Socialist Press no. 100

GRUNWICK STRIKE

Butcher Shah faces 40-day deadline

SOCIALIST

PRESS

Weekly paper of the Workers Socialist League * No. 100 * 17 May, 1978 * 15p

BURIED

ALIVE.

The Grunwick strikers are off. It was little wonder that they not yet dead-but they have could see no way forward.

been buried alive under a solid array of fake lefts smokescreen of left rhetoric.

and CP members offered not one An 'assorted arrav of Stalinists single way forward for the and Labour 'lefts' headed by Jack dispute. Dromey everything within They delivered the knockout their power to bury the strike at a complete a carefully •Ve1 to tuhecat confarence on Sunday.

prepared campaign to weaken the w the end of the strika cor strike for union recognition now formalitv,

UTICE

can make

STIKE

committee and last Untike'v boasted they dic from those who everything in their powe LO WIn but were the source of its defeat.

Pickets A defeat would represent savage blow against the thousands workers who turned out tor dawn mass pickets, suffered police brutality, risked victimis- ation anion otficials by making anppory.

management and ing action and donated tnousands of pounds to sustain the to vitory! will immediate raise an question in the minds of workers Grantham like those Garners Steak Houses who are fighting even now The Workers Socialist League recognition: was recognised as the only major T01 unior Grunwick workers were defeated, obstacle to the final betrayal.

won't the TUC do the same to us? Even conference Deiore EnE The Dromey was pacing urunwick strikers them- pecan selves, however, and plush carpeting of Wembley „ tne demoralised, appear conference ne cono o the anyone who would listen that he swalowing served up for them, and was being attacked by the WSL.

DoIson virtually appealed Roy It was clear that he feared that Grantham to them emerge in the VUl

OUT

OstIoR COVlC 250 delegate conference once a thel misery oy calling the strike The cycle of anti-govern- ment agitation which began in Iran in the autumn of 1977 last week reached new height. the main cities there were large demonstrations against the Shah's dictatorship, put down with the usual brutality but with mer casily riesilany ane oanic oi police and armed securiry Torces. Last week the demonstrations began The reletous

CITU

spread to other provincial Lom. cities and eventually to the capital Teheran. government sent armoured tanks, cars, arinta price anu li0oes. say that 20 Keboris over period Ot mourninal the aTtAr demonstrators were killed and Yazd, which March massacre "'40 dozens injured. themselves came days after events come 40 i nese new Tabriz evals anc days Muslim (40 days Qom Detore that) in * PHOTO• Laurence Sparham. IFL The platform at the 'funeral conference' last Sunday: Kamlesh Ghandi speaking aruand principled challenge was Jack proclaimed that Stalinist from Kent, made it Such battles are nove "tost Oues Grunvic the start that motions is full of victories and clear trom calling for the resumption of mass may picketing efforts renewed defeat but it will be a glorious one blacking not novertheless secure would taken. But frustration was al wnal There were to be no votes on happenin‹ could be sensed in an whether the patient was alive angry contribution Archie dead. Dunn was already preparing Sinclair Cricklewood postman throw the on the He followed the Dromey line TirSt SOC coffin. Kamlesh Ghandi, . once one could the clearest and most determined strike committee, had been convinced the strike wa. already deteated-a line Dromey and his henchmen had been drip gained with feeding into the committee for support of the trade union leader.

ship". Durkin himself, many arms waving reveated Dromey's positions. The court of in the air, proclaimed that it was inquiry-which offered not a disaster or a defeat but an 'respectable "imperishable page in our trade pam to victory nad union and working class history "loopholes", he said APEX had to be thanked for The villains "right WInd good things thinking and politics in our trade inev nad cone ACAS was hopeless and should be union and labour movement" scrapped-but the MPs Of the pr lvale Wine bills to dress it up in new clothes played a treacherous role. But the were to be welcomed! how they cuestiom allowed to carry that through and All these positions had already whether seriously were been presented fought by those claiming to lead a nonel the strike? Grunwick-bravery and Betrayar when hundreds were murdered.

government agitation. The He regime seems unable to overthrow the Wyallls control this autocratic regime and establish an mounting сусіе от Islamic theocracy, Islamic ouDosItion Each round seems to be more state widespread and to involve more virulently anti-com- He s as militant actions by the demon- munist as the Shah. In a recent strators. interview he said : Last week cinemas and banks s nere nas neve oeen buses and cars alliance between the Muslim were seT ot TAre in the and barri. population struggling against the burned: built against the Shah and the Shah's attacks. cormunis ele ments, extremist or not. "I have always emphasised in Conservative my statements that the Muslim people must remain homogeneous The demonstrators in the struggle and forbid inciudec religious students. workers and organised collaboration with com supporters of the exiled Shiite iumist eiements. Muslim leader Ayatollam "We will not collaborate with whose son was Marxists *nomein even overthrow the murdered by supporters of the Shah. I have orderec mv taitotu Shah last October. . if the commun- NOT To do cO ists came to power, conservative they would Anomeinı religious nationalist now in Iraq, dictatorial regime is still the major figure in the anti- Coutrary to tne soirit or isiam An JMG member who opposer che platkerm mo gedtto wies tar engirah he criticiveo the Brent: Council leader ship-not their politică sabotage but for not setting ul enough support committeesl did horer. Granthar and cronies regained control of the dispute after ear's mass Alan Thornett (TGWU 5/293) centred his the means necessary exoost anc the right wing and fake T0nE left' The strike could wor today, in exactly the same way as on its first day, if the plant could be shut dowr by blacking action. his could never be achievec generalised calls, but by specific demands: "The question is whether vou make generalised calls or whether you actually tread on the toes of the bureaucrats wno stand against winning the strike". also criticised the strike commntees cecisIon last year to call for the implementa- tion of the Scarman report • ITTe impact or wnat i nornet saying was considerable was large number in the hall were call- tor him

• L0 DE

dlowe re time to soeak But the active opposition is by means confined to this reac- tionary religious group. New social and political forces drawn in with each seent to be new wave of demonstrations.

The diarinea cancelled Wetk public engagements and put off a state visit to the Stalinist regime in Bulgaria Crumbling He now has anotner 40 days at the most to think of some way of building his ca uftidtie political defences. It is certainly not armaments the Shah is short of. His is one of the most heavily armed regimes in the world And for that he must larcery thank his cynica Trienos in the "Labour"

STITISN

who have been responsible for Inside

GARNERS:

Bureaucrats close in Page 9 Durkin But not only his was bution brought to a halt, , but a succession caretul.v selecter speakers was then brought to the platform who hac criticise Brent Trades Council. Dromey himself attacked the

WSL

• group that lump m and Roy Grantham • тосетлег This is not true The WSL and . Socialist Press . have never said tha Dromey Grantham • dru are •TrT same-just that they work as a are the undertakes voubtless rojey wilks t romised swals out of the die - with his hold hig The strikers 'meanwhite, wi ill be jobless But still won. : won with a new the pressure of mass pickets. sharp turn backointo a nen 1 and into fighting the trade union bureaur But firs Dromev and the other fakers strike :be must broken and laid TesT prepared for the oraver Grunwick strikers Set the date-resume mas pickets Chailenge the courts-Black supplies and services Defy APEX and TUC threats organise Tinancial support.

eis we go lettpresti m we have veccived ever Grunwick strike committee ques- tioning the line Socialist Press has wusuce or egoershio Jad Dromey has given to the strike committee throughout the strike. We oriotine

TAIS

with editorial eo non comment. selling this dictator the weapons with which ••esser Iranian people. Soviet aid" ne nes aco recewec mildam and other help from both the USA and the Soviet Union.

But Britisi arme wesme all seem to regard the Shah above as their favourite customer. The British Cuiose week of butchery to sign a nev long-term deal for the supply to the Iranian defence ministry.

The laboul movemeni implement an immediate ban on all further arms sales and gifts and material

DINE

TOTTI

the Shah's dictator- support ship

ITALY: no tears for Moro: e no solution in terrorism Page 2

—INTERNATIONAL-

The Aldo Moro affair encapsulates the political crisis of bourgeois demo- стасу. As the leading force of the Christian Democrats, certain This legislation is now to President of be elected be given permanent status by Italy, Moro was the country's Panamell foremost bourgeois politician.

As undeclared martial law In a bizarre fashion, the was HoOICCd. states the Red Brigades highlighted police, secret police, para- weakness of the ruling class forces military military ana by the spectacular kidnapping received aid from the govern- then holding Moro and ing coalitions of Britain and prisoner for 55 days despite West Germany. the massive search by police and military forces Thugs seemed bourgeoisie The social democrats who powerless to rescue its own leader from a small group of dominate these popular self-proclaimed front formations sent their culles the state. professional thugs to assist in while incident the operation oi urban war- une revealed, in an almost farcical tare. their way, the inadequacy of the short-term Desollt failure, these initiatives have tools the immediate disposal of the ruling class, been used by the bourgeoisie also showed precisely what to strengthen its position in preparation methods the bourgeoisie for the struggles would employ to preserve its lo colle. It is above all the Italian Cas Tue The Communist Party which has emergency measules been crucial to the success of to increase state repression this 'security' have already been used with wuuti great effect in the arrest of operation. Moro the many left-wingers and count- was nimsel less raids and searches of the principal architect the scheme which enabled the CP homes of others. Muzorewa creates a stink- Billed as a politica Even so, the response to cliff-hanger, the decision these criticisms the

LIVI

white settler regime was swift Muzorewa's of Abel Wo ncd cdc United African National The bishop's party justifies Council not to quit the its 'transitional government' collaboration with Smith and his racist colleagues as being was about. as unpredic- 'in the interests of the nation table as the next episode and of the people'. of 'Crossroads'. But Hilary Squires, the But the bishop described Minister for Justice, white Sunday's 8-hour rough', and it was clear that made it clear just what nation and what people the interim forceful opposition has devei- oped. within the

UANC

settlement protects. argued that the interim agree- protest at the dismissal of Byron Hove, black 'Co-minis- Ll Cill. ter for Justice'. " that • provides quite explic- will be shyster itly there trom

IAC.

London, with not political interference with the even disciplined forces of the state, flimsy record of struggle in South Zimbabwe, Hove the including the British made and that their Africa Police, statements wich teo of a misassess- high state of efficiency wil sacking out be maintained. ment of the balance of forces, I wish to make it as un- not from any tattered shreds mistakably plain as possible of political principle. 9555

DOWN WITH

ZIONISM

FOR THE

RAS

DEFEAT OF

OL

WORLD

IMPERIALISM!?

ated in London last weekend against thirty ment by pledging its support leadership to achieve its aim of the "historic compromise'.

return tor nothing, not promises and honeyed O unve mome treur bouiL the Red Brigades seized Moro words. By this massive exercise in as ne was on lus way to une parliamentary consecration of class collaboration, the the deal whereby the Cl has contirmed life renewed the of the determination to betray the Christian Democrat working class in the defence of capitalism and the bour- geois state. Their treachery has been compounded the trade who have union bureaucrats devoted their energies the 'austerity implementing measures' and every other workers required attack on by capitalism. Thẹ depth these OT indicated governmental betrayals by that any new was structure will be implemented the obscene action of the calling in terms of that agreement or euer general strikes in protest at not at all' This is the reality of the Moro's seizure and his assass deal made with Smith by the 'internal' leaders Zimbabwe. Corrupt Muzorewa may talk now of political smell Italian workers have nasty no left by Hove's dismissal.

cause to mourn the death of But such bold understate- champion this corrupt ments cannot conceal their continued oppression. little unmistakable fact that the Yet they lave 'internal settlement' remains reason to rejoice at his killing -as it has been trom the start under such conditions. -stinking to the rotten core.

Red For, although the

INDIA: JANATA RATS

Disaffection and rife mutiny are now among the ruling crew of opportunists, timeservers and crooks, known as the Janata. These political vermin are haunted at and every of their devious careers turn by the looming spectre of Indira Gandhi. Confidence The Lok Sabha (one of the .wo chambers of parliament) may still be voting its confid- ence in the Janata coalition the sollennent, f against former challenge the dictator's Congress Party.

But that majority reflects the elections of last March.

when the and workers peasants rejected the Gandhi dictatorship, and has already been greatly reduced Desai by desertions. Recent elections have also increased within the Janata, shown little that by internal

IOW

as 1t 1S avel majority reflects the present struggles for power. dwindling support for Desai's Fernandes-leader George administration. Socialist Party, and of the The spectacular advances Minister for Industries-has made the Congress attempted to rally the coal- (Indira) in the February state ition into unity. statement circulated elections been ta.ve

NO W

confirmed results from to the Executive, he declares by Andhra Pradesh in the north.

that: SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 May, 1918 Brigades acted to expose the of the betava _aDou bureaucracy, they themselves exemplity anole that historic crisis of same working class leadership.

The People's Court which Moro, interrogated him tried "to clarify the imperialist and tshir. Italian police mount a roadblock anti-proletarian policies of the Christian Democrat party" , and sentenced him to death as "obviously guilty" of crimes against the prolet- ariat. Sectarian But, contrary to their sub- jective intentions, the action of the Red Brigades has done advance proletar-

HO ENCIN

ian revolution in Italy group-

JL KE

ouen ings of urban guerritlas in the developed Cavitat natiols the Red Brigades represent an extreme form of sectarianism.

Their lies political origin the disillusionment and confusion which from grew the apparent ebbing of the Europe andy tide in western Europe north America after 1968. Faced with the immediate of their political fallure

GRAB LIFEBELTS

failed miserably in commun- We icating with the people. ruthless with our- must be selves and examine the causes olan seacony. dt then provide the remedies" These 'causes' are obvious the total failure enough: the Janata to solve any of the pressing problems which bear down on the Indian masses.

It is this situation which is driving large sections of the masses back, in frustration, to of the former the politics dictator. There are 'remedies' for this possible crisis within the terms of the Janata popular front. Politically dominated by the bourgeoisie, the Janata i of by its essence incapable the meeting demands and aspirations of the workers and peasants-it can, and will, only them act LU Icoes further. Voyage the By joining Janata, Fernandes embarked voyage of class collaboration shipmates who wilf avowed enemies to the work- ing class and its allies He has no power to alter the course of this ship of war, that leaking …rU W every seam and sinking lower ambitions and concrete denial of their revolutionary perspectives, radical elements m tose sernages were lorccl a re-assessment of make inel positions But some of these forces drew from their experience and partial only negative lessons as to the historic role of the working class and th necessity for a revolutionary One-sided Basing themselves fierce hatred of the treacher- ous labour bureaucracy and a of its OHe-SUCU alidly ik significance, they moved to a proletariat oe el could not be roused to fulfil its historic tasks by the work of revolutionaries in the mass movement. of For the ideology the grip and reformist bureaucracy could be broken the most drastic only by methods. It was necessary to launch terrorism, campaign which would force the state to reveal itself more clearly as the instrument of bourgeois dictatorship The inevitable collabor- aton ol lne abour oureau introducing сгасу new repression would be the final catalyst for the revolutionary explosion of the proletariat in the overthrow lof capitalism and its own betraying leaders.

Proof The stage in this

LUSE

has schema provocation certainly been by ceven the seizure and killing of Moro. But the completely wrong orientation of the Red Brigades has been proved by 'failure' of the Italian this workers to respond to challenge with spontaneous heroism and revolution. The methods of the Red Brigades can deepen political crisis bour but geois democratic state, they offer no way to over- that except abstract maximalist demands for total revolution. They fight in the belief this will hasten the that dictatorship of the proletar- iat, and for this reason we Brigades defend Red against every without reserve form of and witch-nun attack from the bourgeoisie and its agents. At the same time there can be no political criticism too of actions which have sharp the objectively increased oppression of Italian workers and yet given capitalism, alternative leadership for revolutionary struggle There no principled of objection to assassination at certain stages of the class struggle. Programme can never But terrorism substitute for the careful and of a revolu- consistent work tonr arty innt gen the organisations mass labour movement in conflict with Stalinism and reformism Transitional for the Programme for socialist revol- ution. What is needed in Italy is not more knee-cappings, kid- and shootings, but nappings, the building of a section of a Fourth Inter- reconstructed national to lead workers in against nue venten struggit the threat of fascism and forward to the overthrow of capitalism and bourgeois

Pablo still rules

- INTERNATIONAL•

USFI leaders 'Trotskyists' grovel In the early 1950s Michel Pablo as leader of the Fourth International undertook revision of the Trotskyist pro- gramme. novicen the conceron that under pressure of 'objective' to Spanish CP Third impending events-al wore warnessure the working class-the Stalinist Parties Europe Commusl could "orolecu revo tonary and lead the over- throw of capitalism This view ran directiv opposite and all eastern countries.

to the Trotskyist analysis that the its leaders is cnaracterised oy CPs have been definitively and slavish support for the was made to a Canti. Teouest class into working francoist govern- party which tor all its conversion transtormed revers oly is marie still gio ment of Adolfo Suerez instruments counter (still in exile foreign policy Kremlin bureauc- and the infamous parasitic the assassin exposing and Ramon Mercader. counter-revolutionary racy. Though initially present of the CP , the LCR chose there WaS "Open debate" to approach the CP as guests on to this funda- little opposition their best and respectful position-which mentally effectively The CR's other theme was denier. the need tor benaviour. the of Trotskyist In its weekly newspaper Com- the differences between its construction that the

LCR

unctuously and the Spanish CP even- bate, artes ma

TOTAL

"gratitude" to the CP tually took place in 1953 and led (which ine L never describes split in the ranks of the as Stalinist) could be settled by in their wores "We want express our "open debate internato. the Spanish Com- gratitude the PCE and the between Ancient history munist Party for the

LCR

there are deep altituat pontical differences. To be honest, these has taken towarse LIK aTHS 9th Congress. other Pablo, than with ane tollowers ave The national leadership of our grouped around the International currents _от Ine worKers move politically [!] But they can be and Secretariat, carty. une Combate las well as should be openly discussed. So we 1963 houge the the re omned of the French

LCR)

newspaper debates Soçialist workers car-oven nave recentl been invited the reactionary US legislation forbade Barcelona Have and between Congress. your Jordi Barja and affiliation -and the Moreover, have been we Pla and our com- Francisco secretarial: (vori was allowed to address all the dele- formed, on the basis of letting by- rade Ernest Mandel. gones be by gones. gates We want to pick up the pro- from the platform what we you yourselves made that reminded Vitell thought necessary. neritade nowaddys. OCCaSIOn undl add that the fashionable for members of USFI debates are taken into The sections-which factories, the universities, , towns national warmth with which the delegates received our presence is a fine and and villages where your comrades international Marxist the frater. Group-to emotive expression of brush ine issue astoe ane ours come and regard it all as a matter of struggle against exploitation and nal ancient history. political differences-exist tween both parties" section of The public opening of debate now a "star'

DUT

for and the • The wor nas aven. turmer clear our tox publication of the resalutions of proof that the revisionist con- Discarded of still live within the topmost ranks There, napolly in a few words, all the of the USFI leadership. lessons of irolsky sione suruggie In the last month the USFI's to rebuild the revolutionary party Spain the recognised section in Stalinism in bitter revo utionary communist -a conflict that cost rotsky and League) has shown the extremes countless more. revo tonames of political compromise to which their lives at the hands of Stalin's these Pabloite positions lead.

murder squads-are discarded in the Con. in ts intervention Persecution gress itself the LCR showed that it did CP was The LCR was invited to attend the road to Oustacit tIle the recent Ninth Congress of the bullding ot revolutionary leader Stalinist Spanish Communist ship whose history The party askea tor Its rally, wally in rehabilitating the the collaboration invo ves persecution and murder bosnevik 010 centrists the Bukharin and Zit the Saling along Trotskyists, with and anarchists during the rUUIVI, Civil War and whose present role POUM Andres Nin in the USsH Strikes challenge Moncloa Pact conceded. During the same week the breakdown of wage negotia- tions in the engineering indus- tries led to a 24-hour strike The hotel and restaur- victory for 90% workers where trade unionis- succill workers' 48-hour ant workers in Barcelona, Spain's ation has until recently been strike which took place major industrial city. poorly developed would More strikes are last week along southern such have a tremendous impact on planned the coming Spain's Costa del Sol has demands and struggles month. other sectors. major national import- Developments elsewhere in Unanimity Spain that the a SO Moncloa Pact reactionary In the first place, the claim Already the near signed by workers' leaders represents a wage increase in unanimity of the strike action last year is now in for a grow- of the Francoist

CALCOS

rapidly of ing attack from workers who governments pay Hulls ation has developed since last 22% (inflation is about 30%).

have been feeling its conse- The year when many nole strikes workers are demand. vucilles. took place but were sporadic rise the minimum ing a In in their impact. the wage trom Hotel owners on the Costa about £32 a week to about del Sol responded to the £49.

NEXT WEEK

action with a lock-out which Unreliable bonus Why the Spanish PSOE within three days they were The claim is not as great as forced to litt. now admits it is not a There has present now been

OOKS

Silice Marxist party. workers receive an unreliable partial return to work while "share of negotiations proceed. bonus based on d the turnover" and they want New strike has action this abolished replaced already been planned if the alle by a higher stable basic rate.

demand wage not the 9th Congress of yours wi the serve to take forwan which cussions Have already begun. bitter are defanders of enemies sectarianism, we doned proletarian tradition debate workers' in the ment which is open and fraternal.

however hard may politically. No distinction was made intervention between the this leadership of the CP and its mass base. In fact, in an article on the Combate (May 14) Congress bv Mariano Fernandez, it appears mass the chase • Ine which poses problems for the

LCR.

Contempt Fernandez' "analvsis" of the Spanish CP is worth quoting at some length since it expresses the same time a contempt tor tre rank and file of the CP (who are for Marlice bureaucratic control) and ar plicit expectation there was more internal democ- would return to the the racy "revolutionarv' again Once Is a position which throws out the gains made and principles fought for in IrOLSKY S and se A Stalinism -ernandez writes

PCE

taking major [of the steps •rection social democratic parties] .

Thy first iss sacrificiss ars sacrificing involding the distorted grim ot revo unionan traditional whict • held, .tc parties have communis the reformist political platform of the the basis o1 movement, "tacti- "alliance"" or lus or lal cal manoevre" mean and file of the organisation rank filled with dals whose ony toluca horizon this reduced platform and not the permanentty postponed programme. The sacond is deliberate: -the slogan of the "mas Under criteria. for the member- party Joining is converted for many into hard So the pot tical level buying level The discussion The demand for training and infor- mation all fall So. inined to the old and nev militant layers of the party fundamentally new appears becomes weight for the internal life of the and the development of a party de- new tremendously base has natural politicised tendency towards moderation and with bureaucracy tue which converts it into a rudoe mattress which allows them cushion any radical impulse which the truly wildle. militant layer of the party, the layer most closely linked to the salies masses and most sensitive to its needs. Finally, internal democracy is a question education the especially of the cadres and that respect the PCE leaves muct to be dearer Its tradition is not exactly but Stalinist democratic daily durenucratic

NOT

practice in the mass organisations which it dominates an example of a decisive Now certainly moment for Trotskyists in Spair to intervene ponticary

WITN

mass rank and file of the CP's marty shows itself in major crisis at a time when the and political involve expectations workers ar Wiel crowine tas But a rotskyist interventiol would be the reverse of that of the LCR. Instead of beainning a searci for a means of reforming the CF "revolutionary into from the TOTSKV SIS would slar position that the incurably counter revolutionary of whose party section. base nonetheless could and mus be won to revolutionary politics (apparently encorsed that if the CP threw out some o politically weak members it chance of would have adopting a revolutionary poncy mean tht the

LCR

sees Stalinism not counter-revolutionary conscious TOrCI lacking formal internal democracy (especially in view of the Stalinist •an on teneency ronts wittin un Party). It is, in other words, the same as the bourgeois liberal definitior of Stalinism. spite of remaining strictures on the CP's democracy the sees the debate betore and during the Congress not as of crisis autority ot me leadershio but d.

an indication of change any the article in Combate led. "nis conaress nas the most democratic those …hot have happened in any CI which since talin cute stee democracy" LCR, therefore, comes "Trotskvist' „close "We that overcome The LCR's position can nowhere except to political self.

liquidation the CP's lT. Congress shows it to be incapable of building on independent revol.

utionary leadership the political na. Trotsky's weapons with which struggle has provided the revol- and it now the capacity to be nothin! more than a left pressure group on the Spanish CI "myth" so-cared Pabloism has shown itself to substantial the much more "Trotskyism" the LCR.

Directing campaign back into Nursery keeps officials on hook A Socialist Press special feature The refusal of the Oxford City Nursery campaign to bleed to death has become a considerable embarrassment to sections of the local trade union bureaucracies, anxious to avoid being exposed over their refusal to fight the cuts.

in particular the the Oxford county leaders branch of the National Union Public Employees to call a district commod a scuss Industrial action is high on the list of things that they wish never said. Eric Millar, secretary county branch, left for annual NUPE conference saying tuat LNe closure or tue nursery was not strictly a union matter would. have considerable difficulty convenie masting Originally he had proposed that the matter go to the district When re was contron• ted by a militant section meeting determined on strike action then and there. No opposition Millar is now claiming that the council has assured him county there will wOre members-and Involving NUP e that this removes the necessity for action against the cuts. The axe happy Tory Council know that they have encountered opposition to cuts from NUPE so long as they don't in.

leaders, compulsory vo ve retuneancies. They learned also, during last trade year's teachers' ready to dissip.

UTION

outsids are ate their members' militancy. The council is therefore just waiting for the nursery campaign to go away. The trouble for them is that Sinca the class was evicted from the council building at the end of last month it has continued in a nearby building. Ironed out Some the practical problems have now been ironed campaign is contin- our an• the uing its intervention directly into the trade union movement coUncil sending committed gation to see the local council and campaign tor the reinstatement oT the class, and jobs. But the trades council also sked its officers to hold an early meeting WIth the nursery com. mittee-even if the Tory council continued to refuse such a meet-

BUL

his move, which would find ouncil officers hinte the exactly what trades out doing

OUT

IneW mandate, nurly beine stateo ort. the pace octated by the Tory chairman of the county education committee, Brigadier Roger Streatfield.

Enraged At the same time, the right the local itiona Union of Teachers took stranglehold over mother knock when the Oxford Cay Association voted to sand its demand more nursery places.

The Council, County Tory all Lieut friendly gathering of cpouncillors to past year BaCK Over The with mutual satisfaction, affected by a lobby canal Ners outsict county walt Tory councillors were enraged to see

TGWU

outside the building, branches "OSe от TRe I GWU 5/293 and the 5/60 and demanded to know what was the connection between trade unions and nursery places!

'Moderation' their question to the and They could addressed willlamson, One The Tew counciliors on

LATT

Oxfordshire County Council, who is chairman of the 5/60 branch as wen as bam one or une Labout voices of 'moderation' which have done nothing the Tory about

CULS

The campaign has reached a where determined, patient stad untieding peessure has to be brought to bear on all those in nominal support of the campaign Call delion stand down. supporters have rest inions lack of But frustrations results and tne sutrace down in the campaign following the breaking up of the have left both the IMG and SWP In disatray. At a supporters meeting last they proposed taking week different routes to oblivion.

'Broad based' The IMG asked supporters to recognise that the county council probably Isut come to chance mind" urged that the and forthcoming conference Action Against the Cuts, should belie its name aSel one of those broad based' com- mittees which fight the cuts in general while playing down the The proposal was badly 50 received, with even IMG members proposer spent the the rest of meeting saying that they were not ending we nursey class, although to everyone listen- they had said that seemed what exactly The SWP said the moves being made through the unions were doomed to failure because there OF

SOL

COXE

Now that the occupation is over the tight must continue for the lost jobs and places.

was no sign that the membership The Nursery Campaign has that willing to the organised a one day confer- leadership would lead ence, Action Against the Cuts anetr • cynicism and pessimisi Rally, for Saturday May 27 in trade union Oxford from 11am to 5pm. refusal . Besides speakers from the leadersus ara dot however Ibal them propose ending the there will also campaign be campaign. from London speakers Ene hospital occupations, 'Direct action' and including Hounslow, speakers involved in fighting So they pushed for a policy of "direct what local social services cutbacks.

Films will be shown from Whica bole down io abrodos to storm the next council meeting the the

EGA

and from and occupy it. nursery occupation itself and Both these • routes were thrown several exhibitions of occupa- out by the supporters' meeting tions will be on show. Against the Cuts Delegations already the ActIon Conference.

T+GWU

PRESSED STEEL

3/60 B Campaign members lobbying the County Council AGM avoid us. One coun- way to In the following inter- cillor asked us why the trade view, Socialist Press unions were involved. asked leading three Sweeney: It seemed such a question members of the campaign crazy some people seemed completely floored! I to outline its problems saying that the trade and plans. They are Ted unions were the only ones to Eames

(NUT),

Anne- defend our rights. We didn't

(NUPE)

Marie Sweeney of the Labour see anything McKinley Everyone seemed and Ann councillors. really shaken by the trade

(UPW).

that banners were SP: How successful was there. last week's lobby of the McKinley: One councillor county counci? shouted "Get back to work' McKinley: Some Someone shouted back, 'We councillors crept in the back can't work, because we can't

OXFORD

ESTINON

-Conterence call coming in from trade union To that end action is being branches as well as the unem- taken to alert ployed and single parents.

workers to the possibilities of massive Anne-Marie Sweeney said: cuts in the health "We don't just service. want d It is vital that everyone in conference where talks about their occupations the area-and from other take and we all pat each other on areas-who wants to the back. action against the attacks on We want to attract people social and all cuts who have not yet taken attends this conference at the • Community action against the cuts, and East Oxford show them the kind of action Centre. that can be taken and how to Credentials-for delegates fight. It is up to local areas to Ted obtained from Eames, launch the local fights on this 7, Street, Osney, East national issue". Oxford. the labour movement leave our children' nursery education. SP: The Oxford and He said none of his District Trades Union Council had lost members jobs has pledged to send a dele- through the closure because gation and to meet the they had retired. voluntarily.

nursery committee. What was He didn't seem to see early the reaction to the eviction ai retirement and cuts in hours the Trades Council? as union business at all McKinley: When the letter SP: What been the has (from Brig. Streatfield, refus-

UPW

members ing to meet the delegation) who directly not was read out people were involved? incensed by it. People realised McKinley: Because I was that it did constitute involved people • got olner attack on the trade unions.

interested and they ask how Eames: It was also notable it is going. They might not that they were not prepared but get involved actively to fix the delegation meeting many of them really care then and there. The officers about nursery education. have just written back Streatfield that saying Labour movement want meet him before to July. SP: What now is the next Any other business major initiative? Eames: There remains the need broaden COul SP: Moves are continuing campaign to bring in people NUPE for industrial from other parts of the city action over the closure. What leafleting. But the through are the officials doing? general orientation towards Sweeney: Millar said he the labour movement is still wasn't going to convene the there. That - is the correct orien- committee before May 31. He was going to the tation and we must avoid any NUPE conference and I tried • suggestion of stunt politics or get liquidating the nursery 1. Te nursery campaign there. He paign into amorphous said he might under any other business, of but one the things NUPE is discussing is

Socialist Youth League launched Careerists gloat at election reprieve SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 May, 1978 Youth from London, worsening slump. Yorkshire, the Midlands Pointing to and the North West met ous role Birmingham in on Sunday May 7 to found the Socialist Youth was the League, a youth move- social conditions ment in support of the this coalition policies and programme material of the Workers Socialist League. and rascists in Moving the and main resol- ution, Phil Moore working class. from Aylesbury, a member of the The main

NUSS

National Committee, fight against spoke oil the growing crisis capitalism to break the betrayals of the trade union leadership in the face of Reformist politicians one. up and down the country could be heard slapping for Labour each other on the back the Last week, congratulating, "only' themselves having handed over three 'left' leaders London boroughs and ary programme one metropolitan council conscious to the Tory axe-men. workers are While they gloat at the problems fact that even four years of standards, under arcacnery and and Lib-

SUCCOYE

SHADOIN

Lab governments has not completely liquidated the vote, the lesson for Labour workers is a very different

PRESS GANG

GMWU's rat stew Now that the strike at nice family lunch at the next Claridge's is over and the table. threat to the employer And in this kings prnces, has been removed the leaders, the ambiance itself is press has been able to enough to make trade union- Richard Elvidge's treat ism a contradiction in terms.

How can you sacking as a nice, safe, enjoy yourself if you suspect human interest story. that the staff Immediately after the actually be servile? strike ended the Daily Mail extravagant three sel up an have Claridge's course meal for the sacked must have people who don't cook to prepare and issued its try judgement-that he time". could get a job in virtually Celibate any restaurant in London.

But the really

DICSS

But gone to town on the indus- was Ghandi who got the goat of trial tribunal started last week and has now been Telegraph. pondent Amit Roy, interrup- du ourneu The Daily Telegraph account looked through its files and tribunal to bring us this use- pulled out ful piece of knowledge. picture of Mahatma Gandhi-with his spokesman goat-both of whom stayed at Indian religious Claridges. London This night: 'The fact that the goat quoted by was managing director Sir Hugh went to Claridge's does not Wontner, has as evidence or the palate. Gandhi got hooked on unique nature of the hotel.

Kruschev goat's milk after he became stayed there. Half the monarchy in Europe stayed there. If you sat down to lunch in the restaurant, ten "He gave up sex early in one the Queen or his Jito inarried life. would be sitting down to a milk makes you in the trade union bureau. the treacher- cracy. of the wing The Socialist Youth Labour leaders in forming an League had policies to undeciared coalition with the meet the crisis and the task Liberals, Phil Moore said that was to build a new leadership and in opposition to the present reformists created by who were more anti-working class interested in defending capit- formed the alism than the jobs and living basis for the standards of their members.

increased influence of racists Chris rorrest seconding the middle the resolution, spoke of the sections events the previous day at the British Leyland plant Speke in Liverpool. of the

TATUSE

racism Here, refusal of the and tascism had to be the struggle stewards to advance a fighting coalition programme for the defence of remove the right wing Labour jobs had resulted the leaders and their supporters workers accepting the closure tial votes in some areas, the The continuing class vote opportunist "Socialist Unity" against the pros- platform devised by the Inter- pects of a Tory win demon- Marxist national Group necessity for a quite devoid of any serious struggle to expose the reac demands whatever. tionary politics of the Labour offers supporters and right, and nothing more than the words the necessity for a revolution- "socialism" and "unity" - which, under alla leadership where the official Labour leaders offer neither, have a resolve of falling living certain appeal to sections of mass unemploy- workers and petty bourgeois.

savaged social In Newham; however, Where i socie programme including the call for workers' Opportunist detence squads against racist violence, opposition to all Despite winning substan- public sector and a

CULO

sensual. In any case Gandhi considered the cow to be world holy'". and Stalinist So the ratatoullle case' was all fun and games? Not quite. Beneath the froth, the and the recipes settle down te downstairs account of hotel hierarchy a picture might familiar to emerged any militant. Or as Sir Hugh put it: "We Richard Elvidge was not to We run sacked for his herring tails, his buckets full of curdled and trip us up all the mayonnaise or his ratatouille.

Managers hotel followed staff to a recruiting meeting of the GMWU, had thrown out of the obviously meeting and then hung about outside the tube Their corres- station noting down who had gone of the It came out in the arrogant defence of life for the super rich given by Sir Hugh for an Wontner. group The other familiar trait commented last that all those have attempted to unionise their workplaces will recognise a discerning that the tribunal itself is symbol the GMWU's ot failure to fight for Elvidge's reinstatement. A big splash in the papers will not make up for that And cow's recipe for disaster. more of the plant. Comrade Forrest placed the working class the for this squarely Young lame on the shoulders the leadership and in particular cnoco tne work they BL combine chairman Derek carrying out Robinson who in addressing workers in their unions the workers twice three The weeks, never once raised the question of occupation. Speakers the floor Irom stressed the enormous poten- tee tial amongst youth for build- ing an alternative leadership.

Andrew Examples courageous moved struggle youth bV Pales- proposed tine, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Europe were brought into the meeting while other fight speakers explained detail In fascism; the the policies

SYL

pamphlets demand for the breaking of the Lib-Lab coalition, was put forward by Labour candi- dates John Plant and Ray Massey, the Labour vote in the ward rose by 11%, and this election takes struggle against the right wing in Newham NE Constituency Labour Party to a new level.

In the meantime electoral support for the National has front plummeted in every area. PHOTO: Chris Davies. Report NF slumped With the Tories vying for the straight racialist vote and with an increasing volume of propaganda the fascist nature of the Front now appearing in the press throughout the labour move- ment and in the publications Anti Nazi of the League, NF votes outside London slumped from year's Hayward gives a In the middle of what was supposed to be a knock-about attack on Tory leader Margaret Thatcher, Labour's General Secretary Ron Hayward managed to convey defence permanent wage controls. synonym for permanent and "We have to work for a rigid wage control. return to bargaining" ree collective he told audience at Ruskin College, was Thatcher's attempt to create Oxford, , which runs courses in the impression that the Tories class collaboration for would- would end wage restraint, and be officials and allow personnel managers. For the benefit of those infishe who find it hard to penetrate this idea the jargon of Labour government stops its so-called union leaders, "orderly interfering in the free enter- collective bargaining" 1s the prise system, coined by torm-possibly Thatcher thinks, so Jack Jones-now used as "wicked robber Trade Union leaders" Almost without it, Hayward has put his finger one reason leaders have been so anxious collaborate Lab government in imposing three years of control. They fear the prospect of workers once their own employers. They prefer that all wage "negotiation concentrated Page 5 should be fighting for within campaigns and the launching of a monthly news sheet, as from comrades well as proposals for socia NALGO and the AUEW des- activities for youth in each alcd young Critical point voted Although modest in size support this the founding resolution and launch the meeling to Socialist Youth League comes proceeded to elect a National Commit- at a critical point when youth up and down the country becoming increasingly radical MacDonald Ised as a result of the deepen resolution ing economic crisis, reflected activities. This in the increasing activities of included plans for campaigns the racists and fascists.

on youth unemployment and radicalisation against racism and which will provide the back.

publication cloth to the fight to build the these SYL in coming months.

LABOUR

PARTY

60,000 to 25,000 this year.

Former Front strongholds Yorkshire West and the West Midlands saw the NF vote cut to an average 2.6% and 4.5% respectively. •But with Labour leaders with "the anti- Continuing working class policies that created the base for the NF in the first place, the counci elections point to the necessity to step up the fight to construct a leadership labour movement that H11 f will fight clear programme defend the independent interests of the Callaghan working class. course in reformism between top TUC bureaucrats and the government-and Hayward's most vigorous then forced from above upor centred hostile union members. Hayward makes the point even clearer as he sketches an imaginary horror of care free collective bargain- involving the end price control, spiralling ane attracted inflation and soaring wage because if the demands. "Faced with that, what chance would any union then

MIS

have of resisting will the rank and file demands for pay barons", the increases to match price increases?" realising other in words, topsy-turvy world of Lib-Lab why class collaborating politics, the job of a negotiator is to resis; the demands his members: the job of the rigid wage "socialist" Labour govern- ment is to restore the health of capitalism: and an ideal again pursuing wage increase is that workers claims with their poorer than they were a year before! With friends" like this in the leadership of the Labour should be the movement, needs secret who

The violent events that parliamentary traditions

THE ENGLISH

REVOLUTION

paved the way for PART TWO by Mark Hyde ligion and Revolution that religious disputes had a the conflict material origin in The historian Christopher between classes, do not rele- I highlights the feelings of gate religion into background • rising seventeenth century insignificance. ddle class by quoting one The religious ideas which its members on the eve of have been commonly called "The merchants cIv1l war: 'Puritanism' become in no part of the world so driving force in the English ewed and wrung revoluțion. bland" "No Bishop, No King" Despite the exaggeration his statement, it provides Hatred of 'Popery'-an epi- excellent insight into the thet attached to Archbishop s hasis of the Enoish revo.

ion of the seventeenth cen- Laud the extravagant symbols, This ceremony. has, and cost of the established class: content ever, often been obscured church-united the SLaLC the fact that it took on a bourgeois and petty-bour- gious form. geois of the English study crusade. olution by Marxists there- The same feeling was re- flected directly even in atti- dennares some alicaco the problem of the relation tudes to foreign policy, where ween the development of loathing of Spain and the the capitalist class was the hallmark of ritan religion. House of Commons and Charies 's marriage to rrenci Driving force Catholic Henrietta princess vana caused extreme ersusi Less sophisticated bour- from the outset. bis explanations of the The desire of revolution- ents 1640s have ary forces in the early seven- oi the en presented the whole teenth century for a Presby- air terian clerical system was some kind of rell- us war, with thousands of hated by James 1 and the ruling class. peasants The cause was not mere in- eir lives for points of theo- terpretations mine The official Anglican church But on the other hand, while pointing out was a vital part of the state Oliver Cromwell members of the clergv were apparatus. often drawn to Presbyterian In 1604 James I gave voice Puritan religious thinking.

fears of the political to his They had a special interest consequences of the possible overthrow of the church sys- in reorganising the church along Presbyterian lines as in temThen Jack and Tom and Scotland, which would do Will and Dick shall meet, and with the authority and away privileges of the bloated caste at their pleasures censure me and my council and all our of bishops. proceedings. "Lecturers' He summarised his opini- ons on these matters with his The Presbyterians allowed famous "No statement, congregations to choose their Bishop, no King. own ministers and appointed For the forces of reaction "lecturers' to preach the ser- England ente, defence of ture seventeenth century that thes could noi mons hear in the official church.

established church was essen- threat revolutonal na o derence or ade slate.

posed by these practices to a For the forces of progress, church so closely bound up backward hatred of the with the whole state machine of feudal, Catholic regimes was huge France and Spain was obliga- The Church of England tory. whilst still today, church, is a pitiful shadow of Ideological challenge its former self. In the seventeenth century The religious hierarchy of it is no great exaggeration to Archbishop Laud-whose that political life say doctrine of 'Arminianism' in- societv revolved arouna the volved Catholle practices and church. well the ceremonies, ot mass Ine dosen ce media, widespread literacy, a the flock', had gregation, developed police force and only learn to obey the other modern trappings, priesthood-was seen as not countless func- church had much better than the sinister tions to fulfil. agency of a foreign power.

Under conditions where Puritanism, then, was other religions were not tole- rated by the state, the represented an ideologica Anglican church held a moro- challenge to the old order.

poly Unlike the official creed it set make men think out to Politically reliable This in itselt had revolution implications in a society ary A priesthood, selected by based on blind acceptance of the ruling class from political- feudal authority ly reliable candidates, had the Protestant to preach unrestricted right Martin Luther, the Puritan King, obedi- loyalty to the thinkers of early seventeenth ence to the state, and every century England sought after manner of feudal notion to "the priesthood of all belie- audiences and OI VeTS. townsmen for whom church attendance was obligatory.

Healthy alternative could The ninter only be read by the educated Religion was seen as not minority, was the natural privilege • of a few of wisdom, through Latin-speaking worthies, able which all sought to find justi- to understand and then hạnd for their ideas down messages to the passive society and politics. masses. 1620s, for All they the late men, equal as example, the bible was used were before God, could raise priests themselves to. the task campaign of attacks on Parlia- interpreting the Gospel. ment for its refusal to grant Great emphasis was laid in King rights to this revolutionary creed upon

LUSIVIS

Charles 1. organisation and discin line as qualities of the highest order.

Religious form Under the Stuart regime the laudian church was shot It was quite natural that corrupon, us should opposition pecially at its highest levels.

political Puritanism take on religious form. {0QC marked contrast as a living Further. that no mechanical relation- healthy alternative. Poorer le fuit nte i criptun ship exists between political and religious ideas, and eco- nomics, Puritanism fitted in admirably with the needs of the capitalist Class-so wei. that have some historians seen it as capitalism's cause.

The outlook the Separatists, Brownists other groupings long been lumped together under the general heading of Puritans, did much more than merely challenge the old church regime. Equality before God The emphasis on the equa- lity of men before god, and the ability and need for ordi nary men to read and under- stand the scriptures, reflected the need of the rising middle class to assert itself against its old social "superiors' Even at the level of the religious itself the service political implications of Puri- tanism were clear. The bare hall replaced the church of images, candles and stained glass. Topical sermons in simple and discussion, re- language, placed recital of the ten com- mandments and unintelligible Latin litanies. - One Erims a tuelch man au as latels comited to lem chrut Leer's ons bla phomo Thattos was caritate la Such fpirit suare furobala To nife ith latter daze Soule Sleeped John Pym The aim was to stimulate ideas and raise confidence- mystify, confuse and

COLO

overwhelm with grandeur. No revolutionary class can tolerate being kept in blind subjection way the Arminian system was designed to ensure On the level of basic eco- Fast Anglia, London nomics, of trade cenue. and industry were the Puritan strongholds. A religion which extolled the of diligence, virtues organisation and hard work was inevitably popular with the mer- the middle classes, chants and their kind. Handy formula Puritanism seemed strong- est in those counties wher‹ the bourgeois class was most strongly entrenched. The other side of Puritan 'Sabbatarianism' (strict obser- vance of Sunday as the lord's day) was opposition to the days-holi- countless Hills days all across wnien efforts 10 establish the modern regular working week Prosccution still faced those who disregarded the

"A Catalogue of the Several Sects"-a contemporary list of the various brands of religion current in the 17th century Arminian call to down tools on over a Puritanism nundred occasions a vear to some obscure saint. renerate Even on this level the Popish paration oroiclaridi. Anglican justoms of were church capitalism. an obstacie lo functioning of the smooth capitalism. The Puritan merchants had their religious tandy formula for the reorg- of society misation along vanguard officient capitalist lines.

tionary the thy to limit preachers to reci- ling the ten creca and ine commandments were task ot these suppress ittempt economy society Oll d evolutionary ideas. Conflicts over statues and Such cannot be churches repre- Itar ralls. In accomplished reli- ented a struggle against ob- curantism and superstition.

Revelry Strict Sunday observance- or lne past. the Puritans were appalled by advocacy Lovement OI the scientific and sports revelry on orner provide sabbatn- would the basis for the regular en- substitute. forcement of discipline, and most importantly ideological is tariat propertyless, training upon population they thought lazy and corrup- es nothing its labour ted by the slow, indifferent rhythms of power. stagnating Feudal society. While bourgeoisie in other countries in later years sie. could find many other ideolo- by its social position into Bies in which to dress up its conflict with tims as a class, it is indeed forward, the surprising well, for an ПО И early attempt, the Puritan re- Lullary igion fitted the bill. of English merchants made considerable efforts to see that the word was spread.

Lectureships-through which corporations hired lec- lurers to preach a fixed num- per of sermons each year- The new vere effective an collici weight to the official priest- planned rood. Laud's ruthless suppress- the everyday conditions of lecturers needed no eligious motive-it was a po- society. itical necessity own working class moves direction only in so in this More penetrating observers far as this step has been pre- i lie time saw ine relation- pared advance the hip between the role of the theory, scientific programme.

ecturers and ultimate perspective and orientation of lownfall of the old regime.

the revolutionary party. Preparation the other hand, built up the The lecturers the Wtit capitalist mode of production material organ of ideological and exchange within the preparation for revolution framework of feudal societi.

Archbishop Sheldon, again Far from being a property- quoted by Hill, noted, Nothing had spoiled the late less class, the bourgeoisie was King's affairs so much as the already the most wealthy and credit that the tactious lectu- powertul group in society rers had in all corporations."

It only remained for it to Adamite parasitic brush the aside political and legal vestiges of feudalism that strangled free of social behaviour, its truly theory was up in this feudalism, way that epoch, its own Like the English bourgeoisie ment, or infinitely more progressive of formulae eighteenth the action, junking and of

CACCELES

CUELC

then, ln- up to the of point wallic revolution not really under- standing what was happening.

Civil War and Regicide of the Independently control of anyone, the revo- lutionary crisis had reached a critical point by 1640. Charles I's attempts to rule without the Parliament of the had bourgeoisie broken down. rverv avenue had been ex- plored to avoid making con- had been seized for government finance to name but one example: yet the regime was hopelessly bankrupt, and of course no aid was forthcoming from the of financial centres wealth-all which WEre controlled by the merchant class The resistance the government was taking on an increasingly rebellious charac- ter. The opposition was encou- raged by Scottish defiance of their and In mighty powertul. Strafford, most was arrested Before Arch- and more watch. matters gone even turther. death warrant of the Libertin ser, an act was to recall with bitterness scaffold eight steps to the assert its The Triennial ensured the poundage Lullage which had royal peensed iself the Stale was 1641 The the King's ettorts to impose that did not directly the Anglican church system control. upon tnel country Parliament was not slow in showed readiness to go to wai on the issue. Instead of giving support Charles' return to calling the King monstrad the to passed Parliaments was to no avail.

Grand gulf had widened manifesto of condemnation a ne much that it only resulted in against Royal policy in gene- the arrest of leading members ral. of the Commons. John Pym, who intro duced the document, probab- Not viable ly hoped that the King would But repression in turn was take issue with it. He did not not viable as a policy. The do so. Matters had now reached fident wealthy and undefea the point of no return-the ted. policy of the monarchy anc the demands of the Commons The fact that the army sent to hold back the Scots were diametrically/ counter- Bite him. peper to him pardel became invading England posed. elo- The time for debate and almost was testimony the argument was urawing lo d 4uCIlL chronic weakness of the old Charles was grouping close. his boldest young officers- regime. Despite the failure of his nicknamed cavalieros' (Cava- liers) Catholic first attempt (appropriately after the called the Short Parliament) Spanish soldiers. Charles was forced The basis of an army was summon the Commons once laid being As tension mounted, daily street battles plagued London. Arrested The militant London spear-headed by This time there could be populace, the crophaired (Roundhead) no thought of an ultimatum from the monarchy. The first apprentices grew more audacious day by day. sittings of the 'Long Parlia- ment. as it would come to be known, have seemed Hanging by thread must sweet to those who had even of been deprived the right By the end of 1641 the to serious protest during the most popular slogan was for Charles' eleven years' tyranny the removal of Government ministers fled 'Papist Queen' herself. Coupled with Parliament's attem the Kings contrar y from King's control, could be seen that the royal authority was hanging by a thread. Two state powers were now confronting eachother- a situation which could only be resolved one wav or the other. Westminister 5 It was fitting that the old regime should make the first On January desperate move 1642, Charles marched into Westminister Hall at the head of a troop of 'cavaliers' He had come to arrest MPs, Pym and four other including Hampden of 'ship money lame But the plan had been could leaked. only the birds had observe that flown', and left in "a more passion than he came in angry discontented the King From now on, had lost the initiative. The attempt to trample on the rights of the common: even alienated of some The anger of London's hoped for wno now lasses. Parliament to find a way of putting their grievances to rights, was without parallel.

Cannon For the first time matters beyond the point of went mere rioting. The Trained Bands-a kind of city militia for preserving support Parliament. Seamen hauled ships cannon

"TOM

the Thames and positioned them around Parliament for purposes of defence The illegal drilling of men in the • became streets common On January sight. 10, and his Charler wife recognised the gravity of the situation by fleeing London was not till August 22 that the King, in drizzling rain, raised the royal standard at Nottingham. Battle lines But there was no serious effort at negotiation in the months in between. eight Time was needed to organise Cartoon depicts Roundhead and Cavalier forces on.both sides-it was civil wall The French conservative historian, Guisot, in a passage quoted by Trotsky, summar- ised the situation as follows.

"Negotiations still

WCIC

continued, but neither party expected any trom them, or even had any inten- tion to treat. longer to one was no they addressed another their declarations and messages; both appealed to to public the whole nation, opinion; to this new both seemed strength and success". The battle lines were being drawn. Continued next week.

Page 8

IN REVIEW

An 'informed distortion of Trotsky's life and work Trotsky by Irving Howe. Fontana Johnny Nichols Leon Trotsky has In fact Howe's separation of the important from the always been the subject flo ws entirely unimportant of slander and distortion his subjectivist and from by ruling class ideologists sceptical approach to the and the Trotskyist move- political questions of ZICaL is well-tried in our epoch. ment exposing the lies and the Struck down deceit. Howe, for example, gives But the attack on Trotsky attention Trotsky's and the movement Sulle personality and finds founded takes many forms. authori- The contiict between most insidious is often tarianism (which he does not the 'critiqués' of so phisti- romantic cated 'lefts" who nkel ana latalsm senal u (of which he approves). sympathise with Trotsky's: He crudely distorts the 'moral idealism' while emas- theory of the party found in culating the revolutionary Lenin's What is to be Done- core of his work. "monastic of this desenie ilas cale bt secular order" of intellectuals method is to be found in the -and expresses sympathy for Stalin newly-published "Trotsky' by Trotsky's polemics the young Mr. Irving Howe. against 'authoritarian' Tne To take up every error and Lenin (which of long been the stock-in-trade course this book misconception 1n Trotsky later rejected retormists and would be. give "social scientists": attention than it deserves.

COD CICY WOlki Yet "Workers with homes, at the same time "Authority" sets are not nothing of cars, television Howe says Trotsky's battle rebuild likely to yield to insurrection- to ary visions". Howe informs his reader the international revolution- that he once had a "youthtul ary movement in the 1930s.

experience" for this that Fantastic notion Will Trotskyist movement. "rotskv was hated bv al his To see the working class Today editor of the and political opponents as an exploited class driven radical finally struck down by A nerea IllaraLiic Dissent, he produces the fact Stalinist assassin in 1940.

into conflict with exploiters in a system of crisis that he has 'done Trotskyism' Howe expounds his -this is merely fantastic as proof of authority to write "theones' the cause ot Owiel the heads of the on the subject. this notion in unbalanced se echon He has already edited an revolutionary fighters whom not too hard to discern. anthology of Trotsky's basic Hoe we rotstyi tatusul". contemptuously calls Madness writings. What makes Howe's book When such an 'informed' In the 1920s and 1930s is the utter lack of author tedious omis centrai penous Trotsky's work from his the Trotskyist movement dis- of originality his sniping the reader must attacks on Marxism. linguisnea iscil by ILS ss alouil, tence that the working class beware of accepting the small Typical is his regurgitation stupidity of the book was the only revolutionary of the that the Size class, and that this class could 'explanation'. decisive role played by an build take power the and socialism only under the Russian Revolution, invall- leadership of parties based on view Marxist dates the the scientific perspective of class struggle: MarxıSm. "What then happens to But for a middle class historical materialism. to say elaborate critic like Howe this nothing the of analysis offered by Trotsky in nothing short madness; (Howe has better manners his various works intended to the of the than to sav tnis and so itters Dulco lc his book with mealy-mouthed Bolshevik as revolubon Trotsky's necessary outcome of Russian onrases «D0 li ideas- "increasingly development?" political questionable" least doubtful", etc., etc). Concentrated In the working class, Howe can only see backwardness, Howe knows that Trotsky weakness and 'problems'. For Howe, the masses long answered this ago "both simply the passage ne alecul advantages and 'rules' of the from his palis Villit account. wende stale He proceeds to churn out "For this new age Russian en ni was best in the old All that revolutionary intellectuals of times: their spirit of earlier denial, audacity, their them hatred of oppression-all this concentrated WaD figure this of man Supported by Russia's young proletariat, utilising the rich experience of the international workers' movement.... he has risen to ful stature ThyS political horizon. ..the fate of the work- open to al tnosc wio wisi tov individual personalities: but that this does not mean individual personality is of no importance the develop. ment of the WOKe cass Howe is at his most vulgar (and that very vulgar indeed) in dealing with the 1917 revolution itself. all democratic Like reformists he clearly wishes that the great events of the epoch-war and revolution - settled could aulu!" dance with the principle 'one man, one vote Dragged in Howe is not choosy about his he allies attacks wulel those who dared to take the power. Kautsky, Kollontai, Kron- stadters-even Bertrand And Russell-are dragged in Howe has a good word for them all. During the brutal civil war to defend the first prole- revolution against Lalidil imperialist intervention, commanding Trotsky,

LILC

Red Army wrote Terrorism and Communism In this work he castigated those and social-patriots centrists-Kautsky particular-who had tolerated the slaughter of the working class in the First World War and now attacked the for sheviks their "undemo- "terrorist" cratic" and "Jacobin" treatment of their class enemies. of work we read astonishingly that it who "supports

CHO SE

Leninism and believe Stalinism to be closely linked to form a line of con tinuous descent". For Howe-the radical intellectual, the 'freethinker difference in -tere quality between the violence revolution and He feels more at home it his treatment of Trotsky's fight against Stalinism. Basic question Here he can easily afford The be 'sympathetic'. bosses' publishing houses are 1n010lg|__ ęl— Stalinism, labour use Ils camps, murders and mock- trials dis- means for as crediting the October Revo- lution But Howe admits, things different Trotsky stood firm when. against Stalinism Then all varieties of liberals, reformists, pacifists and centrists were willing to close their eyes and ears to preserve Prseds of the Soviet Union a standing aneTT Trotsky's of nOWe appeals to "a world which did not want to believe" and of his attacks on those Fabians like the Webbs "who had begun to praise the Soviet Union only after it had sunk into totalitarianism". But Howe cannot ask the basic question. Why was only the rotskvist movement able fight Stalinism? Why were his own political fore- bears the capitulators? The whole method sees only surface im pressions which Trotsky just IS brilliant individual, somtimes good, sometimes bad, depen- dine upon Howe's subiective requirements. Skipped over That is why the interna- tional defeats of the working -Germany, class in the 1920s- 1923, Britain 1926, C'hina 1927-which partly wCit caused by, and partly con- tributed riSe TO f Stalinism are omitted. Trotsky's That why struggle for a Fourth Inter- national is skipped over.

The fight against Stalinism confronted not only its open agencies but also those, like the revisionist Burnham- Shachtman group in the USA the of unac COve. 'anti-Stalinism' abdicated the duty Cias _oelene Union Soviet against imperialist attack Such people ultimately deserted the workers' move- and finished tittll SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 17 May, 1978 Trotsky-middle class critics never tire of old distortions for imperialism. and Like Burnham Howe seeks Shachtman, refuge from the world in a "third camp' in which he car 'critic' hold forth as a capitalism without damaging acceptability demo- cratic circles by defending the working conquests class. Repelled His opposition to Trotsky flows precisely from the bow latter' Te sal opinion' and 'publio identify Stalinism with October revolution, the counter-revolutionary with the burezucracı socialised property relations.

nowe writes "In his writings of the late 1930s he did begin to use the term "totalitarian "as a crucial descriptive, but this seems to the have referred more to outer character of Nazi or Stalinist politics than to historical problem of

IICW

major significance. He can hardly be blamed for not having worked out a so mething theory about which few other analysts had even begun to grapple with which still and found its Marx or Weber".

This up wasoake DulIN Howe's view. . Repelled by the of Stalinism features OulCI and Nazism, he throws them the pot

INTO

salet aniu excuses himself thereby responisbility Despite his claims to be a socialist thinker he clearly feels obligation to the no working class movement. new social system neither capitalist nor

GAILS.

socialist but "totalitarian', class not the working does have the right to ask about its material itslan of development, its impli- cations for humanity? Learn But have only the reply that this theory has not found a suitable theoretician!

The reader will learn little about Trotsky from Howe's book But if one picks up any of Trotsky's polemics against Gdeass. the 1930s ano centrists In one can still learn a lot aboul Mr. Howe.

OFFICIALS MOVE

house During the last two weeks there has been sudden the development in union strike at Garners recognition Steak Houses with a decision taken at the highest level by

TGWU

the bureaucracy regain complete control of a struggle that continues to cause them problems.

TGWU EC

Brian Nicno son. it now will, member, _appears, attend all the crucial strike meet- Itos aro enterivel control al communications with the wider labour movement. his appointed strike supervisor whose job it is to keep activities of the strike committee.

ruttie more. Abrahams time catering officer) who for many weeks now has credibility with the lost strikers: mas neateneo to bureau• censor any craticalv materia issued from the strike committee restricting the use of facilities #a nis oftices. Big guns By these actions the bureau- cracy are almine to reasor er grip on the strike. The fact that this involves TGWU as such big guns in the Nicholson tenects the moact the fight carried out by. a section To wu strind policies the strikers • mass picketing, secondar backing or supplies and for their * support a week strike demand 'of a 136 pay, it necessary by means of a levy'. policies, These seen the the majority of strikers as only way strike con won. involves a mobilisation within the

TGWU

which beyond soltica imitations accestdoe co the bureaucracy. Trotskyists starting from Marxist scientic anaysis ou ene role the bureaucidly stand that in the current capitalist Incapade or winnine and ereno democratic right the might to joic even most basic a trade union capitalist class in time of i ne economic is forced ordere ste CrISIS defend profit by attack 01 concitions or the working class, which remains, however, undefeated and prepared to fight back to defend its conditions. Emasculated in me acronany unorgan- ised hotel and catering industry. allack all cauy working conditions nas.resuited in a rapid growth in unionisation.

and prolonged strikes tor union recog year have again and again seen the courage and determination of the class emasculated finally crushed by the betrayals of the trade union leadership.

In the strike at Garners, these betrayals (which restrict action appeals to ACAS, sterile solid day conterences and one collearly matches, wreaten effectively paralyse the strike and

TGWU

INTERNATIONAL

W.

WORKER S

BRANCH

DR

TGWU

OFFICIALSTRKE

TGWU

SARNERS Y

FINISTRKE

STERK

FOR

HOUSES

TRACE UNKN

SARNERS

RECOGNITKN

STEAK

TO CRUSH

GARNERS

STRIKERS

disarm the strikers. many of the strikers, disillusioned The development tone In the week in which the latest with the support from within the opposition meant that the confer- ence sponsored by the South East initiative oureduciday. were

MOSLITE

assurances "dav ot collarity is to take bare Aoranams continual Recion is crucial that strikers demand that the "machinery of the union solidarity for the policies that will took time" Association of Trades Councils, interview published in the held under develod ano win The strike and increasingly not for policies of betrayal.

conditions the Tori will choose such a quoted Abrahams saying that he bureaucracy. was prepared to call off the strike intended by the involve fighting against their own Originally provided diversion leaversaro sea rom men alely Nooners "s one more just a brief look at developments convince the strikers that Maroolis so far within the strike.

victimisation and would abide by was being. done, they an ACAS recognition enquiry.

of being Tacka une cancel Legacy to the strike numbers of strikers that alterna- mittee's policies tive policies were necessary if the the empty rhetoric From the start the strikers Dromey strike was to de won. Heti talkers ke were ourcene with the lecacy or It was here that the crucial Nicholson, leading Abrahams' attempts to tie the development occured. of the EC and TGWU Region recognition issue to ACAS.

were forced publicly to commit i ne call Tor was yuntle The emplover ingy to pricke and gor themselves to support secondary for a long and bitter reparine provide living wage for blacking picketing, and the union had made the strikers, (policies long argued indicating the immediate oressure coming Socialist workers picketing and blacking necessary League) were taken up. for such a fight. election of a new In fact, in a recent article by 19 Garners' former General Manager seven man strike committee on control of the March. Aorahamsi JOHn wwen. I ne caterer strike which had acted as a com- Abrahams is commended for his

NE COMMOTTES

plete block or reaching the wider co-operation and handling of membership ot the Gwu, began in the to be challenged. staff grievances. Nevertheless the workers who Pressure came out on strike on January 2€ 6 10 armed with assurances The first meeting of the new y million strong formed strike committee unanim.

Garners would crust adopted the policies men- ously Margolis. member of the Regional Tionea above meeting Workers Committee even talked of switch- A* the next oT the 1/647 ine ot suobiles or cas and elec- Branch, though Abrahams tricity. With the rank and file leader- successfully blocked the demand for a regional levy, the rest of the snio tallne to nose we go een policy was involved with Abrahams in the adopted as branch policy.

the negotiations over previous besotte Turner monas. we conduct or tue strike stifle these policies, pressure from was initially left entirely under the control of Abrahams.

SCOLIO

benevino In them and determined to fight every bureaucratic ¿nroucnout

TITSI

weeks of the strike this leadership oeuvre, finally bore fruit with the did nothing mobilise the rank strike bulletin issued on April 4, which for the first time stated of the policies that could win the that it was official policy to call strike. for mass picketing and mentioned By the sixth week of the strike Garners float on the London May Day march ine need tor increased blacking.

". T&G NO 1 from the strike committee.

following the the WeET conterence no anams increasine losing his usefulness to the echelons of the higher bureau- ately to retrieve his position of authority in the strike. He issued a series of commun ications; an abortive stewards conference was called for 23 April asking for support and a latter ine bureaucracy that some step: had to be sent an or rol significant was bureaucracy that they had been leafleted by strikers calling for secondary blacking, mass picket- ing and the levv The result of this meeting was letter issued on Friday 21 the April calling of for blacking suppliers to Garners. By on et a sik stike pay been on strike pay a week severe were suTtering hardship. Crucial issue The demand for a levy (which had been successfully blocked on March 20 by Abrahams), was nov becoming a crucial Issue Tor the strikers. It was popularised around the 636 a week demand much smaller union, APEX, had paid to the Grunwick strikers , and successfullv moved on April 24 a the 1/647 Branch. By the held ional committee May the meetin BE taken natale battering, and been constantly leafleted and picketed by the strike committee took the unprec eaented step or allowing spoakeit from strike committee to address the meeting. With pressure from the strikers forcing a o wision derween and the rest of the Trade: Group adopter Clutcod the Regional policy secondary blacking of Garners and gave that they would assurances mobilise for the mass picket!

Clearly the issue over which the Regional Committee will not concede without a maior fiaht is that of the u. Setting precedent of sustain ase lieutely da massive political implications for a union with members in strategic industries They have to undermine the strike committee's ability conduct such a fight interven- Hence Nicholson's ton over the past week Pressed of the .mas. strikers on May 7 when Nicholsor meeting el he skilltully evaded giving ar could speak in a personal capacity that the Region's policy would bı the Regional. F&GP dACHAN meeting on May 18. The bureaucracy's tactic now to destroy opposition that developing has over past three months. On the basis or rus reasserta control the bureaucracy will hop will then able to refuse evy and avoid pressure take action on blacking and mass picketing. have gone into develop. ments within the strike in some detail. Although a scientific analysis bureaucracy's TOle general provides a foundation for intervention in the our to be able point out how these betrayals work practice for involved in a particular struggle such as that at Garners. It is no enough just to assert the treachery of the bureaucracy The crucia •evenomen within the strike was that of ar alternative leadership in a sectior determined strengthen the strike by fightin to mobilise the membership the

TGWU

i tha around once. would signal all-out confrontation with Ma chillenge to home tol the bureaucracy seven weeks of sabotage evan cation and evasion by Abrahams and his associates within the rank and file. At each stage the fight against •the stranglehold of the bureau. the independent cracy and class day day of the struggles strike-the got a strike the fight for policies internal letters the fight to that leading this here ol annevement So Idi But the concessions • gains, the represent The immediate form that the fight will take over the next few weeks will be around the questior

1600 TGWL

branches in loncon wire alertel asking for support on the picket line and from the pressure demanding oranches

ECOT

organise effective and blacking concede the £36 strike a week pay The success of such demand, will depend on the strike com. holding mittee regular meetings ane mantalaim comolete mode endence from Nicholson and his representatives of solidarity which • ready oureaucracy usine evasion of the main issues of the trials in para too me acto the recall sponsorel Region TUC, GLATC, Region i

TGWU,

where these policies ca taken layers wide bureau- workers, and where the cracy can be made to i account for their failure during the past weeks. By Graham Shurety

Workers Socialist League The Workers Socialist League is a Trotskyist organisation fighting to construct a principled revolutionary leadership in the working class in Britain and internationally and for the recon- struction of the Trotskyist Fourth Internation- al on the basis of the Transitional Programme.

The WSL. fights at every step against.

the existing leaders of the trade unions and the Labour Party-now firmly harnessed to the bourgeois politicians of the Liberal Party in an unspoken coalition arrangement.

Against their policies of class collaboration we put forward instead a programme which points to the independent class interests of the need to organise indepen- working class, its capitalism, dently overthrow destroy state machinery and establish a repressive socialist planned economy.

Only in this way can workers resolve today's problems of tumbling living standards, mass unemployment, slashed social services, racial, national and sexual oppression.

For more details on the WL and its work, fill in the form below. Name. Adáress Trade Union/Occupation Send to WSL, 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NWS 1HR Trotskyism Today

TROTSKYISM

TODAY

* History of the Fourth International Trotskyism in World War Two * Marxism V Socialist Feminism Price 50p plus 12p p&p from WSL, 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 1HR

SOCIALIST

PRESS *

5 issues . £1.10 10 issues .£2.20 25 issues 50 issues {10.00 I would like to receire.. issues. I enclose the sum of £..

mane. Address. Send to: Socialist Press, 31, Dartmouth Park Hill London NW5 1HR Subscribe!

OFFICIAL

The 350 Oxford car drivers who transporter have been on strike for the past three weeks supporting sacked Brian Preston convenor voted last Friday to to work on return Monday. Preston was sacked 11 months ago for alleged fraud. The strike began after had been cleared by he police inquiry and Cartrans- Ltd still refused port reinstate him. The management same who sacked Preston and are refusing to reinstate him di t of themselves the subject fraud investigation squad involving £2 million. Sold out The strikers were sold out after the TGWU had enlisted the support of Bill Lapworth, District Coventry Secretary, who is also acting as Regional Secretary for Region 5 while Regional Secretary Mathers is out of the country. At an earlier mass meeting on Tuesday of last week it Bus strike bites Separate management discussions and union with the sell-out special- ists in ACAS are contin- uing in a desperate bid to the 6-week long end official Leeds bus strike The strike, over manage- ment's breach of a written mutuality agreement, having marked ettect on local business. Pubs in Leeds are closing by shopt shop trade has been cut 40%, and local faced with a C costs of up to £5,000 a week to ferry in their workers.

The bus workers clearly recognise Sunday position, and on May voted by 1,200 to 2 to continue the action Management however are standing firm and relying on union officials to crumble Passenger Transport Exec- Ian Smith utive spokesman Evening told the Yorkshire Post: it is coming down to the fact that the union simply win this strike- there is no room tor compro- mise on their part. about are management's right possibly cannot manage. risk to arbitration on that point" "arbitration" would Any therefore be under conditions of a retreat by union officials basic of the Issue OIl strike-the attempt by management to impose new schedules without union

NEWS

INDUSTRIAL

SELL-OUT BY STAND-IN

back on the payroll at him the basic rate. Now, management declared they would the outcome of arbitration there was a relurn to work meantime had become apparent that so had built up much hostility against Oxford District Secre- tary David his lilat chances of obtaining a return At the mass meeting, to work were slight. Lapworth gained the At that meeting Buckle, confidence of the drivers and usual, dragged up every stressed that reinstatement could muster to argument ne would be certainty back his call for an immediate from arbitration return to work The meeting voted 2-1 to accept this advice. Slight change came at the This sell-out point where outright victory He met with foot was only days away. and slow hand- stamping who had initially faced 5-1 clapping, shut their Oxford plants and alto the continue majority then restarted them had strike. stock accumulated But at a further meeting with management which went on late into the evening prio the meeting Illass Lanworth obtained a change in the current manage- ment offer. Previously management had said they would conduct fresh internal inquiry into the allegations. this recom- reinstatement and mend Brian Preston took the matter to an Industrial Tribunal they would accept the outcome of the Tribunal. Meanwhile they would put agreement. Luxury at the TUC-a Ford Granada Ghia The • of weakness the action is that it is aimed at Blame it on the only combatting one aspeci of the strategy of the Tory- council, when nees iull sweeping cuts throughout the public sector in Leeds. atmosphere... The bus workers, who have now endured six weeks £6.50 strike must that the insist The CPSA conference Regional Committee increases to sustain this carried a vote of censure strike pay crucial strike. on its officers for throw- And the call must go out ing a party costing £500 to other public sector unions

TUC

held at the in the area to rally to the aid conference. of this struggle. Already one- day strikes by bus workers in The defence agains this Caldersdale, Bradford and move by union president Kirklees have indicated the Leonard Lever gives widespread support for the of the kind ot world latc Leeds strikers. these bureaucrats have Tented Doing what comes naturally ... the workers in the industry Hugh Scanlon argued have no control shows how at the AUEW conference much the Stalinists and in Worthing that British reformists have been drawn Airways should buy US into thinking first of the Boeings containing Rolls interests of British capitalism The conference passed Royce engines. unanimously Ken Gill, a leading Com- containing Gill's nationalism Party munist member, Scanion's opposed to opposed this by saying that nationalism they should buy British planes from British Aero- Salesman space. union leaders Illal remains to be seen can argue in such a way under whether Scanlon will pursue conditions where most Boeing's Socie component suppliers to the aircraft his salesman atter aircraft industry are privately

AUEW

retirement the banks are where owicu. president. in private hands and where cars in fields around 30,000 Oxfordshire, which could not be moved to the showrooms.

They had announced that they would have to close the plants at Cowlev indetinitely from Tuesday of this week while current agreements would oblige them to main tain full to the whole pay £500,000 a day for 15 days!

not Although excluded that Preston could be reinstated from the arbitration hearing, criminal to gamble with the job of sacked convenor under these circumstances Preston has a particularly strong case, but arbitration is set up specifically to defuse strikes when all else has failed and once workers back for work reinstatement is off. wheel rur

, T. U.C

our subscriptions. The CPSA delegation to was probably the the

TUC

only delegation that, because of a previous £500 party, had specifically had its spending power limited. This, according the Lever, was an embarrassment in the atmosphere of the TUC So when union general Kenneth Thomas secretary

TUC

elected the was General Council they defied and held union policy €500 which further party, meant free drinks, etc for any union official. Lever trade said: "After General the Council election we found ourselves under a fair amount from of pressure unions". "Where is the party to celebrate then?" "It is the custom of the TUC to give a party body the General • O| Council". "Secret plan' Congress The

TUC

the concerned Congress that passed a resolu- Grunwicks that was tion on supposed to contain a 'secret plan' to win, at the same time as specifically deciding not to cut off services. The pressure to lay on free drinks is clearly far greater than any pressure for trade

Dangers in climb-down Witch-hunts staged as cover for ASTMS Seated in front of the "Career divisive slogan Security-Our Top Priority" the Executive at ASTMS's 10th Annual Brighton Conference in was forced by events to the anti-working reveal class nature of its so- called 'alternative econ- omic strategy'. defeated Delegates proposals for a subs increase votes next business on the Executive's anti-demo- cratic proposals

TOTI

rule changes on union elections.

Four sections of the NEC referred back COOL Li (rejected); for the second vedl organisation of the engineer- ing section conference, and NEC's of the breach U11

HESLTUCHORS

ensure Wiard Report of lay majority members on the TUC delegation. No debate delegates' But despite PHOTO: Andrew awareness of the inadequacies of union policies and demo- the conference unable to debate the policies required for an independent defence of the working class.

Jenkins Secretary General Jenkins set the tone from with reference the conference on their 11-week bassine of million prospect pay strike. unemployed Britain and The unprincipled 1n his defence of import of "I defending put my first and that's members then I'm chauvinism Dead now Answering a demoralised delegate from Leyland's Liverpool branch, the plat- form speaker called on con- ference to accept that "Speke ignoring the dead now' calls from branches to take up the policies of occupation and opening the books, work sharing on pay and

TUTE

of useful public programme works as the means to fight closures. Pious resolutions on wages, economic policies were the passed almost on nod while the standing orders committee blocked useful debate erasing from the DV programme resolutions calling for catching-up claims and a sliding scale of wages. "left" From the chair Labour MP Doug Hoyle ruled out of order the request to inject some reality into the debate by having delegates Power Afishalli Diary

...YOUR MAN AT THE TOP'S

FIGHT TO STAY ON YOUR BACK

betrayals GEC Coventry. address ship was clearly demonstrated the treatment of two different groups of delegates.

The General Secretary's "attack" ASTMS's leader- Tories the 1n A serious blow has been dealt at the trade union organisation within British Leyland. John Power

AUEW

convenor of the Spare Parts Division in Cowley has resign- ed all trade union positions in the plant after being suspen- ded for five weeks following allegations that he overdrew expenses for meetings of the National Negotiating Joint Committee. Power's resignation opens the door to wholesale attacks and working con- on ditions in the Service Division which are in most respects in advance of conditions other BL plants. Leyland are currently conducting a massive attack "equalis- under the guise of ation" of rates and conditions

WE MUST KEEP

SO WANT'S OUR CURRENT

LINE ON PHASE 4, CLIVE?

PEECHES AGAINST

PUT

THE PHONE NEVER STOPPED RINGING... EVERY

BLASTED SECTION HAD SOME AXE TO GRIND!

PHOmo. Andrew Wiard. Report For resisting attacks on the health service CLASH was accused of "Trotskyist nonsense".

union (welcomed into mem- of the members bership along with Advisory of the armed forces) resulted represented in lone Tory champion of that поне being called on to repudiate Thatcher's statements on 1 avisill. was no health service. Support every word The measures This, the delegate, (a con- sultant to Tory Central Office), refused to do, while increase in Kee at the same time exposing the expenditure-had nature the from the agenda. resolution racism by saying she "supported every word of it' On the other hand Colin Kenny, a delegate from the increased appearing London Health Service and as convenor of the Committee rather than last item. But these of London Area Stewards the Health Service responsible for the NHS, CP member Reg Bird. Bird personal

(CLASH),

read out a was letter from the ex-Secretary as they force in the corporate bargaining scheme set up by a fraudulent ballot last Novem- for management attack. ber. His resignation Power's base of support the widespread within Spares Division enjoyed was based not on his present role as a witch-hunting right -who winger but on his earlier role architect of the his reinstatement if conditions in the plant during called on them to do so. days his wing militant. disputes This was why even while plant last Power been centrally Power's involved assisting the TGWU bureaucracy to victim- of the seltement Cowley shop ise the appeared in the local press.

stewards and remove them felt office, he has obliged on the National Joint was being reinstated, Negotiating Counci obstruct Leyland's offensive against conditions in his own "for Despite his invaluable come

BUT IF THEY TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY

-IT COULD LEAD TO A REAL

QUIET BY

A FISHT?

FIGHT ON WAGES!

SO, REJECT PHUSE 4 BY ALL MEANS, BUT FOR

HEAVEN'S SAKE USE YOUR RHETORI

TO STAMP OUT ANY ACTION

ON WAGES

to "this London Health tary (who referred Trotskyist nonsense") and by Committee which views shared by officer the national committee's committees fell through lack members apart from himself.

of time This year's conference has For the third year there cleariv thar snown up more resolution the on ever the crisis of leadership within ASTMS. effective defence There is no solution in measures calling for national turning away from confront- ing the bureaucracy, the roa strike action and an inflation 'Red Collar' (the "ran) and public file" SWP front in

ASTMS

been cut offers). Their complete refusal to fight for principled

OTO

Last but one highlights their gramme political attitude, which Women's rights were given blames the working class for year, pronly InIs the lack of fight against pay last but one

COLLUS

ASTMS

members are to- ready to hear real alternative gether with moves to reject policies. The task is to build a attempts to muzzle discussion leadership that can fight for on the health service advisory policies and the next again witch- hearing at hunted by the General Secre- conference. assistance to the TGWU right Workers claimed that they wing he thus became a target had been given the impression when they returned to work betrayed that it was for six months support he only the Power's public statement amongst one thousand workers in the plant was that he had resigned "in would certainly have order to avoid a dispute in taken strike action to secure which loose money members would he had In fact he capitulated to Such was the support that the

AUEW

officials who continued instructed him to resign.

week even after This attitude of the AUEW resignation, with coupled with the election to workers challenging the terms Presidency Duffy - 'as it had dealt with the case and was praised by Power for the The Oxford Mail's version way he did it-should confirm of the agreement was that h the fears of workers follow- and increase their resolve to ing a week's suspension with- insist that a date is fixed on out pay and he would not be which John Power will be recognised in any trade union by BL recognised again some time to management.

FAIR WAGES

NOW

REMEMBER, YEARS AGO... THERE WAS NO ORDERLI

RESPONSIBLE CONTROL.....

THOUGHT HE

ANY BASTARI

bELL DO ANTENNG, NECESSARY

TO DEFEAT PAHSE 4..

HAVE NO KAMIKAZE

: CONFRONTATIONS

IN THE PUELIC SECTOR!!

Workers defence only

PRESS

Within days of the 80,000-strong gigantic Carnival held by the Anti Nazi League, two a shotgun murders and fascist thugs attack by provided tragic testimony the ANL's complete to political inadequacy. A ten year old Asian boy and a 25-year old Asian man were

SLANDCU

death East beaten to London. And in Wolverhamp- two West Indian youth

LOR.

suffered shotgun wounds in a vicious Ku Klux Klan-style attack as they walked down the street be Such saved bombardments of DV ¡earlels and posters, lney can- not be aerenato oy courting the favours bishops and OI academics. The only answer to such attacks the very policy shunned by the Anti Nazi formation League-the defence squads workers unite black and white the

WULKCIS

struggle to stamp out fascist molence. There no doubt that a clear call lor sucn a pollcy would find massive response. Last Sunday 5,000 and youth marched

WULACIS

through pouring rain from Whitechapel to Hyde Park in racist protest against murders.

SOCIALIST

KS answer to Nazi murders This huge turn-out came in the organised and weaken spite of the short notice given working class, for the demonstration and stinctively knife- recognise the failure of trade union and toting, anti-union racist heavies of the National Front Labour leaders to mobilise their members. as allies to be protected.

Any labour or trade union But having clearly shown leader peddles the willingness to who Their take action to defend workers and illusion that the police can be youth against fascist attacks, "pressured ' 1ill0 the met the aemonstralors were Immigrant workers' by platform speakers-includ- the movement "Trotskyist' self-styled from the fascists is paving the Tariq Ali-not one of whom for further brutal Way call ottered attacks workers' defence. Independent action by the Years of bitter experience whole working class move- has shown the immigrant ment each area where community that they receive attacks take place are no protection, merely harass- threatened is the only way to ment, at the hands of the protect against attacks. police. There is no doubt that in The increasing use of the the the National wake for Front's sharp slump in elec- police pickel-busting duties wherever strikes erupt toral support, the frustration and as bodyguards to protect of of remaining layers ItS fascist marches and lumpen will seek an loughs meetings from the legitimate Martin Webster's anger of masses trade vaunted strategy of "kicking has unionists and youth our way into the neaalines intensified police sympathy Now is the time for trade fascists. union and Party reluctance act against branches, immigrant organ- them. isations, tenants associations As the armed, licensed councils to take capitalist thugs used by the joint action for the urgent formation of workers detence to the most important aspects of the develoo Mass turn-out at the ANL carnival-deprived of key policy Sunday's march shows basis for fight to set up defence squads squads, with the aim of driving the fascists off the streets. But the Anti Nazi League -whose programme talored to coexistence witt Liberals and trade union bureaucrats dedicated preventing independent action by the workers' move- ment-is incapable of putting toward such a demand Nor does it carry forward the other vital aspect of the struggle against the National Front fascists-a fight for a clear socialist programme out the designed to stamp material conditions of declining living standards and mass unemployment which fascist propaganda feeds. Those conditions have been created consciously by the Lib-Lab coalition govern- ment in the interests OI boosting capitalist profitab- ility. The fight for a socialist demands a fight programme break …TO Cocon class collaboration at all levels in the labour and trade union movement, and the construc- tion of a principled leadership defend workers' indepen- dent interests. Socialist Workers League stands unreservedly in broadest favour of the possible united action against the fascists on every occasion If any of the ANL leaders were their prepared use publicity machine to put out call for the building defence we would squads, fight alongside them on this issue. we are completely opposed to any attempt.to peddle the illusion that the 'peacefully Call defeated through propaganda without the mobilisation of the working class. So-called 'revolutionaries' in the Socialist Workers Party and the International Marxist Group will think nave seriously in weeks to come whether they should continue boost reformist illusions through the medium of the ANL or whether they should be calling for practical action defend against fascist thugs Workers The Socialist League's position is clear: *Build workers' defence squads! *Break the Lib-Lab coalition! Speke: Conted puts the boot in There will be no moves by This cynical betrayal is a stark warning to the entire Leyland union officials improve tc workforce of the of urgency redundancy payments for leadershir British Leyland 3,000 car equipped with a clear programme the and a recognition of the need to workers at doomed collaborationist Triumph plant at Speke. class worker participation set-up and This final act of treachery last defeat Edwardes' plan for wook Executive of rationalisation and speed-up and Engineering Unions puts the cap on one of the most despicable *Fair weather "friends of the red uncaney tant Speke struggle promptly aban. Speke workers who at a mass doned it last week in the wake of had rallied month las mass enthusiastically the Speke stewards. resist of the plant were Most conspicuous in this wa headed off tron consciousl me rank ave adopting a policy of plant occupa- file' opportunists of the Socialist and fighting for Works ric opening Leyland's books, Worker. They had headlined the fight VOLt ClOSure full pay. "A their April edition They were persuaded, chiefly Match to Fire the Mersey". (They by Stalinist Longbridge convenor reported dist unctically Derer hoDinson. te endorse hobinson s diversionary speech te vague resolution refusing to that meeting). accept the closure and defending But when Robinson com. the right to work Soleted nas task two • weeks late While this decision left the they failed even to mention the struggle in shop sell out at the subsequent mass Confed officials met and decided not Tight As foremost opponents of the merely to seek better pay off clear programme of occupation terms to compensate workers for and Leyland's books. o collie prospect the ot decades on fought by

TO P

throuonout Merseyside dole queue

WSL,

the SWP had done nothing Under these conditions the offer perspective any recal mase meetina. backmatied speke worktorce-ana coula arav offered lo alternatige Leyland management and no lessons from the sell out.

policy by SWP's opportunist obeke Lev and ComoInE stabie-mates Tine international stewards, voted 3-2 not to resist Marxist Group, reacted to the the closure-but to seek improved Speke sell-out relegating the by rcuunadney ody fron news issue Trowt-daci belzano on unis weaknes iner a small, confused note at the foot themselves had created Confed of page six! leaders last the week wound up negotiators had obtained "the Fund best possible deal" for the Speke

WOKERS

And they called on affiliated unions not to obstruct Leviana manage men solan shift TR7 production from Speke to Coventry. We have done better this

NUJ SELL-OUT

week-£67 arrived over the last seven days-but we still over E100 need to raise 1HUMoUN lournalsis al week if we are to reach the provincial several centres ; Our total sc returned to work bitter and target on time. angry last week after a two far is £849.27. week pay strike. With over £1700 of the Arbitration and a promise £2,000 target now pledged of talks was all we remain confident that we The negotiating achieved will go well over the top by Secre headed s the time the fund closes at Ashton, Secretary recommended the sell out the end of July. But, frequently and a vote on the Thomson we Group Chapel had pitted non- point out, it is important that striking chapels against those this money arrives regularly on strike and laid off. in this office to finance the The dispute started when publishing projects we have Hemel Hempstead journalists undertaken. were sacked for imposing contributions should All pursuit of be sent to: house agreement. Journalists Cardiff, WSL Special Fund and Middlesborough 31, Dartmouth Park Hill struck London NW5 1HR support.

OUT

NEXT

Two Essays on Post-wa Com Stalinisn gainst

MONTH

'Communists' Against Revolution addresses itself Stalinism since 1945. How have the post-war workers' Eastern Europe, waterbeen ormedyn unina, Indo. China and Cuba? What is the political and social character of the modern Communist Parties? What lies behind the break-up of the Stalinist monolith?

This 166-page book will sell at £1.75 from its publication date in mid-June. But readers are offered pre-publication, cash-with-order offer a special of copies at £1.25 plus 20p p&p. This offer applies only to orders received prior to June 3.

Orders should be sent to: Folrose Books, 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London

NWS 1HR