Socialist Action No. 102, 17 May 1985
The scan: 102-may-17-1985-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
Thatcher backs
Nicaragua blockade
No. 102
SOCAlist
ACTION
the contra forces
Last week there was speculation that Britain's
representative
Nations abstain from criticism of the tion. Ine trum turned out worse. Instead of the expected abstention, Britain supported Unted sates are voted against resolution which reaffirmed right of Nicaragua determine political, economic social systel - are Calle ed on all other states to Terra Trom mutenedl
Nicaragua's interna
Britain became only major state in the world to openly support Reagan's attack
Nican revolution e
Justifying American economic blitz
Nicaragua, UL Washington Post, a so-called liberal paper, carried this recent homilie: 'It is not ignoble or intrusive or bullying for the United States to take a
interesi wanting to see countries
the Westeri hemisphere towards democracy and respect for neighbours. It
legitimate,
uceeosal and right.
In short: cut out the rhetoric democracy, for Reagan cares nothing, and even the liberal voice of American imperialism now justifies US tervention in Nicaraguan affairs. And Thatcher's governmacht agrees
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office document leaked in last Sunday's Observer how far Thatcher has gone in backing Reagan Despite the Tory govern ment's declared position of supporting loans to Nicaragua their merits, Thatcher has acted secretely stop such loans.
The leaked document highlights ment's problem of claim
'technical Croules for this policy, Speaking of such technicalities. civil servant scribbled in the margin: t we cal find them!'
Britain's opposition
ON WEDNESDAY 1 May US president Ronald Reagan announced his intention to mount a full economic embargo on Nicaragua from 7 May, to continue for an indefinite period. Reagan's announcement followed the refusal of the US congress to vote $14 million towards arms for
fighting Nicaraguan government. This embargo has attracted condemnation throughout the world.
to loans to from the the would Development any US ac movement. spokesperson on America, the Foulkes, series
to
and policy cher White the Britain's
on the
own rules.
Hypocrisy the Thatcher
Belgrano
these
made public so
was
move forces
Committee Parliamentary
about Representatives which congress Reagan's Labour LUTT
They
Nicaragua
show Nicaraguan against the of the public would be leader
Nicaragua declare wholehearted for the
The Solidarity be
London 8982).
17 May 1985 30p
against the
Nicaragua World Bank and the Inter-American
Bank has already been the subject of criticism in the labour
Latin George has tabled of parlamentary
quee tone on the un ent
revealous SLEE Observer simply confirm what many have believed
long time: that wier comes to anyu portant issue of foreign
Margaret Thatfirmly in the House's pocket opposition loans to Nicaragua is going ahead despite the fact that there are no grounds under the banking funds'
from the government not new. (Remember the
affair?) The only unusual thing about
disclosures is that Thatcher's fes have beer
de pelice us kly.
•con considering finances for the contr
the Latin America and Caribbean
the Labour Party sent a telegram of protest to the House of
urging to IcCe proposals MPs must now Enem attention closer to home as well.
expose this latest Tory lie and demand that Britain increases its financial aid to
good first step to building a campaign in support of the
people and inervention United States for Labour Neil Kinnock to make a second trip to
_publicly Labour's support Nicaraguan
Nicaraguan Committee contacted 20-21 Compton Terrace
NI (01-35S
Page 2 scan of this page
2 Socialist Action 17 May 1985
Action
The Tory drips
THE ANNOUNCEMENT by Francis that he is forming a new group entitled Centre Forward is just the latest episode in the 'now you see them, now you don't' history of the Tory wets. We imagine however that
must now be contemplating his latest coup.
Francis Pym for the cover story of the June
In order to bring a little light into the sordid history of wets however we will spell out a few home truths. These may come in useful for those in the labour movement contemplating the 'antiThatcher alliance' proposed by Marxism Today, and now endorsed by Alistair Graham.
The Tory wets are not a cause of opposition to Thatcher but a product of it. The role of the wets, and the Liberals, and the SDP, is to back Thatcher's policy on the decisive points and at the decisive moment,
The miners' strike was the perfect illustra-
organiser of the against the miners was the most highly placed strategically positioned himself to the right of Thatcher throughout the dispute both from conviction and out of a determination to establish his credentials with
Now that the miners' strike is out of the way however, and as Thatcher is suffering severely in popularity as a result of the strike's impact, the wets consider it safe and necessary to show sign of opposition to Thatcher from ranks of the Tories and Alliance, then Labour will pick up all the gains from those deserting Thatcher. Furthermore such public 'criticism' the useful role of tying opposition into policies acceptable to the ruling class
First to pick up the bait of the new moves by
ticipation in the all-party Employment Institute.
Alliance over the future pay policy of a government of the 'anti-Thatcher majority'.
The most serious manifestation of the prolast month that he excluded any agreement with the SP, but was prepared to consider one with the Liberals in the event that Labour did not win a majority at the election.
The basis of the policy of the wets, SDP, and Liberals is dead simple. They demand that all the
This means maintenance of the laws against maintenance of its own nuclear weapons and American cruise missiles in the country. Any changes - in particular a half-hearted economic reflationary policy which would completely fail — would be solely within the framework of maintaining the most essential Thatcherite laws.
A government including the SDP, Liberals, or wets would simply be Thatcherism without Thatcher. That is how it must be regarded by the
shown by the formation of Centre Forward are
excellent. Anything that weakens the enemy is a
step forward. We welcome greater disorder in
But the basis for Labour exploiting problems
of the Tories is explaining clearly that there is no
difference between a Pym and a Thatcher on any
decisive issues of politics.
Editor: ALAN FREEMAN
Puhlished weeklv excert two weeks in August and
the last week of December.
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dressed envelope.
Pym at
After all if there is no apparent
proposed that the
THATCHER'S DECISION to privatise British Gas so lacks economic coherence, even going by the stated long term policies of the government, that it has attracted widespread recognition for what it is — a crude piece of asset stripping. But more is involved than that.
British Gas affair symbolises the political and economic government.
The first motivation for Peter Walker's announcement of the sale of British Gas is the changing shape economy and the profits it
generating. economy now literally does not resemble that of any other advanced capitalist state.
Nearly one eigth of the British twelve per cent, is now devoted to the production of energy I nis compares lo arouna two or three per cent for any OLICI HaVI
Britain become specialised as a supplier of oil. gas and coal to ine industrial heartland of the EEC
The energy industries, coupled with finance, telecommunications and electronics, are now the actual, or potential, super profitable sectors of the Sa economy. "Inev are also the sectors dominated by the largest and most
Pher fu companiess
oil companies, banks, engineering industry, and ine newly aenanonalisec British Telecom
Fi ne of British which has profits in excess of £1,000 substan tally to thal cond million a will add plex of companies. The
if it can be achieved by the govern ment is breaking up the National Coal Board and the privatisation of the super pits, such as Selby, together with the profitable mines in areas such as north Notts.
This building up of the new profitable sectors of
economy under the control of British capital Is accompanied by a conAmed of the domestic base of sections
traditional industry such mechanical engineering. The government is clearly preparing the de facto sale to Honda
production British car firm - BL. The Thatcher
government has cleared
port of capital by British industrial companies.
The second key aspect of the sale of British gas is political strategy - as of Thatcher's
- above all her government's continuing drive to fragment and segment the working
classven the Tory
commented on the blatan-
biD TARTE
same of being ti and fiving DAT
JOHN ROSS looks at how the
fundamental strategy of the Thatcher
cy with which the sale of British Gas was brought forward to allow Lawson to compensate — in tax
- for the tremendous losses suffered during the miners' strike. The NUM smashed
pieces Lawson's previous political plan for £3.000 million give away tax culs In 1985. Therefore the government has decided to
with of tarsing don, the
raising £5-8,000 •all million _by the sale British Gas.
The fact that this sale is against the interests of ordinary gas consumers, against the interests of the and in the interes o
the interests and in those whom even the Financial Times recognis ed as being motivated by the low prices raised for fees earned by the City in-
naturally does SULUEJOIS not figure in the govern-
calculations. chief Tory need in politics is for a rapid tax cutting budget before the election.
The urgency of Tory concern on this is reflected
dicators - and in the Tory delcine in electora port.
_Ever since coming to office the Thatcher government has tratec on massively redistributing income not simply between classes but
within the working class. The pattern is absolutely consistent The better off you were before Thatcher came to office the better off you are under her government. The worse off you were before Thatcher came to power the worse off you have become under this government. shows this pattern.
Real wages of the bottom ten per cent of male
fallen marginally by 0.2 per cent - in the five years of the Thatcher government. The real wages of the top 10 per cent of male
earners in contrast have risen by 19 per cent
For women the pattern is the same. The bottom 10 per cent of women earners have increased their real wages by 5.8 per cent in five years. The top 10 per cent have increased them by 21.2 per cent.
These figures however, heard star.
which show the same trend at every income level, actually redistribution of income because they ligure for those in work More than have been pushed out of work altogether and have therefore suffered far
falls income than those in employment. This has particularly struck black people and youngsters. itical strate goa lis and political strategy, ex-
Top 10% Top 25% Average Bottom 25% Bottom 10%
tremely clear. She bases herself within the ruling class on the largest and most powerful sections of British capital oil, banking, telecommunications, ioner industrial CORALI multinational companies — and has attempted to weld round
electoral support among not simply the 'middle classes but the better paid, and secure, sections of the working class. eutent dos government
More than just
asset stripping
The result the famous, and growing, "North-South' electoral divide - with the 'North', including the core of the big cities, becoming more consolidated around while Thatcher Labour
Labour party real blows in the working class the same process saw its expression in a sharp increase of votes for the Tory Party among skilled workers in 1979 and 1983.
TABLE 1 %o increase in real wages 1979-1984
Men Women % 19.0 21.2 13.6 18.3 8.1 12.6 3.4 8.6 -0.2 5.8 Source: Guardian 11 April 1985
The crisis the Tory Party now faces is that the sections of the working class they targetted for their electoral strategy are mens affected by being more crisis. The North Sea oil revenues, which fed the entire process, are likely to decline from next year onwards. The rise in real wages has greatly slowed down.
Perhaps worst of all for Tory strategy is that provide
tax haven
News
the interest rates are now sharply hitting home
the core group Thatcher had built her support among
The Economist calculated in its 11 May issue that during the last two years interest rate in-
have forced up mortgage interest repayments by 59 per cent.
effective retail price index Ilas i risen by 24 per cent l the last two years - compared to 12 per cent for the retail price index for the population as a whole
A political reflection of this is to fuel a rapid collapse of Tory support among the key groups on whom Thatcher based her electoral I victories in 1979 and Unless some way can be found of makno new ecoramc conce sions to these sections of • the working class the result will be new Tory electoral disaster of the type suffered in the county counci elections Tax cuts are the only really sure way to attempt to achieve these concessions.
That is why Peter Walker was so keen to get
Bre sh oke so rapidly is
market place. more than just a little crude asset stripping. It is part of some rather urgent political footwork Whether it will work is et the Tories course, a very different question!
MAC
It's called dire poverty
Page 3 scan of this page
Politics Today
OVER HALF A million people took to the streets of the Spanish state last week to protest against Reagan's visit to the country. At the same time a survey in the left wing daily El Pais spelt disaster for Socialist Prime Felipe Gonzalez in his drive to hold Spain in NATO. The poll shows: • 54 per cent want Spain to get out of NATO. • 66 per cent want the US to quit its Spanish bases. • 64 per cent think that America is not a 'reliable ally of Spain'. • only 19 per cent favour Spanish integration into NATO.
There demonstrations nearly all major cities. organisers claimed 500,000, while in Barcelona even the police figure of 225,000. El Pais reports that 50-60,000 demonstrated in Valencia
LAST WEEKEND'S Bonn summit was marked by the public row over Reagan's cemetery with the graves of Hitler's SS included. The visit had a deep sybolic meaning, and a real political significance.
The Bonn summit itself saw an important split in attitudes between France and West Germany over Star Wars and trade. DICK CARTER looks at background to Bitburg and the Bonn summit — and at their connection.
From a public relations point of view, Reagan's visit to Bitburg was a disaster for the US president. But it was a necessary price to pay for the fact that Reagan is now prepared to play with one of the most reactionary forces in Europe: of right wing German nationalism.
Bonn summit itself
dominated by increasing over trade and the issue of America's Star Wars project. Both these came together for the United States in its relations with West Germany. ween them they gave far more than purely a symbolic significance to Bitburstarting with the economic issues at the Bonn summit, the United States finds itself today facing a dilemma. American industry, hampered by an overvalued dollar, is being easily defeated in international comnedition at bresent DY Japanese and West German industry. But the US still has decisive advantages in the field of agricultural exports and the service sector - abore all internationa. Iinance.
American economic and policy simple. wants a rapid liberalisation of trade in sectors other than manufacturing, it can bring to bear its competitive edge in these fields. In particular this means allowing the US financial sector to penetrate the Japanese market, and using the United agricultural advantage EEC. A chief demand of the US to-
liberalisation of all areas of international trade.
Spain says
No
to NATO
country.
referendum
reservation',
Minister
Tom Frinking NATO assembly,
headaches this will full
In Madrid the
scarcely be more dramatic. gave a
Bitburg
the was
conflicts
Bet-
crucial manufacturing strong protectionist
agricultural and services trade.
exploit to its own advantage.
trade The US producer in Europe, bitious Dians lor
tectionist posed
States against the talks.
LUSI of
and smaller numbers in the Basque
Chanting 'NATO no, bases out'
without blackmail', 'no blockade', and even 'Indians to power, Yankees to the
the demonstrations included the whole spectrum of Spanish
KOme political opinion. In Madrid a discreet contingent from the Socialist Party's left wing marched under the slogan "Towards a left and socialist foreign policy: disarmament yes, NATO no.
An internal report by Dutch MP
to the forthcoming which meets in Stuttgart on 17 May, highlights the
Cause NATO The report estimates that 98 per cent of Spanish parliamentary deputies are in favour of NATO. The contrast with public opinion could
Gonzalez has had to commit the Socialist Party to a referendum — on NATO membership. He thinks he can Reagan at Bitburg military cemetery
America is threatening to take
measures over trade in manufactured goods unless its rivals agree to a liberalisation of West
This issue is the first source of friction between France and West Germany — a tension the US is more than ready to
France is the chief agricuitural
one wiin am the future. But West France urgently needs the EEC's prosolicies, So it stronber dise moves liberalise agricultural trade. This is why France at Bonn vetoed the US proposals for the new round of international trade INTe
West Germany, in contrast, is the EEC country which bears the brunt of
subsidising French
win. He intends to link membership
NATO to EEC integration which makes nonsense of the idea that the EEC 1s a purely economic undertaking and once again proves that support for America's war drive is an unwritten clause of the Treaty
By Alan Freeman
But Gonzalez wants to arrange a partial compromise by persuading the USA not to cut down on its bases, the hottest bone of contention. There are four bases and 12-13,000 US troops in Spain. But as the Financial Times reported on 8 May, 'Spanish membership of NATO makes little sense from a military point of view if the bases cannot operate efficiently. importance to the Americans and to NATO is its role as a staging post bet-
America and the potential theatre of war in Europe.
Bitburg and star wars
agriculture. And it has the most to lose it the : US protectionist measures in manufacturing.
Germany supported
American proposals for a new international trade conference.
France and West Germany found themselves sharpiy at odds on the other key issue at Bonn: Reagan's invitation to the EEC states to participate in the Star Wars programme.
West Germany has the strongest
European economy, blocked from access weapons. Participation in Star Wars would give West Germany at least partial legitimate access to the most advances nuclear weapons research in
world and, for the first time, a foot in the door of a nuclear weapons
Star Wars participation would be aimed to give West Germany a lead in the future nuclear arming of Europe.
Reagan with Spanish president Gonzales during his recent visit
French newspaper Le Monde reports Gonzalez' suggestion of reductions in the American presence in Spain met with 'frosty Washington.' No wonder then that
of NATO heads are unhappy about the
referendum. It seems that ballots are alright for smashing democrats but not such a good idea when it comes to deciding whether to die for Uncle Ronnie. *Washington referendum because the could serve as a school European countries where the pacifist current is strong' reports Le Monde. No referendum
Spain's
referendum?
Minister Fernando Moran has already called openly for general elections inof a referendum.
For this reason chancellor Kohl is extremly keen to Hence, join the Star Wars programme.
France, in contrast, understands that the anti-ballistic missiles system envisaged by Reagan — which would also inevitably by paralleled by the Soviet
Union independent French nuclear deterrent, the force de frappe, and reduce French political weight in Europe. So Mitterrand is strongly Wars and has refused nuclear ticipation.
On both Reagan seized a major opportunity to get support for US policies at Bonn and drove a wedge between the two pillars of the EEC — France and West Germany. With such high stakes, he was prepared to pay a big price.
The consession Kohl demanded, and Reagan paid, was the Bitburg visit. If West Germany is to be firmly
Not surprising, therefore, that the Socialist
reception
up their will.
hostile to precedent for other
Will the government drop the
Spanish Foreign
Since the period.
Germany
prepared
Bitburg visit, world protest.
Bitburg visit, West Germany have
strongest
would render obsolete the
against Star French par-
trade and Star Wars
Party already has beer bullied by Gonzalez into accepting his position on NATO, since the other major parties are right wing, and since no other parliamentary party opposes NATO except the fragmented Communist Party, this would be a complete fraud with no real oportunity
people of Spain to impost
Impregnable
As the rise of the German Greeens shows, the SP cannot regard itself a impregnable. The growing vitality of the movement on the streets is a sure sign they will not accept this.
'Now our job', explained oppositionist philosopher Javier Sabada to French daily Liberation, 'is to ensure
demonstrations like Sunday's
terrain as such, favouring a restructuring of the Spanish left.
ensnared in the Star Wars build up against the Soviet Union, then it must be turned once more into a fortress of anti-communism. That rahabilitating German right wing na tionalism and spring cleaning the Nazi
If the price of integrating West
US plans is that the butchers of Hitler's SS have now to become 'honest soldiers' then Reagan
take that decision That's why he went ahead with his
riding the storm of
Stone-dead
For anyone with eyes to see, this visit should kill stone-dead any illu. sions that there is anything pro. gressive in the EEC or in European capitalisms clashes with the United States. The real problem for Reagan's plans doesn't come from his stitched. up deals with Kohl, but from the op position of the West German working
The attempts of Kohl's backers to rahabilitate the Nazi SS has led to a ware of demonstrations throughout West Germany. Encouraged by the
and the ment policies, Nazi veteran's groups
increasingly openly held their traditional reunions.
Sunday's elections in Nord Rhein Westphalen, West Germany's
industrial area Kohl's Christian Democratic Union suffered
stunning defeat. The Social Democratic Party (SPD), which had attacked both the Bitburg visit and the moves to rehabilitate the SS, had an electoral triumph — gaining an ab. solute majority of the vote.
Reagan's visit to the Bitburg cemetery was no error. It was a sym bol of the American administration's willingness to work with some of the most reactionary forces in Europe.
Read between • the lines of what happened at the Bonn summit, and you'll discover quickly enough why
rotting remains perpetrators of the most barbaron crimes in the history of Europe
Page 4 scan of this page
Socialist Action
Wales TUC
IN THE opinion of the Western Mail, 'something approaching the new realism crept unnoticed into Wales' at the Wales TUC conference in Tenby. It was, the common-sense conference where the less said and the less promised the better ... of Mineworkers gave the Wales TUC its muted blessing and forgiveness. spare the organisation's general council from all but the minimum of embarassment.'
In his main speech to the conference, president Emlyn Williams talked about the miners regrouping to fight another day.
For the leadership South Wales NUM that means a policy of reconciliation with those who let them down so badly.
Worse, it means dropping policies which might prevent such a reconcilia-
debate at the congress on the outcome of the strike.
able to direct his fire at a speech by Norman Willis, effectively Wales TUC leadership off LIC
110IC the charges against the 101
who occupied the Port Talbot cranes to be
A controversial debate on the role and accountability of the police fell by the wayside when TASS failed to move it. For the
Support Anne
Francis
HOW MANY people have heard of the plight of Anne Francis? Not many we suspect. Anne was recently jailed for breaching the fence at Greenham Common airbase last May.
For criminal damage, her sentence is one year jail. Other women tried for the same action have been sentenced 10 the usual one or two weeks in prison.
In the United States an Indian IWU catholic priests were
sentenced to betWELCILLI ween 12 and 18 years in jail for causing $11,000 worth of damage to a minuteman silo. It is widely suspected that Anne's stiff sentence arises because the Americans are putting the pressure on here too.
minister's wife from South Wales, argued righteous
17 May 1985
THIS IS OUR
No plan for
sacked miners
Western Mail continued: 'a sober and
The National Union
That was sufficient to
reason backers of similar motions had
agreed to withdraw them. The Wales TUC conference continues the steady rightward march of the South Wales NUM.
By Graham Atwell
The deal which led to the end of the strike included an assurance by the COal Board that most sacked miners would be
In return, the executive have failed lead any campaign, either for a national amnesty or in support ot then Owfl members still outside the pit gates.
They advised the seven NUM members
sacked al the Phurnacite plant in the Cynon Valley
I acted harassment of 'superscab' Paul Watson, low profile and rely on an industrial tribunal. justification. Would we have as many nuclear missiles, she asked, if they were funded by street cor-
collections the Was famine relief is?
By Carol Turner
Anne's sentence coincides with the announcment Brave Defender, this year's civil defence manoeuvre to September Focussingon * between conventional attack
Kussian commando units invading the shores of Britain, it will be the
LLYNEL VALLEY JOINT LODGES WORKERS
OBJECTIVE
Meanwhile the Board have repaid the loyalty of the NUM by closing two Beswas, without any can- •OULO Celvnon and
fact been left to NACODS to organise a ballot lor ar overtime ban in protest at the tallure to follow the new review procedure.
St Johns, Maestag, the lodge has re-
it to review. Rumours are rife of collieries on the hit-
with Penrihwceiber widely believed to be next
With the retirement of
director Philip dict Weekes, himself a 'valleys Illall, the Coal board 1s expected to bring In an
complete the butchery of the industry in South Wales
as many d 16 pits could be at risk.
Congress Communities
stop pit closures. away
TONS
hold chai
ment.
Scargill's to con-
CaNC largest military exercise since World War II.
More l12ll 60,000 troops, territorial army verone all ONCE WIll
Coll troops masquerading the Russians! The autumn perine it be a bie for
this CND to refocus on the nuclear missiles sites
Molesworth, Faslane, and so on.
We should demand that peace campaigners are accorded the
TA volunteers: paid leave for
and against the missiles. Ine peace movement must use this opportunity to refocus the op position to the missiles bi pointing out that conven-
weapons яте no
ecutive
filiate the Wales IUC, only defeated the casting
The debate is
which
from to the
ecutive.
gress is right to stress the importance of the munities, it is only a national fightback national union which
their tracks.
fightback was amply
the
country.
The Wales ex-
LIC nual
op-
against Opinion poll AInnock ог the Euro-
offer
fightback Tory defence for the ordinary people of Britain.
Meanwille support for the continued presence
camps. throughout Britain, and especiallv for the womer at Greenham, should be rebuilt and reactivated through a massive cam-
paign of support for Anne
Francis, who is currently
serving her sentence HM L IN LOOKIRIT open women's jail. She has just CHECK CLINANCI there from Holloway where she wak many privileges including 10 her lawyer — after refusing to
• Messages shoulde sent, support
10: Anne Francis, €/0 Cookham Prison, near Maidstone, Kent.
for all!
little to be done.
tion for the under-l6s.
The high court ruling,
in Dee Victoria Cilick s
Victoria
advice on contraception or
should be gIven to any of her daughters without her consent represents an attack on the most basic rights of young women to control own bodies.
The ruling did not simply refer to Gillick's own daughters, Department of Health recommendations and contraception for the
welc declared unlawful.
Since the ruling it has been illegal for doctors to
on contraception abortion to the under-|05
By making 'advice' illegal ruling also restricts any information, from youth workers, teachers in publications Sex education schools can be delcared illegal. Books on sex education have been removed from some shops since the high court decision.
The Gillick ruling is based on the belief that young people should totally under the control
their parents. establishes that idea further in law. Although the decision specifies abortion and contraception in particular, it also refers to all medical treatment.
Not only can people under 16 be prevented ing.
point.
accident
pened at football
place like
mass class
culture. im-
happening at other
Twicken
spent on football
near the of
example
and culture.
Bradford working
Saturday
Contraceptives
'THERE WILL always be a hard core of silly girls who will get pregnant. They'd be no more able to make contraception work than they can make their brains. Short of physically sterilizing them, there is
This is the view of Victoria Gillick, campaigner for greater restrictions on abortion and contracep-
from usire contraception or forced into unwanted pregnancies. bur theoretically other medical treatment can be forced on
witheld from them the whim of their parents or legal guardians.
Apart from the right of young people to seek help about abortion and con
themselves, allay will simply not ap proach their parents for permission
By Anne Kane
But the ruling will not stop young women getting
Victoria Gillick wishes. . It will simply mean more unwanted pregnancies, more backstreet and late abortion and more fear and ig norance. Last , ассогding figures, over 17,000 people under 16 attended family planning clinics in England and Wales, where the ruling now applies
The dramatic drop in this figure so far this year
are using unsafe con• tracention or none at all Many young pregnant women are waiting until they become 16 to seek abortion and some laTC committed suicide since the ruling
The Gillick ruling is only the latest attack on women's right to safe, legal and free contracep-
No more Bradfords!
sion. Why should government money be spent on improving facilities and enjoyment of these people?
Many smaller clubs like Bradford are facing extinction Facec with mass unemployment and rising costs, thousands of people can no longer af
ches. Attendances drop, money dries up. facilities can't be improved. Players have to be sold like commodities raise the necessary money.
But money available. For exampie the government Creams hundreds of millions of pounds from the Pools companies, some of which could be diverted back into the smaller clubs.
Football today is big business. Most of the top clubs are run by business concerns at the level of
property speculators are
football grounds as very lucrative
number of smaller clubs have had to farm out their grounds to supermarkets, leisure centres and so on.
The Tories response to the fire has been hypocritical. They've ordered an enquiry alright but linked it to the so call-
News
tion and abortion. The National Abortion Cam-
which with other =o-choice organisations Tobilised thousands reple against the White and Corrie Bills, showed tha: possible
Tene DOSS PHILY that
De Cle
LICAL IOCUS
support Of
salluls.
for the waraens. sorcad
fact: Coordinating Committee Against the Gillick Ruling, Wesley House, 70 Great Queen St London WC2 SAX. 01-405 4801. ed riot at Birmingham or the same day between City and Leeds fans. In other words its really all abou crowd control violence.
If the authoritarians had their way and compulsory fencing was in stalled at all grounds we'd be talking about thousands burnt to death not fifty. The fire did more damage in human terms i four minutes than lifetime of so called soccer hooligans could ever do. The law and order brigade who defend the type of society that creates the conditions for football violence to exist should
carefully about where their ideas lead
Island was wooden, coated in tar and 77 years old. Many other smaller clubs are at risk. It will happen again the whole of football's structure is reorganised.
distribution of the wealth the game generates
which money poured back into
The supporters, who provide the money in the instiplace through the
should be the one thought football was ones • benefit.
was not political should thin again after the horrors of
Page 5 scan of this page
NUM: Defend a
News
ON THURSDAY 9 May the Orgreave trial of 15 miners began in Sheffield Crown Court. It is likely to continue for the next four to six weeks.
The Tories want to use this case to strengthen the public order act and to ensure more effective methods of crowd control but they also have to steer clear of making the trial too political. The prosecution is avoiding bringing Arthur scargill into the court although he was arrested on the
The prosecution opened the case by alleging that pickets charged towards the police line singing the 'Star Spangled Banner', throwing bricks, stones and iron bars.
Pickets had also broken into several workplaces looking for materials to burn and throw. At one firm two owners locked themselves in an office while pickets ran amok through the yard. They tore a blanket into strips, soaked it in diesel oil to make petrol bombs.
At one point. apparently. pickets threw a gas cylinder onto a flaming barricade yet one of the owners of the firm was able to run up and
Friday 10 May Tony Clements, South Yorkshire's Assistant Chief Constable took the stand for the prosecution. Clements was asked if any pickets were allowed near the main entrance of the Orgreave works. 'We allowed what can be loosely described as an official picket of eight
Mr Colex, the judge an ex Tory MP, then asked Mr Clement not to get into the politics of the dispute by determining whether it was official or otherwise. Clement described the various nrotective kits the pollce were issued with. The long shields were used to stop missiles reaching the police who were not in rot gear. The round shields and battons were for groups of police to disperse the crowd and arrest people
He then said that if there were about 200 demonstrators he would deploy a police special unit which is 40 constables, four sergeants and
Asked by the prosecution if there was any danger to pickets and police from the lorries Clement replied that it was his job to ensure the safety of his men and the miners but that it was not in his power to stop the lorries unless they
The trial of Dean Hancock, Russeli Shankland, and Anthony Williams continues at Cardiff
find Andy Williams not guilty of murder but he still faces two charges of conspiring to damage the taxi driven by David Wilkie taking a working miner to Merthyr Vale colliery. Hancocks and Shankland still face the charge of murder.
The howls of outrage from the bourgeois press at the events leading to the death of David Wilkie and their delight at this trial are in direct contrast to their silence over the deaths of five
will face life imprisonment for his brutality in tungule.
The double standards of the bourgeois press should not deter the labour movement from giving its backing to these class war prisoners.
WOMEN IN the Nottingham Woman's support groups are approaching Women Against Pit Closures to run a national campaign for the
seems to want women speakers on this subject. Women seem to be more effective,' explains
'Money is desperately needed in Sheffield. My friend Sue's husband has been sacked and he doesn't get anything for himself because they say at the DHSS that he's still in dispute with the
They stop him the f16 they stopped us in the strike, which means he gets f14 a week for a wife
There's a special fund set up now for the sacked and imprisoned miners. Send cheques to NUM Solidarity fund, St James House,
For more information from the Nottingham women contact Pam Oldfield on 0623 20226.
ship remains firm in their resolve to around the changes U1 U
I ne
abused by
Chances consolidate the The rule changes also
NACODS
SUrE frie
GOTCLI Wuh
The sance, as done cusing
in Thisteme the wording
allow the NACODS ex-
Oy the ban. The mensabil
follow the ove timet to
has be reed o
Women at the Chesserfield International Women's Day rally
fighting union
A RE-ALIGNMENT is taking place within the NUM. Under the pretext of opposing sweeping centralisation the South Wales leadership has come out against the rule changes proposed by the national ex-
Three camps are emerging within the union. The hard right, led by Nottingham super scabs Roy Lynk Lne and David Prendergast, form one camp. A 'centre',
around the self styled 'realists' on the South Wales
The Scargill/Heathfield national leader-
tions
Evolved in the campaign the Dress have being projected as a dic-
fragmented NUM.
Bernard Levin or they are members of the union are
Breakaway
Heathfield pointed out
union from high court inand irelande that the
since the formation of the
• nas spoken out against women
Wall
charge nal lney would be this and other vital issues.
as voting fodder for overrun by lesbians.
The campaign on the
to step up their prepara-
La break awar argue that the strike was
VOD
now increasingly differenmense ver
threatening a break away.
woment meSours Wales Bridge
rank and file miners strike
stated that the rule change
against the nea of ana
Wing ballots on the NUM to conditions dictated bv the
in the union. Periodic elec-
South Wales the
to reject the rules revision.
writing of the union's con-
ing the right wing - who have claimed that the key
Socialist Action 17 May 1985 5
FOR SACKED MINERS
FIGHT ON CLOSURE
WITH THE
MINERS
MEETING truly national union and
in Nottingham says. or autonomv for the are
owners.
national government, na
means nothing more thar
This is the key issue inSard on the basis of itser
ture that Roy Lynk and the
Ivy die.
paign to get this message
NO POLITICAL PRISONERS
Miners benefit social TU Centre, 2a Brabant Road, Wood Green
E-7E1 reduced + Green/Green Lanes Miners' Support Groups
CRYNANT MALE VOICE CHOIR
with guest speaker Betty Heathfield
All proceeds to Miners' Amnesty
26 May, 7.30pm, Pavilion Homel Hempstead Tickets £3.50 Phone: Pavilion/Hemel 212170 Kings Langley 68103 (Concesslons avallable)
Page 6 scan of this page
SUPPORT
During the last year the left in Britain has concentrated its attention on support for the miners' strike. That was correct. But across the Atlantic a class struggle which dwarfs the miners' strike has been
On 19 July 1979 the FSLN overthrew the dictatorship of Somoza and established the political power, the state power, of the working dass in Nicaragua. For six years the United States has been waging
government. It heightened that war last week with the announcement
right at the top of priorities for socialists, and the entire left wing of the labour movement, must be building solidarity with Nicaragua against the attacks being launched
It is socialists, and of the labour movement, to defend any semi-colonial third world countrv under attack ov imperialsm quite regardless of the nature of the government that is running that state. At times that has undoubtedly meant fighting on the same side of the bar-
as Sonne
had to defend Ethiopia against the at-
though Ethiopia's ruler Hailie Selassie was a literal slave owner. In World War
against attack by Japanese imperialism even though China's ruler, Chiang Kai-shek, was the leader of the massacres of
rain's war for the Malvinas in 1982 the
quivocably on the side of Argentina — even though its rulers were a murderous
nave distinguish between the goals which are being tought for and the regimes in. volved. At the time of the Malvinas war popularised a wonderful slogan: 'the
part of its national territory stolen from it by British imperialism was a completely just struggle. But the junta ruling Argentina were a gang or bloody murderers for whom the working class
something far more than necessary support for a 'third world' country under
Nicaragua's is no government to be op posed but one to be totally supported. The FSLN government of Nicaragua is one of the great examples of liberation
that country but of the
despicable dictatorships in the world. For 43 years the National somoza, when today lorms une core ol
record of
Hitler's SS and Gestapo, or the Shah of
murdered, tortured and
Somoza, turned himself into the richest man in Central America. He possessed fifty one cattle ranches, forty six coffee
alr
organised crime His successor in the family continued the tradition.
merely killed Somoza's enemies but
reenage children, pouring petrol over
6 Socialist Action
even among their more notorious atrocities. Illiteracy and malnutrition were rife.
For the Nicaraguan people - and
the entire civiliser FSLN victory was like a day following deep night. The FSLN, basing itself on the victory of the Nicaraguan people over the National Guard, launched a mass campaign to eliminate illiteracy
more than Nicaragua's people to read and write. It
campaign of vaccination was launched. Land was distributed to the peasants. More than 200,000 workers have been
fought in Nicaragua in which the FSLN
turn out to vote was eighty per cent -far higher than any American presiden-
Nicaragua's is a regime which stands
colonial world. It would be held up as a model by any semi-civilised country or force on the planet. It is this regime which the United States decided to try to smash and to replace with a dark
literal physical annihilation of tens of thousands of Nicaraguan workers and
Nicaraguan people back by To stop this murderous and cvnical assault is the task of the entire labour
But for socialists something more even than that vital struggle against US
successes of the FSLN are not accidental. And they have something to teach
were stated by Carlos Fonseca -
tional demands a
17 May 1985
progressive and socialist demand
one titth ot
class alliance of every exploited and op pressed layer in Nicaragua. The FSLN succeeded in utilising, on tactical quesbons, avisions win lne bourgeoisic while maintaining a clear strategic line itself to bourgeois forces. held hegemony throughout the revolu-
role of the working class, the peasantry, but taking in important sections of the 'popular' classes in Nicaragua such
emendous power ana oopular dase lo the government and workers state in
FSLN precisely flows from the fact that it is based on the free choice of the
all expressed in the revolution but now confirmed also in the lower form of
operation, which allowed the FSLN to gain that support and authority preciseConseca that the FSLN identify with socialism while retaining a critical atwith the 'socialist experience' meaning the bureaucratised states of Eastern
dependently of, and in opposition to
countries of Easern Europe against imperialism. It identifies with the Cuban revolution. But the methods and positions of the FSLN have nothing to do
while retaining a critical attitude to the with Stalinism
in a phrase used by Marx, literally 'placed itself at the head of the
Nicargua became focused through the
around the leadership of the working
with pride.
even more.
Latin America
Defence DuL-
must crush 1t -programme, and method of
The FSLN developed completely in-
the bureaucratic monstrocities of Eastern Europe -despite wrong positions it has on issues such as Solidarnosc in Poland.
FSLN revolutionary socialist organisation — one which has made an indelibie contribution to the international working class. One from which every socialist in the world can learn. This is a government with which every socialist in the world can identify
indeed for this reason that Reagan hates the FSLN government
Any government fighting for socialism and national liberation in
is intolerable for the United States. But one that is popularis even more unacceptable. It is precisely
November 1984 that Reagan has stepped up his assault on Nicaragua.
Nicaragua today stands out as an example to the entire population of the
general, is today the central point for
world scale. It is the most important class struggle taking place anywhere in the world. It is a third world country locked inan enormous battle with the greatest imperialist power on earth.
alliances, and strategy, are a school for
the victory and defence of this revoluton is the task of every labour move.
of the Labour Party, every fighter
fighter against racism, every fighter for
day urgently to come to the defence of
In the l960s a tremendous move. ment of international solidarity helped deal a crippling blow to American
policy in Vietnam, secure victory for the NLF in the war in that country, and gain the liberation of Indochina from imperialism. A completely equivalent movement is now needed today to secure victory for Nicaragua.
Socialist Action appeals to every one ot its readers, and those they influence, today to come to the support of Nicaragua. We will be opening our
Behin
US bla
Reagan's attack on the Nicaraguan revolution. It is 'an integral battle plan in the military, ideological,
psychological fields; like the five fingers of a claw that crushes what it does not like'
the reverses suffered by the US trade
claws. The western partners gathered in Bonn gave it a cool reception; Reagan had to contradict his Secretary of State and claim that he wasn't looking fo their support anyway. Treasury qualms at home obliged Reagan to exempt US firms' existing contracts from the ban
Felipe Gonzalez to take a tougher line in defence of the revolution than he has done for a long time. In turn, the Euro pean socialist group was bolstered in its spectacular 'No Star Wars', 'Hands off
"regretting' the embargo gained all but unanimous support. The US was forced to use its veto; only Britain abstained. With their usual diplomatic verve
Page 7 scan of this page
NICARAGUA!
pages in the week to come to anyone in the labour movement, no matter what their positions other who wishes to call for support to be built for the Nicaraguan revolution and opposes the assault of the United States on that country.
We urge our supporters to contact and build the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign.
d the
ckade
the Nicaraguans will be through their advantage with similar approaches to the World Court,
GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs) and the Secretariat for Latin America.
So has the tiger been tamed? Obviously not. The fact is the Nicaraguan
already under pressure from the contra-war and an informal blockade which Britain and other US allies have long been promoting through their covert interven-
By Stuart Piper
tion against loans from the EEC and other multilateral bodies. The peans have their own reasons for not coming out openly in favour of a formal trade boycott, bargo, even if partial, will take a real economic toll in Nicaragua. More importantly, when you look at the kind of toll, you begin to see the political and
military objectives that lie behind the
economic measures.
Firstly there are exports. revolution has made great progress in
reducing Nicaragua's dependence
US from $214
worth of exports in 1980 to $58 million
in 1984. But nobody can transform 400
years of colonial servitude overnight.
Those exports still represent 17 per cent
precious
change earnings, mostly in perishable
questions,
following
to
Economic
grave found new iously torn Euro-
but Reagan's em- ings will aggravate
serious problem
The other
VIl milton
forelen
AMERICAN
TRADE
UNIONISTS
SAY
JOB HUMA No
goods like bananas, shrimps and meat.
week it seemed Nicaragua had customers Belgium, France and Holland, but the price will be lower, the transport costs higher, ther and in the long run Nicaragua will still have to contend with a trading system dominated by US and British multinationals like United Brands and Fytles. (Meanwhile West Germany and Britain were dithering on the sidelines, anx-
between respect tor big brother and capitalist excitement at the prospect of some cheap bananas.)
This loss of foreign currency earn-
Nicaragua's more of LUIDULL $109 million worth of which still came from the US. Several key sectors will be hit. A lack of pesticides will hit agricultural production both for export and home consumption. A lack of chemicals and
intermediate inputs will affect factories producing medecines and consumer goods like soap and toothpaste. Finally, the dependence on American-
spare-parts places a potential stranglehold on three absolutely basic sectors of the country's infrastructure: the telephone system and energy plants, both reliant on American technology, and the only oil refinery, run by Esso.
OC 37 AFSCA All of these are highly targets.
Here Reagan's strategy clear. Disrupt agriculture to reduce fur-
foreign exchange alienate sections of the peasantry and increase shortages of basic foodstuffs; undermine the manufacture
goods (60 per cent of which is owned by private capital) in order to alienate middle-class consumers in the
and make increasingly workable the Sandinista's economy'; prepare resistance to a military invasion by knocking out the country's oil, energy and communications systems.
More than ever these measures show that Reagan's objective has nothing to do with "restraining' the Sandinista's march towards Leninist totalitarianism' and 'international subversion'. It has everything to do with militarily destroying the second free territory of the Americas. this perspective the Nicaraguan private sector becomes wholly dispensable. So do even pragmatic hawks in the US administration like Langhorne
quietly left his job Undersecretary of State for American Affairs for 'wholly private
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS
NOT WAR MACHINES
76c-610 'military' reasons' just before the blockade was
announced, to be replaced by yuppy super-hawk Elliot Abrams, who become
made no secret of his eagerness to have earnings, a go at the Sandinistas.
has two parts. Firstly, not whilst the Sandinistas maintain their response of combining mobilisation of their mass support devastating skill at winning friends and un- influencing people in the most unlikely
'mixed quarters abroad. Secondly, and this is
the crucial point for us, not whilst the
Danalyst
international solidarity movement can make it clear to Nicaragua's wavering "friends' amongst economic establishments that their own people
will not stand for Reagan's only other option: annihilation of the Nicaraguan "Ivarxist- people and their revolution.
The Spanish given us a magnificant example in this direction. Now it is down to all of us.
With
• Contact the
Motley, Campaign at 20/21 Compton Terrace,
as London NI. Phone 01-359 8982.
Inter-
Just Reagan bow
analysts,
dying US Shultz in has oeuvers aragua; Can Reagan succeed? The answer
exemplary political with a
mounting
the western aerial against
peace-movement has countries
Nicaragua Solidarity paign
Socialist Action
Reagan's Plan
one day before the blockade was announced, the Interracional put Nicaraguan Barricada
published the following analysis of Reagan's options for rolling back the Nicaraguan revolution.
According to a classified report
Congress and pub lished in The New York Times, the
administration has not dismissed the possibility cf armed intervention in Nicaragua. The document states that although the White House publicly claims that negotiations are of the 'very firs order, it really believes that only direct pressure, by expanding the counterrevolutionary forces Nicaragua's northern and southern borders, can force Managua to
to demands. The principal task, in Reagan's vision is the 'removal' of the San dinistortom power us.
According to politica
at this moment the government could very well be stu-
the following options as steps prior to an intervention • continued financing of the con tras through third countries; • breaking off diplomatic relations with the Nicaraguan govern ment and imposing an economic blockade, as recently advocated by
Secretary of State George an interview with The New York Post; • recognition of a 'government in exile' made up by counterrevolu. tionary leaders and 'civic opposition figures; • intensification of the activities aimed at destabilising Nicaragua's domestic situation • increase of As mart c
directed against
• increase in military assistance to Nicaragua's neighbours; • activation of the mechanisms of
censure in the Org anisation of American States, aim ed at the application of the 'collec tive self-defence provisions of the Rio Treaty; • fabrication of an incident 101
of some provocation that would serve as a pretext for
attacks (surgical strikes) strategic targets in Nicaragua • intensification of Washington's pressures against the Contadora
that they include points in the negotiation process unacceptable to Nicaragua, which would then be blamed for the even tual defeat of the peace efforts; • an international pressure cam-
advocating "dialogue' bet ween the Sandinista government and the contras, and the holding ol new elections.
17 May 1985 7
Page 8 scan of this page
8 Socialist Action 17 May 1985
IRELAND
UNFREE
Personation
fraud!
VOTING FOR District Councils takes place in the Six Counties on 15 May. Already new rules supposedly introduced to prevent personation are confirming the worst fears of
voting in the name of a person absent, abstaining or long since dead, has been an institutionalised part of elections in the North.
Only when Sinn Fein stepped into the electoral
away Sinn Fein's vote. It skipped over a denial of democracy by which Britain continues to rule in Ireland through partition and the gerrymandered Loyalist enclave in the Six Counties. It skipped over the denial of democracy through the construction of electoral boundaries within the Six Counties which gave a Loyalist majority in cities like Derry which have an overwhelmingly nationalist electorate. It ignored the struggle for ont person — one vote which had been led by the natonalist civil rights movement and tried to pretend that it was Sinn Fein who were responsible for electoral fraud. It was a lie which fooled few in the nationalist areas but gave credibility to the claims of middle class politicians like John Hume that the SDLP or Dublin government could speak for the
Danny Morrison, himsell a victim of Loyalist personation, which he says cost him victory in the Mid-Ulster constituency at the last general election said he would welcome genuine moves to preven electoral fraud. But that is not what the direct rulers have done. Their whole attention has been directed towards minimising the Sinn Fein vote. Republicans have consistently been the subject of large scale intimidation of electoral workers, can didates and supporters from the Army and police. The new electoral rules will handicap them still further. For the well off it might be no problem to produce a passport or new style driving licence with the owners photo as proof of identity. In nationalist areas like Ballymurphy where unemployment has gone up to 80 per cent it is very different. Excluding UB40s as a means of identification has disenfranchised thousands of unemployed youth. Only post 1972 medical cards will be accepted, disenfranchising many older voters. It has not 'proved possible' to meet the demand for new medica cards over the last o months.
The British rulers are determined to prevent the legitimising claim of Sinn Fein to represent the nationalist minority in the hunger striking prisoner Bobby Sands won a landslide vote in Fermanagh and South Tyrone they claimed it was 'an emotional response'. But with all party support they quickly amended the so called Representation of the Peoples' Act so that no other orisoner could fake his place.
In the local elections the Unionists are campaigning on an Whereas the SDLP cooperation in publicity, including the second ever visit by a Free State Taoiseach to the Six Counties. On April 16 the RUC arrested Sinn Fein representative Owen Carron and stole the names. porters and election agents of each of Sinn Fein's 91 candidates. No
of the scrutinise and challenge voters suspected of personation. Under the new electoral rules, the RUC will assume this role. It's a rotten system. Rotten to the core which will only be changed once the British are sent home and partition is removed.
Nevertheless electoral harassment is a weanon used to demoralise the nationalist community and effectively prop up the SDLP. The Labour Committee on Ireland is expressing concern about the conduct of the elections and has asked the Labour Party representatives to observe the procedure of the bailot and accompanying harassment. The response of the government has been to use the PTA to intimidate LCI members and supporters. Manchester police chief James Anderton described the arrest of LCI leader and Sheffield councillor Sheena Clarke as a random check. As she herself commented It was a random check which just *. happened to single out the two Sheffield Labour councillors on two separate flights from Belfast.'
Six Counties. When platform. have been afforded every
sup-
longer is it the case that
political parties
Trade Union Friends of Palestine
Conference
Friends of
Palestine
meet
THIS WEEKEND Trade Union Friends of Palestine (TUFP) holds its conference to discuss with leading trade unionists in Britain building solidarity for the Palestinian cause.
and how the conference can be built on in the labour movement.
Trade unions in Palestine have a long and distinguished history and are among ine oldest trade unions in Arab world.
In 22 the first Palesti nian trade union was formed by the Haifa Railway workers and by 1926 the Palestine Arab Workers Society (PAWS) had been established.
During the 1930s, when Palestine was ruled Dy d DIlIsh mandale, tie unions were active in win-
members and challenging exploitation. The greatest threat to the livelihood of Palestinian workers came from accelerated Zionist colonisation.
Trade Union Friends of Palestine Conference
Saturday 18 May
'British Labour and the Palestinians, Which Way Forward?
Holborn Central Library Hall, Theobalds Road, London WCI (nearest tube Chancery Lane or Holborn).
Trade Union Friends of Palestine can be contacted at PO Box 196 London WCIX OAT.
EXACTLY TEN years after
the liberation of Saigon,
lethal electro-funk
stormed to number 4 in the
British charts in its first
week of release. Paul Hard-
castle's Nineteen is timely in-
deed. 'In World War Two the
average age of the
soldier was 26, in Vietnam it
was 19'. Interspersing 'facts'
like these with veterans'
commells, the
compellingly to its conclusion
'none of them received
heroes welcome'.
Yet it is difficult to sort out the
intention of this record. In the US
its release has been embargoed due
to the record company's fears of
Socialist Action looks at the history of the TUFP
In 1936 the Palesti-
nians staged a six month
general which
paralysed large sectors of
the economy. The main
reason for the strike wa
resistance to il-
legal Zionist settlement on
Palestinian land.
As a result of the oc-
cupation of Palestine in
1948 and the establishment
of the State of Israel, the
majority of Palestinian
umon activists
became refugees. After
fusion and disorganisation
the Palestinian
began rebuild their
trade unions. In 1965 the
First Congress the
General Union of Palesti-
Apocalypse
n-n-now!
the disapproval associations, sensitive to musical
single trivialisation of their experience.
This is a remarkable decision in many ways as Paul Hardcastle's previous stateside release the instrumental Rainforest, sold half a million copies.
combat By Nick Robin
Seemingly in the tradition of beatbox such as 'No Sell Out' and 'Strike' moves
I think Nineteen ultimately owes more to another, a tradition. While perverse to say of a record that talks of people's blown on to shirts sanitised, precisely that.
nian Workers, now renam-
the Palestine Trade
Union Federation (PTUF)
was held in Gaza. Since
then the organisation has
established a world-wide
movement, a consequence
of the dispersal of Palesti-
nian refugee many countries.
The PTUF plays a pro-
minent role in improving
the social and economic
conditions of Palestinians in exile, particularly in the
refugee camps. By 1982 eight Palestinian
servicing the refugee
camps were in operation.
The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982
destroyed five of them.
By Graham Topley
Workers in the West
Bank and Gaza territories
seized in 1967 are both ex-
ploited and unprotected.
There . are 36 syndicates operating in the occupied
territories, none of their bargainins rights a1 c recognised by the occupation authorities and
membership of the PTUF
is prohibited.
The destruction of the
West Bank and Gaza
economy, particularly by the seizure of land, has forced numerous Palestinians find work elsewhere. Over one third
Palestinian work
force are now bussed into Israel on a daily basis to do menial jobs which Israeli workers will not do. They are denied union representation, tenure of work and the right to strike. of veteran's political classics
more powerful it may appear brains being their neighbour's tacle.
Nineteen
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that Palestinian workers from the occupied earn up to 50 per cent less than tell israel couner parts. They are denied basic health, ment and family benefits, however, all of which are available to Israeli workers. The parallels with apartheid in South Africa are clear. Support It was not until 1966 that workers were allowed to join the Histradut, the General Federation of Hebrew Workers in Eretz Israel'
Even they were administered by a separate 'Arab Department An 'Arab section' was opened inside the Hevrat Odim (the Histradut investment company) and to this day not a single factory has been opened in the Arab sector by or with the Hevrat Odim.
Despite the 140 unions active in the West Bank, only 28 have been given of ficial permits. Ine silta tion in the Gaza Strip is evel Worse were dissolved in 1967 and only allowed to reform in 1978 after the ILO intervened. No new unions have been allowed to form since then.
There are also lega restrictions. Military der 825 in 1980 gives the Military Governor auth
PAUL
HARICASTLE cultural artefact in the new history ing of the Vietnam war, the one that doesn't include the Vietnamese. It is in the tradition of Apocalypse Now turning genocide into spec- the
While Nineteen is a fearsome aural spectacle we should be ask-
International
candidates prove loss candidates union fice, remove candidates of annul the result altogether. Between 1981 and 1983 delegations from PTUF attended the Scottish TUC and toured Britain. At the delegations went from Britain to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan and in May 1984 NALGO sent all official the saist Bank. da 1982 Bank. 1982 both the TUC and LP conferences passed resolutions supporting the rights Palestinian people to self-determination independent sovereign state, and recognising the PLO as the legitimate representative of the palestinian people These WELC followed up by other resolutions at trade union conferences of NALGO, Sogat 82, NUM, ACTT, FBU and the STUC among others.
After years of unquestioning support for Zionisin these decisions represent a significant ad. vance for the Palestinian cause in Britain. These are Ture conference she tha dull which the build.
• Information in this article is taken from Palesti nian Trade Union Rights available from PTUF c/o 52 Green Londor WI Tel: 01-491 8872/62 8394. Affiliations to Trad Union Friends of Palestine at 21 Collingham Road, London SW5 ONU.
'what
average age of the Vietnamese kill. ed in the war?' and how many indo-chinese people were killed in
"longest war in American history'? Considerably less than 19 and over 4 million. Verdict: great sound but unsound.
Page 9 scan of this page
The Grenadian
Surplus Value
WE ARE printing this week the second part of DON ROJAS's sixth anniversary open letter on the lessons of the revolution. Rojas was the press
Grenadan prime minister Maurice Bishop. editing is by Socialist Action.
THE RICH history of working class struggles worldwide taught us that revolutionaries act on principles and selfless convictions, not on personal ambitions; that they honestly accept responsibility for their actions: and that they possess the moral courage to defend and die for their convictions if necessary.
Let us here briefly reexamine the "joint leadership' question. This proposal was introduced at the central committee piellar y 1983, by Liam James. posal was not intended to improve collective leadership within the NJM. As chairman of the central committee and political bureau, bishop overruled collective decisions. But his guidance, his political experience, his grasp of strategy and tactics, and his skill at synthesising various points of view could and direction of discussions and hence decisions that arose therefrom.
collective leadership worked in Lenin's day. This is how it works in the Cuban Communist Party led by Fidel Castro. And that is how it worked in practice in the New Jewel Movement while Bishop was chairHi cul
"Joint leadership', James, would not and could not have meant an equal sharing of leadership responsibility and authority between Coard and Bishop. Coard, would. have taken the day-to-day leadership of party and state, Bishop's role relegated ceremony. If imolemented. it would have led to serious polarization of the entire NJM membership and leadership into two camps. It was not only impractical but inherently since it was aimed at consolidating the Coard faction's takeover of the party leadership and government.
Counter revolution
them masses of a genuine revolution and of a bright future, crimes against the entire world revolutionary must never be allowed to be explained
"double-blame' theorists are wont to
phasized that honesty and integrity in molties are an immutabie
ambition for power at all costs led them to resort to a counterrevolu
for power, drunk on misunderstood theory, misappropriating the ideas of Marx and Lenin, Coard and his minions offered up the revolution to Washington on a platter at
Caribbean and Central America
"double blame' theorists. In
violated democratic centralism by refusing to accept the NJM Central 1983 to establish
Coard's apologists elevated the dubious Committee minutes to the level of sacrosanct papal edict, and have proclaimea Ine coarane central conl mittee majority to be infallible. They even intimate that Bishop provoked his own murder (like the reactionary judges in the USA and Canada who
Grenadan
The
has September James's pro-
the
rapists).
committee had nothing to , as proposed by
What the
in effect,
of a faction with mere behind une
workers and farmers to power.
divisive,
came out of a study.
Coard in Organisation
OREL in Bishop, Radix, NJM, years earlier.
Masses
secretly fancied natural heirs
democrats"
NJM. And
practice
dogmatism, tolerance were
instead of a tillic
La lake under the credo, subordinate.' the NJM
at
among its with have NJM Central and farmers
tion.
During the
argue that rape victims seduce the
The maneuvers of Coard's central
democratic centralism as it was practiced in Lenin's Bolshevik Party or the Cuban Communist Party today.
Coardites labeled 'iron Leninist discipline' was actually blind mechanical obedience to the dictates
that had maneuvered the ot the barty to replace the central leadership that had been tested by a decade of struggle in building the NJM and in leading the
The majority of the Coard group
group led by the mid-1970s called the for Revolutionary Education and Liberation (OREL). With little or no links with the masses,
1976 joined with Maurice Unison Whiteman, Kenrick and George Louison of the which had been formed a few
TEET
people the
the began their
and inthe
and thought, open The
carried out
capture of bodies was
revolutionary NJM counted only about than 100 full
Don Rojas on
revolution
revolution wal economic, people was the
revolution, and steps to
agenda.
advance through
mations,
social life, and economic and
fundamental
that the
working people. The workers and
themselves. what
The organisa-
force capable
its through democratic
Bishop and
role of Marxist-Leninist parties the
effectively carried out
them.
that the gravest
holding them contempt
social, phrase-mongering, that verbal disease
of Lenin called "the itch," grow out of a
misunderstanding by petty-bourgeois radicals of the objective laws of social development. It leads to adventurism, bureaucratic abuses, and brutality, as in the case of the Pol Potists of KamDuchea
today arguing that Coard and his followers contributed much to the Grenada revolution and to the NJM as if to call for a softening of the consolve demnation of these architects of the
must emulate the leadership of the Cuban revolution in accepting the obthat Strachan, and others in and out of responsible for the murder of Bishop and other Grenadians October 19 and and subsequent Yankee invasion.
right to speak in the name of the NJM
leaders of the party) arrogantly refuse to accept the verdict of the world
Cuban
press releases in the name of the NJM In one of these short statements, they speak about "errors" they committ-
Bishop's Internationalism
the
Patriotic Movement for naming its
the party after the slain leader of the toward revolution and for participating in the
Bernard
political mantle of Maurice Bishop,
political tunist in October 1983, by now calling
democrat stancing signation nary
by tactician
criticism of the MBPM's participalegitimacy to the U.S. imperialist occupation? The boycott alternative advocated in the Coardites' statements, if heeded by the MBPM, would have played into the hands of imperialists,
while who would then have argued that the
revolutionary movement in Grenada was a dead force, with no credibility, unable to utilise public platforms,
Socialist Action 17 May 1985
afraid
NNP,
tions.
and that this
state power.
Grenada.
Maurice Bishop
As buccanes.
Coard.
reserved
with pride.
9
of showing its face to the Grenadian people.
Despite the stated call for boycott, some prominent Coardites ir Grenada actually campaigned for the
the Reagan-backed capitalist party that won 14 of the 15 seats in the rigged bourgeois parliamentary elec
They justified this opportunis stand with the argument that the NNF would build capitalism in Grenada
would help create : larger working class that at some late stage they would organise to seiz
Such convoluted logic serves on! to confuse the democratic forces i:
1S akin Bernari Coard's explanation to George Lou sion a few days before October 19 1983, that while Maurice Bishop' house arrest might throw the revolu tionary process back five years, such so-called Leninist staunchness woulc somewhere down the road catapul the process 10 years forward.
proletarlan internationalists one of our main duties on the occa sion of this sixth anniversary of the Grenada triumph in 1979 is to con tinue standing firm with the militant fighting people of Nicaragua, anc with their vanguard Sandinista party as they valiantly defend the dignit and sovereignty of their homelan against the gangs of Somocista ter rorists and bandits unashamedly sup
again diplomatically outmanoeuvre
will
integrity
mobilise the patriotic Sandinista peo ple to defend their revolution whil
entrenching thei revolutionary democracy. If the San dinistas had pitted themselves agains
as the Coard gang in th NJM did in 1983, the stars and stripe might well be flying over Managua to day, as they do over St George's days militantly reaffirm our solidarit
Sandinist revolution, resolve to defend it wit
demonstrations for peace, jobs an justice in Washington DC, and Sa Victory
from the imperial stranglehold will b
bes
patriots at home and abroad. But vic
secon Grenada revolution is inevitable. Th Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement force in Grenada today, has alread demonstrated its maturity and poten tial, and it will continue to hold alof Maurice Bishop's proud banner o
the struggle for a free and peacefu Caribbean will intensify. tradictions created by imperialism
penetration of the region in the wak of the Grenada revolution's demis
revolutionaries must be prepared i confront these new challenges wit
unit among our ranks, political clarity and utmost fidelity to the workin
tionary practice we will reverse th the English-speaking Caribbean, socialists and communists as peopl
Ou challenge is to put dignity and honou back into the name communist, an to once again wear that lofty badg
Let us together move forward ever o our feet, never on our knees!
Page 10 scan of this page
10 Socialist Action Ray Buckton
LT union leaders
pretend it isn't
happening
By Patrick Sikorski NUR (personal capacity)
THE VAST majority of union leaders on London Regional Transport have put up the usual' signs. Having warded off the threat to their own power that the success of the miners' strike would have brought about they are now re-adopting the 'new realist' approach to the impending loss of 16,000 jobs.
BHAEI the strike the
caders of the rail union:
TIROL CZ AY GRALe path. On one hand was the enormous pressure or tne media and the judiciary «gamst implementng the resolutions of the TUC and Labour rartv LUr• ferences.
On the other was the growing pressure until the beginning of this year for action in support of the miners from those In the transport unions like the workers at Coalville.
Now the chickens are coming home to roost.
LRT want massive 21115 through one-person operation (OPO) on the buses and the tube, com•ned wilk a snake orE li all other grades over the next three years.
At the London Transport Trades Union Congress genera. meting Saturday 27 Apri there was no specitic discussion of' the attack on ¡oos in general. There was not even any discussion on the next round of plementation of OPO on the tubes and buses. This has compounded by meeting the Rail Federation on Thursday 2 May which did not even nave agenda Ene threat by LUL manageJilL unilaterally 111| "
OPO the East London and District Lines on 13 May.
Disunity
To date the determination of the London Trans-
District Council the NUR to fight job loss nas carrica mue nanonal ex' ecutive of the union with
There can be no doubt that the majority of the ranks of ASLEF and the NUR are totally opposed lo uro ana tne rest ol trie job cuts. But the growing
leaderships has steadily
strengthening hand of those in the union alu WOkec WIll anti-strike.
IL Was this question of unity and how to fight for it that was at the centre of
17 May 1985
HU-R
UDS OF 'business as
what limited debate there was at the meeting.
The overwhelming majority of the conference was composed of full-time convenors, fully sup•O• DY Le Coms Party led by one Kevin Halpin, who
Cullccu from self-imposed hibernation during the miners' strike. They argued that the problem was the disunity being displayed by the membership who, Just IKe Ine Ivos MIneIs. were listening to the siren VO CES Tories and believed their jobs salte Inaction
Delegates from the LT District Council argued that of course there were sections of the membership fooled by such a line, but that the role of the unions and their leadership was not to capitulate to this Tory offensive and use it as an excuse for inaction.
To rebuild unity needed a leadership which tought tor the Jods and conditions the memoers. nOl OlC wulCE reflected the disunity sown by the Tories
During this week the National Executive Com-
of Will to call all-out inGe leke defence of and acainst the imposition of OPO on the East London line. Otherwise its maority will have been a party to
useless bureaucratic unity with the leadership of ASLEF at the expense of thousands of jobs.
The situation on the London underground has very severe implications for TASL EF continue British Rail. refusing to oppose OPO drivers could well sign up for it when it is introduced.
Then it will be crunch time for ASLEF ecutive. Will they instruct their members picket lines or leave then to individually choose betwcet an extra +30 a week or victimisation by management?
ended on 7 May by 20 right
went to Thatcher by default.
the Labour councillors,
May meeting the District Party (DLP) 81 cillors not
David
budgetting.
of factors.
The
La clear result of
six months.
needed expected
unions and
of
'firm 'RATES REVOLT set to crumble' said the Guardian last Saturday. In a report written by someone described as a groupie of a major interviewee of Marxism Today the impression was given that save for Hackney the ratecapping revolt was all but over.
A special conference unionists and Constituency Labour Parties called by the Association of Labour Autorities the next day, showed this for the lie it is.
Though there is still sulc crumblne in some councils and no guarantees can be gyven tor al time. nevertheless most of the councIs hope stay without a rate for a while longer. Unfortunately the mano s nol gee or the fact that the GLC has rescheduled its precept demand so that interest is due a week earlier than expected. As one delegale said: •Why should the GLC threaten us?'
would be wrong to that everything hunky dory' What the conference showed was that there is a crisis perspective SUNC
Sheffield
sets a rate
SHEFFIELD'S STAND against rate-capping was
wing. Labour councillors. By voting with the Tories and Liberals to set a rate these renegades ensured that the first round
Although this is a setback, the campaign has opened up a new situation in the Labour Party in Sheffield, and resulted in important links between
Despite his defeat Blunkett
making 38 VUl of 58 Labour who
This,
HILI CasCu ulsCC
troduce a position in the council a split
such a The day
shop and from the HUTRE workers
vices. are lo
Reports of our
death have been
greatly exaggerated
of councillors, trade
quarters. This comes from two directions On the one hand the crisis is seen in a turthe falling away of councillors with Sheffield making rate and Southwark on the brink of doing so. On the other 11 IS getting harder to mobilise for ye allutllcd COlIN bicerne
whichina do no hing.
This demands for somehow
Sepp shop hee e Sen
show the problem from both sides. As theil delegates pointed out resolution for deferring a rate would have been passed by Sheffield Council.
The resOlutIon presented
tempts at cuts by the officers or by the council.
Unions
In addition full metings of all representatives are to be reconven-
campaign against cuts in services or jobs. There is some contusion over the budget agreed or 7 May. It provided for £30 million less spending than for refusing to set a rate and 'going illegal" may have sounded more pure — what it did was ensure it would be lost, as some who supported that option undoubtedly knew and probably counted on.
By Greg Tucker (chair, Lambeth Local Government Committee)
The only answer is to stay cool and stand firm. The government's strategy 15 IO Ir and keep things
cr æe conr a from the district Uz ch buss bIr. doing so they have banked U1. councils one bi falling by the wayside. At the same time ther shown they are afriad of a direct controntation
The signs are now that the government is running out of time. The district auditor has begun the process which will lead to sur-
Labour s no cuts buagel Original spending will probably be restored at the next council meting, and the shortfall made up from reserves.
But to stick to a no cuts budget ine council may have to resort to deficit budgeting. The focus for defending jobs and vices will now switch to the council unions The credibility of the Labour group and the Party has Ted Knight
charge and is said to have indicated he will act at the end of the month.
There is no need of any special force
Lallis something happen. What is needed is to continue the job of preparing the groundwork for when surcharge cerunicales are filed.
Auditor
Islington Council workers showed the way to do last week when 2000 mobilised, including lammine ine streets with council vehicles, In orde! to greet the district auditor who nad come to cscus. with and IslIngion councillors. It wa
News
not been irreperably damaged, but it will now be tested in two ways.
First, in supporting the lade unons lo keep a no cuts, 10 redundancies position against certain
sabotage by those who
voted to set a rate and b
officers. Second, in deal
ailors in preparato to
Teleweu battle future. As councillor Tony
Tigwell said debate:
'They have 10 months to
UEL of Council and make way for those who will fight the Tories.'
In spite of the defeat in the council, winning the DLP and majority of the Labour group to no rate position was an im-
forward for It is Photo: now necessary to organise vd ce bæ boce xc cuts or redundancies over the and prepare for a renewed fight.
PUBLIC MEETING
What future for
Hackney Schools?
Hackney Free and
Parochial School, Paragon
Rd, E9. Creche provided.
Thursday 23 May, 7.30pm
the DA who left feeling threatened
For a focus of action after the council metings
May, things were discussed The Hackney Council meeting on 21 May is to be the next tocus ot activity on the SLICCLS
Because of the special situation of their court
call w.asc lallvlld. LUI support of the lobby of the meeting was made LiverpOdI councillors pledged that coaches of their coun-
"UkCI WORI down thai day. All Lon. don activists should see the Zlșt as a priority. London Bridge joint unions pledged to mobilise their forces
Behind the scenes the other important aspect is raising financial support. In most boroughs, parties ana shop stewards com-
have set up menne o n oce l be prepared to defend long legal actions
ascilt buE charge. But that must only be seen in the context of
Bridge's OLDe pledge that if councils continue not to set a rate ther when surcharge certiticates are issued. ther will organise action across London Wher asked about the role of the trade union leadership they stressed they aired to act irrespective what they are told to do nationally
Page 11 scan of this page
In the Unions
THE VOTE this week by Sogat 82 on the political levy, by a majority of 3-1, is a clear triumph for the Labour and trade unions. It is also a big blow to the Tories, whose Trade unions to ballot their members on retaining a fund if they have not done so in the past ten years.
for the SDP who seized on the Sogat 82 political fund ballot as an issue with which to beat the unions by calling openly for a vote against it.
This was cynically coupled with its jumping
allegations against the TGWU. both these issuer expose the SDP as the anti-
anti-democratic force they really are.
Owen, typically pathetic style, argued that Fleet Street had reached an undercover agreement with its print unions not to write about the sogat ballot! The conspiracy theory is always resort of the failed politiclan. As brenda Deal te Sogat 82 president said, 'It is que cicar Ludl UnO! members resent outside atLCHIDES with their legitimate right maintain a political fund'
Sogat 82's method of organising the ballot was in many respects a model of how to campaign for a 'yes' vote. Instead of press advertisements or thousands of leaflets, Sogat actually took the advice or tae ones and wenl back to its members.
Serous campalen was waged throughout the
organised Over 3000 people answered the Newham 7 Defence Campaign's call to assert the right to march and organise against racist attacks one week after violent police disruption of the 27 March demonstration. At the
LONDON GENTRAL: BRANGE
SOGAT 82 victory
on political levy
Union Act 1984 requires
Last, but by no means least, it is a slap in the face
meetings and well directed information. Most important of all it was topped off with a lay union officer at each workplace to lollow through the campaign.
By Graham Topley
It wasn't that the campaign, as Brenda Dean said 'was not low key - it was that it was a different sort of key. Branch officers approached Graham Allen, full-time ordinator of the union's campaign in Britain, and ordered material which ‹ney wantee and ten pass ed it on to the membership.
The union is now free, ironically with the blessing of Тогу legislation, to carry on its political activities and maintain its with the Labour Party. The whole purpose of the ballots is to break that link, neutralise the ability of trade unions to be politically effective.
Sogat 82 went first in the ballot because it was
O.G.A3.
hoped to trigger off domino effect: exactly that : was borne out by the
and only 25,947 colas pussesser two qualities which will be essential to win this 11gh1
- strength of organisation and UCTICE of political awareness.
Clearly in the case of Sogat 82 the ballot has rejuvenated the union and injeciea a political around which could campaign. crack ор-
tion is intended lee isla
Is Intended Howeyer, had to be organised workplace level, a clear lesson there for other unions in the firing line.
A major weakness of the campaign though that the balloting timetable deliberately misses out the TUC and Labour Party conference season Rather than see them as a
paign, the sight of the TUC and LP leaderships having an impact on the voting is seen as too much of a problem.
But the campaign is off to a good start. Sogat 82 was seen by some would-be commentators as one of those unions most at risk. The campaign to secure Labour's financial should now go on the offensive. In 1964-79 trade union affiliation 14 arrests were made. The trial started on 13 May.
trial lasts, at 9.30am
Labour increased by 18.3 per cent compared to a 45.7 per cent increase animatons to tne 1uc. i 1983 only 39 per cent of traue voted Labour.
The Labour Party has only damaged itself with the leadership's attitude 1o the miners' strike. For the campaign on the political
to be successful, Labour must
call die! openly on the side of workers in struggle, pur-
policies their interests and win the confidence working class tọ support it.
and its very own future if it does not do that.
If the link between the Labour party and trade unions is broken it will be a massive blow to the entire labour movement. It will be a decisive step in permanently minoritising the Labour Party and preventing any possibility of the lorIalon ol a majority
Laboue Labner Party
The Labour should build on the words
Bill Keys, the president of Sogat 82, who said: "The result is a blow
the Conservative Government have tried very hard not only to snackie the trade movement but now want to suence n. ne resul Is d victory for democracy and
movement.' end of the march police again attacked the marchers and
There will be a picket at the Old Bailey each Monday while the
dustry.
with loss of security
facing their jobs being put casualised.
In the PO comprehensive package before the sorting office and delivery staff which will see job-cutting productivity schemes, casual and part-time labour plus the introduction of a new generation of technology. Counter staff face continued closure the crown and sub office net-
Will conference face up to the challenge or will it register a retreat? At the centre of the problem wil be the position taken by the executive on the proposals for sorting oftici and delivery staff. The package presented PO management as the 'deal of the century. Certainly if conference accepts the package the PO will have got a wonderful Darea
It will have Optical Cypher Recognition machines in 20 offices with
least 300 jobs made redundant. further round of job cuts through productivity deal ing. it will have 20,000 part-time casual workers introduced And all Ins wilhoul laklg al hour off the 43 hour working week that sorters and delivery staff are at present working
For the union the deal of the century looks less attractive. There will be higher bonuses while the
750 jobs to go
at BP Llandarcy
Llandarcy,
fin of an already high unemployment area.
Socialist Action
Committee for the following details.
The 750 jobs will be lost as a result of BP selling and cracking capacity of the
This will leave the plant with the capacity produce lub oil, which is profitable at the moment but has an un sure long term future. The
Committer bel ieves that in two to three
will declare the vears br whole plant unviable and close it completely.
It is thought that Texaco are withdrawing from Rotterdam in exchange for this deal - yet another example of how workers suf fer at the hands of the multinationals. The action committee believes that the deal may be in contravention to Article 85 of the EEC Convention, which
that transfer jobs around the connually.
Socialist Action 17 May 1985
Challenge faces
UCW conference
THE 1985 conference of the Union of Communication Workers (UCW) takes place at a time when both British Telecoms (BT) and the Post Office (PO) are introducing sweeping changes into the conditions of employment in the communications in-
In BT whole sections of the workforce are faced
employment. For telephonists a major restructuring of their grade has led to job losses. Meanwhile, auxiliary grades such as cleaners, bookeepers, and general assistants are
out to contract : ог
basic wage stagnates and continues to tall behind in flation. New divisions will undermine • the that must be forged to fight privatisation. There will be divisions between part and full time workers, between high and low bonus fices, between older workers seeking redundancy payments and younger workers seeking job security
By Steve Bell UCW (personal capacity)
The package is essentially the presented to the specia conference in March rejected. Since then, not
IC W
ICKET Northampton postal workers on strike MANAGEMENT OF the British Petroleum plant at
near Swansea, recently announced the axeing of 750 jobs out of the 1,133 jobs at the plant. If these jobs are lost it will be another nail in the cof-
spoke to MALCOLM GUNTER and others on the newly formed Action
Not only will the loss of jobs be a huge blow, the knock-on effect could be
By Ceri Evans
even more serious. Researchers for John Morris МЕР have estimated the loss of four more jobs for each lost at i the BP plant.
Another BP plant at BagBay, which receives products from Llandarcy could be jeopardised. This is along with a gas bottling plant in Aberdulais and rail jobs at the Llandarcy depot. Swansea Docks, whose capacity has already been cut from of to ships a month, will also be
The loss of these jobs, with no prior consultation with the unions, also shows up an often repeated Tory myth. w ne the government sold off
11 only has the miners' strike ended but the executive committee has spared no effort in attempts demobilise and the membership's stand Early indications are that offices which in March mandated against the deal are now mandating for ac ceptance in May.
Conference should register the progress that I being made towards the establishment or a single union for communication workers. Liaison with the NCU is making commendable progress, reflecting the overwhelming among the area member ship for a fusion of the rank and file unions. A battery of amendments seek to speed up and democratise this process.
One extremely contentious matter that is to di discussed is the members' auditors report which brings to light a lending facility for executive com mittee members and full time officers. This facility has been established without any previous reference to conference. Conference will need 1o support the stand of the members' auditors against this abuse
UC \
PICKE
LINE
U C
PICKET
shares from BP in 1981 manv workers took advan tage of the two for the orice of one' deal offerer to them. Yet these small share holders had no whatsoever in the decision to close the plant. So much for owning shares giving you a say in the business
On hearing about the plans the four unions at the plant formed a joint Action Committee This committee will but alter native proposals on the future of the plant to ar International board meeting on the 30th May They have also been canvassing support from local MPs, councillors and the local community. If this fails they will consider further action.
Local people have pu up with the vile smelling. carcinogenic emissions from. the plant reason — it provided jobs Now 750 of these jobs are to go and the BP workers are understandabiv bitter • Send messages of sup. port to Joint Action Committee, Landarcy Works, Neath, West Glam.
Page 12 scan of this page
women
Britain's civil and military nuclear programmes.
workers who mine the ore in the most inhuman‹
victed and fined.
However the women, some or whom are experienced campaigners from Greenham Common, refused to pay the
they sent the money to the South West African Peoples' Organisation SWAPO), adding that this should be regarded as merely the first of many repayments due the Namibian people. For as the women point out, it is British companies and the British government who benefit from the illegal mining OI Namibian uranium ore.
"The mining of uranium ore by British owned com-
Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) has been declared illegal on the basis that it contravenes the United Nations Decree No 1, 1974, which makes it illegal to mine or export raw materials from Namibia while it is under military occupation by the South African armed forces. Under the terms of the United Nations
ed to compensation from the companies and countries who benefit from their illegal mining tivities. The Capenhurst women are being jailed for carrying out, to the letter the decisions of the United Nations!
Support for the women is extremely important. So far the women have receiv-
TOTIN the United Nations Council
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SoCiAList
ACTION
Solidarity with
the Capenhurst
LAST YEAR women protested at British Nuclear Verbal condemnation of Fuels Ltd (BNFL) uranium enrichment plant at the Capenhurst. They were drawing attention to the illegal plundering of Namibian uranium ore for use in
For demonstrating solidarity with the Namibian
conditions imaginable, they were arrested, con-
for the Namibia ference, but need moral and financial support too.
On 13 and 14 May the women were due to appear in court for non-payncil of fines. They will be sent
to Risley Remand Centre near Warrington The picket at Risley on 15 May will be the first of many of solidarity with them.
Labour Party, LPYS, trade union and CND branches should all be ar proached to send messages
help sustain the campaign.
FUND DRIVE
WE ARE still slogging away to get the funddrive target. Recent welcome donations include £80 from Birmingham, f40 from Middlesborough and £15 from Swansea, plus a bankers' order for the same amount. swanses readers confirm that they are goins
£250 which is good news and should, we hope, act as spur other readers' groups who are still lagging behind. They report that they are planning a social and a jumble sale. These have been in the pipeline for some time but money raising for the miners' strike
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theid regime is cheap and
seem to hear enough of it from the leaders of the labour and disarmament movements.
Just Greenham
being shown by the Capenhurst women can and should be the nataral ales on the
natural of the Namibian black masses in this country; that is, those in the labour and disarmament movements who understand the need support the struggles of the workers and oppressed the world over.
• Messages of solidarity and donations should be sent to: CANUC Office
PO Box 16, London NW5 2L W.
naturally held these
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are fixed and they are go-
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They are also plann-
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mind they write 'we
should easily reach our
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pones to collate monty,
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like socials, jum-
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stalls
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only raise money, they
also get the paper better
known, So you win both
ways. We look forward
l0 a flood of urgently
needed cash and we are
sure that, as always, you
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THE DEATH, two days after being released from police custody, the Chemical Workers Union and executive member of the strongest independent body of trade unions the Federation of (FOSATU) — recalls the deaths in police custody of earlier martyrs of apartheid Steve Biko and Neil Aggell.
The South African police have launched a 'high level enquiry' into the death. The situation was then made significant-
WUISE with the allnouncement that the student leader, Sipho Mutsi, had died in police custody from an apparent brain
Level enquiry no til
level enquiry into latest death. There have been several such enquiries following deaths suspicious circumstances
people while hands of the police. But to date not single policeman has been charg-
Many offence or even desciplined as a result o1 lnese Investigalions.
Andries Raditsela was arrested outside his home in Tsakane township the East Rand, originally
on suspicion of being ir
volved in a car theft. Thi
Vote Todd
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.
South African
police murder
union leader
of Andries Raditsela, — leader of
South African Trade Unions
was subsequently changed to charges under the Internal Security Act These charges were withdrawn on Monday May 6 only hours before Mr Raditsela died at Baragwaneth hospital, near Soweto.
By Charlie van Gelderen sign of the uttest anith is death is another sweeping South Africa.
Now no longer confined to the Eastern Cape there have been clashes 'coloured' townships the Western Cape and now, more ominously for the authorities, in Soweto.
These take place only a few weeks before the anniversary of the explosion which shook the apartheid regime in June 1976 Andries Raditsela is the first brominent union leader to die in the
Anti Apartheid calls national
demonstration
current wave of unrest though others were rested after the elections to the Botha His deatent January. death will undoubtedly draw the trade unions into the arena of conflict. In the words of Dr. Alex Boraine, a leader of the opposition Progressive Federal Party
Reace more difficult
peace more difficult was like putting a match to dry grass.
Even before the
veronci Sipho Mutsi, black trade
alla organisations called on workers to strike for two hours on Tuesday. This has now escalated with the demand by FOSATU for a
with day's deme coupled
WILl demand employers to pay striking workers on Tuesday. They also warned the police that
would stay on strike for an extra day for every black worker shot.
These type of demands show the war forward for the fight against the apartheid regime today. This, plus the turn taken by the
That address has been reissued for this election. But Wright's actions since
By Pat Hicke!
Ron Todd's last year have in practice alliec him with some of the most rabid anti-union sections of the media such as the Daily Mail. He has also operied the door to the new court case facing the union • 01 the releases of branch voting figures
Declan Hughes who is pursuing this case refuses to release the source finance for the action. There is little doubt that as the campaign against the union continues there will be more such cases — and growing involvement bodies such as the Na-
Association
The fight now is to win
decisive victory for
African National Congress towards combination of the armed struggle with HICO mobilisations black workers through strikes, indicate the direction the campaign should now take.
tion that from the beginn. 1ng the arrest of Andrie‹ Raditsela was a put up job. The original charge was so obviously a spurious one and he was kept in custody only long enough to be beaten up
When Neil Aggett diec in dentention on February 5 1982 workers all over South Africa came out on strike for 24 hours. Andries Raditsela's death has similarly roused the fury of the working class.
In Britain we must mobilise the widest possible opposition to the killings and to the continued rule of the racist regime As each day goes by, the need TO international solidarity and opposition
now for the biggest possible mobilisation on june 16 and Anti Apartheid's demonstration.
WHEN TGWU members vote in the rerun ballot for general secretary, which started on Monday, they should be reminded of George Wright's words in the first election. Then Wright's election statement concluded with the words, 'While requesting your vote and support in this election, I wish to record my total support for the Union whoever is the winner'. Todd. This will be the best answer 1o the attack on the union, and will undermine the campaign against
of this campaign is the decisive ques tion at this stage.
It is necessary also for Todd to present a positive way forward for the union The membership must be prepared for the attacks which lie ahead As Todd put it in a speec in The Worsh Nest TGWI stewards
It is great armies not gifted in dividuals that win battles'.
however need clear Simply endorsing Neil
Kinnock as leader of th Labour Party will not b sufficient for that
But the decisive question now is deteating the anti-union activities of the right. The left must put its entire weight into winning the vote for Todd
← Socialist Action No. 101, 10 May 1985Socialist Action No. 103, 24 May 1985 →