Her of the LCC mooraey Iss ings the issue of democracy itse t to the verv foretront.
The Paving Bill now going through the House of Lords will abolish nex elections before parliament evel debated the provisions of the actual Abolition Bill, let alone agreed them — so anxious Thatcherites to destroy when it produces the 'wrong' result: And this particiar in crucial another way. Although the seat is highly marginal ed Labour only won once, at the last election it is currently Labour. It is inevitable therefore that it miniceci on abolition.
Should we lose, the Tories will use the result to say that the people of West Yorkshire support As it is not a safe seat, the election is not a chance politics, but an opecasion on wnici it is absolutely essential that we do so. We persuade the voters in a marginal ward a movement of THREE HUNDRED Labour Party black activists met at Birmingham's Digbeth Civic Hall to discuss establishing black sections throughout the party. After a speech from Vididya Anand, heard messages of supLivingstone, Richardson and Paul Boateng.
rejected the idea of black sections simply campaigning TOI black MPs. Speaker after speaker empilasiscu need for a campaigning, socialist movement rather than mechanisms for the Nutshell this In a nutshell, we alt campaigning on jobs, services These issues weren't so much chosen as obvious. With the direct attack on the right to the expectation of the loss 0f 3-4000 jobs in West Yorkshire alone, the prospect of public services, especially transport, being decimated, privatisaltogether, even Hoosieu there was no question of the positions that we should take.
the Tories want abolish metropolitan councils and the GLC because they are all Labour controlled. As such they seei as a political challenge to Thatcherism. Abolition only makes sense if you accept that the of this go about are dements movement's twin the trade unions the Party — and destroy local democracy altogether. to the government and all it stands for.
Abolition is one side of concerted attack on local Ratecapping is the other. The two are not separate. Ratecapping is meant to starve local government of funds so that its 'uselessness' can be made to seem more obvious — and thus we move OLIC Whitehall dictatorship. step nearer to total Poverty The effect of ratecapping and abolition practice is to reduce both jobs and services, thereby undermining working class standards still further and pushing the idea that you can only get what you pay for directly.
In the longer term the attack on democracy now The fores The sentiag or the governmen the living standards of the class to the bone and reduce LUSI desperate poverty those who can't work - can only GM be successful by putting the political as well as the economic clock back - by attacking the right to vote itself.
The miners' strike has shown with what contempt the Tories really The national ballot on producschemes was declared in the courts not to be binding nationally -that's didn't work in the Tories' favour.
screaming for national because they think it can be used to make striking miners go back to work.
This is exactly the same principle they use in rela tion to the abolition of thy metropol. Democracy an C. Democracy hs produced the 'wrong' results, So it must abolished. The 'right' results, which make voting acceptable those which return government or council, d those which call for an end LO SLEIKCS
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national dimensions IN Paul Boateng — a message of support to conference.