Socialist Action No. 164, 8 May 1987
The scan: 164-may-08-1987-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
SECTION
No. 164 THE decision by the April meeting of Labour's NEC to sack Sharon Atkin as parliamentary candidate for Nottingham East was a decisive escalation of a campaign directed primarily at the Black Section in the Labour Party.
The campaign, which has so far culminated in Sharon Atkin, did not begin after the now-notorious Birmingham meeting. Nor was it sparked off by the particular remarks that Sharon Atkin is alleged to nave made at wat meelng. tue party leadership's attack began in March, following the AGM in Nottingham of the Black Section. A resolution was moved at the March NEC during the report from the finance and general purposes committee, which threatened disciplinary action against the entire Labour Party Black Section.
It was alleged that black Labour candidates intended to run on their own
AcTioN
BUILDING AN ALLIANCE FOR SOCIALISM
manifestos outside the decisions and accountability of the party. But this was spurious. All the Black PPCs proposed To sane i e mass due manesius drawn up by their CLPs, as do all other Labour candidates.
The March NEC sounded a warning blast against Black Sections as a whole, not at some unfounded fear of black candidates having separate manifestos.
The March NEC was followed by the letter from Hattersley and other Birmincham Mi's attempting to tell Black Section members not to come to Birmingham to speak meeting. Birmingham has been the cockpit of the latest attempts by the right to prevent Black Sections getting more organised.
CIr Phil Murphy, suspended from Birmingham Labour Group, and also facing an NCC hearing to expel him from the party had already come under attack from the right when he was sack-
8 May 1987 ed as vice chair of the equal opportunities committee for being 'too concerned' with the problems of the black
The NEC's decision in relation to Sharon Atkin was especially personally vicious, as she was both ill herself, and nursing a very sick husband at the time of the hearing. The decision to replace her as PPC, and refer her expulsion from party membership to the NCC, was taken not simply in her own absence, but in the absence of her lawyer, Keva Coombes. At the time of the vote he had left the meeting to get further clarification from his client, at the NEC's request. The decision to deselect Sharon Atkin was taken by 19 votes to 6. Only Tony Benn, Linda Douglas, Joan Maynard, Jo Richardson, Dennis Skinner and Audrey Wise voted against.
The fact that the action against Sharon Atkin had nothing to do with her alleged remarks in Birmingham is
VOTE
LABOUR
WITCH
HUNT
AGAINST THE
BLACK
demonstrated by the totally dissimilar
treatment of Frank Field. Reference to
his comments supporting an Alliance
vote in some constituencies was met by
the moving of next business! It was on-
ly the same six who voted against this.
The Labour right is utterly opposed
to the Black Section because it breaks
up the clientism and paternalism which
many prominent, white, male MPs de-
pend on to keep their safe seats. The
truth is that, especially in the West
Midlands, the safest Labour seats are
precisely those with the largest black
communities - • wiien overwneming-
ly vote Labour. For Roy Hattersley this
has been the making of his career: my
Asians' don't want black sections, he
has explained.
It is because the Labour Party
Black Section is a total threat to this
that the NEC is now set upon the
course of trying to break it up. There
should be no illusions that the attack is
aimed at breaking the Black
30 p
END THE
Sections.
Firstly by undermining its unity through a combination of threats and crumbs offered those most vulnerable to pressure. Secondly by an escalating political and organisational attack on its leadership.
Thirdly we will doubtless see increasing attempts to establish an alternative to Black Sections within the party. The first attempt with the discredited Black and Asian Advisory Committee has failed, now attention has turned to building up one or two carefully selected Black PPCs, who will be groomed as the party's 'acceptable' black face.
The attack on Sharon Atkin, Phil Murphy and the Labour Party Black Section is a straightforward attempt to break up the development of black self-organisation in the party. This must be resisted.
Page 2 scan of this page
2 Socialist Action 8 May 1987
SOCiAlise
AcTioN
Thatcher,
Callaghan and
MI5
TWO KEY people are now verification of the allegations of an MI5 conspiracy against the Wilson government. They are Margaret Thatcher and James Callaghan.
Callaghan's statement, made as minister in 1977, following an investigation into allegations against MI5, is being taken as clearing MI5 of the charges Wright has made in the book Spycatcher. But Callaghan's statement only explicitly clears MI5 of using electronic bugging devices in Number 10. Thatcher has taken cover behind Callaghan's refusal, so far, to call for an inquiry into MI5's alleged plot to destabilise a Labour government.
Objectively there is only one side which gains from this: the Security services themselves, and the British state. If the allegations are unfounded and if Callaghan knows this to be the case, then he could present his evidence and sort the matter out. The only reasonable assumption for the failure to do this, is that it cannot be done. Therefore Callagahan should call for an inquiry. thrown an elected government, or would expose
The only objective explanațion for the failure to call for an inquiry by those who could get one set up is that the interests of protecting the
use of the PM's office in the Westland scandal
It should come as no surprise in the case of informed on the functioning of Mi5 and more generally the dirty role of the British security services in Britain, Ireland and elsewhere. He
parliamentary' institutions like the IMF, the City, • NATO and the EEC. He only objects to 'extrawhen it comes from the labour movement or its
The bi-partisanship of Labour's front bench when the core interests of the British establish ment are at stake has been a disgrace: Compare
of the PLP leadership's attacks on
policies with their almost unbelievable inability
Westland affair, the Stalker affair, and Zircon to name just the most recent.
Not only have their witch hunts and right wing policies undermined support for but their spineless refusal to fight for even the
modest measures of democracy in the capacity to inflict the kind of damage upon Thatcher's government which its most blatant cover-
Those that have fought Thatcher in parliament and supported those fighting her govern-
years have unfortunately been a small minority
in the Campaign Group linked to the left in the
labour movement. It is the left which has been
the chief target of the right wing's attacks,
not - unfortunately for Labour - MI5, the IME
the CBI, the Tory Party and the SDP.
It did not need Wright's book to reveal that the Security Services are a law unto themselves.
democratic controls to hinder their operations.
They only exist to protect the establishment, to
secure the status quo, and prevent any threats
soçiety. As Wright is quoted by the Independent
as saying in his book: 'As we always used to say
in the office: "Politicians may come and go,
Wright speaks from the inside!
obstructing
prime
for after the election. call a general election any
tour or tive vears. his 1s a benefits and living
Led in greater support for
strong enough during the last three and a half years
once again declined in re-
Stop to bottom to reverse this trend in time for the
be making this their all-out
of Labour MPs by holding asatalioli
Drive to smash
accountability
THE POLICIES advocated by the right wing in the party, pursued by Kinnock, are threatening Labour with defeat at the election. As the right wing are in reality conscious of the electoral consequences of their policies they are already preparing their moves
These are not simply on the
unilateral nuclear disarmament. The right are also moving to smash any elements of democracy in the party that can resist their drive to the right.
The first target in this is to smash the democratic reform achieved in 1979 gaining mandatory reselec-
if this can be overturned the ability of Labour MPs to ignore the wishes of their constituency parties will be greatly strengthened. A 'consultation paper' on this is already being circulated by the
The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) has launched a major effort in defence of reselection. We are printing here the introduction to the special broadsheet produced by CLPD.
sysicil. taken in by the claim that circulated by the NEC to for remission. In 1984 it
rejected. In 1985 the NEC
A00vt
DuL hastily
NEC disregarding the views
culatea Its
no fewer than ten possible
even the minimum level of accountability pro-
Line
means that many
01
Members of distracted
DO VICOlve NEC's opions will reopen the bitter disagreements of
reason is that it is deter
DONE S
seem to be as follows: On
victory.
reply. On the other hand it
resist ine nalural Inchillato ignore this sultation. his would onl
that the mood was over.
and file.
Challec. CPD has
power of reselection from
Ually
respond.
Government
otherwise
Never see them.
Politics Today
Composite Resolution 39
This Conference welcomes the National Executive
Committee's statement to the 1985 Annual Party
Conference that it would not be proposing
changes in parliamentary reselection procedures
to the 1986 Conterence.
It notes that the National Executive Committee
has since set up a special working party on
proposals for a new system of selection and
Conference is not opposed to improvements,
especially if these further develop the
accountability of Labour Members of Parliament,
but believes that the rights of trade unions, co-
operative societies and parties, and all affiliated
organisations, must not be marginalised but
maintained in a form which reflects their
importance in the movement and in the Party as a
Conference also considers:
a) it is essential to maintain accountability of
Parliament at, at least, the level provided by the so as to ensure that the Parliamentary Labour Party carries out the policies decided by annual Party Conference;
b) the only way this can be done is if reselections
are carried out by the same body to which the Member of Parliament reports month by month on the work of the Parliamentary Labour Party in opposition and in government.
At the same time, Conference recognises that
the issue of reselection is both complex and
divisive, and that to reopen the argument over new
proposals at this time would seriously damage
Party unity and divert the Party's energies from
the over-riding priority of working for a Labour
Conference therefore calls on the National
Executive Committee to refrain from bringing up
such proposals before the general election.
CLPs must therefore
conassist those who wish to release Labour MPs from accountability to the rank Defend
therefore produced this broadsheet reselection
out the implications of the NEC paper. Distribute to your CLP and suggesting how best to and trade union brand
We also copies of the CLPD reproduce the options pro- broadsheet defending posed by the NEC, as it is reselection. Available
unlikely that free or revuest rom most Party members will CLPD, 10 Park Drive, London NWIII 7SH.
Page 3 scan of this page
International
UNLESS SOMETHING amazing happens in the local
almost certain to be announced in the next few days. In
for candidates.
This campaign had now reached very broad proportions. It started with support from Marxism Today,
Statesman, the Guardian and Observer. That
Solcau Labour Party through the explicit support for the formation of the 'Tactical Voting '87' campaign and Lne support Lacucal
Moring given by Frank Field
By Dick Carter
The Labour Party leadership made clear that I1U will be taken against those calling for votes for SDP or Liberal candidates against Labour. The very same April NEC which Sharon Atkin as a parliamentary candidate refused to
LUlL' sider a resolution by Tony Benn requiring Frank Field Шакс а statement calling for a vote all Labour Partv Catales Not only does this show the the dual standard of rustice operated by the NEC right wing, but also the implicit acceptance of the tactical
Neil Kinnock ruled out any discussion of the Frank Field case on the grounds it would be 'divisive.
exnlains the extraordinary new development wherebv the Labour Party's own magazine, New Socialist, is also now calling for "tactical voting'. Its editor, Stuart Weir, devoted the front cover and ten inside pages of the May issue * to a call for tactical voting'.
Weir calls for unions to use their money in support of the tactical voting campaign. Weir argues: there 1 a major weakness in tv87's (Tactical Voting '87) inTe VARION. campaign at the moment is too thin in resources and too short of money to be effective where it really matters in the Conservative marginals.
Most people in these seats don't know they are marginal, and they don't
Tactical voting -
in every
constituency
New issue of Campaign Group News Unli Tor.: Benn tactical voting', Linda Bellos on the new witch hunt against the Black Section, Dennis
Right wing steps up
tactical voting drive
government elections on 7 May, a general election is
anticipation the right wing is stepping up its drive for 'tactical voting'. Put bluntly, they are calling for a vote candidates other than official Labour Party
know who came second in 1983. A largely national campaign may only stir up more self-defeating tactical voting. To arm people with the information they need, Ilas focussed locally, constituency by constituency. *The most decisive and ing ne enformation can- way of • overcomnone would be commission polls in the key marginals during the election campaign. This would cost up to about £575,000
£1 million that NALGO is spending on its admirable Think Before You Vote" campaign, but undoubtedly more enrecuve nee could hardly be a better way of
Weir concludes: I am for the tactical voting campaign because it seems to offer the only real prospect of stopping Mrs Thatche
failure would hardly leave Labour any worse off, and Labour better over could leave
Alternative Weir can get away with calling for Labour candidates precisely because Kinnock acclares unal to lake Il uc would 'divisive left wing black PPCs of course 'unifying'.
In any democratically run party Weir would have been removed from his job right at the the last NE( not because of a witch hunt but because as a orca appointed by the party to Natariuc bound to carry out its decisions in fulfilling his post.
ary stepmor extraor
dinary diner by fatersley!. was
little reported speech, Hattersley publicly opened the door to tactical voting for the first time. Speaking on Saturday 2 May, he called for Owen and the SDP to
Campaign Group News
PUBLISHED BY THE CAMPAION GROUP OF LABOUR NPS
A strategy for destroying socialism
Vote Labour
Stirrer or MIs. 43p. including postage trom Campaign Groun of MPs, c. o Bob Clay MP, don SWIA OAA. none or commons. Lor
'use the tactical option to support Labour and defeat the Tories'
But isn't there another side to the deal? it is mean ingless to call for the SDP to vote for Labour unless Labour something in return. Have intends
tersley is edging towards
voting'
That Labour wil not call for a vote for the Alliance the Alliance explicitly calls for a vote for Labour. And if it agrees then..? Alliance
This is in line with some of Hattersley's
positions. Ten years ago he described the Lib-Lab pact, the policies of which prepared the way for the disastrous Labour electoral deteat of 1979. a an example of 'men and women of public spirit and
ical commonsense who have agreed to work together in the national interest'
Indeed it has to be seriously questioned Welle volose of the right actually want to win the election. They certainly indifferent to the electoral damage Labour done by the witch hunt against Sharon
member of the shadow
told the Sunday Times that the Black Section was equivalent OT and that he 'didn't care seats were lost to the SDP
a result of the action laken agallst Alkin.
In reality the right wing is acting totallv in line with what the bourgeoisie want
which force Labour into third place in terms of the voté at the election. This is the goal of both the Tories and the
Allance not even remotely an 'antiThatcher force
Peter Jenkins, SDP supporter and columnist in the Independent, who has access to the highest levels wrote in that late on, wrote in that paper on April: 'What most
Alliance leaders would prefer is to see Labour finish a humiliating third in terms of the popular
and the Alliance to VULC win the J0 or seats
necessary to establish Deered centre Such an outcome would be hard achieve without Mrs Thatcher winning her third majority?
Peter Kellner, political editor of the New Statesman, which is one of the chief journals promoting tactical voting, wrote in the Independent on 30 March entreatingly:
ed four
If it would 11
from
of these il-
Alliance's Justrale
would
parliament"
from out. have galned. and
let us
four points Labour...
tion balanced
The
an
longer term more exciting them. They would lead parties that
million
realignment non-
have place And
would still
secure benefits claims to
the defeat 80
at least
Labour to seats as well. But
term. options
prefer? think we
In the 'two
Owen stated his United
ed the Labour Steel
Greenwich by-election:
quietly
candidates
in the
Roy
Labour was
the Communist rally The 'must transcend
Party'
is playing. It is not a clever manoeuvre for getting rid villalac. It is to par ticipate in pols
cant torce British politics. The right wing, by their policies, are actively participating in breaking up and trying to destroy the strength and credibility of the Labour Party.
When the election
comes
WHEN THE general election is called the left in this country is going to be facing a very different situation than the one it imagined.
During the last four years many socialists have concentrated on building a 'left to the left of Kinnock'. Not politics to the left of Kinnock, which are onviousv neeced. left that believed that Labour would the election and what had to be build now was a fight against the betrayals of a Kinnock government.
By John Ross
That approach was absurdly out of line with reality.
The problem that is faced today is that there is not going to be a Labour
confronted with long,
bitter fight to defend the Labour movement - and even to defend Labour's . vote against workers shifting to vote for bourgeois val LIcs
The problem that fac ed, and still faces, the left is not how to build a left to fight a future, hypoHencal Labour government. It was how to build a left to fight against Thatcher now. Without success
fight tere was never going to be a Labour Fight
The Labour leadership's repudiation of the NUA al Warrington, of the miners, of the Wapp-
of Liverpool council, Broadwater Farm, and now of Sharon Atkin and the black com-
betrayal in itself. But these
were the ones that ensured that there was not going to be a Labour government.
Not only was Kinnock's line not a socialis one, it was incapable of defending movement: either the trade unions or the Labour Party.
The result is that sinc 1979 almost four members have left the trade unions, three million workers have broken with Labour - not to its left but to its right. These workers have broken from voting for a working class party voting for bourgeois parties.
The working class today finds itself in a bitter battle not immediately for socialism but to defend its existing gains Gains which are being broken up by the inability of the
confront and defeat the offensive of the bourgeoisie.
Socialist Action 8 May 1987
The situation facing the labour movement in 1987 can be expressed in a reformist ideology of the Lavourism labour creasingly incapable defending the institutions of the labour movement.
Whilst combatting every manifestation labourism, socialists have to fight tooth and nail to defend every gain, and defensive institution the labour movement. The
unions,
ver cut Illas campaigns and movements the elements democracy in the Labour Party everything which Trotsky once referred to as
the nuclei of proletaria acmocials withi bour geois society' are going to come under attack. without defending these inere can be no advanci towards socialism.
The Party'svote fits within thai
1nere are vuLa sions when a break from a traditional working class development. West Germanv those voting to the Greens do so as a way
eft of the SPI
But, in Britain, there is nothing whatever left wing about workers breaking from Labour to vote for the Alliance. That is a shift to tue rigat not to tne lett And, in that given situa LUN. socialists have to de fend and rebuild Labour's vote as a matter of urgen cy.
This is the situation today. It is the left which has the interest in Labour win. ming une election. Indeed 1l is its goal that Labour should do so. It is the right which is sabotaging that and Labour from forming the govern ment
The point that the lef makes is simply that winn ing the election cannot be achieved by the election call all itself. Labour needed to start by supporting every struggle that has been wagca over lie las four years. It is because that course has not pursued that there is any chance of Labour losing the election today
The central feature o British politics today
politics movement crashing
It is incapable of defending the labour movement. Socialists have
defend the Labour movement - on the basis of different politics and a different ideology.
applies to thi trade unions. It will apply
the general election campaign Whenever it is called. well
Page 4 scan of this page
How Labour has failed women
4 Socialist Action
NUS London's Ireland
dayschool
THE London region
of the National Union
of Students is jointly
hosting with
University of London
Union a dayschool on
Ireland which Will
focus on repression in
Ireland and the need
for British with-
drawal.
By Polly Vittorini
NUS London
executive
Inge with NUS
olicy adopted national-
1986, the aim of the day
will be to highlight the
strip-searching
against women republic-
the
Prevention of Terrorism
Act against Irish people
Britain, of plastic bullets and shoot-to-kill in the North, and to
build
along
LCI youth dayschool
planned
LABOUR Committee on Ireland youth are organising dayschool on 9 May in Leeds Trades Club, Chapeltown.
This event will build on the gains of the suecessful fringe held at regional LPYS conterences. could significantly help build support for LCI
owner Young Socialist and labour
By Graham Hellawell
Speakers the dayschool include Joan Maynard MP, Sinn Fein, Steve Jomoa of the Labour Party Black Section, Jim Mason, SOGAT, and Sheena Clarke of the LCI. The event has been sponsored
Huddersfield, Colne Valley, York and
Youth Against Apartheid
FAREHAM Youth Against Apartheid' has recently added its name to the growing number oi organised Anti-Apartri truth and studio ei aps.
Wil several rarentr ca dil v •stall and the
bencht May, to Foldby a public inceting 16 June, Joweto Youth Day.
Speakers at the
8 May 1987
students for British
and
The en-
ttled
incland
will others,
speakers the
Vilidtord and
Maguire Cam-
Labour on
on 16
Bloomsbury Theatre,
Gordon
WC1. Any
against and
British from are
• More
01-637 1181. ches. Bennett,
is also the dayschool.
im-
'of the
tional
tions
plastic LCI
rein through fighting Labour
ditional
Irish struggle
Saturday May. details
Hellawell
meeting will include the ANC and
local unions which have taken action against apartheid. That includes hospital workers from Portsmouth and dockers from Southampton, as well as Southampton council which has adopted camorehensive ¡partheid policy'
Anti-apartheid activity has spread locally with meetings between the local NUR and trades council and Rail Against Apartheid planned. For more details Mark 0329 235764. Connel
THE LIKELY declaration of a general election will
probably ensure that the Labour Women's Conference, scheduled for 16-18 May, ahead. Instead there will be a rally where women party members will declare their commitment to the return of a Labour government. JUDE WOOD-
WARD looks at how Labour has failed women since The oct a laction
party will most
Cenares women
LAC laboul
movement.
the party
leadership bears the
for having
soudluered
has had the 1983
election demonstrate
The election
Partv misplaced
on and had
party unforLullate. by
left, decided
The for the continued in
few
, Neil Kinnock Canned
ministry 120l have
tion, from
statutory minimum
Anti-deporta
FIVE hundred people participated in the 11-12 April anti-deporations conference in Manchester, and decided to call for a national demonstration there on 11 July.
The conference was organised by the Viraj Mendis Defenc Campaign (VMDC).
Participants included activists from a number of anti-deportation campaigns and local VMDC support groups.
The labour movement, however, was not well represented.
The conference's aim was to build support for
Party conference
LABOUR Left Liaison met on 29 April and decided to help launch a broad-based national defence campaign for Sharon Atkin and Phil Murphy.
It also decided to circulate a bulletin containing suggested model resolutions for party conference.
Whether or not there is a
does not go MOTE although women look to other for pro-
in reality
to
tradiction free
wage was
prioritise
The and the
eventually
year. Such proposal
women. year's
and has
iront bench
that party
orient the City Council's
This has July.
what
The broadcast which the Freedom Fairness campaign was
women. message
who fear
large, white, male Women like
Jarrett not be at-
message are
and have to that the carried determine their slate for the women's section of the NEC. The result is: Margaret Beckett, Linda Bellos, Joan Maynard, Ann Pettifor and Clare Short.
The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy is consulting the Campaign Group of Labour MPs and other left organisations within the LIL on the constituency section of the left s state.:.
their or
that would tion priorities. allu
conference that it
short parliamen-
— as long as
Evel on women has allowed
for vote the is only that
Need we say more?
THIS letter from
Karen McCarthy of Selly Oak, Birmingham, appeared in the 1 May issue of
Tribune. It speaks for itself.
'Ken Hulme (Tribune, 24 April) has misunderstood the curingham. The fact is
prominent members of
the Birmingham Labour Coordinating Committee
having presided over the
• collapse Ol lal organisation, have now
ONCOCO WIL likes of Denis Howell rather than work with their LCC comrades.
Affiliate to Labour Left Liaison Campaign Groups: £10 Individuals: €7.50 (waged) £3 (unwaged) Name...
Address..
CuP.......
Please make cheques payable Latsoe and return to: Li, 10 Park Drive, Los don NW11 7SH.
News
continuing a trend of two
decades we saw a shift it
the of women's votes. Previously
womer than had
voted Tory, and more men than women voted
Labour. This trend is now breaking up. In the last
two elections the sex difference votes was negligible
The basis of the
Alliance's appeal has been
direct themselves
towards women in protessional and higher paic work - Polly Toynbee newspaper columnist, nosie Barnes, legal consu-
typical SDP women - and to presen
Ine working
woman. of
This is challenge
labour movement.
or if they they will simply the
tional to give
power to Labour
Women's Organisation
strengthened the move.
That opportunity llai wasted -
for
Women's
vital the mess
not
LUTE The damage this has done to the LCC's reputation has caused great distress to many
Requests to the nationa
CC for help have gon unheeded; and now, when we speak out about what has happened, we are branded as ultra-left.?
Page 5 scan of this page
News
AT PRESS conferences in London, Dublin, Belfast and New York on 1 May, Sinn Fein launched a new discussion paper which
out the case for self-determination for Ireland and proposes a practical plan to achieve this through British withdrawal within the lifetime of one parliament. We reproduce Sinn Fein's document in full on this page. Sinn Fein's policy initiative sharply contradicts the line taken by the Labour Party's new policy paper on Ireland which endorses the Anglo-Irish Agreement and reaffirms Labour's support for a loyalist veto over Irish unity. By spelling out a practical plan for ending British rule in Ireland Sinn Fein's paper will reinforce the campaign launched by the Labour Committee on Ireland to commit, first the Labour left ,and eventually the Labour Party itself, to the policy of Irish self-determination and British withdrawal within one parliament.
THIS document is presented by Sinn Fein for discussion and as an answer to those who claim that there is no alternative to the continuation of brush rule. I aoes not represent une definitive republican position, nor is it exe usive of other proposals dealing with alternative scenarios for a British withdrawal from Ireland.
inc secuon reiterates the Irish people's right to national self-determination. the SECONd deals with the question of the loyalists and the final
scruul lobusco a way in which the British government could withdraw and transfer power to an all-Ireland constitutional convention and national government.
National Self-Determination The island of Ireland, throughout mistorv. nas been universally regarded ...... as one unit. The historical and con-
temporary existence of the Irish nanon nas never deen in aispute.
The Irish people have never relin-
determination. What has been in contest is the right of the Irish people, as a whole, to self-determination and their freedom to exercise that right.
'For centuries, the relationship between the British government and the Irish people has been the relationship between the conqueror and the conquered, the oppressor ana lne oppressed.
The perennial cycle of oppressiondomination-resistance-oppression has been a constant feature of the British government's involvement in Ireland and the Irish people's rejection of that government's usurpation of the right to exercise control over their political, social, economic and cultural destiny.
From the late seventeenth century onwards, that usurpation provoked both revolutionary resistance and — within the narrowest confines of Situtional sitution in the course - conofession ted hamite, Bused the
tamine caused population of Ireland to be halved.
The only occasion on which the people of all Ireland have been permitted to hold tree and fair election: to determine their political future was • in the 1918 Westminster elections. Sinn Fein, with a political programme demanding complete independence for the unitary state of Ireland, won the election with 69.5 per cent of the vOlC NOSe who alically-ciccled representatives of the Irish people
Dail Hireann and January 1919, enacted the Declara-
of Independence.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922 the partition of Ireland and the Constitution of the Irish Free State were threat do themeshae pled terribe threat Irish People for ratification and their They were not submitted to the "immediate Lenais t
imposition represents a denial to the trish people of i the freedom to exercise their
The pretext for partition the
tain British rule — holds no validity against the express wishes of the vasi majority of the Irish people. Secession same , self-
Parliament
determination.
Partition perpetuates the British government's denial of the Irish people's right to self-determination. It perpetuates the cycle of oppressiondomination-resistance-oppression. In the words of Sean MacBride, winner of the Nobel and Lenin Peace Prizes:
'Ireland's right to sovereignty, independence and unitv are inalienable and indefeasible. It is for the Irish people as a whole to determine the future status of Ireland. Neither Brilain nor a small minority selected by Britain has any right to partition the ancient island of Ireland, nor to determine its future as a sovereign nation.' Law Ireland's right sovereignty, in-
determination supported by
principles of international law.
The Interna-
Rights and nant on Social and Cultural Rights. of each
economic, and cultural
The Declaration on
cerning operation in Accor-
Nations declares: all people have
external their political
respect
visions of the
of Declaration on
of which states:
national
with and principles of
dependence colonial interterence, it suits the
A
SINN FEIN SAYS
Britain out in one
British
Ubslalic allows projecting itself
DOKe
the economic reunification
loyalism
deed,
conditional
by
Treaty, is to
with the SDLP
The
hands
untenable
ampaig
Their refusal to disaster where disaster unilateral
by politicians.
hual dulle
provisions for,
The would free historic laager
phalism.
MY BROTHER
-IS NOTOR
CRIMINAL
the
off the hook, the 'honest
which or minimise
artificial from
between
support
part of
the morale of
are national According
Increasingly,
Their protest
the dialogue
towards war, of inpresenta
day social reality
of the conflict from their
of history, or to
the Irish tarianism.
decolonisation
That is peace. quickly and
dependence
Ireland.
camouflage the
Sing
peaceful, united
tion.
"Government
Ireland' statelet
its military political
Demener
shortest
set for withdrawal
We
and ending sec.
We
dialogue that a
will respond
La British
Ireland and the
, national self-
solu-
that the Six
, social-
the con
independent
by repealing the
and
will remain
this
Socialist Action 8 May 1987 5
backlash and would go a long way towards bringing round to reality most loyalists and those of their representatives genuinely interested in péace and negotiation. It would be the business of such negotiations to se the constitutional, economic, social
arrangements for a ne Irish state through a constitutional conference.
Constitutional conference Free elections to an all-Ireland constitutional conference would be arTangea. ine conterence woula consis of the elected representatives of the Irish people and would be open to submissions from all significant organisations in Ireland (eg the trade union movement, the women's movement, the churches) and would draw up a new constitution and organise a national system of government
wine las conterence colle nave no influence on the decision by Britain to withdraw, it would play an important role in organising the transi tion to a new governmental system Should it fail to find agreement on a new constitution, or on any othe matter. a British withdrawal would proceed anyway within the fixed time period.
Republicans have consistently people in
be given firm
liberties and repeat. our faced with a
partition, body loyalist would accept the
society which reflect their needs and The irreversible nature • withdrawal
entering could not be tional methods loyalist intransculle tions forces to
any alleged would only
nas snown tnat
woula nave a political bias. Their subsequent
to avoid the
The conference
ine nalure
, if Britain
and
All would be
oreansalv C Calt
As settlement, the
national to provide
for an agreed
ment Ireland,
and South.
to accept: leavi
their choice
to a united and independent Ireland
• of that society is a matter
for the Irish people Only when Britain recognises that right and initiates
strategy decolonisation along these lines will peace and reconcilia tion between Irish people and between Britain and Ireland be establish-
Page 6 scan of this page
RACISM AND THE LA
Socialist Action 8 May 1987 NEIL KINNOCK is attempting to outlaw any expression of the view that racism affects the Labour Party. He is using empty demagogy against the statements of Sharon Atkin, Linda Bellos and others to prevent discussion of the real, and very serious issues involved.
On Friday 1 May, following the NEC's decision to deselect Sharon Atkin and refer her expulsion from the party to the National Constitutional Committee, Kinnock was interviewed on Radio 4 News. Asked what he had to say in reply to Sharon Atkin and Linda Bellos, he
Neil Kinnock claimed: "There is the 99 per cent majority of the Labour Party that says there is nothing more important on our agenda than securing victory in order to stop the government of unemployment, of health cuts, of pension cuts, of under-investment in educaLOS. And the Labour Party, though it is, becomes immensely resentful of people who mistake their own individual enthusiasms for movements and people who could by their actions impede the possibility of victory.
By Carol Turner
"They are not willing to put up with inat - and rightly so. We are in the serious business of trying to represent the
that we cannot be impeded by people
represeall hardly divulc Imense ves
"The overwhelming majority of the Labour Party says to people like that: make up your mind which is your greater loyalty - to your own self-indulgence and to your own narrow enthusiasm, or to securing the advance of all the people of Britain by securing a Labour government? And if people in this period find difficulty in making up their minds then the party has the power on some subsequent occasion to assist them in making up their mind.'
In a nutshell, Kinnock is attempting to demand that party members choose between supporting Labour fighting racism - and that any discussion of racism and the Labour Party be ruled out of order. But jibes and threats are no answer to the issues that have been raised.
The views expressed by Linda Bellos and Sharon Atkin are those of the black communities of this country. Avtar Joul, general secretary of the Indian Workers Association (GB) addressed a recent executive committee meeting of the Labour Party Black Section and pledged his solidarity. He said that the IWA deplored the suspension of Sharon Atkin and described it as 'a racist act by the NEC'
Damn verma, chal or the Aslan socie ty of Wales, has also gone on record with similar comments. Any black newspaper, and any serious black pontician. point out examples of racism. It is vital that these issues are seriously discussed.
Kinnock infers that those who believe
for the party's political opponents. is absolute nonsense. No one of all any supporter of the Labour Party Black Section - is making the case that whilst Labour is racist, the Tories and the Alliance are not! Any black person who thought that would hardly join the Labour Party. Anv damage done to Labour will be caused by the fact
within the party, and not the claims of it.
As Linda Bellos rightly explains in an excellent article in the 1 May edition of the Independent, the fact is that racism permeates the whole of British society. That means every single one of its institutions. including the structures of the Labour Party. That is even more true of the Tory Party.
The fight taking place within the Labour Party today, led by the Black Section, is a fight to overcome the institutional racism which exists in British
we all
mass
but
and
will
This - and least
society. That is why the Black Section is fighting for the constitutional right to Ulcallisc autonomously Labour Party and for the representation of black members at all levels of the
of party.
Fighting racism is not an optional extra. Not something to be cast aside for the purpose of an election. Neither is it a matter, as Neil Kinnock dismissively puts it, of 'individual enthusiasms'.
The truth is. recognising the existence of racism is a prerequisite for combatting it. Turning Labour's anti-racist words into action means recognising two things rirst that institutiona racism exists within the party, that the Labour Party is not immune to the influences which pervade the whole of the rest of society and
within the best placed to dIc
The attack
Bellos explains, coming it.
base racism. mechanism
every political party in Britain. Second, black members, who directly experience the oppressive consequences of racism
lead the struggle against it. Indeed, only they can lead it. All white people in Britain, to a greater or lesser degree, are affected by racism.
on the Labour Party Black Section by the party leadership is a refusal to recognise institutional racism plains, and to begin to devise the means of over-
dividual
This truth, which affects all white societies, is particularly crucial in Britain. British society was built on imperialism - and imperialism, par excellence, is the
Racism was whereby British capital justified the exploitation of the peoples of India, Africa and elsewhere, to serve
their drive for private profit.
Those who are so blind as not to see the racism within the British society, including within the organisations of the labour movement. therebv reveal nothing more or less than their own racism. This is not a matter of subjective understanding, or of conscious racism of the National Front variety. As Linda Bellos ex-
pointing out that the Labour Party is racist does not mean 'that in-
white people within the Labour Party hate and fear black people and act upon these feelings'.
Racism within the Labour Party is a matter of fact. How else do we explain that there are no black Labour members of parliament and never have been? How else do we explain that there has only ever been one black member of Labour's na-
THE MARCH meeting o the Labour Party Black S up the cudgels — with the suspended from the Birm and Sharon Atkin deselec candidate for Notts Basta Kinnock has made clear ti follow. Not surprisingly, tl Britain's TV screens and n Inevitably the media have
THE SUSPENSION of
Atkin as parliamentary ci
for Nottingham East marks
ping up of the purge aga
Labour Party activists. D
though it is to defend the mn
under attack we must nott
of the fundamental questio
by the NE€ action. Is it wor
someone or something racks
be racist? And what do w
stand by racism? I want to
these questions in order to ju
statement which I repeat,
Labour Party is racist.
1 do not mean by this that in
• white people within the Labo
hate and fear black people and a
these feelings. The arguments a
the ways in which institutions,
actions and assumptions, conse
unconsciously exclude or dise
against black people. The Labo
is only one of these institutions
council is another.
By Linda Bellos,
Leader, Lambeth Council s
Treasurer, Labour Party B
Section
We on the council acknowles
racism occurs in our practices. G
recognising this have we been a
make changes in our structures,
and procedures. • We have not era
racism by first acknowledging tha
ists. Some of us within the Labo
elsewhere.
What is surprising about the
fiasco is that the NEC seems so ut
of the debates and discussions of
over the last 20 years. Sharon A
myself have been cast as strange,
nike characiels ultering obserue l
We may not always be moderate
tone, but what we are saying han
said throughout the black commi
Britain for centuries
Let me give some examples c
ways in which the Labour Party cut
tional executive committee in the par entire history? How else do we exp that until 12 months ago there wat black leader COT Labour-contri council, and few black Lat councillors?
It is no coincidence that movem for black self-organisation within structures of the labour movement h generation of black British people t emerged in the 1980s, when the reached working age. Since the there has been a dramatic change in composition population. The increase in the pi tion of black people in the workfe most dramatic in areas like London the West Midlands, where the Black tion movement is also strongest,
And it is no coincidence tha
Page 7 scan of this page
BOUR PARTY
C launched a campaign to smash
mediately, Roy Hattersley took at Phil Murphy has now been Istrict council Labour group
spective parliamentary e expulsion from the party, and re Black Section expulsions will has been blasted across t-page newspaper headlines. e opportunity to further
excludes black people. Wednesday's (30
April) party political broadcast did not
contain one black person. I read from
this the assumption that there are no
black people in the country. How can
you look at the health service, as the
broadcast did, and not even mention the
double discrimination black
health workers face, both as workers and
users?
A further example of racism is the
party's glossy, slick job Catalon
itiative. I want to see a million real jobs
created, but there is no mention of the
steps that will be needed to ensure that
black people, who are twice as likely to be
unemployed as whites, have a fair share
of those jobs.
These examples may seem trivial to
those who argue that first we have to get
a Labour government and then concen-
trate on the fine detail. But history and
experience suggests that if we do not get
these things right now they will never
happen.
The GLC looked at the detail of how
racism operates and did so, incidentally,
by drawing on the experience and exper-
tise of black activists. It took bold and
often controversial measures
racis, by first acknowledging that it ex-
ists. Some of us within the Labour Party
are seeking to do the same. For our pains
two have so far been disciplined and
there are threats of action against others,
including myself.
We have been accused of stridency
and militancy but the issues are not plea-
sant ones to be tackled over
fireside chat. Racism is a daily reality for
millions of black people in this country.
We face discrimination in employment,
housing and education, harrassment,
violent attacks - even murder - and the
separation of our families by racist im-
migration laws. We have not
negative or bitter about this but con-
structive. We have come forward with
concrete proposals which will overcome
racism because the sops and palliatives of
liberalism have not achieved enough.
Black people are in the best position
to termulale postlive proposais to lackie
the real issues. It is not racist for us to
WISE O GO so • - indeed, specific provi-
sions within the Relations Act emergence of the autonomous black groupings within trade unions, and most especially of the Black Section within the Labour Party, has been coupled with the appointment of the first black deputy general secretary of the TGWU, a spate of black Labour councillors elected last May, and a number of black Labour prospective parliamentary candidates chosen. some for sate Labour seats
These are the material achievements of the Black Section's fight for anti-racist policies within the Labour Party. They are the livine proot of Linda Relos assertion that black people must lead the struggle against racism.
Black people have entered the organisations of the working class to fight they understood that these institutions offer
women
Linda Bellos on
SHI- tackling the
discrimination that exists in all organisations against Cosy
acknowledge our need to do so.
Because racism is part of my daily reality I do not react with the alarm and anic o some omner member or unc Labour Party when it is suggested that the Labour Party is racist. It do not take been it personally even though, by inference, it
includes me. And if some wonder how l can stay in a party I acknowledge to be racist, I must quote Basil Manning and Ashok Ohri in Racism: the Response: 'Britain is a racist society. realm or facet of life in British society in which black people do not experience racism'.
I racism is everywnere in brush society, where can I go to avoid it except the best conditions for beginning to defeat racism. The black communities will lead the fight against racism. The Black Section is organising to create the alliances necessary for that fight within the British labour movement. Any antiracist must welcome that.
But the Black understands, as Bellos explains in her Independent article, that
necessary precondition for the Labour Party beginning to combat it. That is also why self-organisation of black members is so vital to the anti-racist struggle within the party the Labour Party Black Section is racist. have A Labour Party committed to the
fight against racism
damage the party's electoral standing. Neil Kinnock claims that it is references to racism with the party that has hurt Labour. But the. opposite is the case. On the eve of the election, the right wing has demonstrated that they prefer to see Labour lose the election than witness the growth of support for black self-organisation in the party. LINDA BELLOS, in article reprinted from the Independent, elaborates why black people must lead the fight against racism. CAROL TURNER explains that recognising the influence of racism within the party is a precondition for fighting it.
The way to combat
Labour's racism
— as many have urged me and all black people to go -like millions of black people in this country, will vote Labour, and continue to fight racism within the traditions of struggle and solidarity of the black communities, and within the Labour Party — unless, of course, I am thrown out. the only credible party that at least claims to be anti-racist. I hope 1 remain There is no within to contribute to a debate on racism that allows the sufferers to define it and how to overcome it.
• This article is reproduced from the Independent of Friday 1 May. black self-organisation with open arms
disposal in that struggle. Instead, the Labour leadership is out to smash it.
struggle to rebuild Labour's support and to acreal tne tory government. It is a fundamental component of that strug Section also gle. Support for the Labour Party Black Section against the vicious attack from recognising the party leadership • Labour Partv is a essential.
whether the Labour Party is racist were left to the likes of Neil Kinnock. method of proving it's not is to expel any party member who says that it is.
• would welcome
sprung
ingham porting the clear,'
use racism is part of my daily real
wrong.
unilateral - out of the country. No. I
I hope I am not, because Labour is
wrong?
resolutions Sharon Atkin:
against Sharon
breach of the justice as the NEC: - as the most powerful weapon at its
1) based its reports Anti-racism is not a side issue in the
made;
the parnamentar
1S absolutely
It would be a disaster if the answer to
His
prepare a dejence;
damaging
Campaign
launched
to defend
Black Section
FACED WITH a determined and discriminatory attack against the Black Section by the party leadership, backed up by the media, many Labour Party members have already
the Black Section's defence. A recent meeting in Birm-
decided to establish defence campaign within the Labour Party for Sharon Atkin and Phil Murphy, with Vladimir Derer of CLPD as its secretary.
The campaign will hold its first meeting next week in the House of Com-
Diane Abbott and Ken Liv- doing ingstone are among those who will be supporting the campaign. Like many other party members, those who are supdiscriminatory nature of the attack on Sharon Atkin and Phil Murphy.
The character of the attack on the Black Section was forcefully pointed out • by NUM president Arthur Scargill at a May Day rally in Birmingham. Ironical' ly, he was speaking within a stone's throw of Birmingham's city hall. Despite his and the NUM's well-known support for the Labour Party Black Section, Scargill had received no letter from Roy Hattersley or others telling him to keep away.
'Let me make my position absolutely said scargill. " am in tavour ot Black Sections. I also make clear that there is nothing sacrosanct about holding a view in our party which is different to that of the leadership or that of the con-
- particularly it their view i
Do you remember the tight tol
nuclear disarmament? For years we were in the minority. And yet when we passed the original resolution the leader of the party, Hugh Gaitskell, said immediately in the wake of that decision he would fight, fight and fight again to change it. If he had got a right at that time to argue for a change in policy, what's wrong with people in our party arguing to change the policy they think is
'I find it strange that the Labour Par-
Defence campaign
This conference regrets the action taken
Atkin at the NEC April that she was unable to attend and believes it acted in
principles of natural
decisions on inaccurate of Sharon Atkin's remarks made at a meeting and disregarded the context in which these remarks were 2) ignored her undertaking to abide by
requirements for prospective candidates and acted before her representative could obtain
Craculor NEC requested and which would have been forthcoming later in its meeting; 3) did not formulate detailed charges which would have allowed her to
4) failed to act against persons making
attacks on the party
Socialist Action 8 May 1987
ty national executive was determined to
uphold the rules of party discipline over
allegations made against Sharon Atkin
those rules are apparently
disregarded when it comes to someone
like Jim Callaghan's attempts to sabotage
the party in the run-up to the general
election. And why is it that no action is
taken on allegations made against Frank
Field who argues that you should have
tactical voting - in other words a vote
for another party in a general election!
'And if we want to look at people in
our party in parliament who flagrantly
disregard the rules, what the hell are we
about Don . Concannon who
resigned from the NUM, joined the com-
pany outfit known as the UDM and
voted against the party in parliament? It
seems that we operate double standards
within the party.
Another aspect of the attack against
the Black Section is the fact that the Not-
tingham hast abour Partv has beer
deprived of its right to choose its own
prospective parliamentary canaraale
Mohammed Aslam has been imposed by
the NEC against the wishes of the local
party. The Notts East executive commit-
tee, which met on the day following the
NEC's decision has pledged support for
Sharon Atkin and is also supporting the
defence campaign. But the media has lost no time in trving to drive a wedge in.
to such a campaign.
Defending Black Section supporters
from disciplinary action is an issue which
goes broader than support for their right
ty. The attack on the Black Section opens
the door to further attacks on party
democracy and on Labour Party
members and campaigns within the par
ty. Such attacks will inevitably form part
of the right wing's strategy to get rid of
policies like unilateral nuclear disarma-
ment after the general election.
sponsorshio for the campaign ir
defence of Sharon Atkin and Phil Mur
phy is being sought on a broad basis. The
draft conference resolutions reprinted
below will be presented to the campaign including refusing to consider action against Frank Field despite his clear breach of Clause 4(v) of the Rules for
Parties bi , calling for support for candidates standing against Labour Party candidates at elections; 5) violated the democratic right of the Nottingham Fast CLP to choose its
and gave them no opportunity to be heard.
These actions have damaged the party in the run-ur to the action and conference instructs the NEC to reverse us aecision Phil Murphy:
This conference deplores the decision of the Birmingham District Council Labour council to suspend councillor Phil Murphy from the group because he left a council meeting without permission of the chair. It instructs the NEC to instruct the group to reinstate councillor Murphy and drop any action against him
Page 8 scan of this page
Peter Wright and the Marxist theory of the state
8 Socialist Action THE PRESS is announcing it as a great sensation that sections of MIS had been involved in 'treasonable' activities to oust the government in 1974. other revelations, are now printed from ex-MI5 agent Peter Wright's Spycatcher — the book in which the voluntarily exiled former spy has poured his memoirs.
By Colin Robertson
The extent and breadth disregard. Indeed contempt. tor legar procedure which the security services engaged in, is startling. The illegalities' included bizarrely a discredit Paisley' campaign considered by MIS during the Ulsters' Workers Council strike in 1974
including a plan for his assassination. VOSE Importanly reported that Spycatcher contains 'information on 23 criminal conspiracies and 12 instances of treason by members of the British security services' and that Wright and a colleague burgled their way across London at the state's behest'. while top civil servants "looked the other way' operated within the
"Thou shall not get caught'
Despite a growing clamour cher has refused point blank to hold a public enquiry. ' The Attorney General started proceedings for
The Independent and other papers that reported details about the MIS plot against Harold Wilson. Such action, according to the Speaker, made the issue sub judice (ie, under judicial consideration ) therefore it cannot be discussed in parliament. High Court has already agreed to the proceedings against the three papers.
James Callaghan has refused to call for an enquiry. The press is stressing that only a 'small handful' of 'nutters' was involved. State
In fact the affair indicates why the state exists. So that when the ruling class feeels the 'normal democratic procedure' threatens its dominance resorts to the permanent institutions of the state to ensure the maintenance of its rule. The fact that sections MIS believe that the 1974 Wilson government threatened capitalism does not alter the essence of the matter - they were simply being over zealous.
MIS together with MI6, the Privy Council, the monarchy, the Church England, the Judiciary, the police, top echelons of the civil service, and the armed forces, among others, stitutions of the British state which are. unaccountable to democratic scrutiny. This bourgeos state 1s the machiner through which the ruling class exerts political power over society. As Ernest Mandel wrote in The Marxist Theory of the State: 'The power of the state is a permanent Dower' tions 'are isolated from and independent of so changeable and unstable an influence as universal suffrage
8 May 1987 Wilson
This, and
being
Australia-
of the of the reported papers cher).
'Security Service'
my',
'bugged and
must also and that MIS 11th command-
without elections -That-
criminal con-
1o celera vidas sacred schots.
The nant ideology. Reason
non-elected
Wing the 1984-85 strike,
harassing
the plains the reality, are in- essence of class rule
gressive movement against its
guide for working class action.
parliament rules, and its institu-
sprove ethal.
The people who serve in these institutions know what they are ior: 'Politicians may come and go, but the Security Service goes on tor ever' (one
remarks in SpycatYou just have to replace the with 'courts', ar 'police' or 'civil servants' in the above citation and the real nature of the state institutions becomes clear. The indispensability of such bodies
stressed because bourgeois rule can be enforced and maintainea without parlament anc
as in Nazi Germany. But capital cannot rule without these permanent state institutions. force
Marxists don't adhere to a particular theory of the state for either ideological or dogmatic reasons, not
They do so because Marx's theory allows the understanding of the real essence of structures like the state. It is a role quite different to its purely apparent functions embellished by the domi-
But there is a much more tundamental reason for adhering to the Marxist theory of the state. The state affects people in very real ways: it kills them, it imprisons them, it represses them. lhe state acoures a most vivid expression when somebody is hit in
worse. It manifests itself in all the acts of violence of class rule such as in the sequestration of the NUM funds dur-
in the killing which and maiming of ordinary people by the use of plastic bullets and in the strip searches against women in Northern Ireland; in the bailiffs and cops
Greenham Common women: in the dalv police harassment and violence against blacks and gays. The marxist theory of the state ex- vants,
as well as the and thereby the working class and class enemies. Marxist theory has/should have very practical implications: it is a
after
Anyone who believes either that
For inal lo be in government amounts to holding actual power, suffers from delusions that in key moments of the class strug
The widespread
theoretical misconception reformists, socialists, Stalinists, liberals that confuses who governmental office with who holds state power has led the working class to disastrous and tragic defeats.
Engels wrote in the introduction to the Communist Manifesto
One thing especially was proved by the (Paris) Commune, viz that working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes The proletariat, in order to succeed, has to destroy the bourgeois state apparatus and build a new one to
working class rule murderous defeat of the working class in 1973, and what showed about the state apparatus illustrates inis point rather convincing ly - as well as showing a rather more advance case of the activities describ ed by Peter Wright.
Parties
During Allende's Popular Unity government in Chile from 1970-73 the parties of the ruling class in Chile lost control of government to a coalition led by Communists and Socialists. However, the bourgeoisie never lost control of the indispensable permanent insitutions of the state, especially the armed forces. The key lesson to be
democratic rule is not working for its interests, does not hesitate to break its own legality and engage in activities discredit thr ugh assassination plots from campaigns to a bloody coup d'etat.
The Chilean ruling class had its power entrenched in all the non acountable institue negof sessean, apparatus systell. judiciary, secret services , top civil ser-
police and the forces. It hatched plot after plot and engaged in endless obstruction and sabotage throughout the period of Allende's government. From the moment its parties lost the election, bourgeoisie began to plot. The day
election campaign phone calls organised by the outgoing Chancellor of the Exchequor, Christian Democrat Rafael Zaldivar began urging people to withdraw their bank deposits.
This was followed by the kidnapp.
among ing, and General Rene Schneider, the chief of holds staff, before Allende was sworn in as
president Schneider sidered not hostile Alende government. Inis assassina• tion involved generals from all three that: branches of the armed forces and the
police. 'the
Conspired
Simultaneously with the moves in the armed forces, the right wing, and some Christian parliamentarians, with the support of The president Nixon, Chilean lanly Alenac as presiaell In parla
ment and thus force a new election Sections of the army, services and politicians in conjunction with the CIA, State Department and ITT, impede Allende's accession to office These plans included sabotage and planting of bombs by right wing organisations aided by members of the military.
The more far-sighted elements of the ruling class also went in extracting political capitulations Allende government. Rather as if they had been reading Marx they exacted the written Allende's Popular Unity that: "The public force is constituted only ano formal exclusively by the Armed Forces and
the Carabinero Corps (the police) institutions essentially hierarchical, disciplined, and non-deliberating'. And 'in no case can (popular organisations) attempt to exercise belong to the authority of the state' Meanwhile, safeguarded by this, the "professional, hierarchical, ed, obedient, and non-deliberating armed services got on with their plots. The three-year Allende lasted in of legal special rulings, and pronouncements invariable against the from the judiciary. This was coupled
with open hostility from the officer of corps of the armed forces and overt
resistance to carrying out government decisions by the police. Similarly the government obstruction and open sabotage by top civil servants to government plans anc policies.
and eventual assassination of
British nowhere
enough the
Wing class.
Democratic
conspired not
police, special
drew up contingency plans to
wave
paramilitary groups,
from Lenin,
commitment from
professional, This obedient
plays which
including disciplin-
period that office was force injunctions, tion.
Populai Unity
to contend with
such
In Depth
Obviously, the situation facing the
working class today those faced by . 1LS Chilean counterpart in 1970-73. The MIS plot against Wilson was merely a fringe foretaste of what would hap pen here should a left wing government threaten the interests of the rul-
Nevertheless, the Peter Wright revelations do get to the core of the
The unaccountable instituhons ol tne stale nave to De placea m their proper context - that of being Dar geois pue. That applies both here and parcel of the totality of and in Chile. The revelations concern ing plots to overthrow Wilson, other reported MIS activities, have once again concretely exposed the true essence of the state.
Belief
The widespread belief the state stands as an 'impartial arbiter' above the selfish claims of diverse interes
claims of particular classes, is simply false. Equally false is the view that the state is a class struc ture presiding over a pure democracy based on the consent of the people
following Marx and Engel's footsteps, defined the state as 'the organisation of violence for the repression of one class by another. It is for that reason that bureaucracy and the standing army are the mos! characteristic institutions of the state.
does not mean that the capitalist state is exclusively and sole ly an instrument of armed repression.
an important role in the reproduction of the entire system ol infations of capitalist production ce
educating workforce maintaining its family sytem, and sus taining its ideology. But in the las analysis all these rest directly on the ruling class's domination of armed
armed force organised to protect capitalist relations of produc-
Peter Wright's revelations listed justa corner of the veil normally drawn over that reality. They showed that the marxist view of the state is not a 'dogma' but an accurate guide to it reality. It is to prevent that reality be ing seen that Thatcher, and reformists
Callaghan, are - doing everything possible to prevent -the publication of that book
Page 9 scan of this page
'Organisation through struggle'
International
SUPPORT
THE
BOYCOTT
South African rail workers dead.
officers join the union's Sello, who was imprisoned
the union.
The strike was sparked off on 13 March when a worker, charged with an alleged late paying-in of a R40 (£13) delivery charge, was sacked six months after the event. However, the strike wave has much deeper roots. It is part of a
Africa's black transport workers to their history of poverty wages, intolerable
iving and working condi tions, and to a refusal of the regime to extend even the limited 1970 labour laws to the railways, mak-
their union illegal.
Workers have seen leaders detained. and continual attempts by the state to break the union as it begins to organise, grown numerically and take ac
ILS members.
The strike has involved two attacks on the Johan-
headquarters of COSATU, the major non-racial union federation in south Atrica. first came the day after SATS
16,000 wOnKers.
Union of Railwaymen,
fund to this end.
Rail Against Apartheid, which has the full backing of the national executive committee of the NUR, was quickly able to focus its acLIVILY LIC LICCUS SARHWU. has had twelve months of activity since its formation in April 1986, developing links with Ethe liberation movement in South Africa including the south Atrican Congress of
PIGS
OFF
OUR
CAN
AFTER SEVEN weeks on strike, South Africa's railway workers have faced the full power of the racist apartheid state. Six workers have been shot
Sixteen thousand workers have been sacked for refusing to accept the company's deadline for a return to work. Hundreds have been detained, including 40 officers of the South African Railway and Harbour Workers Union (SARWHU). These
general secretary, Ntai earlier this year. The Botha regime has made its intentions clear. No effort will be spared to break this strike and smash up
Police armed with rifles and machine guns SurCOSATU House.
By Mike Colley
In the attack which followed, trade unionists in the building were beaten and arrested ano area workers were shot dead.
killed in Germinston, when police waded into a meeting declared unlawful under the State of Emergency.
A week after the first attack on COSATU's ofpolict meerined tof break strikers. Police smashed their way into the building and attacked 1,000 assembled rail workers LOUI gas The area around the bunding became a battle ground as police with dogs batoned the demonstrating crowds. Streets were barricaded off and
Railing against Apartheid
THE PRESENT focus of all activity of anti-apartheid activists in this country is to mobilise massive solidarity for the strike wave sweeping South Africa. As soon as details of the current unrest reached this country, both the Anti-Apartheid Movement and Rail Against Apartheid, a campaigning group within the National
moved into top gear. Both stress that a top priority is to raise funds for the unions involved. Rail Against Apartheid, in consultation with SARHWU in South Africa, has established a special
Trade Unions and fraternal relations with SARHWU.
By Rose Knight, NUR member. with SArin last sing meeting mer, RAA officers launch-
£2000 to fund a full-time organiser for the South African union. This pro-:
armoured vehicles and troop reinforcements were DOUCHI Hu
The Botha government clearly the significance of the rapidly
organisations of black trade unions and the threat that poses to the apartheid regime. The brutal assaults made by the police shows the crisis of Botha's strategy today. His called reform programme is put on the shelf as he is forced to employ brutal repression to quell the strike wave and launch an offensive against COS-
This strike wave is exactly the type of development wanted avoid in the run-up to the election. in the townships.
mass stay-away by Soweto workers continues
protest against evicvons, aller a ten months rent boycott. And even students have been drawn TO me Dale. nesburg's Witwatersrand
ly attacked students
the COSATU raids. Strike
The railway workers' strike is escalating every day. New layers of trade
alre extending solidarity achoTelecom The Postal and munication Union (POTWA) has been on strike in the Johannesburg area for four weeks and are conti-
ject, based on hundreds of small donations from rank and file railworkers, has now been completed and the campaign is now using every opportunity can find to step up the drive for funds for SARHWU.
The response has been magnificent to date. The national CND demonstration on 25 April was a major focus for both RAA and the Anti-Apartheid Move-
RAÀ raised a full £2,400 for SARHWU and railway workers joined the
of South African DICKC Airlines called by the
RAA also COllaborated with the London AAM in getting out fact sheets and collection sheets to all affiliated groups.
This kind of rapid response has been : duplicated in many areas of:
SUPPORT MAYDAY
WORKE
protest against the fake white elections
nuing to spread their action to surrounding areas.
After the killings and the storming of its offices, COSATU held lengthy talks on their strategy extend support for SARHWU. A call was made for a show of max. imum resistance and solidarity on May Day and a two day stoppage to coincide with the elections.
Botha reacted to this
all outdoor rallies after previously announcing that May would in future declared
Last year million
May Day. than
government
number
point.
The called by
marks growing
SUCHEC
workers under the
crucial of COSATU the rela-
within United
SARHWU's history itself is a good indication
the country. Trades coun cils, Labour Parties, Black community organisations, student : unions and youth groups have all been approached to give generous!
o the fund for SARHWI and to join in solidarity ac-
In Nottingham, uvIly. instance, activists in the Tailor and Garment Workers Union will be doing factory collections in the next two weeks. In East London, RAA will be approaching the shop steward.
arrange collections. caster AAM has circulated all its affiliates with an emergency appeal, and ac tivists in Shef ield have en sured the Trades Council is aware the urgent situation.
South Africa House is
ORWARD
WITH
Students and statt at the universiry of cape lown in a campu. of the growing role of unions the anti-apartheid struggle. It is a non-racial union with the majority of its members being black, reflecting the composition of the SATS workforce of 107,000 black workers.
The re-launch SARHWU last year has been made easier as result of the assistance given by COSATU: At its October 1986 conference the union elected a new leadership and drew up a new constitution. This put SARHWU which only reappeared early
1980s, • Now SARHWI national
has well over 20,000 members. Its national office reports that during the present strike, 200 members are signing up daily.
Founded
SARHWU was founded over 50 years ago. Since that time it has been forced underground. It has even disappeared due to the repression. However aay Il las been able to organise the largest public sector dispute ever seen ır South Africa. This testimony to the growing contidence and fighting spirit black workers gaining. hev are tolow-
ing the lead of their union to resist the inhumane conditions they have suffered Tor SO long, and are Join ing in the broad movement against apartheid rule.
the venue of the next action called by railway workers.
This was originally proposed by the South London workplace branch of the Labour Party to protest at the arrest of the secretary of SARHWU. RAA has given full support to this action, and Jimmv a naoo has agreed to ad dress the rally and hand in petitions which have been circulating amongst railway workers in recent weeks he sitera. secrelaries or the other rail unions have also been invited to attend
• Speakers and more information from: RAA, Unity House tuston Rood London NWI. Donations payable Apartheid '(SARHWU Fund).
of struggle
Railway and
several occasions.
Staff Association, the company 'union
Compiled by Chris Morris
3 November, 1986: A mass meetin
hostel which houses
fourt in the canteens
deductions for food continue.
union's head office.
ing over 20,000 workers.
of
in first thing on Monday'.
over 55 depots and Smuts airport 30,000-strong Posta.
port. to-
30 March, 1987: Pole use tear ga: (leather whips) and dogs to attack
destroys railway lines near Dube, Sowero. are
border.
Soweto to Johannesburg and Randburg.
down by SATS.
demonstrations. At
three more workers are shot.
ment of two of their own members.
workers face tear gas and armed police
their rally in protest
COSATU and
Socialist Action 8 May 1987 9
Chronology
October 1986: Conference of the South African
Harbour Workers Union (SARHWU) in Port Elizabeth is atter Jed by 180 delegates. The union was first establist ad in 1936, but has been crushed by apartheid repression on
The conference launches an organising drive to double the membership by campaigning for mass resignations from the Black
of railway workers at the Kaserne Compound, : single sex
this migrant workforce, presents demands to the South Afncan Railway Services (SATS) to improve their conditons. They want a light switch in every room, no: water for washing, visitors' accomodation for their families, and the use of normal quality mielle nivan (maize
3 Deçember, 1986: Kaserne workers close the kitchen and start cooking for themselves, but pay
15 January, 1987: The security police raid the
Ntai Sello, SARHWU'S general secretary and other officials are arrested. Thousands of members' resignation letters from the company union are stolen by security forces. February 1987:The food boycott spreads, involy-
11 March, 1987: Lorry driver Andrew Vendzanda is sacked for an 'offence' committed six months earlier. He states what had happened in October after he had delivered a container: 'When I arrived back at the depot (City Deep), I found that the cashier's office was closed ... I paid the R40 (£13)
13 March, 1987: His sacking sparks a massive strike wave. Within two weeks, it grows to include
20,000 workers. The Jan ed by the strike. The and Telecommunication Workers Association (POTWA) pledges full sup-
SARHWU sjamboks rikers in Johannesburg. Only hours later a bomi explosion
4 April, 1987: The government bans meetings 'aimed at organising certain kinds of strikes'. SATS threatens to evict more than 409 railworkers from a hostel in Kokstad near the Natal-Transkei
7. April, 1987: The POTWA strike spreads from
12 April, 1987: A second bomb blast disrupts train services. The Municipal Workers Union of South Africa threaten to strike if the rail dispute is not settled. COSATU's offer to mediate is turned
22 April, 1987: Six strikers are shot dead in two
Germinston, the security forces surround the COSATU offices, and chase marchers inside. Over 800 union officers and strikers are dragged from the building and over 400 are arrested, including 40 SARHWU officials. At
in central Johannesburg,
27 April, 1987: Over 9000 POTWA workers in Soweto vote to continue their 25-day old strike in support of SARHWU and against the imprison-
29 April, 1987: COSATU officers are under attack for the second time in the week. A meeting of 1000
Over a dozen unionists are arrested, including a 12 year old boys. Students at Witwatersrand University are in a running battle with police who try to break up
against the on in solidarity with the railway
Page 10 scan of this page
STRIP SEARCHES Support for union conference on Ireland
10 JON SILBERMAN reports. THE theme of the conIerence will be emnlovment discrimination and its con-
Catholics are heavily discriminated against in all kinds of employment in the Six Counties. A Catholic is two-and-a-half times more likely to be unemployed Inan a protestant. Carnonc women, one-and-a-half times more so
In the unionised
to nomploters vice sord
Brookborough fifty years ago to wherever possible employ 'good lads and ladies' still lolower
Compared to a 40:60 ratio of Catholics to Protestants in the population
FUND DRIVE
the paper.
East and South
amples can be done.
readers organised
April which raised over
tended. heard
local
, ot the FDR the
Committee George Jonales
There were also
The was James Phillips, 1946 African
who sang
badge for Lne removal of Cruise
government which ideally selling
through
stration on April. Reduced are
those who want to. badges
raise funds for Socialist Action.
We urge our readers in
Socialist Action 8 May 1987 GROWING support is being registered for the trade union conference Ireland: the cause of labour?'. The conference was initiated by the Labour Committee on Ireland and will be held in London's Camden Centre on 28 November, and has now won broad sponsorship.
of the Six Counties, the employment ratio is 12:80 in the car industry, 16:77 general and mechanical engineering, 20:74 in instrument engineering and 22:70 in other metals. In textiles, the ratio is 24:69.
A fringe meeting at the recent AEU National Committee was told by Ernie Walker, president of the Sheffield district, that such statistics had been in the past considered 'hot potato' and discussion around them had Dee stifled. West London district MICk Martin, told the same meeting that beneath such bare statistics lay real people's lives. •Unemployment is verv high tor all workers he said, which meant that
the offing Socialist Acs readers to step up their xpand the circulation of
other areas to take up these examples and to contribute what they can individually as well as aiming to organise one collective etfort before the end of June.
This is all the HOIC essential because Socialist Action's publication fund target of £10,000 has so far raised only £4,617 - alter
shee alias readors have
al can readers pledged to donate a day's wages to this campaign and we want remind them to rush in their con-
ble.
Finally, in the event of a June election, Socialist Action will consider, finances permitting, weekly publication. Evidently, a general election will re quire the maximum effort
and analysis which have made Socialist Action such
effective organiser within the left. Ănd general election should ofler our readers and supporters unique opportunities for new sales.
Therefore we are both asking for support for a regular whose target is £2,000 and, if we decide quarter to oo ior weekiv Duonca tion during the election,
asking every reader to make a special effort to make that possible.
such discrimination gives
unemployment rates
predominantl Calone
areas such as West Belfast
as high as 80 per cent. Mick
Martin reminded the
the firm of
Short's which had been
highlighted recently in the
media following exposures
in the US.
In Short's, overwhelm-
ingly the largest factory in
the Six Counties, and,
where British unions like
the AEU and TASS have
substantial membership,
the employers permit
Orange parades and loyalist
regalia to be displayed. The
work bays at Short's are
dominated by huge
orange arch.
In the publicity material
for the conference the
Olcauses explain that
religious discrimination is
worse not better
despite the passing of Fair
Employment legislation
more inan ten years ago
This because the
THATCHER CRUISE
Ou
ORGA
1-50 badges: 25p each
50-100 badges: zup each
100 plus badges: 15p
each.
For orders and other info
contact 01-254 0128
01-254 1261 PO Box 50,
London N1 2XP.
FUND DRIVE (including days wages)
Target(f) raised(t)
Aberdeen Birmingham 600 Bristol Cardiff 480 Coventry Glasgow 280 Huddersfield 400 100 Leeds 480
240 Liverpool 200 Manchester 920 230 Newport 328 Nottingham 440 106 S Yorks 640 El Lond 1200
London 520 235 SW London 360 203 OW London 760 130 SE London 44 l N London 480 118 National 560 1392 TOTAL 10000 4,617
'background to religious discrimination is the 1922 partition of ireland impos ed against the wishes of the Irish continue that when 'the civil
ties was batoned off the SLICES by notoriously bigotted constabulary, catholics saa majority of Irish re-unification as the
ty could be sion. is vien
is shared by the majority of Irish trade unionists.
The conference will provide Irish trade unionists, north all opportunity for
and south, to speak out, and for British trade unionists to consider what action this situation demands.
The AEU National Committee fringe meeting was nignly successiul, al tracting the participation of a quarter of the delegates Fringe meetings are planned at other major union conferences this summer. Speakers from the con-
Yugoslavia: workers challenge Tito's heirs 84 24
carries news, documents
and analysis of working 46 class movements from
around the world and is
indispensable reading
tor all socialists
In the latest issue are
in-depth articles on the
Iugoslav strike wave
and the Brazilian
International Viewpoint
is available from most
left bookshops, or by
post from Other Books,
ference organising commitaddressed two fringe meetings at the NUT conference and a meeting at the Scottish TUC attracted 60 people.
A wide range of trade union leaders have sponsored the conterence• Pete Heathfield » Inez McCor Ken Gill (TASS Inez mack (NUPE), Alan Sapper (ÀCTT), the Cutle membership executive including its presitionally, the conference has dent. Atall. rosendo been backed by the Campaign Group of Labour MPs, Labour Coordinating Committee, Labour Party Black Section, Labour Left Liaison, Communist Party, Communist Campaign • Group, and a range of Labour MPs.
• Literature, and other information, from Treland: the cause of labour?' BM Box 5335, London WCIN
International
VIEWPOINT
The convulsions of Brazil's economy Burdens Polish women bear What's rotten in the Danish unions
International Viewpoint
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Make cheques s payable to PEC and send to IV 2 Rue Richard Lenoir. 93108.
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Inside
After NUT
conference Baker's pay and conditions law.
London division,
union policy against Baker.
By Ray Sirotkin should retuse ensuring its defeat.
Moreover, the
conference. union hanging over the branches' heads.
This witch-hunting campaign
even discuss concerning branch affiliations.
attack by the employers
can get away with it.
of the Labour Party Black Section,
take our campaign forward -
action to a minimum.
support.
News
the unions
THE NATIONAL executive of the NUT have set out on a clear course following the union's conference in Eastbourne last month. Their two-pronged perspective involves pretending that the extremely limited level of action they proposed would be adequate to defeat Kenneth
But the inadequacy of their proposals for fighting Baker had been exposed by the union's inner
ILTA. The union's appeals committee voted to expel and suspend ILTA officers for organising unofficial strike action in support of
" In opposition to prosecuting a militant strategs for fighting Baker along the lines of the ILTA campaign, the NUT leadership brought forward arguments about financial difficulties, threats of sequestration and other excuses to prevent escalation of any action. They equally opposed other proposals for action, notably ILTA's resolution that teachers
cover for absent colleagues,
But the executive did not get their way on all questions. Though not widely reported in the press, some of their own amendments were not carried by conference and they suffered defeats on the issues of the City Technical Colleges, the Tory government's privatisation of education proposals, and on the question of active opposition to Tory proposals to test youngsters from the age of seven upwards.
executive only released their 'guidelines' as to how they proposed to 'fight" Baker after an outcry by the delegates over their attempts to keep the guidelines secret for the duration of th
This broad opposition to the executive, and the clear alternative strategy being offered by the leftwing Socialist Teachers Alliance and others has prompted an executive-led witch-hunt, their second
This witch-hunt had already started prior to the conference, with the suspensions and expulsions of the ILTA officers. It continued with attacks on the STA by the union's treasurer and president who alleged STA 'treachery' because socialist teachers had told the truth about NUT membership figures The executive went so far as to draw up a proposed rule change preventing branches affiliating to any bodies not previously agreed by the executive itself -with the threat of their own disaffiliation from the
was aimed at shifting the relationship of forces within the union At present, the executive can rely on a solid base of conference support of about 55 per cent. They woul like to bump that up to around 80 per cent. But thei failed in their efforts at conference. Delegates refused
their proposed rule change
But the executive did succeed in laying down a framework of retreat which lays teachers open to
and the government following Baker's act of parliament. This is a serious challenge to the left. The attacks on ILTA will be repeated on any association not complying with executive's wishes, if the national officers think they
How then can the STA and others respond? Part of the answer was given during the conference itself. Support given at various conference fringe meetings by allies outside teaching was important. Dennis Skinner MP. Billy Etherington, secretary of the Durham mechanics of the NUM, Marc Wadsworth
and Sarah
men) campaign, gave an indication of some of the forces who will stand and fight with teachers.
Unity in action with the NAS/UWT will also
- though here again, the executive have been keen to limit the degree of united
Refusing compliance with Giles Radice's call for a moratorium on action at least until the general election will be vital. Action by teachers is the only basis for appeals to the wider labour movement for
tasks of the left have been made more difficult as a result of the conference. Even the narrower-than-desired victories of the executive will lead to demoralisation as the impact of the defeats mounts up. This should be the occasion for stepped up activity around defence of the victimised ILTA officers and the broadest possible mobilisation, including of the wider labour movement, around the key issues confronting teachers and education.
Page 11 scan of this page
TGWU facing the crisis
Caterpillar occupation ends
In the Unions
IN JULY the TGWU is holding its biennial delegate conference (BDC). We will be printing a series of artieles in the run up to the conference. The first looks at the way the IGWU has responded to seven years of Tory rule and the deep social crisis that has accompanied it.
Seven years of Tory rule
MuCH more four million on the dole. hatcher . OUL LO 'break the mould' through a cosive and tionist social policies. The Tories' key ailll Was radically change relations between employers and the labour force.
Every active TGWU
fully aware of the two tier society' strategy behind the thinking of capitalist politicians. Educationals, discussions at all levels, and union publications have all been
Ron Todd's election as general secretary coincided
'new and the pressure has been on the IGWU to define where it
Much fact
would be an exaggeration to
as opposed to 'new realism'.
THE CATERPILLAR factory at Uddingston in Lanarkshire April, after a 103-day occupation by the workforce. The occupation, led by the AEU stewards representing the 800 hourly-paid workers, had won the wholehearted support of the Scottish people.
By Ann Henderson
The return to work is no victory. Some concessions have been won from man-
elayed closure date for tl plant and better redundan-
but there is no guarantee that the™ 1200 jobs, so badly needed Scotland, will eventually be saved. was on unity at the 90th Scottish Trades Union Congress at Perth on 21-24 April.
Nevertheless, as early as the Tuesday morning, the STUC did break ranks with the TUC over the Job Training Scheme.
The JTS, one of Lord Young's latest wheezes disguise the true unemployment tigures. involves 18-24
year-old 'trainees' working
for firms in return for an allowance inal must exceed their previous dole money or DHSS benetit!
A motion calling for a policy of non-cooperation with the JTS was carried overwhelmingly. So the STUC joins the Labour
Party in Scotland in blanket opposition to the JIS.
Already Scotland's two largest TOCO autontes.
Strathclyde and Lothian cavia councis, flavo 10
jected the thousands of JTS placements offered to them by the Manpower Services
The STUC restated its traditional opposition to incomes policy motion from TÁSS (Tobacco Workers) which said in part: Congress determines to reject any form of wage restraint it sees a high
The lUWU more pragmatic, and there are pressures within the T&G
a0O0I Ine fledged new realist course.
By Lewis Emery
Nevertheless the underlying approach has been the attempt extend basic principles trades unionism organisation, Colceuvisil mucocrucucc
into 'new' areas. The TGWU's forthcoming conference will indicate what differences, any, there
coulses.
The 'Link-Up'
in rebtre
New
have been
the labour force. Temporary resumed production on Monday, 27
Tremendous pressure was put on the occupying workers to call off their ac-
pressure from the
Call highly barassed by the withdrawal
Caterpillar from Scotland in January of this year after they had invested to2 million in October of last year. It came from the courts, which declared the
Scottish TUC in congress
HELD AS it was in a pre-election period, the accent
wage economy as being fundamental to recovery.
Last year's congress,
By Charlie Gordon,
Glasgow Trades
Council (personal capacity)
just a few days before Chernobyl, had rejected narrow-
all anu auccal CUiltposite on energy from the mineworkers' union, so this year's energy debate was eagerly awaited. But behind-the-scenes horse-trading and stagemanagement aimed at stifl ing controversy spoiled the
A composite from the among others, the ABU, NUM. and backed was carried. But this merely cave•or a moralonun ol new nuclear power plants anu uc Dilasie out ol tic 'Magnox' type.
Some delegates expressed disappointment that the NUM did not sustain their previous publicly-held view
labour, short term contracts, agency casualisation and 'selfemplovment' have become increasingly widespread in all areas of employment Those in permanent, secure employment, often with
organisation, have been in many cases cut down to a more vulnerable 'core'.
Threats, coercion, and employee-involvement' have all been used to gain
great reduce employment
reduce employment the 'core. The crucial middle ground' in
the Sorce 'periphery' of unorganised and 'disposable
WUL ACES and staff have been expanded.
The philosophy of the 'Link-Up' campaign is, officially at least,
Calcul union organisation to these temporary and part-time workers, to fight against their exploitation by employers, and also stop the undermining or replacement of permanent workers. Compare this with the
acceptance strike deals and the total
• ot trades union independence mastermindoccupation illegal and granted the company an interdict against the workforce.
It came from the media which, despite crocodile tears about the loss of jobs, gave voice to all those like Jimmy Reid, former leader of the famous 1971 sit-in, who argued for a
It also came from the AEU leadership, and latterly from the Scottish TUC.
March, threatened with the court interdict, the workforce voted by a narrow majority to continue the occupation. Media calls lor a secrel were that the new Torness nuclear power station near Dunbar decommissioned and converted to coal-firing.
Whatever assurances the EETPU leadership had give behind the scenes on
in the event they still moved their blatantly pro-nuclear
which was culousile heavily defeatec
kank ana me sentiment re-asserted itself in the suc-
debate when, against the general council's
and the only card vote of the
delegates voted to oppose the Euro-
demonstration nuclear waste reprocessing plant at Dounreay.
In debates on Thursday morning on a ministry for women and on ine Scotthish assembly, congress
endorsed the concept of the ministry for
engine for welchas positive action in both a UK and a Scottish context.
lenatold featured highly. A composite from APEX on Northern Ireland called for an end plastic bullets, Diplock strip-searching, supergrass trials, and the Prevention of Ter-
ed by the EETPU leadership at Wapping (not to mention Tner organised, premeditated scabbing) TGWU's approach will pro- JUSI how different ve to be when measured against less clear-cut issues, however, remains to be seen.
Up campaign, from the left, will undoubtedly surface at the 1987 conference. Two
ommendation of the general executive council, conference decided to halt union efforts to unionise agency labour.
Spearheaded by the road transport section, that rightly ignored
Then, fresh-foot from AEU ecutive member Jimmy Airlie - himself a leader of the UCS sit-in in 1971 - to the plant the message the union leadership was withdrawing cutive super. "The ecutive, told the stewards, could not support "illegal action'.
Despite this, the occupation did not become isolated. Support increased from the Scottish and more pressure broughi Caterpillar management to meet the shop stewards rorism Act. However, part of a constituent motion trom Haikirk rades Council which called for ultimately a united Ireland, was omitted from the composin
fringe meeting on Ireland was jointly organised by the Labour Committee on Ireland and the Campaign Democratic Rights in Northern Ireland
Tom Redmond, Trade Unionists for Irish Unity and Noel Harris of ACTT weicullicu the • increased discussion of Ireland by the British labour movement, and for such discussion to
face up to the questione eit
out the composite Irish self-determination, ie British withdrawal.
On apartheid, and on the day
Rate une massacre of striking black railway workers the South African police, NUR general secretary Jimmy
with his call to step up th boycott and for an end to British complicity with Pretoria.
There were also debates on Poland, on Central and Latin America, and fringe
Chile and Namibia
TEG RECORD
LINK-UP!
vote indicated a deeply held desire by members to hold back and stem the tide. The employers schemes to des-
colecuve bargaining patterns established in
'70s had to be
sto the miners strike had
seen the role of agency and self-employed lorry drivers, owing, allegiance organised labour, rise to new heights of importance. Conscious planning by the Tory government to create just this effect had been seen ana understood. Ine reaction was instinctive -'such labour can never be organised, as one resolusomething they'd refused to do from day one of the
As a result, meetings were held involving ACAS and the STUC. These resulted in an agreement on
immediate realiti work and a rundown of the factory from October 1987.
A factor in the agree. ment was the establishment of a working party, involv ing the CBI, STUC and the government, and the Caterpillar workforce, to find an alternative buyer.
Whilst maxımum pressure should be brough to bear on the working party to deliver a satistactory
On the last day of congress, an amended motion on lesbian and gav rights was moved by NALGO and seconded Glasgow Trades Council. The motion stood out against the anti-gay hysteria whipped up in reaction to the AIDS virus, and provided another chance to highlight Labour-controlled Glasgow District Council's disgraceful retusal to include a clause against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in its equal opportunities policy
The motion was carned overwhelmingly on a show of hands.
Along with the EETPU's antics a sour note of congress was GMBATU general secretary John Edmonds' attempt to induce unity in an already united congress by indulging in some loony left' bashing, (which went down like a lead balloon with most
seized upon by the press).
But there Wan no mistaking the strength of anti-Thatcher feeling in the Scottish trade union movement which will be a force
WILl whatever the election result in the k as a whole
tion to this year's conference still sees it.
And yet the horse had already bolted. The facts of the expansion of temporary employment etc will not be ignored . Are these workers
employers, or the EETPL
There can be no doubt that this year's conference will LInK-UD campaign, and that one way or another the anti-agency labour resolution policy of 1985 will be overturned
The 1987 conference will continue the discussions about the new role for the unions.
the unemployed will be discussed, following on from the radical decision of last year's rules con ference to admit unemployed school leavers for 10p a week. Building on the role of the "TUC centres', and fighting the new range of Special Employment Measures' louisery YTS, low pay, the "restart' scheme) need discussion
ACTSS activists in the so-called 'voluntary sector
pushing organisation homeWUIKCIS. I he new genera solution, it is clear that, in ending the occupation, the focus and strength of the fight to save jobs has been greatly weakened.
In ine lace or tremendous difficulties, the Cater pillar worktorce won wide support. Workplace and street collections and other conations were bringing I £15,000-£20,000 weekly. An actualluld
them European support. Dockers refused to
equipment. big developed Cannibal around the 'pink panther
workers built and donated to Nicaragua
BT sack striker
FOLLOWING their campaign of post-strike
victimisations in the London City area, BT
management have now sacked a sriker, John
telephone call to the man's wife.
By Jim Gordon
management intended to escalate their
involved the movement of activists off their
disciplinary action to go on their record.
the union branch adopted a policy of
building strike action in the event of any
sackings, anu te work place represenlalives
been won from local Labour MPs and other
branches of the union had sent letters of
support.
time of the branch AGM in March.
and seeking to alter the outcome of the AGM,
issue of the Evening Standard, under the
headline. 'Extremists plot BT union coup'.
The resignations have played into
a wedge into the unity that was being forged
against the victimisations, and against the
increasing attempts by management to impose
They should be withdrawn.
Socialist Action- 8 May 1987
Tion of cooperatives wil continue to lobby for unior . The TGWU backune. finally endorse the need for a statutory minimum wage with the traditional lefi hostility to this policy pro useful barrier against any incomes-polics strings. More tar-reachins proposals for a union-rur employment agency anc pension scheme are on the
trade group will continue to raise issues of developmen in the countryside and en vironmental issues.
Many these pro posal are double edged
social democracy in Britair (collective bargaining plu: caring capitalism) there ar obvious dangers in the ide that the labour movemen can provide Socially it socialiste socia challenging capitalist set-up must in volve spreading the collec tivist approach to section. of society currently outsid and/or hostile to the labou movement. It means learn ing exerest sovereigr control the broac range of social issues.
They deserved the total support of their own union and the STUC in the tactics they had chosen. It was because of the occupation that they were able to build such a campaign.
Speaking at the STU( conference in Perth last week, AEU convenor at Caterpillar, John Brannan, defended the militant tac nes orine worker The : hard-fought campaign to save the jobs at Caterpillar will not forgotten in Scotland and the AEU leadership and the STUC have great respon sibility now for whatever will be the final outcome.
Treadaway. Treadaway's alleged 'crime' was to have reterred to someone as a 'scab' in a private
NCU members in the area had feared that
victimisation campaign. Previous discipline had
traditional jobs, and out of the area, and for the
committee had initiated a defence campaign for those already victimised. Pledges of support had
Rather than build on this support to forge a united response to the sacking, six of the officers took the occasion to resign. These resignations were then used to extend a management witch-
, initiated at the
A management letter, distributed at the time
has now been quoted extensively in the 28 April
management's hands, and their attempts to drive
their unfettered right to manage since the strike.
Page 12 scan of this page
pst
Dispi
ON THURSDAY and Friday, 7 and 8 May, all 65,000 members of the Civil and Public Services Association (CPSA) and the Society of Civil and Public Servants (SCPS) in London and the southeast will be on strike.
The action is the latest in the joint campaign by the two unions over pay and hours. The campaign began at the beginning of the year with the submission of a claim for a wage rise of f20 or 15 per cent, minimum wage and a 35-hour week.
he unions issued ovel
million leaflets and
workplace meetings were held leading
the ballot for dustrial action. the f or 4.25 pes oft, toe members voted massively in favour of the initial sixweek campaign of indus-
J.L......
SACK SKILLED
ARTIFICIAL LIN
KERS nattered Stupie marched
Roehampton in south-west
weekend to show their solidarity
Name
Address
I enclose chequ
Action for £
eristered as a news per we cue rus rule ablished by Cardinal Enterprises, PO Box 50, London N
Printed by East End Of(eet Ltd. (TU), London E2.
SOCiALiSt
ACTION
Civil servants step up action
trai acuon, the CPSA recorded 60 per and the SCPS 70 per cent.
SHIC votes reflected deep-felt opposition to the the civil service over the last sevelt Vicals. In that time 'we nave lost 140,000 Jobs ana workloads double' general Leslie Christopher, told a mass meeting in London's Old Vic theatre last month.
The period has seen civil service pay decline bv 20 per cent compared to equivalent pay in the private sector. A fifth the with the
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of civil servants earn less than £115 per week, leave alone the Council of Eur-
125en The threshold' f125. CPSA estimates that up to 40 per cent of its members may be claiming state benefits to supplement their low pay
This week's strike ac tion will involve the re maining trade unionists етроуса al the GCHQ communications centre. Since the government banned trade unionism from the centre, all but 37 of the 4000 union members have been forced out of union membership.
Next : steps in the campaign of industrial action, which has now been extended further three weeks, will be consideica by the unions who meet in conference next week seven month long strike at the artificial limbmaking firm, J E Hanger.
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Fake white elections as HUNDREDS OF ed last year by the Pretoria regime.
Police dogs, whips, tear
ine, South Alrican deven
South itself has been unable to halt a wave of strikes and protest actions. Furthermore many Fleet Street Colital y to editors what
would have 3. believe, Wednesday's election was irrelevant to resolving the crisis of apartheid rule in South Africa. Even the recent brutal vote-getting raid into Zambia, where the ruling National Party heralded the death of four people, who were made out, in a deliberate lie, to be ANC members, cannot affect the political reality today.
The railway workers, potentially one of the most powerful sections of South African labour, are leading this wave of struggle. They have already paid dearly for their resistance to apartheid rule.
But the spark which started the transport strike didn't come out of the blue. An important feature of the present tense situation is the way rail workers in struggle are providing the focus for a more general upsurge in volving other unions, campus well as community organisations.
Thousands of post office and telecommunication
workers have been on strike for over a month in solidari-
ty with the railworkers, but
using their action to put
forward their own demands
against discrimination.
Last year's imposition
of the state of emergency seriously affected township
Strikes shake
apartheid
thousands of South African workers joined the stay-away from work on Tuesday and Wednesday. The call for the stay-away, which coincided with the 6 May whites-only elections, was made by the United Democratic Front, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the National Education Crisis Committee. The massive response has added to the most severe political crisis experienced in South Africa since the state of emergency was impos-
organisation. Thousands of community organisers main in apartheid jails today. Students went back to school as the army mover into the classrooms.
By Ray Varnes, NUR member People's committees were forced underground as the occupation forces arrived. But today's UNSULEC gives the lie to suggestions that the resistance has been crushed. The mobilisation of the Soweto township has demonstrated that despite the repression it will not allow its two year rent strik crushed by forced eviction.
The background to the current strike wave is the victory scored after three months strike over 10,000 shopworkers employed by Bazaar stores across the country.
The rail strike developed just as the miners started to move families and girlfriends into a number of Angio American-owned mining compounds in open defiance the migrant It also occurred thousands of miners took part in separate strikes to protest their conditions and continuing deaths from mining accidents in apartheid Dits And COSAȚU, the largest non-racial union federation in South Africa has just launched its living watc All this takes place in campaign.
the wake of recent strike ac-
tion by chemical worker and paper workers. South African increasingly turning to their unions which have not only survived the emergency, but have grown in size and in their capacity to organise in conditions of severe repression.
This powerful strike wave has given confidence to even broader layers OI South African people. Running battles have occurred between students at Cape Town and Witwatersrand. Union solidarity call
SPEAKING at the
STUC conference in
Perth, NUR general
secretary Jimmy
Knapp issued a stirring
plea for labour move-
ment solidarity.
He told the 600
delegates: hope
everybody who goes into
Woolworths, Marks and
Spencers, Frasers, and all
shops, wil carry the im-
age of those dying railway
at the
machine-gunning police,
and never again purchase
a pennyworth of South
African goods'
STUC sent ar
emergency telegram to the
prime minister calling on her to act.
The NUR is presenting a petition South African embassy The union issued a state- wednesday May. MOCHI calling 'for release of the leaders of the black South African railway WOrKCH. union who have been imprisoned as a consequence of
At Cape Town, live am munition was used tor the first time against predominantly Wile se dent body On both occa
students were cessful in protecting thei invited speakers - a railway
Winnie Mandela watersrand. Hundreds of
have bees detained.
Conth African rail workers 'organise through struggle, page y their fight for basic human rights for their members.
•We protest strongly at the generai brutal oppres sion of our black South African comrades.
The outlawed South African Congress Trade Unions (SACTU issued a special call for solidarity.
The struggle of transport workers is struggle written in blood. Because the railways and harbours are directly owned and controlled by the apartheid state any at-
tempt at organising these workers brings the union
into direct confrontation
with the brutal apartheid regime.
'While the strike led by
SARHWU has demonst-
rated the mighty weapor
of labour power, SACTU
urges all trade unions and the workers to support the
railway workers strike,
further challenge the
legitimacy and right to
apartheid
rule
bosses and state.
← Socialist Action No. 163, 24 April 1987Socialist Action No. 165, 22 May 1987 →