Socialist Action No. 125, 20 December 1985
The scan: 125-dec-20-1985-SA-UK.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive)
Uncorrected machine reading of the whole issue. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from the scan and has not been corrected or cut into articles. Each page gives the headlines first, then the columns in order, so one article runs on into the next. Expect misread words. Use it to find things; quote from the scan.
Page 1 scan of this page
FREE MANDELA! BOYCOTT APARTHEID!
SociAlist
ACTION
BUILDING AN ALLIANCE FOR SOCIALISM IN THE middle of last year the South African government announced elections to its stooge, powerless "Tri-cameral' parliament. It was a catastrohpic failure. Within months the Transvaal stayaway had erupted. Apartheid's death agony had begun.
The battle has been costly. Nearly 1000 black people have died. The townships are under military seige. Unarmed people daily defy jail, torture and death.
But one fact emerges which gives the whole world a beacon: they are winning. Like the Cuban, Vietnamese and Nicaraguan people before them, they are serving notice to the mightiest powers of our planet that all the wealth, all the guns, and all the science of the second half of this century will not, and cannot, defeat a united people.
That is why, in South Africa today, our destiny is being forged. And that is why Thatcher and Reagan tremble, and bluster, and boast that the solidarity movement's advances are 'tiny'. Because apartheid is their creature. Their gold, their power, their might is being sweated from South Africa's soil.
They will lose it when the black people of South Africa reassert their right claim to it.
That is why we rejoice that the people of South Africa are going to win. This very same wealth and power confronts us, whether on the walkways of Broadwater Farm, at the gates of Orgreave or on the barbed wire of Greenham Common
And we propose a New Year resolution: let 1986 be the year of solidarity with South Africa and Namibia. Let 1986 be the year we help set Mandela and the prisoners free. Let 1986 be the year we cut off the trade in oppression that binds Thatcher to Botha.
Life under Thatcher is hard and every day gets harder. But the heroic struggle of South Africa's black people, facing the most barbaric regime in the world, have brought hope. It proves to us, and to working people of all the world as we go into 1986 that, no matter what the odds, we are going to win.
YSI
20 ME SOL. .
ANC
No. 125 20 December 1985 30p
Inside:
Tony Benn on the witch-hunt Broadwater Farm this Xmas Bernadette McAliskey orthe Anglo-Irish accords Peter Heathfield on defending the union
1986
SWARO oF NAMIDI-
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SOCiALisA
ACTiON
TUC goes
Mainstream
THE TUC has caved in to Hammond and Laird and is to abandon its democraticallydecided policy of opposing state cash for ballots. That capitulation makes the role of the right wing, Mainstream,
In the same way that the SDP is a dagger pointed at the heart of the Labour Party, so new realism is the dagger poised to drain the blood of the trade union movement. job, with a little help from Neil Kinnock, is to drag the union behind the policies of Thatcher.
On Monday they got some plaudits. Employ. ment minister Kenneth from a meeting in the them. 'The unions,' he said, ed on the hook of a ridiculous policy.' ridiculous to imagine one can deal with a government out to wreck the unions in the way the TUC has tried to do: by issuing paper declarations, then standing back from every real struggie in the faint hope that Labour will be elected - and the even fainter policies if it gets in.
The right wing unions have to ensure that by the time Thatcher's policies have made her so unpopular she leaves office, the union movement beyond repair. After why should a future Labour government - much less a coalition - rescind state shackles on the unions when these same unions,
own prompting, have already put the shackles on themselves
It is precisely for this reason that leaderships such as cargill's, which are prepared to stand and fieht the government threat. Thatcher knows she has not seen the last
Arthur Scargill and policies. tions of society to the wal!, duce a fightback. She therefore has to ensure that the resistance that results has no focus, no leadership around which it can regroup.
This is the second function of the right wing unions. By dragging the labour movememt over to Thatcher's positions, they aim to isolate any emerging class struggle forces and ensure they
cannot count on any serious solidarity.
Board's strategy of promoting the UDM to crush the NUM exactiy corresponds to this. But it goes
the miners
same way,
WELWCCII the scab
Association (ereners
Association of Schoolmasters to try and isolate the National union
wind out of the teachers strike.
These tactics are destined to become part of
the employers manual.
labour movement be doing?
struggle' in the TUC against Hammond was a
non-event
whether the TUC would actually do anything,
was already settled. So, as well as taking an in-
transigent stand against the anti-trade
laws and the Tory restructuring of industry
and in the Labour Party against
'reasonable' and 'unavoidable
unemployment and privatisation -
question across the
support for real struggles against Thatcher.
the UDM,
communities, solidarity with the teachers and al!
public sector workers fighting cuts, backing for
councils who stand up to the Tories, and rejec-
tion OT any WitCh-nule
hallmarks, in 1986, of those who defend the true
interests of labour.
Xmas break:
This is the last issue of Socialist Action in 1985
Reagan, Botha, and Thatcher-free new year!
unions dead
Line new reallsts
Clarke took time out Hague to congratulate are obviously impalIt is
hope that it will reverse Tory
she has damaged
at Kinnock's
represent such a
This like, because her
wilc are arving ever growilig set
will inevitabiy proine cod
union. in exactly the Keith Joseph is promoting a line-up non-TUC Professional the National
of Teachers and take the
But what should the
It is not just a question of paper policies. The
precisely because the main issue.
union
accepting as policies of mass the crucial labour. movement is rea
Defence of the NUM and non-recognition of
intransigent defence of the black
these the The next issue will be on the streets on 10 January 1986. Seasons greetings to all our readers — and a
Bloody
MARGARET THATCHER succinctly summarised one of her chief political objectives in a recent interview given to the Financial Times. 'I have always regarded part of my job as ... killing socialism in Britain,' she said. Paradoxically, she has not only failed to kill socialism, but has presided over its rebirth the British labour 'rebirth' is the most historically significant development in the politics of the British labour movement in 1985.
Thatcher's assault on the labour movement nas secured some definite successes. Using oil revenue money, sne nas pursuea a successiul poncy or mak ing substantial economic
to considerConcess uls ahe secuon. the employed working class, while concentrating creasingly severe attacks
other sections: unemployed, black people, youln, wollel and parts the industrial working class
econoAMOSi mic and social differentia. within the working ciass ane ne Doressa selvas of society has been widen.
At the same time inCreasille been direcied against those
rising in revolt againsi this situation — a governmen! policy anü truncheons'
But despite the unmass counted popular opposition
allti againsi, periodic Thatcher's struggles
policies continue
particuiar
ul clUy
among !nose mosi serere!!
hit bi them
Neither repression nor
Dublin's collaboration have succeeded in breaking ihe mass resislance ic
British rule in the north of
Ireland. Tory tinues to decline sharply in v SuDOUIlLU!!
Scotland, Ine north
England and the major
cities. There has been pro-
longed industrial action b!
(calles dustrial disputes have con- and
tinued. The 1985 uprisings
against police harassment
communites
in ne black
more Intense tual
anything which happened
lhe campaign nuclear weaDoll
continues enjoy. mass
suppori. The solidarity
A PIECE 9 the ACTION
Another bloody Christmas! Another
¿ bioody year draws to
Ta close and another
bloody year begins And sothe season. go merrily round..
O00
The left faces 1986
but unbowed
movement. This
movement in support of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa has made a •udutallve breakthrough in recent months.
despite specific and important vIC tories by inalcnel, wnich have placed the working class on the defensive and have created a sharp swing Government 10 the right, sections of the working class and oppressed people continue io fight back agains: the governmen:
Each siruggie loda! 1s finding points of suppor: in the Labour Party This development is decisive.
Despite the seriousnes. of the attacks mounted, and • despité its actores. uic governmen:
Rebi Face Win
with SuDOUll Tory government unable
direc! mass suppori, the bourgeoisie 1ook the initiative o spili ine Labour Pariy and creale the SDP
resulting SDP Liberal Alliance is aimed ai preventing the return of ze bb quveil me coni su auna ol ing
continuation the Thatcher esselillai policies. The SDP, and the
Alliance, plays no pro
gressive role in the class struggle w screl
constitutes pari of the of-
fensive of the ruling class.
Line Allance works i.
parallei, and often
direct collaboration, with
the extreme right of the
labour bureaucracy. This
has been
substantially strengthened Wille
by the overall policies
Thatcher telexe or ene
ana by the defea:
miners strike. It has a clear
I really reach my lowest point in these midwinter days. I can feci myseif sinking fast! It's time to read the holiday brochures..
project: noluca Labour-Alliance coalition government and bringing Ine enulc trade movemen Will framework of Tory anti-union legislation.
the Kinnockite leadership of the ATTeT
supported Labour Party. by the most powerful sections of the trade union
aimed oureaucraly. rebuild Labour as • a a jority party of government
taking the party lo the right, while al CIne salli(
avoiding coalition Against the sustained offensive of the bourgeoisie and the defeat miners strike their initial project progressively weakened
The TUC has moved to the acceptance ot the nev framework of trade union law withou: waiting for the
promised b!
Kinnock The
leadership has jentisoned •a mosl would all challenge Dolces That- that
cherism and has increas-
castu balancıng and moved to openly centre all its energies on an onslaugh: on the left.
nowerful
While the Kinnockites stil! diffe: from Mainstream righ!
question of coalition, and
polic! varivu. anc. taches. incliuls the Converge
practical positions oi ine
iwo currents en crei ot
effeci
Converge
this is to strengthen the
right
The ferocity the
bourgeois assault, climax-
ing in the tremendous class
confrontation represented
by the miners strike not
merel! polarised society
but openly divided the left
wing or ne labour love
ment which then existea.
The first and largest
component led by
Tribune and the LCC and
symoolsea by ngures sult
Macher and Sawyer,
and Knapp in the union
the nas gone over to
practical positions of Kin-
nock. The specific role of
"sand.... by God, it
indulge in these
this 'left' is to altempl to Isolalc. disorganise. and break up the class struggle forces which emerged ou oi lhe miners strike and subsequent developments which emerged our of the second force miners sinke was a class struggle left Ine nrs class struggle forces, and class struggle curell. emerge 1 1920 British politics
This SLICE qualitative development in
British politics.
strike, During Scargill became the the Hinck. first mass leader in Britain since AJ Cook (on a higher level than Cook) !o artempl lo win a grea: viass struggle, the greaies ior 60 years,
The forces which cargill
expressed, and basea tHIOsenuil. engaged in a systematic mobilisation of the working class to win the strike.
This culminated in the longest mass strike in the history of any imperialist First country. Scargill's was onc
of ihe greatest examples of
ship in Britain's hisiory.
was the emergence for the
first time since 1926 of a class struggle leadership in the working ciass.
The incredible force of the miners strike in turn polarised every other force
lef: wing of ine working
class movement sending
some rignl and
qualitatively deepening the
position of others
womer Agains! Pir
Closures developed direciBenn-Skinner sing , out of the strike. The
of the group of MPs
Campaign
solidly with the
miners, and with Scargill
inrougnoul the strike and
emerged qualitatively
strengthened.
The Labour Party
black section, born in the
period meiers rike, si od solidie leading
with the strike. A whole
series of other individuals
and or gallsalivil. too
stood firm L nen
Sun and sea and
sounds abominable! Sometimes it's a relief (to be unemployed. One is not expected to
rituals.
Politics Today
miners
The fact that these forces constituted a quali-
British kalve DICaN politics has been confirm ed by developments since
end of the strike Tony Benn demandc. British withdrawal from
The Campaign NAIO group of MPs drew up the Miners Amnesty Bill . The black section Campaign
and Scargill defended the black uprisings and supported Liver mombers of he cani ien nurice.
voled against Anglo-rish accord. Inese same of forces came oui against the witch-hunt Thev strongiy support tn revolutions Centra America and the struggie against apartheid in South Africa
In short, we are seing a developing class struggle
the labour whose components are ODIeCV they đo so converge. As they they are in Creancl beginning take the class struggle directly through the labour moveucH!
Toda! they are under
:eocens anach from the bourgeoisie and its agents
- who are attempting to
destroy them
But the entire dynamic of
this current is to go furthe
and further through the
Ja Dou movellicl
dynamic created by their
urgent necessity to try lo
hansl orl ul masa
tions of the working class
into instruments of class
Siruezic through which
they can fight back against
attacks launched on
them
The emergence of this
curreni, the social base
propelling il, and its in-
creane dvnamic to
through the labour move-
ment, is the most impor-
developmenı
British working class
politics for 60 years. View.
historical pers ei ve the ena o.
gives greater cause about the
ZO OHmS!!
future of the socialism in
Britain than at any time in
the last half century.
® CORMAC
When you reach nadir you can find comfort and solace in the strangest places...
Page 3 scan of this page
News
death' of
SEVEN DAYS after police shot and paralysed Cherry Groce in Brixton, Cynthia Jarrett died of heart-failure when home and knocked her to the ground during their illegal search. The response of Bernie Grant and other
the establishment down on their heads.
• Jarrett's righteous indignation.
told CAROL TURNER why the Jarrett Family Defence Campaign will continue to press its demand for a public enquiry.
My mum's death hit most people as if it could have been Houter.
There are a lot of guys out there getting into trouble and the police are coming to their houses and searching. It could have "ferr mother an insult and an injustice.
A week before the cops had SIDI LUWIL Cherry Groce hey did my num. When the riot broke out on eople didn't go out there to loot or anything. They went out against
olice People can't take hat much lying down.
Now they've got plastic bullets and CS gas. That's a lot different isn't it? Peodie don't want to gel sno
plastic bullet; they don't want to get killed.
Everybody who's had their
searched since the riots has seen a gun: in
Halt. their presence, in their house.
The result of the indeat into mother's
was Dest could expect: accidental
We were saying all along that one of the cops pushed my mother. They were claiming they didn't. he one wno pusned my mother was saying he was
The 'accidental
Cynthia Jarrett
Tottenham police raided her
Haringey black councillors brought the full wrath of
But the
have generated
PATRICK JARRETT, one of Cynthia's sons,
somewhere else in the house.
No one put themselves
in ey werender the time.
were denying that unev were mere. Done accidental death the inquest was saying that one dite cous. unnamed. did push my mother but it was an accident.
We couldn't really expect a result of accidental killing in a place like that. That wouldn't VIle Nolning reall happens in Britain, does I don't think anything
reill of not verdisas
result that verdict.
job or anything like that.
They might be en. - ANTIN AT ORM C by their own law and their own people.
People from Broadwater Harm are taking the verdict in their own way. Those who know about the law know that it is a good result. winer. were expecting a copper to charged witl murder.
But feelings are the same I suppose: they think that one of them should have been charged with my mother's death in court. Full stop.
The police presence is
Broadwater
Farm Estate
still there on the farm. They've got what we call supergrass cropped up after the riot. They just sit there waiting
Hurd and Kenneth Newman are bringing their tacties from Ireland over here to the mainland now.
the Sundar after my mother's death I went with other relatives some local councilors aru people from the Farm to a meeting at the police sta-
bul aller al hour dr so nothing was coming out of it. We wanted a public enquiry; they were sayle there was going to be a police enquiry
You can't have police investigating police, you? They are all one bi
and YOU throw out part of your family. Such an enquiry was pound to corle out on the side of the police.
Bernie Grant and the Haringev COCOONS ed an enquiry, but I don't think anything is happening yet. Bernie Grant will keep his promise now. . He
saying there would be WaD an enquiry quest. Now the verdict's gone in our favour things should move
bernie gor into trouble for speaking out. But you can only be honest, can't
say hones thin That , then you hurt people why he got a ton of bricks down on top of him. They didn't want to hear that from a council leaver
In a general sense agreed with what he said.
was talking the truth. A lot of black people car recognise that. They knot we ve been under oressure for a long time now.
Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham is Haringey council have ALAN SINCE S October there Ninety-three of those as arrests. rested have been charged; 14 of those released without charge have since
Cherry Groce
Cynthia Jarrett
WHO NEXT?
The siege goes on
TWO MONTHS after the events of 5 October, the
under police occupation. Conditions on the estate are a chilling foretaste of the future Thatcher has in store for Britain. The treatment they are getting has until now been reserved for the North of Ireland. The estate is not being 'policed' — it is being punished. By attempting to protect Broadwater Farm residents from this continued intimidation, Bernie Grant and
again hit the aftertes.
FREEMAN reports from the Farm. been rearrested and charged.
What does it mean if you are arrested on broad water Farm? It starts with night raid on a dawn or your home by a gang ol police with guns and sledgehammers. The al
bitrary. Until recently they concentrated youth, but have now switched to women The squad Scotland Yard's armed unit — is on the estate all the time In was honed one case
told: "There are five armed officers outside. Come out quely. wren sne inca le inform the defence campaign, her phone wouldn't work. uike several olers
SnOUTS Materne detenct campaign had an police phone can ene mem to see to the unattended children The police invariably break in , in anoler cast they broke into the wrong flat a common event allu lalisalkeu sioner's home. He collapsed iwo hours after coming home lo the wreckage anc died two days later.
But the story starts with the arrest
houd you for the
hold for claiming they Crimina Evidence Act. Though Anne's and Bruce Urove Be stiped off to a diant Dolce station where vour friends and relatives can't find If they do find you they aren't allowed to ser you.
Nor will the campaign solicitor be allowed to see you You are alone, without help under con tinuous interrogation and pressure to sign a confes SOn Then the police tel you that the campaign ha let : you down and no one has come to help you Ee defence" solicitor in comes thi olic Two of them are already su cases. Yel be handling cases. the campaign's own solicitor has een told - by the police - that he could noi han dle a Broadwater Farm case because already had one on his books.
This has nothing to do with law and not much to do with order. But
Socialist Action Bernie Grant
campaign worker exDantedd 'After Lucy ve been at you for 72 hours and a clean-cut face comes in ottering lo lake your
dou're jusi a frightened if youre just a righ
Then you find out tha he doesn't He asks for it, press tor i. Meantime, int
police are telling you tha if you 'admit' what they wa When you are released you'll 021 - if you are - you come out win the come. your back and nothing else. You! belongings, even your food, has beer seized and is being studie
forensic tests' or lne people wro come l‹ the defence campaign after release have to be fitted up win coming ust to begin 1o resume normal life
The charge against you will probably fakery, because the police have no real evidence Winston Silcott. Charge with the murder of PC Blakelock, has not ever Deel committed. Each
veek the police sa are still 'lookin for fur ther information' photographic evidence which 'proved' he was present at the event has beer
But the intimidation is not confined to those resca. Accordin to the Police Research Commi lee, based on the estate. the morning would • Slal until recently with police on the estate an Toilse vas caterer around the corner Gloucester Road i used to rise 1o about 100 by the evening, though this has diminished a bit since the council began campaign-
police numbers grow 1o 200 o
permanenily scene
This atmosphere what generated the drive, from the estate and the council, to stop the heavy
olicing. The police, hali
reartedly, try to claim the
because are utic
amber 1985 3 residents want them. So a couple of weeks ago the estate panel, which unites all the various vi callsa meeting to discuss it. a
discuss it. the biggest the estate was
CVCT which seats 200, couldn't hold them. The mood was
unclin and clear wanted the police out.
was unanimously passed asking the council to press for a return to nor mal policing , and this it is aoing. Il wants the ponce off the walkways. It wants DIl squad out it wants police numbers back normal levels
The police are obviously going to pusn tor a legal showdown challenging the council's right to move inen off. Since
the pi lice road ons.
polic profile lowered when the coll. mittee goes out in the morning to count them, they try and hide themselves in all the services,' explained a campaign worker. 'The! even sav "good morning to you now.
month the resi dents gained a small victory when the police were discovered squatting in an empty flat overlooking the Youth Association. sovins on the residents and taking their photos The evicted them and put the defence campaign in the newly-vacated premises.
It's not the final victory, but it certainly makes the air smell sweeter.
• The Broadwater Farm Defence Campaign and
Police Research Com mutter neen meno
belonging
Have veer stolen by the police. They need resolutions sup port. And they need peo ple to help them with th work. The meetings are or Monday nights. anyone willine to do serious work for the campaign is welcome. For informatior Coinci them Tangmere, Willan Road Tottenham or phone 88.
Page 4 scan of this page
4 Socialist Action DES DUTFIELD, secretary of Abercynon NUM in the Cynon Valley has been elected president of South Wales NUM, with a 20 per cent victory over Terry Thomas. There was a 70 per cent turnout in the ballot at the start of December.
Ian Isaacs, secretary of
Toms oranda and Militant supporter polled 2000 votes the first
Callpaign was portrayed in the press as a
South
closures
Dutfield's she said. unat
the direction LaNC
the that
pit ClOSures. that Des
than the
TOT Howells wants to
SuD• posed
who of
They
night
Neil welcoming
as a 'personal that
what was. Dutfield is a former
president the who lost the post tollowing ine tallure or tue campaign against the closure of Ty-Mawrend or 1983. He led a stay ewis-verlavi down protest against the
Jane succccucu winning the support of the South Wales coalfield, but
national strike ballot failed to back
Slip of the tongue or
serpent's hiss?
Wales NUM and well-known advocate of the return to work, appeared on Newsnight recently along with a representative of the UDM. Asked about support for the breakaway in South Wales, coated and out their case'. Speaking at a Yorkshire rally the following day, Arthur Scargill had this to say in reply: 'The advent of breakaway non-unionism means that every pit in their area is more vulnerable than would have been the case with one single National Union of Mineworkers. I hope that was a slip of the tongue last night.
Wales who made a suggestion that representatives of the breakaway could go into
WHEWORKCN
tried to treat this union with, in barring NUM officials from colliery welfares in Nottinghamshire and South Derbyshire.
the offensive. We can win all the membership hack into the national union. We can save the pits that are being threatened.
20 December 1985
South Wales NUM presidential ballot:
the campaign.
Throughout the 1984-5 miners' strike Des Duttield was one of the minority of South Wales executive members who opposed the
By Graham Atwell
area executive's policy and
of the work.
Tyrone O'Sullivan, secretary of Tower Lodge NUM. "The best man for the job Des Dutfield was ciccicu has experience strength that has been proved over the past 10 years The TOSTIL represented an antiestablishment vote. The the Pon typridd area office played a major part in Des's elec-
'Since the end of the trike, rank and file South Wales miners have felt dirty. On demonstrations our banners have been booed because South led the return to work. People wanted somebody they felt L1 USL. they voted for Des Dutfield.'
strike the and and bee
moved ruth Wales CIOSC down South ; pits, with little organised opDOS LIOn. Dutfield's election is seen as a rebuff for thales leader shipan fa cal policies of the South for an active campaign against the Coal Board's DOlICIes Dutfield has also op. posed the executive's support for Neil Kinnock, and their public criticism Scargill's leadership of the He faces a formidable task
milori to the or on the
executive - 1O union s confidence fight the Coal Board's closure policy.
KIM HOWELLS, research officer for the South
Howells invited them to come to the 'I want to say to my colleague from South
South Wales to argue their case: they should tell those people to keep out of the National Union
keep out of our areas! We should treat them with the contempt that they've
«It is time that this union once acain went on
We can improve the wages and conditions of those we represent.'
A vote to defend the union
South Wales miners on the march
Notts
in the North Notts 'superpits'.
During the strike War sop Main was the target of a well-organised work' campaign. It turned a large majority on strike into a minority in less than a month.
Hardly surprising then, Warsop Main miners are acutely aware of the threat posed by the breakaway
Dave Crowiner, NÚM branch secretary, explains that Roy Lynk has already made direct approaches to pit management, mission to hold a UDM
meeling In the Is recuesi Was turned down, but by NUM attitude on management's part.
They would be more than happy to cultivate the seeds of the UDM. Their problem, Dave says: "they can't see any seeds at the moment, and they want to be caught planting ally. The lack of UDM
organisers inside pits like
Warsop Main is certainly a major their growth. Indeed, their only real foothold in the whoe veroysuc al ca amongst ancillary work. Cis. such ch central Work- the
shops. The problem is how to ensure this remains the case?
For Dave Crowther the
#SAGENT
The way forward in
WARSOP MAIN colliery is a prime target for the UDM. Although the pit is managed by the Derbyshire NCB and organised by North Derbyshire NUM, geographically it lies in Notts. Miners there live in the same villages as those working in the Notts coalfield. Many have friends and relatives working
answer lies in fighting for a sertes
branch level. This begin: from showing the NUM By Andy Buchanan can still fight back effecagainst the numerous day-to-day attacks by management In the course of these ignis, me branch icadet ship is attempting to build bridges men who rentee verore une suring ended. Unlike Notts where mroughout the dispute d many worked large majority at Warsop Main stayed loyal through Novelloc. explains Dave. Many now want to redeem themselves in the eyes or lne umon.
ures, an side these meas-
an education programme is needed, aimed at involving men the decision-making process of the union and explainMan y the broader issues. miners including die-hard NUM loyalists, have little real understanding of the way the union So they don't see WOrKS themselves playing an active role in its affairs As the collapse of the strike at pits like Warsor Main shows, it is no longe
MaCGREGOR
the gut loyally. the membership help remedy this, , the union is information into hands working hard to basic of the membership, mak ing use notice
and short pamboarus
time, however by Shrera, at sin
• Shirebrook, that is in short supply:
Dave believes that the NUM national executive
the •ecsol lo alice lu Board's imposition of new production incentive scheme will neil to bus that time. It will allow the NUM to take away the UD's one real weapon their ability to secure a pay increase, however
at a time when the NUMS talks WelC deadlocked
In the short term, , the acceptance of incentives may create a better situa-
which consolidate une NUM and resist the pressure of the Dicaraway. However, as Dave Crowther points out, the longer . term effects could be disastrous! The anti-Scargill forces inside the NUM will be strengthened, and the unity union at every level will be
threatened
Warsop • Main, the opening of a big new unit
differentials between face
and Across the coalfields,
will be set against pit, area against al ca
The real threat posed
by the UDM, does not lie
simply in attempis lo
through une breakaway s
direct links with the NCB
appears to be able
deliver the goods in the
short term.
The whole labour
movement has a vital rol
pa is result in places
rebuilt in places Warsop Main:
fighting inside the unions
and the Labour Party to
totally isolate the UDM
Sacked miners
still fighting
By Mick Boyle Secretary, South Yorks Sacked Miners Association
TWENTY months after the beginning of the strike, 55 miners South Yorkshire are still not back at work. Victimised by the Coal Board and the govern-
they are still fighting for their jobs.
Following the return to work. South Yorkshire Sacked Miners Associano was lormca to unk al sacked miners and help
the uns wil as anines.
1a slide money lor sackca miner. families, we seek support
reinstatement throughout
LIC WIlUIC labour and trade union movement
The existence of the SYSMA has allowed miners to express solidari ty with other working peo ple engaged in struggle. We fund-raised Notting Hill Carnival with the support of the black community. sacked miles social Rotherham took collec
Victory at
Darfield Main
By Clive Turnbull
On Friday 6 December the National Coal Board announced that Darfield Main colliery near Barnsley would remain open.
Six hundred jobs have
under threat but the NCB have now said there
victory against
closure has been due to a determined OCA paign which won widespread support.
The day after the news, over 300 miners and sup-
including DOTICIS.
delegation of Silent : Night
strikers, marched from the pit to a rally in Wombwell where Arthur Scargil ex
plained the lessons of the
Darfield victory. He said:
'Darfield Main Ilas
Miners Solidarity Fund
payable to 'Miners Solidarity Fund' Vicar Lane James House,
sorting code 08-90-75.
News
U.N tion for the victimised youth of Handsworth.
invitation from the Youth Association to visit Broad waler raril
Locally, we visited the picket line at Sheffield Forgemasters, where seeweeken ave been on strike for eight weeks
• WILD Xmas Castl the plight sacked miners and their families is ROSI give these families a Xmas to remember, an appeal ha been support the union branch Xmas parties have bee arranged for the childre
• socclal Dantuillic wo held Decembe Called the moles and mone)
•IL IS based thi miners' strike of 1984% and starred Scartha the
De sill got a bob to d
we've still got a job to
- an• we w conc ! do it until every sackec and jailed miner re stated and the battl
the Coal Boar and the government is WORr fought fantastic cam-
paign. Miners at Darfield
were determined they were not prepared to stand and see pheid no sacrificed
the alter Mac
Gregorism
the bottom of
my er pits that have suc
pits that have suc-
combed to the blackmai
and intimidation tactics
the Board in recent
weeks and months , would
have conducted the sam
campaign
I understand the pres
sures made stu
roblems. But I appeal !
very single miner, his wit
and family, , as indeed I ap-
pealed at the • time to Cor
do the same
barte van dae core
You've in acrimont toc
much months
unrow away
branch vote the future of
your pit.
Money for sacked and jailed miners is still urgently needed. Cheques and postal orders should be made
, and sent to St Sheffield. . Or what about a
account is with thi
Page 5 scan of this page
Peter Heathtield: NUM general secretary:
News
Fighting back in
Notts
Nottinghamshire coalfield according to
the sooner other
he told HELEN ARTHUR.
IN NOTTS, the breakaway was like a cancer that Was the NUM area leaderships COS O Soeg Yorkshire, o Derby, South Wales,
200 O ner places didn't realise that.
Now they do, because it's hannening in their own areas. And the sooner they
get out to the pitheads anc
CL LICI CHDeR what's going on, the better.
The National Working Miners ( Committee is still strong. Supported by the NED, Il las Ils pala agents in every area of the Coal Board trying to recruit for tC vuN.
That's why the NCB is prepared to hold back on HallUlla wart decoraTons- asking Scargill to sign forms pledges. They hope lllal miners will Join the UDM, which already has its wage rise. The NCB is doing this to break up the national union.
The NUM in Notts has to campaigning, political movement. At the sanhe lic. Il S aDOU! education and information. We have make
PITWATCH
3
Latest issue out now! Available at 25p from
miners support groups or direct from 9 Poland
St, London WI (01-836 5616 or 01-437 3546).
EDUCATION, INFORMATION, and most of all creating political awareness. Those were the prime ingredients for rebuilding the national union in the
new Notts NUM viee president MICK McGINTY. And
area leaderships get the same message across to their members, the better for all,
sure that everything Tinf national and area leadership does Is sent out to branches.
Before, that wasn't happening. There was a lot of apathy People weren't interested going Wanci acetaes. petaice al those mhe tihe didutes go minutes and talk about hot water in the pit showers.
At the start of the strike, you saw vout- lau r aRre They could tell you exactly what Notts it wasn't like that.
Young miners here were strike because were loyal and because their grandparents had taught them never cross aockerme sur ine miners in Yorkshire politically aware and knew craclly willal was lappening, That is what we have to build now here in Notts.
• Donations and rormanon aoour ie seep Notts National Campaign contact: The Notts Miners rorull. c/0 Pine Avenue, Now Ollerton!
Nottinghamshire.
* THE BOSS'S UNION
National Union of Mineworkers,
put the squeeze on wage negotiations.
from the Tory attacks.
IT HAS been a particularly difficull aurumn for the
Our bnzı for dismissed Hilicls 1 C" mains an injustice that we can't accep!
We are hoping lo give a hifi io that campaign eariy in the New Year, lobby Darilallcil. anu the introduction OI
ine Campaisn moup by
annasl ZVUD maller drawing the public's alten(1011 lo the in-
way WalC Narional Coai Board have deall with people dismiss-
PLEASE
"SAVE
A JoB
FOR ME
Fighting for the future
Our fight goes on
ALTUMN 1985 HAS seen escalating attacks on the
general secretary PETER HEATHFIELD told CAROL TURNER. Reinstatement for victimised members remains an unresolved injustice. The Board is using the UDM to
And purging contempt hasn't yet brought control of the pursestrings back where it belongs. But it isn't all doom and gloom. Going into 1986, the NUM leadership remains as determined as ever to protect its members
jorily have commitled no orlence wnatsoever. mnev Mac-Greg ois victims of altilude ur camiscu laboul The Coal Board, acting as recruiting agenıs for the UDM, alt DcHlle Dar ticularly difficull on wages. They are dragging oul negonanons as parl ol their strategy of suading *HIV V.
OVCl ¿ne UDM.
Significaniiy, they are having liule success.
There is a recognition that the promise of big pay be 'uifilled monev ian
MacGregor projecied being available can only be achieved from big produclvily concessions. BuZ l0€ very fact that the UDM has accepled a wage settlemenl nal ls une lowesı li the mining industry for 12
places some sll allils us waen Wilt be deall with through normal negotiations.
Lynk and Prendergasi talk aboul 40,000 members now, bul a more altulalc about 29.000 figure They aimed would D
10 have 60,000 members before the end of the year, su nev ve tauen far short of thai particular objeclive.
In the post-1926 siluation, there were Spencerite organisations South Wales, aYrelas. rii and olher •coalfields same now wilh the UDM Sadly, I think thai is inevilable in post-sirikı silllaliull Bui lan! thing 1o grasp is that the UDM is facing serious
MINORS
SUPPORT
THE
MINERS
Socialist Action 20 December 1985 problems
virtually collap: ed ir Lancasllle. While Agecrofi voted by majority 1o breakaway, they have •een oreverteo ron do
so by the Lancashire book There is some macauon tuala sosan tial number have rejoined
In Daw Mill colliery, Warwickshire 100, in recent weeks, there has been a move back 1o the NUM
South Derbyshire Iwo of the three pits have voled iclal ivval lu the NUM. That is very encouraging We substantial minority deep. he ationa Union ng Mine Noriors National Union
in thal alca W Pr are still receiving forms from people who didn'i vole for us in the öob oæ coming back 1o the NUM
So. il's hOraCOOM and gioom. They have cerlainiv crealed problems uL COVCCU
he neut sie lh igu se or
ine nexı 10 eight mon-
can'l maintain the sort of struciure iț planned. The Talial certificale of registration will not malerially alter ne sauanon
They will remain unac cepiable 10 the TUC and to the Labour Partv. Then application for membership ef the Miners Interna tional Federation has been lurnea down decause Ine) are not a bona fide trade
They still al c isolated and don'i see them making any in-roads thai : will alier their status in ne oroaer aou ac
The Labour Parly SnOODI forget Oo Noil the year 1984, 5000 tinghamshire
hicls iracec ou orne bonica levy Thai indicates kind problem aDOB] uradt UNOT movemen had in the Notlinghamshire coalfield
the would HODC lil di Labour •Party rigidly applies constitution, WIlC! tcdtl Icalc that an organisation claiming to be a trade union but no aledo tae not entitled to affiliate 10 the pariy
The breakaway has created more problems in
Nots coalfield by inlenieng our abilil to conduct the political levy balloı. UDM reoresenlallves nave lorn down notices, and harassed and intimidated lovalists who were conducling the ballol. Ii would be disasirous for the Labour Talvo Descelio Demak ing overtures 1o the leadership of this organisation.
We are in the throes of our political ballol al the momenı. The signs are encourage r nere s Deen a high ballol at many collieries.
autitude of some Labour Party leaders has been ambiguous. There can be no justification for comparisons dividual members of the party who have no oppor-
ọ zccc
noval College of Nuis es.e.
aon l accepi Inal sort or comparison
Labour Parly
5 N.U.M shouldn't be looking for hel -ouls SnouOn looking erode the authority of an organisa• tion atiiliaied to the TUC and the Labour Party
Our financial problems 100 Teman consiceraDie despite the fact that the sequestration order has been removed now from the
The purging of contempi doesn'i assure ¡ne tern or our Tunas. n
is ocs one sie sennhe
process seeking reestablish Collol UVC our funds.
We still have to contend with the receiver, who is responsible in law for managing the financial af-
, He Is currently investigating our accounts with the coopera. tion ot our finance otticer. and remains unwilling 1o release monies for our nor-
expenailure He has said he expects to be with us for weeks
but Hollls that doesn't mean a great deal
H e has •area stituled pronal oes
the azalls Hallusa. ncias. ne torner rusees and is contemplaling action to make us personally resnonsible for the cost in curred. Thai could inevitably lead 1o the three being made bankrupl and the repercussions of thal al c well known!
We are hoping 1o make
application the by COUTS. SDDOTICU receiver 10 oblain his removal, which ChaDic us lu Lustal running the NUM normal-
again, bul the acute financial probiems remal with us. For example, he is now paying the nationa
pay expenses for staff or
officials who nave lo visit London I0!
nejn rade uor dis os ons
trade unions or the Ner trl care en ne TUC olllualiy. liall their entitlement Casil
Il is laking a long, long time 1o unravel. In the circumislalce wc lave vulc exceptionally well lo mainlain
Throughout 1985 there has been a complete unwillingness within the broader trade union move ment to take on board the kinds of problems we have
Will wellalll There were ceclons oin! movement which were very aware and helped us
many wavs broader movement seems oblivious lo problems tha sequestration and receiver ship imposed on us
So we have had a lol o Piculies. Bul the principa difficulties. goal that motivated us
still highly montns ago ls relevant. We will continue our siruggle
Page 6 scan of this page
KINNOCK'S WITC
Socialist Action 20 December 1985 6
AT THE BEGINNING of 1986, on 13 January and only four days after a council by-election in Old Swan, the Liverpool city councillors appear in court. They are faced with the prospect of surcharge, bankruptcy, suspension from office, and even jail.. They are in this position because, for two years, they have stood firm against the attacks of the Thatcher government. Neil Kinnock's latest contribution to the campaign in support of Liverpool council has been to close down the District Labour Party and call an enquiry into its affairs. In the trial-by-press that has already taken place every attempt has been made — openly supported by the Labour Party leader — to establish that the party is involved in corrupt and anti-democratic practices. Kinnock has even made clear, in advance of the enquiry findings, that he wants expulsions. He says this escalation of the witchhunt represents a necessary part of the strategy to win a Labour victory at the next general election.
Militant is the most vulnerable target today. But every socialist in the party is under direct threat.
Eric S.
MP for Walton ter to the press. In South Wales ...
RIGHT wingers in South Wales too are
conducting against socialists in the Labour Party. systematic
Meetings of the Wales Labour Party
executive have been suspended after
TGWU boss George Wright proposed a
refusing to down
elected supporters of the Militant tend-
enThe move to force the pace of the
witch-hunt appears to have succeeded
so far. NEC enquiry into the
membership of Wales executive com-
mittee members Chris Peace and Tony
Wedlake is underway.
Meanwhile, in Callaghan's consti-
THE ENQUIRY into the affairs of the Liverpool District Labour Party represents a qualitative stepping of the witch-hunt Labour Party. But as far as Neil Kinnock's concerned, it is simply a further move in his strategy Labour victory — one for which he has carefully planned.
During his period as leader Kinnock has made it clear that a Labour government led by him will policies or the inalcher government. instead it will take up where Thatcher
Dear Larry,
because the press reports were exaggerated).
giving evidence will be 'guaranteed anonymity',
"forwarded to the police'
reports and can supply them if required).
they will be denied.
and you will be aware of the fair and impartial way in which they
out. The idea of anonymous individuals giving evidence, or
ment upon, was unthinkable when I was chairman.
Can I be further assured that the investigation will be
they are supposed to
against them and individuals,
if they so desire.
I would also like to have terms of reference
others,
realise that if that were allowed, anyone, including enemies of the Labour Par
ty, could come forward and cause mischief, which could not possible be allow-
judiced the future of the Labour Party in Liverpool and is already doing untold
harm, both locally and nationally.
known that the government, for political reasons, has virtually written Liver-
pool off, but we did not expect such views to permeate the thinking of some
people in the Labour Party.
Again, I wish to say that I believe the whole thing is doing untold harm to
the party and hope that if it cannot now be called off, then at least the investiga-
tion must be conducted in a way that is free from the hysterical remarks and
suggestions that have been given to newspaper correspondents.
I would be grateful for an early reply.
Yours fraternally,
• Heffer,
PS: In view of the press reports over the weekend I have given a copy of this let-
tuency of Cardiff South the local executive is recommending the expulsion or two more Millan supporters. drew Price, and Diane Mitchell who is measurel students. There are expulsion moves in with a number of other constituencies, including Ogwr and Taff Ely.
Threats of legal action against the Labour Party these are not the way to stop the witch. hunt. A campaign has been set up, but no action has been organised yet. If the witch-hunt is to be halted an open, ac tive campaign is urgently needed.
A THREAT TO EVERY SOCIALIST
inside for Hattersley By Carol Turner and Redmond O'Neill leadership:
not reverse the necessary to SDP-Liberal
said ahat here must me new back our or nose radio are are a y District Labour Party has features which were not discussed at the NEC. I also I see from the weekend press that it is alleged that the enquiry into the Liverpool according to some newspaper reports today, that you are alleged to have
It is also suggested that hearings could be held in 'safe houses', that people
have been made aware, that when I was chairman of the organisation commit- tee, I headed party enquiries and investigations in many parts of the country usual way in which party investigations are carried out. You will, I am sure, from you that these stories are all untrue. I noted that whilst you said that there should be a blackout on news, there was no denial of the press reports. I hope The suggestion in itself is really worrying, and I would like a clear assurance heard it said that some in the Party are being urged to become 'coppers narks'. know since when has the Labour Party acted as police investigators? I have taken place. I am most concerned about these press reports, and would like to I would also like an assurance that the investigation will be conducted in the are being tried, found guilty and sentenced, even before the investigation has people in the press office and senior officials of the party. (I have all the press ed and that the Constituency Labour Parties could also be disbanded. suggestions that the party could be disbanded, that named people will be expell. pointed to over look the future activities in the Liverpool Party, There are also It would seem to me that already the Labour Party members in Liverpool It is also alleged that the information gained by the press has come from Also, we are informed that a 'watchdog' will be apdrawn up which those referred to did not see, or have the opportunity to comwished to give it? That the EC of the Liverpool party will know precisely what evidence will be taken from anyone who is a party member in Liverpool, who ticularly like to draw your attention to the suggestions that council workers and newspapers, would seem to go far beyond what the NEC agreed. I would par- 'charges' made? Also, that all delegates to the DLP be allowed to give evidence not Labour Party members, could give evidence. Surely, you mus have done wrong? What allegations so that they can prepare their replies to any which, according to the are being made open It seems to me that the whole question of the investigation has now pre
We in the Liverpool Labour have long
Wales Labour An-
have been made.
leaves off. This has been the context of each major statement by the Kinnock-
economic ment. policy, trade union law, and the EEC.
In order to prepare the way for such a Labour government, and even the possible option of an agreement with
Alliance, try to silence the class struggle left. It means keeping the maximum distance between the party and any section of the working class or the
1LS alter
the ory Party
Mr Larry Whitty,
General Secretary
working
150 Walworth Road, Labour Party,
London SE17.
2nd December, 1895
, and that evidence could be
/ were carried dossiers being
and that No square deal for the inner cilies
oppressed of this society who rise in struggle against the Thatcher govern-
Whilst Kinnock has progressively managed either to drop or to side-step the most radical parts of Labour's programme, during his two years as leader he has failed to bring the left sufficiently under his control to guarantee the ability of a future Labour government to carry through the essentials of Tory policy dressed in Labour clothes. He remains unable to appeal to the ruling class as a sale, capilals aleinauve lo an electorally vulnerable Tory govern ment. Meanwhile. the terocity of inatcher's attacks on the working class and
still fail to inflict decisive defeat or to rebuild popular support for
The witch-hunt is directed precisely against those who fight to defend the
class against
government. Liverpool city council target not because of its mistakes. because it stood and fought when o councils ran away. The black section larget because it stood by the b communities of Handsworth, Brix and Tottenham against police re sion. Arthur Scargill is a target be he led the greatest mass strike in Br history. The Campaign group of ME a target because it has used parlian as a platform to defined those who h fought. All of these are under atta because they provide an alternative. and exposure of Kinnock's abysm failure to fight the Tories.
The present enquiry and threaten expulsions are directed against Milital solely because they provide the most c posed target at this point. If they a not stopped, others will follow -dirty dealings the Birmingh Sparkbrook constituency show.
Page 7 scan of this page
'THE FUTURE OF THE LABOUR PARTY IS AT STAKE
to win the next election. The opposite is Kinnock claims all this is necessary
He has spent the nine months 1187since the end of the miners strike fritter-
away ine enormous damage icted on the Tory Party by the 12 onth struggle of the mining ziunities. Evidently the new witch-hunt ill weaken the fight to Thatcher government and replace it by * Labour government.
It will give a green light to the right wing mafias in control of many parties and councils to silence political opposition to their corrupt practices by expulsions. That is what is happening in Hatdersiey s Birmingham consutuency was the way the party operated in the 1950s and '60s. That is what Kinnock's new witch-hunt will legitimise. witch-hunt will legitimise.
Any Labour Party meniser gives the slightest support to the witchhunt against Militant is condoning the use of bureaucratic repression against political differences in the party. attack on Liverpool is an attack on the . democratic rights of every member the labour movement. trenteo as such.
TONY BENN
NO CITY and no people have suffered so much under capitalism as Liverpool have . suffered. never have I known such leadership in Liverpool as we have now. I'm proud to come here in support of the councillors in their struggle to protect the people of the against the Tories, and now alas against the attempts to suspend the District Labour Party.
From this platform I would like to anneal to the whole labour movement
support the Liverpool councillors who are defending the people of this city from market forces and government
and who.- following conference policies - have prevented the massive rate rises and redundancies which the government hope impose. councillors are threatened charge, with bankruptcy, and with disqualification. Now we are told they are possibly inrealenea will expulsion as well. I very much hope that constituency parues ana trade umons talougnou the country will support the Liverpool councillors and the Liverpool party, support them with money and financial backing as tney approach their appearance in court on 13 January.
I haven't come here to tell Liverpool how it should run its affairs. Over the last few years I've heard all our front-bench spokespeople parliament 'don't interfere with local democracy. But when it comes to the internal affairs of the party, I find the national executive taking a totally contrary view. There may
made in Liverpool, I don't mustakes know. If so, I have made many myselt. But any mistakes that are made in the labour movement are to be dealt with by discussion within the labour movement, in the area where the decisions , are taken. They should not be used as
excuse LUI suspending democracy of the party.
We have a duty to analyse why it is Spread that the government should be attacking this city. And the answer is that there is a deep crisis in the capitalist
system in Britain.
Liverpool is now beginning to spread to
Sheffield. We can see the first signs of it
Chesterfield. Il has long
feature of the inner areas of London.
The boom days are over, the days
when Macmillan could
never had it so good'. Unemployment
is a tool of government policy: to lower
wages, to break the unions, to justify
the cuts in local government, and
course to justify the attacks upon civil
di= tar:0o the role of the media ame te sery BBC figure is
4- HUNT
Kinnock's witch-hunt une eneury in-
com- position.
remove the
For Militant.
Kinnock.
election; they indulgence indulgence which
sent; they will also seeking to recruit for their own
who it better himself.
illal
of should be
And
Deci a rullcial
city
of the present. sulalcoy
Labour Party.
produce une poncy Labour Programmes 1973, nOsc conference decisions aside. with sur-
cula nyoc.
result of what they do.
What is at
Partv itself. its historic role.
approaching the Winter
Death have been really worried about the czar
and say: 'We're Party. Are vou keen sion? Would the
say. "Yes. of course. you're Trotskyite,
them What's happened in
Led over
been a those who have fough:
the black communi: 'vou've from the left. by doing this,
of
happening.
The Labour Coordinating Committee and Fribune have covered up for
by supporting into Liverpool District Labour Party. To support the enquiry but oppose expulsions is not a viable
After Kinnock's speech to Labour stage, Party conference, the LCC told us that the "blunt choice' was between Kinnock
"Those who decide to fight we were told, 'are saying they don't care adoul winning le les!
are opting for selfkind of selfwould be a real betrayal of the working class people we have the privilege and the duty to repre-
be quite cynically CeCi tarian purposes rather than build the party . Mr Kinnock coulan t nave pui
Taccal
When he turned his words against Liverpool into action it was hardly sur-
the Meachers, Sawyers, and Blunketts were there to support him. Indeed, at the national executive meeting it was Tom Sawyer who moved goal. the addendum suspending Liverpool
vetted by MIS. The object of the media today is to excommunicate socialism so that it is no longer a legitimate stream of thought in our society. But if the press came here to dance on our grave. we've got news for them: there hasn't
I have tried briefly to summarise what is the policy of the government and why. Now let me turn to what is the
national executive committee of the Labour Party
- that has to be said too. It is a determined attemot to move to the centre, a shift of power to the Parliamentary
The executive is being used not to
we had in '76 and '82, but as a disciplinary force and io sel
Were those policies to be implemented we should have been sending a note of congratulation to the Liverpool council. At the Bournemouth conference, despite the
La resolution was passed committing the party to compensate councillors who might be fined as a
stake now is not the future of the Liverpool District Labour Party, but the future of the Labour
To read
the papers you'd think that Leon Trot-
sky (who I've read about, being a stu him. dend of socialist history) when he was
Palace with a pool. bayonet leading the Red Army, was not
miners.
The was planning the strategy of the Liverpool council some 40 years after this death.
If you knock at a pensioner's house from the Labour on a better pen work, you like a telephone?
Would you like free fuel? Would you like a free bus service? Do you think perhaps we could hasten the hip opera-
ion you're waiting for?' They would
But if you say iney snul une dout
and have a cup of Ovaltine to recover from the shock of what has been said to
The strategy which we have observlast iwo years has been
designed to distance the executive from
from the miners. forteme
attacks the analysis Te. 25-E
on the taco 26 e
Norman Tebbit praising ihe s2iri
executive of the Labour Par si
tell us all we need to know abou: a 2 1
How should we respond? Nor bs
enquiry, and Kinnock who seconded it
illa subsequent editorial. 'Liverpool: finding a way through the mess' Tribune defended this decision while counselling the leadership that expulsions: 'would be inappropriate at this
not mention counterproductive in terms of rallying support to people whose actions have shown that they do not deserve it.' And it was local LCC member Roger Murray who spearheaded the move to expel and Scally in Birmingham Sparkbrook.
The nub of the matter came out in a statement drawn up by the LCC ex ecutive for their recent annual meeting. They wrote: 'We share Neil Kinnock's desire to isolate the ultra-leit and to broaden Labour's appeal but we remain critical of the leadership's attitude to wider struggles and sceptical of the
content of party policy.
Kinnock, the issue of broadening Labour's appeal is first oi all one ol abandoning support for struggles like the miners and Liverpool council. witch-hunt is one step towards that
The enquiry is a fraud. Kinnock's tarian movement; not by leaving the partv. because it belongs to us: not Di splitting the party, because unity strength; personalising necause our wage ooiechons usd when they want to attack us they pick a Dersonal de cry lo acsroy lal Del sonality. Derek Hatton gave some examples of how they are doing this to
They think if they can destroy Derek Hatton they can destroy Liver-
They thought if they destroy Arthur they could destroy the
.Our answer is to reestablish within the labour movement the traditions of socialism that brought it into being and gave it the greatest gains it had. business is to restate the demands that working, people make.
the right to good education the right to prope health care free at the point of need, the right to a good home, the right to digni-
A PIECE of the ACTION
Well, comrades, we
all want a Labour
government, right?
Sowere organising
massive opinion po
statements to the press have subjected the Liverpool council to trial by Fleet Street. misea expulsions in davance
The LCC and Tribune's line of support for the enquiry but opposition to expulsions is of the same value as their 'support Kinnock and the miners' line at the last party conference. comes tale forces them to choose, the LCC and Khan Tribune are on the wrong side
It is a mistake for those who have good cause to reject Militant's politics - like the failure of Liverpool council to fight racism the enquiry. directed at Militant's racism or its pro-imperialist politics. I is directed against Liverpool city council's defiance of the Tory government. A successful attack on Liverpool by FOr Kinnock would
tersley prosecute their attacks on black sections and on the fight for women's representation in the Labour Party. The These are the reasons why this; and
every other witch-hunt, placably opposed socialist.
ty in retirement, the right to peace. That is our demands, and go on making them unti inev re mel.
Our job is to rediscover solidarity, to rediscover struggle we are waging in Liverpool is exactly the same struggle as the miners, exactly the same struggle as the people or souln Ainca, exacuy lne same sur ug gle as the The capital, which would deny Liverpool the resources to earn a living, has got to be replaced by the internationalism of labour.
We are going through very hard times at the moment. al this. socialist movement in Britain today is far stronger than at any time in my life. Stronger Liverpool councillors, the miners, and the black communities who stood up for their rights.
If we are a little bunch of loonie lefts or whatever they call us, why does the media spend seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, trying to destroy us? Why is ine government giving tne ponce lo gas and riot weapons? It is because they know what we sometimes forget: that the ideas we advocate are stronger and more directly appealing to the
City of London, the present cabinet, the SDP, or any other bunch of Tories. could What we are proving here in this ci-
lu yuu. Is that another, if our objectives are honest and straight-forward (as they are), if the courage and committment is there if our unity can be sustained - no power on earth can stop us trom suc ceeding This is an edited version of a speech made by Tony Benn to the Liverpoo Labour Parties in that city on Friday 6 December.
and trom the results o this opinion poil we wil decide (thatis, ourieaders will decide) what pars;
other thiras 5.s n
Socialist Action 20 December 1985 The Labour Party leader pro-
RIGHT
When it and Kinnock tion recently.
• to give evidence to sucn an enquils
adaptations to been
help him and Hat-
expulsions
must be imby every single Rafique
job: to restate those
meeting
internationalism. SCLUUD.
quietly.
Sparkbrook people of Nicaragua and consumente
internationalism of
But having said evidence. • the aboul
campaign because of people like the
expulsions,
British
stick by one pulsion.
vos comrace Il just possible that we tor the repatriation of th conscription of the
Tite 2 =30 =
7 In Birmingham ...
wingers in Roy Hattersley's Birmingham Sparkbrook constituency took a further step towards stamping out all opposi-
• A special meeting of the general management committee on Tuesday 10 December voted 25:12 to expel county councillor Mohammed Rafique.
Ostensibly his crime was publicly to claim that a selection meeting for the May 1986 district council elections had
gerrymandered. He says that Labour Party members who intended to vote for him were physically excluded from the room.
Inis is not a simpie extension or tue
of Amir Khan and Kevin Scally. Until recently, Ratique was part of the network of 'godfathers' committed io maintaining Hattersley's position as Sparkbrook's MP.
opponent of black sections, boasted of recruiting - Pakistanis to the party to shore up the right wing votes. Rewarded with a seat on the county council, which is faced stand against another Hattersley sup porter, Councillor John O'Keefe
After his defeat at the selection
Rafique began making loud noises about black representation and the need to review his position on black
These comments eventually sealed his fate. But Rafique did not go
Up to a 100 party members from
and other Birmingham demonstrated outside the special meeting which expelled him. Chants of 'witch-hunt out' and 'racists out' greeted delegates as they arrived. Placards demanding the reinstatement or evin scally and Amir Anan expel ed two weeks previously were also in
Nor will the matter rest there. There Is growing support lor a broad-vasee
for the relistatenicit to discuss their expulsions was held at the beginning of December. and tur ther activity is planned in the new year.
Commenting on Khan and Scally's
Anne Pettifor of the Labour Party Womens' Action Committee said: It should not be surprising. that the right wing of the party are using tne current lalk or expulsions com ing from the leadership as a bandwagon for attacking and expelling comrades with whom they disagree politically. That is why expulsions and witch-hunts are so dangerous.
Tribune has • carried an article opposing the expulsion of Khan and Scally from the Sparkbrook party, and a resolution will be considered at the January meeting of the LCC executive, calling on Sparkbrook to rescind the expulsions and Labour's national executive to contirm this action. But wil it pass? The unsavoury fact is that the LCC and Tribune have made no small contribution to creating the condition in the party whereby socialists face ex2/88 CORMAC
I hope you realise that this is the kind o internal wrangling that alienates editorial staff of the "Sun"!!
Page 8 scan of this page
"A lesson in imperialism"
IRELAND UNFREE
MacBride slams
Nothing will de done lo stop tne
reland and Irish unity which is backed by the
bride as an 'old gnoul wno nao spelt a irenie MeLougniainn's view that the poncies or ine erke wio stoke orie aor. oulicu dan 10!
know Maggie 1 natcher as Cucouv!
arren rizuerau ana ns valve Party. the North distorts all ot reoreseiiauol
pecause
To one class people of WorKe
warlv.
nast! LHe Quls
aberaisin
is a party which we lt
Tre ane know as a marill
hierarchv arcianu
Branches rec muled
nev sulil walt to collic l
SHaol.
wattury imperialist policy from the vellei
ciass bevole
THE ANGLO-IRISH ACCORD is an agreement to
do what the British decide, said BERNADETTE
McALISKEY to a packed meeting of the Midlands
I ne vort u
people that there are peolare Donutal Darlics was •DICIlLC anacochucuc Irish British lhe DeLiCI aSsIs soulnern aurit
WOLKS UI EE
llave Anu voUl and
LuIl.
axeo ls training ground wien coulant derend tn
ouesuon
onusn aua • ale civili
counry. cals.
been SOLID netore bu berore we evel a nuclear arms
ana is anl expression. asiane tallure. The agree
News
the long-term the cessatio! mentis a rentorcemer o
relanc
Page 9 scan of this page
Cosatu throws down the gauntlet SOLIDARITY
International
Opinion:
The black
consciousness
movement in South
Africa
WHAT IS happening in the black communi-
ties, not just in Britain but in Azania, is truly
significant for the whole of the working class
world-wide. That is why we in black sections
are concerned to build the international links
to bring together the black family.
Black sections,
movement, know no holy cows.
ine struggle or tne Alre, but we will not De bumied.
hectored or cajoled into backing just one sole
liberation organisation in Azania.
By Marc Wadsworth
Vice Chair, Black Section National
Committee (personal capacity)
Those people in the Anti Apartheid Movement
involved in their organisation must also learn to
talk witn all black ireeaom ngniers. iney musi
join in the struggle against racism here in Britain
21180 not
thousands
recard for black struggle here in our midst.
Sections of their movement are already doing
that. Thev deserve to be suoported. But thev're be-
ing attacked by reactionary big white chiefs as we
in the black section have been.
It is interesting to note that attacks on the black
consciousness
made on the black sections, are inspired by white
people because they are excluded. Often they focus
on claims unal our leadersnip Is in tne nanos or the
black petty bourgeoisie.
He uecod
this: do we invalidate the struggle of black people
in India or Ghana because Gandhi and Nkrumah
were lawyers? Of course we don't. What matters is
whose class interests they were fighting for.
I ne same goes tor us. wnose class Interests are
we fighting for and how accountable are we going
to he to the rest ot the labour movement? Thesi
people who talk about careerism never adress the
duero o accolaDl.
'FREEDOM
like the black consciousness
Yes we support things happening without. having due
movement, like those sometimes
would out to those neonle is
SACTU welcomes
new Union
African trade union federation, South African Trade Unoins (COSATU).
theid and the class enemy.
exploitation and national oppression.
revoltor quires a united and strong
movement, l auc UILIUI determined Salsas demands for higher wages, good working conditions, removal colour bars, equal opportunities work and the achievement or compiele emanc panon. The new federation COSATU cạn and fultil these aims. , ll Illus become a truly democratic centre of 'organised . activily lor al workers who ale determined to liberate our CouIll y trom its existing oppressive and exploitallve social Sysicll
Ai cHoctalic uniuns including those that have rejected TUCSA's
collabolallull. should take part in the creation of
COSATU with the Ionowillg allis.
• To organise workers in all areas and occupation: into industrial unions, one for each industry and division of labour. • Lead a campaign for improved wages, condilions of work, health and safety. • Support the struggle agas v casaln. tention, lorture and murder of trade livists and mitant fighters Tor Treedom • Plan and carry oul a Struggle agains pass laws
olnel discrimination. • Demand equal work •vooruiues. unc renova
discriminatory labour laws and all apartheid Icasues • Demand the right vole in a united. undivided
AA
THE I INF
Cintoon. DRAWING
SACTU welcomes the formation of a new South
the Congress of No better time could be found to cement the ties of working class unity achieved through struggle against aparThe tide of revolt is risAfrica s furaure lies in the hands of its workers. Only The racists are divided and confused. South they, together with progressive people of all races, can liberate us from racial hatred, inequality, class
and democratic South Aurica.
The immediate concern ot Ine Jounalis comicicic of COSATU is to:
• find ways and means of putting an end to the State
compel the regime to
Inen censolsip reporting; • force the withdrawal of racist police troops from the townships; • undertake the lask of ensuring the destruction of Ine apartneia regime without delay.
Our oppressed people, men and women are conducting a brave and determined struggle dealus
racial discrimination, lyraly, capilalsl exploitation and national oppression. The Federation in unison wịth
La lidi lucialluli movement and its allies is called upon 1o perform a nistonc lask oy callilg onl
and the organised workers 1o participate fully in the strug-
liberation, social and equality justice
All power lo the South African revolution! Long live the Congress of South Atrican Trade Unions! An injury 1o one is an injury 10 all!
Comrade Steven Diamini, President South African Congress of Trade Unions 28th November 1985
THE Confederation of South Trade Unions (COSATU) was formed this month from merger of WHOIs representing half a million workers.
lcacnc agreement on five working principles: non-racialism, worker control, merger into dustrial ulluls. national cooperation ane rep resentation on the basis of paid-up membership.
It has affiliated to the United Democratic Front and annonced at its founding meeting that lt would start a pass-banning cam. paign backed by strike action unless the Pass Laws were abolspe• wildin sx
Its formation obviously one of the most takes by steps roTward
South African workers since the earlies days of the trade union movement.
only it the largest inon tederdel ever formed in the coun try, but in affiliating to the UDF. COSATU has made a clear statement that from now on the trade unions inlen lo taa moncal andee. Shas mones it
This makes sul usse possible in turn for Soutt Africa's working class, as
organised force, •lace usen nl une icaucl ship of the liberation struggle.
Elijah
colonner
Porei ANC adleris, ai a
former activist, announce• ar ls rounonne rally that: 'When LUSAU begins govern South Africa, its
TIrst action will be to nanonalse une filics.
Two federations have outside COSATU: the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA), and the Azanian Congress Trade Unions (AZACTU). But they have also issued calls threatening sinke action uniess thie state of emergency lifted.
Al a press conference where the call was issued,
AZACTU's general secretary Pandelan Nefolovhodwe, caldi we
are not joining COSATU
We are prepared to ign against the oppression of the majority and we need o cavanse ourse ves Oll c broader political philosophy of self-reliance and self-determination.
'Our belief is that a federation should unite the majority of organised
Dressing the true aspira-
DI COOlE •l U asul d tions of black workers and not accomodating the aspirations of a minority.
smasy
A
A
Socialist Action 20 December 1985 other union leaders
recently established 'super-union' They come up for trial in February. African Congress of Trade Unions has
Tudor mansions South Africa 2001
mav use ms mudess as grounds
COnDansOl Financial Mail two weeks ago. But the
arrest. will,' said Winnie Mandela.
In the USA
to
deanng witn souln Amica. I regected ur
companies operating in South Africa, a 'archaic'.
In France manufacturer to pull out.
nsons nom alu exports Ed
communications boycott.
Part of My Soul
Winnie Mandela, Penguin, 159pp,
£2.95 plus 25p postage.
liberation struggles, IDAF, 56pp, f1.00 plus 22p postage. Nelson Mandela: I am prepared to die, IDAF, 48pp, 50p plus 18p postage.
IDAF, 208pp, f1.85 plus 46p postage.
Books, PO Box 50, London NI 2XP.
9 In South Africa
Twelve leaders of the United Democratic
Front (UDF) were cleared on 10 December atter trumped-un charges against them collapsed But the state is still pursuing charges against four
arrested with them in May.
Thozamile Gaheta, Sisa Njikelane, Sam Kikene and Isaac Necobo are all leaders of the South African Allied Workers' Union (SAAWU) which is affiliated to the UDF and has joined in the
COSATU.
The South denounced this intimidation of the trade union movement and calls for protests to De sent lo lit South African government, and messages of support to: SAAWU: Room 1B, 3rd Floor,
, 78 Troy Street, Johannesburg,
Speculation is growing that Pretoria is
thinking of releasing Nelson Mandela. They
.t Mandela were to die in prison, his death would unleash a degree of violent protest that would make the past year's townships mayhem look tame by
sae e boul Ancal uds
government may try to deport him, confine him to his 'homeland', or place him under house
"The government will be asking for trouble if it tries to dump him there against his
Cawo toons na mime aamre beooe av‹
been arrested in the USA in the last year during Ine daly protests oulsiue tne soull African embassy. A third US county authority, frince veorge s county, has volca ullammousi. to sever links with all businesses and banks Sullivan Code, which is supposed to govern US
The French government has banned coal
imports from South Africa and will not renew a three million ton contract coming up at the end of this year. Renault is ceasing its cat assembly operations at the end of this year too The cars are built in British Leyland's Cape Town plant which will leave BL stuck with an unused plant. Renault is the third major car In Scandinavia
The Danish trade union federation is now in the third week of an 11-week boycott of all • South Africa. The action involves more than 5000 transport, clerical and office workers as well as metal. airport, hotel and restaurant staff. Norwegian lennarono wonken are cumeri discussing cutting telephone links with the country and are to appeal for a world-wide
Other Books
The following selection of books on South Africa is available by post from Other Books: Class and Colour in South Africa 1850-1950 Jack and Rav Simons. International Detence and Aid Fund, 702pp, £5.00 plus £1.33 postage.
To honour women's day: profiles of leading
Nelson Mandela: The struggle is my life,
Make cheques or postal orders payable to IMRS. Orders with payment should be sent to: Other
Page 10 scan of this page
Open letter from the Coventry's new Asian Labour
10 Socialist Action 20 December 1985
Labour Party black
section to the
Militant
DEAR COMRADES, We have placed on record our total opposition to the witch-hunts and purges launched by Labour's national leadership socialists who support newspaper and are members of Liverpool District Labour Party. It is our view you will wish to join us in also opposing the recent expulsions from the party of two black section supporters, Amir Khan and Kevin Scally. We have consistently tactics used by right wingers to witch-hunt Militant suporters.
The attack on members of both our groups is the thin edge of the wedge — reactionary forces in the party, sheltering behind the banner of realignment, are growing ever bolder. routed in the interests of the working class whom they are seeking to betray.
All socialists must realise. at inis crucial ume, that we will only win the battle through unity. We, in the black sections, accept your right to organise autonomously as supporters of Militant must now cease siding with the right wing on the
sen oryanisalor Labour Party. Apart from anything else, your opposition to black sections is totally inconsistent as you have your own black/ Asian caucus.
At a time when we as socialists need maximum solidarity Militant's long term interests in Liverpool would be best served by repairing the damage done to the black community by your white worker-favouring 'class reductionist' policies. Your most divisive stand to date has been the appointment of Sampson Bond -
tions officer at city hall.
This decision was a slap in the face to a community ruling Liverpool Labour Party's defence of jobs and services in the face of vicious attacks dy lne Tory government. black caucus, fully recognised by the Labour administration until they opposed the appointment, were ruthlessly denounced and purged from positions where they could influence council policy. This left the black community, who are eight per cent of the city's population and the most deprived, without a strong voice in local government. After all, despite the fact that black people have been settled in Liverpool for more than 200 years, there is not a single Dlack cly councior
Furthermore, ministration, the lot of black people in Liverpool is no better now than it was under the Liberals. For instance tess ural due beleca workforce is black. Of almost 3,000 poor people rete vine mcals vul Liverpool Labour Party's bitter positive discrimination led to you abandonment of the River Avon Street sheltered Housile ulall despite an offer by the government to fund 75 per cent of the scheme.
A report this year by the Commission for Racial Equality found that Liverpool's council housing provision was pitted with examples of racial inequality. Among the observations was that black people in the south of the city were virtually excae trom gelng counch momes outside une ghetto.
The CRE recommended the immediate implementation of means of identifying al can monitoring progress. But Militant supporters have consistently elic motorng Dy te Irades union congress. civil service and most Labour local authorities, as a vital component of any real equal policy.
Many black peopie, inside ano oulside Liver pool, can see that Militant has an appalling record on race. It is rivalled only by Party when in government. If your tendency cares about will une subally tion of socialists then you will use your influence
positively in future to convince your critics your aim is not to remove autonomy among black people and other oppressed groups.
and non-negotiable right to self-determination and
tives of solely your tendency in the Labour Party.
We trust you will respect a demand which is central to the continued existence in the Labour Party of both our groups: unity through autonomy. Labour Party Black Sections National Com-
mittee, 39 Chippenham Road, London W9
against the Militant
stood up against similar
They must be within the
all sections of the community,
• a man totally opposed to posive
to the post of principal race rela-
which had stood four square behind the
Community groups like the despite the boasts of your ad-
of the council
wheels only nine are black. •DOS LION to forcing the
• mainly for the black elderly
'ethnic record-keeping' as a of black need and
opposed this despite the acceptance of
opportuniles
A NEW organisation, the Coventry Asian Labour Alliance (CALA), held its first public meeting at the end of November. RAY MALHOTRA, who helped set it up, told BERNIE KAVANAGH why it was formed.
Coventry Asian • needed 1o politically oreanised motivaled. Right wingers
work Will wingers in the Labour Par-
The right in the party were awas doc lo Calli the and respe
in return
We wanted break that monopoly We wan. ted to make the Labour Party take the real ples, housininind couca- discrimination
AS ASIAN people
fight Dals workers in brian. Inal we heart. hee men to figal
want to fight licall sholder lo shoutoer will British workers. So our job is to take Asian people
fight for our rights and against racism
Black activists in the party are raising the question self-organisation •ano cemanolas unal Labour suppor the demands of people in Britain. he black sec tion movement is leading that struggle today.
CALA broad organisation
holds within it many different views irom our commun
We see it as a platform
the issues racism and the problems of our community, and a place to discuss lhese and bring them to the attention
of the labour movement
we are a progressiv
organise our communily THE PRESENT witch-hunt in the Labour Party will have profound consequences for the Labour Party Young Socialists. An attempt is being made to
is in jeopardy, argues MICK BURKE.
Grant and Liverpool council have all been at the
been hounded for suppor
reSDOnISIVe
los nas meani Cul
LaDOUr S
This
organisallul
In the past year the
Alliance formed
cultural, and youth orga nisations the Asiar community. We want unite all these forces under one banner, 10 fight the common every
Obviously the main issues we will be taking up are racism and inequality
housing and education.
Lovell! under a Labour council. Asians are only iwo Cen council workforce but 14 per cent of the population. nas sted uner Laooul since 1981 and we have 1c change it
Unemployment among Asians is up to 50 per cent, most tacilities for Asian youth in Coventry are
jobs, no community centres,
involved the Foleshill Asian Youth movement are now Involv
ed in CALA
We have already upse ine ront Wine Asians the Party. They feel threatened and are
BLACK PEOPLE
PUBLIC MEETING
LABOUR PARTY
AND THE
Support Kingsley Abrams
11seu capable of linking up with ine ca bal cess inv rebel uns assauli
ing had black come
muniles are the very peo
a ass
hundreds of militants to its
afraid of any challenge. 1 ney are doing anything they can to undermine ou support
we have
pink in sanely sal
unlikely • CALA win become a o ack section, but it is up to our membership. If they want
1011 organise black section they will
CALA already
against racism both inside and outside thi party. We do not have 1o become a black section to
We will support the black section fight against racism and we have many things in common where But I remain 10 be
• COn vinced of organising black sections as a strategy for fighting for the rights of black people.
We are nol in numbers callic where we want one, two, three more black MPs. Of course if we
would liest good. our MPs 10 oppose racism and subooll vur uchidius
would rather have white MP who did than a black MP who didn't
However CALA is would identify the LPYS
the Pys
leadersnip Now a qualitative step forward has been taken in this disciple the back
SuD-
over the LPYS as a whole 10 the concept of develop-
La socialisi allance in
pressed of this sociely.
Black section secretary Narendra Makanji speaks out for black self-organisation against witch-hunts. PeoPor their views lee
views Labour Party The party has always had many dif-
within it and we think it would be the politics they support.
Khan Birmingham was lrying lo expose corrupt dealings the party in that area He make i open to people, lo make it open 10 people make it a real partv of thi Commit is not him ine
not him should be threatened with expulsion, while the corruption he was allacking
CARIBBEAN MES
BERNIE TOPS
THE POLLE
HARINGEY council leader Bernie Grant
is the most popular politician in the
black community, according to a poll
conducted by Caribbean Times.
In a survey of three London boroughs
Islington, Lambeth and Bren
politician and community leader.
backed Bernie.
Fleet Street has singled Bernie out for
have now returned to the attack because
Haringey council nas naa lne audacity le
demand an end to the police occupation of the
Fleet Street hacks. The Caribbean Times adds
that Bernie got a standing ovation when h
and Arts Committee presentation two weeks
News
goes unchallenged.
Liverpool too thr witch-hunt will damage and weaken the party. not sureneuren What hap pened Liverpool where they explained peo ple were suffering because of the Tory government should happene everywhere, in all local au nontes. reservations flave about the council attacking its own people with redundancies and the like but these problems come the isolation of LIverDOOl. hunts will do nobody any good, least of all the party the newspader asked black people who was their favourite black
Eighty per cent
vitriolic attack because he stood by the youth of Broadwater Farm estate against the police. They
Black people obviously feel differently than
presented the awards at the Notting Hill Carnival
Page 11 scan of this page
News
THE MINERS' Amnesty Campaign launched at this year's Labour Party conference held its second meeting on 14 December. The campaign has been renamed The National Justice for Mineworkers Campaign, and has planned a series of activities for 1986.
of MPs has been the driving force in building this campaign anu. after discussions with the NUM leadership, has submitted
the • Dooosais paign's structure and objectives.
The aim is to win supLabor for the
conference reso amons the NUM, to raise money for the national solidarity fund and to publicise the Campaign group's JustIce for Mineworkers Bill.
This Bill be
Wednesday 26 February to
DRIVER ONLY OPERATION
dustrial action to save jobs.
British Rail claims that
Tere wil
savings with this particular
productivity exercise'.
sul I our mrst tew weeks
could have
signiticant v highe
than they bargained for.
One of the first trains
to go out guardless from
our depot was a coal train
scheduled to deart 1roll
B. The gulid 105.15
guards
prepare SO li
was done by
another railworker.
However, the usual
delays at the colliery meant
that the train never Teli
Bagworth until 9am!
this case, the train hadn't
been loaded the night
By the time the train
was ready, the driver was
unable to complete the job
in the booked time.
when the complications set
in. This driver is deman-
extra £7.32 - the
price KIK paying
driver to do the guard's
job when such a turn is ac-
tually worked says,
rightly, that it wasn't his
fault the train Was
ready.
Guardless
A nomen driver was
asked to. work inic
honked WOIK
guardless train, so his duty
is to be paid at the normal
rate. So the second driver
who worked Willoul
guard is equally angry.
The whole affair
and the time lost and chaos
in irve to rua a secolu
driver to cover such turns
BR thought about
SIUWS
one thing only: the need to
get rid of the guards, who
are a highly organised sec
tion of railworkers, and ir
the process buy ott ine
drivers All this will rein-
torce ine crar alvisions i.
the industry which were
Justice for
mineworkers
coincide with the NUM's national lobby by sacked
their SuD porters. At the same time the Justice for
campaign vule workers will be launching a pamphlet entitled Justice, prepared by the Campaign
colanoralon with the NUM leadership
This will be followed by a conference and rally on Sunday 2 March, and an evening concert in ine Royal with Elvis Costello, Style Council and others.
campaign zroub joint finge medings sing also organising
Driver only chaos on British Rail
has started on Coalville trains. Three weeks ago, five of 30 of our guards jobs were suspended or altered to allow for the 16-week trial period called for in the agreement signed by the National Union of Railwaymen in the wake of the defeat of the guards' ballot over in-
being undercut, , especially during the miners strike in our case.
By Roy Butlin,
Chair, Coalville guards
Will the savings for BR I don't
de so enormious.
think so. Coal trains are
regularly cancelled
because BR hasn't enough
wagons to replace cripples.
thanks to their previous
decision • LO GO away with
shunt locomotives,
Workshops
the wagons were
available, and the
workshos are crying out
for such work, extra
revenue would easily cover
even the t27m each year
BR claims it will save if 85
cures
power station
coal is worth approximate-
£60 revenue to the BR
wagons short the daily
£120 lost is well beyond an
entire Week s wate
one guard! So where's the
saving?
Today guards face a
difficult situation. The
least we should do is close-
ly monitor the trial periods
maKe the HUSU of
every instance OI ac-
cidents, chaos and disrup-
User vices that arise
from DOO. But a recall of
the guards
grade conference
also be a great help.
need know what
management is getting up
this
massive change in working
conditions.
Finally, there is a need
for guards on the back of
every train. Safety and ef-
the network The
aren l addea extras
Federation has every terest in joining in the fight
Callvarell each
regional Labour Party conference in the spring
national trade union conference up to the TUC and Labour Party
the autumn.
By Dick Withecombe
The campaign appeal, What You Can Do,
to join up oreansatiulls and organise TOCA meetings. It calls for resolutions of support to be to appropriate trade unions, , trades councils. the TUC. the Labour
Party, the home secretary
and individual MP
All MPs should be contactea ana askea lo visil faies of s Visits to the
jailed miners are suggested, OlICI support, and letters should
Roy Butlin, leader of Coalville guards
to relurn guaras lo evely
train, but it's also
something our delegates to
the Labour Party can take
up in a big way. It will need
planned
about individual prisonCis. The appeal asks sup
porters to: your trade union, trades council and Labour Party TOT next Labour government grant general review of all cases, renstalemenl and Cull pensation to muders sacked because of their activities in the dispute. • The campaign can be contacted c/o Durham
Mechanis ories, Thp
Area, Aver Chegues Sould ber Durham DHI 4ED made payable to the National Justice Mineworkers Campaign.
Membership of the campaign is f50 for national organisations £25 for districts, and f5 for local organisations campaign if we are going reverse this attack jobs and safety, not at all ruled out that we some advances Calm HaKt despite the ballot results.
Labour Women's Action Committee
Annual General Meeting
11 January, 10am till 6pm Manchester Town Hall, Albert Square,
Accommodation:
WAC supporters arriving on Friday night should meet at the Kengington pub, upstairs room,
Newton Street (near Picadilly)
Registration in advance write to Judy Sadier, 56 Milton Road,
London SE24 ONP
question
carry on the fight.
On 18 January 1986 the NUT and omne TUC-affiliated organisations,
National Association Schoolmasters-Union Women Teachers (NAS-UWT) will both be holding special ferences to draw up the 300 pay claim. Finai details will nave agreed inside the teachers' panel Burnham negotiation committee.
By Bernard Regan, NUT Executive (personal capacity)
While the action looks set to run on until both claims are settled, there are major threats to the campaign's momentum posed in particular NAS-UWY manoeuv
the leadership. GM COOKSON Under the Teachers Remuneration the secretary of state cith education, Sir Joseph, can decide the composition OI Ine teacher: side of the nego, in the middle body. This year,
The insisted on a count of members and seeing that the NUT's membership had dropped below an overall majority — he gave con trol of the panel to the siher organisations. In the NAS-UWT wake o the have lined up with scat organisations like the Pro. fessional Association
Teachers — the teachers
and Head UDIV Teachers Association.
They are calling for an 'interim' settlement, argu ing that the 34a e ceno
cent restore
decline in teachers pay
over the last 10 years will take. place year and the year after. The fac
that many teachers,
especially those on lower
Socialist Action 20 December 19s-
REIN STATE
THE
SACKE>
MINERS
Teachers: union unity the vital
IT IS OVER a year since the National Union of Teachers submitted a teachers' pay claim due for settlement by 1 April 1985. Although the employers have made no less than six final offers, the overwhelming majority of teachers remain determined to
scales, are not at all well paid Over 20 per cent carl less than the average manual Wano young Tencher with take-home pay of £84.26.
Many have to claim sup plementary benents rebates for rent and rates.
INNER C
September 27: 75% of London teachers marched The decline in birth rate has reduced promoLO 1 opportunities most teachers ale Happe without any prospect earnings except • Dy Ignung 101 a pay rise for all teachers At the same time the government wants to bring in a stricter contract, forc ing teachers to cover for absence, attend after-work meetings and CHOS other responsibililties. The are threatening to legislate to bring in assess ment procedures designed to give increased powers to head teachers 3OCA authorities force
teachers to toe the line
While the NAS-UWT leadership is prepared 10 trade pay and condition the NUT has remained
The latter's claim for ano na cale ca for all teachers has been key uniting factor.
However the execut!!! motion to the NUT specia conference is routinist and offers no new perspe uves. The Socially Teachers Alliance will Ix arguing for inilialives i
gLONDO
escalate selective strike i
tion, for steps 10 link 1:
with Scottish teachers, il
for moves crealt
alliance of all public sc
unions on the pay fron
of the teachers ghetto "
the NUT be able lo 1
nack ne governel
fensive. The possibili.
beer cleari
Lays demonstrated by the Inne
London Teachers Associal
tion whose refusal
employed in a scheme for Leaclich 10
extra dinner supervisors.
has led to the creation of
around 1600 new jobs in
the ILEA.
Page 12 scan of this page
A,
THOUSANDS OF women converged on Greenham Common last weekend to 'enclose the base' and 'embrace the world'. The weekend protest included meetings at different gates against imperialism and apartheid and in solidarity with anti-missiles campaigners around the globe.
Despite a heavy police presence the fence was cut in many places. And about 70 women were arrested, including five for criminal damage. The demonsid tion was a clear sign that the women's peace camp continues enjoy wide support and that the ef-
srictorad ge a nowengner with the Post Offic
nhliched hu Cardinal Enternrises, PO Box 50. London N Printed By Laneridge Ltd. (TU), London E2.
Step up the action!
forts of the Ministry of Defence and the police have failed to cruch the protest. before the SUNL weekend demonstration, a poll V0LL0 published, showing that a majority of British people favour leaving the NATO alliance if it does not aban-
NUBSCRIBE
TION
don nuclear Commenting on the results poll commissioned by chair Paul Johns said it provided Turner that the consensus NATO 'is shattered'.
The rest of the leadership of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament must now take note. The support for Greenham and the sentiments against the North Atlantic nuclear alliance make 1986 a year in which the campaign against the missiles can be massively stepped up.
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Before the selection agreed fly the had already unat shortlist should contain al least one black person and
leas one woman Former Hackney council leader Hilda Keane was also on the shortlist. She was eliminated in the first vole.
Diane's vigorous selecTIOn speech
uncommitted delegates. The struggle of black people for representation, she explained, was a class struggle: the mand of the disenfranchis ed for justice
She told how her uncle, when he gol a job ln
Diane Abbott
selected:
VICTORY
for black section
HACKNEY NORTH Labour Party has chosen Diane Abbott to be the party's first ever black woman candidate. She was selected by 42 votes to 35. Diane is a member of the Labour Party black section national committee and a member of the Labour Women's Action Committee. 'My selection is a victory for the campaign which the black sections have been waging in the party,' she said after-
America, found that the white workers were handed their wages in the office wile the black
By Frank Gorton, Hackney North Labour Party
had to queue lo get their packets through
He went into the office and the black workers got their pay in the same line as the 'He realised the talking had to stop and the lime had come for action,
situation facing the Labour Party
Her selection was not a judgement on Ernie Roberts, whose record as a class nonter ano a nante for black people's rights has been outstanding
Her victor much wider il be the ne than who will the • next MP Tor Hackey NorEn It Wil be a symbol for all black people and all women who have been fighting for the labour movement 1o recognise their just demands, that ther have allies in the party who re
the racis! and sexist traditions which have lec Neil Kinnock lo oppose black AC demands Those the WAC demands. traditions being demonstrated today
fashion in the attempts Roy Hat. ¡ersley and his cohorts to expel black section sup porters from Sparkbrook Labour Party
Diane's selection is
and collective strength of black peopie and women can no longer be ignore. and trampled on by the labout • It Drool lal a cellule clas alliance between the working class and the oppressed can forged alliance which can roll back Thatcher's attacks and lead Labour to vic tory.
It 1s a rebuff 1o the vicious ory ano medall tacks on Bernie Grant. I shows that the disposser
in have avoie in and
have a voice in the
'The result in Hackney is a clear message to Ro Hattersley and who are barons of rotter boroughs, Wadsworth of the back Marc
lee. "They should recognise thai their days are numbered.
← Socialist Action No. 124, 6 December 1985Socialist Action No. 126, 10 January 1986 →