Socialist Action No. 100, 3 May 1985
The scan: 100-may-03-1985-SA-UK.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive)
Uncorrected machine reading of the whole issue. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from the scan and has not been corrected or cut into articles. Each page gives the headlines first, then the columns in order, so one article runs on into the next. Expect misread words. Use it to find things; quote from the scan.
Page 1 scan of this page
Defend the TGWU!
No. 100 3 May 1985 THE NEW REALIST right is hoping for a victory against Ron Todd, now that the TGWU executive has given the go-ahead for a re-ballot in the election for general secretary. The government is looking for chance to try to drive home the advantage gained against NUM and the labour movement militants who supported miners' strike, and to shift the unions firmly to the right. Neil Kinnock, by adding his voice the call for a re-ballot, has weighed into the fight on the side of the new realists and the Labour Party right wing.
No one should be in any doubt therefore about me importance or this election for the future of British trade union movement. The general secretary of the TGWU is one of the most powerful figures in the British trade union movement. When Frank Cousins won the post from Deakin in 1956 it marked the beginning of a shift to the left. Now, Wright were to win against Todd, it would spell a move in the opposite direction.
SOCiALiSt
ACTION
30p That is what the new realist right, Neil Kinnock and the majority of the Labour Party leadership, Tory, Liberal and SP want out of this election. The concern Tory expressed by the bourgeois press for
democracy within the union is entirely spurious. The real issue is the political views of a key leader of the British trade unions, and the million and a half votes that he wields. the Last time Wright stood was during
the miners' strike. He was careful not to differentiate himself too much from union policy. The new realist right as a whole was on the defensive because of the strike. come out more confidently as realist' and a 'middle-of-the-road' candidate. He wilbe open in his differences with policy. the
The press is already preparing his campaign. Key figures, such as Marie Patterson, are speaking up for him But his other backers Tories and the SDP.
Wright in power would put left union policies in jeopardy unilateralism nuclear disarmament, on reselection, and a whole host of other crucial issues. Most important,
T.G.W.U.
OFFIALL
and the Parties all Now he can
much more union
if he
will be the
the Tories.
won the new realist leaders would have secured a key ally in their drive for class collaboration instead of class struggle against the Tories.
Judging by his record as secretary of anti-union laws. the Wales TUC, George Wright will lift not one finger to support his own members, or anyone else, who fights Party
In the long term, the success of Wright in a contest for TGWU leadership would allow the Tories to drive home postal ballots and impose their
With Wright in the TGWU driving seat the right's attempt to regain its grip on the Labour
would be considerably strengthened. The path would be set
for, at best, a right wing Labour government of the Wilson-Callaghan type or, at worst, coalition
These are the stakes involved in the battle now taking place in the TGWU for the election of the general secretary. That's why every stop's got to be pulled out for a victory for Todd and in defence of the TGWU.
Page 2 scan of this page
2 Socialist Action 3 May 1985
SOCAIN
Bennism
and Benn
ONE OF the best tests of any polemic is to find out how honest its arguments are. Polemicists with something to say go right to the heart of the matter, concentrate on their opponents strong points of argument, accurately criticising have to say, and then refute their antagonists most serious arguments.
A debater with nothing to say necessarily engages in trivia, points, avoids dealing with the main issues, and continuously misrepresents their opponent -thus depriving themselves of any possibility of influencing their antagonist and dragging the entire discussion downwards,
Judged by these standards Patrick Seyd's widely reported article Bennism without Benn in the May issue of New lamentable piece. There's indeed a great deal to be discussed-in the present Labour Party the political situation in the coun try, and the recomposition of the labour movement.
Fitting topics themselves would include, for example, how do
get rid of the unemployement? How do we eliminate rising poverty! How do nuclear war? How do we stop the policies of ag gression being carried out by the United States in Central America? How do we get the imprisoned miners out of jail and get those victimised their jobs back? How to fight for the liberation of women? How to get Britain out of Ireland? How to fight the rising scourge of racism? These are
SSUES millions of people.
Seyd however chooses to addresses himself to none of these matters. Instead, in page after page, he treats us to such delectable pieces of information as that Dennis Skinner is supposedly a 'bully' (tell that to the tens of thousands of miners he has spoken in support of.), power' has been 'enhanced', has taken the lead and Benn and the rest of the left have backed him'. We are treated to a great deal of statements allegedly made at private din-
This type of debate has no place whatsoever in any serious political discussion. The positions for polemicised against have nothing to do with his private utterances, whether he raises his voice
or not. That is for a rather sordid type of gossip columnist, not a proposal for a political debate.
The positions for which Neil Kinnock should be, everyone - his refusal to speak at the five national rallies of the NUM to which he was invited,
token appearance on a picket line, his declared view that the anti-democratic laws on rate capping membership of NATO, his refusal to support black sections and so on.
The fact that Seyd should find it necessary to resort to because he wants to avoid the basic political
The real reason that Tony Benn, Dennis Skinner and others are under attack has got nothing to do with the matters to which Seyd devotes a major part of his article. It is to do with the fact that they defended, totally down the line, miners and others in struggle.
Arthur Scargill, whom Seyd also picks out for oblique attack, led 140,000 miners, and tens of thousands of supporters, in a struggle to defend jobs when others, such as Sirs, ran away and became a policing agency of employers destroyprice than the slanders against Benn, Skinner,
prison. That is why there is 'division'.
We will come back to these matters of policy,
again In failing to address the real issues which confront the labour movement, the new grouping -. the Bennites without Benn - for whom Patrick Seyd's article is written has got off to a very inauspicious start indeed.
present what those they are
concentrates on secondary Socialist is a pretty
politics of the
that immediately suggest
horror of mass
we prevent annintation which affect the lives of literally
or the issue of whether he is a bully this sort of tittle-tattle is simply
struggle, again and ecause they are what counts in politics.
FROM THE disastrous experience of the Wilson and Callaghan governments, the left in the Labour Party drew a lesson: that policy victories were hollow representatives advocated them, cambaigned public without a means of support for them, and - most important — practised them in office. At the end of the '70s and into the '80s, party democracy became the new battle ground between left and right, and Tony Benn emerged as the champion of the left's demands.
CAROL TURNER looks at the prospects of a reemergence of the policies of capitalism as the predominant ideology of Labour under the leadership of Kinnock.
AT the turn of the decade new elements began to join the Labour Party in increasing numbers - peace Canvalucis activists from the women's movement, and more recently, black activists. They saw the opportunity CLO turn Labour, into their party, and added their weight to demands for radical polIcies and countability of Labour's representatives.
This helped speed up the leftward shift in the party. At the same time there has been increasing differentiation within the left.
Nowhere has that been more dramatic than during
DESOILE massive support from the rank and file of the party both for the demands of the strike and the methods of the Scargill leadership of the NUM, the "dream-
leadership proved to be a nightmare.
Neil Kinnock and the majority of parliamentary leaders paid lip-service the just demands' of the miners whilst in practice, lining up with the geoisie to stab them in the back. But this isn't all the Kinnock leadership has
of office.
At last year's annual conference they steered through policy statements on defence and economics, the full implications of which are beginning to dawn on par-
Thev won new enabling legislation' for a constituency-based witchhunt, and mounted. direct attack on reselection. Taken together, such MOVe beer to form the Patter onder innock.
under Kinnock.
Elected party eater 'soft left' ticket, reality is forcing him LItU the arms of the right.
Before Christmas he
pre principles or demon
principles or acme cratic socialism'. Whilst the witch-hunting intention of such a document was removed by the national executive, the document itself is still in draft.
Potentially it forms the basis of a future attempt to redefine party member-
bath
Letter -not a Bit. net know that sound!
coming through the bor and dropping onto the hall +
ensuring Labour's Despite successes, that battle is far from over.
managing welfare
exclusive of the so
More recently, an oath of loyalty has been introduced to invalidate reselections in constituencies where black section delegates take part, and
contain the mands of black activists.
At the same time come moves on the policy front. Kinnock has mage. nis first, cautious, statement on coalition -2107010Ved it up by Labour's participation in the all-party committee on unemploy-
Coalition
Described by The Times an 'anti-Tory" coalition of senior coals on all parties politi
the newly-formed Employment Institute's vicechairs are Sir lan Gilmour (an ex-cabinet minister under hatcher. alice outspoken Tory "wet'), Shirley Williams, and Labour shadow cabinet member Michael Meacher. Its 100-strong board of trustees includes Denis Healey, Jim Callaghan and Lord Harold Wilson. Its Charter for Jobs aims
return to Keynesian economic policies to overcome Britain's rising unemployment.
Labour's new defence
- IS predicated on 'full support for NATO It specifically rejects short-term reduction arms spending, and commits Labour to building up the navy and strengthening the Central european front (Germany).
These contradictions lay the basis for a future assault on unilateralism. That is one of the reasons why the NATO discussion paper from Tony Benn and Eric Heffer has produced such a storm at the national executive.
Most recently of all, Kinnock has thrown his cap into the ring on the issue of the TGWU re-ballot. By supporting Wright he has strengthened the hand of the right wing within the unions and the Tory government.
None of these moves should be regarded as a
Uh-oh! It's a real letter all right - from Granny. She wants me to take her to Greenham Common. She wants to march on Enoch Powell
series of own-goals by an INCO Labour leadership. Far from it. They are part and parcel of a conscious attempt to present the par-
safe, non-radical
ingly unpopular Thatcher
They are aimed not at challenging or changing so-called popular opinion on the major issues such as defence and unemployment, but at pandering to it. By so doing, Kinnock and company hope to persuade the ruling class that another term of office for • Labour won't be the disaster the bourgeoisie fear.
Unfortunately nock still faces two major toral support for the SDP obstacles: continued Liberal Alliance on the one hand, and the strength of the left in the labour movement on the other
The SDP-Liberal 'third force' is simply Hense it is go away. Hence necessary for Kinnock the begin, however tentatively, to link about the pro spects of a Lib-Lab pact
She wants a revolution now!
Godammit!
is family and she's a
.but..
Labour
under
Kinnock
type of deal at the next election.
Sadly for him, there is no indication that the left will roll over and die in time for such schemes to come to fruition. The main obstacle reintroducing the management the Wilson-Callaghan era capitalisn of and preparing the party TOT promise' on coalitionism, is the strength of the left within the labour movement. That is why a new battle over ideology is along with a policy fight.
By-gone
Kinnock is joined in this fight by forces such as Marxism Today, Tribune New Socialist, and even New Statesman. All from their different angles are arguing that the miners strike was the last struggle of a by-gone era. What's necessary now is an ena lo class politics — and in its The political is personal and the person al is political and famil
fantastic old woman.
News
place the opening on a
scale of the anti-
Tory alliance.
To wage that battle it is
necessary to take on the
'Bennite" left to
demoralise it, and reduce
influence across the
labour The
shape of that fight was
outlined in May's edition
of New Socialist by
Patrick Seyd, in an article
entitled Bennism without
Benn'.
Quite simply Seyd
argues that a handful of
MPs, led by Benn and
Skinner, have gone over to
the 'ultra left'. They must
WIL
Militant and other • Trot-
skyist groupings within the
party, he says. At the same
time the rest of the left
must make clear r to Kin
nock their readiness to
support nim and thered
'reclaim him for the left'.
It is in this context that
the left in the labour move-
ment must prepare for a
two-sided assault on
policies and on democracy
- that is still to come
*97 * Cormac
... but she'll come down here and drink all my gin and get us both arrested and... dammit!
Personally I blame the miners' strike for
raising her
iousness!
Page 3 scan of this page
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Page 4 scan of this page
Printworkers rally supports the miners
National Women's Solidarity Conference
Socialist Action 3 May 1985
Amnesty!
THE LASTEST FIGURES on the number of miners who have been given their jobs back by the NCB is 280 out of the original 900 who were sacked.
But many of these men are being reemployed not reinstated, which means they lose all their years of service. Those who have 30 years of service behind them could lose more than £30,000 if they were now to be sacked because of pit closures.
The re-employment tactic is being used in the Durham, Derbyshire and Nottingham coalfields
The NUM in Scotland is refusing to take back any sacked miners, under any conditions.
The figures themselves prove that victimisation occurred in this strike on a mass
9,808 miners were arrested in this dispute according to Home Office figures. One in five of those arrested were never charged with any
According to an analysis made by Paddy Hillyard and Janie-Percy-Smith in the Guardian (11/3/85) far from the majority of the miners being involved in daily violence and intimidation the majority were charged with minor public order offences, 4,314 with breach of the peace and 2,322 with obstructing the highway.
The methods that the police employed - riot policing, road blocks, bail conditions which imposed curfews and restrictions on movement, trumped up charges that were later dropped -prove that the law was blatently used in this dispute as a method of social control.
The miners in prison and out of a job are not criminals. They are victims of the Tory government's revenge on a community that dared to resist the destruction of the mining industry. It is vital that the labour movement does everything it can to defend these militants.
'I KNOW MYSELF that these men should not be in prison. They shouldn't be criminalised. My husband was locked up for 32 hours in Mansfield prison. He was dragged out of bed at 1.45 in the morning and in the end he wasn't
Brenda Greenwood was arrested in Ollerton on 26 November. She was locked up in Risley Prison for seven days. She had been charged with obstruction as she supposedly had ignored her bail conditions. But in court she was proved innocent of obstruction so she too was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned without
I have seen men stood up in court and they have done nothing wrong. A lot of men in prison are not guilty of anything. They are in prison because they are miners. Some of the offences are first time offences and very trivial ones at that and men are being sent down for
Neil Kinnock should be kicking up about these people being sent to prison. When I was interviewed on telv thev asked me aboul violence. I don't believe in violence but when i was beaten up by two six foot policemen what could I do about that? Neil Kinnock doesn't talk
NOMPAS exists to help the families of imprisoned miners. Sometimes women have to
NOMPAS is backed by the Haldane Society and if the prisoners don't get their rights then the lawyers we are in contact with will make sure
It helps a lot if we on the outside make sure those on the inside are not isolated, that they're
NOMPAS is holding a conference in Sheffield
contacted at 5, Caledonian Road, Kings Cross,
TEACHERS UNION activists in Wuppertal, West Germany are organising a nationally coordinated campaign to support sacked and imprisoned miners and their families.
List of individuals are being circulated in their local area for support to adopt by sending money and messages of support.
The GIM (West German section of the Fourth International) has set up a special fund to
raise money for Dennis Pennington sacked miner from Bold Lancashire who has just been released from prison.
This is a new column in our paper designed to
highlight the campaign for an Amnesty for
sacked and imprisoned miners. If you have any
relevant information please tel. 01-254 0261
TWO 4e.
IN A FINE display of solidarity, over 500 Fleet Street printworkers attended a meeting last Thursday to express their continued support for the fight of the
i ne
on the Sun the of the World
and others' the viCWs
truth the miners'
the Among the Fleet Street, of Reply
and
too that could pro-
in the
The allowed the NUM, through Arthur Scargill, express the thanks of its members to another section of workers Taceo win smiar aacks on Jobs Printworkers in Fleet Street built
Have good, long-standing relations with the NUM
The capitalist press piayed a disgusting and reactionary role throughout the miners' strike, with
hes. propaganda and boycott of the miners'
Case. The classic example was the infamous picture ot Arthur Scargill giving a supposed 'Nazi-style' salute on the front of the Sun The courageous stand of the printworkers in refusing to publish it put paid to that.
THE MIDLANDS Women's Co-ordinating Committee is hosting the national women's solidarity conference in Birmingham this coming Saturday. The leaflet advertising the conference explains why women from the mining community in the Midlands
to repay the support we received from blacks, lesbians and gays, from the peace movement, the rank and file of the labour movement who fought with us during the strike' The women's support groups are continuing to function in the mining communities.
against pit closures; the campaign for amnesty and
NOMPAS, the campaign established to campaign
OTI
also want to stay togelne.
fight on wider issues
of women s oppression.
we to organise around women from every Walk OI lite like singie
mothers and homelessness
as well.
The conference has
consequent v been
organised to deal with the
NUM president ernment. 1 speaker, took the opporReply step,
mOTe
and
Geraghty
of the in previous
the strikes National
the health He
attack on miners an on all
Because level
printworkers next on the list threat to
The was goes on'.
the strike. John
trom the AUEW and
for sacked imprisoned miners.
John of the NGA, Vice-chair of Union CND,
on
This 'We are not going back to our kitchens, we want
out the wider links women
Calls
women from the Women
Against Closures,
Greenham Women,
en involved in the Barking
hospital dispute and black
women will join together
discuss the lessons of
their struggles.
Lesbians Against Pit
Closures, the
with the use of passes in USAF base. We are told we around Molesworth need the bomb, he said, to stop undemocratic laws being imposed us but we've already got them.
The sequestration which both the NUM and the NGA have suffered was blackmail to destroy attempt by financial
the mass organisations of the working class.
The meeting collected over €10,000 for the NUM from previous collections
shops and chapels roueLOuI Fleet Street. These collections will continue on a weekly basis and form very important source of funds for the NUM at the moment.
Arthur Scargill began his remarks by saying that history had been made during the 12 months of the strike. The whole movelliculi had begin appraising the effects of
dispute and where to the go from here. In his opi nion there could be no talk of defeat, since the impact of the last 12 months could only be described as a suc-
for the labour and trade union movement.
As Scargill explained. he could have goi agreement during the strike as
Abortion Campaign, Armagn women and women from the peace movement will those groups holding fringe
OVCI the lunchtime. Miners' wives whose husbands have been sacked or imprisoned such as Liz French from Kent and Doreen Humber from
Nottingham been asked to address the final session.
By Valerie Coultas
Many women in the communities not only gained sense of power from their ability to organise as women during this dispute, but they have also taken the decision to join the Party
ACKSON trom Bold, Lancashire, explains why this is the case despite the treacherous role Neil Kinnock. *he puris sup pored to people, but Neil Kinnock working people, puts down working people. During the strike he
THEATRE of WAN he was now being advised by various commentators, but would nave beer agreement the coal board's terms not the NUM's. His job as a trade union leader save jobs, keep and
members tight interests.
"That should be the job of every trade union leader in Britain today, he said, clearly aiming his remarks al nose 'leaders' of the TUC and individual unions that Sean Geraghty and John Hannington from Duffy's AUEW, had referred to earlier.
Scargill's central point however was that the 12 month strike had challeng ed the heart of the system by challenging the right oi the employer destroy jobs, communities and pits
: the stroke of a pen. F
ls reason the NUM ha incurred the wrath of the whole state machine.
The lesson to be learnt was clear. It applied to the victory at Upper Clyde Shipbuilders ana the miners' strikes in 1972 and 1974: that mass mobilisations and the support of The whole movement are the conditions for prepar-
Against those ing victory who argue that 'old I style trade unionism dead,
did not support us, and now that it is over he has attacked men have been victimised.
thousand of miners' wives who are not going back to the kitchen. We have to join the Labour Party and change it into a real working class Dally
At up-coming Labour Party women's,
Bourne mouth (16-18 June) there is a resolution tabled from Islington South and Finsbury to allow Women Against Pit Closures to affiliate to the party and its women's organisation
I ne women's section of ine Labour rarty, alread. one of the bastions of the left within the party. wil be immeasurably strengthened if this resolution is passed.
The NUM is discussing a change In its allow women to become associalt members. The Follow the Us cam Labour should ple and welcome the
In the Unions
Scargill reasserted the methods of mass struggle.
The one thing which academics and would-be coalitionists can't unaels tand, he said, was that the greatest of strike was struggle itself. Yes I've been reading Marxism Today', Scargill said. In fact the strike had unleashed forces never before organised in the labour movement. The clearest and best example was the women's support groups, , who had realised their potential and strength, and taken their place alongside striking miners, not as their back
The women should be given full rights of NUM membership at every level.
Scargill ended with a clear statement of where
stood and what he wanted. 'There's no need to tap my phone, he said 'everyone KnOW what want: a society free from unempioyment and want, with no cruise or Trident missiles, but with hospitals and adequate care.
'You can jail our
questrate our funds, but vou can't imprison an ider or a mind which trans cends policies establisher
the interests of capitalist system.
women from the mining communities into the structures of the party.
• The conference venue
Digbeth Civic Hall. ed and 50p unwaged, takes place from 10 ' am. The conference is due to finist at 5.30 and a creche is pro
tor turther intor mation phone on 021-745 3233, or Ellen or 0203 395972.
BLACK DELEGATION O THE MINING COMMUNITIES
•CONFERENCE ON
POLICIN BLACK.
RUTI
CHINTES
10.30 Ar COUNTY HAI
Page 5 scan of this page
Vital battle in the TGWU
Teachers pay fight continues
News
THE DECISION by the TGWU to hold a re-ballot in the general secreta:: clection has exposed the real purpose of the media campaign against the union. In the last few weeks the campaign has been based on a handful of proven cases of irregularities, and a great deal of rumour. Now that the union has gone for a re-ballot the media is throwing its weight into the scales in order to secure a victory for George Wright.
When the election was held last year, the miners' strike was dominating the political scene and the new realists had been humiliated by the banning of unions at GCHQ.
The right in the labour movement was in retreat, only. six months after unveiling their at the 18th tue: nom an
Now, in the wake of the miners strike they are staging a concualk The TGWU is vitally
important this fight.
The media, under cover of concern for democracy, is determined to give the new realists every possible help. Wright is carefully playing the media gallery on this question.
His latest step is to try
descredit the union's callioardu InTorm members of the new ballot. His aim is to present himself as a strong leader', who will establish firm central control of the union. for all teachers. The officers -
'Gang of Four'
Fred Jarvis and deputy McAvoy, have consistently taken
In their latest move they have agreed to call off action in those local authorities WIfe Have agreed to a six point state-
30 per decline
This would mean curbing the power of the shop stewards and the branches, and a step back towards the days of Deakin and Bevin. victory for Wright would be a big boost to the new realists. It is clear that if Todd wins, right and the media will discredit the election as much as possible.
By Pat Hickey Their long-term aim is ance me worko aca elections in favour of DOSta ballots, and to discredit the upcoming ballots on political funds.
Wright is taking full advantage of this support to press forward his campaign. Last year, in a very different political mosphere he was at pains to tone down his policies, and present himself as a 'middle of the road' candidate.
This time he aims to keep the media solidly THE TACTICS put forward by the officers of the National Union of Teachers seriously threaten to derail the current campaign of the union for £1200
Winters, Green, Griffin and Richardson, sometimes known as the
- together with general secretary general secretary Doug decisions and acted on them, before the executive have even met.
teachers pay since 1974 and calling on central government provide more money. Secretary of Sale caucanion, Sir Keith Joseph has said repeatedly, that there is no
behind him with a much more explicit campaign as Ene recede n will change the direction or lne union. luis subourt will be vital for him.
George Henderson and loaa sullivan wno polled 72,000 votes between them last time will not be standing and have thrown their support behind Todd. Todd therefore starts out will a very serone Chance. but the media campaign will undoubtedly intensify in the next weeks.
Clear
It will probably be necessary to win the help of the print unions to deTene the TGWU. essential therefore that the left makes a clear stand or the policy issues - against
laws, defence of political funds,
defence wulk black democracy against postal ballots. The union's opposition to the new realist of the TUC must be explained and defended.
In addition, the basic disloyalty of the right in their use of the media and the implied threat of court
TEACHERS
ATTION GROUP.
cash available.
By Bernard Regan,
NUT Executive (personal capacity)
Many union branches are concerned at the
leadership's strategy. They are demanding that action
is stepped up, especially il
militant areas like Inne
London where members in
Islington and Westminster were due to take action this week.
action against the union should exposed. It is essential that the left fights for the maximum possible turn-out at the workplace
What is needed is a mass campaign that links up the actions of teachers in England and Wales with those in Scotland as well as with lecturers In further eacon are an verses Such a campaign linking up with other public sector unions and escalating the strike action represents the only way forward.
Teachers recognise
that the campaign they are
involved for high sent grass roots calls for stakes. Despite the
BEGONE:
Votes. . The best answer to the media now is the most open and Call paign throughout the channels of the union.
unity between the TUC affiliated unions, the NUT and the National Association of SchoolmastersUnion of Women Teachers, the leadership of the latter organisation in particular 3Ilterest. They are talking privately putting the claim to arbitration after a tew more weeks of action. Such a move would be a tota betrava. the teachers' case.
Last year when the claim did go to arbitration the teachers got a mere 0.6 per cent increase on the employers' original offer of 4.6 per cent. Far from acting like a trade union they have several times lined with LIC pro employers profes sionalist' groups to urge the NUT to get into the talks on a bosses' packag which would lead to a rea worsening of teachers conditions employment coupled with a process of assessment which would give more power to Headteachers..
While the NUT Executive remain resolutely opposed unis boncy, they have done little to develop a strategy to break the isolation of teachers by
allies with the willulle trade union and labour
who would provide real support for their case.
beats jobs attacks
dant one-third of the workforce.
Successive mass meetings had voted tha compulsory redundancies or victimisations would be met with immediate strike
But the company persisted without regard to the 'consultation' procedures and drew up plans to axe 51 jobs. This included the entire union negotiating committee and the bulk of union activists.
estimated
comics that the workers would be reluctant to take allius again, so soon arter ine last strike, and attempted
break union organisation in the plant
their redundancy moves.
It is only 21 months since the union was established at Colmans after a strike in June 1983. Since then workers have made a number of gains in
Not pas and other conditions. But the workers nave a way to go even to achieve the average wages and conditions for the area. They recognise that this won't happen without a strong union.
So, when the latest attack came, it was met by an immediate factory oc-
Management cuballul were locked put and Colman's workers sought the backing of local union officials as well as sending a delegation to the AUEW national committee.
The management responded by gong to the
London teachers
victory
agreement with the
authority in the next year.
This represents the successul conclusion of a fight
the left waged Di going back over nine years. It is a victory achieved without the support of the national union which has stepped in on g number of occion and victimised militants tor taking part in unor ficial action in opposition to the forced movement of teachers.
Socialist Action 3 May 1985 5
Colman occupation
A WEEK LONG sit-in at the Manchester firm of Colman Fasteners has beaten back the company's job-cutting plans. The 150 engineers who work there had just concluded a three-week wages strike when Colman's announced its intention to declare redun-
courts in search of an in junction against the strike leaders, preventing them from picketing and make them financially hable for any losses resluting from the occupation strike. addition Colman's sent letters to the homes of every worker saying that the strike had broken their contracts and termina-
The strikers weren't intimidated. Their determined stand and the support their action from the AUw nanonal commi forced a retreat by management.
The compulsory redundancies WElC withdrawn Instead the factory has been placed on Pa four-day week and there is agreement to tina alter natives to compulsory
AUEW Colman's con venor Jon Silberman told Socialist Action: "The company has reserved its "right" compulsories in four weeks' time if they think it necessary but they would be unwise to do so.
We voted unanimously to our action immediately if they try it on. "They underestimated us last time. They have had a clear lesson on how we feel. We've had three ma. jor strikes in less than two years. shy away from a fourth if the need arises.
TEACHERS in Inner London look set to sign aa
Inner London Education Authority which would mean the end of compulsory transfers and the guarantee of no job loss in the
Although the agree ment does not everything sought teachers the officer.
bott
Page 6 scan of this page
and answered his critics. The NUM has just emerged from an historic 12 months. Would you like to look back and tell me what your assessment of the strike is? Was it worth coming out?
There are many aspects of the dispute
I think the most significant feature of the strike was the willingness of the overwhelming majority of resist the pressure of Thatcherism, and to indicate to the labour movement as a whole that it had to fight back, that the gains of former generations were going to be taken away. The strike has shown the rest of the movement fightback is possible.
Amongst the many lessons was the uniqueness of the dispute claims on the table. It wasn't about wages, it wasn't about improving conditions — it was in detence ot iobs. tor the first time a new generation were preparea to aerena meir fashion that led to a dispute that extended over 12 months.
The disappointments were that we were unable to motivate the whole of our membership, and the fact that the trade union movement didn't fulfill its promises. That of course prolonged the sinke and createa enormous probiems
The fact that we didn't win the support of the Nottinghamshire and the Midlands miners indicates that we failed to campaign adequately before the dispute started. We failed to recognise the political lesson of what was happening in lne not anes. dominated by mineworkers who elected a Tory MP in 1978 and '83. That should have shown us a great deal.
So, with hindsight, should have been more intensive campaigning before the decision in the areas was made. We must recognise that 1978 achieved its objective of dividing miner from miner, that the level of earnings in the East Midlands compared to the level of earnings in Scotland brought about divisions within our ranks that we were not able to overcome. But of course we didn't select the timing of the dispute — it was imposed upon us.
The other very pertinent point is that, ostensibly, the dispute was about four million tonnes of capacity MacGregor wanted to take out of the industry. In reality, I think everybody recognised it was about reforming the role of the coal mining industry within the British economy.
preparing the industry for privatisation. Most miners recognise that. But many trade unionists in other industries have failed to recognise that miners were fighting a battle for the whole movement.
They were fighting behalf of public ownership. think many more trade unionists will be caught up in that because of their apparent lack of enthusiasm to join with us to detend the gains and achieve ments or past generalions.
I'd like to ask you about some of the criticisms that were levelled NUM during the strike. there were those from the right of the trade union movement. think vou'd expect that. But towards the end of the
the left and the so-called left about the tactics of the union and its national leadership. For example, from the Communist Party, Tribune, even Militant.
6 Socialist Action
SINCE THE end of the miners' strike critics have rushed to print with their view of how the miners strike was waged. In his first major
interview since the end of the strike, PETER
HEATHFIELD, general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, gave CAROL TURNER his assessment of the last 12 months
The main arguments. the
anenateu a lol or people. miners to that.
that in the working class.
What would critics? with no
publications „uke jobs In decision making process.
the strategy
with problems.
our colecuve aecision.
This mate out of a job.
. I'd say there ballot paper
agreement when 70,000 should vote.
sight have changed their minds.
I accept
that criticism, so be it.
There
have fallen into Scargill
decisions collective ported by of the NEC battle on Sadly,
picket line membership. here are many
violence. at tne Obviously violence on the picket lines.
Our licubels
members.
the LCC and totally.
3 May 1985
trate on those of Marxism Today, were wal tne namonal leadersnip alon't ao enough to persuade public opinion onto their side. Essentially it was because you refused to hold a national ballot that you weren't able to do that. And
pickeung you adopted, and the violence that ensued,
Militant took up a left version of
Ted Grant, on the eve of the LPYS conference ațtacked the NUM leadership. He said there should have been a ballot, not having one was an indication that the leadership lacked faith
to those
I find it strange that these so-called
ship. Some of the individuals named in
Marxism Today throughout the dispute were part of the
They were people who participated in determining
- actually, people who were arguing for mass picketing! Now, after the event, they find that mass picketing was not the way of dealing
I have been a consistent opponent of a ballot in the NUM. That has been
The dispute started from area strikes and the national union making them official. I believe in ballot box democracy, but this raises the tundamental question of whether a worker has the right to vote
I would argue that if a ballot is to be part or lne acmocrauc process in lne trade union, the question posed on the
must equally affect all those participating. don't accent that
jobs are going 185,000 Effectively that's giving people in long-life pits the veto over someone else's right to defend their job. I reject the view of those who with hind-
that after the setbacks return we've endured there will be critics. But the policies have been clearly defined to the rank and file. I have consistently davocalca une aclence or tose policies and their application. If that warrants
those LOU WiIO have sought to personalise the dispute. They
the media trap of MacGregor. fact, Scargill, Heathfield and McGahey indeed the national executive commit-
were responding to conference decisions sup• the overwhelming majority
The question of violence is one that many of us have declared ourselves on. We must distinguish what's happened. There are many innocent victims of
violence VUl of our members who are victims of police line
are many cases agents provocateurs who have created
have reacted to violence imposed on them by the state. Without defending violence, I am unwilling to accept that what happened on picket lines was at the instigation of our
The miners have been prolected as brutal people who are not interested in law and order. I reject that
Some of the left have argued that the
to work represents a defeat which is qualitatively the same as 1926. They're saying that the situation now is that the preparedness of the organised working class to go into struggle is very much weakened, that we won't see any significant industrial struggles for years and years.
The Euro-communists, for example, say that the miners' strike of 1984 was the last dying gasp of a form of struggle that's no longer appropriate. Do you think that's the case? Do you think your strike belongs to another era that's past?
I'd preface any general comments with
observation that four unemployed erodes the traditional solidarity of working people. That was an important element of the problems we faced.
Those on the left in the NUM realised that in some coalfields miners were returning to work, and it was a question of trying to retain control of the situation. As national leaders we could have made an agreement that signed awar the heritage of the NUM. We could have signed an agreement selling out jobs that would have set a precedent for the rest of the movement.
We went back to work without an agreement, that's certainly satisfactory conclusion to the dispute. But we went back with a measure of dignity and a recognition that the fight
could go on. I've no doubt in the future there will be struggles. It's epitomised by what's happened at Ascome colliery ley were les Have been ol
because of the management months of struggle.
«The strike has shown the
rest of the labour move-
ment a fightback is possible."
I don't see it as a defeat comparable to that of 1926.
MacGregor million humiliate the miners. It was quite ob. vious - having gone through the exercises of 135 hours of negotiations that the Board didn't want a negotiated settlement to the dispute. from a recognition that the rest of the trade union movement wasn't going to SUDDULE US
We've seen the whole of the state apparatus aligned against the NUM: the Board, the government, the police, the judiciary, the media to isolate the leadership of the NUM. Yet, at the end of the day, weeks of struggle, Ut • majority of Britain's coal miners were still on strike. prepared to accept humiliating defeat as there was in 1926.
attitude of They'd and that's after
back.
Thatcher and
their national all seeking left after
the overwhelming
Atter that. i'm not
there was But rather
I know that 30,000 went back between October and the end of February. They were committed to the cause of defending jobs, but they were destitute.
not deserted the cause, economic circumstances made them go
Socialist Action doesn't share the views of the left critics. We say far from being the last struggle that closes an era, the miners' strike opens a new era.
For the first time since AJ Cook, we ve seen a new calore or nationa leadership — a leadership of the NUM that's shown right from the beginnin that it's absolutely determined to win. I believe one of the things that's helped keep the miners out for such a long time is that they've had the confidence that
executive is not doin back-door deals, looking for ways ol getting off the hook.
Something else has arisen from that. There is a differentiation within the left — you can see it most clearly im the Labour Party. . The rank and file of the party poured into support commitlees, even wougn tne leadersmo don't offer anything like that same support. We've seen that differentiation among
organisations within the Jall Tribune for instance came out in sup port of Neil Kinnock, , the LCC made similar criticisms to Marxism Today,
Socialist Action has drawn the opposite lesson than 'the
Page 7 scan of this page
The NUM
game's up, let's pack up and go home.
Perhaps you'd like to comment on that, and the support you've had from the Labour Party and the solidarity committees during the dispute.
I think it's far too early to draw conclusions about the impact of the 12 month strike on the broader labour and trade union movement. There are some who argue we had a Labour government in 1929 because of what happened in '26, so I would not accept the analysis that many so-called left wingers are projecting.
We've seen a politicisation within the labour movement without precedent. I know I've fallen out with some of the pundits who said in 1972 and '74 — the last two major strikes in the industry - that they had brought about the politicisation of miners. They were about declining standards of living, about money wage militancy.
But this strike has certainly seen the politicisation of a new generation of miners. I think the lessons will be projected through a decade or more.
The experiences of young miners (the average age of miners is 36), the experiences of the past 1z montas will make a tremendous impact on their future outlook and attitude. The movement as a whole will be much richer for that experience. It will help to sustain the labour movement in the future.
The choice that faced'the leadership of the NUM was whether prepared to do what trade unions have predominantly done for almost generation now: that is, to be identified with the management of the decline of British industry, or to try and project our alternative policies to ensure that working people have the right to work - that thev should not be treated like flotsam and jetsam, that there are policies that would enable them to plan their lives free from the fears and anxieties of unemployment.
Out of the '26 strike the theories and philosophy of public ownership emerged more clearly and the suffering, the poverty of miners in the '20s and early '30s helped bring about a postwar Labour government that sought to take the industry into public ownership and alleviate those kind of problems. think a future Labour government will inevitably draw on the experiences of
1984-85 and hopefully
Peter Heathfield on:
after the
strike
fashion policies that prevent that sort or situanon aeveloping agalli.
From the money pouring in from Labour Party branches,
obvious the strike had captured the imagination of literally thousands of rank and filers. Indeed the response to the miners' delegation to the TUC Labour Party that at grass roots level there was a tremendous support, and a recognition that the fight was not only the miners' fight but that of the broad trade union was MOVCHCOL
The disappointment was the attitude of those leaders who chose to highlight the irrelevant aspects of the dispute when thev should in fact have beer clearly indicating their support for the miners' struggle.
There was from large sections of the labour movement. For example we received cheques from branches of the EETPU, from AUEW branches despite the hostility of some of their leaders. came pouring in from TGWU branches and from General and Municipal branches, and — surprise, surprise — from ISTC branches, indicating that at grass roots level there was considerable support.
Internatonally the financial sup port was absolutely would think that 90 per cent of the cash
came
Throughout the dispute there
tially to our strike.
union. reason you'd come out gramme MacGregor, supported by the
Been windra go ou
withdrawn. union's in fit
project that being done?
Coal Board agreement they
area.
individual
, it was plicable.
Board have not disappeared. and
indicated
1985 as it was in March '84
tion: we will not alter leadership,
sure we'll get a response from them.
tremendous solidarity
The money it gave the so-called
Notts area?
magnificent.
tinghamshire
abroad.
were rank and filers contributing substan-
I'd like to come on to the future of the
At the end of the strike the - the proclosures that Tory • 1910 you think the state continue fighting closures and how would you
The next six months especially are going to be pretty difficult. The National
are indicating that the entered into with NACODS wil not be applied. So there are enormous difficulties facing us. I think too we have to resolve the internal difficulties with the Nottinghamshire
But it's important to say that the policies MacGregor projected in early
three
ment's attitude. tee. tinue to exploit.
tHe Ones
those
want to
March '84 have not been applied. I In Kent think there may be difficulties in him applying them in 1985. In many ways we have rendered those policies inap-
That in itself is some achievement Everybody The problems facing the National Coal
There is still tremendous spirit in the ranks of the NUM, in the course of the next year we will reassert ourselves. it again The principle of defending jobs and defending the industry is as pertinent in
We will continue to be a campaigning organisa- them in the
our style of wil continue to cam paign amongst our members - and I'm
The fact that Notts and a large part of the Midlands refused to come out on strike actually weakened the position of the union, both from the point of view who went back of stopping the movement of coal and recognise closing power stations but also because
moderate trade union leaderships an easy way out of refusing to build the sort of industrial
needed to win the strike.
What do you think the attitude of the union as a whole should be towards the finding
policy.
I think most striking miners would readily acknowledge that had the Not-
joined the struggle, it would have been over in
months. That would have brought about a substantial modification of the Board's and the govern-
Notts failed to recognise that we were defending the industry from the sort of attack that is designed to bring about privatisation. Sadly, they failed to recognise that fragmentation of the NUM was precisely what the government wants to achieve. There's been an
conservative influence brought into the Nottingham coalfield, advising the working miners commit-
Incle s oeen a wnole galaxy Tory lawyers and business men ready to finance the breakaway in Notts. been
The miners there have failed to recognise that the government are more able to attract private capital if there's fragmented trade union organisation. The development in Notts, for example would enable the prospects of multinational oil companies buying up the coal reserves there at give-away prices.
The defence of the industry is about the case for public ownership as well as the defence of jobs. Notts has created a wedge that the government will con
In the weeks and months ahead ou job is trying to seek a reconciliation that brings them back into the fold.
Aside from the question of pit closures,
untinished business of thi strike is reinstatement and amnesty for
miners sacked or facing dismissal. Does the union have any plans to launch a campaign?
We have said since last October that we
negotiate I cuistalculicill of those victimised bv the Board. It'snot a question of violence, it's a question of the dismissal of people who are died-inthe-wool trade unionists.
for example, the overwhelming majority of people dismissed are elected representatives. Similarly Scotland. The NCB have adopted a discriminatory policy.
knows nationally we were denied the right to negotiate reinstatement - I don't use the term amnesty because it implies guilt. At a recent meeting with the NCB, we raised
we drew a blank. That doesn't mean to say we're prepared to turn our backs on those people
We are currently helping to support
hope that, through the areas, we will be able to reinstate them. We have been partially successful.
The national leadership have been denied the right to negotiate by the NCB. But after 12 months of strike ou campaign is obviously limited. That's the price of not winning an outright vic. tory. I would hope that those people
to work early now they. have made our task more difficult in the short term.
That's fine for areas like, for example. South Wales where I've been recently where everyone was pretty confident of
satisfactory reinstatement . But that's not the case for Kent or Scotland, where there are the largest proportion of dismissals. Do you think ine solidanty committees set up curing the strike can be brought behind a reinstatement campaign? ment
It's important that those groups rais their voices. My own view is that wi should be calling for a public enquir into the attitude of the National Coa Board. We are failing to publicity at all on the discriminator nature of the Board's attitude.
We are monitoring the situation. I areas like Derbyshire for example, the are dramatically reducing the numbe of people presently dismissed, but ther are still a lot more cases to go before th courts. There's been a breakthrough 1! Yorkshire where the Board have at lon last agreed to discuss individual case with the area leaders.
It's a process that's slow aHHH cumbersome, but it's one we're oblige. to go through. In the meantime we sustain the families of these peopie.
Finally, I want to ask you about th women's movement during the strike. think it was a fantastic success, not jus in terms of the amount of support an CONGREA mey gave lo striking madel and the NUM, but also in terms of th number of women whose confidenc and talents were developed during th strike.
There's been a lot of talk about th continuation of the support groups m Women Against Pit Closures, that the should now have formal links with th union. Can you comment on that?
Yes, it's been a fantastic development I think every striking miner in the coun try is ready to acknowledge the con tribution women have made in a whol variety of wavs
They've been incredible. They'r
involved equal partners o picket lines, planning, pamphleteerin and organising the solidarity that needed in this sort of dispute. We mus find ways of integrating that valuabl support. Experience during this strike has confirmed that we've got to estab lish formal links with the union. It's not easy because of the need for rules to be approved. But I think within the ma jority of areas there's a willingness and
eagerness maintain and strengthen links with the women's groups.
Indeed the fact that there's 750 peo ple scattered around the coalfields tha have been refused reinstatement helping keep the women together. The! are currenuy organising a natonal con ference. They are organising their education, like weekends schools a Northern College, which will help maintain our internal links and those they have forged with other suppor groups nationally and internationally
The political movement well should seek to harness this net development. I would like to see more recognition for them throughout the whole labour movement. In Wellbeck for example, about 15 striking miners wives applied to join the local branch o: the Labour Party. They didn't want to know — a sad reflection on the state o that particular branch of the party. Bu: I hope those sort of difficulties can ta overcont
We've got to look for ways of i= volving the whole family in trade unic activity. In my view that is an imp? tant development I'd like to couraged, not frowned on. The adva tage would be felt no: only br the NU but by the broade: trade under more
3 Map 1053
Page 8 scan of this page
Socialist Action 3 May 1985 S 'ten years after' epitaphs for the US defeat in Fetnam piled up last week, Uncle Sam was very much ack in business in Central America. Iwo major "litary exercises were going on at once.
Four thousand ground troops are manouvering ith the Honduran and El Salvadorian military ances just across the border trom berated zones. housand members of the 101st Airborne division, gether with naval and air suppori, each landings on the Honduran Atlantic coast ast a few miles north of the Nicaraguan border.
"hie the marines are
ering up the debate in
¿s ruling class over in prention Central erica has taken a sharp
with the defeat of
gan's proposal to the
Congress to vote D14
on to the Nicaraguan
he 15,000 strong cona forces are incapable of
as but nave been causing arible damage the caraguan economy cluding torcing the orement of ousands of people from
border areas.
morale nong the contras. This is spite $5 allo olan
from private corporate urces in the us in the
months, a stiffening of
and continued fun-
ag be CIA and other
channels.
The defeat of Reagan's
for $14 million
lars aid through Con-
therefore signified setback for the and conwhich they nave
cady set about rem-
Within 24 hours of the
a commissions Reagan
commissioned an ofcial report on how to get her ala to une constra:
means which do not reHE DEATH of
azil's president elect sacredo Neves, eek ago last Sunday,
acided with the most
centrated wave rikes the country has
To hundred and nine-
thousand metal porkers in the in-
strial regions around
Paulo had been on
for 11 days side workers on Rio underground. were demanding wage increases of per cent and,
ve all, a reduction
the working week
to hours Mihout loss of pay.
The strikers were due
by a further etal workers in
Break US
blockade
El Salvador's One thousand marines. and two
are practicing
Congressional OUTC approval.
Weapons
Fundin from private sources will be stepped up and 'friendly Asian coun tries, like Taiwan, South Korea, ana israel will be used crate loads OT weapons. The marines exercises ral
exercises still more frequently 'lose' lots of munitions tor tne Collulas find.
Reagan's defeat in Congress was simply due to a genuine debate in the US when and HoW Lo use ils military power when faced with deterioration in the international situation. US Secretary Defence Caspar Weinberger, Time on 15 April, argued that the lesson ot Vietnam was that 'the commitment of US forces COnIDdE should be the last resort if it is vital to our national interests that of our allies, and then only 'with the clear intention of winning'. In this operationsuch as those of
contras both put pressure Tne Nicara guans prepare the ground for a tuture direci US intervention.
This line is broadly endorsed by Reagan's current
Death in Brazil
Sao Paulo city, as well as by a series of other sectors. Those already on strike included 84,000 car workers Volksward, Ford, Mercedes,
other companies resulting in loss production 22,500 vehicles (worth some $200 million).
The early days of the strike had gone well. For the first time in six years a strike on this scale had not been ruled illegal by labour courts. Even more upsetting large multinational employers around the rederation of Sao Paulo Businessmen (FIESP), was the fact that dozens small and medium businesses reached direct agreements with the unions with
including • 1. wage rises and a reduction in the working week. The FIESP had always argued that such & reduction
policies. It reflects a judgement of the political need for caution before direct
military volvennen
as well as a wariness about both the stamina of the US military machine and over the stomach of the US population about prolonged foreign wars. It is however also, therefore panied by a determination than when the US armed IOrCCS , go into action ther devastating blitzkrei aim- with ed at completely smashing opponents in one devastatIng DIOW. season el Grenada held up model by this line.
Critiques of the Weinberger/ Reagan approach come from both right and left. The critics on the
third world rebellion • that the US doe: not the luxury of choosing time and
LIC place to wield the big stick.
Self styled 'liberal' critics of the Reagan line arque war simple renance on force 1S not enough. Long term political problems, after military interventions, must be con-
well Bloomfield, a former ad-
the Carter administration, posed the problem directly, 'How is it that you can "win" so that when you leave two years
you COnT lose une country (sic) those forces who have commit. ted themselves to victory at any cost?'
Nicaragua poses that dilemma verv sharp v. The US know the Nicaraguans will fight - and that peo ple who have just got rid of
Interacy, polio and torture Will not nerosy to anyone who tries to bring hours would be too onerous for the smaller firms.
Neves awaited death brought a broad national commotion.
Millions followed his coffin in a show of public sentiment rivalling the huge demonstrations for direct elections exactly one year
La campaign which Neves himself had first backed then subtly derailed.
After the direct election campaign Neves moyed on to stitch together a " Democratic which managed to represent almost every fraction of the Brazilian ruling class around a plan for a transition from military rule
would avoid real change. operation Neves counted
the of the various reformist and stalinist in the
it all back in the name of 'democracy' or anything else.
This problem _coc deeper than conventional war Vietnam showed that fire isn't
cloud
hen the majority of th working class peasants i know what they want and have the guns to defend it.
The next step for the US in Central America one its entire ruling class will unite on, is to try to bleed Nicaragua dry econ omically. Blockade
Two weeks ago Reagan was flying the kite of a for-
Lotal. trade blockade of Nicaragua of the type which has been imposed on Cuba ever since its revolution. Whether this goes or not there is already a comprehensive informal blockade with the US vetoing financial credits blocking and harassing Nicaragua's trade and continually
its allies follow the same policies. Needless to say Thatcher has been extremely obliging in following Reagan's lead.
The blockade is taking a terrible toll. Nicaraguan vice president Sergio Ramirez has said that all development projects have oCcu stopped, more schools or hospitals can be built, pipes clean water can be layed.
Crisis now the order of the day in Nicaragua. A hard austeri ty policy has had to be announced putting priority
on defence and the pr ductive sector the
This is posec popular movement. The irony is that Neves death has left the presidency in the hands of the extreme right wing of that very broad alliance created.
successor,
This when
populism
year old ship.
Both commotion
of the were
of official The
prompti! declared 700
sacked.
simply as a 'survival plan.
An acute problem which faces the Sandinistas is that they cannot resolve economic strangulation simply by taking tighter control of the national economy. The continued dependence or vicaragua on exports of coffee and cotton and the absence of a developed infrastructure rules out anv illusion that Nicaragua could survive on its own resources One of the vital tasks for the labour movement is therefore fight that blockade and to fight for trade and aid to give Nicaragua chance to breathe.
This task of solidarity is now an urgent one. It puts a big weight on the shoulders of the interna tional solidarity move. ment. The struggle against
Together these events bear bitter witness to limits of the 'democratisa
sweeping Latin LUI America. But they also
to the tremendous weight which democracy carry the continent and to the extremely delicate balance deciding whal sort democracy that might be, and for whose benefit.
Of course the left of the workers movement, and especially the Workers
poi neout that in really tit- Party (PT) were
would change under Neves, and to prepare for opposition to the 'New Republic'. But their problem is that they have not yet been able to put themselves at the head of these democratic aspira tions and combine then with the kind of social demands stressed by thess
Int-
the blockade must involve not just the solidarity campaigns themselves but all those of the labour movement that see Nicaragua's gains as our gains.
its clear that the defence of the gains of Nicaragua means defeating Us policy in Central America. For the Labour Party this means there can se no 'return to the 1960's when Harold Wilson acte as the United States poodle throughout the nam war. Present party policy, expressed the pressure for Neil Kinnock's visit to Nicaragua
intervention and for tis
intervention gains of the revolution.
We now need to get that policy into action with a sharp campaign for increased aid and trade with Nicaragua. This should instrikes. That requires quite
different project for democracy and socialism in Brazil.
Prospects for the mili. tant wing of the workers and popular movement are now simultaneousl greater and thore than ever before. The rul ing class alliance stitched together Tancredo Neves is doing its best to look cool and collected. but already it can be seen to be tearing at the seams.
The PT leaders in turn for long saw their party's role as merely 'expressing the social struggles alread taking meant the PTs
meant the PT's trade union base was without organised policies for action. More recently the PT has begun to recognise the need for it actually to lead these stragg les at the same
inal
clude spreading the twinnIng by Labour local authorities and using them direct connections through delegations and OUIIC means. The party should organise the largest possible demonstration for the autumn or early winter to defend Nicaragua against the ongoing
The setting up of the Central America Labour Group (CALG) by Labour Party members involved in the solidarity can aid this work. It now needs support from constituency parties and sections throughout the country.
PRo, London Sis,
Brompton
For more information
the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign,
Compton Terrace London NI. time as it begins to offer an overali political alternative to the Brazilian people.
But as one PT Call didate for senator Raul Pont points out this pro cess hasn't gone nearly far enough as yet. In a proposal on the party's electoral policy, published in the revolutionary marxist Em Tempo, Pont described the need for the PT to give the lead in a new system of democratic , alliance wadkers and rpopular bloss under hegemony, based on clas independence, and drawing in all sections of the trade union movement,
shanty town associations, the the ecology movement, and all sectors of the op pressed who are ready to struggle.
Page 9 scan of this page
Surplus Value
The hour of the furnaces THREE TIMES since the end of the Second World War, the ruling class of the United States has thrown itself against the workers and peasants of Asia.
In 1945 its plan for intervention in China was only thwarted by the millions of soldiers who refused to serve as cannon fodder in yet war. In 1950 the United States hurled its might against the people of Korea and left three million dead in its wake. Finally in Vietnam the American ruling unleashed its most savagery so far.
One hundred and forty thousand million dollars of American war effort was poured into one small country. Twelve million tons of explosives were used by the Americans and their puppets. After more than 40,000 American dead, four million Indochinese casualties, and tell refugees, the United States was still unable to break the workers and peasants of Vietnam. Now its puppets are crashing to defeat.
The victories in Vietnam, the victories in all Indochina, are not merely a triumph of the magnifi-
people of these countries. The Indochinese victories are the greatest living example since the Russian Revolution of the world character of the working class revolution. Literally tens hundreds of millions throughout the world have directly or indirectly in the victory of the struggle in Although the Indochinese people have bourne the crushing weight of imperialism's assault, and the overwhelming share of the glory is theirs, they too know that their triumph is only possible because
mass action and throughout the world.
Those who have participated in the struggle range from the hundreds of thousands who marched against the war within the United States itself, through Che Guevara who gave his life in the attempt to open a second front in support of the Indochinese struggle, to the martyr Nicolai Didyk who burnt himself to death in protest against the refusal of the Soviet bureaucracy port brigades to Vietnam. It is one of the proudest episodes in the entire history of the Fourth International that in many countries its sections have been able to play all important role development of the world-wide Vietnam solidarity movement.
development American struggle with
another
of last week,
No-one was ever class sighted
fearful
revolution.
million
The crushing
greatest blow against the
military
Dominican
the crushing dochina. and
participated
Vietnam.
Arab East. state created anywhere in
in this sense alone. pressure
power in the
stale.
to send sup-
in the
even have envisaged.
TEN YEARS ago, 30 April 1975 the red blue and
gold flag of the Provisional Revolutionary Government was raised over Saigon Chi Minh City. It marked the end of 35 years of
heroic struggle in the face of tremendous odds, by
the workers and peasants of Vietnam. It was a
But if it was the world-wide
of the solidarity Indochina which helped create the conditions, even tries in a small way, for the triumphs
first understand that this solidarity was never just a moral gesture.
more shortthose sidered the tasks of solidarity with Vietnam as secondary in comparison to the intervention in the working class struggles of their own country. Not one single event of the last decade, least of all one single trade union struggle, could have compensated in the slightest for the defeat of the Vietnamese
defeat of US military might in Vietnam is the
Never delivered American ruling class's ability to undertake direct
counter-revolutionary activity everywhere in the world. A repeat of the landing of the marines in the Lebanon in 1958, a repeat of the 1965 invasion of the
Republic, rendered far less likely following
debacle in In-
Aiready the fear of another Vietnam is a factor holding back the American ruling class from its insane schemes for military occupation of the oil states of the
The next workers' the world will owe an incalculable debt to the Vietnamese revolution
The war in Indochina struck the American monster in its very economic and social vitals. For seven years through direct armed intervention, and for twenty years through indirect sabotage and subterfuge, the greatest economic
world sought to crush the people of one small
And finally it was the colossus which broke. Its economy could not stand the strain of the war as inflation and expenditure soared. Its ghettos exploded as its own the black workers refused to bear the effects of a war in which their only real interest was to support the other side. Millions of its finest youth rebelled in disgust against mechanised butchery on a scale Hitler or Mussolini could never
Vietnam: a
turning point
in world history
- now Ho
Finally, Vietnam was the fuse which first relighted a wide consciousness in the imperialist coun-
of the need for socialist revolution. Millions of
clearly understood bankruptcy of the capitalist system through its barbarity Vietnam. Throughout the world millions of workers, peasants and students saw their own eyes that the imperialist monster could be defeated.
For all time the international revolutionary movement AFTER 1945 it was the advance of the revolution in the colonial countries which prevented real political stabilisation capitalist world system and maintained the tempo of the cass struggle when the working class in the imperialist countries was passing through 20 years of relative passivity. It was also this revolution which helped to exhaust imperialism economically politically and to create the basis for a new revival of revolutionary consciousness in the population of the imperialist countries. war in Vietnam was precisely the outcome of the decision of the United States to smash the colonial revolution. Instead it
United States which humiliated. The Americans lost their first war in history and the U.S. and international capitalist
was stretched to limit. This in turn helped lay the basis for a new rise in revolution throughout the world.
The outstanding analysis of
stunning military defeat for the US, and a huge victory for the workers and oppressed of the entire world. It was a turning point in world history. Below, we mark the tenth anniversary of the fall of Saigon with extracts from the left press of the time which best sum up the impact of that victory.
glory in the triumphs of the Indochinese workers and peasants. •It is now that we may grasp to the full the magnificent words of Che people Guevara: "What the been shown by this people! What stoicism and valour in this peoin ple! And what a lesson for the the future their struggle holds! How close and how bright would the with future appear if two, three, many Vietnams flowered on the face of the earth! It is the hour of the furnaces, look to see the glow.'
A new rise in world revolution
this development still remains the 1969 Political Resolution of the the Ninth World of the Fourth International. In order to understand fully the significance of the events taken place in therefore reproduce extracts from the chief section of that resolution dealing with the Vietnam war.
and revolution, unquestionably marked time
the colonial revolution suffered series of spectacular reverses. The rise The to power of military dictatorships and the momentary movements in Brazil and Argentina (the two principal countries of Latin was America); the was Lumumba regime in the Congo. the Nkrumah regime in Ghana and the Ben Bella regime in Algeria; the victory of the Indonesian counterrevolution in October 1965; and the military the defeat of the United Arab Republic and Syria in the six-day war of June 1967 constitute the main milestones in each of the epicentres of the colonial revolution.
victory shifted
tion
solution
dominated semicolonial
Since grandeur
stage to
revouuular,
An
and you have only to overt
from United States.
The Congress of the ing the region which have just strategic Vietnam we
would
After the victory of the Cuban the colonial revolution
colonial and In fact, starting early in the sixties
decline of the mass have to
overthrow OI the tion
loses.
sion.
Socialist Action 3 May 1985 9
The colonial revolution had reach ed the point where it could go no fu: ther unless it made the transition into a socialist revolution - and for tha the subjective factor was lacking. Or the one had, American imperialism drawing its own conclusions from the
of the Cuban revolution and more openly repressing by military force all revolu tionary movements which in its view threatened even incipiently to touch off the process of permanent revolu
Caught between the masses seek ing a clear revolutionary socialist
and imperialism strove to crush such tendencies in embryo, the Sukarnos, the Nkrumahs the Nassers, and the Nehrus, who had
scene in countries for fifteen years, reached the end of their era
the formation OI new even of the revolutionarv vanguards Fidelista type, lagged behind this pro. cess, the initiative passed for a whole
American imperialism with its CIA-financed. plots, its counter-
interventions. and ll ever-widening wars of aggression.
acceleration economis growth in the United States coincided with this stage of more direct and
counterrevolutionary and created the means by which the imperialists could finance these pro. lects tor tive or six vears - whict
'military missions' and "counterinsurgencv' in Latin Americ to the war in Vietnam, including th upkeep and expansion of dozens o air-naval bases throughout the world cost tens of billions of dollars without opening up an assault on th living standards of the workers in tr
The might expansion, ana a rogance of Yankee imperialism seer: ed to reach new heights after failure in the fifties.
Vietnam war also was th culmination and, as it were, ine cic of this imperialist counteroffensive The Vietnam war, became the turnin point in the situation. As a result o the indomitable resistance of the Vie:
the colonial revolt Manese lasses. tion was able to regroup its forces an stage a comeback in several importar.
In escalating its aggression agains the Vietnamese revolution, America imperialism aimed not only at block
revolution's advance in of obvious economic importance (Thailand Malaysia, Indonesia); it sought no onlv to create a 'deterrent' against victorious revolution in Asia,
represent catastrophe global scope for the international im perialist system. It wanted also to in timidate the exploited masses in a
semicolonial countries if not the entire world
It wanted to put them on notice by a terrifying example that if they took the revolutionary road they would
face the most powerfu military machine in the world and pa! a terrible price in blood and destruc
for an attempt liberat themselves from the yoke of capital Thus the outcome of the confronta tion in Vietnam assumed crucial im portance. Today, the militant revolu tionary enthusiasm of the Vietnames.
unparalleled history, has blocked the imperialist and kept them from achieving the principal objectives of their aggres
Page 10 scan of this page
10 Socialist Action 3 May 1985
IRELAND
UNFREE
THE LABOUR Committee on Ireland has had extensive discussions about its tactics for this year's Labour Party conference. Last year several important developments occurred that we shouldn't lose sight of.
For the first time in 60 years, the trade union block vote went against the advice of the NEC in voting to affirm its opposition to plastic bullets and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PIA), stating our abhorance at the sexual harassment of women prisoners in Armagh being carried out in the name of securitv demned the notortous no-jury Diplock courts.
Through opening the dialogue with Sinn Fein, Irish trade unions and feminists, the ICI is setting Ine pace as tar as me inner party debate goes. Just about every political tendency from the Fabians leftwards was obliged to hold an Irish fringe meeting with speakers from Ireland presenting their views.
But at the same time as noting these positive developments, we have to 'withdrawal resolution got less trade union votes than the year before. Politics is about more than ritually putting up resolutions and
It is about winning debates and moving the labour movement in acuon. anis year, wahe encouraging resolutions reflecting the experience of the miners' strike and resolutions demanding more action from the party ledership to implement its stance on strip searching, devale forward on une quesuon or willula wai
The NEC sub-committee which was established last year is due to report in the autumn, updating the 1981 paper, which committed the party to its present policy for 'unity by consent'. It is expected unat te update will more borougay ehdorse the views of Clive Soley, who seems to take a tougher line against the discuss future options tor the North and supports moves to set up a string of all-Ireland institutions prior to eventual withdrawal.
No timetable is set on this provess and the programme has many internal weaknesses, particularly on how to deal with loyalist demands to turn a 'federal system' into a repartitioned sectarian state. Certainly it falls a long way short of Irish self-determination, free from conditions.
Nevertheless, it will be this paper that will form the basis for discussion over 1985-6 and it is expected that time will be set aside for a major debate at the 1986 conference. Not fast enough? Agreed. But if the trade unions are to adequately discuss the various options, then there has to be a serious discussion and that takes time.
The LCI's aim is to make sure that, in the discussion, the withdrawal alongside the consent option to be argued from the NEC. That is why resolutions to London region conference and Labour women's conference concentrate on circulating the statement of Irish trade unionists calling for unity and independence, and the Tony Benn 'Withdrawal Bill.
We are in favour of the widest possible discussion which is why we propose the circulation of these texts ana me mvitaton of speakers representing parties of the Irish working class, Sinn Fein, to put their point of view. Once a free discussion has been allowed, it is possible to win the union votes. This is why party bosses like David Hughes have reacted so strongly to the proposals of the London region. And that is why, more than ever, pseudo posturing on the purist, resolutions has to be dropped in favour of a position that will
Conference believes that 12 years of direct rule has failed to alter the fundamentally sectarian nature of the Norhern relane shate waistome une contnung muran sigence of Loyalist politicians this should not be allowed to block political progress. onen ane wee anone acoale movement on the matter of British withdrawal.
Conference notes the statement by 32 leading Irish trade unionists and the recent private member's Bill both advocating withdrawal and requests the NEC to promote uch discussion by a) Circulating all a cohdrawal Bill together with its introduction, and request that organisations discuss it and send back their
b)ine NEw organise regional public meeungs on unis issue with Labour Party, trade union, women section and Irish speakers
the strip searches. They also con-
remember that the
basking we want to move the Unionists' refusal to British interference or option is aired including We believe there should be an •roughoul unc laboul
CLPs and affiliated organisations with Irish trade unionists statement and the
the
Cinessed momentous events in the last year. The
witnessed momentous events in the last year. annual meeting of the Labour Campaign for Gay Rights (LCGR) this week is faced with equally important decisions.
Relentless attacks on our hard won gains nave continued, from the raids and bookshops like Gay's the 1 Word and Lavender Menace, ana allacks by councils such as Rugby on our get work cott Police Act.
Media -inspired hysteria about AIDS has transformed its victims in-
plagued gay men every-
especially WIC work. Even lesbians, who
actualiv the people least at risk, are swept up in the backlash.
But the year has also been dominated by a new, previously unimaginable alliance. The endorsement by une vom or lesblan and gay rights at Labour Party conterence was matched at rank and file level with the magnificent solidarity with the miners built up by Lesbians and Gays Support te vulners
Lesbians and gay men were once despised in the workplace, shunned the picket lines, and ignored in the labour moveHISTORICALLY in Britain lesbian self-organisation has always been minority interest.
Lesbians have been scattered through the women's movement and
recently une gay movement. There we have found necessary organise independently to get lesbian demands taken
of senousty straight women's homophobia or gay men's sexism.
The immense pressure on women to relate sexually to men (and therefore the nuclear family, and the radical feminist purist idea that a woman is only a
IT'S NOT the AIDS virus, but the hysteria surrounding it that's the biggest threat to the lesbian and gay movement today.
That is essential point for socialists grasp: AIDS is and foremost ideological threat. Two cranics 11lustrate this.
First, lesbians have been affected by the moral panic almost as much as
the gay men, yel licy group at risk. SeCold. labelling AIDS the 'gay plague' has led American researchers
blind alley of investigating gay men's life styles, as a possible cause of the disease.
now seems, from
Storm clouds, but
a fair forecast
ment. Now we have received a boost in our fight for trade unions and councils
and implement
auvul anti-discrimination policies, and for the Labour Party publicly paign around a charter of full legal and social equality for gays.
By Peter Purton
Such a campaign must be central to the activities
LCGR in the future. The victory over Rugby council and the experiences of the miners' strike have shown it
genulne support in the labour
The struggle for the right of young lesbians and gay men to determine their own sexuality also
element. wo years, the Lesbian anc Gay YS have been battlir away to make the LPYS more responsive to their demands.
This year, in the wake of the miners, conference was forced into conces-
Labour lesbians
lesbian if she never sleeps
women from coming out and organising politically. So the emergence of two LICW Lesbians Against Pit Closures (LAPC) and the Labour Lesbians - - have marked a great step forward for lesbians in the labour move-
By Polly Vittorini
The experience groups like Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) and LAPC proves that the organise for esbian
marinets is in the labour
movemen. ing money for the miners,
AIDS - time to fight
available evidence,
tional trade inheino -
tional trade in blood.
rapidly there because their health service is private - there was no incentive to fight the disease or find a cure.
By Paul Canning
It spread among the gay male ghettoes of San Francisco and Manhattan because anal sex is a par ticularly efficient way transmitting the disease
cases there.
In France and Belgium havemen Africans ups have been Africans per cent in Belgium. The infection there has been
sions to the demand by lesbian and gay youth for a recognition their op-
need to campaign against it. Giv-
full backing to LGYS Will be another component of LCGR's struggle.
But LCGR faces another more fundamental challenge. Gay male sexism and a refusal Take use demanes ores. bians seriously has been supporting demonstrations, and visits to pit villages we built more concrete links and raised more support than been achieved in the last decade or more.
This was exemplified in teaR received from the support message NUM at the last Labour Party conference and the
NUM sponlact what tne sored the ILGSM conference last March.
While aiming to combat the sexism of LAPC has built closer links with members of Women Against Pit Closures. We have now been asked to organise a workshop at the women's solidarity conference
passed on by heterosexual sex. As yet there is no anti gay hysteria.
In Britain there are just 40 cases. pected to rise to over 400
the end of the year. Already there have been a number of cases of gay men sacked because of the Hysicila. started to cal for ga s to The right has carry identification cards stricter laws and much more besides. In Germany in the '30s the Nazis used the threate Jews against remarkably similar way
The point is that the AIDS hysteria has fertile ground in the conscious and sub-conscious belief that you can catch' homosexuality.
LESBIANS & GAYS
UPPORT THE MINERS
responsible for a split in the movement trom ine beginning. Now, Labour Lesbians will be demanding that gives equal prominence to specific demands ores bians and implements polev ot positive action to ensure that women and black people take their rightful place in the concerns and structure of the Landel Birmingham on 4 May.
Since this group organised primarily around issues in the miners' strike, the need arose a group which would specifically take up the rights of lesbians in the labour movement: a group
Many party political lines, which would be open to anv les. bians wanting to fight for our rights in the labour movement. Enter the Labour Lesbians group.
At present is only functioning in London. Its main focus for the next period is the Labour Party and the LCGR
Our is to make LCGR more acceptable to coolalls and trom there
This 'leakage' argument underlies society's
and gays right from panic about them looking after children, to liberal attitudes that say what people do in private is alright as long as they don't promote it
So far the labour movement's silence and inaction has been eloquent. Kinnock and Meacher might claim to have thei hearts in the right place but their mouths certainly aren't.
LCGR will be discussing plans for labour movement conterence on AIDS at its annual
It has already produced leaflet requesting information
Sexual Politics
Photo GM COOKSON
If LCGR can cesstulv restructure itselt to become an effective campaigner for gay and lesbian rights, the prospects for confronting our oppressors are less bleak than the climate might suggest.
• The LCGR AGM is 4-5 May, County Hall, London SEI. Registration from 10 am. fight for a Labour Party commitment to lesbian rights.
This means initially changing Labour Campaign for Les-
demanding a quota of at least 50 per cent women or its policy bodies. This will give us a basis on which to campaign for the rights of lesbian mothers and for
I areas of life, such housing and employment.
•LL meets every second Wednesday of the month in the Lesbians and Gay Centre, 0/-09 Cowcross Street, London ECI (Farringdon tube). In the meantime ring Sue on 01-883 440 the state of play in the workplace. NALGO's in
to all its workforce is the best yel movement has moved foy The lesbian and wala over least few years, nowhere faster than during the year of the miners' strike. With the moral minority on the move, it's time for the left to put its foot down, start organising and join us in defending our movement.
• Further details from: London LCGR, 39 Chippennam Road, London W9 (phone: 01-286 4823) Alternatively, contact the Terrence Higgins BM AIDS, London
3XX (phone: 01-278 8745).
Page 11 scan of this page
London Underground
Newham 7: police violence stops march
News
LONDON UNDERGROUND Limited headed rapidly down the road to all out industrial contron-
simultaneously making a pay offer short of that made on British Rail, and promising to make a wage cut of 7½ per cent unless the unions agreed unconditionally to the immediate introduction of One Person Operation and the
Management's tactics are clearly an attempt to divide and rule. On pay, they hope to convince the majority of LUL workers
the "no strings' offer or 4.3 per cent looks cu
wages have
going struggle ATLeT fellow unionists on BR have settl-
for 4.8 per Celt However, the union cansol deree d scuucmcut ul the basic rates lower than tuaL gained on BR. That would sever a vital and traditional parity linkage.
became blatantly clear that this was
during GenDerale HOVC negotiations. Manage-
claimed that LUL BICIL was in better shape than ever berore. There is no deficit on the current account. None of this is surprising to LRT workers who are quite well aware it is they who have been dealing with the 44 per cent in-
THE Newham 7 and the increasingly militant
mobilisations of the
black community
against racist violence
hit the national news on
Saturday when police
tactics halted a march
of 3000 outside Forest
Gate police station.
The march was led by the
Asian and Afro-
Newham with support
from black and anti-racist
groups from all over Bri-
taill. (WU miners' con-
tingents, Irish solidarity
groups, gays and lesbians,
and local Labour Parties
and trade unions.
By Ilona Aranovsky,
Newham North East
Labour Party
It was in support of the
Newham 7 soon on trial at
OUCICH"
ding the Asian community
against a spate of racist at-
sac aiso insupporyeo
also support
Gerald Pryce, charged
with affray after his
brother Eustace aged 16
was stabbed to death in an
attack by white racists.
As the march went past
Forest Gate police station
ponce umecu une barters.
marchers
vigorously defended
themselves. The whole
CHOINNOH
halt and sat down in front
of the station demanding
the release of those ar-
rested.
waves big stick
with Underground workers last week,
station destaffing pro-
crease lu basscuieci usasc of the underground and the 14 per cent increase in bus usage over the past three years.
They are fully aware that they have been doing this despite big cuts
CUL. the buses. They are further aware that it was the GLC
By Patrick Sikorski NUR (personal capacity)
who introduced the Travel Cara ana une Tares culs which have brought the passengers back. It is the Pories who are cutting the subsidy to LRT from £197 million to £95 million during the next three years.
But, apparently, this massive increase 3DTUductivity has nothing to do with the worktorce - thev must make their contribution to the plumping up of the buses and under
gro undu nteepig massine
volunteering massive cuts in 'unit costs'.
So the pay negotiations
Whilst the police pretended negotiate with campaign organisers and councillors. claiming all afternoon that people would be released shortly without charges,
rally continued outside. Gerald Pryce spoke of the tragedy of his young brother's death and the
bail conditions SUTESCHE imposed on himself while the white racist charged WItn unirte was balled with no conditions.
Paul Boateng said that the campaign and the
showed SeriOO! evelts that people will not oere us won ane that the GLC was fully behind the campaign.
Arrests
erater in thbefsernooad when
LEUCIS dwindled, and police reinforcements had arrived. Iv cameras were turned
off and the police used the "thick hiue ine tactic em polyed in the Whitehall
support
demonstration in February penning in, then brutally pushing,
and KiCkIng ocaulng, shoving people off the surcels.
Men and women were
rugby tackled by groups of
police and there were fur-
ther arrests. Thirty-three
were arrecteteai
charged so far, but there
witHesses tor all
cidents and the campaign
is fighting all the cases.
In effect police
substituted greater
started with a nil wage offer because management needed to know 'where we stand on OPO and where we are on stauon acstaning'. .But within two hours they had moved to a 'final offer' of 4.3 per cent. This was the carrot. Three days later the letters threatening the withdrawal of the 7½ per cent were delivered to every workplace on the underground. This was the big stick.
Management hope that the threatened wage cut will lead to a rank and file revolt against the union.
will happen. First, less than half of the workforce are in receipt of
numbers for the NF march that did not materialise. But as an attempt to deteat this campaign, their tactics were an abject failure.
The Seven and the campaig Organiscis wert delighted at the size of the
Siner said oppressive policing tactics merely Strengunens the campaign. This was evidenced by the anger of threat from the Lambeth's Labour
Having waited for some 'trigger' to set council workers into action the district auditor's edict points to a controntauol
developing within the next Tew week CUSOORSC was to call a borough conCcHce. UDCH Labour Party members to discuss what course of action to take next.
Council officers made their position ecleai by writing councillors demanding that they call
emergency council meeting to set a rate by 3
May. Lambeth's borough consererce ullanuous)
agreed to call on all coun-
CHIUIS LU CUHLHUC LU YOL not to set a rate. The next
council meeting • remains
15 May.
Whilst we have.
LWU
waverers, wHOse aresld
tion we are demanding, we are sure that the no-rate
option will continue.
the payment. Second, after tax, it will be less than half of the f10 a week cut claimed in the London media last week. But the underlying reason why those in receipt of the payment will wall and see what lead they get from the unions, before reacting strongly to these provocaLOUS is that they realise that large scale redundancles are the orde of the day. No train crew believes the 'no compulsory redun dancy' line being pedalled by management.
The NUR has reinforced its position that it will call industrial LaCOT management impose OPO
the demonstrators and the refusal to put up WILD police violence.
This campaign and future anti-racist campaigns will not go away One thing is certain, for all police public relations talk of fighting racist attacks. Saturday proved yet again that they are not on the side of black people.
The best way to res-
Lambeth stands firm
'FAILURE BY the council to discharge their lawful duty would bring untold disruption ... A deliberate failure to perform the duty to make a lawtul rate would amount to wilful misconduct'. So begins a
Ted Knight
By Greg Tucker,
Lambeth Local
Government
Committee.
First we will be
mobilising for May.
Dennis Skinner and Hilda
Kean will be joining local
councillors and trade
unionists at a rally im-
and have called for a complete freeze on any further moves until more talks can be held between the unions
to lemmer tutran aceis
aole PoSitl reflects the difficulties with the drivers union ASLEF, which no longer opposed to OPO in any -effective way
However, the ASLEF branch secretary at New Cross. the depot in the front line, told the NUR London Transport district counci last week. that if the NUR put a picket on
depot his members would not cross. In the end it is such actions that will decide the issue.
pond to such police in-
build massive picket of the Old
on the first day of the Newham trial
13 May 9.30am, and every subsequent Monday. • The Newham 7 are innocent!
• Self Defence is no Offence!
mediately before the council meeting. We aim to ensure the
BLUESU out.
After that will prepare for the district auditor. Council workers have SaTee diSCuSS precise details of their ac-
•Lilt Coul cillors are surcharged.
The Lambeth •parties are planning now for the six month period after the Citric antr acts and the surcharges come into
effect. We aim to mobilise the community in a way never seen betore
In conjunction with
the council trade unions
we are working out the details for meeting
throughout the borough
We also agreed to raise money to cover legal costs.
Above all, we aim to
get out every trade
union in the borough. Par-
ty members are being asked
back LTaet whether they
afiliated to the Labour
Party or not and demand a
discussion of what action
their branches can take to
support our stand.
Newham's
does the Tory
business
Carolyn Sikorski NALGO (personal capacity)
were summarily
union meeting in the
homes.
an establishment threatened with closure.
the social services convenor Barry Gray management had attempted to victimise. cluding talking to other stewards.
NALGO and
Any appeal heard bv these ver
the past five years.
was able to unite to defend a convenor.
at
cil. They SpeCT the branch. cillors. with the miners.
photo.
votes are translated into action. are
fer the
Socialist Action 3 May 1985
Labour Council
ON FRIDAY 26 April three members of Newham NALGO, including a shop steward,
dismissed for attending a staffroom of the residential home where they work. In a crude attempt to stop the strike threatened by NALGO if the sackings went ahead, management then offered new jobs in different
The new jobs all involve a wage cut and other financial penalties. For the steward it means a loss of £1000 per year and being forced to move to a remote village in Essex 18 miles from Newham in
Newham council is a safe Labour authority The sackings are part of a three-pronged attack on NALGO in the wake of their successful detence ol
NALGO waged a nine month campaign in the union and in the Labour Party and on 15 April the Labour group voted to end the victimisation. Al the very same meeting however, the group then gave the chair of social services, Julie Garfield, the green light to sack the three NALGO members at Luton House; to discipline six other stewaras and branch officers and to impose a facilities agreement which means that stewards will have to ask permission to engage in any union activity, in-
Ms Garfield's attitude to the three members and NALGO were summed up by her little speech on the steps of the town hall earlier that evening. Addressing a large lobby of the group called by
supported by members of the Labour Party and a mini-bus full of miners and miners' wives from Welbeck colliery, she screamed: 'You're all a load of liars!' and to the three: 1 hope to God you all get the sack next Friday!'
against the sackings would be same councillors who have launched the anti-NALGO witch hunt. This attack is aimed at destroying the effective organisation that has been built up in Newham NALGO over
Through the fight to establish a shop steward system against strong council opposition, and then in the union nationally against NEC opposition, the branch has been moved to a position where it
The six activists in the forefront of these developments have also been targeted by the coun-
letters warning of disciplinary action if they engage in any union activity without the express permission of management. There can be little doubt that if the council are prepared to sack members for attending a meeting they will do the same to stewards and branch officers who are responsible for organising
Central to the willingness of the Labour group to smash NALGO is the role of two of these activists in the Labour Party, where they have wag. ed a campaign against the victimisation of Barry Gray and now the sackings. There has been no hiding place in the party for the Labour coun-
The realities of the Tories' plans to smash local government unions, jobs and services have crowded in on the debate on which budget strategy to pursue. The response of the Newham North Wes party to industrial disputes over the last few years has been excellent. Firm links have been forged
As a result the party's support for NALGO's fight against the victimisation and the sackings has been unwavering. This has extended into Newham North East and to a lesser extent into Newham South - the remaining bastion of the old right.
Another factor for the council crew is the im-
minen orolt eeci is s ucar tual lea prepared to subordinate jobs and the ability of the union to organise as well as their party mandates, for their political careers. Many of these same councillors voted consistently against setting a rate and were originally elected as part of the drive for the accountability of councillors and MPs.
The NALGO branch meet this Wednesday to
discuss all-out strike-action. Already 13 sections of
social services have voted to walk out if the sackings occurred. It is vital that in the run up to the
branch meeting and immediately afterwards these
If this attack is not defeated now it is certain that Newham Council's present leadership will of-
newlan workers jobs and
Newham residents' services on a plate next year
Page 12 scan of this page
THE NATIONAL school strike which took place est Thursday 25 April has forced the issue of YTS
political spectrum as 'irresponsible' and the product of a sinister political manipulation, the strikes which look place were a big success. The basis now exists for a real campaign to expose Schemes for the swindle they are.
For the Tories and the SDP. YTS represents systematic attempt to de. depresse the de-skill and depress wages of oung people coming onto the job market. YTS keeps down the embarassing level of youth unemployment.
FOr Labour, YTS pught to be a big vote win-
If Labour attacked were to oin with the trade unions o prevent YTS undermining union rates of pay and conditions, the massive show of anger and frustraion that burst Streets on 25 April would min thousands of youth to
But Neil Kinnock has different plans. Labour's economic alternative the Tories' austerity measures eaves three million on the dole
a Desce
Kinnock has no intenion of defending the inerests of those who demonstrated last Thursday. No wonder that he should attack them so piciously.
THE CONTINUING revolt in the South African mnships and the increased repression against the beration movements, have brought a wave of symathy and protest from all parts of the world. For
lidarity with the struggle in South Africa have
organised by AM) and associated organisatioins throughout
western world.
Imost since its inception, LAM has concentrated in
Bring the widest possible
public opinion particulal emphasis
liberal, church and kinred spirits. Its main com-
have been rganisation sycotts, the occasional
aceful picketing outside
eth Alrican embassics
consulates and, as in
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the Tory government's cheap labour scheme -ack into the limelight. Denounced by the whole
Youth Training
Establishment politicians are worried about deal with generation that has Sit 10 especially starts to organise Press accounts of seminow dc all but reflect the real anger of the youth that wal" ticipated.
By Grant Keir, Islington South LPYS
In London as elsewhere, 2500 school students with young women and young blacks to the fore overcame locked gates and headteacher threats of disciplinary altion. Chanting 'Here We J-O-B NOT the demonstration to the Manpower Services Commission had the air of a carnival and was a big success.
With Kinnock consigning "natural supporters the dole
Young Socialists has correctly stepped in. Through
Solidarity against apartheid
most part, these international manifestations of
the Anti-Apartheid Movement
their current call for demonstration on Sunday 16 June, 'a demand for the brush government to aci against the apartheid regime In the United States it has made similar demands the Reagan government. in the letherlands, the sister organisation AAM, the Holland Committee on Southern
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Striking school
students say
an initiative by the Youth
Trade Union Rights Cam-
paign, national strike
was organised last hurs
day. Unfortunately it
not clear whether the YS leaders want to organise
school students into
YTURC, a school students
union, or the LPYS.
huge campaign
could be launched aimed
at getting YTS youth into
trade unions and to Africa, has made its main campaign calling LIC Dutch banks to stop selling Krugerrands.
All these campaigns are, no doubt, worthy of SUDUUrL. But, despite the occasional genuflection toward the trade unions, AAM ana Ils associates I other countries have never really directed its main campaigns toward the organised labour movement for fear that it might alienate whose support Similarly the British AAM condemned tillitall picketing of the South African Embassy ed by the City Branch of AAM and have dissolved
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educate school students about YTS But it cannot be 'sectarian' This would aid Kinnock's intentions
witch-hunting the ys and "investigating' YTURC.
Building mass mobilisaGOS Such as those we saw on 25 April is bound to provoke the hostility
this is the odey way to
this is the only way organise and defend the the branch, for fear that it would lose this support.
That there wide field of potential organis ed working class action left
argely untapped by AAN is illustrated bi paign organised by the San Francisco dockworkers of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) toward the end of last year. ror fi days en
LWI successfully resisted unloading South African cargo from a ship.
By Charlie van Gelderen
On Friday 23 November, the Ned Lloyd ship Kimberley was due to
Francisco's Pier Two-hundredand-fifty people gathered at the pier at 6pm to urge longshore workers not to handle South African cargo the ship. The
ship's officers however,
got wind of the demonstration and delayed the docking of the ship til nightfall.
The following mornthe ship renused to work the gang assigned the cargo WCIt
dismissed from the ship.
The shift went through but unloaded only the Australian cargo
refusing to the
South African goods in the
Longshoremen on the
West Coast of the United
States have a long histor
of militancy in support o
progressive causes. In
1934, Was the
forefront of the San Fran-
Anti Apartheid calls national
demonstration
The Anti Apartheid Movement's national committee has
decided on a programme of action, ending in a national
demonstration on Sunday 16 June. The theme will be an
end to the police killings and a demand for the British
government to act against the apartheid regime.
youth victimised at work and school for demanding a aecent ruture For this reason, the campaigr the LPYS should be to build up the YTURC campaign, and through this build the LPYS Half-cooked nouons building national school students' union and at the same time building periphery are cisco general strike. 'Bloody Sunday' IS Sull commemorated every July.
On that day longshoreman and a cook killed by police WeLC sparking 100,000 workers in the city which lasted for 100 days In the 1970's, Local 10 (of ILWU) members ticipated in ine anti-Vietnam war movement
Tion in cid. In the later
Chile. In the late 1980's, Local 10 refused to handle military equipment bound for El Salvador With such a record it is no surprise that Local 10 has organised its own Southern African Libera-
No to YTS!
guaranteed to open up the campaign to atack. Kinnock and his cronies & would then be teft off the hook
LPYS branches should be making the YTURC campaign a priority over the next weeks and months and should use the recen blaze of publicity to contact their local trade union and Labour Parties for political and financial help
tion Support Committee
(SALSC), and has taken a
lead the campaign
against apartheid and
support of the black ris-
ings. As the chairperson of
the SALSC of Local 10
said: 'We want to call
the attention of
American people that the
so-called
engagement with the
regime of
South
the Reagan administration
is a sham. and really in-
tended to aid and abet thi
South African system
economically, politically
and socially.
we se e our action as
an expression of solidarity
with the rebellion. We sup
port no only the struggle
Photo: MARK SALMON
to prevent the Tories forcing youth on to YTS.
• YTURC can be contacted c/o 150, Walworth Road, London SE17, , IJT,
phone Rights - Wot Rights is a 20-minute video on YTS, available from Birmingham Trade Union Resource Centre, , Victoria works. 7 trederick street. Birmingham BI ЗНЕ.
of the trade unionists
there, but the armed strug
gle as well.
This is, surely, the
direction in which the
solidarity movement with
the people of South Africa
should be heading; toward
11110 organised labour
movement, for industrial
action in support of the
anti-apartheid
This would produce much
better than
demands for the Thatcher
government to act.
Like Reagan's, the
Thatcher regime's pro-
testations Is a Sham and
they will do nothing to br-
ing edifice of
repression which is apar-
theid.
← Socialist Action No. 99, 28 April 1985Socialist Action No. 101, 10 May 1985 →