vou were one of Bri. tain's richest landowners. Sown
And the deputy chairperson
Sir William Rees-Mogg another right-wing Tory. Just in case Trethowan's job has to be
of moderation
La 35-hour week sounds quite nice.
Fight
But it's when it comes
to doing these things that
the going gets tough. The and their state are not likely to sit idly while these policies are carand this old
Many fight against Healey, never mind the employers.
Every socialist should
be supporting Benn. Not
TRADES UNION CONGRESS
UNEMPLOYMEN
filled before next n thy leading candidate
tion is Lord Windlesham you may remember Minister of State for Northern Sir lan Ireland so the whole
sown up. that The attempts of Trethowan
and company waves from subversion have unfortunately not met sal approval. Mr
tion of Cinematograph sion wants broadcasting workers, to 'pull the plugs out' on what calls biased programmes Now you see Alaisdair and Williams against. Just would happen. ting a nice impartial explanation of why we should all be burnt to a cinder in a nuclear war those because he is going to lead us to some promised land.
We support Benn because we are for the rout of the richt wing and we are tol the defeat and removal of
preter a compromise to a battle.
Benn victory will heighten the confidence of une mulas ever bigger demands for
At this more uemoclacy. stage it creates the best conditions for a fight back inside both the unions and the LP.
BF
spring the
for the posi- insist
who gramme as Tory right of reply.
thing
To sove Tine migration laws
biased with aver
Alan Sapper,
Think
Televi Technicians
TODIN TO
sisting that what Sir lan, Sir
Male The imagine what Instead of get
before the military coup in Turkey. He was lucky: he
asylum. But this is 1981 Tory Britain.
This application.
movement.
Dogan, protest letters
WCIN 3XX. more information fill in the form below
Name...
Address
Aae........
Union/CLP (if any)....
2XP.
'Socialist Challenge
damned workers actuary migu on stopping the pro.
CND had the
It would not just stop there either. Black people would start out against our unbiased im- thev you are white like Trethowan and Rees-Mogg.
Women would be wanting to sexist programmes.
Trade unionists would be inthey put their case for more jobs and better wages prospects are horrendous because they could actualthere is an alternative viewpoint to that of the BBC establishment and its boss, Maggie Thatcher.
Save the life of
Dogan Tarkan
DOGAN Tarkan's crime is that he is a socialist
militant. He was the editor of the weekly
newspaper Kurtulus (Liberation) and a former
official of Maden-Is, the meta/workers union,
escaped to England
three months ago and applied for political
Two weeks ago the Home Office refused Dogan's deportation would
mean that he will almost certainly be senten-
ed to death by the Turkish authorities.
Time is running out for Dogan. It is still
possible to reverse the Home Office decision
but it depends on quick action by the labour
Rush resolutions, messages of support for addressed the
Home Office to TSC, BM Box 5965, London
Socialist
Challenge
If you would like to be put in touch with Socialis Challenge supporters in your area or would lik‹ Send to: Socialist Challenge, PO Box 50, London N1
3 September 1981 Pago!
Page 6 scan of this page
'THE RECONSTRUCTION
By Brian Grogan The TUC programme calls for f24bn of investment in public sector over five years. In order 'reconstruct' British industry, this is insufficient. The plan calls for only f3bn in the next year. And overall this programme would only represent the reconstitution of the cuts in public investment made by this Tory government and the previous Labour tion.
Nonetheless, these
posals would be a good start. They go in a very different direction to that which the Tories and the bosses want. Indeed, they break with the practice of the last Labour government.
To get a plemented will therefore need a real fight. This means winning the mass of working people to support it. Without that support being mobilised the plan is no more than a scrap of paper.
The first problem is the title of the plan: "The Reconstruction of Britain'. Everybody uses this expression. 'I'nis is the name that hatcher has given her MaSS policies. The impression given by the whole approach of the plan is that the TUC is aiming at restoring the present capitalist economy. Profit
But all experience has shown -especially that of the covereill that ally that accepts the profit basis of the system is to attack the working class, create mass unemployment smash up social services and public incolicil.
That was what the 'social contract amounted to during five years of 'hard Labour'. All the decisions of the LAbOuT Party the unions and the TUC itself since then have clearly been a rejection of that approach.
the present profit
Socialist Chaltenge 3 September 1981
YOP.
CHEAP
LABOUR
OFBRITAIN®
the the next to
administra-
pro-
sharply
plan im-
unemployment Only scratching the surface
of counterpose socialism. There is,
last Labour approach know where it is heading.
and
exua government botownig.
affiliated who will profit out of it who controls that credit.
oriented
Page 6
about
tunes wages. turies! capitalism, we must Workers control and then, nothing flation. with presenting the present proposals as emergency measures, so long as the overall direction and goal is understood by the Labour move- private ment. Then, before taking their place on the TUC train, each worker will
The TUC explains that it will get the money from this investment from
To be sure, credit is the guiding lever of the economy. But what the effects of such large scale borrowing will be - and
— depends on
It is just nonsense for the plan to merrily assert that high government simply borrowing will not force up the in-
By Yvonne Taylor HUNDREDS of youth rallied in the centre of Newcastle last week to oppose slave labour.
They were not protesting
the exploitation working people in the third world, where privately owned companies have made for-
paying starvation
They were opposing government sanctioned ripoff which provides businesses with a cheap supply of youth labour here in Britain: a country where labour has been organising itself for two cen-
The scandal of the Youth Op portunities Programme should
terest rates or that increasing the
money supply will not accelerate in-
If there is competition for credit
then interest rates will go up. In a
capitalist society this will discourage
investment The level
private investment has dropped by
over 20 per cent during the last year.
Of course this is not only due to the
high level of interest rates, but this has
been one important factor.
Denving that expanding
money supply increases inflation is
even more ridiculous. All the evidence
of the history of our profit oriented
system is that the bulk of this govern-
ment money, raised on credit, will not
go into productive investment. Rather
the suppliers to the government will
take the opportunity
massively enhance their profits. Infla-
The YOPs rip off
make every trade unionist wince in embarrassment.
One in four enters a YOP wage of £25.50 for six months temporary employment of wage is paid out money, supposedly to encourage employers to create new jobs.
Grim
But the Manpower Commission estimate that at least a third of all YOP schemes don't involve new jobs tell remane cases, trainees workers who have been sacked.
After the six three out of four YOP workers are hack on the dole. sometimes to be replaced by a new YOP employee
Most YOP jobs are menial anc involve no training at all. The MSC even had
rigure t.
Projected Housing Waiting List
1,800
1.600
* An eight year construction
and repair and renovation pro-
gramme should be started to
provide 1.2 million new coun-
cil homes. The first five years
of this programme would cost
£12,250m.
* The main programme of ur-
ban reconstruction will need
at least £2,000m extra over the
next five years.
* Health and
building work
£1,000m.
* The sewerage
need an extra f1,000m to start
a badly needed replacement
programme.
tion, which mainly hits working peo-
ple, will then ensue, if no counter-
These counter-measures must in-
volve taking over the banks. Investof ment can then be controlled. It's only
the very largest of companies that can
generate ineir own investments. But. of
course, the people that own the banks
are the same people that own the key
the the commanding heights - will have
to be taken over.
In any event, the last few years
have proved once
capitalists are incapable of providing
for the basic needs of society.
have been responsible for the 3m on
Loe dole.
destroying large sectors of industry in
Britain as well as untold other crimes.
as cheap
children
the last century.
The
school leavers scneme recorving a
The showing
• government
wages for YOPs.
May, Services
replace
months
to increase.
YOP employment. £11¼ billion House building
122,000 jobs
21 bilen
15,400 jobs 77118 78/79 79/80 80/81 81 8 83/84 84/0: The TUC Plan
struction
over five years. * Railway to be over five years. * Ports
education
will require
over five years. * Energy will ed to
government
dustry
to be replaced!
These,
Sneeze
again that the
They
They are responsible for
face This
TUC
schemes run by Tesco and Co-Op.
Firms are using YOP workers
substitute labour. In much the same way women and
replaced adult male labour at half their cost, in the
Fi of high unemployment in
labour movement's answer a hundred years ago was to drive women and children out of the labour market and to refuse to allow them into their unions
At least some unions today are
more sense. The Na tional Union of Public Employees (NUPE) organised the Newcastle rally which was demanding better
At their national conterence ir
NUPE agreed to organise a unionisation drive amongst YOPs to help them organise for better pay and conditions.
• societv has less right to a job than any other. But the danger of different groups be ing pitted against each other in competition for jobs will exist as long as unemployment continues
The only effective way to prevent substitution is to fight for full * Road maintainence and con-
will need another f570m a year for five years: this means another £2,850m
investment needs increased by £1,000m
and airport improvements will cost an extra £1,000m over five years. *Telecommunication investment needs an extra £1,000m
conservation will need an extra f450m * Extra power station capacity will need £1,250m.
How can the TUC suggest that we
allow these people to continue in the
same old way. How can they be allow-
continue to suck our blood
through high interest rates and have
finance, NTOU
taxes on workers, regenerate their in-
for them? Capitalism has
snown itselt bankrupt and demands
The TUC plan projects the crea-
tion of 500,000 more jobs. Clearly,
the creation of so many jobs is not to
be sneezed at. But unemplovment is a
such a calamitous level that this size
of job creation only scratches the sur-
job creation plan
Page 7 scan of this page
81
'WHAT have we left to live for now there is no anyone?'
These.were the last words of teenager Graeme Rathbone and Sean Grant, who committed suicide last May. As the Coroner at the inquest said, 'they felt the world didn't hold a future for them. clear result of the economic situation in this looks to me as if there are going to be more cases like this where youngsters who have not got jobs feel the only way out is to take their own lives.
Those remarks are tragically all too true. Atthe beginning of August a young couple attempted because they were unable to get work calculated on the basis of the 40 hour week. Why not insist on TUC policy and impose a 35-hour week? Imposing this across the would add ten per cent to the work force — almost wiping out unemployment.
Of course the aim of the Tories and the bosses is to impose the exact opposite - they want to reduce wages without reducing the hours.
Last year the bosses imposed settlements in the private sector of less than 10 per cent while inflation was running at 15 per cent. This year, they want less. For example, the employers have rejected the 14 per cent claim of the unions, suggesting a figure less than 5 per cent. The BL management has warned that it doesn't intend to pay any increase at all!
We even beginning
like with SUllIC airlines, that workers accept a 10 per
No jobs, no future
work for
This death.
unemployment.
This is street.
country. It vain for work.
North
with unemplovment pubished by Economics
suicide The TUC approach undermines the confidence of the working class
experts agree, whole economy per cent and will now rise again.
additional measures explained
right azalist
need mighty plemented.
Misguided
simply misguided!
Such an idea to see need only recall of the knuckle'
By Mary Jacobs
and only last Friday an 18 year old
unemployed youth jumped 200 feet to
These terrible stories are just the
tip of the iceberg that is the misery ot
Unable to pay the
rent, people find themselves on the
Families are broken up as the scours une country A recent report from Ivneside Communitv Health
Council links an increase in ill health
And the the Office of Health suggests that
unemployment has made people SO
afraid of losing their jobs that they basic
turn up for work even when ill.
Manv Deodle did not have a holl-
day this year, children contantly have cent or more actual cut! And this in face of a rate of inflation which, all
will not fall below 10
The TUC plan and the necessary
nationalisation of the banks and the commanding heights, imposition of the 35 hour week and so
mass on (all, by the way TUC policy), goes
the interests bosses and their government and will
fight oe im-
This brings us to the most unreal aspect of the plan. It is posed as an appeal to the Tories to change course. As if Margaret Thatcher is somehow
i he passes bare
'barespeech that CBI head Sir Terence Beckett issued against the last
unemployed who are affected. Three million on the dole is a huge incentive to employers to keep workers in line
Our living standards are in danger of being eroded working people feel they have no choice but to accept
- Ol cvell a wago cut — rather than lose their jobs.
Unfortunately they are convinced there is no choice because our trade union leaders are not willing to take
coverancil example, leaders of the engineering union have
continually in the fact of attacks by British Leyland.
Edwardes and government. Holding down wages and refusing to defenc
trade union rights
Longbridge convenor, Derek Robin•
son was sacked, hasn't saved the jobs of thousands of Leviand workers Tory budget. This too was opposition • to hatcher - but not being bold enough in cutting welfare services. Insofar as it was a call for more government money for capital expenditure projects it was a call to cut services to compensale
Moreover, the bosses need the
unemployment, need destruction or ine wellare services While the TUC proposals in the eyes of all those guided by rationality are obvious and needed immediately, this is not what determines the actions of the bosses and the lories.
They need to increase dramatically lnel rare or pronts ana lnis can on ly be done at the expense of the working class by destroying its living standards and increasing the rate at which we are exploited.
Mass unemployment is needed to weaken level of organisation which can promote resistance to this
The
And even more leaders of our trade withdrawn support hour from Jeans.
These struggles have exemplified the willingness of working people in this country fight. they're not only fighting for their own jobs but for everyone's and in so doing are directly taking on the Tories.
The tremendous victory of the Lee Jeans women does more to 'change' Tory policy than the mealy-mouthed utterances of Murray and that's no doubt just what our leaders are afraid of. Workers struggling and organising and winning does threaten the position of the Duffys, Murrays and and her cohorts. Collaborate Michael The lessons of Poland have certainly not been lost on the when union leaders are all for the quiet life.
That's why they want to try to collaborate with the bosses. That's why they have no interest at all in the creation of 500,000 more jobs. Their only interest is to get themselves into a state to meet their foreign competitors in the USA, Germany and Japan. Silly the It is plain silly to appeal to any section of the Tories to implement a plan which so goes against the interests of the people that they represent.
It has to be Labour real socialist policies, prepared for implacable struggle plan, beyond it along the socialist road.
wnre we will never win luc acarl of the class enemy, the likes of Thatcher in such a grovelling way, the TUC approach undermines the confidence of the working Cass Tories The more cringing the approach,
criminally these dustrial unions have Sidney at the eleventh Laurence Scott and Lee
They know Laurence
leaders fight.
unions
Co. And over
blem
Toemse ves
as much to developments Basnetts as Thatcher
crucial.
We
Solidarity in cern of the Chapple.
Tories and the save the want In despair. course
clearly
1984
said that only government committed
can apply the trying complete it, develop it and go
by approaching
el moss shann hee.
Veighe shown prepared to sell railworkers' jobs and working conditions tor a tiny wage increase, despite the willingness of his members to take industrial action.
workers SiKe at Scott and Lee Jeans are learning fast that it's not lust rotten
who are holding back the
It's the very structures ack the
themselves, lack democracy, accountability and controi that rank and fle workers have
their own organisation and leaders that is at the root of the pro-
both the •Ill the Labour Party and the fight for socialist policies in the whole labour movement are so
need national campaign organised by the TUC and the national unions against unemployment.
Unemployment cannot be the con-
unemployed alone. •Only the strength of the organised labour movement can turn the tide against this government. Only its strength can
lives of those driven to the less bold will workers be in stick. ing out for their just demands, let along struggling for an alternative
The TUC plan must therefore be directed towards mobilising the wage earners. It must be clearly stated that the first step is the kicking out of this Tory government. Not in
- by which time too much damage will have been done, but today. The miners have shown we have the strength; the workers at Lee Jeans and Laurence Scott have shown that we have the will to struggle. Instead of
to stab such workers in the back, absurdly and criminally thereby hoping to curry favour with the likes
Thatcher, TUC should mobilise all worker militants for vigorous campaign to implement the plan, take power into its own hands and transform the country, to make it habitable for working people. This is the only serious approach
Socialist Challenge 3 September 1981 Page 7
Page 8 scan of this page
MITRADES COUNCIL
A Better Life For All Demonstration in London in 1978. Unlike other Irish demonstrations it was allowed to
By Geoff Bell
nual conference of trades councils: 'Throughout
of Trades Unions...
held the line against sectarianism...
thern Ireland which Catholic and Protestant working people...
'To.ask for a
would put the down on one side of the sectarian divide.
jectives.
Len Murray was arguing against a motion at the trades councils' conference which made the demands mentions. Despite the advice of the TUC general secretary, conference passed the resolu-
attacked. Nevertheless, the views Murray expressed are shared by many in the trade unions.
Indeed, a resolution submitted to this year's TUC,
construction section of the AUBW. 1s on lne same unics.
This views with the utmost Conceil discrimination the and sectarian
violence in Northern Ireland. Congress reaffirms its policy, adopted at the 1978 Congress, in the belief that it provides the basis for finding a peaceful political settlement in Northern
reland.'
Bill
The 1978 policies referred to called for a Bill of Rights, 'freedom from violence, tarianism and discrimination'
or All Compare Better Lite
It also called 'on the people al the DeODle Ireland to isolate the men ot violence.
These may seem nice, worthy sentiments. Unfortunately for Len Murray and the TUC the uppity Irish natives disinclined to take their advice.
For instance, in the recent Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election there was a candidate standing on exactly the sort of policies the British TUC support the candidate He was Tom Moore, Workers Party Republican Clubs,
Official Sinn mally Knowli do
Fe Moore's election propagan-
da boasted that his 'ettorts contributed to the founding of the
Better Life for all Campaign.
In the election, Moore received approximately two and a half
per cent of the Owen Carron
vote. whom the TUC
would dub as one of the men
of violence' won the election,
receiving twenty times as many
votes as Moore.
Pious
That says something about
the 'mass support
Catholic and Protestant work-
ing people' which
alleges exists for the
union movement in the North
of Ireland.
It also says something about
just TUC's Better Life for All Cam- nOW meaningless is
paign
The demands of this cam-
paign are a collection of pious
statements calting for the night:
Socialist Challenge
HERE is Len Murray, speaking in June at the TUC an-
violence since the late 1960s the general council of the TUC has followed the advice and example of the Northern Ireland Committee (NIC) of the Irish Congress
'Make no mistake about it. The NIC deserves and gets the unstinting support of the British trade union movement. Throughout all the years of death and destruction these courageous men and women have
'It is the only representative organisation in Nor-
mass support from
commitment on withdrawal of troops, to ask for the ending of emergency powers, to ask for the restoration of special category status
trades councils conference firmly
'The NIC would be split from top to bottom if they were to identify themselves with (these) political ob-
the
by sch seem
to lve free from for- 'unemployment' distasteful aspects of society in and
is so inoffensive that anyone can endorse it An example is this report which appeared in published by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in February 1976: 'The Conservative representatives declare support for the Campaign and have forwarded a statement to the Campaign organisers. statement reiterates servative Party's the Better Life for All Campaign.
Airy Neave, from vative Front Bench Spokesman on Northern Ireland, delegation that the work of the trade trade union movement in Northern Ireland was mired and deserved unqualified support. It is kitown that the signatures (in support of Lite ) include the Conservative Party.
So whether it be Tories, the Official Republicans Murray, each agrees that 'Bet3 September 1981 Page 8
TUC and Ireland:
base a better
deal
for all?
'violence' ter Life' is a good idea, and that
the trade unions in Ireland are courageous, 'Better Life' any taint of 'sectarian' feeling.
This is a load of baloney.
First of all, a number
TU News, trade unions NIC of the Ireland are
the political members hold on the Irish naParty their nonal quesuol For example, the Irish Bank Officials tiona! Teachers Organisation The the Irish Tanion and the a
the Con- tional Association of Transport Workers Union and support for
Employees are which organise in the North of Ireland but have
Conser- quarters in the South.
Accordingly,
told the are seen as 'Irish' unions their
membership is overwhelmingly greatly ad- Catholic. Loyalist workers Join British-based equivalents.
A substantial 'Bet- workers in the North of Ireland members of belong to these British based
unions. In part, this is because substantial • Len employed workers in the North are Protestant.
TUC 81,
FOR
rally in Trafalgar Square because it was classed as 'non-political'. Less than 200 people took part
pure and free from object of lofty praise
of wrapped up Northern organised around deceptive tag
VICWS their
it was 'sectarian Union, the Irish Na- the
the
all unions their headbecause they arbitrary ment.
unions, both elsewhere, majority of
such maiority ofa political divide
the North of Ireland
But this means that the Northern Ireland Committee, the share with
by Len Murray, is very careful not to opposed. do or say anything that offends socialists this majority. This is caretully
with a 'nonsectarian' label, but, in fact, it is a
This is evident in Murray's trades councils speech. He said
'to demand the withdrawal of the British Army
repeal of repressive This is the wrong use of the word 'sectarian' There
There is nothing 'sectarian' in opposing laws which deny NIC such basic human rights as the right to trial by jury, the right Ireland' to be judged ine freedom from ved guilty, the freedom ment
arrest prisonment that:
Indeed socialists and trade
Britain and have tought long and hard for such rights
To call for the ending of
laws is not, as Murray would have it, coming down on one side of a 'sectarian divide
on one side the
Len Murray - refused to oppose repressive laws in
JAVOIN
DISTRICT
LUL.
Loyalists Unionists
Len Murray a view that these laws should not be
Republicans, and nationalists Ireland take the contrary view.
Len Murray is correct when he says that the views of the TUC are the same as those of the Northern Ireland Commit-
of the Irish Congress Trade Unions. For the NIC shares with the TUC a dismal record on the defence of human rights in the North of Ireland.
is the case of memorandum produced by the
" in 1978 on the Protection of Human Rights in Northern
In this report the only argu-
advanced against imwithout trial 'A number of cases have heen brought to the Commit tee's attention where the threat
dismissal has arisen because at ne arrest detention
This is the approach of a concerned personnel manager.
also evident the memorandum's of
Prevention of - Terrorism
Act: 'In one case a person who was detained and subsequently served with an exclusion notice has had to turn down offers of employment for jobs in Europe or the Middle East since the agents for the companies operate from Lon don and require applicants to attend there for interview from which they are debarred by the notice.'
So the NIC or the TUC mas
obes to eaten, but tes
refuse to oppose it in principle. They refuse to lead a campaign
abolition these laws
That places them on the side of the repressive laws and on the side of the Loyalists: it is a reflection of the Loyalist majority in trade unions in the North of Ireland
Today, the Better Life fo All Campaign is dead. That will not stop the TUC supporting !! in Blackpool this week, for as is the case with hunger stuker. and victims of the British Army and TUC doesn' always acknowledge, death in Ireland:
Page 9 scan of this page
US women workers say: HANDS OFF!
By Ann Fiander FORD Motor Company in the USA has been ordered to pay Fayette Nale $187,032 compensation because she was fired after rejecting her foreman's sexual advances. Her committeeman (steward) testified that her foreman used suggestives gestures to her.
The UAW (United Auto Workers), Fayette's union, has national policy
sTates ThaT sexual serious obstacle the achieve ment of full employment opportunities for workers of both sexes.
The union uses its national and local press to educate members about the role sexual harassment can play dividing workforce. The most recent letter to all union branches points to the fact that at least three types of victim result from sexual harassment. The national president stated:
Victims
'Most often we think of victims as being those who are penalised for refusing the supervisor's advances. But those whose
reprisal or acsle for privilege traps them in unwantea ships are victims as well. In addition, the workers who suffer supervisors' a resull or lnc favouritism
toward one of them who does submit to sexual advances are victims too.
How a union should deal with sexual harassment from management is becoming an issue in some unions in the US. Forced
Another example is a recent incident in the International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE).
One hundred and fifty IUE members walked out when two managers were merely reprimanded and not sacked TOI sexual harassment. They had forced a secretary to have lunch with them and then grabbed her, squeezed her and smirked at her.
By Joanna Cooke It is comforting to know that, in these troubled times, there are still some people managing to keep their heads above water. fortunates, the aristocracy, were the subject of Barry Norman's 'London Season' on BBC1 on Tuesday of last week.
While the rest of us have been ravaged bv the
soars of nicely mend
prices
vices, the upper classes have come out of it al. not only unscathed, but in finer tettle than ever.
Bubbly
London society, we are told, has seen better business and has more money in the last few months than lor many a good year.
As Barry Norman was told: The Socialist Government had made them feel guilty about spending their money but now, more and more are
Local 201 branch represents 10,000 employccs. per cent women. Both clerical and tactory ODS are same union.
Fired
The initial walk out in support of the secretary resulted in one worker being fired and 32 others receivi the written ings. union has secured the reinstatement of the fired worker but not the firing of the managers.
This has led to a major aebate on ine best way ine union can defend women workers in te long celli. In this particular dispute a one dav strike is proposec if the issue is not resolved
the negotiations.
And these are not the ov umous to lake uo unc
of sexual harassNICHL. Suffer
The second National Conference of women coalminers 1980 requested a comprehensive study of harassment in the coal mines and it Has now been completed.
It showed that 53 per cent of respondents nad been propositioned by their bosses and one third of these women felt they would suffer if they turned their boss down and 70 per Cenl uncomtortable because of the proposiDON.
76 per cent of women reported thes had been propositioned by a workmate, 35 per cent of these felt uncomfortable, the rest felt neutral to pleased.
The report pointed out that the greater incidence of propositions from co-
The upper crust
These
crawling out of the wood work with their wallets.
They are splashing out as much as £500 on an evening dress they may well Weal Olly Once did over £1,000 on the 'best'
champagne. Only the best
'completely palatable'.
The programme show-
ed the up-to-date version
of the ritual of launching upper crust young women
onto the marriage market. Season
To make sure that the blue blood remains pure JOI future generations, they can only go to the mating-hops 'if the'editor. fodd.
workers is to be expected since each miner has many workullales and very lew bosses. But the coercion has much more serious implications when It comes
This evidence is reflecof Tatler thinks their pedigree is OK.
Inclusion on the approved list is the passport
the whole gamut of balls, lunches, and charity functions that make up the London season. some gate crashers do get in though. Clarity
One especially rogant young had done just that was inLevitwe programme. But it turned out can i deal coll tions on the inside.
Charity functions are a quite recent innovation on the London scene. These are used to make us believe that the rich are not the parasites we've always thought them to be.
But Lord Romsey, a That (Men me the get mate Prince that when he "The guests come for the free
free champagne,
Women Review
TO ALL FOREMEN:
HANDS OFF!
PERSONAL PROPERTY
United Auto Workers Local 469 printed this sticker in the local union newspaper next to an article about sexual harassment. The next day, many women wore the stickers to work.
ted in the priorities the unions are adopting relation to sexual harassment. That is, they concentrate on dealing with sexual abuse from Nevertheless the UAW firmly and to see and to be seen.
Obviously charity begins
at home for Romsey and his ilk.
We ememb lat life is very difficult b ing a peer. As one poor chap complained 'You're not taken seriously if you have a title'. Except in your own set, that is There, social Te. quirements are of a lower standard than elsewhere.
Gormlessness takes
precedence over brains. …..'Good looks', money and
states:
"Sexual harassment by managers, supervisors
tolerated at any work PlAce organised by
Local 201 of the IUE 'class' are vital. And even the nouveau riche, with pots of money but pedigree merely tolerated
The Barry Norman programme was a revealing insight into the obscene antics of a senile aristocracy which exists solely for its own self-indulgence.
Roll on the day that 'their land and 'their' wealth is taken from then 'and used to serve the needs of all the people.
has had to confront this head While their management would not sack une for physically attacking secretary, it did sack four employees sexually abusive language.
Fear
The women's committee and activists in this union local are adamant that all forms of sexua harassment have to stop. Their and discussions have lead them to the view that the whole membership has to be educated around this issue They understand sexual harass ment to be:
a democratic issue, the right of workers to respect. - an economic issue, the right of workers to sell only their labour and nothing else.
health and safety issue, because sexual harassment causes stress.
55:67 iEI•315s Socialist Challenge 3 Sect
woman's right to work Management usE tear of coercion, intimidation, assaulil, to try and drive women from the force.
way management divides the workforce to pit worker against worker.
Local 201 has reached the decision that the union and not Halasculc should deal with sexual harassment from workHales
Divides
This view is echoed by Sarah Slaughter, writing in the United Mine Worker Local 1010 newspaper.
Once vou management, the situation
oi you hands. Management may do nothing, or they ma! punish the employee more harshly than you had in tended, , firing him for in-
'The union must try to protect the employee's job and you will then be in a position of siding agains your own union. This will be very unpleasant and it won't win you any friends. It also divides the union, man against woman, and weakens union protection for everyone.
The US he pet nee gives an insight the Class sexua harassment. It explains that the working class as a whole suffers from the effects of harassment of the individual.
Members
NALGO is beginning to do) we should discuss hov we are going to deal with sexual harassment in all its forms. This will mean educating all our members to ensure they understand and cease to harass thei workmates and recognise sexual harassment from management and know how to deal with it.
=73e3
Page 10 scan of this page
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BOLUTIO YOUT
Letters
ON 13th August, I read Socialist Challenge for the tirst time. I am a housewife with two
ing been brought up in a 'Conservative circle, have always voted thus.
Having family made me realise the full implications of the
weapons Dulld up and from this point, I Havc openca my mind to politics.
I deplore the fact that 'defence'
ISSUCS of such paramount importance are not decided by our elected MPs. That certain multinational companies should have such influence these affairs, exaggerates tensions between the USSR and the West and is both dangerous and immoral.
Fi agree with much tha lony benn stanas tor bu after reading your paper am concerned about certain aspects of your movement.
Re the Air Traffic
We reply:
Socialists believe in the methods of persuasion and argument. We don't think that the best way to win people to socialism is to go around rioting and beating up the police
that's not our method at all.
The work of socialists
dally meetings, paper sales, arguments on the shop floor, housing estates and in the Labour Party bran-
The problem is that the
powerful won't give up their ruling
peacefully and without using their police force, army «i Couls. there to defend property
in Chile; when they left wing government and threatened by the workers, the army moved in to over-
On the contrary, they are ideologically trained to defend the existing society
Missed opportunity
AS a long time reader of Socialist Challenge I am
concerned at the lack of Ireland coverage in your paper in recent weeks.
Following the recent McElwee and Michael Devine. It is now as impor. tant as ever to publicise the prisoners' struggle and to
Letter letterS/TERS
Can you convince me?
Controllers dispute, do you mean to say that when
aise soomise stands cor
promise stands nothing?
I sympathise with their
wonder if it is right cause that such a contract should be signed but do not feel
course.
This
al c doubt should you
the rioters The situation
wrong.
you curb
- they are a deeply con-
others. It
from political debates, tinual between the and the workers struggles
strike the workforce, women, unlull. To close
down the plant the
picket.
, use Breai
police, violence,
Many people who the struggle defend the
openly.
1974 the on the lores
cause The WUL.
much more Ireland at
As a member of the re cent TOM delegation to beast annueny. particularly upset that this received no detailed coverage.
Surely the opportunity should have been used, as
Letters
yourselves a little. The Labour Party must win the next election My Conser-
friends will vote Social Democrats unless vou can provide a united front for Labour.
Communicate with the British public. Attack at the toD. the open, SO that reasonable people will
and beating policemen
Channel
SUDDONL
letter. dle class
good. youl
Driffield,
saying the Tories were bad italicis and the miners should get a wage rise.
You can't get socialism struggle, by _just arguing about Ideas. Take the example of the youth riots. The youth are rebelling against unemployment, dreadful housing conditions and police harassment generation condemned to misery by the tones.
They are fighting back their oppression.
We don' agree with all their methods, but you nave to take sides Socialists always side with the exploited and oppress. ed, even if we don't agree with their methods struggle.
Socialists in this country have often fallen into the trap of giving up more and more of their political principles in order to appear "reasonable'. That is a slippery road.
Don't forget that Denis Healey started out as a member of the Communist Party.
But in the long run it's best to stick to your prin ciples and not curd yourself. And it's also necessary to tell the workers the truth. That to change society they will have to struggle, and the bosses will use every weapon at their disposal to stop them
it was in Socialist Worker, to convev to vour readers the tremendous solidarity
prisoners in the nationalist ghettos
freiand will be given more prominence future issues.
VICTORY TO THE HUNGER STRIKERS! IAN LUND London
Britain's Vietnam
getting troops out of Ireland.
in Ireland shown by
and south of the results is changing t ho chair no alone.
fifty resolutions put to LUCI Party Con
their finger important issue.
movement nas
ment ir
Vietnam.
The of
... One of the why the anti-war in America in
Incut. • no-s approach
job for American workers?
our
doing'
Because was the troops that were the mainstay of US policy of maintaining the pro-imperialist government in
South, the anti-war une movement focussed over whelmingly on the BIG Issue
Its campaign was successful. movement against the war was crucial
getting America out. This has been acknowledged both by the Vietnamese and by top military thinkers in the Pentagon.
We have the same job (real value f3.15!)
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The popularity of the fight against British policy
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Ill.
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Page 11 scan of this page
'We will not take a single step
course of the Nicaraguan revolution. thinking of the FSLN leadership. revolution and the bourgeoisie.
has shown itself
of the revolution.
the progress of the dinistas will be forced to take much
currently envisage. The cutoff of US financial aid is a problem for the Revolution. Wash-
justifying its move by alleging that Nicaragua giving Salvadoran insurgents military backing. What comment does this merit?
Actually what worries the United States our revolutionary process. By its decision, imperialism tries to 'punish' our 'bad benavour • In Older WOrd our Revolution.
URUS now saving that it will help us again if we behave correctly, that is, according to its criteria. To this we reply that we will not take a single step backward.
We Nicaraguans announce to all the people of the world that we shall continue to behave badly in the eyes of imperialism and that we are ready to die to defend our RevoluWe are willing
to tight to the last drop of blood to
gained since July 19, 1979.
gained since July 19,
You just mentioned 'conquests' of the Revolution. Would you say what they are?
The principal one is that we are under way. We have also eliminated ror, won independence and national sovereignty and taken some positive cultural steps. in the
of the literacy
Case
crusade.
We have achieved a substantial reduction in in-
fant mortality and have pur the country s principal
means of production at the service of LOC people's
What. are, the basic
BELOW we reproduce sections of a recent interview given by Thomas Borgé, one of the top leaders of the FSLN, about the future
We are reproducing those excerpts not because we agree with everything which Borgé says - far from it - but in order to enable our readers to better understand the
Today in Nicaragua something like 70 per cent of the economy is in private hands. We think that Borgé's statements on the role of private industry reveal some illusions about the possible degree of co-operation between the state and private industry, between the
So far, at each decisive stage, the FLN willing to mobilise workers and peasants against the attempts of the bourgeoisie to sabotage the progress
Our own view is that in order to sustain revolution, the
radical measures against capital than they
aspects
mixed synthesis political pluralism. wA have said times that we are very intere pedinarities on witn the peculiarities process, but everything depends on the historic circumstances OI each mo We have always had our 111cill feet firmly on the ground, and do not want to fall into the pattern or the errors of other revolte Our model is intimateIv linked to the needs of production and Ilallulla because the State does not have managerial talent.
We do not deprecate the bourgeoisie's ad-
ability to make the means of production function.
have understood you, Comandante, you do not disdain the contribution of the businessmen. You do attack the bourgeoisie who it is willing with the cooperate revolutionary process.
We reached the conclusion that ther alc uccessal y that production will not have a snarp drop. Now it is up to the businessmen to that the mixed economy - which is basic to political pluralism does not disappear.
We realise that we have to work to maintain a mixed economy, and we have a sincere interest in maintaining it. it the entrepreneurs decapitalise the companies, It they conspire against the Revolution, they will bring an end to mixed economy and piurailsill Thus the conelly
the Sanmore
a backwards'
depends on the business-
men. Our interest and
good will are evident.
now depends on the degree
of development
bourgeois culture and
whether the entrepreneurs
can go beyond the line of
political savagery.
One of the criticisms
from the opposition to
the FSLN its im-
plementation of
totalitarian political
mode. Do you have this
danger in mind? Are the
nine comersonte
the FSLN National
Directorate thinking of
this?
Look, personally I can tell
you that the responsibility
that goes powel
very heavy for a human
being. It is too much of a
burden.
In the National Direc-
torate we take special care
not to tall into excesses
We watch each other.
International
When we begin
with criticism and self-examination.
The Revolution exercises a continuous vigilance over each one of us. Our advantage is collective administration. Whatever one of us does affects all the rest, and firm control helps us avoid vices.
bourgeoisic cuses us of falling into
But forgets to say that here in Nicaragua have freedom of the press; that we do not use torture; that there was no paredon (wall against DESONCIS are executed by firing squads); and that an opposition exists.
Washington accused Nicaragua of falling rapidly into CubanSoviet mode What is
charges that the Sandinist Revolution
INTERVIEW
WITH TOMAS
BORGE,
LEADER
OFTHE
NICARAGUAN
REVOLUTION
beginning to be dependent on Cuba and the USSR?
We do owe imperialism any explanation.
But we Will say Americans that we are not going to become another Cuba. Neither do we want anyone to become another Nicaragua. revolution has its own framework and its We teel ver close to the Cuban Revolu We do not deny that nor will we ever deny it occause that would dishonest.
However, we are also
is different from Cuba's in Holly WaYS. have political pluralism and a mixed economy. We have not executed anyone. We also have a collective administration We coincide with the Cuban Revolution many points, for example
our anti-imperialist Sane direnese Without we also have differences going into detail, in inter national policy the Nicaraguan Revolution has its own opinion about Afghanistan and Poland. Said fust a short while Comandante: You ago that within two years 100 per cent of Nicaraguan will be designated for servicing debt and buying petro-
Then, even more than now, foreign financial assistance will be needed.
Do sincerely believe that socialist countries will help Nicaragua to continue upholding political pluralism and mixed economy? Isn't it uto pian to think that such
will Sorce terested? Do you truly think that there will be no 'pressure' for Nicar-
follow a arud specified course?
I am entirely certain that we will have help without restriction socialist countries. , Remember that vested story callio be the same as today's.
Conditions the world have changed. The Yankees invaded the Dominican Republic; now they would think 200 times Delore aoing Ine same Nicaragua The Soviets likewise have perience in Cuba where the revolution took place under specific circumstances
If the Soviets - and the socialist countries did not understand that they would antihistorical. We have the hope. the
absolute certainty, that the
understand DOVICL
perfectly what is going on
here and would not think
Socialist Challenge
trying to guide Revolution
Viner wise Revolution would not have any meaning. and we would ask why in the devil we did it
One of the most important elements in a revolution is for the people to be
of their destin and act according to their wishes. i someone cone , to tell us what we have to do, then the Revolution is over.
A problem that disturbs Latin America the possibility of armed ag
against Nicaragua. How seriou is the danger of attack by one oce that are outside of Nicaragua, especially in Central America and the United States!
They have already attacked us several times. Las year they made dozens of attacks. The latest one wa less than a week ago We are andu micsc allack
will be more frequent i
DUL LIC ICE danger is not these attacks by ex-guardsmen.
More serious is the possibility of there being an element of provocation to create a conflict between Honduras and Nicaragua would be difficult to over-
Sandinist LO V Revolution.
The only way to defeat us miltariv would be d an invasion of US troops
even they would pay a very high price ir
lives, political prestige anc future perspective. For u belligerency We tee main problem more concerned about the war against backwardness poverty and underdevelopment. That Wild worries us more and we hope that there will not be an outbreak of warfare in the area 3 September 1981 Page 1,1
Page 12 scan of this page
Defend Ken Livingstone!
Mr Livingstone presumes..
SOME people lie because they can't help it. Others, especially ambitious politicians, because purpose.
Mr. Ken Livingstone, the leader of the Greater London Council, is an ambitious policiall.
At a meeting in Brixton, raged outside, accused including the Daily Mirror, alet filth" about the making racism respectable.
He told us he was "horrified" at our support for the police and for law
in by a Offert led, London E2
Socialist
Challenge
The added,
while a riot for race relations newspapels, of a "daily Certainly we
riots and of
restoring we soulo nave men-
i Mirror Comment
tioned unemployment and poor housing,
and switching of grants from the cities to the counties.
And our riot coverage was "appalling
beliere law and order must be restored on our streets. So does Michael Foot. Doesn't Mr. Livingstone?
But the Mirror stressed the riots were
La svmotom oi our troubles. solving the causes meant spending much
By Davy Jones
THE Iranian regime of Ayatollah Khomeini is
in total disarray as it reels from the assassina-
tion of the President and Prime Minister.
There is massive disaf-
fection with the regime
throughout the coulill y
failure to KEN LIVINGSTONE, leader of the Labour
Greater London Council, has come under savage attack from the press since coming to
office in May
The right wing Tory press, led by the ob noxious London Standard, campaign of slander and vilification on every word and action of Ken Livingstone's. The right wing Labour quick to join forces with the Tories in attack. ing Ken and even some of the left councillors have been airing their misgivings in public.
So what lies behind such concerted cam-
Ken himself thought that the press campaign would subside after the elections.
But he acknowledges that when he became leader many people
The would 'mellow' with the weight of his exalted position. anything he has done just the opposite.
Ireland
Ken has spoken our
of workers' struggles, gay
discriminatior against blacks, racism in the police force, Poland and by no means least, on
He does not always have the support of the other left councillors in the GLC, let alone the Labour group as a whole. The new administration has begun to tackle many problems facing Londoners, some not too successfully.
It plans to cut fares but at the expense of a huge rate increase: it in tends to create more jobs and has supported strug. gles against redundancie such as the work-in at St Mary's Paddington, as well as accommodating the People's Marchers. Gays
And when Ken Livingstone denounces discrimination against black people and gays he is speaking on the policy of the LADOlI group and manifesto on which it was elected.
more on housing, education and jobs.
WE SAID: cities has been hule
equality. It is time to show they mean WE SAID: "If the seaside resorts trom youngsters are entitled to ask why they cannot stop racist provocation.
That LONDON HAS GOT A LIAR F(
A LEADER.
Iran crisis deepens
secute the war against
lraa the
unemployment and in-
attacks has launched a
councillors have been
The Labour GLC has tried to blow a wind of change through the COr ridors County Hall.
They want to do away with some o mae bureaucranc workings of the council and make it more accoun table and open, particularly to the labour movement in London.
So why the campaign against ken Livingstone? First, his stand on Ireland, in particular his complete support for the hunger strikers and for the withdrawal of British troops.
He has been the only major Labour Party figure who has taken such stand. He openly broken from Labour's bipartisanship with the Tories
But he now needs to take this fight into the Labour Party as a whole in order overcome his so anon Irom Col leagues on this issue. Benn
The second reason why Livingstone has come
suca banare. that for many people the Labour GC is seen as a forerunner of left Labour government led by Benn.
Hence its success or failure is of concern to the hacks in Fleet Street as well a to the Tories on both sides of Westminster Bridge, not to mention Foot and Healey
The eventual outcome of the GLC is also the concern of all of us on the left ne Livinestone das sidiet that either the GLC or the "lhe spending on the ruthlessly and blindly
WE SAID: "Politicians talk about racial
police can protect skinheads, coloured
Everything Mr. Livingstone accused us
democratic rights.
Whole areas of the Country are controlled bi
nationalist guerrillas as in
roes accordele
reports, supporters
of ex-President Bani-Sadr and the Mojahadın guer
rillas. government will be totally victorious. That is not a small for the working class which looking to the Labour Party leadersnip against Thatcher Socialists sbehind ken four square behind Livingstone against the attacks from the media and the right.
Choice
It is very easy to shout 'Resign! Resign!' every time the Labour GLĆ makes slip. But the developments inside the Labour Party today means that the left has to begin to make a choice. Either we can stand on the side lines, shouting 'Foul' while we Kec vur Dusilions Durc. ul we seize the opportunities opening up tor us
Socialist Challenge has many criticisms to make
manifesto and of how
But a confronta vociales
with the Tories clearly coming.
It such a controntatior is to be a victorious one arallis Ken Livingstone has to be derenced now when he speaks out on the crucial issues facing the working class
Socialist
OK:
time to
deliver
the
goods!
BAD week tor our Fund Drive. £440.10.
Our quarterly target is £16,400 or £1,270 per week
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COlpaigns, we we
We can't rely on our advertising revenues about a tenner a week in the first half of this Via. We can't rely on
donations, selling the rights godpersons or a mass circulation (yet).
We have to rely on deliver the goods, it we supporters, are to deliver the goods.
ave de cen this issue next week we should be back sixteen pages - would
The Iranian masses disposed of the Shah in a mighty revolutionary struggle. They fought for democratic rights and solutions to their elemen tary social and economic needs. The Khomeini regime has proved con clusively 'inability to grant these demands.
The result has been the dramatic of op. position groups and cur rents: some around figures SUCH Bani-Sadr and outright supporters of the
Shah; and other more militant currents like
the regime has grown weaker so it has in creasingly turned to savage
against 600 position. More than executions of political op
sonents have been carrie out in the past few months and hundreds more have 'disappeared' or been arrested.
These actions by Khomeini regime can further undermine the gains of the anti-Shah revolu-
But the bombing campagn the Mojahadin and other bourgeois politicians represents no way forward for the Iranian workers and peasants either.
Terrorist bombings only have the effect of reinforcing the hold of the mullahs — as witnessed by the Im strong demonstra tion in support of Khomeini following last weekend's bombing.
The Iranian workers and peasants should not rely on either the Kho. meini regime of the Mojahadin/Bani-Sadr bloc to carry through the revolution
They should build the broadest movement including the Mojahadin against the repression of the regime and for the defence democratic rights, including the right of the oppressed nationalities to self-determination.
Challenge
you settle for anything less?
week our thanks to supporters in
Outer West London
Leamington, anc Des Stevens.
Stop Press: Last week, thieves broke into the home Brent Socialist Challenge sup-
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Help the paper • and en joy yourself at the same time! TONY
BENN
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