Socialist Action No. 39, 6 January 1984
The scan: 039-jan-06-1984-SA-UK.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive)
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ACTION SociAlist No. 39 6 January 1984
BIG SISTER IS WATCHI YOU
SAATCHI& SAATCHI 1984
30p
1984: Labour's
crucial year
1984 is going to be the most decisive year faced by the Labour movement for a very long time indeed. 1983 was a year of major ruling class victories. Labour suffered a crushing defeat in the June election. The trade union movement suffered a humiliating rout
decisively
transform that what it aims
fective local government any other field.
ment is
movement
tain this year.
ning.
find out in
themselves
made.
win because they because they
people
and freedom
Tha lesson
to save system she represents. that Labour must build.
be a year to remember. tor ever.
over the NGA dispute. The political initiative and offensive passed clearly and
into the hands of the employers and government.
Thatcher's aim in 1984 is to try to
• into a thorough going organisational defeat of the Labour movement. To use the Tebbit ballot on political funds of unions to smash trade union affiliation to the Labour Party. To use the votes on closed shops to cut hundreds of thousands out of trade union membership in the next five years. To dismantle whole sections of local government controlled by the Labour Party. To use the elections for the European Parliament to try to impose a new humiliating defeat on Labour.
This is by far the greatest assault on the Labour movement for fifty years. If the Thatcher government were to succeed in
for which is in all seriousness in the next two years to remove perhaps half the trade unions from affiliation to the Labour Party, to eliminate half the closed shops in Britain, and to crush et-
then we can forget about effective gains being made in
There is going to be no successful anti-nuclear movement if Labour and the unions are defeated. No victory in the struggle for women's liberation if the trade union move-
savaged. No effective barriers against racism if Labour is crushed. The fight for every single progressive cause in 1984 is completely and inextricably bound mp with the defense of the organisedates
against greatest assaults every launched on it. Defeating that attack is the number one priority in Bri-
For if that struggle is successful the end of 1984 can look very different to its begin-
For more people than ever before will
1984 that Thatcherism and capitalism mean not just mass unemployment and rising poverty but the elimination of major democratic rights, the weakening of the power of ordinary workers to defend
against their employer, the destruction of a major part of the most important social gains the working class has
Socialism and the Labour Party will not are a good idea. are morally preferable. But because socialism and the labour movement are the only way the great mass of ordinary
- and that is the working class can defend themselves, their health, their liberty, and finally their lives. That Thatcherism and capitalism represent not liberty
but squalor, tyranny, backwardness and the threat of war.
I may take painfully long to learn. It already has. But when it is absorbed there is no force on earth which is going
either Margaret Thatcher or the It is on that reality
If Labour defends its organisations this year. If it launches the fight back which Len Murray and co. so successfully blocked in the past then George Orwell's 1984 will still
The year the Labour movement dug itself out of the defeats of 1983. The year when it began to build something resembling a human society in Britain. That strug George Orwell's vision is going to be buried Thatcherism, is the only
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Tory assault on the unions
2 1983 saw the worst attacks on the trade unions in Britain since the Second World War. 1984 will see the stakes even higher with two of the most vital issues to have faced the trade unions for fifty years.
filiation to the Labour Party, and on the closed shop, will shape the future of trade unionism in Britain for years to come. PAT HICKEY assesses the Tory anti-union drive and the fight back which is needed in 1984.
1983 ended grimly for trade unionists with the defeat of the NGA by the
council TUC right wing, which had won control at the September Congress, passed its first test will lylig colours. 1i ollt stroke Murray, Basnett, Dully, Graham crushed a campaign which had become a major focus Tories the fight against the
for militants all over Britain. They also handed Tebbit's anti-
biggest success to date.
But the sell out of the NGA is only one part of the right wing's declared intention to make 'a major reassessment of the TUC's policies and role.
Frank Chapple put it in his final address to the Congress, the supposed aim is to 'blunt the attacks made on us and
the final part of the 20th
The reality however is that the right wing are attempting to impose a total-
new model of tradeof the trade unions
the Labour Party parties -
any form of democratic control.
Right wing dominated
'non-political trade
unions; a Pariamentary Labour
finances removing it from contro bv the Labour Par-
the goals of the rulingclass as a whole - these are reorganisation of the
labour movement.
The basis for this Tory
Socialist Action 6 January 1984
The outcome of the ballots on trade union af-
modelled on the United States 'non-political business course is quite openly advocated by figures such as Chapple and Alistair Graham.
The reality the right's line is that far from 'strengthening our appeal' its policies are disastrous.
In the United States 'nonpolitical unions' have
ship falling from nearly forty DCA CCIL workforce following World War II to less then twenty cent today.
Britain the background to the right wing's offensive is the serious union membership which is now taking place. From high point 12.2 members z per cent the employed workforce) in 1979, union membership now fallen below 10 million (under 50 per cent of the employed population). background to this decline mass unemolovment the fall is not only accounted for by joblessness.
Tebbit wields the axe
The targets of the new 1983 anti-union assault are clear and interlinked. They are firstly to break the links between the trade unions and the Labour Party - thereby weakening the political protection
and wrecking the present finances of the Labour Party. The second goal is to smash the closed shop. The only alternative source of funds to union support that would be offered to
— that of state funding of political would be used to establish even greater autonomy of the Parliamentary Labour Party from
campaign is quite clear.
Five major unions already have majority members contracting out of the political levy SOGAT, NGA, ASTMS COHSE and the ACTT.
Other with large numbers of members contracting out include TASS FBU, UCATT and the
After the revival of the trade unions during the Second trade union membership then Stagnated for fifteen years in the 1950s and early 1960s. The bio increase in trade union membership
proportion of workforce came with the
of strike struggles Wave after 1968.
This trend of rising strike struggle has now been put into reverse. The
davs LOSI strikes in was the lowest since 1976 — a year of Labour incomes policy. The decline in days lost in strikes was from 29.5 million 1979 to 12 million in 1980, 4.3 million
1981, 5.3 million
and under 4 million in 1983. Changes
ATone tens tenne in trade union membership
gone changes at the base of the
The UUL. shop stewards in manufacturing has been almost halved from 130,000 to 80,000. The number of full time shop stewards manufacturing has fallen from 4,000 to 2,000.
Even these figures
of the real features of the decline.
¿CaN where shop stewards committees exist they have been severely weakened by a combination of manageTobacco Workers.
The Tories drew fur ther encouragement from a detailed MORI Doll ir January 1982 which showed maJority against Labour Party affiliation even in such unions as the
GMBATU, EEPTU, NUR and USDAW. In
MORI poll only NUPE and the NUM would have supported af-
the Party. With the trade UNIONS split trom political organisation in Lic Labour rarty luc scart of attack that would be mounted UIl the would make anything tempted by the Tebbit laws so far appear small
It is clear there is going
Photo: JOHN HARRIS
ment repression and an inability to mobilise the members.
As a result an increas-
members have been unwilling to take shop stewards posts. These now have much reduced effer. tive strength behind them and carry significant dangers of victimisation. This helps explain the
of shon strength and numbers.
The management alternative to effective union organisation has been the growth of Consultative Committees. This process has seen clearly in the NHS follow ing the defeat last year. A recent survey found the majority of employees in Britain are now in workplaces with some form of 'consultative' body with the employers.
Nevertheless even these present anti-union attacks are still only pushing back the edges of trade unionism. The next stage of the Tory plan is not the 'collaboration' with the TUC which Len Murray is dreaming of, but a policy to really smash large seetions of the movement. The two key 'Tory goals are to break trade union links with the Labour Party and to smash the closed shop. On that basis trade union membership could De cul back by millions. That is the aim of the Tories new union bill. paign on Labour Party affiliation waged the TUC general council At the 1983 Congres almost one-third of the TUC was not afilliated the Labour Party. In the right wing that dominates the General Counci al least half of the trade unions involved are non-Labour Party affiliates.
By Pat Hickey
Murray is not directing the TUC to closer links with Labour. He is going in exactly the opposite direction. Murray's declared aim is to pursue a policy of talking 'to any political party which has a chance forming government in the future. Some of the more right wing unions are engagea in discussions with the SDP
of future SDP-LiberalLabour coalition
The entire orientation
'non-political trade unions is directly in line with the proposals of Tebbit the and Liberals. If left unchallenged the line of the General Council is going
hand clubloycis their greatest political victory in fifty years
The same applies to the second key issue which is coming up the closed
Under the Tebbit DIUD laws, by November the closed shop will only
80 per cia ee the
cent the workforce.
On present policies the
effect of this even in companies such as BL is likely to be a defeat for the clos-
shop. i ne union bureaucracies in a com-
NGA picket
pany such BL have directlv collaborated in destroying working conditions and union organisation.
Productivity drives by the management have increased output in BL from six cars a worker in 1979 to 40 cars a worker in 1983. Working conditions, jobs, and union strength have been cut to ribbons. As the trade union leaders involved have done nothing to protect BL workers against this type of assault,
nany employees in a com
any such as BL will se
ing to subscribe to a union if it is not compulsory. Closed
And 1 us is lie case on the closed shop in a ma-
poil ensuy true in
equally Clue smaller firms. By suppor-
Labour SuCCESSIVe party incomes policies, and by capitulating Thatcher's assault since 1979, the union leaderships have erroded the most elementary connaence in tne trade umons among many workers. That is the harsh truth.
In industries such as the print, where new technology threatens, the NGA decision by the General Council opens up the way to direct union busting. The Tories' aim is
reduce union membership to perhaps only five to six million members twenty nive per cent of the working population. It is the biggest threat the trade unions have faced since the defeat of the General Strike. There is no doubt
that this is a real threat in Britain. Not a figment of fevered imagination. It is not something which can
achieved bv emplover and government tomor-
But it is sometning which they are working towards
That type of assault is going to be quite incapable of being repelled by the type of right wing union leadership which created the mess in the first place. What the defence of the trade union movement now depends on is the effective organisation of the left wing within it.
Futhermore that left — those forces which really fight for independent and Labour affiliated trade unionism organised at every level. Attacks such as that on atfiliation to the Labour Party, or on the closed shop cannot just be
local level although the struggle must start there. It demands national organisation of
defend those preparea lo an independent Labour atfiliated trade union movement and basing Inal on. local organisation at every Jevel
Right
This perspective for reversing the whole right wing trend inside the trade unions is today a minority within ine trade unions there is no doubt of that.
be defeated if that minoritv is organised to lead the fight back against the Tories at every level
It needs quite different type of organisation to that which left trade
In the Unions
union leaders have relied on. Arthur Scargill and others have opposed th right wing mainly on th committees in the TUC or
partigular sec tors They have not challenged the right wing across the trade union movement as a whole.
The recent talk by Arthur Scargill of the need to establish a left wing alternative to the right's Trade Unions for a Labour Vic tory would be welcome if they are put into practice
would weaken the hold of the right wing ano leave less room for figures such as Moss Evans to sit on the fence.
But there is no point in waiting for an initiative to Let on the Tune has talked come from top. The much of its opposition to Thatcher and to the Dre sent line of the General Council. Action has come much less often. Ballots
In order to win the ballots on affiliation to the Labour rarty and on une closed shop organisation
has to start now.
Each constituency Labour Party needs to establish • a campaign to win ine bailol on allilla tion to the Labour Party locally. Every trade union branch, every broad left needs to campaign to win the vote on affiliation and Ine coseo sudo Coupled with the support for every individual • struggle which takes place these are the single most important issues facing •traut union and labour movement in 1984.
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International
Central America
Photo: CHRISTIAN POVEDA
FMLN fighers THE FMLN guerillas in El Salvador celebrated the new year with two First they overran the headquarters of the UStrained 45th Infantry brigade at El Paraiso, 36 miles north of San Salvador. During the attack at least 41 government soldiers, including two army colonels were killed by the insurgents.
Fighting for the army post lasted for 14 hours, and the FMIN captured 200 assault rifles and 40 larger weapons, perore Bernd. FolloWing to the burning base the tack the rebels destroyed the important half-mile long Cascatlan bridge. thus effectively cutting the Pan American highway, isolating hundreds square miles of the coun try.
Since the late summer the FMLN in El Salvador
Won tories which have seriously
the army. A huge corridor of free movement for the guerrillas has been opened in the north of the country The FMLN military offensive follows lapse of the US planned pactication proiect in san Vincente province, designed to out the guerrillas. The San Vicente
DIOICCI WaN designed to once and for all demonstrate 'what the army could do'. The failure of the operation,
FMLN millary victories, have created severe crisis in both the ar-
and government leadership.
New year victories
for Salvador rebels
spectacular military victories.
Right wing officers sympathetic the semi-fascist ARENA party have and isolated the pro-American chief of staff Casanova. The army itself has responded with a series
horrifying massacres against the civilian populaHon, and taere has been a new upsurge of activity by
right wing death squads. Rumours abound
Salvador of the possibility of a right wing
COUl Magana government.
By Paul Lawson
The United States is now faced with a serious lemma in el salvador. Short of direct military inthat the United States can do preventee collapse FMILN/FDR on the othe The hand have their own dilemma — the possibility that a generalised offensive would provoke direct US intervention.
Meanwhile the &main Us ettort the region continues to be concentrated throw the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The plan of the
US-backed 'contras' well known — to capture a major town in Nicaragua
create anti'provisional government'. In the face
the Sandinistas have responded with a series of moves to strengthen Nicaragua millary, while the same time strengthening their own pollicai posi-
tion conseription has been
introduced and the popular militias strengthened. mittees for the Defence of
Revolution (CDRS) have been preparing civilian defence against air attacks. In addition FSLN leadership has made a number of concessions to the internal oppositon, for example releasing prisoners
CUIVICICU counter-revolutionary acts and announcing an amnes-
for counter-revolutionaries abroad.
As the US presidential election campaign gathers pace, it becomes more difficult for the Reagan team to contemplate an invasion of Nicaragua - the FSLN
are designed LUVES precisely to gain time to make that invasion more difficult.
1984 looks like being a crucial year for Central
Whatever hap. pens in El Salvador, crucial question whether the Sandinistas will retain Nicaragua.
By Stuart Holland MP the visit.
AFTER A DECADE in which Vietnamisation had • become American politics, , Central
•Reagan's backyard — is becoming another Vietnam. Some of the facts are already well-known. Major
In Honduras, the United States has already undertaken two major manoeuvres Big Pine One and Two • building airstrips, training troops and notoriously giving succou sup port to the contras in their
Nicaragua vocallul These are exercises by occupying forces over which the Honduran government has little or no control.
When we asked the deputy foreign minister and two senior Foreign Office officials they Come that Big Pine Thrée would be in the
bordering El Salvador and Guatemala, they replied: 'We don't know yet, the
was only the papers yesterday'! The Americans are an occupying power; their ambassador proconsuls and the government a puppet regime. Picture
In El Salvador the picture is the same, but dif-
well-organised popular army or guerilla force — the FDR/FMLN — can take almost any territory outside the capital and hold it for some of the time. The 25,000-strong
Sy deploy 8,0000 men to
deploy men fight, and only 2,000 crack troops recently cracked menserves • Dy ine popula army which last month retook Cacahuatique the north eastern Morazan province (near where Big Pine Three in neighbour-
Honduras is scheduled).
The notorious death squads frequently soldiers in 'civies' • plus Guernica-style bombing of civilian population, as in 'Tenancingo in september are not gaining hearts or minds.
Meanwhile, the FDR/FMLN's policy of returning government troops who surrender through the Red Cross has both increased the army's willingness to
to peace
Stuart Holland, shadow spokesperson for overseas development and cooperation, and Donald Anderson, a shadow spokesperson for foreign affairs, have recently returned from an eight-day official Labour Party visit to Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. Below, Stuart records his impressions of
arms and thereby swelled the guerillas' arsenal. The situation is so serious in E Salvador that the Americans may well have to intervene directly with ground troops forthcoming elections on
stage in the Vietnamisation of the region The FDR/FMLN present plan to boycott the elections. reason, when assurances physical safety other than behind bars be call given to opposition politicians, and when more than 5,400 people have been killed last year alone.
Prospect
It is possible that even President Reagan will at the prospect of US troops directly involvHonduras Salvador and Nicaragua in pre-election year, and that this Nicaragua take the pressure off the near future The reported CIA evaluation casualties in the of to 20,000 US event of an invasion of Nicaragua is a more powerful longterm deterrent.
Meanwhile, the commitments recently made by the Sandinistas on the timing ot elections, and their proposals to the Contradora states for mutual non-aggression also make it more difficult for the US
'legitimate' Grenadastyle invasion allegedly designed to restore democracy. It certainly is FSLN leader Borge talks to Miskito indians
Socialist Action
US threat
US adviser in San Salvador
clear that the American discovery of the importance of human rights. land reform and
elections Central America was provoked by the Sandinist: revolution.
Decade
For decades, the US have neglected such issues with the partial exception of the Carter administration,
LaLlI America. Demanding land reform today salvador. has development programme Ior Honduras ana nas cul both aid and trade with Nicaragua. Pressing. for action to restrain the death
6 January 1954 squads. it still subsidises the Salvadorean regime and plans 'to double military aid to El Salvador.
Obsessed with claims of Soviet-Cuban destabilisation, it will not recognise reems of Central America that the
are north-south, not east west. The US will use any Issue - including pressure on human rights for elections as an instrument of counter-insurgency in the region.
It is the United States which threatens the peac and destabilises the securi-
of the region, and the United which should be pressured, from Europe wel the Americas, to withdraw.
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Socialist Action 6 January 1984
IRELAND
UNFREE
The Harrods'
bombing
The tragic deaths in London have shaken us all. Human life is irreplaceable. Misery and sorrow goes on. In the West End of London or in West Belfast, bombs, bullets, and the violence of war bring death, mutilation and senseless destruction.
Supporters of the Labour Committee on Ireland are no cheer leaders for the Provisional IRA. but neither are we to be steamronered by tne hypocricy of pious condemnation.
The Surrey Stockbroker interviewed on television outside Harrods said he thought it was people Eke him who were to blame because they had not done enough to think about a political solution. The Tory government would do well to consider that.
Bernadette McAliskey said some time ago: 'it doesn't matter at all whether I support the armed struggle. I am just one person. What I say is this, whatever I think, and whether I like it or not, as long as British troops remain in Northern Ireland, and as long as there is no political solution, so meone is going to pick up a gun. They are going to. do that whether I like it or not, so what I am trying to do is to look and fight in my own way to find that political solution.' that neither the shooting in the Republic nor the Harrod's bomb were authorised has increased speculation on an open power struggle inside the
The Sinn Fein Ard Feis (pronounced 'ard-esh') did not indicate the imminence of such a confrontation.
Widely reported as a conference of change the Ard Fheis was seen to herald the smooth trasfer of power to a new generation of leaders flushed with electoral success who were keen to shed their traditional image and modelled along socialist republican lines.
Adam's address drew political lessons from the struggle. In the North he talked about building apon the 100,000 votes in the Westminster elections to become the majority nationalist party. The military creasingly political; targets were to be the army of occupation, RUC and UDR. must be avoided.
He explained the importance of building, socialist republican party throughout Ireland's 32 Counties, and argued that different methods and tactics would be make progress in the South.
Since November, we have seen this approach undermined.
Unionist politician justified by his support for the
of informers, has opened the door to more political assassinations.
In the South, soldier and Garda in the wake of the Tidey kidnap has led to cynicism about the claim of Sinn Fein not to be planning an extension of the armed struggle.
In Britain the Harrod's bomb sets back our shared goal of strengthening the Livingstone-type dialogue in order to build a withdrawal movement.
Who is in the driving seat of the republican
movement will have to be resolved, but Sinn Fein
leaders are anxious not to repeat the bloody factional battles of the early 70s.
In the wake of the Harrods bombing there have
been renewed calls for the banning of Sinn Fein
and the extension of the Prevention of Terrorism
Act. A sustained campaign is being waged to make them out to be nothing more than 'terrorists'.
The objective of these campaigns is to make a
political dialogue with the nationalist community
in the Six Counties impossible.
ment faces the difficult job
pressures for an end to the dialogue.
that without a political settlement, without the na-
tional rights of the Irish people being granted, and
without the
violence will inevitably continue.
Niall Power, Secretary,
shortly to
and Ireland'.)
The statement by the IRA create a popular movement
struggle he said, was becoming in-
Civilian casualties
necessary if Sinn Fein were to
In the North, the shooting of. a.
unauthorised shootings of a of resisting these
We have to keep hammering home the point
withdrawal of british troops, the
LCI (based on an article appear in the new edition of 'Labour
BISHOP Goulburn of New South Wales, Australia, got it about right in his preface to In Justice Within the Law Court of Australia on the Tolpuddle case, published before the Second World War. He said: 'Courts of law are the instruments by which the dominant opinion finds momentary legal expression.?
That sums up the situation that the NGA and all trade unions find themselves in today. If they take traditional trade union action they have their money and property taken from them, because of two Tory acts of parliament: the so-called Employment Acts of '80 and '82. These two acts are straightforward pieces of class legislation. weaken the trade unions in their struggles to defend and improve the conditions of life of working class peopie.
They are the first acts of parliament Thatcher's strategy of destroying the unions altogether.
Over the years, trade unionists have made serious advances. . on their wages and conditions of employment. Under Thatcher, the Tories intend to turn the clock back. There is one d sat ins anu a lue one that Tories do not preach the class war they practice it.
They are certainly practising today with a vengeance.
Their present legislation altacks ine workig class movement number of tronts.
• first, the anti-trade union legislation designed first to weaken, and ultimately aesuoy, the
• second. legislation designed to cut the Labour Party's income, making it a less effective propaganda and campaigning force
• ІлІга, eastalion to
abolish some and control other local authorities
this done in the name of
BICCUOT
• fourth, legislation
privatise publicly owned
industries thereby
wrecking the strength of
trade unions in the public
sector and to stop
future governments using
those industries to rebuild
the economy.
The Tories have further
plans to make strikes il-
legal in some public sectors
- undoubtedly as the first
stage in making all strikes
illegal.
What we see develop-
ing is a peculiarly British
form of top-hatted fascism
whilst not the open,
A PIECE
Labour and
the law
— a book by Mr Justice Evatt of the High They are designed to
brutal type of Mussolini or Hitler which is never-
an uneles, authoritarian direction. The Thatcherites want use the full majesty of the present state against the bay-purm the need for by-passing the need violent street groupings.
Law
We are constantly ask ed to accept the law. real question is what kind of law are we asked to accept? I would draw atten-
"to what Victor Feather the then-luc generawere always secretary said in 1972: respected the law of the land, and never refused to accept a judgement of the High Court. But we do not accept this Act is the law of the land. It is part of the political dogma of the Tory Party to shatter the trade union movement this country.
for a left not nouned for a wing the Heath Industrial Rela- _was speaking about tions Act which was the modest forerunner of the present 1980 and 1982 Acts.
The '80 and '82 Acts have been greeted with satisfaction by those who want weaken and destrov the trade unions. Mr Shah is a hero to them. He reminds me of what a Dorset land-owner Framp-
wrote to the Prime LUTI Minister at the time of the
Tolpuddle martyrs: 'The conviction and prompt ex-
ecution of the sentence of transportation given the greatest satisfaction to
ASTION
day.
all the higher classes, and will, I have no doubt, have a great effect amongst the labourers.
The courage and dedication of the Tolpud. dle martyrs gave the rest of the movement enormous strength. That same strength is unfortunately missing today. Instead of the entire movement rallying to the NGA, we have seen a retreat on the part of some leaders. This adds up to one of the blackest periods in the history of the trade
In 1972 the TUC threatened national strike to defend the dockers who were victims or tne Inaustral nelalons Act. The Official Solicitor suddenly appeared like the good fairy, and the dockers were released. If a semarkable how exible stand our capitalist rulers can be
The Tories have learnby previous experiences. Instead of fines and imprisonment the new legislation gives the right to sequest union funds and property. The
legislation does not create martyrs. can still
by united and determined action using
main weapon that workers organisations Have
Action
We rightly praise and the workers
develop free and indepen-
The LaUC
British trade únion move-
ment should translate that
support into action and
detend our own rights ir
this country. Otherwise we
shall find we have another
type of authoritarian regime where workers
rights have been virtually
destroyed
In his book Fascism
and Big Business, Daniel
merin savs. "The state
begins by creating con-
ditons that will permit the
slashing wages.
means the destruction of
the labour unions, the end
of their representation in-
side, the factories, the aboli-
tion. of the right to strike,
the nullification of union
by Eric Heffer MP
Eric Heffer, chairperson of the Labour Party Statement on the
NGA dispute by
the Campaign
group of MPs
This Group notes with pleasure the support
given by the IUC,
tion undertaken by millions of people in Bri-
tain in support of nurses and other health
workers.
has the same right to support as the health
workers and allies itself with unions such as
the TGWU, NUPE, the miners, fire brigade
workers and others who have offered such
support.
thinking, decent citizen to become involved
in civil disobedience, including the defying of
freedoms and in opposition to authoritarian
measures passed by this Government.
to any industrial action, picketing and othe
action, that the NGA may decide to call for.
contracts and the reestablishment of the ab solute rule of the Businesses i employers their
they their •way, this coul equally apply to the Thatcherites.
labour's forces. It is time
"atter?
News
Photo: GM COOKSON
Len Murray and the Labour leadership to the illegal industrial ac-
The Group believes that the NGA
This group upholds the right of every
injunctions by the courts, in support of basic
This Group also pledges its active suppor
to begin the fightback, not only to win the next elec" On ensure that labour is not so weakened and fragmented that it cannot seriously advance in the future. What is required is a bold socialist lead from the Labour Party. Part of that is a real fight against all class laws.
"Conne
JOT Fi ou,Boi
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THE ACTION INTERVIEW Harrods bomb 'suspect' speaks
Aftermath of the Harrods bomb attack. Inset, Birmingham Troops Out supporters, including members of Birmingham Trades Council, march in Belfast last year.
Interview
DURING Christmas, British press was full of the horrors of the bombing. Immediately, there were reassuring police reports that a suspect had been apprehended. 'suspect', ALAN O'DWYER was arrested on Wednesday December 21, when the Birmingham house he was staying at was raided. CHRIS PALMER and RICHARDS spoke to Alan, and the two other residents, MARY PEARSON CATH HAYWARD. three are active on the Irish question. Alan is a former member of Sinn Fein. They told Socialist Action their impressions of the real purpose of the police raid.
Can you explain what happened when your house was raided?
Mary: The police rang the door_bell at about 6.45 in the morning. Hight came in. They said they had a warrant
the Criminal Damage Aci search for explosive substances, they didn't look in the right places for explosives or even in all the rooms. They even let Cath go to the tollet. and allowed out of the
l'd like to know what evidence thev used to get the warrant. because they were operating as if under the Prevention of Terrorism Act
explosives statistics kept by the National Council TOVETLES - mavbe this is a way police are using to get round it
Most of the time they spent looking through papers and books we've collected prisoners. Maybe they wanted to send them Christmas cards!
Then Cath told me that Alan had been arrested. I dived across the bonnet of their car in my night clothes untị they told me where they were taking him. Our first priority then was to
make sure Alan support,
make sure the police knew he had supRoy Hatter sley our MP, and Claire 1 got a soneror
Short MP.
What was happening to you meanwhile, Alan?
Alan: My flat in London was raided
at 5.30 on the Wednesday
when. armed police kicked in the door.
But had already left for
When thev arrested
Birmingham I was taken to
Coalfields Police Station. me I was arrested under Section 10 of the PTA - • regarding involvement in the preparation, instigation and commission of •acts of although they couldn't tell me what this part of the Act said
I was questioned about Sinn Fein about the Troops Britain Birmingham,
Out Ninety-nine per cent of the questions
were purely political, like asking what I thought of certain people. I didn't answer quoted aboul giving everyone lame car bul few thy voice.
We went over this for hours. the afternoon two detectives refused to give their names, from London. We went over the same ground with me declining to answer. I movements on the
the
Harrod's
That
ANITA
and All but
house
but with
boxes of
Irish and
and contacted ing about Harrods
about it! was
morning British Birmthev asked others they me in purely political as well.
Sutton
They told
Led at?
terrorism
occuranon. and
movement. misleads
Shakespeare,
that.
In who arrived
days in question,
which as far as I can gather they haven't bothered to check. Question-
was rullilllla. just did I do it, or did I know anything
Just an informationgathering exercise aimed at the Irish community in general, and particularly organisations involved in working for a progressive political solution to
Ireland. NCCI From what I can gather, the questions
arrested were
What do you think the raids were aim-
Alan: They were aimed on the one hand at intimindating people, to stop them voicing their opinions on British
other hand they arrested 'suspects'. Subsequent media
the public into thinking the authorities are in control of the situation. But their record over the last six or seven years regarding IRA activity in Britain gives a lie to
The IRA have been able to do what they want. Few people arrested are ever aharged with anything. police
Mary: They are aimed at silencing
for example worries
about their families. The police know we are two single parents with four
PROPS ALT
MOVERAT children. They disrupted us at 7am a few days before Christmas - inal s not just chance.
What did you do after the raid?
Mary: We contacted progressive MPs and councillors, Labour Party officials, people on the West Midlands County Police Committee, and the
Alan: I'm making statements to these people. I'd advise anybody under the PTA to do this, and take it up in their trade union or any useful organisation. Don't just let the thing slide. We can show at the end oi the day how their actions aren't aimed
political discussion.
Cath: Contact any MP, even Tories
because one of them has just spoken out against the PTA when one of his constituents was arrested.
Mary: On the Friday after the arrests,
council support to protest against the
also complaint which will think you should through all the channels available to you under law. For example I'm taking civil action for theit against police officer who stole a petition dur-
ing the raid.
But don't just wait until someone is arrested get progressive
Ireland unions and other organisations now, so that support is there in a crisis. I'n doing that now, for example, through Labour Partv women's sections.
Were these protests effective?
Alan:I was held for 29 hours. They told me some of the people who had phoned them up. them think twice, and think the whole thing would rebound on them because ounel so many people were getting involved
MEPs, people from Coventry, not just local people.
Mary: What the press said about arresting suspect bombing 1s was a political arrest to update files.
Alan: A point I'd like to make is that my name was released to the media by the Irish Freedom Movement without my knowledge. authorised it because it doesn't do any take the beginning
People have been misled so much by the media that they believe there is no smoke without fire. It cheap publicity stunt on the part of
Socialist Action 6 January 158;
A
political «passeu Loc
and a car
It definitely made
London and
in 40.
for the Harrods lust a smoke-screen but
the
wouldn't have
was just a lies
BIRANGEM
COUNCE the Irish Freedom Movement which whole media thing has been an exer
: in disinformation, going along with the police line.
What are your feelings about the Harrods bombing?
Alan: They had 40 minutes warning
number and location, but collet t no une car intimen Either they are incompetant or somebody in autority let their rank and file wall into it in order to create a situation the media could respond to. Chev're sur posed to react to nuclear war in four minutes but they couldn't react to this
Mary: What happened was horrible
while there's a war going on Ireland lnese tnings will nappen. In Irish people will take action against their oppressors to affect the govern ment of the country that's occupying
This sort of thing will continue to happen until there's a politicla solution in Ireland. And the onlv solution Nothing toe Will work. total British withdrawal. Alan: The ultimate responsibility for every single death, every single injury
with successive British govern
Page 6 scan of this page
ONE OF THE byproducts
revolution and character of its leadership.
Cuban advisers Joseph Hansen Africa prove propaganda
being, to be Moscow's aims?
What does
of the Cuban beginning? developments speak
tend revolution
perialist powers system? are not new. They
Cuban revolution.
developments.
abjectly obeys
tent on conquering 6 Socialist Action 6 January 1984
Cuba's fresh leap into world prominence has been a renewal of interest in the nature of the Cuban
in the political Questions such as the following are being discussed: Does the presence of
and troops Angola, Ethiopia, and elsewhere in
as Washington's machine alleges that Castro is serving as a puppet of Moscow? Or is the Cuban government seeking to advance a policy of its own that happens, for the time
congruent
Havana's rising influence show about the present status
revolution? SHas parasitic caste become entrenched in Cuba? Has the revolution degenerated to such a point that it must be said that a Stalinist regime has usurped power? With the wisdom of hindsight must it now be acknowledged that the Cuban revolution was Stalinist-led from the
otherwise, dicating continuation of a policy to ex-
internationally, thus cutting across the Stalinist policy of 'peaceful coexistence' with the im-
their capitalist
Questions running along these lines
were raised and debated during the first years of the
The conclusions reached have proved of immense ser-
analysing subsequent
At present Washington is pushing the line that Cuba has become completely dependent on the Soviet Union,
from Kremlin, and has sent its troops to Africa to serve as surrogates for soviet troops. These allegations conform to the pattern of the State Department's well-aged propaganda picturing Soviet Union as an aggressive power in-
the world. truth is that the main objective foreign policy as pursued by the Soviet
of
system.
by Joseph Hansen
bureaucracy
world affairs.
be called for, with Marxist
caste. The Cubans in
SIve.
Soviet Union
bureaucracy.... new in-
tory,
Movement.
materially.
Movement
pursuit the The
of end in his death...
2. The
all .. principally tagonists
The
ruling caste is maintaining of the status quo; that is, 'peaceful coexistence' with the imperialist powers and the capitalist
If it were true that the Soviet
shitted rom policy to one of extending Soviet power and influence through the use of armed force, the turn would represent a new element of transcendent importance in
A reassesment of the nature of the Soviet government would
along with a possible of the revolutionar attitude toward the
La favourable light as spearhead chosen to open the offen-
However, the State Department is not acting on the assumption that the
has adopted a class-struggle policy. The State Department distinguishes Castro from the
Washington's attitude is hardly surprising — it is simply an imperialistic reaction to the efforts made by the Cuban leadership to defend their revolution by extending it.
The course of the conveniently divided into three phases:
1. In the great wave of enthusiasm over the Cuban revolution following its vic-
attempts were Latin America to emulate the July 26
The attempts were ported by Havana both politically and
Extension of the Cuban revolution appeared to hinge on extension of the methods used by the July 26
mainly initiation of guerrilla warfare. period reached its high point at the OLAS conference held in Havana l August 1967. There Castro subjected tne rerormist balin Americal munist parties to scorching criticism for their sabotage of guerrilla war. At that
Che Guevara was in Bolivia conducting the experiment that was to
crushing project capped defeats for the groups that took the road of guerrilla war. Castro now made
• While still giving some aid — training of guerrilla America, the Cubans ceased fostering it as the royal road to success.
economic situation in Cuba
also
of ruling Soviet
Cubans can be
ties
made in
sup-
This
Com of Guevara's am-
the proin latin
THI
worried them; blockade Cuban leaders stepped up the goals on the economic front, hoping by extraordinary exertion to overcome the effects
the American Unrealisue goals, campaign to produce ten of sugar, resulted in
planning among the workers.
in view of such consedences. Cuban leaders had to reasses priorities and set more modest goals. for reflection over the meaning of the failures of guerrilla war and the consideration 01 possible lasted until 1975.
Washington evidently the downturn in guerrilla war in Latin America as evidence of the domestication of the Cuban revolution; and the State Department -had failed to isolate Cuba — began probing ways to bring Castro under the general framework of 'peaceful coexIstence •
3. The breakup of the Portuguese empire, with climactic liberation struggles in the colonies and the toppling of the Salazar-Caetano Lisbon, presented new openings for the Cubans. They had already established
with Africa, ticipated in this work. In Angola, the Cubans granted aid in the form of combat troops -COMIC the imperialist Washington and Pretoria to block the liberation struggle.
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which received international recognition legitimate government of Angola, to send material aid, including troops, to boost the country's defense against the efforts of South Africa and the United
pattern was repeated in the Ethiopia...
The American criticised Havana's foreign policy on severa counts
1. The extrapolation on a continental scale of the efficacy of guerrilla war • seemed to us to be based on a misjudge-
ment of both the Cuban experience an‹ the possibilities for its repetition. The key to the toppling of Batista was the rise in the class struggle in Cuba. The rise was not 'sparked' by the guerrilla actions on the it possible in this instance to win even through guerrilla actions.
RE
the American The • maucing strals.
straglehold.
notably in the 1970
million tons
and exhaustion
the
The pause
alternatives
interpreted
whose blockade dictatorship in
guerrilla forces in Guevara himset having par.
most noticeably to efforts of
Cubans were invited by the
the
case of
Trotskyists have
contrary, the rise made
Page 7 scan of this page
CUBANI
EVOLUTION
2. Guided by their desire to construct a common front against American imperialism, the Cubans distinguish the components of front according to prgramme. supporters of the capitalist system were hailed, provided they 'progressive,' i.e., denounced perialism or spoke well of the Cuban revolution, with the consequence that many of them were diverted down false trails.
A case in point was given the Chilean regime headed by Salvador Allende. Although mav have sensed a comino showdown in Chile when he was there on tour -his parting gift to Allende was a sub-
— the support he offered the regime appeared to be support for its adherence to capitalism. Allende's failure to act against the plotters in the military forces cost him his life. More usualle the seizure or power Di Pinochet dealt a cruel blow to the cause of sociaism in Latin America. and a deadly enemy was added to the roster of regimes hostile to the Cuban revolution. 3. Similar criticisms can be made of Cuban policy in Africa today. The programmes of the Neto regime in Angola and the Mengistu regime in Ethiopia have not been presented for what they are commitments to capitalist relations in those countries.
The Cubans seem to be primarily interested bolstering imperialist aspects of the upheavals in these areas. bur to overtook we strug gle for socialist goals can only
counter-productive. And
believe that
dangerous imperialist struggle automatically rein-
forces the struggle for socialism, as was
shown in Chile. In both Angola and
Ethiopia we have already repressive taken
revolutionary socialists.
As for the argument that Havana's
rising prominence indicates
crystallization
bureaucratic caste in
available evidence would seem to in-
dicate the
Collar
bureaucratic castes, such as the ones in
the Soviet Union and
characteristically display conservatism,
Tailed
this Thus
were im-
has followed a
American
support
Castro proof that
caste has taken over in Cuba.
The Cuban
the Castro team after they Influence
Cuban revolution.
was, under the
maintain
of Latin the anti-
dard prove
an anti-
list includes
seen racism; the against rights for women; the setting
hardened Cuba, the establishment
China,
even a counterrevolutionary outlook, particularly in foreign policy; hence their pursuit of 'peaceful coexistence,
of deals with the im perialist powers at the expense of the
But in Africa, Cuban activities have greatly increased instablility at the expense or te imperianst powers. Castr
course that closed off deal with imperialism. This fact alone speaks decisively against the contention that the events in Africa offer
La hardened bureaucratic
course in Africa re- whole ... quires no essential alterations in the Marxist analysis of the lines adopted by ing.
had consolidated the victory of the revolution. being,
Cuba's influence appears completely out of proportion to the size of this small Caribbean country — How is this anomaly to be explained? The answer is obvious - it lies in the power of the
the recoro is there for all to see:
First, in the contrast between Cuba that
American puppet Batista, and the Cuba that is, under a animals revolutionary regime. Second, in the contrast between today's Cuba and the
America. Cuba demonstrates what can be done under a planned economy to improve the stan-
of living of the poor. Countries like Chile are hangmen's showcases.
The achievements made possible by
toppling capitalism are impressive. The Pigs.
the
unemployment, once the scourge of the which
Cuban working class; the banning of
promulgation of equal United up of
child-care centres on a national scale;
the construction of a free educational
system that provides not only books
but food and clothing to students; the
of model social-
security system, including health care;
the slashing of rents and initiation of an
ambitious program to end the acute
shortage of housing inherited from the
past, and an agrarian reform that was
decisive in establishing the firm worker-peasant allance on which Ine liTsu workers's state the Western Hemisphere depends.
It is the example of Cuba, the example of achievements made possible by
revolution. that accounts Havana's standing among the peoples of the colonial and semicolonial countries and thereby its political weight internationally.
accounting of developments within Cuba, particularly in the last decade, is of course required in any balance sheet of the revolution
The Cuban revolution faced extreme difficulties from the beginn-
Inadequacies of leadership counted among them, the prime one
as i nave laucated, rendice di guerrilla war to extend the revolution. Another was the failure to proceed im. mediately to establishment of forms of proletarian democracy.
Imperialism
However, the main source of the difficulties was American imperialism. The mightiest military power on earth, located only ninety miles away, decided to strangle the Cuban revolution. Castro was marked for assaşsination. Farm
were inoculated with contagious diseases. Saboteurs set bombs. The blowing up of a merchant ship in Havana harbour and arson that suc-
burning
Havana's biggest department stores
were two of the more spectacular in-
cidents. Forays of this kind were top-
ped by the armed invasion at the Bay of
Worst of all was the blockade, completely disrupted
traditional pattern of trade with the
States and greatly reduced the
possibilities of free trade with other
countries. Tiny Cuba denendent on
imported oil as its source of energy, was
truly an isolated fortress under heavy
siege. In defense of the revolution, the
Castro team placed Cuba under war-
time regulations.
Wall Street and its political agent
in Washington bear full responsibility
for blockading the Cuban • revolution
from developing freely. This
never be forgotten weaknesses and mistakes of the Castro regime.
The Kremlin must be held responsible for another source of difficulties. Without help from the Soviet Union for the Cuban revolution would certainl have been smashed Eisenhower or Kennedy. The Cubans were completely correct in seeking that aid.
Stalin's hiers felt obliged to respond to the Cuban plea, but instead of providing aid free of charge as was their duty, they paid level. In short, to get the required aid the Cubans had to let the red glow of the Cuban revolution Khrushchey and Brezhnev.
peared in the record -is castro s crucisms or me doviel inva sion of Czechoslovakia, which he reluctantly supported -
demanded by the Soviet aid rankled with the They had to forego speaking out freely While they were able to get the required material aid in time to save the revolution, the cost their political independence.
Campaign
Both the American campaign to of crush the revolution and the strings at-
tached to Soviet aid must be taken into
consideration in dealing with the pro-
blem of bureaucratism
isolating and further impoverishing the
country,
social importance Cuba's charged with
distribution of scarce
priority
forces. One of the consequences was an
army now recognized as the
Latin America.
the introduction of
bureaucratization.
fluence was shown in the growth of
bureaucratic tenuencies
auspices of figures who were prominent
in the Stalinist apparatus in Batista's should time. These case-hardened bureaucrats
the Soviet
Kremlin. the where
in criticising the opposition to
However,
hardened by either formed,
political
demanded that a price be principally on the political
shine on
things that have ap. a good example
• it is clear that the Kremlin for Cubans. government.
was heavy in terms of
The initiation
democracy
at importade or the layese
layers the defense. In party supplies top • had to be given the armed
DeSE tendencies demonstrated Another conseqence, however, was replica
ranks, a sign of The Kremlin's in-
under the
ternationally, Socialist Action 6 January 1984
were met head-on by Castro. A more difficult problem is the example set by
ruling caste, which quidated the proletarian democracy fostered under Lenin and Trotsky. No model of proletarian democracy exists
counter totalitarian forms of rule upheld by the
It would be untrue to say that the battle against bureaucratism has been won in Cuba. The indications are that this insidious social disease has gained. ed forces would indicate. Similar signs include the continuation of the ban of formation on tendencies and faction in the Communist Party and the jailing
independent-minded poet Heberto Padillo on March 20, 1971; the brush-off given to protests against the jailing by leftist intellectuals like Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez, Octavio Paz, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Mario Vargas Llosa; the show trial of Padilla, which included a Moscow style 'confes sion' by the poet; and the accompany. ing clampdown in the cultural field
previously shown their intent to make the revolution a 'school of unfettered thought' in
bureaucratic practices Another bad indication has been the pillorying of homosexuals.
the headway made by bureaucratism has not reached such a degrce war one must conclude unal ¿
bureaucratic caste has been exercises dictatorial power, and cannot be dislodged save through a
revolution No qualitative point of change has yet been adduced to substantiate this hypothesis.
he stand taken by the Socialis Workers Party towards the Cuban revolution flows from its initial analysis of that event. It can be summarised in
• For defense of the Cuban revolution against all its enemies. As a party within the United States, the SWP considers it to be its special duty to foster the strongest possible political opposition to the main enemy of the revolution, American imperialism. This defense is unconditional - it does not hinge on the attitudes or policies of the Cuban
• For the development of proletarian forms of democracy in Cuba. The purpose of this is to bring the masses into
decision-making process most effective way, thereby strengthenThe instation of workers council.
workers' councils would add fresh power to the Cuban revolution as living proof that socialism does not entail totalitarianism but on the contrary signifies the extension of
Fi to the oppressed in a was that will lead eventually to the wither-
ing away of the state. • For the formation of a Leninist-type
that guarantees internal democracy, that is, the right of critical opinion to be heard. The power of a party that safeguards the right to form
factions was by the Bolsheviks. shaped with Cuban particularities could do much to induce the formation of similar partie. in the rest of the world. This would greatly facilitate resolving the crisis im leadership faced by the proletariat in.
therby assuring a new series of revolutionary victories.
Page 8 scan of this page
MOLES
EYE
VIEW
DIARY
hese listings are free for all yor labour movement and apaign activities aimum of 50 words. Semi-
advertisements cost
wore one must be bord
Send to: Diary, cialist Action, 328 Upper reer, London NI 2XP to
later than
rsday, one week prior to
bernational The Politics of Health in
- owe nour lone viaco Table for meetings or
£10 (payable in Send to Books for
ainea rune robox London N1.
Sri Lankan Research &
ration Group will
ront situation there for cuings. wite to an
Buildings, London ECI.
Intervention in
(NICA) is
oad based coalition of
AcTIoN
Join the
fight for
socialism
Socialist Action 6 January 1984 solidarity groups, human rights orgs, aid agencies and Donca Danes. More ceras from NICA 20/21 Compton
Terrace, London N1 01-226 014/.
World to the Third World War new pamphlet published bv El Salvadoi Solidarity Campaign, Order from EL L.SSỐC,
London
have also produced a 1984 calciuar showie scenes from life in the liberated zones, £3 from same address. • Central America and the Caribbean A series of open educationals with videos and speakers ar recknam caooui Club, Lansbury House, 41 Camber well Grove, London
10 Jan Guatemala: 17 Jan Honduras; 44 Jan Salvador; 31 Jan Grenada; 7 Feb Evening of Central Amencan culture. Aamission £1/UB40 free. Organised by Sth London Central Amencar Group, contact Edwin 01-733 7706 for details. • reman benero with new film about Guatemala and an eye-witness report Irom Nicaragua Dy stanle Clinton-Davis. Rio Cinema.
Name
Address
Tel
Age ... Union/CLP (if any) If you want more information about Socialist Action or to be put in touch with local supporters send this form to Socialist Action, 328 Upper Street,| London N1.
Neto
Justice in the Met THE Metropolitan
tion in the way that it maintains its own high standards.
Impervious to the moans OTI the media, refusing to be budged by
Iberals, knows what is best for policing.
LOOK Detective Constable Peter Finch.
That Drave di don with his mate pumped five bullets into an innocent unarmed man. Then defying all the dangers he whipped his victim. scotland yard are ried that he has come under 'emotional stress' and they are sending him off to the uniformed
London 328 Upper St. London N1
telephone 01-226 0571
Open — Mon, Tues, Sat, 10-6 Wed 12-7
Thur, Fri, 11-7.
Birmingham 137 Digbeth Birmingham B5
telephone (021) 643-5904 Open — Mon-Sat 10-6 Closed Wed.
Mail Order Service - Add 20% for P&P
• Adverrisement Dalston. Thur 26 January, 7pm.
Trade Unionists from El Salvador Trade Union leaders from El Salvador will speak al a lany win lony Benn, Ken Cameron, Fire Brigades union general scliciary allu d representative of the NGA.
Mon 23 January, 7.30.
re Magic
branch. OK, that shows
the Yard can be con, siderate when it has to.
can also be
tough. PC Trevor Att-
field had the impudence to go an industrial
tribunal to support
patrol-car partner Wen-
dy de Launev who claim
ed she was the victim of
sexual discrimination.
The tribunal agreed with
Ms de Launev. But vou
can't have that in our
police force.
Shooting inno-
cent, knocking wounded
with
pistol — these are OK.
Being
discrimination breaks all
the Met's codes, and colla lead to a moral
decline in the police
For Marxist
books, posters,
postcards, badges
Feminist literature
County Hall, London.
25 Years of the Cuban Revolution
• Celebration with Cuban Ambassador film, food music. 2.30-11.30pm, Africa Centre, King Street. , Covent Garden, London, Sat 14 January. • Britain-Cuba Resource cente ormanon a0o activities, subs to Granma weekly review and newsletters from 29 Islington Park St, London N1.
• Womens study tour of Cuba 4-20 April, information from BCRC, 29 Islington Park St, London NI.
Ireland • Day school on Ireland Sat 28 January
lialll.
Chetwynd Room, Kings College, Cambridge.
Organised by Cambridge and
Movement. Creche available.
Charitable Len WHAT A nice man that Len Murray is. While
were lounging around enjoying.
Xmas he was distributing tea and food to the unemployed down and outs. Mind you he and his mates on the TUC General Council are to blame for increasing unemplovment and there are thousands of people dependent on a hand out over Xmas who can thank Len for their
Lesbian & Gay Liberation
• Nottingham Labour
Campaign for Gay Rights meets monary Next meeung 18 Jan, 8pm, Salutation Inn, Maid Marion Way. Details: Chris Richardson, 21 Devonsnire rromenade. Lenton 0602 780124.
• London Labour Campaign for Gay Rights new office at 39
Chippenham Rd, W9 2AH 01-286 9692, open Tues-Thur 1lam-7pm. (Westbourne Grove tube. Bad access, help avallaole..
Civil Rights
• Campaign against the Police Bill National march and rally Sat 21 Jan, Brockwell Park, London. Detals or inese ane olner events from NCAPB, 50 Rectory Rd, London N16 01-249 8334.
Miscellaneous • GLC workshops Employment and training for the future. 12 Jan Black
For a Reagar-free Caribbear
Reagan Free Caribbean
badges in yellow, black
and red. 25p each (plus
postage); bulk orders 20p
Money with orders
to PO Box 36, 136
Kingsland High St
London E8 Cheques/POs
payable to Hackney Book
Club.
plight.
But Len remains undaunted. reckons Christian charity is the solution. It onlv those ir
a jobeir wa dono main-
• their wages to main taining Salvation Army hostels and institutions TOT homeless and maybe Mrs Thatcher NiCE Town a Tew Don
well. This would be preferable to strikes and occupations against redundancies, and would
women, employment prospects; 26 Jan Greater
London Training Board; 9 Ten reder concor Enterprise Board; 23 Feh Cooperatives. Black Women's Centre Brixton 41A Stockwell Green London, SW9, 7-9.30 pm
Anti-cuts campaigns
London Here service Campaign. 34 Dalston Lane,
_ondon E8 3AZ 01-249 oU00
• Hayes Cottage Hospital Occupation Cttee, Grange Rd, Hayes, Middx 01-573 5593.
WHEN THE MQUNTAINS *TREMBLE and the Nic The films
Diary
make sure everybody stayed within the law.
As Len believes in the power of prayer a lot of trade unionists are sug gesting he takes himself and most the TUC General Council ott to a retreat where they car pray against poverty anc homelessness. They would even be given paid leave providing they pro. mised stay there for the next 10 years!
New pamphlet: Politics in the 1980's - • The British Crises.
Articles reprinted from Socialist Action and international John Ross, British politics in the 1980's; Alan Freeman, How Labour Can Win; Steve Marks, the 1983 Election; John Ross, Facing 1984; Alan Freeman, Rebuilding the Labour Party.
Available from The Other Bookshop, 328 Upper St, London N1, price 35p.
WHEN THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE
A New fum About Guatemal:
and NICARAGUA: REPORT FROM THE
FRONT
STANLEY CLINTON-DAVIS
will open a BENEFIT NIGHT LAUNCH
with these two film du or guatemal
Thursday 26th January at 7pm
The Kio Cinema. Da stol
Speakers frog the Reads Comic for Human Rights
will be showing at the Rio from the 26th January to Ist February 1984 Benefit organised by the Gratemals Working Grou]
Page 9 scan of this page
Surplus Value
THE ACTIONS of the Greenham women been a focus and an inspiration to the whole peace movement. But not socialists support women-only action. This article was circulated at CND's annual conference in Sheffield last
signed DAVID We haven't met David, and we don't know whether he would call himself socialist, but we believe his views will be of interest to our readers.
MOST PEOPLE would that the peace camp at Greenham Common has been far and away the most successful anti-nuclear action that has ever occurred in Britain. It was begun more than two years ago by women and its survival has involved supreme courage and enormous sacrifice by women.
As most people are aware, essential aspect of this peace camp is that the women do not want men to participate actively in it:
women only event. Many men kare felt unhappy about this decision and, in various ways, have tried 1o get women to change their mind: but the women have remained firm — no men at Greenham Common.
This does not seem to be par-
unreasonable to me and never has done. I cannot see how the action could possibly have been even remotely as successful as it has been if it had been a mixed aclol. from the increased likelihood violence, confrontation and internal mistrust, a mixed action would rob the Greenham peace supremely powerful significance: the juxtaposition women protesters and the ultimate products of sexist society.
Greenham blockade, March 1983
Men and
Greenham
have
Greenham all
wanted.
SIOll.
There IS
on the subject. Many
easy
such men.
agree
that can LECH
involve Our
acts
TV. 04 media or being
particular this is so.
Avall of fighting for
camp of its
symbolic always been and, of
Many men do not agree with this view, or find it difficult to accept. They feel excluded and bitter. Wanting to protest against cruise they go
hoping the women or initiate a mixed action and they go away deeply hurt when with all their good intentions - ine are told that their presence is un
Anti-nuclear men have repeatedly written to the Greenham women complaining about this exclu-
La long-standing and sometimes acrimonious public debate
other men, viewing from afar, and with no real wish to participate, nevertheless find
condemn no-men policy. This article is addressed to all
I would like to stress that I am not coing to say anyining inat women themselves have not said over and over again until they are sick of saying it. The fact is that there is a great deal
do to support the women of Greenham Common and that our contribution can be crucial. Unfortunately such sapport does got
physical presence Greenham or the drama of appearias
being interviened by there arrested for beliefs. Let me explain »hy I think
For centuries we men have wanted
'a piece of the action', to be out there
what we believe in, strong. …t comes
naturally to us. This is the way it has
of course, there's
certainly nothing wrong with being
decisive, active and strong. But can
Refleciin? Greertam sou tell me of a single political actor of real importaace that kits exer ax. cared ironing!
side smoo It per cret in att e preserie of Toics leaders. men base not overbed ly dominated leadership and polic! making decisions?
Action
The only such actions I can think
of have involved women struggling for basic rights denied to them by
men. Few men wanted to be involved in that sort of action. Apart from these cases, a political action in which
women were even equally represented
is virtually unknown. If such an event
is so rare may it not mean that women
hare. for centuries, been manipulated
and coerced into taking a role subser-
vient to men. There must be some
for this peculiar
representation which, despite laws
and votes, strangely enough appears
still to be with us.
doing doing so unintentionally?
wonderfully simple; tremendous relief to discover it and I heartily recommend tormula to all ol you wao alt worry ing about unintentionally women to manipulation cion. All you have to do is: • Ask the women in question what
they want of you • Listen carefully to the answer —
and most important of all — • Do it and do it gladly
Listening is very many men; we are not used to doing under- it. In fact most of us are so unused to listening to women that we don't even realise we're not doing it. However, although hard at first, with practise l have found it is not really difficult after all. I think that any man can do it if he really wants to. I also think that if all men genuinely listened to women with respect, took what they had to say seriously and based their actions on that understanding world would be a different and far happier place.
Remember
only the use of your ears but your mind as well, so try and suppress the urge finished and you have thought about what she remember that if a woman says you're not listening to her she is almost certainly right.
mula for supporting women to the women of Greenham Common us remember that a women-controlled political action of this type and of such great success is virtually unique. Let us remember women live in the most atrocious conditions, constantly soldiers, police and journalists great majority of them male.
to realise that the women are under a
psychological shouted at them Physical attacks.
Fear of infiltration.
Socialist Action a January 105 The solution to this dilemma is
10 E
the following fied i i subjecting Oppresoo and coer- the biend thinkable difficult for
equality uniti
you not
cooking meals, children school,
Listening to women involves not
reply until the woman has
ABOVI
Let us now apply the above for-
Let
also that these them to get it.
harassed by - the more
It does not take much imagination
Abuse them, day hardly Arbitrary arrest.
Continual MON!
Demand
Women have a right 1o 28that we listen to them sad we base a duty to stop making excuses 8d 10 hear what they say. There will Berer
and men do this. After all. women of Greenham Common have been saying the same thing all along. It is time to stop whining, to realise that they're not going to change their minds, and to understand why. Can
see that there is a certain degree of justice in it all?
Why don't you go away and start
being there for the when they get home from changing nappies, washin! dishes, reading bed-time stories, ing the washing, the shopping and all the other things women do day in, day out year after year? If you volunteer to do it for the right person — well. she could go to Greenham.
We men have vast privilege and
— until we are prepared to re nounce it all our efforts for social change can never possibly succeed. Giving money to Greenham women is part of the redistribution of wealth and is a powerful political and symbolic act on the part of men. Don't worry — they need it and will accept it gladiy. If you have access to food or any other articles useful to people living in rough conditions, arrange for
None of this may seem particularly glamorous or heroic I'm afraid, but
and less hassle could make a very big difference in the campaign to get rid of nuclear weapons. If you do want to get rid of
remember struggle has begun and SUPPORT THE WOMEN OF GREENHAM COM-
Page 10 scan of this page
The pro-Nazi past of Israel's prime minister
Stern gang proposal to Nazis on war-time collaboration
10 Socialist Action IN 1940-41 a dissident Zionist group tried to ally itself with Adolf Hitler. What gives this grotesque propostion significance is that leaders was Yitzhak Shamir, and a scandal is brewing as the public is becoming aware has its first Nazi Prime Minister.
Shamir was already a member of Vladimir Jabotinsky's 'ZionistRevisionist' Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organisation). The Irgun had come to realise that Britain had no intention of handing over all of Palestine - and Jordan
- to the Zionists, and he looked elsewhere for new patrons.
He found two new backers. The anti-Semitic regime in Poland, eager to get rid of its Jews, and therefore always Inendly to Lionism, armed the Irgun and began to train its cadres in the insurrectionary arts. And, beginning in 1934, Mussolini set up a youth squadron at Although Jabotinsky insisted that he was not a Fascist, Mussolini recognised him as such, calling him 'your Fascist, Jabotinsky'
By Lenni Brenner
It was the Spanish Civil War which convinced Mussolini that he had to stand with Hitler against the European working class, and expel all Jews from his party. Disillusioned, Jabotinsky slowly returned to his previous pro-British orientation and pith the outbreak of World War 11 he called off the Irgun's terrorist campaign against the Arabs and the British authorities in Palestine.
But a wing of the Revisionists had become so fanatically Fascist that they could not accept reality and blamed Mussolini's turn toward Hitler on the Jews! They insisted that the Jewish left had 'insulted' the despot by proclaiming the fight against Hitler to be part of the 'anti-Fascist struggle'; and the mainline Zionists had stubbornly remained loval to British imperialism.
The followers of Avraham Stern spit from Jabotinsky and set up their own NMO, and tried to convince the Atis powers that, yes indeed, they were proper Fascists who could be counted on to fight the left Batish.
Shamir's ascent to naturally focused attention on his past and an Israeli journalist recently asked kim about the Stern gang's incredible proposal. Said Shamir: plan to turn to Italy for help and to make contact with Germany on the
that could about a massive Jewish immigration (to Palestine): 1 opposed this, but 1 did join Lehi after the idea of contacts with the Aris countries was dropped.
Even if Shamir were now telling the truth, he actually is confessing that he poined a pack of would-be aborators with Hitler. is lying. Late in 1940 a Sternist, Naftali Lubentschik, met with two German diplomats in Vichy-run Beirut, gave them the Stern gang's "proposal', Which was found after the war in the Nazi files. Although Shamir is now claiming that he joined Stern only after
mad proposal was 'dropped', was the Hitlerites who were not incrested in any would-be Zionist allies. Here we print excerpts from the Stern Gang's proposals.
6 January 1984
contemporary
one of its
that Israel now
'Revisionist'
Civitavecchia. to do so he had to Zionists and the
power has
and utterances statesmen of "There was a Germany that a
bring question ('"Jew-free Europe").
col-
But, in fact, he
home of the Palestine, and and
its historical boundaries. freedom
STOCKHOLM IS YOURS
¡JERUSALEM IS OURS
EACHERS FOR THE REDOM OF ISRAEL
Stern gang members demonstrate in Jerusalem
'IT IS often stated in the speeches Military
of the leading National Socialist New Order Europe requires as a prerequisite
Zionist the radical solution of the Jewish
through evacuation
The evacuation of the Jewish masses from Europe is a precondition for solving the Jewish question; but this can only be made possible and complete through the settlement of these masses in the
Jewish people, through the establishment of a Jewish state in
The solving in this manner of the Jewish wich in the ther the orging
¡beraton or Jewish people once and for all, is the objective of the political activity and the years long struggle of the Jewish
National
YOUR WORK ISN VAN
WE ARE
Organisation (Irgun Leumi) in Palestine.
The NMO, which is well-acquainted with the goodwill of the German Reich
inside Germany and towards Zionist emigration plans, is of the opinion that: 1) Common interests could exist bet-
ween the establishment of a new
order in Europe in conformity with
the German concept, and the true
national aspirations of the
people as they are embodied by the
NMO. 2) Cooperation between the new Ger-
many and renewed folkish-
national Hebraium would be possi-
ble and 3) The establishment of the historical
on national
totalitarian basis, and bound by a
treaty with the German
would be in the interest of a main-
tained and strengthened future Ger-
man position of power in the Near
East.
Aftermath of the Stern gang boming of the King David Hotel British 'wanted' poster indicts Stern gang terrorists
Zvai Proceeding from these considera
tions, the NMO in Palestine, under the condition the tional aspirations of the Israeli freedom movement are recognised on the side of the German Keich. take part in the war on Germany's side. This offer by the NMO, covering activity in the military, political and information fields, in Palestine and, ac cording to our tions, outside Palestine, would be conJewish nected to the military
organising of Jewish Europe, under the leadership and command of the NMO. These military units would take part in the fight to conquer Palestine, should such a front be decided upon.
and The indirect participation
Israeli freedom movement in the New Reich, Order EuroDe.
preparatory stage, would be linked with a posluve ratical soluton of tae curo pean Jewish problem in conformity with the above-mentioned
WANTED!
above-mentioned
offers to actively succule
defeat England.... determined prepara-
training and manpower in
and the Arabs, Jewish socialists.' of the • Lenni already the (Croom Helm,
national Press.
International
aspirations of the Jewish people. This would extraordinarily strengthen the moral basis of the New Order in the eyes of all humanity. The cooperation of the Israeli freedom movement would also be along the lines of one of the last
German Reich Chancellor, in which Hitler emphasised that he would utilise every combination and coalition in order to isolate and
....The NMO is closely related to th its alterlag and stricture. The
ideology structure. fighting capacity of the NMO could never be paralysed or seriously weaken-
_strong defensive measures by the English administration
, nor by those of the
Brenner is the author of Zionism in the Age of the Dictators
£9.95). His The Iron Wall: A History of Zionist Revisionism will be published next Spring by Zed
Page 11 scan of this page
News
FOUR of the Newham defendants Daldir Onal Vipun Pathak, Kalbir Khela, and Gurjit
laye been found guilty of affray. WEICI charges againsi them (such as criminal
and offensive Callare weapons) were dismissed, as were all charges against the other four defendants
As we enter 1984, the auestion remains now ac black people organise
the rights which every other section society takes for granted, when all the forces of the state have failed to do so?
All the police officers, called witnesses, including the Commander of K division, had either not heart of the Home Office report into racial attacks, which established that Asians were 50 times more likely
be allackeu Inlan ally other section of society. LEADERS of the public sector union, NALGO, have tied themselves in knots over the NGA dispute and fuelled a growing revolt among rank and file members.
NALGO was one of the first unions to declare unanimous support for the NGA in its fight against the Stockport Messenger Group and its defiance of the government's anti-union laws. Yet no sooner
test at the critical vote of the TUC General Council, then the four-person NALGO delegation was split down the middle.
New NALGO General Secretary, JOnT Daly, voted against the NGA. So did Ada Maddocks, union's national organising officer for health staff who occupies one of the wonders General Council.
TRIDENT 1S coming
sooner than many may im-
Three hundred and
fifty million pounds OI
more will have been spent
on Trident by mid-1904.
There is speculation that at
least three under-ground
nuclear tests have already
been carried
USA, as part of the British
Trident programme.
This means there's no
campaigning time to be
lost: a feeling reflected at
the AGM of the Anti-
Newham 8 campaign
A partial
victory
In their decision, jury alSO
witnesses that the plain-clothes
pretended of the
and to Cal l abuse and assault the
of youth
and Little Ilford school.
By Unmesh Desai
Sentencing of the four is expected to take place in mid-January. Meantime, the Defence Campaign is:
• organising public meeting on Sunday January 7 to discuss the implications of the case for ine black community, ana the need for strong. local
NALGO leaders
challenged over NGA
Their action provoked angry invasion of NALGO's Central London headquarters Kent County NALGO. On the front steps building stewards struck up chorus of Hang Down Your Head John
before holding stormy meeting with their embarassed General Secre tary. They called on all NALGO members to show their disgust at 'Daly's treachery' and mobilise to get rid of the union's inef-
ectual leaders.
By K. Kirkham
After the TUC refused to endorse "illegal' action by the NGA, NALGO's National Executive duly backtracked declaring would only support the printers 'provided that the continuing support does not involve positive
breaches of the law
Trident Campaign News
Trident Campaign (ATC
Glasgow
December, when delegates
rejected a move to dissolve
the campaign.
They were not convinc-
ed that the anti-Trident
campaigning WOlO ve
Stee dupings cith is
CND
now committed to holding
anti- Trident
demonstration in 1984.
The AGM decided to
organisation. Support groups around the country are asked organise public NICCUSS the same theme.
• calling. for a day of action and a mass picket of
Bailey when
sentencing. Supporters are
CLU of the court the
hearing with the Defence Campaign.
After sentencing, Campaign has plans for a
surrounding policing in At the end of the day, judicial decision will not alter one iota the necessity for black Deodle to defend themselves against racist attacks.
campaign has played a major role in developme Community self-organisation in
Such a step is nothing short of suicidal, especially when the Tories show
Not intensitving their onslaught the public sector in 1984 with crushing legal penalties at the ready. Britain's largest white collar union,
800,000 strong, NALGO could make the running in the battle against rateLavis. , against the aboli- the metropolitan LOTO county councils and the GLC, against health and
moves to sell off whole sections of nationalised industries.
Remain
But its leaders look likely to remain with their neaas in tne sand unless members respond to the call or ine Kent stewards: "These class col laborators must be replaced with leaders who will fight unions.'
continue the anti-Trident convention in Manchester,
day 2 struary. Already
day February). Already ATC is using a petition calling trades unions and local authorities boycott firms working on Trident. Rolls Royce workers Hillington, Glasgow, have successfully refused work Commuccica will Trident. The potential is there -will the labour movement take up the challenge?
The
ARR
Laragero
Asian youth campaign in support of Newham 8 Newham. Local black youth, radicalised by the whole experience resisting racism for years played a crucial role in the SIXTY THOUSAND shipyard
from 6 January.
tied up with strings.
Management, with government insistence are determined to drive through a 'survival plan' involving yard closures,
redundancies, Illassive privatisation and major changes in work-practices. 25,000 the last six years
shipyard workers have lost their jobs and another 9,000 redundancies are planned in the next year.
This follows a pattern of so called survival plans imposed bv the lorie nationalised industries like British Steel, WICe the workforce has been massacred to less than half of the 1979 level.
With such rationalisaHOnors Come on union rights and hard won practices on the shop floor.
Campaign.
The capacity of the community to organise in face of the overwhelming odds, and the courage o
Shipyards set for action
workers, from 23 yards and workshops stretching between Southampton and Glasgow, are set for all out strike action
The nationalised British shipbuilders have offered a paltry 2 per cent pay increase and even this is
Already in the lead up to this dispute, managers in ship repair yards 'vneside have tried to im. pose ballots over the heads of the union.
By Celia Pugh
Shipyard workers have shown thev are determiner to stand up against these attacks on their lobs. conditions and unions. Over three national conferences of lay delegates from tion, , grade and union in the industry have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action to resist the Mass meetings in every yard confirmed support toi national strike from Jallual y
Socialist Action 6 January 1984 the Newham 8 should spur defeat the Police Bill and successfully growing state authoritarianism.
But there is
concen about to backtrack by leaders of the Confederation Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, which unites the 13 shi November the na
November tional negotiating committee, the SNC, came close to agreeing a deal which involved an attack trade union boundaries and working conditions.
condemned by a national combine commille of shot stewards from around the country and stewards the Swann Hunter yard in Tyneside passed a vote of no confidence in the national negotiating team.
The electricians union general workers union GMBATU which organises jority of shipyard workers told stewards to secret ballots on the strike
with a required two Cala thirds majority
This angered union members who had already voted in their vast majority
11
BLACK COMMUN
For more information on the court cases and the Newham Campaign contact 555 3331 Box 213, 1533317.
mass meetings and through delegate conferences for strike action
Sammy Gilmore, convenor of the Govan ship builders in Glasgow asked 'How many times have we There has never beesi take decisions?
all talk of the need for ballots at the mass meetings and we are not in favour of the "Tebbitism being in-
Govan workers showed their determination to take on BS by starting an immediate overtime ban in the second week December
British Shipbuilders' management are firm their resolve smash unions and conditions in the yards and to prepare the way for privatisation. by Govan workers will be needed in the weeks ahead if union leaders are to be prevented from buckling at the knees. The labour movement should rally to well siac.
Page 12 scan of this page
Black
PRESSURE is mounting in all the countries which have 'peace-keeping' troops in Lebanon for their withdrawal. In the United States three former directors of the CIA called for the withdrawal of the US marines on the grounds that they are sitting ducks and have 'failed to change the balance of power in Lebanon. The touching concern CIA men is not of course for the Lebanese people, but merely an expression of the view that the US troops should either 'zap the natives' or get out.
But much of the pressure in the US, as well as France, Italy and Bri-
trom another source the realisation that the so-called peace keepers are there not to keep any sort of peace, but merely to bolster the cactionary Maronite Christian government of Amin
In recent weeks the international peace keepers have shown exactly which
they are on.
Christmas Day the French contingent occupying
OI the Beirut suburbs near Chatila and Sabra refugee camps
HOVe CUordinated with the Lebanese army. The army immediately moved in 30 battle tanks and proceded
attack the Sonner! suburbs of the city which are a stronghold of the Shi'ite militia Amal.
Over the past month the Gemayel government nas been coming unaci licreasing pressure from the Israelis to clean up Beirut'
- that is to defeat all those
which are opposed the Israeli-imposed Gemayel government. The international peace keeping force, and in particular the French and American troops, have openly col-
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ACTION
Christmas
in Lebanon
of these former
Elaborated with Gemayel in the project of inflicting a nilitary defeat on his op onents. Nothing could be further from 'peace keep ing' than connivance in the indiscriminate USe modern battle tanks against the poor suburbs of southern Beirut.
By Paul Lawson
While urging Gemayel to take a lougner line against his opponents, the Israelis have been consolidating their grip southern Lebanon. The sael occupalul has been accompanied by massive harassment of the civilian population, which in the south is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim.
Over the new year both Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim communities united in a series sit-ins and other acts of civil disobediance against the occupiers.
While the struggle against the Gemayel and the Israelis continued, Yasser Arafat and his loyalist Fateh PLO fighters finally left Tripoli, to be scatered around the A aD world.
The driving out of Arafat
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represents the final accomplishment by the vales Wildl was started by the Israeli inva-
the drive son last ycal to destroy the PLO as an effective fighting force independent of any Arab state.
While the rump PLO in Lebanon and Syria is effectively controlled by the Syrian government,
made a crucial mistake in turning towarus LIC Murabak regime in Egypt. There is no way forward for the Palestinian people in alliance with the right wing Murabak regime, nor for that matter in alliance with Hussein of Jordan who is making his own bid to be the 'ally of the PLO
The Christmas and New Year events in the Middle East have set the seal on two years of continuous defeats for the Palestinian people and the Arab nationalist forces in the region. There is no way Torward TOE we shruggie for the liberation of the
peopic, the struggle to defeat the
Maronite caculullar regime in Lebanon, without creating a movement independent of every reactionary Arab state and that includes Syria, Egypt and Jordan.
This struggle will be made immensely easier when the imperialist troops are withdrawn from the region. The cam-
for their withdrawal, and especially the withdrawal OT British troops, must be major campaign labour movement.
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France:
sit-in against redundancies.
The company declared 1905 redundancies workforce of 17,000 When the CFDT declared a strike and sit-in against the redundancies, Peugeot suspended 17,000 workers and threatened to dismiss all of them.
In a scandalous move
Partydominated CGT union
SUDDULI the strike and called for 'sensi-
negotiations'
Paradoxically the CFDT, which is generally more pro-Socialist Party, has begun to take a more independent stance dustrial struggles. The attitude CGT, however, following the line of the CP which wants at least for the moment to remain in the government. has been to cool industrial fights.
Lebanese army battle tanks attack Amal militia in Southern Beirut.
'Socialist' government
attacks strikers
THE GOVERNMENT of Francois Mitterand in France has sanctioned the use of 500 riot police to evict about 100 workers occupying the PeugeotTalbot car factory in Poissy. The forcible eviction of the strikers, members of the pro-Socialist Party CFDT trade union, comes at the end of a three week
What makes the attack on the Poissy workers even more criminal is that the majority of the strikers are workers from North Africa. in a na tional climate of growing racism and the strengthening of the extreme right wing, ll nas been only too easy for the Peugeot company to whip up hostility to the strikers.
By Tony Smith
The duty of the CFDT and the CT equally was the build support for the strikers. The Socialist-led government handed the right wing a gift by backing the company and by using not ponce — a acci sion taken at a restricted How Call the Com-
munist Party stay in government which uses riot police workers? Anyone who had
jor trade union
Union Federation -
During their visit
secretaries and executive members
main national unions
the country
meetings.
• London Rally.
Hall, London (near Waterloo Station).
illusions in the Mitterand government should take a hard 100k the Poissy CVCHILs
Salvadorean trade unionists in Britain
TWO trade unionists from El Salvador will be visiting Britain for three and a half weeks from 14 January. They are representatives of the two ma-
federations, the Trade Union Committee - CUS and the Revolutionary Trade
- FSR. they wil meet general from all the and Neil Kinnock members of the Labour Party NEC. They will also tour union branches and workplaces throughout
ana speak al labou movement
For information about their plans and where you can hear them speak contact: Trade Union Tour c/o El Salvador Solidarity Campaign, 29 Islington Park Street, London N1. Tel: 359 3976
Speakers from the CUS and FSR trade union federations of El Salvador, Tony Benn, Ken Cameron, general secretary of the FBU and a representative from the NGA. 7.30 County
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