Socialist Challenge No. 227, 7 January 1982
The scan: sc-no227.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.
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Challenge Support
the resistance
No. 227 7 January 1982 25p
Socialist Unemployed and strikers 10p
NOSE
INSIDE
Poland - the full story
GLC fares fight
Labour Liaison 1982 Ford workers fight sellout
Page 2 scan of this page
= Solidarity needed -
Editorial
PO Box 50, London N1 2XP Phone 01-359-8189/8180 (editorial and distribution)
THE STRUGGLE taking crucial not only for the future of that country, but for the workers of the whole world. would be difficult to overestimate the stakes involved.
The imposition of martial law by bureaucrats shows not weakness. It is the bureaucracy's last card short of Soviet invasion. The stakes in the struggle have been rasee massively.
August 1980 leading transformation of Polish Stalinism to a more open and democratic' system have had a rude shock. The military's action patibility of bureaucratic rule with genuine independent workers' organisations.
workers of the whole world was that Poland in 1980 and 1981 represented the highest point of the world revolutionary process, the most politically advanced struggle taking place
The struggle cratic system gave rise to forms of organisation and struggle which contained lessons for the workers of every country.
tion of strikes and unions; direct access by tens of thousands of workers to the negotiations between party leaders; massive use of factory occupations;
Solide of Poiso
sphere society represented a threat not only to the bureaucracies in Eastern Europe but also to the the West. Despite the crocodile tears, radical actions had few governments. hands of the Polish armv or at the hands tanks would amount to a major reversal of the world relationship of forces between the working class and its enemies.
tinue the struggle against bureaucratic LAen political level thaner is theseuterternative to will continued
of power CUCOLIOTT bureaucratic rule is termediate solution is possible.
The defeat of the Polish defeat for the workers of the whole world, especially if a Soviet invasion occurred.
Ant-communisi
would ideological impact of such events.
put the peace movement in defensive, , opening it up to
governor. leaders.
defeated process
the trade unions mass Stalinist suppression of the Polish. immensely strengthen the hands of US imperialism.
against the revolution in
and national class
•emonstrate. Never has community perialism in the face OT
most important task for
and trade union
coolone.
Polish workers must be forced to act.
Socialist
below
Name.
Address
Aga
Union: CLP lif anyi.
Send to
London N1 2XP.
Socials: @callarge 7 lanuary l952. page 2
place in Poland is
the Polish their strength but their
Those people who thought that the events after
to a gradual, peaceful
clearly demonstrates the incom-
The significance of the struggle in Poland for the
anywhere of Solidaritv against the bureau-
Control over hiring and firing; veto works managers; democratic organisaCASSIO
and the extension of and influence into every all these things capitalist system in Solidarity's friends in the Western
The defeat of the Polish proletariat, either at the
of Soviet
On the other hand, if the Polish masses can con-
reession at an infinitely higher is posed. alternative workers' power. inwould be a
The effects of such a move would be incalculable.
anti-socialism would be Movements like CND ir completely undercut by the
Already the crackdown on the Polish workers has
West Germanv on the demagogic attack from If the defereed a she rig prong in are place din ali will take place
workers' parties. workers would
giving it much more room for manoeuvre, especially
Central America.
Never has the interaction between international
struggle been clear v the silent but very of interests between Stalinism and immass workers struggles
The detence of the Folish workers is the sinale
socialists everywhere Public meetings, collections of money for the Polish
delegations to visit Poland should all be planned. Poland must be raised in every workers' organisation - and those like Tony Benn who hesitate to speak up in defence of the
Challenge
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'THERE are difficulties in the Polish situation.'
Arthur Scargill made just crackdown.
trade union in our accepted sense of the word. It is, I suspect, a political movement.
The 'difficulties' Arthur Scargill appears to have standing full suual C with the Polish workers are shared by number of leading personalities in this country s labour movement.
even WULSE. it is left wingers who have tended to react most cautiously to the Polish events.
Tony Benn, for example, has said virtually nothing in public since the imposition of martial law. The majority of the Labour executive refused to port a call from Eric Heffer for a Labour Party
20 December in London in support of the Polish workers.
Instead, at its meeting on 17 December ecutive adopted a milder
the Labour Party's 'deep concern' at the introduction of martial law.
Leading left wingers Joan Maynard and Eric Clarke specifically spoke against Heffer's stronger resolution
Heffer is one of the few on the left who has been willing to speak without any equivocation against
Polish Covericil. 'Real democratic socialists must stand and be counted,' he said the week
before Xmas.
'If it was right to pro. test over events in Chile South Africa or Turkey, it is also right to protest over what is happening Poland.
That was one comment miners' president-elect
after the military
Scargill also maintained his support for 'free independent trade unions in every nation', but added, 'it is clear that Solidarity is not a
Equally strong statements nave Come from Communist Party member Mick McGahey, president of the Scottish On 29 December illicis he offered to go to Poland as an expression for his support for miners there.
He explained that Scottish miners; 'are callall those who have been de tained arising from resistance to the imposition of martial law. 'We are insisting on the ending of martial law the return to civil rule and the restoration of civil and democratic rights The TUC and general secretary Len Murray were also quick to condemn the crackdown. Murray has applied for a visa to visit Poland, a point he made when and other members of the TUC general council visited the Polish ambassador in London on 27 December.
The delegation, said Murray, 'very strongly indeed the revul sion of British workers and the TUC about what has happened in Poland Statements like that give the labour novement in the country something to build on in establishing real and active support for Solidarity.
But this will not hap. ben Il lne right wilig ll car -abour Party and TUC is seen to be giving the lead in condemning Polish authories. Sad to say
Soljo
The Polish demonstration in London on 20 December refused official support, and a right wing atmosphere prevaitri.
of a labour movement contingent. apart from individuals SUCH Heffer and McGahey it right
who have beer most vocal
Tom Jackson of the Post Office workers.
Frank Chapple of the elec tricians and Terry Duffy of the engineers have all been quick to express their support for Solidarity.
the Labour Party
from the left
Socialist Challenge
DEFEND
REVOLUTION
Socialist Challenge supporters on the London demo were part
At times, such in-
dividuals have used the
Polish events as part of
their anti-lef pro-
imperialist crusade.
For example, Joe
Gormley the moderate
president of the miners
alleged Polish
workers 'are only fightin
for the things we take tor
granted Britain, treedon democracy. and truc
The fact is that some of
the forms OI union
democracy advanced
Solidarity, and the type o workers control they have
fought for are a million
miles away from what hap-
pens in this country.
But Gormley and others of his kind will hi allowed to get away with alstorting wild workers want, and will use
the imnosition of martia
law as a way of whipping
up anti-left feeling, unless
the left out-gun the right in
attacking the Polish
government
It is true that many of
the larger meetings and
demonstrations this
and Great Western Road.
include Jimmy Reed et al.
21 January 8pm at the
hold in prolest over ten
held protest over the events in Poland have bee dominated by cold war rhetoric.
But that is inevitably the case if the left muffles its voIce, or prattles on about the 'difficulties' in giving one hundred per cent support to Solidarity.
HANDS
Badges: 20p + • From PO Bo Bulk quest 80071670) 2XP 1(11)s /0/C1 CA les poval order mad 011/ Socialis Challenge. Activities on Poland
Glasgow demo Saturday 23 January 1.30pm. Assemble corner of Queen Margaret Drive
March to Patrick Burgh Hall at 3pm. Speakers
Oxford Rally called by trades council for Thursday
Town Hall.
Speakers invited include Eric Heffer.
Page 3 scan of this page
With friends like these....
ARE Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul Il the best friends the Polish workers have?
That's certainly the impression that is being put over by much of the media.
Reagan in particular is being portrayed as the lone cowboy of the Western World ready to ride to the rescue of the Poles.
The action he has taken in imposing sanctions against the Polish and Soviet governments is contrasted to the reluctance of others Western alliance - notably the West dermans make any against the Eastern bloc.
But if this is the popular interpretation Western response to the Polish crisis, the reality is not so simple.
US response to the military takeover was
Europeans . I ne of US Secretary of State Alexander Haig, merely expressed his 'concern' with the rider that the takeover was an internal attair for the Poles.
Reprisals
While the statements became a little more bellicose as time went on,
In his Xmas message Reagan remained cautious. Although
mouthed Communist clichés, his singular suggestion was that US citizens should display a lighted candle in the window over Amas to exoress their sorrow a the suffering of the Poles. the same Ronald Reagan who had criticised Jimmy Carter's reprisals against the Soviet invasion Afghanistan as being too weak. the same time, two years ago when he was running for President. had suggested a blockade of the proper reply to the Afghanistan events.
It was only on 29 December that Reagan opted something more flamboyant than candle lighting. He announced a series of economic sanctions, aimed principally at the Soviet Union, the most spectacular of which was to ban the export
the nlanned Europe gas pipeline.
Despite the wide these measures received, they are extremely limited in scope. For exam-
Reagan did not attempt to halt the export of US grain to the Soviet Union, a move Carter did make over Afghanistan.
us last weapon.
workers' revolution by State terrorism.
needs had become evident to everyone.
economic reform
these hopes.
'In covernment
Ronald
in the
moves
capitalism's
' as cautious as
military Ronald
dull
This was
At
Reagan f Cuba as of equipment Soviet-Western
publicity that
repeat of
make up
A matter for workers everywhere
'Today the counter-revolution is a reality in Poland. The bureaucratic power, plunged into an unprecedented crisis over the last months, is using
The state of war installed by General Jaruzelski against the working class and the whole of society is an attempt to crush the
Over the last months the inability of the State and party apparatus to satisfy the most elementary
Nevertheless the workers placed their hopes in the
based on workers' selfmanagement which was planned to start in early January. The development of social control over the political economy, and the perspective of the first free local elections next spring, reinforced
November, the abandonment by the of its own proiect o economic reform, and its decision to concentrate even more economic power into the hands of the bureaucratic apparatus provoked widespread social tension. In numerous enterprises and regions the workers of Solidarity began to prepare for a strike action in
rder to exercise control over the means of produ
ion and distribution, to install a genuine workers selt-management and to impose an economic reform from below through a mass movement.
'The question of who should hold power - a
Reagan and Schmidt - no friends of the Polish workers.
this exercise would have hurt the US economy too much. grain sales to the Soviet Unior
between two-thirds and $1.3bn. privileged munority or themselves began Solidarity. directly
jicient attention. 'Today,
Polish revolution,
of the workers, is in danger of being crushed.
decided to resist, but they need the determined support of the workers of the world and in the first place from the powerful workers' organisations of Western Europe.
Solidarity would represent their own defeat. What is happening today in Poland is a matter for every
Zbigniew Kowalewski, presidium of Lodz Solidarity, 17 December 1981.
NOON
three-quarters of total US exports to the USSR which in the first eight months of last year earned the US
the working masses to be discussed within revolutionary situation developed from then on in Poland. It's then that the Polish army hierarchy decided to put into motion the preparations to impose its dictatorship: preparations which had begun a year ago, but to which the leaders of Solidarity had devoted insuf-
recourse to bayonets is suppressing not only the possibility of workers' socialism and self-management to which the free unions and the Polish working masses aspire, but also the elementary rights of man, of citizens and of workers. The
which constitutes one of the most advanced and audacious experiences in the world from the point of view of the emancipation
'The working class and the Polish people have
united and
The defeat of
member of the
What Reagan did attempt to do was to use the Polish events. not so much to express support for Polish workers, ideological offensive
Reagan said that Solidarity 'may have asked for more than thev could be
given' in demanding a referendum ir
And the same day that Reagan showed his supposed workers in Poland, the US publicised two other decisions of foreign policy The state department appealed for an end to EEC sanctions Turkish military junta, where 50 trade union leaders have just gone on trial for their lives. Reagan also announced US mom te salvadoran Army — respon sible tor the murder thousands of workers and peasants.
Slumped
Given such obvious hypocrisy it is hardly surprising that some leading European politicians have reacted to Reagan's sanctions dain. government's opinion'. West Germar government Becker said on 30 December
Even the French which has been more critical of the Polish crackdown than the West Germans have showed impatience with Americans. Jacques the ruling French Socialist Party commented, says it wili not meeting Mr Brezhnev, and the next he talks about suspending the Geneva arms negotiations. One cannot see the guiding inspiration policy.
The 'inspiration' in the West German 'softly-softly' approach is more obvious to see. For the past ten years the strong trading and banking links with West Germans
Eastern Europe ticular. While US trade with Polan has slumped in the last few years, Polish/West German trade has more than doubled
West German Poland's leading creditor. dollars are owed to the German banks by the Polish respect it is hardly surprising that one leading German newspaper, Die Zeit responded to the Polish with the judgement, need not approve Jaruzelski's military coup d'etat, one has to wish him success.
Or, as a senior US government ofSolidarnosc sticker on
Fficial.
Herald but rather as a part of his
against the indeed at one point yellicall against the expressed Hael
government training of officers malls
Not tens of the Soviet
Led -and the USA will open als 'We do not share the American
spokesperson Kurk Sordid government,
Polish events, Hutzingeer of
'One day President Reagan
him from
American
the
have built
and Poland in par- he
ment
military by banks are also Billions of weak.
government. In that the around
'Although one of General
Europe
PALINE
tank outside Gdansk shipyard davs after martial law was declared
By Geoff Bell
quoted in the International Tribune put on 31 'With all this unemployment and recession in Europe, it is understandable that the Europeans and particularly the Germans, are reluctant to participate in sanction: involving a key market for them
Economic interests apart, the Western wuropean countries. with the poin, be ve hadionor the chime, Birtain, have had, for • some time ferent tactical attitudes from the US
the Western/Soviet Union relationship. The EEC view, as
by West German leader Schmidt at the weekend, that the Yalta agreement of 1945 re
COICE was une cea whereby the imperialist powers were given a free hand in West Europe, anc
Union was allowed to do what it liked in East Europe. The Americans, with their declining empire in Asia and Southern and Central America are no longer so happy with this arrangement. But what all involt
West Europe, the Soviet Union agree is that the type
experiment in workers contre which Solidarity began in Poland not one that merits support.
The other highlighted actor in the
Pope John Paul II Lakes a mar bewi According 10 = story printed in the Sunday Times, he
Ambassador advised Vatican of the military clampdo:two hours before it happened.
The Pope was assured tha: :measures taken by the governmer. would be limited and that the Church would be asked to
government and Solidarity return ior these assurance turned out to be false - Polis:. A: chbishop Jozef Glemp preached a se: mon just after the takeover in which
pleaded, 'Do not start fighting Poles against Poles.' Only when :: became clear that the Polish govern-
had out-manoeuvred the Vatican did the condemnations of the
the Pope become less
It is all a very sordid picture. One of secret deals, bankers' interests and
WOrKer being kicked in an ideological footbal game between Reagan and Moscow The only real friends those workers have, and the only ones they need are trade unionists like themselves the US, West Germany and the rest of •Socialist Challenge . 7 January 1982 page 3
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SOLiDARNOS: THE WOF
Challenge Katowice miners remember those murdered at the Wilek mine by the military authorities Supporters yather outside Solidarity's Warsaw Hu, the day atter martial lan was imooseo Socialist Challenga 77 January 1982' baga gin.
Polish coverage in this week's Socialist
compiled by Davy Jones
SOLiDARNOSE
MAZOWSZE
night curfew ficials
Leading
population.
CONT
the post. ports, lions
• salonic
rounded
one
THREE WEEKS of martial law and vicious repression have not stopped resistance in Poland. Indeed, in many regions a co-ordinated fightback develop. DAVY JONES reports on the facts of the repression and the workers' response.
The effects of martial law are achastaling here sud
All phone com ship and all letters opened
and and dallic banned tinks mun ine our side world have also been cut.
isolate
camate of fear
Some local Solidarity of arrested
like Kolodziei from Gdynia have been drugged
Heek fessions and appearing on T
denounce Soldaril like Rozplochowski of Silesia search
been attacked media as 'degenerates Antisemin campaigns nave ocgur in the press agains! supposed regions
by the tiny Jewish and Catholic associations have been shut
'militarises' whole sectors of
'economy buses military
telecommunications, radio and TV • power plailly
refineries. petrol sta, and workshops for all sion
orms of militar
I these areas are
who hesitate to implement the
are ruthlessly removed, like the governors
Elblag, Radom and Koszalin
Thousands of Solidarity acinded up and marned. 6011l
SEWERYN BLUMSZTAJN was among the first of those reported arrested by the new military
government in Poland.
published was obviously a 'hit list' -Blumsztajn was in Paris, named were in the United States!
Solidarity's press agency, dinated and distributed information to all the interfactory committees (MKZs). He was thus in a good position to know how Solidarity had
prepared for the present confrontation
Monde, in an interview December.
Was Solidarity prepared for what has happened?
We were generally con-
vinced that a confronta-
becoming was
evitable, and that
Not the
regime could only be
undertaken in its wake.
was clear that the conflict
would take the form of a
general strike. So we were
psychologically and
politically prepared.
On the other hand, nothought regime would impose such
brutal measures; Solidari-
not technically was
prepared for these. That
would have required an
underground organisa-
tion, conspiratorial
measures - something in-
consistent with this kind of
movement, with its total
commitment to democracy
and public debate. I know
other example of
movement where any
meeting of at least six
members of the national
could
the workers
beginning to
More than one hundred of the 107-person
Not Solidarity were
ed away 1o Warsaw
HQS WCIC documents laken away an( crouds who assembled outside to protest were dispersed
police all, . seems that at least 15.000 Solidarity supporers were immealater
T ras mait in the firm
uniform
stunned Snock an 0 disbelief, and desperate
for workplace strikes › in virtually
town and city and in let blanl the
and Szczecin, the Silesian region and Katowice, Lublin Wroclathere
WelC massle sautonas The city
Radom, centre
equipment and am factories was totally sealed off by the army
The resistance and repres
then followed
plants like the Katowice steel
near Warsaw. andthe Gdans| shipyards. Tanks were used to smash a way in and the elite
1 police were 10 break resistance and arrest
But by the next jured occupied, orkly for the breat Worker. had
But in fact what was
because while two others
Blumsztajn was one of the founders of
AS, which coor-
This is what he told the Paris newspaper Le
published on
. observed — as was the case
- by a journalist tree to
report in detail and
without the slightest cen-
sorship
We knew that, in the
event of an attack, the
authorities would have no
difficulty in arresting the
majority of the leadership;
and that the organisation
could only be re-
established by those who
regrouped in the factories.
was impossible to
establish an underground
apparatus. Not because
the scale of arrests was un
foreseeable, but because it
was out of the question
that a leader should be ap-
CyCl
Walesa. They had to be
elected
Then again, the least
preparation for a confron-
tation would have been de-
nounced by the regime as
an attempt to lake over.
Just look at how they seiz.-
ed on the pretext of the
workers' guards which
some factory sections tried
1o set up.
POMERANIA Bydgoszcz
PRAGUE
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
up 1o begin again
Some the national and regional leaders of Solidarity escaped ine securly porce.u the Cidansk shipyards a national strike committee established vinosan Walesa' • deputies.
Krupinski, well Jal
and Anna Walentynowic/
The shipyard, after repeated military attacks was closed down until Monday 4 January and the strike com mittee arrested.
Thursday
shipvard
lions and work stoppages had reached a new peak
there
riots, with protesters. Hundreds were in-
determined attemp to crush The authorities made
What do you think will
General Jaruzelski's coup?
It is being said in France that the general, thatsch, saved roland from
La Soviet intervention. That seems bizarre to me. It was clear Inal population would resist the coup. The restrictions it has imposed take society back to the 19th century or bring back memories o Hitlerite occupation with its seizure of all radio sets.
Jaruzelski has deprived himself allies in Poland. If he real-
will turn its weapons the ULnC way. provoking situation where Soviet intervention would become much more likely. From what we know today, it's the only logical outcome of the process which has been set in motion.
The entire responsibiliJaruzelski. The only way WItn General to avoid a catastrophe is the immediate freeing of the leaders of Solidarity. But it's no longer certain that, once released, they could convince Polist society to accept the Communist regime under any guise at all
In deciding last Satur day to hold a referen dum on the methods of the regime Solidarity was engaging in political activity. How did a trade union reach this point?
Bialystoko
POLAND
Lublir the resistance. Dogs were used 1o break sit-in at Krakow
and miners were shot dead ai the wuek mine in suesia ole see works near warsal and Katowice. all the Baltic shipyard Ursus plant pare shut doth binder other
year As many as 184 a lories were still on strike on 2 December
In all, some 49 internmen camos nave been set up. man thousands have been intern
hundreds more arrester
hunger
Bialoleka jail over inhuman conditions.
Reports of deaths are hard
confirm the authorities' figures of eight is
me aners are
The basic principle of t movement at the begin ing was 'self-limitatior We thought that by 'se limiting itself' - that is say, by impinging neith Uss nor on shose or l on interests political regime of Polish party, the PUW
nevertheless able take over certain areas public life At the same time, l thought that the contr exercised by society wou make the Communis regime more effective. O perspective was that entire society would be al organised, control centr regime in the social al economic sectors We thought tha thanks to Solidarity. life of society would reborn at all levels. In t professional associatio as much as in the localiti However, Solidari was continually forcec take initiatives which we
framework. This was 1 1 casulls. First, was incapable regime taking the measures nee ed to get out of the cris Secondly, all social aspir tions found their focus Solidarity, whether were for economic cultural renewal self-management For example, distribution of food pr ducts became precarious that peop were convinced that 1 regime was deliberate starving them, whi
Page 5 scan of this page
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Page 6 scan of this page
The struggle for workers'
military crackdown for the Warsaw Pact TO understand why Solidarity, a mass independent organisation of the workers, was bureaucratic rulers we need to look at the nature of Poland's political system. by Western analysts 'totalitarian' along with the Soviet Union and other Eastern European Challenge would bureaucratically-ruled workers' state.
Poland: a postcapitalist society Poland was devastated by the war. More than twenty per cent of the population died during the war,
per CelL ot the entire national wealth Was destroved. and ine whole country was moved AMIRARY
Socialist Democracy
ineses, ue rourun interna-
tional's model of workers'
Available
Upper London for
Polish INPRECOR produc
by the Fourth
Socialist Challenge
General Jaruzelski (centre) with Marshall Kulikov (left) who masterminded the the existence of
vely
intolerable to Poland's
Described 'Communist and as
Socialist states, characterise Poland as a
physically hundred miles to the West.
i ne country was liberated by the Communist-led resistance and the Soviet Red Army. The ment quickly transformed the econolly. What was left of the landowning
after the war was Class obliterated by the breaking
UD OI the old estates of more than acres arable land. All industries employing more than fifty workers per shift were nationalised, and by late 1946 over ninety per cent
industry Slalca owned and controlled.
As a result of the Yalta agreement, Poland passed
into the Russian 'sphere of
influence' together with
East European
states The socialisation of
the Polish economy went
hand-in-hand WILS
crushing the self-
activity the Polish
masses, and their isolation
from the labour movement
in the West. The division
of Europe pro-
Stalinist and
imperialist 'spheres of in-
fluence' has been used to
this day LU disrupt the
fighting unity the
workers of the European
continent, to sel
worker behind
respectively the capitalist
and bureaucratic rulers.
then POISE SOCICLY
followed the same basic
model as the other Eastern
European states. The na-
tionalised economy works
in a completely different
manner capitalist
system. Economic life is
no longer governed by the
capitalist, market 01]l by
the principle of state plan7 January 1982* nage 6
ning. Production and investment resources are not allocated accores market profitability but through deas alle decisions of the bureaucratic elie that has political power.
Enormous statefunded projects such
construction of the Nowa Huta steelworks Comics outside Krakow were undertaken, country's rapid dustrialisation made it the eleventh largest industrial power the world Dy 1980.
But while capitalism may have been abolished in roland thic workers do not have political power
this bureauele cratically-ruled workers'
That position has been usurped by a huge
apparatus, organised by the Communist Party, numbering at least two hundred thousand people.
This layer has big material privileges: its own special shops, better access to consumer goods, decent housing and and above all, political privileges decision-making.
Although the membership of the official party
apparatus in Poland is on-
ly about 10,000, the party
also controls tens
thousands of positions of
power and influence in the
national, regional and
local areas of state ad-
the army
hierarchy and the police
the trade
LICi union and youth organisa- chullully.
tions
The bureaucracy uses
the 'nomenklatura' system
common to other Eastern
European countries
candidates for
any of these positions have
to be approved by the par-
ty hierarchy at the relevant
evel The aspiring
satisfy one key
crat must
criterion: his or her capaci-
ty to defend and serve the
interests and polițical
needs of the bureaucratic
Workers
shipyard workers' massacre
power in Poland
apparatus as a whole.
The challenge of Solidarity The bureaucratic system in Poland, at least after 1956, tolerated some limited freedoms to certain layers of the population. . In particular the Cathollc Church was allowed to run its own religious organisations and journals, and freedom of Wors was not drastically repressed. The bureaucrats tolerated the visit of the Polish Pope, , John Paul Il
1979 which brought millions of Poles onto the streets for the first time in
organised event
This allowed •CA" tremely moderate opposition force to exist which had sufficient power within the system not to want to rock the boat too much. So while the Church often gave some shelter to dissidents facing repression also issued appeals for moderation at crucial times to defuse the workers' struggles.
But the bureaucratic system cannot tolerate in
dependent activity by the working class, that threatens party's monopoly of political power. Under capitalism
trade unions may be an irritant to the ruling class but they do not threaten its very existence Trade
unions and their
bureaucratic leaders can
be 'integrated' into the
capitalist system.
From its creallor.
Solidarity never question-
ed the state ownership of
the means of production,
nor called for a return
capitalism, Its links with
the Church and its dislike
of any trace of Marxist or socialist terms should not
lead socialists in the West
to be sceptical of its aims
The dynamic of
Solidarity has been clear
It has increasingly
challenged for workers'
power. After years of
repression ând injuštice
NIE MA EURUPY SPRAWI LIWE
BEZ POLSKI NIEPODLEG
re-occupying the Gdansk shipyards on Thursday 17 December, the working class has moved to use its new-found strength in Solidarity challenge the whole opDressive system
mass working class movement in a state supposedly run by and for the workers, it was natural for Solidarity to challenge the privileges of the bureaucracy and to champion an end to corruption. This in turn led to a series of challenges to the party's political domination.
Solidarity demanded an end to party tions for factory directors and for candidates in local elections. When the governmen used the economic crisis to explain price rises Solidarity demanded full access economic information and the establishineil workers' self-management in the enterprises. Solidarity asked for its own journals and an end to censorship of the media
'Solidarity's campaigns for radical democracy within the context of a na-
tionalised economy
threatened to explode the
power of the bureaucracy
and to totally undermine
the 'leading role COT the
party.
necause the
bureaucrats in Poland and
in the Kremlin understood
the dynamic of Solidarity
towards
comprehensive challenge
for workers that
they tried every possible
method of weakening or
destroying it.
The bureaucrats tried une Church's
moderating influence
whenever possible; they at-
tempted to use repression
against union militants o
supporters OI KOR,
dissident movement that
played a key role in the
creation of Solidarity; they
tried to split Solidarity by
co-opting sections of
leadership into a govern-
ment of national unity.
And all the time they
were preparing to use their
NARODOWSE establishment In SUBO in Poland retained popular respect. General ski was made first prime minister and defence minister, and then party leader - the first time someone had held all three posts in an Eastern European state since Stalin!
periods were extended and special military patrols were sent into the countryside during the autumn supposedly to help food distribution. All the while the plans for military-led repression
being laid. General wett Siwicki, deputy Hulusica. was sent Moscow for a month Just prior to the crackdown, and Marshall Kulikov head of the Warsaw Pact armed forces, arrived Warsaw two days before Sunday 13 December to supervise events.
Workers' power is an alternative Socialist Challenge does not believe that there are only two alternatives for the workers of the world: Stalinism or capitalism We believe that a system of
workers' socialist
racy is both possible st
necessary Polish serious in at directin workers began poll
before the recent repres sion was unleashed
There can be no
medium short-term
compromise with the rul-
ing bureaucracy in Poland
or the Eastern bloc. There
can not be two powers ir
such a system; the workers
and the bureaucrats The
workers' movement has to
prepare for the sweeping
away of the whole bureau
cratic caste from its posi-
tion of polluca!
tion if it is not to be crush.
ed by LO C bureaucracy's
epressive apparatu Un
fortunately he Solidarit
activists have only now
learned this lesson through
the bitter experience of the
military repression.
The bureaucracy is Which alone among anne Manpoly of trade i a : to unise ine state
anniversary of the 1970 ment and production
through serious resources workers' planning as the
entails the creative Hallel involvement of the
workers themselves in the productive and political system. Such an involvement threatens the istence of the bureaucracy.
Freed from its tyranny the workers would be able to organise a system of national, , regional and local workers' councils to thrash out the needs of society through the mass involvement of the popu
Such an open debate would need the maximum freedom of expression of political views the
right to form political par ties — the very opposite of the current practice in so
called 'Communist' coununes. within the workers' coun All politica trends
cils would be granted full
democratic rights as long
did not take up
arms to overthrow
system.
A system of workers'
socialist democracy would
bring more and more of
the population into active
participation into the al
fairs of the state, allowing
increasing decen
tralisation of decision
making and the beginnings
of the end of any separate
State bureaucracy.
Revolutionary socia
lists would build a party to
fight for their ideas within
01 workers'
councils. but in an oDe.
and democratic debate
not through any insistence
on the 'leading role of the
party'.
For us socialism means
more freedom than under
capitalism, not less
Medu extension
democratic rights along
side a socialised economy.
That will only be possible
Poland or the other
Eastern European Coul
tries through a politica
revolution overtul
bureaucratic rulers
Such a system is possibl
and it would be a fantasti
inspiration WULAC
throughout the world
Page 7 scan of this page
Czechoslovakia-
The Polish events serve as a grim reminder of Stalinism's capabilities.
in Eastern Europe - Czechoslovakia in 1968 -and how it was crushed.
When it seized power and established political HoloDUly 948 the Czechoslovak Communist Party (CPC) ) had a lot going for it. Czechoslovakia was already an advanced capitalist country, «usllke most of the rest of Eastern CuTODC.
The CPC was both the biggest political party in the country and had a
mass base USTUC the working class.
soon squandered those advantages. For the next five years hundreds of thousands, including Loo oariv edoers. wenl lo labour camps and many to their deaths.
The national autonomy promised Slovakia was destroyed, and the economy was subject to rigid bureaucratic command.
The state of the economy - in 1963 national income actually dropped by 3.7 per cent -led to the growth of a current arguing for a marketoriented reform.
Demands were also raised TOT the rehabilitation of the victims of the purges Calls JOI rehabilitation of the 'bourgeois nationalists' in Slovakia once again highlighted the of national rights.
Czech Lands students began to demand an end to party control of the official youth union. Two of the leaders of the group known as 'Prague
Radicals' Jiri Mueller and Lubos Holocek, were expelled from the university in late 1966.
The campaign for their re-instatement Hcreasce political awareness among the students.
Liberals
In 1967 the threads began to come together. The liberals won control
Lne wilers Union. Prague students demonsuraune over bau erecurc.ty supply were attacked by ponce. Causily Students organised an occupation in protest.
Then, on January 1968 Alexander Dubcek became mirst secretary the CPC With this election it became clear that an important change was taking place at the top of the party, but between January and April the new leadership came up will no denmne poncy.
the day the
tanks rolled in
MARK JACKSON recalls that last attempt at political revolution
The population began to take things into their
Although cenowii hallus sorship had not yet been formally abolished, writers, journalists, and media workers stopped paying any attention to it.
The mass organisations of farmers,
wolkers and students, which had served transmissior belts for orders from the cenue. cane urlucr ualcusc pressure from their membership ICveIsg their role. In some cases entirely new organisations were formed.
waye of strikes broke out from March onwards against such things
poor wages popular managers
According to the party daily Rude Pravo, at the March
party comercnices there had been an almost universal demand ior tree information within the
democratisation of eneray
For the Dubcekites the mass
HIvC uCul mixed blessing On the one hand it ensured their position as party leaders. But it ( also pushed the other Warsaw Pact regimes into thoroughgoing opposition.
The reformists could not 'reassure' Moscow by Clacking COWIl ON 1 the mass movement, since that Was the guarantee of their leadership.
Loyalty
So, at the same time as (sincerely) professing loyalty the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union, the Dubcekites took steps such Clearing Sovie agents out of the security sci vecs.
This could only increase paranoia the other MaSE European capitals.
At first glance the Dubcek leadership could have based itself on the mass movement and gone all the way with it. But that would have been against its nature.
International.
Politically the Dubcek leadership was deeply loyal Moscow and socially it did not aim at the destruction of bureaucratic power.
The Action Programme, adopted by the April Central Committee Por ecor omle ned ore and
economic rerorm anc federalisation But it mained firmly wedded to the idea of the monopoly
the backbone Dally. bureaucratic rule
The Dubcek leadership
Mosco ae mes
mass movement, trying to keep everyone sweet and ending up satisfying no-one.
As the pressure from the other Warsav regimes increased, the new leadership began to bend Over and over again it was summoned to give an ac count of itself to the other East European countries; on each occasion demonstrators urged them to stand firm.
At one of these encounters, recalls Josef Smrkovsky, who was present, delegation came 'from nearby Trencin or Zilana' bringing a petition
Russian tanks in Czechoslovakia in 1968 Poland are todav Peontaininozen , 20,000 and a few signatures
delegation emphasised that 'all the
of the region had CiLizCus signed, including the sick No-one was missing. And when the party leaders came back from Cierna, they were met by a crowd of about 10,000, mostly • StUdeRLs. who demanded the truth about the talks'.
HISUS Warsaw Pact tanks rolled
Prague.
INLO meant to be the solution
Brezhnev's Czechoslovak problem.
prevent the wollu 14th Party Congress from meeting and force Dubcek and his supporters
But the Kremlin seriousiy miscalculated. The party leadership condemned the invasion and the congress was convened. Prada, the according to Pravda, invasion nau veen carniea vul al lnte request of 'healthy forces'
Czechoslovakia, WILD the occupiers were unable
tind anvone w le Lu collaborate with them OcHily.
A general strike broke out and underground television and radio networks co-ordinated a campaign of non-cooperation.
Signposts were removed and soldiers could only get a glass of water at gunpoint.
The glacial hostility of the Czechs and Slovaks, whom, they had been told, they were going to rescue from cesunter-revolution battled the
and disturbed many of the Warsaw Pact soldiers. Suicides were reported
The Soviet leadershir was under attack from in-
munist movement: all the
Wes DOSI HODOlLaO European CPs condemned the invasion.
K111 the Dubcekite leaders themselves gave Moscow une solution number of them were kid. napped to Moscow where under threat, they signe Lne voscov protocols which bound them to annu me ceasons o ane 14th Congress, curb the ceve oomen COT alternative political organisations to the CP, muzzle the media and get rid of CLaIE Icaulls figure who were particularly disliked in Moscow
Of the Dubcekite leaders Moscow only Frantisek Kriegel refused to sign.
By signing this document the Dubcekites pledged themselves to demobilise the mass movement.
Prague
Over the next few months the repeated mass actions in defence of the gains of the Prague Spring
position party leaders.
From then on it was the workers and students who occupied the centre of the stage. In particular the Prague group played a major in providing political leadership to the mass movement
In November 1968
Socialist Challenge,
- as unwelcome as the tanks in
there was a wave of student occupations backed by many worker: organisations
When an attempt was made to remove Dubcek supporter Josef Smrkorsky as chairperson of the CUCd Assembly man! working class organisations were
DIcoalc strike in his defence
This was only stoppec by Smrkovsky himself go. ing on television to appea for restraint. Burned
On 16 January 1969 the student Jan Palach burned himself to death leaving a note calling for an end to censorship and an unlimited general strike to win this demand. Hun. dreds of thousands of peonle attended Hunera processions in his honour
At the enc of March 1969 riots in celebration of an ice-hockev win over thi Soviet Union were used as
replace
DICLCXI Dubcek leadership with a
UliC under Gustar Husak
This new leadership was prepared to use repression to stamp out opposition
None bam! a milllol party members were purg
censorship reintroduced and all the in dependent mass organisa tions of the Prague Spring dissolved.
Then in 1971 the trials began. Oppositionist Jiri Pelikan estimates that over 3,000
were arrestec for 1971-20 itical crimes in
The Prague Spring was over. '7 January 1982 page 7
Page 8 scan of this page
Gdansk shipyard
was ratified by the Communist Government of Poland.
aiding them.
4 (a) Return of former rights to:
Jan Kozlowski and Marek Kozlowski.
situation by the following means:
situation.
reform programme.
month as compensation for the recent rise in prices.
the decline in real income.
to surpluses.
special shops. regardless of age.
paid in.
menco care or worker. 17 Assurances kindergartens for the children of working mothers. 18 Paid maternity leave for three years. 19 Decrease in the waiting period for apartments.
supplemental benefit on separation.
or other paid time off.
Socialist Challenge 7 January 1982
The 21 demands of the Interfactory strike committee at the
1 Acceptance of free trade unions independent of the Communist Party and of enterprises, in accordance with convention No 87 of the International Labour Organisation concerning the right to form free trade unions, which
2 Guarantee of the right to strike and of the security of strikers and those
3 Compliance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech, the press and publication, including freedom for independent publishers, and the availability of the mass media to representatives of all faiths.
- People dismissed from work after the 1970 and 1976 strikes, - Students expelled from school because of their views. (b) Release of all political prisoners, among them Edmund Zadrozynski,
(c) Halt in repression of the individual because of personal conviction. 5 Availability to the mass media of information about the formation of the Interfactory Strike Committee and publication of its demands. 6 Undertaking of actions aimed at bringing the country out of its crisis
(a) Making public complete information about the social-economic
(b) Enabling all sectors and social classes to take part in discussion of the
7 Compensation of all workers taking part in the strike for the period of the strike, with vacation pay from the Central Council of Trade Unions. 8 An increase in the base pay of each worker by 2,000 zlotys (app.f30) a
9 Guaranteed automatic increases in pay on the basis of increases in prices and
10 Full supply of food products for the domestic market, with exports limited
11 Abolition of 'commercial prices and of other sales for hard currency in
12 Selection of management personnel on the basis of qualifications, not party membership. Privileges of the secret police, regular police and party apparatus are to be eliminated by equalising family subsidies, abolishing special stores,
13 Introduction of food coupons for meat and meat products (during the period in which control of the market situation is regained). 14 Reduction in the age for retirement for women to 50 and for men to 55, or after 30 years' employment in Poland for women and 35 years for men,
15 Conformity of old-age pensions and annuities with what has actually been
16 Improvements in the working conditions of the health service to insure full
of a reasonable number of places in day-care centres and
20 Increase in the commuter's allowance to 100 zlotys from 40, with a
21 Day of rest on Saturday. Workers in the brigade system or round-the-clock jobs are to be compensated for the loss of free Saturdays with increased leave
page 8
just
strikes their
the The tre
ANNA Walentynowicz was a veteran activist of Poland's free trade union movement and a crane driver at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk.
Many times management had victimised Anna for her union activities. On 31 January 1980 a hundred workmates led a four hour strike for her reinstatement after she had been moved from the yard.
In August later that same year the management moved to sack her again, and opened the door to the mighty strike movement that rocked the whole of the country.
But the shipyard strike was not
in defence of Anna Walentynowicz. It also concerned a cost of living rise in wages. On 1 July the
government had raised the price of meat, sparking off a series of
and walkouts by across the country.
In Lublin there was a general strike, and by mid-July more than 51 plants and enterprises in the country had successfully tought Iol pay rises. A hundred more had taken action before the Gdansk shipyard workers' strike.
Nor was this the first strike wave against price rises. Dozens of workers were killed in riots over prices and wages in 1956, the year that Soviet tanks crushed the Hungarian uprising. There were similar revolts in 1970 and 1976.
Each time the workers achieved some economic success, but government promises of greater union and political freedoms were broken.
There was a profound sense of anger among the Polish workers in the summer of 1980. They disgusted by the corruption and injustice of the system they lived under, and they sensed that they alone had lne power to change I
They had learned the lessons from
previous struggles. became the guiding principles of the 1980 August strike wave and for the subsequent development of Solidarity itself: the need for an independent working class movement, for unity of
workers and of other groups behind the workers, and for the fullest workers' democracy.
movement
interfactory strike committee •established in the Gdansk shipyards drew up a list of 21 demands on the authorities (see box). These ranged from improvements in pay and pensions, freedom of speech and the right to strike, an an ena co repression But the first, and most important de. mand, was for the right to form independent trade unions.
The old national trade union cen-
(CRZZ) was completely bureaucratscu and incapable defending the workers' interests. officials were nominated by the ruling Communist Party and it concerned itself mainly with social facilities and improving production. Above all the Polish workers wanted iC W unions to fight for their interests.
When the government signed the Gdansk agreement and similar ones across the country in August 1980, it accepted the principle of independent unions with the right to strike. It spent the following months desperately trying to stop the workers from plementing that principle.
It attempted to prevent Solidarity being legally registered, it arrested
the virtual always
were social
Anna Walentynowicz
Solidarity — a mass working class
union activists, and placed as many obstacles as possible in the way of the development of Solidarity. But by the end of 1980 the new union movement had almost ten million members, the overwhelming majority of the Polish workers.
More significantly, Dowel bases regions and in the large enterprises the Lenin shipyard at Warski shinvard in of Katowice mines, the Huta Warszawa
Its steelworks and the Ursus tractor plant
both near Warsaw, and the industrial regions of Lodz and Krakow.
under thirty and one third of all its intrade dustrial workers under 24, it was not
surprising that militants were also in their early twenties. The leader of Solidarity in WarSaW. Zbigniew Bujak, and Jan Kulaj, Solidarity, only 23 Solidarity
im- workers' rights: rights which workers
in country granted. It fought for and won more Saturdays be
WHAT SOLIDAR
local justice econote Solidarity Solidarity's were in the industrial after
Gdansk, the Szczecin, the million
As half of Poland's population is
many of its leading Solidarity.
was only 26, authorities. the head of Rural Narozniak fought for basic
would for LaKe
work-free
established the workers' right to stri and not to be victimised by management
As the economic crisis intensifi it campaigned for fair rationing a anreaucratic spee Tre work ors bureaucratic The workers Jelenia Gora held a long strike ea last year for the removal of corru
officials and for the spec hospitals of the military and police become part of the health service
TV
and debauched lifestyle. More th
members figures in the national and local a paratus were sacked for corrupti
Solidarity's pressure
Solidarity also challenged the r ing party and the government to gi the full facts to the workers about t economy. Workers' councils for se management sprang up across country in the major enterprises the workers attempted to devel control of the economy and to run in the workers' interests.
In the factories and the mines t workers argued for re-organising t
priorities. As Silesi leader Rozplochowski said: 'In the futu there will be no planning without u
Solidarity demanded the right have its own newspapers and jol nals. The army and party newspap and the radio and TV were all run the party apparatus and subject to heavy bureaucratic censorship.
In April 1981, some eight mon
LD C Gdansk government reluctantly agreed to establishment of Tygodnik Solid nosc (Weekly Solidarity) with a hal
print-run, and Jedne (Unity) in the Szczecin region witl print-run of some 100,000 copies
Solidarity was also allowed to p duce local newsletters and its own ternal news agency, AS, which ser out news reports from each region
But even these officially tolerat journals came under fire from
In November 1980 Solidarity printer in Warsaw,
arrested publishing a state document outlini the authorities' plans for harassi and undermining the union ment. He was only freed after a ma strike threat.
Page 9 scan of this page
Solidarity's first national congress last summer in Gdansk issued the call for free elections and an end to the system of only party-appointed candidates. The right of workers to run their own factories was also to
of all social layers
But Solidarity is not simply organisation for those workers with industrial muscle, greedily demanding more power. It is also notable for the help and support it gave to other sectors of the population. the farmers and the students.
There are more than three million small farmers in Poland. they had been discriminated against by the authorities. They development of Solidarity as their opportunity organised. December 1980 there was the first national meeting of representatives of the small farmers, and in early 1981 there followed a wave of occupations
TY STANDS FOR
exclusive right
candidates for the Job (see box). be
Solidarity - winning the support
of public buildings and offices Call
port to the in particular their own strikes. last year the
and Solidarity For years Bydgoszcz. ocalel up, saw the the militant Solidarity.
Solidarity
Teasier May the small farmers'
1980 work in tion. strike developed through ending the party's
nominate the managers of the enterprises. Solidarity demanded the right to have its own recall.
by Rural Solidarity supporters demanding official registration of the union.
Many groups of workers gave sup-
farmers' protests with Then on 19 March authorities violently broke up a sit-in by Rural Solidarity
nicHines Activists were badly including Jan Rulewski, leader of Bydgoszcz
responded with the threat of an all-out general strike to protest the beatings and the failure to
Rural soldarily. Bv early union was
legally registered, thanks to the support of the workers. Soon Rural Solidarity could boast of over two million members allied to Solidarity
Students too fought successfully to establish their own independent students association, thanks to the help of Solidarity. Throughout the
strike wave suuucills academics had attempted to help Solidarity establish the national
In November 1980 medical students had occupied the Medical Academy in Gdansk in support of the health workers who were demanding higher wages and an increase in the budget for the health service.
Tram and bus drivers stopped
Gdansk, Warsaw, Poznar and Lublin in support of the students and health workers, in an incident which symbolised the unity of the workers and other social layers to help the lower paid and to improve the health care for the whole popula-
democracy
From the outset of the 1980 August strike wave Solidarity has presented
inspiring model workers' democracy. The Gdansk inter-factory
committee comprised democratically elected delegations from each striking workplace. Each
these delegates was subject to
All the meetings of the committee were taped by the delegates so that the workers in the enterprises could hear the debates.
It is well known that the negotiations with the government ministers which ended the strikes in Gdansk were relayed live' over a public address system for all the workers in the shipyard to follow. As a result every worker was able to hear every word from their own representatives and from the government. There were no secret deals cobbled together behind the backs of the workers, and no
individual farmers.
and
4 Democracy through the
(parliament) and the people's councils.
editorial or trade union activities
accords.
Solidarity - a model of workers'
secret clauses in the agreements.
This approach was continued at subsequent meetings of Solidarity. Its national congress was opened to the world's press and the proceedings were taped by delegates for reportback meetings. workers to be aware of the inevitable and healthy differences and debates within the union leadership.
The structures of Solidarity were created with such democratic siderations in mind. craft-based unions, developed organisation sectors to aid the less well-organised workers. Great care was taken to ensure that workplaces were adequately represented within the regional and national structures, and that delegates were subject to recall.
In January last year in BielskoBiala Solidarity members staged the
Declaration of Solidarity Congress, 10 September 1981 The supreme aim of the independent trade union Solidarity is to create dignified conditions of life in an economically and politically sovereign Poland, a life freed of poverty, of exploitation, of fear and deceit, in a society organised democratically and on the basis of law. Today the nation expects: 1 The improvement of food supplies by the establishment of control over production, distribution, and pricing, in collaboration with the Solidarity union of
2 A reform of the economy, through the management councils in the factories and through the liquidation of the party 'Nomenklatura' (Ed note: the system of party appointments to key jobs). 3 The truth through social control of the mass media and the suppression of falsehoods in education and Polish culture.
5 Justice through the assurance to each of equality before the law, the freedom of prisoners of opinion, and the defence of persons charged for their political,
6 The protection of the nation's health, through the protection of the environment, an increase in the funds channelled into medical services, and a guarantee to the handicapped of the rights which are due to them in society. 7 Coal for the population and industry, through giving a guarantee to the miners of decent living and working conditions.
We will achieve these aims through the unity of the trade union and the solidarity of its members. The activities of a variety of forces creating a feeling of exterior danger will not remove from us the desire to struggle for the ideals of August 1980, for the implementation of the Gdansk, Szczecin and Jastrzebie
of all.
enterprises.
negotiations phone number!
This enabled all the
of Solidarity, bined use of conRather than than welcome Solidarity cross-mousua enabling the strongest it.
creation of authentic self-
introduction of free elections to the Sejm most daring democratic experiment
Their negotiations with the government over corrupt local officials were broadcast through the public address system of all the major
Further, Solidarity telephone engineers also hooked them up to the phone lines so that anyone in the region could listen in to the 'live'
by dialling a special
Free access to all information and accountability of all representatives - those are the democratic principles
These principles comSolidarity's imaginative technology strengthen workers' democracy would be more
our own trade unions. Perhaps the Terry Duffys and Frank Chapples of this world, who have been quick to claim support for Solidarity, should take note
Solidarity is a mass democratic movement of the workers, fighting for the interests of the working people of Poland. And that is precisely why the Kremlin and the Polish ruling hierarchy sent the military in to crush Socialist Challenge 7 January 1982 page 9
Page 10 scan of this page
'Five vandals in ermine'
NOTA
PENNY
ON THE
FARES.
By Tessa van Gelderen THE Labour-controlled Greater Lon•n councis because of the ruling of five Law Lords but because the Labour Group has no strategy for struggle. Labour came into oftice pledged to carry out a fairly racca montesto
Ken Livingstone said, just prior to the May Cation: The nerview in Socialist Challenge: nas me power to orevent us bumaid new Housine. extencine une buying new buses or undertaking any works of improvement to housing
The new council will but massive ana moolise outric ootion ana rorce me reversal or Inese policies.
Unfortunately the GLC has not led or organised such a campaign. One by
corn to sureds.
Housine estates were to borough councils; school prices vere houses have been sold ters evicted. But the reduction of Lon con iransoort tares i was one most popular measures that a local authority ycolo
avone wolves deworks non• don excent memoers of the House of Lords and the stockbrokers Bromley respite what has financial burden.
Now this policy is under direct attack from the state in the torm ot the House of Lords' judgement.
GLC's esponse of the Transport Commit 'The tee savs OniV to reverse the decision is by changing
that the organiscu laboul movement paign of David Wetzel makes some conces- letter writinG to vrs.l sions to the role of the unions when he says: un tons involved not unions we wecome
industrial muscle you must talk to the
and industrial not got muscle at command
Gone unfortunately are the fine Wors Ken Livingstone
campaigns against
our MP and let the unions get on wit
"va naturelon best summea us me Gre solemma wnen ne sooke to transport workers who have lobbied Socialist Challenge, 7 January 1982,
• LAST month the
peal court it.
Tessa interviews WETZEL,
the GLC's
Law Lords' ruling.
Time to take a stand
So why has the GLC such a sorry mess? The Labour rarty.
rank and file of Lavour
tube cone and or cary
the law lead seIT
transferred how 'unfair' the
dinner Five the ousands jobs
council loubled and squat-
alone transoon Tine l OT InE want to fight. and quate service •us workers
of and bus workers
a huge
ched against UIS
What is David Wetzel, aign' such
since when have the were corne alie.
at the sorry
itiating a mass labour wants a can-
transport unions 11 take action. and one penny support 01 one job
my
Lers out Its about doubt. the fight, ead to Certainly
course. page 10
House
of Lords upheld an ap-
ruling that
London's tare policy was
illegal. This decision was
a blow both to working
people in the city and the
Labour Greater London
Council who introduced
van Gelderen DAVID chairperson of
the GLC Transport Com-
mittee and argues why
approach is
disastrous if it wants to
successfully overturn the
RIVER-THAMES
THE LONDON UNDERGROUND the GLC. He said: 'We (the GLC) need you more than you (the unions) need
got itself into left inside the •om in une OLG GrOUD and in the London Labour Party, never lad a clear strategy for mobilising th
unions They Nave oreanised tner base oniv Inrouen tne
meetings. pressure and protest politics will not
Is mass mobilisa tions and action by the working class
The Labour GLC oledaed to carrv can out its policies against all opposition,
government, against the courts, against the police, could have provided a realitdo to London s working class. Now it has been left bleating
House of Lords again this year services siasnea ana
all eav nas notnino to omer
The transport workers involved do
to Londoners. are anne a one day
be the very first strike of underground
campaigr GLC snoule throw is tul weight benin‹ not an 'all party public transport cam
David Wetzel proposes Tories workers.
They're rubbing their hands with glee
the GLC has got
GLC should movement coll Terence to oroanise sonoaritv with Ine
and when they The GLC should shout clear that there will be will not there will not be ano men unev the abour movement to support it. If the GLC fail to do that wybe in tat its fares policy verysurvival will be in
If however the GLC make a clear
will give a
Close and everything to gain if it takes such a
-Labour Party
What have been the effects of the GLC's Tares oOlC what will be the effects of the Law Lords' judgement?
The policies that we've been pursuing in public transport, that is, improving services anu recucuyares uniquely socialist policy. It's a good common sense Duone uals oort Done for any great city and one that's been carried out in most of the great citles in Western Europe and also many in the United States
The average level of subsidy in Western Europe is something like per cent or costs trom public runas
Even with our fares policy we were oniv planning in 1982 to meet 46 per cent of the costs from public funds. so in terms ot what other countries have been doing vul policy's quite modest.
The important thing about it was that it was working. Eleven per cent of extra passengers on buses and 7 per
trains opposed declines. We were expecting a decline because of the effects of the recession
Tewel VOs Comeo London. There's been decline this year than was actually anticipated. We've reversed that we've now got a swing back to public transport. We think that's important
In the long term it would have been more as people got used to the cheaper passes because they are even cheaper than the dav bv dav tares. particularly on the buses and the use of season tickets; when people had to make decisions about whether or not
their cars we think they would have to transport.
We've increased bus miles by 7 million and train miles by We were increasing services by allowing no overtime or rest day working
recruiting staff.
The result of the judgement by the House of Lords is that fares have got to to up at least double and our legal opinion at the moment is more than double in 1982. Legal opinion again is that we can't continue to give old age pensioners their concessions.
That has to be picked up by the boroughs and it seems unlikely that all the boroughs will agree to do that, particularly in a situation where they are cutting back on home helps for people who are housebound
they then justify extra diture for the ones who aren't housebound?
In services it means drastic cuts. Ken Livingstone: how much longer can he hang on?
We're already talking in terms of clos ing stations and branch and reaucme une senequeu dus muease o'
La quarter. years. It would mean 5,000 jobs lost
but culancic. areas.
and I would like the Labour Group to actually crease or cuts in services and to maintain the policy on which we were elected.
What do you think the implication
50 of that would be?
Well it would still be that London Crease Dares lease not and e crease fares, because Labour Group would vote for that policy in council. It only needs five people to vote with the Tories and they would get the budget they want. I think it's right and proper that Labour makes a fight and says we'rew not going down the road. expected
Do you think you can have a cam. paign to change the decision?
Yes, but the only way we're going to bigger
reverse the decision is by changing the and law, through Parliament.
campaign that I would like to see is to get people to write to their MPs and to
criticise the judges. of this judgement is that they've overthrown what people have voted for We need a campaign to gel demand what they've voted for I'm that people are defending us and also in the newspapers, the number of letpublic ters defending our fares policy. need a change of law and our objec-
tive is to convince this government 400,000. that it is essential to go back to where
everybody assumed we were betore the judges together and actually reversed what vandals everybody assumed what the law was. It's important unions join us.
campaign, we need an all party public transport campaign unions must get involved an dnot just the transport unions unions also have workers who need public transport. transport represents lorry drivers • how want to be stuck in traffic jams all day expen- long. These are
When you're talking about cutting out whole bus routes people have got no choice but to get a bike, a motor
lines, and congestion,
That would be over three
mainly through natural wastage
specific
No firm decisions have been made
anast ally well.
David Transport,
with that.
that
fares policy.
that was
and the other
glee in The sort of proposing and really think The whole basis
: people to
encouraged bv mv postbas
Lills We command.
forever
... 1 describe them as the
who
that the trade We need a GLC camwe need a labour movement
work.
Obviously the
because other
BaSU dealist ally they don't
the implications. organise this
bike or a car to make their journeys. Therefore you're talking about more
more accidents, more pollution on the streets of London.
It's essential that the legislation is reversed and I think the easiest way to
probably old age pensioners, who can be used as a batter ing ram, and once you've got the door open other things must be included as
Howell Minister of doesn'l understand the implications of the law. He's said we need onlv put the lares up bv 60 per cent. None of our legal advice agrees
Won don transport so had a
London Transport also aencil last year berore we look ove and our increase on the rates, the sup. ementa rales was to neo wooe ou that deficit as well as to pay for our over t22 Sm. Oeny nto odd milion ed supplementary
for the tares, about non oll was lor tre exura service:
£48.5m was for the deficit and the fl11m that we lost in government grants.
But there does seem to be a lot of
Westminster over this
is all very well, but when it comes down to it do you
that it's really going to change the law?
We welcome the support of all unions - and | stress not iust the transpor unions. But if you want to talk about industrial muscle you must talk to the
and not to me because haven't got industrial muscle at my
This government isn't going to last When this government goes whoever replaces it must give us change in the law eventualv. But i'm more concerned that we get a change in the law now, to campaign between now and 21 March to see that the law is changed so that London Transport can carry out the policies that were working, that's the beauty of them, we were actually proving that they
I want the GLC to vote against an increase in the fares. That's my position personally. I'm opposed to any increase in fares and I'm going to vote
Obviously if there's going to be an increase in fares, I would want it to be as small as possible. . We're hoping to
campaign through the GLC, if not the GLC then through the labour movement.
Page 11 scan of this page
Left launch Labour Liaison '82
By Toni Gorton 'WE ARE all aware that the decisions taken at the 1982 conference and the Party's success in achieving greatly influence Labour s prospects.
of the Tories and the Liberal/SDP Alliance, and the election of a Labour working majority'
With these words
leadin Benn are calling for of
Tony a new body in the labour movernent to be launched
January 'Labour ason 1982' Is meani lo
'democratic forum De a representative of the Lett in the Labour Party, trade unions. the parlamentary Labour. Party and the Regions
Socialist
Challenge welcomes this. It marks a 'first' in the history of the Labour Party in proposing to organise the fight TOT socialist policies the unions.
big question for the left in the Labour Parthe de the ride which is
which possesses a real base in the
class and social movements and what it in-
lo ao that base.
Will the left challenge the parliamentary terms of battle being insisted upon by the right wing! Unity
Tribune has already given its answer: prostration in front of ine rigne Talk of low profiles' and
'unity' are just other terms for capitulation lo rigni
policies, abandonment the democratic gains of the last year and
collaboration in disorganising and disuniting the ranks.
The blocking of Ber-
mondsey prospective can
didate, Peter Tatchell, inreatens to be ronowed
by challenges to the demo-
Cancel nominated BOD
Clay of Sunderland and
Pat Wall of Bradford. NEC to invesigate Mili- The decision
tant promises mayhem in the constituencies as this is witch-hunts just code-word
against all
currents of left political
DUI
No more Wilson/ Callaghan governments
unity around those decisions will
'Our prime objective is to secure the defeat
Government with a opinion in the party.
The misnamed 'Solidarity' group of MPs is openly campaigning for
Call calls.
SDP
The meeting of the right wing Trade Unions for Labour Victory (TULV) this week threatened to cut off funds to the Labour Party from IDe unIons refuses to give up the fight against biese allahs.
This sort of unity is the beloved the ofUniC ficials and lop leaders of the movement. They lake the genuine sentiment for working class solidarity 10 confront ane and use it against the desperate neeo one cass odoro gramme and leadership that is capable of actually winning against the Tories and SDP-Liberal Alliance.
Not victorv against the SDP is a re-run
ments, that is, a Labour government on SDP policies? No, only answer is to drive deeper and deeper into the move-
new leadership.
We cannot be diverted by charges OI chillers The right have been the main culprits for splits in the Vast. They will ao everything in their power to rétain control and then split they The weaker them has already started this process in forming the SDP
The success of the SDP not undermined by
discredited policies.
Party which is Labour seen to be combative and boldly embracing decisive answers to the key ques-
of the day (ols Lal. polarise the base of the
Liberal-SDP Alliance.
Left policies can inThis is the lesson of the masses people anti-missile movement. the trade union and Labour leaders senous y organised mass campaign aroma comerence policy for unilateral disarmament, the SDP-Liberal Alliance would be sharply
The Denis Healey's this world would also be more than a little miffed.
The strategic orientation of the Labour left must be to deepen its base in the trade unions. deputy leadership contest showed just how suitable a
for constitutional case reforms the unions are.
LSE
Fine words don't even scratch the surface. The Laurence Scott dispute has been at the sharp end of the struggle to democratise the unions, making them responsive lo the needs of workers in struggle
Engineering union oificials, Boyd and Duffy,
attempted WIlO sabotage the LSE strike have been seen by over 1000 engineering union branches as a power no removed Bennite left must make this strug
Early in November, the Scottish Labour Coordinating Committee in Scotland set itself Ine target of ending 'nonpolitical trade unionism ls amn was lo persuade hundreds of thousands of inactive members of trade unions to fight for Labour conference policies
It seeks to establish
•Labour Party
Mass unemployment marches such as in Liverpool '81 show potential for building base in the unions
Party worko act branches as well as the democratic exercise of the block vote at TUC and Labour Party conferences
This is the background to the Labour 1982 campaign invitation to the Broad Lefts in the unions.
However this runs counter to the approach of many CP type broad lefts which are tied to the tor tunes of top union officials.
vstyle is brogured ars
new-style broad which will take on these leaders as part of the fight Bennites must deepen roots of mass campaigns in trade unions
for democracy, accoun tability and a socialist programme
Job
How organised should the new campaign be? This will depend how seriously it takes its job of combatting and defeating the right wing in the labour movemenl
The right are permanently organised from top to bottom of the trade unions and Labour Party. Any effective struggle against them needs
equivalent organisation.
The strength of the British labour lies organisation wnich can be brought the side of the Left through affiliation campaign for example.
The Labour Liaison
cannot remain callas at the level of those invited at this point, but must go
win from and party branches. women's tions, and so on.
It should be open to all currents the labour movement.
Its first task must be to
Labour Liaison 1982:
• Assisting Labour's political and industrial
against
sucu Issues
rights.
• Defending
reselection and extending
ramamentary Labour rarty
party.
Dega grouping nudie At ener
in the
workers.
and others
have been invited
La•our co-orainatine commice
meet the witch-hunt, no Poor bui by excuse for finding excuses recall Labour r conference Already the tional executive hav received hundreds of pro test motions from consti tuency parties and uld unions.
Challeng
sunions es from he rad
will January conference look forward to rebuildin the sort of momentur behind left policies tha almost brought Benn li the depu!! leadership contest.
Five priorities are laid out for
Scam LiberalsO
attacks wages i UT unions, local councils, social security and women's
• Implementing Labour's policy on disarmament, the alternative economic strategy, public ownership and control. public spending and the Common Marke'
the electoral college and mandatory accountability the
• Reversing the right's gains in the national executive at this year's party conference and preparing for possi ble contests for the leadership or deputy leadership • Working tor an atmospnere or tolerance witnin tne ganisations in alteing here rade unints, the Brity
Broad AUEW, health electrical and plumbing, post office unions
In addition a number of national organisations
such as Tribune Group of MPs National Organisa tion of Labour Students. Militant, Socialist Organiser Labour CND and the Labour Abortion Rights Cam
Socialist Challenge 7 Jandary 1982
Page 12 scan of this page
DRIVE
By Pauline Ryan SOCIALIST CHALLENGE is this year launching a fund drive to raise f68,000. This is tasks we've ever set ourselves. So, in order to get it off to a flying start, we want to raise the first £7,000 during January.
Already our readers have shown what they can do in response to our emergency Poland appeal, which was completed in less than a week.
£68,000 may sound a lot of money, but it is, in fact, only just over half of what we need. The rest, £52,000 has to come in from sales of Socialist Challenge. What, you may ask, are we proposing to spend £120,000 on over the coming year, and how does this figure compare with last year?
In the year to actoser £38,100 in sales and £51,700 in donations — a total of £89,800. This year, we want a 30 per cent increase in both sales and donations. This may not be in line with Maggie Thatcher's desire for only 3 per cent rises but we need it to help defend the causes we've fought for in the wasL Within 12 hours of the news of the army
takeover in Poland we had thrown resources into organising support for Solidarity. Challenge supporters made up a sizeable chunk of the first 500 strong picket
The Xmas issue of Socialist Challenge had four extra pages and our supporters were well in evidence at the 15,000 strong demonstration through central London on 20 December. This year our campaigns in support of the Polish people will cost at least f800 a quarter.
In CND we will be fighting for the biggest possible turnout on the International Day of Action against missile madness planned for 6 JUHe. All these activities will cost us at least £800 a quarter.
The Central American solidarity organisanon ave ocb eo c tervention in Central America. A big labour movement conference is February with speakers like Scargill and Benn Hivlcu. In March demonstration in solidarity with those struggling in Central America and the Caribbean. Socialist Challenge supporters will be helping to build these activities against the lunacy of Thatcher's and Reagan's warmongering.
Last year ten hunger strikers died fighting for liberation Challenge has consistently reported on the events in Ireland. We don't expect to stop this year! Our support, including active assistance to People's Ireland itself, will cost another f600 a quarter. Socialist Challenge 7 January 1982, page 12
BRNE '82
of the most ambitious
Area 1981 we raised Total
Socialist reporters being planned
there will be a national Ireland. Socialist supported and face treachery.
Democracy in battle:
Socialist Challenge News
Fund drive
targets 1982
Scotland
North-West
North-East
West Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
West Midlands
East Midlands
South Wales
South & West England
West & North-West London
North London
East London
South London
To be raised nationally
Our support for women's rights will continue. In particular we are actively involved in campaigning for a woman's right to work. Our supporters in the Action Committee for Woman's Right to Work back the committee's demand to turn the Labour Party's festival planned for 5 June into a massive demonstration. During the year Socialist Challenge will be sponsoring a tour by a woman mineworker trom the United States. Our work in support ot women's rights will cost f800 each quarter.
Then there is the cost of our solidarity with trade union struggles and the fight to build a leit wing in the labour movement. Last yeal Socialist Challenge reporters went to assist the struggles at Laurence Scott, Lee Jeans, Staffa, Longbridge and at the many demonstrations that took place against unemployment.
bnsvcaroDenso witaaoacwoe Ford strike, where we have already assigned
- with the miners and train drivers to follow. We want to be there both to bring you the facts and to use Socialist Challenge to build support for these struggles.
We want better photographs, we want up to the minute reporting, we want to be able to Lavei arouna tne country. lo une pils, depots and plants. All that takes money least £2,000 a quarter.
Our voice should be heard where the enemies of socialism are doing their best to strangle it — in the Labour Party. The present witch-hunt against the supporters of Militant, Peter Tatchell and Tariq Ali has to be met with
unitea response trom the left. Challenge intends to continue its coverage of what is happening in the Labour Party, both past and present.
Socialist Challenge was born during Grunwicks, and we've been battling ever since. We are certainly not going to give up now, in the
Foot's onslaught and
On the contrary, we intend to intensify the
ORYJOTHEARMAGHWOMEN
Amount
£2,540
3,840
880
2,320
1,400
3,420
1,840
2,280
2,900
4,936
3,992 Ford workers
5,476
5,108 £27,068
£68,000
don't have capitalist advertising.
political campaigns.
When we say fighting paper
Other £5,000 a quarter. office costs and such like.
Stewards
Socialist
Challenge
the - at
the factory
cellent
Socialist
'Socialist
workers can get their
they are.
Kinnock's
nh 2
Socialist Challeng*
• on behalf of our readers
on behalf of the Laurence Scott and
• on behalf of the Irish prisoners • on behalf of women in struggle • on behalf of the Bradford Twelve
In short, on behalf of all the causes and struggles that Foot turns his back on.
This is where all the money goes. estimate that the production of the paper alone will cost about £77,000 next year. This will not even be covered by income from sales, and we
backers, or income from
On top of this we want to spend £23,000 on
Socialist Challenge is a We mean that because organise not just passively report.
Finally our administration will cost a fur-
This covers rent, rates,
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Following their strike at MacPherson's Paints
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has asked for four CO•ico
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factory gate sales local supporters have had there every Friday morning.
As TGWU steward Kevin Colleran says:
Challenge eCERANT newspaper. With the right-wing bias of the rest of the press its one of the only ways
message across to other militants fighting for the same things
'Education is very important right now to convince people of the necessity of fighting back and the paper is a great way to do this.
Busybee Booels
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We month. They do
sellers,
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Wl volner loca supporlels we
1982 will be
we need your money!
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Page 13 scan of this page
By D Ellis, NUR member IF THERE'S one thing Britain's train drivers are adamant about, it's that no one is going to take away their hard won right to work day. 'If we lose this, we're turning the clock back over half a century,' many drivers explain. now on an overtime ban and are working to rule. This action will lead to a two-day strike on 13 and 14 of January.
British Rail knows thạt the stakes are high in this battle. The Board has already. announced that 38,000 jobs need to be chopped from the 190,000 strong workforce. If it can crack the Istil of work practices and keep .cown the wages, then maybe its hooks wil be balanced a bit better - but it will be
expense of workers.
With union leaders like Sidney Weighell,
ccclal secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen, BR's job is that much
Train guards were Casiei astonished to read in the national papers that their eight-hour day had already been sold down the river by the NUR executive.
The enormous drive to increase productivily the railway is tied up with last year's pay deal. Then
Paint workers win
reduction in hours
ALMOST at MacPherson S thousand workers_ raliito, Bury, LIIC Tactorv In Ine area. went on strike for over a week in December fight management's per cent plus an extra day's holiday.
end of TEne dispute the workers got the move towards a week and two more holidays year, ovu no increase une wages …otter MICK
transport union convenor at MacPherson's SDOKe * about socialist unalenge Enel dispute.
'The workers were
angry Wiln Ine comoany otter Productivitv inune
planc was deing ede last
cent during last And lespite y cas reduction in the worktorce
per Cenu through natural wastage. we cion i want to settle for less than
inflation. oer cent, and diso lant start working week to 35 hours reducing
At the meeune before the strike WA 0O1 unanimous backing of our HEcIlIwGid LIOT And this despite
таст thạt Christmas Was doorudi.hiy cold wedter carmine
I think there's been real turn working class the last
People three monuns. are now ready to challenge the
for decent
Atter the mass meeting we out titeen dickers on the gate for the duration of
Support was solid. anagle went through iv appreciated the support
Train drivers
on the offensive
an eight-hour
And to prevent just that, drivers are
it was agreed that 8 per cent of an 11 per cent award would be paid immediately, but the remaining 3 per cent would be linked to five productivity CACI LISCS
Four of these proDOSAS were be 'discussed'. Only one was
neconated ane 'open station' concept which will eliminate ticket collectors and put their WULK UII lU the al cau! over-burdened guard.
Agreed
The BRB nas SnOW HausornCu agreement drawn up by the
ACAS, Dilrauol SCEVICC in August which stated that discussions on rostering should be concluded by October 1981 to read that flexible rostering must be agreed before the addiof the union. The diestrict official stood by us all the way
At mne eno or mne tirsi week. the company made approaches
and their offei showed some concessions
Us. SLUCK some wate oner out taev made a firm offer on the 35
week, something that unions all UVEl the
are fighting for.
County
wn ine voneav at tne mass meeting the workers decided and although we didn't get everytaie wanted Inere s a realv good feel-
the shop floor for We' lot more confident now. We're a lot betLel are we neeo ro be for next time. Mick Wilson (right) convener at MacPherson's
Ray Buckton tional 3 per cent is paid. It has also just announced that the 39 hour week another part of the August aerecmeni Wili OIU bably not be implemented
Dear Brothers and Sisters
families.
The main contributions were workers TrOm •ritish British Steel,
strikers' children.
and that we will win our fight. Can't thank you enough.
JOHN McNEIL PETE HAYES For the LSE strike committee
Trade Unions
CHRISTOPHER DAVIES (Report)
no deals with Sidney Weighell! from 4 January, 1982.
The membership of the driver's UITUll ASLEF, armed with a clear policy trom national Lul" ference that under no cir-
The pickets from Laurence Scott would like to thank all who contributed to the Christmas appeal for monies and toys for the strikers'
trom the Steel, Sheffield and Stockbridge who them provided a toy, a selection box, f2 bag of sweets, and a f10 voucher for each of the
They also brought 220 turkeys for all our Christmas dinners which went down a treat. In addition f10 for each picket to be spent on a little Christmas spirit.
Let's hope the new year brings all trade unions behind us in our fight for jobs at LSE
VASTI:
cumstances will the eight-hour day be rescinded is determined to fight.
Ray Buckton the union's general secretary, will be more likely to continue to say thumbs down to the split shifts, the continental system where Sunday becomes part ot the ordinary work week and to all the other things that go along with BR's idea of flexibility, if the membership makes its voice heard Tono ano ciear
The two-day strike can be used to prepare for tur ther all-out industrial action against not oniv the flexible rostering, but the
operated Onc Deisul trains, the station concept, the trainmen concept and all the other dirty productivity tricks that are on ine caras new rostering gets through. Limb
Line anvers saouidi.
e left out on a limb. NU Hcmoe S IccUzlsc CvCl. if the executive doesn't that a victory by ASLEF over the eight-hour day will make it more difficult for the BRB push through their plans for fewer workers, with more work for them to do.
NUR memocis shouldn't wait for pıcket nnes lo go up by ASLEF members (and pickets are a must!). Sympathy strike action would show Sidney i roi Weighel that he would do better in starting to fight
owr nteress. musteau of making his public abpeals to ASLEF to call off its action
The membership of all concerned unions should be kept informed Today we hear about the com-
By Brian Grogan MINERS will vote massively for strike action ш еш D ot ooo
anuary in pursuit of thei claim for c100 minimu for surface workers. Whether the pits actually do come to a stop will require the sort of campaign which lead to Arthur Scargill's massive election triumph.
Ine miners will be voting on an executive request for a mandate for ac tion. A 55 per cent majori ly is requirea This guaranteed. special
delegate conference Jus before Christmas bačked the proposal with only three voting against. The mood in the coalfields is such that even the spokes. people for the right wing had to troop up to the plat. form to pledge support.
At present basic pay for surface workers is only £80.85. The Coal Board's offer would give them a
magnificent £87.80. But as many delegates to the conTereose o nere se ference this
creasa already been eaten away
the effects of Chancellor Howe's 'mini budget', let alone the effects of inflation.
But more than simple arithmetic is required to mobilise the miners for victory. Everyone knows that miners strike challenges the existence of the Tory government
Many militants will welcome such a challenge WIln an enthusiasm match the cringing of the right wing eaders or une
tivity, Socialist
workers. 35p plus 10p p&tp.
Cheques/Postal
Ltd.
CON NI LAr
promises from the Flee Street press. As long as ASEr is involved in in dustrial action in defence
CHIOCNS TZULS regular mass meetings involving all railworkers will be vital
Our fight against productivity is not a new one. Workers in every industry are faced with similar battles from the Ford workers to the miners. Every
Miners: mobilise now
Des Dutfield: 'Get off our knees movement The miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974 against the last Tory Rips oi man wea mil the
of many a militant speech.
Des Duttield, vice Prales area summed it u the South best when declared 'It's time for the British miners to decide whether
put up or shut up whether we join the broad retreat of the last two years
off our knees and tell the board and the government we are ready
fight them and the political savages behind them.'
HOW TO FIGHT
'PRODUCTIVITY'
Socialist Challenge
PAMPHLET FOR RAILWORKERS
What policies are needed to tackle productivity in the rail industry? Order now 'How to fight produc
Challenge pamphlet for rail-
Borders to Cardinal Enterprises
Available from: Rail pamphlet, PO Box 50, Lon-
railworker should do their utmost win support throughout the trade union movement and the Labour Party in defence of our conditions and living standards Never before has the need to transform the Triple Alliance involving railworkers, steelworkers and miners intó fighting force been more urgent! achieve this, the argument will have to be pressed a Yodres. The suc in the pits and lodges. cess of the Presidential campaign showed that the tactics of 1972 when 'fly ing pickets' where sent out from Yorkshire to many of the coalfields prior to the action can still pa! dividends.
The Tory politica savages will use wild threats and attempt wreak real carnage. Rank and file vigilance and understanding is the only wav meet such behaviour.
Socialist Chiällenge ' 7 Januäry 1982 page 13
Page 14 scan of this page
etter!
IT IS with much regret that we note the reemergence of a deeply sectarian trend within December Socialist Challenge is deeply offen- organisation. sive Workers Party and Right to Work Campaign who worked so hard to try and ensure a victory for the workers at Staffa Products.
We Brian Grogan's experience and years in the revolutionary movement can write an article for a socialist newspaper so full of lies and distortions. Sour grapes, part to play in our struggle.
Let's look at some of the points raised by comne AUEW District Commilec.... 'failed to lift a finger to help the fight'.
Now as members of that and of the SWP we have been opposition many of the positions adopted by the committee Ior a number of years... nevertheless we would like
state publicly that, whatever reservallulls WC
WRITE TO US! Think of this page as a noticeboard for your. comments, criticisms, gratulations! Be brief, space for others
Socialist Challersge: 17 Jantrary 1982 page: 14
Letters ATTA SETTER.
STAFFA dispute
'lies and distortions'
article
to all those members of the Socialist
cannot understand how someone of
comrades, have no
may have concerning the role of some of our officials, the committee as a whole endorsed im mediately our members' actions.
Far from failing to lift a finger many members of the committee worked hard to ensure financial support e.g. Fleet delegates raised a £5 per member levy amounting to collection of almost £4.000, other delegates also held factory collec-
Stalle
Staffa workers with Steve Longshawe (second from left), LSE striker
words:
Write to: or even to leave - maximum 400
etters
tions.
In addition the DC
Westminster with AUEW MPs. NOW SO far as we
cop-out but didn't object, since publicity for the dispute was to be welcomed and so long as the strikers had no illusions about the ability of the MPs to produce the goods it could do no real harm.
Unfortunately Socialist Challenge supporters, in particular comrade Grogan, choose spread the illusion that the Labour MPs could fluence the issue, with the resulting disapointment or their failure to do so.
OK, not every delegate to the DC moved off his or her backside but you do service revolutionary politics by your ill-informed commentaries.
On the Right to Work Campaign's involvement,
Letters, Socialist Challenge, 328 Upper St, London N1 2XP (tel 01-359 8180/9).
Letters
your correspondent collapses into complete sectarianism, in addition, he also collapses into inventing facts.
Firstly it is not true that when the police moved in, all the best stewards were on the Right to Work Mar-
tact GIuV tew stewonstration to the Tory stewards went Party Conference
Present at the factory was the deputy convenor
of the District Committee with other stewards attending as necessary.
There was never a decision to oppose the police taking over the factory, that canard was put about We here never in a siruy. the Communist Party. tion to oppose them.
Comrade Grogan spent enough time hanging trouve Luc laclory zalcs lu realise that even had we beer able mobilise enough people that the lactory itselt was almost totally indefensible. "criticisms Your On other make she Righi to Work we did office available to the stewards while they were getting a strike organised,
would have been responsible for us not to
Yes the RTWC issued collection sheets for the strike.
Is comrade Grogan opDosca lo soulast olzallisa tions collecting money for strikes? As to our 'disdaining to fight in the engineering unions' well, both the signatories of this letter are long time SWP members and members of the
AUEW, North London District Committee.
We have now two other comrades elected to this committee, including
conveno COI Staffa Products, this hardly constitutes 'disdaining to fight in the engineering union'.
What to is disdaining to maintaining Labour Party's ability to acmeve a meaningtul and lasting socialist change, nor shal we encourage our supporters to develop these illusions.
JIM SCOTT AND
ROGER COX
Members of North London District
AUEW and Socialist Workers Party
Brian Grogan replies
THE outcome of the Staf-
fa dispute was a major test
for Work
campaign which was
made the centre of the
SWP's politics at its recent
conference
The SWP has a history
of In
leadership of the factory.
The stewards had backed
the Right to Work cam-
paign on previous occa-
sions.
Convenor Dave Green,
as well as his predecessor,
were both members of the
SWP. And another 13
Staffa workers, including
other stewards, were
claimed as members.
Undoubtedly, the in-
itial decision
was a result of SWP in-
fluence. But how do we ex-
plain that after 10 weeks
only 31 out of 390 workers
voted continue the
fight?
The dispute still had
official backing. Solidarity
and finance were still com-
ing into the strike HQ
Blacking was beginning to
bite and was extending.
as the frenzy of overtime
WHEN Sid Bidwell wrote to the Guardian
Tariq Ali's /vo ventuer decision party ne showeo nimserod botta ny ocrite and racist hypocrisy car measured bi comparing the following two stulements the columns of
the 19 June 1975 issue of Red Weekly, Mr Bidwell declared:
on the return to work showed.
No one indicts the SWP for failing to lead a victory. The responsibility lies with the reformist leadership of the unions — including that of the District Committee. The good work of individual members is no reason to cover over for this
Our case does not rest on incidental factors like how many stewards were
Line pact crucial times. At issue is what was offered for the attention of the strike leadership by the SWP
The task of mobilising the majority of the workforce was neglected in favour of winning the active minority of strikers to support the Right to Work campaign.
Jim and Roger _pose physical defence of the occupation as the only alter-
the Right Work Tory Party aemonstration
The reason for leadership on ine spot was the need to mobilise politically lo aejena ine occupation
through the labour vertent.
Bidwell — a change of mind
I believe all socialists, narucular y young SOCIOLIS should join the Labour Party and get into the mainstrean
'think the skyist groupings should assess une situatior carer. wihour romance me monie then help to take hold of the
Party locally and na; tionally for socialist purpose
Six years later he states: very Ali's application for member-
The presence of the deputy convenor and Jim Scott (the AUEW DC member), is beside the
The central strike leadership was not helped to see its task as forcing the existing leadership of the labour movement to back the Staffa fight. This includes MPs.
As the campaign which forced the about-tace of local MP Bryan Magee showed, such an approach is what helps create a new leadership. Self proclamations, typical of the Right to Work, is not the same thing.
The f4m government grant which was the basis for the move of the factory drew in the GLC and raised the role of the Tories.
The GLC could easily have been involved, reinforcing a demand for the Labour leadership to act. Progress here would not only have increased the chance of victory, narrowea for manoeuvre of Duffy and
but it would have also boosted the
ship of the Labour Party will be given the utmost of close scrutiny.. • 1 woula noi mino
• him on the basis of a of • probationar) status
Would citizen Sid care to explain why comrade Taria s memoersmo wowla nove oeer acceptable in 1975 but is unacceptable in 1981?
ROB JONES London
fidence of the inactive ma jority ana inspired the militant pickets. Ignoring such people is precisel) what maintains illusions
The SWP members sit on District comitee. is not evidence of a serious fight in the labour movement.
It is silly to suggest tha our objection to Right to Work collection sheets, use of Right to Work headquarters and so on is an objection to socialists making collections.
Socialists make a contribution to the fight by utilising the strikers' own material. To do otherwise is positively harmful. For Right to Work substitu tionism can give the righ wing more excuses for not supporting the fight.
On the evidence of the Staffa dispute do Jim and Roger believe that the Right to Work campaign which was for once, moderately influential, actually altered the relationship of forces in the labour
movement in favour of the rank and file? We look forward to their or other comrades replies.
Page 15 scan of this page
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Bath Labour Party last showing of KEN LOACH's film steel strike, Socialist Challenge supporter, MIKE POLLEY, was there Ken Loach was commissioned by ATV to make a film about the steel strike. When completed, the
Qformat differed radically from other meda coverace walchaao focussed exclusively
officials like the general • ready Trades
ron Confederation, Bill Sirs.
Loach's film was based on rank and file strikers
solidarity action.
From this point, the film's history is as instructive as its content.
Bosses
Initially the Independeni Broadcasting Authority said the film had to be fifteen minutes. Then they said representatives from British Steel should be involved the film
ERPRISE
SHIRE
Why the steel strike was lost:
A question
of leadership
month organised on the 1980 A Question of Leadership. Local
(MacGregor and his ex ecutive refused). Then top
cluded (a new section slotted in Bill Sirs and George Wright from the Wales TUC).
had finally OVel chat the film was too out- the IBA decided dated for national screening!
In the end the film was shown - at 10.30pm and ONuV the Midlands region where very few steel workers live.
The main reason for the IBA's hostility to the film was its exposure of the union officials who ensured the strike's defeat.
The film concentrates on their attempts LO solalt the strike and to stifle rank and file moves towards solidarity action.
For 13 weeks, the strikers had to fight the policy of Sirs and Co most
WORKS
AMARKSHIRE
STEELWORM
Under Review
notably in relation to BL. The workers of BL were in
situation as ine steel workers. They had the same emplover -- the Tory groups were schedul- Tory government ed for mass redundancies and closures. The case for joint union action was overwhelming.
Defeat
Yet as SOON as Bl workers voted for strike
the ISTC and the accoll.
TUC leaders stampeded the membership to end the steel dispute.
Sirs and the TUC firmly committed to bour fei demonsem not workers' cracy, believed in the right of the Tory rule throughout cyclicall its full term of office, come what imposed to any attempt to may. So they were firmly
workers struggles together way that could government' and even, perhaps bring it down.
In 1980 this meant that
Alan Thornett they had to isolate the steel strike, and So inevitably ensure its defeat.
Despite their rhetoric the labour movement's
determinede, ana till are,
determined that dispute run an independent course. The result is that uneones can pick off groups of workers one
steel strike to BL and Laurence-Scott, all demonstrate that the
leaders SuUl afraid of the possible consequences of victory than they are of defeat.
The Bath meeting in vited Ray ITOR ISTC Llanwern, and Alar
from TGWU and BL Cowley to address the audience. Both
THE
ARKSHIRE
featured prominently in the film and are able representatives of the 'class-struggle leaders who emerged during the steel strike.
The fact that over one hundred peopic out for a meeting in Bat! and donated £74 to th Laurence Scott strikers and Bath Labour Party's political fund demonstrates the urgenc! with which the rank and file in the labour movenew solutions to the pro- ment searching blems posed by this Tor government A Question of Leadership can be hired by application to ATV, 46 Sharlott St, London. Tel 637 4602.
ODERN) SCO
UILD
WOR
Socialist Challenge 7 January: 1982 page 15
Page 16 scan of this page
Socialist
Challenge
WORKERS
Ford strike.
day. work stopped.
Stewards
Tuesday morning.
dable Before
co-operation in
company's offer.
considered 'inefficient'.
By Pete Clifford
U
The 24 hour picket of the Manchester will be strengthened. forts are being made to ensure Snipe, their employer. is unable to remove any of the 1 Clilallll. worth of motors. EDINBI The picket of Mining
Supplies after snatched a small number of motors from the Manchester factory. the flying pickets met with some success. Les weit turned initially in Doncaster and then further afield in Derbyshire pledged goods from the factory.
To back up the strikers IN HERE BOY! on picket
unemployed as well as Right to Work NOT ON US campaigners,
Challenge and Revolution supporters. support played a vital role in sustaining the picket it
By Mick Drake, Dagenham
Halewood, Swansea have given a magnificent answer to the sabotage by union officials of the national
As news together over the New Year spread around the Halewood body and assembly plants on Mon-
and mass strike action from the end of the shift. This decision was backed up by a mass picket on
Swansea walked out on Tuesday. Bridgend also declared themselves opposed to the sellout. At Dagenham, stewards in the assembly plant decided to recommend rejection.
The anger of the Ford workers is understan-
the Xmas meetings throughout the country voted almost unanimously for strike action against the company's 7.4 per cent with strings wage offer.
The long list of so-called 'efficiency' conditions attached to the offer - including elimination of demarcation, total mobility of labour,
the technology and work systems ticularly stressed in union opposition to the
In addition, the company stated its intention of eliminating all local plant agreements on working conditions and practices which it
None of these strings have changed. But now, in return for bringing forward the 39 hour
THE LAURENCE Scott strikers ended the five weeks long flying picket of their parent company Mining Supplies of Doncaster just before Christmas. Despite this step back the strikers who've now been fighting nine months are determined to fight on.
factor Ef by
£2¾m
launched Snipe's flying scabs
and miners
to black
hne were and
Although this
Bridgend
of the deal cobbled
meetings voted for
holidays, introduction
Laurence Scott fights on
for their jobs for
was not enough to counter
the campaign being waged
engineering
leaders, Boyd
to stop the picket being et-
fective.
They were terrified of
not only of the possibility
or lying picke
becoming effective
ColOnie
law, as an injunction was
pursued by
employers under
Employment Act
picketing of the Doncaster
works. They were aiming
to isolate the picket.
Initial backing by the
transport and engineering
Cure, the member and Alex Barry,
Ford
Ford workers
fight sell out
and holidays.
tinue mass of new were par-
whether union's district became
scab.
put and Duff
Laclic but
the the to stop elsewhere.
Charles
the picket. not enough.
On Friday 8 January at 8 am a mass picket of all the Laurence Scott strikers will take place outside the Manchester factory to refute the statement by Ken
AUEW executive
general secretary, that the dispute, now in its ninth month, is finished.
pay cut with slavery thrown in.
tional trade union side meeting on
Workers are
in the face
stewards on immediate continuation elected stewards and convenors.
flicted on car workers
Manchester for the picket ineffective Snipe was able to organise with local union officials under pressure from Boyd and Duffy for drivers to
At the same time the engineering union leaders
pressure mers president Joe Gormley, to
the NUM areas advising that they lift blacking ac
The final blow came with the injunction under the Employment Act. The union's legal facilities were withdrawn from the strike.
Support was sought trom
Labour
Michael Meacher issued a statement of support for
But that was council confed
week by just five months from November to June 1982 and minor improvements in pensions, national union officials are recommen. ding acceptance of the same deal, meaning a
As this offer was railroaded through a na.
there was almost a straight split between fulltime union officials who hold 32 seats on this body and the 24 Ford piant convenors - the actual vote was 27 to 17 with two abstentions
The actions of the bureaucrats has wrecked the unity present on the shop floor before the
now themselves about whether it is possible to con-
of such Dagenham stewards accepted, however reluctantly, the decision to 'defer' strike action pending mass meetings later in the week.
At Langley there was a split vote among
The Halewood's and South Wales' workers actions offer the possibility of re-uniting Ford workers around the fight for their f20 and 35 hours without strings claim. But that means mass meetings taking the claim and our strike out of the hands of Ron Todd and the officials and placing it firmly in the hands of our own
By the end of the week we will know
that has happened another Leyland-style sell-out has been in-
judge's legislate Dracucal
contining it to tactory ed.
four hour judge asked: Well this Mr
terests.
this situation thi felt they MPs and fight
the new year
DILLeT
Laurence bene
Fryer Romiley, Cheshire
Monday arguing among
sabotage At or whether
The court hearing for the injunction underlined
dangerou Employment Act is. The
was to what the most for the strikers should be. For him that was the one that least harmed the employer
solely the directly concern-
Towards the end of the
hearing the I who's Snipe then?' revealing an expected contempt for the strikers' in-
'Ine nearing adjourned till March. In
strikers should consolidate the dispute back
the fight sin the reopen
the labour movement for solidarity in
The Manchester North District of the engineering
then throughout the months of
Now trade unionists should give
support the Scott strikers. donatel messages of support to G
Roundcroft.
← Socialist Challenge No. 225, 10 December 1981Socialist Challenge No. 228, 14 January 1982 →