THE WITCH HUNT against Socialist Action, started with Cowley and moved onto CND, has now exploded in the '1000 moles' claimed the Daily Telegraph. Last Tuesday The Times broadened the attack, linking Socialist Action supporter Davy Jones with the national Briefing, and via devious routes, with Ken ingstone and Jeremy Corbyn MP.
By the end of the last week the Labour Party was being buried under mountain of Trotskyist moles.
While General Secretary Jim Mortimer moved last Wednesday pour cold story, Walworth Road information officer Frank was busy stoking up the 'mole hunt' fires.
It was entirely predictable that the witch hunt which started at Cowley would end up in the Labour Party. As MP THE DISMISSAL of 13 trade unionists at Cowley is a clear case of employers. As such it is a simple and clear cut issue of basic democratic rights — the right to have a job irrespective of your political views.
press have tried to make the issue a very different one — a question of whether lies were told on the application forms, question 'conspired' together to get jobs in the plant.
If everyone who told bies on their application form were sacked the factories would be emptied. If socialists have to lie to get jobs, then that only shows the existing state of repression which already exists against tivists in industry. This is a fundamental issue not ont tor socialists. but for all supporters of basic democratic rights.
It interesting therefore to review the response of the left press to this issue.
Herald under the title whips up witch hunt' argued that "Tory press jackals' took the opportunity to launch general attack 'subversives in the trade Ron Brown rightly pointed out which in our pages last week, those on the right wing of the Party who have stoked hunts against others are in part responsible for the general climate of anti-left hysteria which made the Cowley Whether or not the right wing pushes its attack on Socialist Action before the Labour Party conference, it's not hard to predict that there witch hunting to come.
Liv- The political context of the attack on the militant left in the Labour Party is that of the attempt by the right wing to 're-centre' the party, to abandon left wing policies on disarmament, the Common Market and incomes policy.
Unfortunately, the drift to the right after the outcome of the general too obvious in sections of the Labour left itself. the The statements by Michael Ward Meacher, the left's candidate for Deputy Leader, left should abandon its obsessions with unilateralism and the reinstatement of the five expelled Militant editors, is a sign that the section victimisation by the The Cowley management and the Fleet Street of whether the 13 unions. The atmosphere was hunt national against unionists'.
Tribune published an article opposing pontical linimisa on agains litice screening of job applicants. But this editorial was marred by ine statement that the 13 Cowley had committed 'fraud for purposes which they nol preparea lo discuss So telling the bosses lies is who? Against the witch-hunting culploycis. yes.
But there is nothing whatever disreputable from a socialist point of view in that. The author of the Tribune editorial should know better.
While the right wing most publicised transparently up Militant and ship • has been press, Guardian, tions about our supporters. possible.
Marxism The IS more attack on Militant. stories of 'infiltrators', is only Stray the militant trade unions as 'evil that the whose ideas taken seriously.
The rounding the aims to of the Militant itself the victim of an appalling witch hunt in the labour movement had a much better editorial ine. "The trade union movement has a duty to defend the thirteen workers sacked from because of their political views'. Arguing that the victimisation was part of BL's continuing crusade against militants, Militant stated:
It is an indictment of capitalist society, In any case, that workers often have to lie to get a job.
mass unemployment, there are probably present witch nunt has been started by the press, the right the wing leadership of the labour movement is complicit in this whole, attack. Frank Ward is only the feeder scare stories about Socialist Action to the press. It seems obvious that it.
somebody in the CND leaderbriefing the and in particular the with lying accusatical reality.
fabrications about the 'plots' and 'conspiracies' are organisational devices to conceal a political attack. That is true both inside the Labour Party and CND. In both, sections of the leadership want to be rid of the most determined fighters for militant policies.
The attack on Socialist Action differs in no way from the The scare 'moles' and 'conspirators' are designed for one thing only: to por- differences left both inside the Labour Party and the people' are not to be movement or sensationalism surplot stories Brown make the ideas of Marxism in the labour move- must go on.
hundreds of thousands of job applicants who change their qualifications desperate attempt to get employment. Where bosses organisations run blacklists of activists, there is even direct justification Jor truce unionists hide their backgrounds their not have the right to put their ideas in the Labour Party and movement as a while open agents of the capitalist class are assumed to have a God-given right to be part of the labour move ment - and indeed even lead Everyone knows that many of the leaders of both the Party and the unions regard the objective of socialism as a joke good for Sunday speeches, but nothing to do with pracEveryone knows that people like Hattersley and Shore have more in common with SDP than with the declared objectives of the the Labour Party constitution - the social ownership of the means of production.
Socialist Action will expose the right wing witch hunters every inch of the way. We will nue to point out that the witc a hunt is an attack not on. ly on the whole of the labour left, but on basic ideas of the movement solidarity and the settling of by democratic We have no intention of being driven out of the labour sitting idly by while other left wingers villified and expelled. As Ron said last week: the fight for socialism will Socialist the sacked workers, would be a serious mistake...
Socialist 'Worker rargued: 'All 13 happened to be socialists who believe that The Morning Star, in an article by Jim Saunders under the title 'McCarthyism rears its ugly head at BL'referred to the alleged letter urging socialists to get Jobs at Cowley.
Whatever happened banking CriSIS cream See page I see centre pagpeace or for the and Communist Parties to recruit shop floor workers and build organisations? Is it any worse for example than the advice given by Mrs Thatcher to this year's conference of Tory trade
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