Socialist Press no. 167

OCCUPY

TO SAVE

JOBS!

Last week's decision by British Leyland (BL) chair- level every Michael Edwardes to sout down factories at and arguing Conley, Park Royal, sachivices on Abingdon and "major parts make the of Castle Bromwich" raises with sharpness new the crisis of leadership facing all BL workers. was that committee The closures are a part of a triumen concerted drive bv BL manage ment to cut manning levels and -and force through speed up through- Derek MoDInson out the bridge al a loldl cost of at least 25,000 jobs over the next two years. the vital policy week, after the ritual statements of 'shock' and *Assisted

OUT-

rage by union officials, railroad through TO • BL's TGWU convenors met in bargaining scl Birmingham and voted to resist eroded The Edwardes' latest stewards by eliminating pledging support for any plant level claims that opposes closure or the transfer of work. hands of national officials; Record room workers in ananya which attempted But the real record of BL through the convenors and union officials in defending jobs and hard-won wages inioosed government and working

TOWN

veers shoule ove workers *Stood no grounds for confidence that any such fight will take place and applauded Edwardes' initial declaration of February 1978 in BL's Ticures which he spelled Combine Committee hand in hand with ot restoring profitability to the national union corporation its workforce. *Entered willingly into Leyland's reactionary "workers' Not equipped participation" leaders are scarcely equipped to lead a struggle now to defend

OOS

Already a key miserable betrayal the behaviour of wing convenor Eddie McGarry who apparently left the TGWU convenors meeting Doesco was even discussed. McGarry guished himself struggle over the closute of the Speke plant in ing a decision that Caniev would Leyland boss Edwardes: his accer work plans set out to implement the threatened Merseyside plant.

Tories? rationalisation strategy. to the TUl! speech by Derek Robinson at

SOCIALIST

PRESS

Weekly paper of the Workers Socialist League * No. 167 * 19 September 1979 * 15p

LEYLAND:

RKROYAL

which leading stewards have at been WItT management in imposing speed-

VEHICLES

need Viable Snoo Toor corporation

SHOP

Fingered

COMMITTEE

"participation" the tingered soeke Merseyside for closure last year leading Stalinist convenor TrOm Long. who ensured that Speke workers were steered away from of plant occu. management to corporate which nas shop power plant- and unis power in tne *Scabbed on strikes by tool- to break straightjacket on Ene La DOU BL Hilallaut defend their own jobs? alongside manager the Speke mass meeting which finally abandoned fight ally out his strategy acainst mne cosure The

TGWU

convenors at the expense of decision back any plant which fights COsurE Tine transfer of work is an obvious reflection of mounting shop floor militancy. With a record like this, such spotlights the BUT IT alSo central question BL workers: the first task is to ge action in the threatened plants sign of a around which solidarity action is visible in can be fought for Canley's riaht No talla wnatever should be placed the Stalinists nd right wingers that before the dominate the Combine Commit.

closure of his plant "emer- gency committee" that was set course distin- up last week by Confed officials concerted action Tere against Edwardes' attacks.

1978 The crucial by carry- issue demand that mass meetings are transferred from held at the threatened plants and at once adopt the policy of This treachery was exploited orc•aron to •revent cosure or redundancies-a policy that was Ine winding up never even put Speke Evans (right) with a bevy of bureaucrats on the September 16 demonstration BL workers must learn the lessons of Speke

UNION OF

WORKERS

'STEWARDS

ICT

the banner of the threatened Park Royal plant stewards' committee, is a familiar sight on Stalinist-dominated lobbies and marches against unemployment .

workforce despite weeks mation bureaucratic and OrOTeSTS rhetoric! throughout pations Linked the fight for and component pointing out occuraton must be toe ticht tol supporting action throughout protection fo and the The basis for this can try, clearly established through the perspective ciccuon threatened plant of trade union committees to fight for the opening of BL's books and those of its suppliers This will reveal just exactly who profits from the low-wage exploitatior Cur vuld and at to me pa sorer, coming from and what further plans. are ano workers not on BL Combine Committee. Edwardes' list for closures and BL redundancies. detend their Such an investigation would conditions will need to develop show the way in which private principled suppliers, contractors, dealer committed and agencies, their independent interests.

banks and large trusts feed off The Workers supposedly unprofitable Tne Leaque is fightina "nationalised" BL operation just such a leadership. une basis or such intor-

CUTS

FIGHT

pp 5, 6, 7

SOLIDARITY C/

TGWU

must black Chile Minis The sixth anniversary of the military coup which overthrew the Chilean Popu- lar Unity government was marked by a Chile Solidar- ity Committee march and rally in London last Sunday.

A large number of exilec families joined with Chilean delegations from trade • unions and political parties in a demon- strong, stration nearing which included national banners few of CSC's affiliated trace unions As with similar protests in the past five years, the organ ¿sers cominant soan was the united will be defeated' roared most enthus iastically by the numerous con- tingents from Communist Party. Will they lead a fight to It was an ronic and porg nant reminder of how little the catastrophic President end workers who occupy Allende's "people's road to socialism" has changed treateneo or dants must Toni for solidarity strikes and occu- the disastrous Popular Front strategy ot the retormists anc inoustries •talinists that there is no Workers Socialist League any carworkers' members and witnout me nationa sation sharo contrast shouter cals to of the whole automotive indus- an end to Popular Frontism and compensation movement blacking under workers' management-a of all Chilean trade that demands the Predictably, , neither political removal of the job-slashing Tory point was even referred to in the baldal oute tall

TGWU

leader Moss Evans Collaborators employed similar rhetoric revered to une support wrom ni.

No such fight will be forth.

union tol the previous week! token Chile boycott organised by the ICTU • He mae no comment on tne who recently announced deal wish between for the junta and BL o•s ane workine

LUVU

Mns watch willove leadership, labour from the Long- bridge factory and on the docks ine struddie tor ana s a ready me canerate Socialist the necessary blacking which the TGWU has action •To Consuuci refused consistent implement.

Page: Ian Smith and Bishop could Abel Muzorewa be seen relaxing over the first weekend of the Zimbabwe constitution- al they conterence as participated in religious rites on the Sunday. But the next day, they were back at the devious games of diplomacy-a more bracing form than Christian hypocrisy piety. There are now two new draft before constitutions the Tories' conference imperialist settle- ment of the war. Hard line The Patriotic Front has put forward the latest 'hard- line' proposals, which make provision for reserved seats new parliament, and rule out any 'blocking powers' (effectively, a built-in power Sports lovers, many workers and sec- American tions of the US capitalist class will no doubt unite in President rejoicing at decision Carter's continue jogging after his collapse last week. Sports lovers will cheer carter's courace. workerswill possibility of see getting President has shot of who alre mounting recession in tandem controls; and with many want emplovers would TO • doubt welcome a conveniently tragic and sudden exit from the scene by Carter well in advance or the em sarassina orocccame of ditching him as the Demo- cratic Party's presidential candi- cate next year Because one inine is cele -with popularity figures now even Nixon and the well below most Presidents, and with absolutely Carter if he otter; survives nis exemons is locked on course for electoral disaster.

the wings, Meanwhile

- INTERNATIONAL•

Zimbabwe: the search for a bourgeois answer of veto) to the white racists.

The 'special provision for There not even representation in IS minority specific guarantee to protect Parliament' is to be achieved private property against the by giving whites the option threat of state ownership or to enroll on TOl other forms of expropria- confined to whites and elec- tion. ting only white members, as This 'uncompromising' against the 'common voters position was wheeled out in roll'. response to the Tories' plan No specific numbers have for removing the 'unaccept- attached as yet Deer able' aspects of the existing these bizarre arrangements.

"internal settlement'. Jockey In an ambitious bid to all delegations unite behind a paper agreement, The conference of has and so isolate the militant course already proved itself within the Patriotic forces be occasion where Front, Carrington has delegates proclaim unyield- produced 'moderate principles in fiery ing proposal to fit the tone of while they speeches nego- the conference. themselves tiate amongst The Tories' document and jockey for position. refines the grosser Nkomo and Mugabe have away 'anomalies' of the Smith- so far preserved a common Muzorewa constitution front, and it is the Salisbury leave a capitalist parliamen- delegation which has been with struck by divisions: democracy. specific guarantees On the one hand, Smith to preserve the interests of the and the white settlers have white settlers. the prolessed outrage proposals from the Patriotic Front, and even alarm some of the Tories' sugges- Is tions. One of the major diffic- ulties with which Carrington has to deal is the problem of Carter persuading the Tories' racist 'kith and and wider imperialist view, whole not plunge the southern Africa even deeper still in into the cauldron of instab- ility concentrating by on their own narrow interests.

Troubles the At the time, Muzorewa encountering troubles his delegation Ndabaningi running? from the Rev. Sithole. Sithole has been at pains to distance himself from the 1980, is the bourgeoisie's only official leaders of the dele- real hope of a President capable without cutting him- of placating a militant working gation, self off irrevocably. Cas. ane same serving the interests of crisis- Such manoeuvring ridden US capitalism-Senator characteristic of all these tradical mose and the mo parasitic opportunists. One massacre more or 'radical the myth. makes little difference less oloov of his' dead brothers are the of these progress prime assets his present preparation: but crucial is unprincipled exchanges. raids Mozambique by the Smitte The Into •••ortUnIsi relatrona towards 'him snown bureaucratic leadership of the Muzorewa forces underlined US who the reality of the struggle as Tennea the constitutional confer- tion tied to the coat tails of the ence opened. capitalist Democratic Party.

combination of The Pay deal guerrillaism with diplomatic bargaining cannot bring A sign of this collaboration solution to the demands of was given mne ceventn-oul deal tentatively struck last Zimbabwe. the masses autoworkers' week between Bankrupt and readers general management-which, endor- model for sed, will Such bankrupt politics US contacts can at best result in a bank- auto industry. parliamentary demo- rupt Though details of the released, it cracy. deal have yet been The struggle in OT Zimbabwe is not to deter- both the Democratic Party and car industry bosse seats the mine how many pay strike should be avoided a white racists should all costs at this critical point of granted in a parliament, but it remains to be seen if US to determine the future of the socialist revolution auto workers will go along with whole of southern Africa, this obliging attitude on the the attacks of against the their leaders, Dart of imperialists and their follow ine. examee miners last year, and throw out settlers, and the betrayals of . petty bourgeois nationalism.

Socialist Press, Wednesday

PERU TEACHERS

FACE ARMY

VIOLENCE

aggravated by the The strike of the greatly • the IMF terms imposed by Peruvian teachers union financial relief to for the SUTEP has now entered beleagured regime. its fourth month and in Public sector borrowing has been slashed and now the last ten days inten- only 45% of the economic- sified action has thrown ally active population the military government Gen. Morales cutbacks Naturally the Bermudez into crisis. were particularly severe sizes with class which began This strike, cuucation rising to around 55 children on 4. June, is the second in some 60,000 teachers

SUTEP

and 18 months by permanently out of work. 120,000 which, with and The rapid growth members is the largest union of

SUTEP

has militancy in Peru. been met with outright last the In May yeal came out for 81 repression. teachers The government has days in demand of substan- the refused rises and union unless all local and immediate release of mem- political national leaders are bers Janea Ministry approved by the activity. of Education and funds are Killed Contored govern ment itself Now nearly 1,000 mem- Teachers are deprived of bers have been jailed, at social security benefits and least 5,000 sacked, and two have no job security what- teachers soever. last Since the Peruvian econ- Furthermore, both omy entered severe crisis in and this y cal of have 1975 real demonstrations been ward teachers have fallen by 44% attacked by the

VINOUSY

police and army. At least 50 and teacher worked for 15 years earns teachers are now in hospital as a result an average £50 a month. Thirty-three educational this period some Ovel workers have suffered a fall establishments have been of up to 70% in their pay, over 20 head- closed and a situation that has been teachers fined. The issue for Defend Iranian socialists! Fourteen members of the HKS (Socialist Workers Party) face the death sentence or life imprisonment. Send telegrams demanding their release to: The Iranian Embassy, 16, Prince's Gate, London SW7 19 September 1979 Troops attack demonstrators in Peru Hunger striker Hugo Blanco SUTEP is now. just as much reinstate. the freeing and ment of its members as the original wage claim. No funds This particularly because difficult struggle the union has no strike fund at all and is entirely reliant and political on financial of solidarity and the left movement parties.

SUTEP

itself is greatly influenced by the Patria Roja Maoist group but geo- graphical dispersion and the rise the left in recent meant that no has cals single political party is properly dominant. This from last is clear week's hunger strike in sup- port of SUTEP which aged Com- joined by the Party munist leader Jorge del Prado as well as Hugo Blanco, member of the Constituent Assembly and of the "Trotskyist' leader FOCEP front. Militancy It is clear that the organ- isational strength and mass support for the teachers has thrown not only Morales regime onto .the defensive but also revitalised the militancy of the Peru- class which vian working over the last two years has come out on several general utmost •strikes and shown Revolu- resistance to the tionary' military regime.

The overriding issue now is that of political leadership the mass movement-a major challenge for Trotsky- ists who, as in Bolivia, , have a significant popular base on which to build and fight for a revolutionary programme.

Sucialist Press, Wednesda; 19 September 1979

- INTERNATIONAL-

Back stage manoeuvres behind Indo- Chinese fighting Thailand War, famine and polit- ical oppression-these are Refugee the dark shadows across Indochina today-as they camps •Aranyaprathet have been now for forty years. One of the reasons for the leap in the price of gold in Hona Battambang Kong two weeks ago was the widespread thousands hundreds

I CAMBODIA

wooes were nailine on the Vietnamese border, prep- aring to "teach Hanoi another Khmer Pursat lesson." Two months ago Hanoi had : Rouge Kompong Cham to deny strenuously that it was -'Stronghold Thailand, whose right-wing mili- government allegedly the condooralle of Kampuchea's ousted Premier Pol Pot.

PHNOM

Whether these specific

PENH

threats are real or imaained thev fact that no-one ГРТ АЛУ believes that peace has come to the Indochinese on ever vanessane Since in Deceiver 19794 Kampuchea 1978, ecember Gulf of Siam and the installation a Viet. namese puppet (FUNSK) regime Phnom Penh: led by Heng Samrin Pen Soran, and guerrila wars nave continued in the Kampuchean countrysice Between them they control a Stalinist regime in North Korea very Three armies After Khmer Dalt Ene The i country-many reports appeal for a new national coali- Heng Samrin and the Viet- muthe Khmer ouges portica.

percent each. tion against Vietnamese namese forces line, appeal continue to Tace arinee resis tance from three different guer- it asth cogitry and that it based on organisations rilla armies. that rampucheans should return the Khmer alone One Rouge oower. curobe headed by the ousted CP leaders Nations, But he has implied that the United. Pol Pot, Khieu Sampan and indeed, it remains Khmer the recog. Rouge can join as indivi- leng Sary. government, though •as m ney perorm memse ves.

was Heng Samrin is excluded from Aber s be Naluened Government Khmer Serai (white Khmer recognised by the recent "non.

this invitation. conference in Havana. which includes remnants of the aligned" He. for good measure. ha equally no apparent Tacame Genera and tor Lon Nol which fell in 1975); Changed line reason declared that the Prince and the other is the "neutralist' tidy

NOT

barbate nuture Khmer Sereika. said to be allied Last week, however, either elections in Kampuchea. to the old head of state Prince as a result of military setbacks the end of August Siha- Sihanouk. or of pressure from now luke.

Chinese patrons the announced his "complețe so tour successive regimes in Warm Kampuchea continue to fight Khmer Rouge changed its line.

with US policy for power. Recalling its popular frontist SE Asia, adding that the US wa the three deposed. ones Prince "my main support'

DUT

have successively over- Sihanouk's government which include an each other are thrown 1960s, called for now to the setting international comerence degree cooperatina and free elections or a new erectacuiona and Kameuches series of some of the most un- democratic coalition", led in place of his original proposal holy political alliances ever seen.

Sihanouk, to replace Heng armed invasion by ine Samrim and the United Nations. vietnamese Collaboration occupying forces. Sihanouk, the "progressive" The "communist" Khmer hereditary reportedly estab- Rouge have remains Tre lished quite close military colla- wild card of Kampuchean poli- tics from the luxury and safety boration with the fascist Khmer Serai. of what is officially described as his "palace" in North Korea, he has in the last few ogen long series of near- Issuing a hysterical statements. Increasingly he has disowned his tormer Khmer Rouge allies their regime kept wito •urino him under house arrest and only released him al me lime or toe Vietnamese invasion to plead their cause international Voris. Today Sihanouk has cooled towards his former Chinese allies, Rouge as 'murderers' who want fight "to the last Cambo- dian and is evidentl collaboration witn the American Imperialists as well with Pol Pot ASEAN heads of state-courted by Laos • Stung Treng, Vietnam miles 100 All this manoeuvring may mose anone United States are both about to back new coalition govern- ment formue win dinanouk at its head and including the Khmer Rouge and possibly the fascists as well. It would be a formula which Shaniek spite of old enmities with would also get the support of the imperia.

list client states of the ASEAN alliance (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Singapore and the Phillipines). year's efforts by the Hanoi government to woo ine

ASEAN

nations (especially Thailand and Indonesia) were nutrice Ene Invasiol Kampuchea, , and they now all take anti- aggressively Vietnam position. end of August the nations, most of them

ASEAN

woode• win tens or mousano of Indochinese refugees, met in something of a panic and issuec astatement walch sore "The conflict in Cambodia

ASEAN

ASLAN

Vietnamese Stalinists and now Sihanouk

RACHEATHIPPAT

Khmer Rouge guerrillas originally welcomed into Phnom Penh in 1975 nas worsened in ine course ol recent months. There exists a real danger that it will worsen further at the end of the rainy season •That would the SITuATIon in region, inten the illegal exodus from sify Cambodia and,

VOSUIT,

create a growth of problems for the neighbouring countries an increased threat to peace ane stability in the region. But spite this diplo- matic line-up between the imperialists and Peking it is fal from true that the USSR and Vietnam stand on the opposite side. Though Stalinist Thesi leaders support the legitimacy and permanence ot the Heng Inev nave done so with an increasingly provi sional tone. Almost certainlv the Soviet Union has been involved in the latest round diplomatic intrigue produce national settiement or the cam- bodian dispute. And Hanoi, after agreeing to the Geneva conference on the boat people which it originally denounced, has now also ended its opposition in principle to ar conference on internationa Kampuchea. It now merely says such a cannot take place conterence until the Chinese military threat IS OVEr That particular shift in Hanoi's policy occurred during a recent visit. to delegation of U.S. Congressmen.

(Hanoi had also done one of its tamou: U-Turns whether they should be allowed Peace treaty The Congressmen subse- quently reported that : the Viet- government nad told them that it was ready to sign a peace treaty with Thailand While has not been ThIS publicly confirmed by Hanoi, it would be entirely consistent opportunistic wiTh The counter revolutionary policies they pursued up flave TO nOW policies have been at least those of China foi cynical betrayal And Peking certainly takes some maling. • years the largely pro-Peking Communist Party o1 Thailand (CPT) has fought a OF

HEADS

MIT

Page 3 guerrilla war against une reac tionary military dictatorship of General Kriangsak But has been ambiguous struggle since China, maintainine material aid to the CPT, has a the developin sordid alliance with Kriang- Its sak. Peking now declares roundly that capitalist Thailand must be against aerenoec threat of a Vietnamese invasion!

The CPT has beer told I by Peking to collaborate with •o•ressorsin propaganda radio in China was closed down in August. Destroyed This treachery has demora.

lised and split the CPT and by all accounts virtually destroyed its cadre. Much of the leadership has detected to the pro-Moscow, pro Hanoi camp. But if anyone suggests that Hanoi uni nest Stalinists' betrayals with a prin- cipled response they had better check the • ГОСОТО Atter vietnam Premier them Van Dong's trip to Thailand in September 1978 the Hanoi regime rotame exiled memoers of the CPT from Vietnam and Laos face to retribution Thailand, except for those who already took the Vietnamese line against Peking. Manor aiso revaee oonit close allies in power in Laos to cut the supply route from China to supply the CPT guer- UscO rillas! After the invasion of Kam. puchea CPT had where rearguard bases) the puppet Heng , Samrin Ared at all CoT bases inside Kampuchea would be closed unles the

CPT

renouncec Peking and supported the Hano line Hanoi has not condemned the Kriangsak bloody campaign the against guerrillas any more than Peking Nas So reactionary position Maoism are They speaking not with revolutionary principle but counterrevolutio. Their words are as false and their hands blood stained those of in Peking. the rulers In fact Wast unites a line characters mentioned so far in of complex international manoeuvrin. relatea to ine tuture ot am puchea is their consistently counter revolutionary intention: and the consequence of that- their cynical disregard of the almost unbelievable materia Kampuchean sutterings or The mastely the scarcely sane Siha- nouk bothers to profess the masses concern often-but then his palace in Pyonyang. The next article will look al the bloody and sombre legaoy of the Pol Pot regime will examine what little evidence there is about the Samrin regime and the occup.

ying forces and examine their eftects on the living conditions Kampuchean workers and peasants.

Page 4 Tories' racist drive Since the General Election with the advent of the Thatcher orv covernment inere nas been an increased spate of action to deport Asian people under the Thier ves phone the per the homes enter suspect person ano arrest ana detain them at detention centres for indefinite periods with accu- sallons Megal entry

INEC

britain "Suspects" have rights even tor their cases to be heard by tribunal. These laws have already brought UnTOrO misery and anxiety to the black population.

In the Oxford area a Multi- Racial Action Group. has been formed in attempt to fight these racist attacks, with repres- entatives ano deredates

ITOM

ethnic minority groups and the local Labour inclu Trades ding the Council and Labour Party bodies. This group took the initia- tive to convene a public protest which around 200 people in Oxford City Centre. point was ine the threat to deport a 9 year old him Trom his

DOY

stuaratire oritain ane disoat- ching him to his father in Paki- who does start not want mam. It is essentia Inat Inis issue taken the

INTO

mobilise working the class all such deportations and to ensure that all people and work wherever in the world they wish This must be linked with a latest Tory the fight against plans conto immoration further through •etrll using blatant sexual discrimination. A new Nata caw is banne• to prohibit the entry of men from anywhere outside the EEC tain to whom they are engaged or married. Letters Dear Socialist Press, dismayed to I felt really discover that the WSL has given so much prime space le your so paper to hacks who have understaname about revolutionary politics that they see as their main enemy all the left of the CPGB •roves to me who are making some signifi- cant contribution to the over- inrow or capitalism. Naturally, the state of the appalling- left Britain is enoless sectarian struggies tiny grouplets all claiming have discovered the correct 'Leninist-Trotskyist' and pure other line,

ISTS

and . Then turning out verbose and pompous crap and distortions goout each othern oreer to win converts to their particular sect.

during the Garners Recently, Sunke us neare or near when I spoke to some comrades line, and the picket was were saying and doing-it that the

WSL

seemed. to me were To terentate rom that host of hot air sects-Sparts

RCG,

WRP

that -in eTc provided and much needed support to the strikers alongside the SWP and IMG dismav then in madne my reading several centre page

'SWP

Specials' from your paper dated June-July which were filled with such complete distortion and in some cases

SWP,

direct lies about te prove' the correctness TaSO = Support Sinn Fein march October 20 of War status and this refusal to called national demonstration stanced 'criminals' by the British govern.

support or the neroic struace of republican prisoners imprisoned in the 'H' Blocks at The Sinn Fein march will take place in Oxford, assembling Lono kest and Armadh falls.

For over three years these at Chapel Street, off the Cowle have been Road, at 2 p.m. on Saturday 20 prisoners kept Treezing cells, clad only In d Ucrober single blanket, Trade and Labour ano sholected to extremes of and ill. Party branches should support their as a result of their this tredwer dive determination to regain Prisoner banners.

H-BLOCK

LONG

KESH

EBritains: Concentrațion Hands off the SWP!

CPGB",

and Leninist exceo! when no viola. that a comrades from your organisa- and Marxist theory party tion act in a true 'United Front' today's class not necessary such as at Garners struggle. Derek Chassay. Yet the it is precisely basis of our grasp of Marxism We reply: and ine crisis or working class Comrade Chassay's "dismay" at leadership that the WSL's full- the Garners scale our extensive political analysis support.tor of the SWP's 'rank and file pol- strike was mobilised ana main- tained, enabling us to materially itics is untortunatelv not backed and politically by a single. example of a "direct lie" "distortion" strike. or a We cde Chassay advise would contend that this VVe read be Lenin's What is Is because the articles were care fully and designed before returning to goner study of our articles on the challenge those like

SWP.

be simply "to the left of the WRP mystery- Dear Comrades, some effort to put things Monday 20th's because Keeping track of the WRP's extraordinary political

TWISTS

•ader was numeer luzi. and turns can be a tiresome task improvement did not Wednesday 22nd to Friday 24h Papers long. arme dest ou umes Over recent weeks readers had to with an were all numbered 1023. have cope additional problem It appears right. that the mighty Heavite oress were both graced with 'Newsline machine is going on the blink. 1034'. the signs of. The whole mysterious affair July. 18 broblems came the Chinese the Newsline appeared when the 992, the propaganda radio station which number earing for 4 years broadcast reversed same as the day before. By August it was tapes of news programmes evident that something One can only hope that the The August 13 issue section newspapers Library can make sense appeared without a date on the front page. of it all. 126 an A cynic might be led Then we had numberod regard it as just one more symp- rex: 2 were rumbered 1018.

lom or me as orooems in dealing with its corn history.

JUrs

PRESS

GANG

"revolt" his questions When the duct and from answers position against the Confed pay lying flat on the floor gazing at the strike collapsed respectfully at the carpet.

Leyland Longbridge Hill has been rewarded plant last month with the title "The Rebel" He stares national moodily of the newspapers page with his arm folded were left with egg on with a caption that reads: their face. "I'm poodle. I'm a not a "revolt" The had been bloody bulldog." planted, watered and reared Dunne's staccato style is like the beginning of one of win unel expert neip. Ine had press once again those novels that announces become major material itself to Man's force within the anti-strike for survival in struggle movement. ruthless world with the odds Its pathetic fizzle with a stacked against him... bare hundred scabs forlorn- "For two union years ly eyeing the picket lines Hill rebel has KOn been must have embarrassed even expecting the letter. the rhinoceros-hide of the "And when it came this "industrial correspondents" week he knew what it was who masquerade as the second he tore it open reporters of events and official note- SaW When less than a week paper. later their nominated 'hero' "The union he joined for finally got Mike Savage said he was protection had jacking in his job at Long- round to persecuting him.

bridge, they could not hide Cut to the quick profile their dismay. ot our superhero 'And so out of the locker "Kon, built like the bull• comes Ron Hill-long time dog whose spirit he so vividly evokes sticks out a hero Birmingham Tne Post and Mail-and the man chin you could break bricks who broke the Longbridge on and growls. "How can I back down? suke last vedr Dunne from the If I do, I cease to be a man, , when Sun was sent to interview and that day comes if I'll dig a hole and climb into him, that is the right word it. I'll be finished". "Ron Hill It reads as if Dunne must 48, but have had to take his shoes beneath his tee shirt muscles off to enter the holy shrine stand out like hawsers AS d of this great man and con- national serviceman he did a Send us a letter, putting your views on the articles in Socialist Press, on the struggles in your union or district, or on any topic you feel is important. Write to: Socialist Press, 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 1HR.

Vampires' sexual content And what a relief Dear Socialist Press to see vampire with teeth that would a was tater ested to set what new review of a film by actually be capable of doing the Tony Richardson will appear in job! Socialist Press But surely Tony's review It is not easv for a Marxist to misses mne woe doint of TAl write ye in a cre i vampire stories, including the certainly original by Bram Stoker. valid some points ine vampire in aram stoke origin of the vampire myth- does not here his terme whenever that was-is where or they Collidly overcome by a sensuous languid.

Ine note manı or a ve death, a man who could never ness which prevents them i from die. It is a macabre twist on the • trom Dracula as hi age-old search for immortality bends over them. The appearance of Herzog's Dracula's victims are always character in Nosferatu was able that he women-the vampiresses this to convey so much bette nas stacked awav in nis oundeot are given the male victims to tROn Ine Hamel movies with Christopher Lee.

feed upon. And most important of all- perhaps men don't realise this- but many actually like women being bitten on the neck in the vampires leave their •lace the teeth marks. Even Victorian ladies would nave been aware or this The bite on the neck given by Dracula to his victims dupli- cates me cassionate kiss aeoic ted on the covers of romantic novels even now. Bram Stoker's novel should •e seen in tre context repression of the sexuality of women in Victorian times.

Therefore it is very interes- ting

WATCH

• Chanel vampire movies as sexual mores also change in the 20th Contaly watched Int Dracula" with Christopher Lee and Pete Cushing the other night on TV. There were similar themes- woman reacting with the own " acallsi inclinations as Dracula came to her and sank his lips to her The latest Dracula neck Socialist Press, Wednesday 19 September 1979 lot of boxing and running.

He still does 50 every morning.' is still However bloke ordinary working with a heart of gold: "He lives council house at Brierley Hill near Birmingham. He likes a jar with his mates. "Two days a week he visits his mother in an old people's home." goes on to praise him for a physical attack on one of the militants on the plant. It seeks ludicrous explanation for the Savage/ Hill failure last month "Only a handful of men Savage. supported MIKe Why? 'There's a four letter word that affects everyone Longbridge' says Ron. at 'It's spelt F-E-A-R.' What notable about the article-apart from its crude propaganda-is that Hill's attacks are not aimed at a particular leadership of a particular union red baiting. Is nol The press has moved beyond that-and in any case it is difficult even for the press to see the Com- munist Party leadership at Longbridge as reds'. The emphasis is in this the most Last basic organisations of the class-the trade

DATONS.

Most interesting of all was the fact that, although Dracula • mare victims, ye there was scene where Cushing's grand. •amonter warke no a cea full of equally beautiful vampir.

"attacked" and was by them, The theme of lesbianism (coupled with a bit of bondage, vampiresses were chained to their coffins) is now •a standard pornographic theme But male homosexuality the does not create same turn on for straight men. and sc is still taboo. In fact, if you look at many of these "horror" movies that folk are based on ancient legends, you will find interesting psychological nuances in this, What see as a Marxist, is the change in the nature of horror movies from charming, the rather allusive pieces-such period the oriaina from-the crypt ones etc-to the 'blood guts and puke' explicit me) and (to quite terrifying mine. creater hamme nowadays, and such things as The Exorcist. This ties with the in •article on the rolltics or spor in SP 161, , where violence is good box-office, and exploited in a way Inat would rhave made the organisers of the Roman circuses look like babe in arms Yours in comradeship, Cathy Sherlock,

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Page 6

SPENDING CUTS:

THE TORIES'

-ROAD TO RUIN

Public spending is being hand-in hand with a relentless slashed to the bone by the pressure for speed-up the Thatcher government. Even snoo Hoor ane Tor ine introduc.

tion of still more new labour- the most basic social saving technology. services, the health service While a few capitalists and and shareholders can look upon this eaucation being effectively dismembered by spectacle comfortable opti- mism, tor the working class the cutbacks that deprive them Tuture unoer the lories otters of vital resources. little but increased exploitation and As part of the same wave rising inacca of cuts; whole sections of increasing numbers ot bourgeois commentators economist nationalisee inoustr-tne snio yards and steel in the forefront been forced to admit that the closures, -also face speed-up Tory course is leading with great rapidity rapidited recession inning towards ano mass reounoancies growing Other sections-the profitable areas of state-owned even now ony tae scae of the revenues from North Sea Oil Industry BrITISH Arways the National Freight Corpora- conceal huge tion, British Petroleum and accumulating in the balance of off payments. otners-are beine SO10 bargain prices to Tory bankers and speculators High interest rates simply some #rationa The pound now stands crazed government big real terms nearly 25% nigher. ir business representatives: it is a international value the markets than it did COnSCIOUs otal lo orive uo ne money profitability of British industry 1974-and is held Tory at the expense of the jobs, living high interest insistence that the control slancaros ane dosic rents or une way working class. inflation. The art Tory government devastatino One forecast by the ITEM nas omect contor IT s cougiina drastic cuts in public spending- Gross Club expects Domestic which itself drive towards will Product under Ine ories actually fall by 4% between the recession- of support second 1979-1980, with a withdrawal halves and for Britain to from weaker sections become a net industry force forward rationalisation and speed up.

to the tune of f3.5 billion in 1981. Manipulation Inflation meanwhile. being under control, Trom continues on target for at least a The remainder of industry is % annual rate by une ene of being forced on to the offensive this year-and this figure itself workforce against through is artificially low because of the "market une mantuation Wdy in wen ine strone douno forces". cuts the cost of imported goods.

This is why industry as a Economist after economist is whole now laces a maor two- now sounaina oure note warning to the Tories. Even the rates arch monetarists of the London difficult tirms to Dorrow business nave accused money at nome, ana an over the government of a policy of makes hard for increasingly them to Blind ignorance Instead the high value sterling has effectively reduced Meanwhile Wynne Godley of the Department Applied LIe COSt ol market-forcing Economics Cambridge the British firms British to compete described Thatcher the more Joseph strategy: unequal

LOTTIS

advanced overseas competitors.

''It is as though a physician As the share won by British from another du t come industry in world markets falls.

back to find a patient in receipt transfusion, sections and more and, blind the weaker antiquated the factories go To unorance. proceeded him because it was the only cast: This ruthless remedy he knew. rationalisation. "MY increased markets and belief that the profits for the giant increased •resent porcies wil orive economy into the worst coroorations. tor ine banks ano the speculators. recession since the early 1930s, Unemployment thus grows wit no presumpton lal. soon Howe taneous recovery will occur at server August thi The Tories certainly do not presume that • gooa limes art on ine way adain Treasury Secretary John Biffen, Thatcher's one central team of d that British Only that recent v declared capitalism daunting in which economic prospect' "painful and unpopular" cuts in public spending would be made for the foreseeable future.

argued ThaT "illusory" to look for a spurt in growth increased reventes

OUT

economy in the mid 1980s.

Tory Chancellor Geoffre Howe, with an appeal weighed union omniciars to tace up to tne Social services will also "reality" of the crisis of British suffer severely under the capitalism. Tories' axe-blows. redundancies and "Today s The thousands retrenchment would be tar les!

of arrival more former public sector and problems sy cala nationalised Industry workers his constituency The ere do for see ere al •ecared. TrOm in comfortable Surrey for supplementary demand Of course all this reality i: ano unemo ovment genetit- a far cry from the dream world thus driving up one area of of tax-cuts. home ownership public spending the process "real jobs so cynically and new of cutting it elsewhere. Tories during To compensate for this promised by ine their election campaign only a existing need few months ago. suffer, benefits are cut back, the Tories Cinema advert The government's cosmetic schemic Remember that Saatchi and people oovertv. ine suoo e. Saatchi cinema mentary benefit, , family income aovert

TOI

Tories, which confused supplement and rent rebates to from couple wander queue to electricity • OilIS seems certain to be an early casualty the cineme queue-and discovering of the cuts lines of people waiting for jobs for hospital treatment and fol houses? Of course the Tories would such a film never care snow aydin But aspect of the film one wds varia. ine arounowork Tot the present cuts and the mass unemployment which the Tories dit Was laid by the last Labour govern- ment. was Callaghan and seeking Wilson's OT 'manage' capitalism simply which led inevitably to spending

CUTS

in neaten, education. and social services, coupled with huge subsidies being handed out employers through orivate the National Enterprise Board and other ailing industry. Biffen For a real alternative to the retailers that profit from them.

public the sector ¡ orles smash ane cao tactic which offer only untold years of hospitals, schools, nurseries and misery to the working class, it is oiner yachties in cobarov result of the cuts should like- necesar not to present bobo leaders, wise be. occupied while elected Labour whose LCOt committee nationalist calls for import con.

examine and publicise the links public services and trols and state intervention in offer no industry prospect of a pianned economy, vale protects soc arist Supporting strikes the struggle tor action even lever against ine cuts Supporting strike acon rationalisation and redundancie must be fought for: the in as they are threatened present of attacks, section of workers can attord to Occupy stand back in confidence that their own jobs are safe action Factories unreatened Wita LULd couricis closure must be occupied, and should be formed comprising delegates from the books the employer labour the movement bodies and politica between firms parties coordinate and bankers, strengthen struggles on the cuts, suppliers, Contractor. an against ciosures

HOSP

Social service cuts hit poor The £45 million plan now falls between the Deparment of Chery and une moo. each o which are forced to carry out spending cuts vieanwnie ine covernment is stepping pressure the unemployed low paid to accept and InUs solve Ine problem of 1.5 million on the dole. Bludgeon Employment Secretary Jim Prior has called on local labour exchanges summons long unemployed allu women ane ovodeon them inte accepting available vacancies Within

DHSS

officials nave beer askee craw options for 10%, 15% and 20% cuts in spending. ine orles are also orebar. ing a new Bill on the social security system, which may well provide retrossective PrOVISIOnS protect the against court actions brought by claim ants deprived by the cuts of One proposal likely to be included in the Bill is an exten- sion of the present 3-dav wait.

ing period sickness betore benefit is paid: a period of up to the burden move to shitt payment from the DHSS onto The consequences the DHSS cuts are a major threat to Ine most downtrodden sections

-OUR POLICIES-

in industry. SuCr _councils provide an, arena in which the socialist

COLIOT

programme To ceteno loos ano living standards can be argued and those Labour 'lefts' Inat clai to cose canner can be put on the spot and can called to thei put words into acting static ex oosee The growth of such struggles at local level must combine wit!

broader, national-level action or wages, on trade union rignts and eventually on jobs and on the cuts. Mass action In this way it is possible to build the kind of mass nationa action that is necessary to force the Thatcher government out of oftice, and create the politica Socialist Press, Wednesday 19 September 1979 of society. Elwyn Owen, chair- the British Association OT workers nas warned Patrick Jenkins that: "Frail, elderly people and abanconed culorer wul ale as i result of these cuts in day centres, home helps and social work staff wil expose scores of people to un.

Conserva tive talked manitestc improving corvices I nose real Where, then, is the mandate for

BASW

estimates that ¿ 10% cut in social service spend.

ing will mean 28,000 less people 1,500,000 receive nome less home-bound patients and s meals will served in a home. Hostels for the mentally ill and the nanalcaoped will close and abused .10.000 delinquent children will be with.

out places for treatment.

safe. Wil Minister bluntly told when Ine Royal National Institute the Blind that blind people and the handicapped carry Their snare of me cuts And Tory plans for means test on the Death Grant implemented they wil are that even the dead will suffer the quences of Thatcher's ruthles spending cuts. concitions tor a serious strudo e for removal of Labour's the right wing leadership and the of the empty talk of exposure the Tribunite 'left' struggle for representative working of class committed socialis policies of the nationalisation of asic industry without compen.

SatIOn under workers maniace ment, and the establishment of.

planned socialist economy, could then stride • to the centre of the stage. daily fight action he for labour movement oTTensie anc for the building of a revolution- ary leadership prepared to leac struggles, the

TRE

necessar Workers Socialist League the vital political carryl. preparation for this situation.

Patients die in NHS wreckage

OLD

] PEOPLES

HOME

Thatcher's explicit elec- tion pledge that the

NHS

would be exempt from cuts public spending was worthless from the start.

Indeed the impact of Tory casn limits ana vAl increases on health budgets already cut to by Labour ulancelor nearcy nas further devastation. And has been compounded new Call

CUT

NHA

spending nationally. As Health Secretary Patrick Jenkin socied

OUT

Ine government's insistence that rigid cash limits be

ITIUSL

succession of AHAs have opted for ruthless "temporary" cuts to avoid overspending. Jenkin declared has that health amories Snould proceed full speed ahead with ¡sergei's disregarding even their cuts. legal nationa oblication toothless consult Health Councils at Community zoca lever. Nor need health authorities engage in prior discussion with doctors or trade unions, Jenkin Nothwest Thames RHA , which is resisting moves by the North East District community council consultation on the TorcE "temporary" closure of a 45. bed recovery unit. Little to gain There course be little for health authorities cain TrOm consulting trace unions and other organisations about cuts savant lial scarcely anyone other than Tory could agree to Lady Robson, chairman Thames RHA The soutn west has pointed out that the £100 Thatcher Council housing, services grind to The Tory decision to cut public spending by local i a halt authorities by a staggering £360 millions has dire consequences for a whole range of services and thous- ands of jobs, and brings the threat of rate rises of 50% and over in some cities. Nursery facilities are a fore- MOSt larcer Tor cuts in nearly every area; but these are linked to sweeping plans to axe educa- tion, transport subsidies, youtr clubs, libraries and whole spectrum of other services.

incase any at council vote to defy the instruction to slash the Environment services, malondre proposing rese tine include a penalty clause to deal rebel authorities in a new Bill to come betore rarliament in the next session. Heseltine has made no secret their powers over local spending desire councillors who seek to use to protect existing services.

the NHS million "squeeze' on • will mean the doubling and trebling of hospital waiting lists; "ine cosure or wole nosotas • of at least one ward in each hospital most districts; and orovuced Ene autumn NHS that is only able treat emergency cases. vomer now

TWO

veal waiting lists for a hysterectomy will now face waits of up to six years. sne said Lady Robson admitted that her RHA was reluctant to close the nusuildis "almost because would impossible" them. The S.W. Thames RHA alone faces an increase from 8 to 15% VAT, soaring fuel costs, a spate of price increases and burden of meeting last winter's increases-all on top saving £7 government target of to £8 million other areas health

BUT

EGA Hospital: closure begun by Labour, finished off by authorities grapsed Tories nettle and announced plans to the Royal Northern hospital. •ecimate nealin cover The Kensington Chelsea and Another •TO• coctor the Westminster AHA Protes Hospital Medials Guy's Hospital, Is oroposine a backade or cuts which including within the Lambeth, Southwark *Closure medical and Lewisham

AHA

has also orthopaedic and taken with Tory surgical issue claims rheumatology that talk of deaths arising from • the cuts is "hysteria" vans vv9-snutting 244 beds wards "It is quite straightforward.

Down *Closure of the chest we ane have reluction at St. allocation have stop renaolitation warde Mary's Harrow Road taking patients on, which means *Closure that people will die". of 1 beds remaine at Paddington Green Children's The Area faces drastic cuts Hospitosure of remaining beds as a five-man team appointed by Jenkin takes over the powers oT at Chepstow Lodge the Lambeth AHA-which voted *Closure of St. Quintins not to implement the cuts-and Maternity Clinic and St. about slashing spending Dy Columba's Hospital, Hampsteac Heath Already the 2-ward remnants These St. Hospital and other cutbacks Lewisham have been singled out oromoted consuftants the AHA's N.E. District Manage- as a target for the axe. ment Team to declare that the Intensive care proposals would result in a risk to patient mortality, increase "morbidity" Of course it is not just adults aliC Damace and the elderly that suffer medical education. Meanwhile the this latest nearby wave or cuts. tne shortage intensive Camden and care provision for new-born babies in with the prospect of Taced London slashing €4.5 million before recently highlighted by the case of one the end of the financial ear baby that was turned away from the oressed nine closure the before Hospitals Elizabeth Garrett piacea on a ventilator unit ir at Oxford. Anderson hospital, whose work- It turns out that 400 babies In naa become a national Tocus for the struggle against the cuts.

turneo awaytom overcrowded and inadequate Protest intensive care units. As one of the Lambeth AHA the President of rebels, Mr. Derek Prentice, has the Royal College of Surgeons pointed out has been moved to "We were already maintain- the Tinf plan Shut Cown 80-bed City London levels they •new Maternity hospital, are going manacement casualty back to are much further bacl axelne Time department and acute wards at than that." Page 7 declaring: how the government can possibly ask for total cuts of above 7½%. which be quite Themse ves would horrific." Indeed city Tories have oecome increasinov em orotec in a factional battle with their rural counterparts who have secure larger share of government sup- port. Taylor recentl slammed into his Party rivals, pointing out angrily that two are Conservatives the Those urban areas and those in the shires. The shire people-wha cars in TaBl garages, pay only £100 a year a standard three-bed: room house, ana

WHOS

mall problems caused tratTic But, not content to leave often by cows crossing g the road Tories, matters -are in no position to seek & Labour sookesman hov natters chance ley has added his own warning "Our research shows own against 'another Clay Cross', anc that there has only been a slight shitt in Government support to uroco councilors to use exIstinc powers rather than present the cities who have some of the frontal challenge to the govern.

major problems ot unemploy ment. ment ano social ceorivation."

But there is no real division Inflation Tories amongst une virtua combination cash standstil imoosec ov Hesetine council house building limits, last veers through a f400 million spending wage increases and Tory-fuelled many Cu L The Tory-led GLC has led councils with implementing the way openly declaring its Uv cut in services next vear intention end Even the Tory leader of the House The GLC itself faces a Association Metropolitan €21 million cut in its housing Tag Taylor, has Autorities budget, while balked this prospect, the 32 boroughs must cut back by £87 million. Tories elsewhere are mean. with their wAle weioning ten set austral means o see as a usetul means oi the lucra- forcine workers Into tive private market for rented accomodation, • to undertake rumously expensive mortgage: to buy a roof over their heads.

the Midlands Tory councils are pruning back build.

proclamme millions by nearly 20%-with a £92 million cut Counci House go up by at least expected to E2 to.£2.50 per •week. orie are merr about dishing out cutbacks and suffering to the working class, they scream blue murder if anv suggests that they should …one get a taste of their own policies When Sheffield Labou councillors warned that the f.

million cut in government grants would be applied selectively areas Inal returned or mrs o councillors, the Tory agent the press bleating "This is absolutely no differ- ent to the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis.' The idea that the Tory areas clearly voted cuts snou tererore receive them a: a democratic right clearly had no appeal for them But of course as a policy tr defend workers against the cuts it has no value either. Education destroyed The Tories fought the May General Election authority seeks means of cutting pledging to raise education- 33 | time loos. transport are mighs on the list tor • School meals milk al standards. But the contemot thev have curs mat councis wouloke to for anyone conned by such the Tories steam- make when election promises was demon- strated recently by Angela Rum effect, savin an exocated Tory the leader £200 million ber vear Kingston-upon-Thames educa Colleges and universities too authority, who declared are being hit: Polytechnics will that. "The neea to cut student numbers by public knew 5,000 by 198081; universities this gover tent was of hi face 6% cut back government was going number or students; and 40l stand for." science postgraduates Quailing • детоге ine lories have had their grants for furthe attacks Sheffield Labourite stuates witne awn ov toe Sort Peter Horton bleated that even a in a 25% cut. 2½% education classes and cut in education soencino throw 20,000 discretionary grants are also teaching jobs in the next year- Uncer the namaner ;promising a future of unemploy- Overseas students face the their fees- ment ane rustratIon TOr huge increase 20,000 newly qualified teachers fact viability of some whole courses demanding a 3% cut this year, and departments 1980-81 Taking every arda teachers tack inflation and pay increases into unemployment and worsened The youth account inese Tigures mean 472% working conditions. this year and 7% next. Coach WIll SUTTEr TrON In many areas teaching jobs impoverished facilities and themselves confront bleak are already trozen, and in AVor 'hundreds teachers will in future of prolonged unemolov.

October receive notice of dis ment or being press-ganged into low paid jobs on wecember st, as tne

Foundation of the struggle against Page 8 These two documents, written in 1923 and 1927 respectively, mark the beginning and the end the open existence of the Opposition in Left the Soviet Union. Ine rlattorm _ or me LeTi Centrat Commister presented to the Central Sept- ember in soon oromoteo Ine expulsion of 1500 Oppositio- and their hounding into 167060 well exie as me cabitula• of 2500 Zinovievists back tIon into the Stalin camp. The New Course yvas

TWO

Trotsky's first open attack on the and the party leadership by 46 leading members of the party. Stalin responded by refusing to publish tne statement and by disciplinary reprisals, but news spread, and in November pages rravea opened discussion. The response • was strong. The triumvirate now stepped up rebrecsion including aissol- ving the central cormittee Communist Youth League, overwhelmingly

WICI

supported the platform. But they also adapted to the oressure Issuing a resolution entitled the "New Course' which declared the need for improved Inner •a emocracy ano to the carrying out of the econ- policies adopted omic at the Twelfh congress-inos: proposed by Trotsky. Adopted The bearing the amendments was adopted unantuousiy rontouro on decem der dos The articles Trotsky's Conten The New Course are tionS to EnIS dIscuSSIOn The intensity of the response within the party, the openness the concessions made the leadership explain the optimistic tone or tre articies They are much less snare his original letter than to the Central Committee two months betore. and his pretace asserts that despite the "impenetrable mists that have surrounded the of the party and the economy of the country: dust clouds will The disperse. questions will stand out in their true form."

of the party, that the state The effect of the resolution, cal even controlled by the party rather reverse than vice versa. tion. of the independent acci- this way can new

CUEN

vity of the entire party collec- layers or workers be trained in tivity". politics and economics, and The immediate stimulus to democracy tostered wal ty Trotsky's attack was the sharpe- oUCh were cruciar for the working class to main- ning to nich stain respondent economic crisis in August tain its leadership over other further measures classes in society. against ndustry favour of Opposite course peasants produced This a massive strike wave as unemployment •tains ture was egome lo of all this. the opposite But a whether ,,wera had been asked head of year easier in novem del the GPU, who had 1972, to report on the strike wave and Trotsky's convinced the participation party Lenins To lowee members it, would propose Stalin's moves to weaken the state monopoly of foreign trade That une use auditist party members. ano aso to control ine nationa minorities by autocratic Economic policies methods. too vividly, was Lenin proposed to Trotsky illustrated that interrelationship that they should form a joint bloc against Stalin and seek to internal organisa-

LUTE

General Secre- tion remove him he oar on Ine one the and an interpeationship TAN AT Tea conoress. interrleationship also proposed that the Central other, should be enlarged Committee which rotsky• goo como lo 500 as crucial, and which to 50 or 100 and that Rabkrin is tne the then contfolled by Stalin, central argument should be thoroughly over- and in the Platform New Course of the Left Opposition. Trotsky insists that it is only It should be reduced to 300 or 400 and staffed by 'rank and plan, controlled by constantly file workers and neasants. who renewed Rabkrin,; ; the Workers however, do not fall into the direct or indirect and category Peasants fülly discussed within the ranks exploiters. combined with the Stalinism Many of the Left Opposition's supporters were from the ranks of the youth like these Red Army cadets party Central Control Commis- overweening sion, and allowed to attend any meetings or the rolltouro Went the red mein should gerial bureaucrats revamped Rabkrin prevent Nepmen',.

TOM

keeoine maemseves

TUES

informed of all things and from since 1920! strictest contro proper conduct addition he proposed that une state mannino commissior (Gosplan) should be given legis lative powers. Lenin suffered his laCt last stroke a month before the articles fewer bue on these

EVVE

•estons. Better' and "How we should Reorganise Workers and the Peasants Inspections' were oub lished only after a fight.

However, Krupskaya held back his 'Last Testament' unti the next year's congress, and Trotsky refrained from an attack on Stalin and also trom oublication o insistine on Ine the discussion on Rabkrin.

Theses on industry doubt Trotsky encouraged° by the greatly Congress adopting his own Theses on Industry. But in the event no five year plan was to be instituted unti 928, when it was imposed in the most bureaucratic and bar.

baric fashion by the Stalinists as a last ditch stand against the By Pru Chamberlayne prosperous peasants, the Kulaks and the technocrats and mana known I rotsky has been warning of the dangers from such quarters Comrades who want to learn Socialist Press, Wednesday 19 September 1979 Leon Trotsky was born in the Ukraine 100 years ago, in 1879. In 1905 he was the leading force St Petersburg in the Soviet. In 1917 he fought as Bolshevik for the dictator- ship of the proletariat, and became Commisar for Foreign Affairs after the October Rev- olution. After Lenin's death Trotsky fought against the bureaucrat- isation of the Soviet state by the forces led by Stalin.

This is one of a series of articles on his main writings to mark Trotsky's centenary.

the 46 as well as the Politburo's resolution In fact The New Course stands on its own as a spirite serious problem of bureaucracy. rotsKy nimse nao banner trade unions during the period of 'war communism' and also 1921. But banned tactions warns dangers of permanently stifling criticism and independent The party apparatus not paralyse argues must OT the

• LITE

Italive party and political oppositior must be overcome politically, not crushed-otherwise it would simply express itself in ultra- leftism. of combatting bureaucratisation and of bringing the older •gene- oarl Into the correct relationship with new was "the education of the party yout, basta on persona initiative' Conservatism Most deadly to revolutionary leadership was 'conservatism' of The Kne right wing who insisted on April 1917 and old formulae who wantes to draw back trom insurrection in October 1917. The conservatism salte strangled the necessary turn of policy. 1921 and 1923 supreme revolutionary honesty and the towards party class-quite opposite to the cunning, subter.

fuge and deception which must used the The problems bureau.

COT

cracy in the party were hugely exaceroated off of active party militants into administrative posts, highe education ne part was also swamsed Lyn carerist careerist petty bourgeois and the ot bureaucra always asourct tisation was predominantly peasant in composition. danger was that The wrong economic policies would bring the peasantry under the sway of the new embryonic bour geoisie, the kulaks and Nepmer aber course accident The Only the implementation of Course would well to policies of the 12th Congress-a central economic read Lenin's Fiaht adainst Stali nism and also to read The New plan to develop industry-could Course in the Pathfinder volume develop the working class entitled The Challenge numerically and in confidence Left Opposition 1923-25' and bring the correct relation which Trotsky's letter ship or 'smychka' with the pea reprints to the one de com ol Sally Stalin (left) with Bukharin, Kamenev and Zinoviev

should know about Socialisi Press, W'ednesday 19 September 1979 Lenin adressing a mass rally in 1919 Stalin, 1924, fact adopted the opposite method of the imbalance in the redressing weiont ot ine beasanty. 200,000 simply swept workers into the party through the enin evv. This raw and untrained cadre prey for bureaucratic was easy rule the Trotsky s insistence need for the working class to position maintain a ShIO over Tre WOTKeJS sldle was twitted nay settimati a use 'underestimating peasantry'. And his . insistance Con need for centralised planning was used as an accusation that ne ceneveo n tacie banaceas. In The New Course, Trotsky these slanders. Little answers did he realise then that Stalin.

backed theoretically Bukharin, would the next year attempt an all-out refutation of the theory of permanent revolu• tinsene te ot central to the the 1917 achievement October Revolution! In 19%5 atter the publication of the Lessons of October in which Trotsky lays the betrayal German Revolution the door of Stalinism, Zionviev and Kamenev loined Trotsky to form the united Oo•oSITIon. It was this joint opposition produced the Platform the Left 1927 Upposition 10th anniversary Seized The centra Committee retu.

sed to publish it the printing ress of the Left Opposition wa Trotsky serzed. ane Was expelled from the Executive Committee of the Comintern. The 7hour demonstration in October turned in favour of the Left Opposition but at the next Joint Fenum OT Tne centra Commistion ink ts and Committee Control abuse were tarown ar rotsk• as spoke. the Opposition oroken ano and a week ex serred iron Ine con - 2nd when signed Zinovievists the statem ent deserted. The main political attack in o on v cn oc nism' of the Stalinists, their blocking with forces of the bourgeoisie against the working class and poor peasants. Ti she ingraed, songist dangerous .from strength- enine ov ine kulaks ane weomer but also defeat German Revolution, Ene orttIsh General Strike and the Chinese Revolution. Stalinism was blocking with Trotsky speaking at the Fourth Congress of the Comintern the right in the German KPD to extent that the lefts were Ine being pushed into an ultra left Britain they split; Serge, Victor born agents blocked

WITT

Unte Lvovich Victor Kibal- Chamberlain; in China they had pursued Menshevik policies pursed Mensonrak soforere chich in 1890, spent his early political life in the the bourgeois nationalist party, the Kuomintang. anarchist movement and pamphlet starts with a the Russian I ne joined cetaled ex posure Ine Communist Party abysmal failure Soviet economic policy, reflecting shortly after the revolu- tion in 1917. WOrK _I rOLsK Was assicica on the Supreme Council of the National Economy after he had He edited the the Revol- edition of ocen removeo rom utionary Committee. Core spe te Military The composition of the the pare party reflects the political orien- Germany and wrote úcseæc do zz oz voe several impo rather than to the working class, the Russian I the middle and poor peasants.

He joined the Left Oppo- sition in 1923, was expelled Appendages from the Party in 1928 and And the state aparatus, and was several times the status of the soviets as mere imprisoned Stalin's by appendages of the state machine regime. contrary DosTevi Deported from Russia in policy of active involvement o and peasants the 1936, he re-established con- state machine. the ending ot the tact with Trotsky bourgeois separation the conducted a long correspon- state from society and of its dence with him (most of itinatin remereness which is available only in The Platform draws "Social French, 'La Lutte with see parallel German Contre le Stalinisme', Serge where Democracy Trotsky, Maspero and tionary elements thought they had defeated Bernstein's revi- 1977). only to find it reasser- statis tıno tse T ałer s e coma!

ideology. revolutionary social •emocrars retc• too muca the revolutionary instincts of working class and under. estimated the extent to the period от реасети: develop ment which had given birth to so powerful a workers bureau- cracy aristocracy, ana would opportu- compel not only the the

MISLS

CenLrISLS dISU capitulate to the bourgeoisie. "They underestimated the rea cander aid mo olsod revolutionary rank and Tile it with insufficient against energy. We are repeat that mistake, going to correct, in good time, the course of the party leader.

ship." Ironically nicel of ft course the larger the Opposition within Delecled WcChs making this statement. Also revolutionaries have to of assess the Comecuiess decision not to split the party at that to fight as the champions of party unity who with Relationships strove to reunite the party with Trotsky, initially warm, the working class. down in a series The Platform at no point DIOKe which disagreements uses une term •etrava aoclst Serge's the party leadership, referring showed persistclll instead to 'mistakes and to the anarchist tendency. At issue were questions weakness or ue barty Clearly the fight against Stal- such as the POUM and the inism was to be a much more Kronstadt mutiny. ditticult task than Trotsky envi- consistent Although saged at that time. Indeed it is a of Trotsky, Serge admirer central problem which Trotsk- remained sufficiently inde- yism still faces! his pendent maintain TO own position to the end. By 1938 Trotsky • Clo obliged to issue was 'Victor public statement Serge and the Fourth Inter- national', formally disassoci- ating the International from Serge. Slander campaign under The pamphlet first English review is the edition of a French publica- tion of 1926, itself a compi- lation of articles written in 1920. the Its publication by British Workers Revolution- ary Party is obviously to be welcomed, but it should be recognised the part of as What everyone state repression Victor Serge's booklet What Everyone Should Know About State Repression has just been published by New Park Publications, price £1.

It is reviewed here by Ernie Stubbins. Next week Ernie will review a new book on Tarism's arch- provocateur Malinovsky. WRP's efforts to give revolutionary organisations, historical intellectual the ethnic minorities, the C anC backing right wing bodies, its shabby Catlit 'Security and the Fourth onmanurosc oreaasauons scientific societies and even International' siander Calll paigns its political the Jesuits had successfully against been infiltrated. rivals degenerated tne Trotskyist movement. 40,000 The first section of the pamphlet describes the Okhrana, activities of the involved high security of 20 ponce 40,000 Russian Empire. It is based year period. on the files and documents one AT of the Okhrana captured by agents the revolution. the propaganda Cullild out that Serge points political surveillance begins in exile externally-following Here revolutionaries, listening in to telephone calls, intercept Today Ing mai would propaganda end to it. forces The are constantly late the between penetration the as they .the party into the Socialis1 and into the bosneiks. 1913, after Searching for arms during the 1905 revolution recruitment by the could add a range of new Okhrana, the to this list, but

LC LGS

confidence Lenin and the, principle remains changed The of Following from on was only one external surveillance the of arsenal weapon in political police proceeds to repression penetrate the revolutionary organisations themseives, by the recruitment of agents ception develop- T.ne provocateurs. Techniques The captured Okhrana methods directive sets out the tech- niques of recruitment and use of such agents-seeking Serge the and out weakesi aggrieved among the revolu- tematising observa- tionaries, sim ply tions network T. SOSe with insuperable money problems. Once recruited, care was to be taken not to expose connectous the agent. It necessary he or she should be atested maintain 'cover". Taking a large number of • Internal of the showed that from captured examples Serge they often knew more knrana aocuments, about the revolutionary demonstrates how system- organisations than the atically provocateurs were leaders of recruited and operated. By 1912 each of the Page 9 the first In closing reflects on section. serge the failure of the enormous police aparatus to prevent the revolution. "his resulted of course not only from the courage self sacrifice and lot the revolutionaries as compared with the self interestedness of the state employees. but also from the causes of the revolution itself-the conse- the economic quences .oI

CISIS.

Although enormous damage could be done to the revolutionary move. revolution itself the

HICLL.

flowed from the logic of the situation in Russia. the Even provocateurs, despite their •abult damage the revolution, were obliged to serve the revolu.

TOH E

Even while he was in the the Okhrana Malinovsky was obliged to the Duma the Having problems working 1n and the section following of Serge practical brings 3019 experience many years underground the 1n

WORK

anarchist France and Spain (which organi- Leninist for and need nature of bourgeois State must be over and over, that shown, judges interests the police, courts represent the etc. of the employers, that there is no 'justice' 'standing over the class struggle. Beyond this starting point, it is necessary for the party to be prepared against state bans. Not only is it the official state torces that must guarded against, but also the private police and investiga- tive bodies The conclusion from this section is the necessity of a commitment by party members to illegal work at crucial periods of historical development. Serge's practical advice is still worth reading, although it is now inadequate in the face of the technical deve.

the lopments

ISLALE

machinery since 1917. He has useful points to make about being followed, meetings,

LAKRO OL-

about using telephones eto which should be taken etc., seriously-they kept him alive during many years of illegal political activity.

INDUSTRIAL

Talbot strikers face closure Talbot's UK chair- and man managing director George Turn- be closed if a settlement was bull last week announ- not reacheu. ced company's the intention to close the meeting of the Ryton plant Ryton Coventry iranh in is being neia to report the abortive the ten- over the last week and to week pay strike is not discuss the settled quickly. It is not Throughout the strike convenors will be proposing at this meeting. They should has stuck. manazelen! doggedly to its original offer refuse to be coerced by the latest management of 52% in response to a pay claim of and turn instead towards a over lour times deepenine the dispute last that amount. reported It is clear that Talbot's Peugeot/ parent company weeks Stoke strike committee has Citroen determined to waged an active campaign of increase significantly the gaining support from other amount of profit wall trade unionists. squeeze out or workers This chop jobs on a grand scale.

has successful of Incentive scheme supplies coming in from Dublin. Throughout the negotia- The Ryton tions management has insis- should take will ted that extra Stoke and throw themselves available through опу De an incentive scheme. The benefits in regular hard cash from such scheme have been SO dubious that the union far have refused to settle on manage- ment's terms. Many meetings at both Ryton and Stoke have regu- larly voted overwhelmingly the strikes despite sustained by campaign management and the local press to push the carrot of incentive pay- ments. Rumours In the background there have been constant rumours that Ryton at least would

DON'T GO INTO

THE FIGHT BLINDFOLD!

SOCIALIST

GET

PRESS

struggle against wage control, cuts and redundancies

NEWS

threat too similar campaign- should take steps to seal the docks to all Talbot Peugeot/ and Citroen cars coming in from the continent. At the same time links As we go lo press a mass must be lorgea will olner groups of workers coming on into struggle. negotiations All out strike closure threat. clear what the At Rolls Royce's Park- side plant a mass meeting of workers there voted to respond to the company's threat intention lay-off whole national workforce calling all-out by strike on the confed's engin- Socialist Press the front pay came tied front these forces must be forged in a deter- mined effort to fight the employers. included If Talbot decide to close Ryton then there must moves •stop the spare parts fight throughout for motor industry the strikers nationalisation without a lead from compensation of the whole of Talbot UK.

CONFERENCE

Campaign for Democracy in the Labour Movement

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

*Prepare to force out the Tories!

*For mass action against Tory anti-union laws!

*Strikes and occupations against the cuts!

*Build Councils of Action!

Saturday November 3, 10.30am-5pm

DIGBETH HALL, BIRMINGHAM

Open to all trade unionists and delegations from labour movement bodies Credentials (£1) and details from; Godfrey Webster, 99, Barclay Rd, Warley, West Midlands

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MINERS PRESS

FORWARD PAY

Two unions that were led into acceptance of relatively low pay increases in last winter's round last week pay submitted substantial the Tories will not be the wage demands to the easy March, employers. co. NUM leaders voted unan- deal. imously put Iorward claim for increases of up to 65%-including a minimum settled for surface rate of £80 per week and a top coal face rate of last pay £140. mutted waal Times describes Differentials for settlement Other demands include a widening of differentials, a With inflation now protection earnings over 15% arrangement miners certain that pay forced out of coal-face jobs less than this by ill-health, and an examin- of a four-day ation week. standards of Significantly, the executive also agreed press for the settlement ot the claim by November- would restore the

WATCH

bargaining position of the union by creating the possibility • of strike action hitting coal supplies in the vital winter period. Right wing Such a change will not take place without a fight against both the National Coal Board and the lor which government, is no aoudi uncomiortadiy aware of the ability of the NUM to force its demands through No doubt both NCB and Tory leaders are relying heavily on the ability of the NUM's right wing once more to sabotage and to action on wages force home a wretched com- promise on basic pay rates.

Lobby But powerful and betrayals, militant lobby of the NUM executive meeting-sporting placards Daly and Gormley not to "rat" on the members this year-provided an indication armed forces that a sell-out now under And, forgotten

TUC

collaboration But the 1974, ane smash But a principled .. £1.75 Labour traitors, In ms rary £6.00 Tory government. • £11.00 .. £6.50 racial and sexual ly revolutionary .. £8.00 emancipation of mankind And it solidarity whether in Ireland world snan in iran ist Fourth International 31, Dartmouth Park principled, Socialist Press, Wednesda, 19 Seprember 19.9

DEMAND

bers. betrayal in But since inflation con- when Gormley and tinues out of the control of forced through a 9% workers or of the capitalist class, essential that Meanwhile the National wages are protected against Union of Seamen, who also it. Ty union for chaims to miserably union for claims every inadequate increase on the round, has sub- include the demand for Financial cost-of-living clauses, "an providing automatic extremely large" pay claim increases to keep pace with January inflation, by as assessed by trade union prices elected well committees. and rising it The weakness of bott

NUM

demands the and the

NUS

figure claims that such must no bring a drop in the living protection is included union

JOIN OUR FIGHT

AGAINST TORIES!

Returned to office after five years of Labour the Tory government has immediately begun wielding a sharpened axe on jobs, conditions and social services. Trade Union rights face imminent legal attack.

Prices are already beginning to rocket upwards.

Plum sectors of state industry will be handed to the Tories profiteering big business backers; and the pay rises to police and i mark only the prelude to increased state violence against pickets are anti ascists.

an an antensic army crack down in the accupied North of Ireland The Callaghan-Healey leadership has made it clear that it will opppose any perspective other than settling down and meek• ly accepting Tive years or tory devastation though they have once more dusted off their near.

"left-wing MPs have speeches, Labour's "socialist conunue• to cuck awav rom any tonito remove ballconar leaders, ders To her and toe have set out to establish a basis parallelling Tory cabinet, their anti working class alliance with wilson and then Gallaghan working class has experienced and overcome such betrayals before-to toppie Heath's union bashing government in Phase •4 0' allahan s reactonary wage controls in a series of monumental pay battles last winter.

are not dead • They point to the way that be defended Jobs, social services and hard won union rights car acainst renewee i orv aracks revolutionary leadership is needed if the TUC collaborators and their hangers-on in the mass struggles mobilised that can defeat and remove the Such a leadership must fight day in and day out for a pro.

gramme or transitional amanas which starting Trom conditions and today's consciousness within the working class And In taking up democratic demands-sucn as an ena l discrimination, it must show the crucial role only consistent. that must be played by the working class as the capable of leading the struggle for must fight on an international basis-mobilising Southern Africa or elsewhere through.

and drawing strength. and political lessons ousted the hated This means fighting for the reconstruction of the Trotsky.

1 his metnoo or approach, rejecting any descent to simpl trade union militancy, or concessions to any wing of the labour bureaucracy, is the method fought for by the Workers Socialis The next period will see major class struggles in Britain. A Merxist leadership is essential. Our movement thoug!

trone oronome romas dads numer JOIN US and take forward the struggle for socialism

BL frontal attack on workers Sociaiss Press, Wednesia, IS Serie

HULL ROADS

BLOCKED IN

CUTS PROTEST

order to carry through their Hundreds of parents tion and the abandonment of the nursery building pro- attack on the working class.

the roads blocking Wednesday of this On gramme. of Hull in in the city Ironically in the face of week, the parents from all protests against daily this attack it is a cut of the crossing. the Tory government's half school converge and march onto almost that has the city council building.

patrols social service expendi- They will be following in prompted the most bitter ture cuts. the footsteps of 500 school protests. 500 Their decision to slash and another Blockaded £2.5 million off the educa- school meals women who

GMWU

tion budget supported demon- collean At 9 crossing patrol loca- all-out attack on the educa- strations the council at tions throughout the city buildings last week. standards the tional parents blockading the But if the struggle against are region. road four the cuts in Humberside is to 565 full time posts are to times a day al the times when the patrols be won, fragmented protest axed-affecting be 1,000 full and part would be in operation. will win time action not All traffic is stopped as It will require the most time workers. 200 drivers-particularly Over non-teaching determined resistance

HOSL

manual posts are to be cut; the bus drivers-respect the defence of every job and picket. threatened by the service will go; and all adult educa- The. parents ram home cuts with the full backing of the their that tion classes the trade union

NELL

noveltel alongside Tories prepared in united action against the down for a year, are the of their Tory attacks. cutbacks in youth endanger the lives children going to school in and further educa- Picket by industrial civil servants outside the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall in dispute over the staging of their pay claim. Selective strike action is taking place at certain key defence installations. pay claim which the Cowley Assembly plant is calling for Throughout British workers are blacklegging on £120 per Leyland great confusion week plus a cost Cowley (although most living clause to cover has been. caused off workers, ( are now laid inflation. amongst the workforce while the other The Combine Committee by the sheer number of plants principled keep a position. has meanwhile called a full different attacks all Wednesday At the same time the meeting to facing workers at the November pay review decide its position. same time. Assembly formulated. The Cowley The bellig bureaucratically-organised Plant stewards have also There of course the 1S latest Edwardes plan which National Joint. Negotiating correctly for called Committee has decided that claim to be decided on and not only includes plant clos- ures and cutbacks but con- organised by a delegate con- be in the claim. ference of one per hundred tinues on the overall speed- members in order to take it up strategy. this £120 a week the of the In response to of 3,000

NJNC.

offensive Rover they workers are now on indefin- Generously, have Alongside all these is asked plants to submit struggles the company He sunke agalnst cne com- "ideas" pany's attack on their "mut- busy forcing through its The craftsmen's commit- uality" agreement. new grading structure. for £120 a Most plants have taken Then tee is arguing there are the two. day strikes on Confed week, while the Cowley the misleading advice of the

CAR STRIKERS

STAND FIRM

workers Vauxhall from the Ellesmere Port remain solid in plant their strike action on wages, and last week sent hundreds of pickets firm's to the Luton plant in a bid to bring workers their out support. The strike is in oppos- ition. to a company offer 17% estimated in the press and 13% by convenors and loaded down with more strings than a grand piano.

Scab labour One penalty clause on management's deploy scab "right break unofficial labour to sectional strikes, wilc others included rigid bell-to- bell working: increased productivity and greater flexibility. In cash terms alone the is far short of the for a 25% Vauxhall claim increase linked to a cost-of- living clause and a "shorter" working week. And although manage- reportedly ready ment are to "reword" the clause on the use of scab labour, Elles- Port have

WULACES

correctly rejected the entire Leyland Senior Stewards, putting the through procedure. The danger of this is that the initial feeling. created when workers are first told what grade they are in can be lost in weeks or months of procedural wrangles. The scale of this initial hostility seen from Call the wave of stoppages Longbridge throughout sheets when the grading were first issued. Similarly in the Cowley Assembly Plant many stop- pages have taken place and night shift week the forklift truck drivers out for a night. The most important decision came when une bundle as unacceptable. Meanwhile national union officials have been called in on the dispute as it begins to affect car produc- tion at Vauxhall's Luton and Dunstable plants.

AS WE

GO to press a of Talbot meeting. mas. workers at the Ryton assem- bly plant have voted over- the whelmingly defy to Peugeot-Citroen threat to close down the factory and continuing their 11- are week strike against a 52% pay offer. The leadership in Stoke has declared its support for this principled stand. Ryton's AUEW convenor declared in a BBC interview that he now thought the plant would close, , but that such threats meant that 'stand up workers and be counted'. This is true: but at the same time any attempt by management to close the Ryton factory must be met by a policy of immediate occupation backed up by an appeal for support through- out the motor industry and full scale union blacking of all Peugeot-Citroen vehicles at the docks. Body Plant produc- Cowley tion workers stewards voted not to over calci through procedure but to go to an immediate mass meet- ing as soon as the new grad- ing sheets are issued, and to recommend to that meeting a vole lor macimile sulke action. Feeling The company knows the this strength issue in the Body Plant. Although they were amongst the tirst the 'parity' payments they are amongst the last to be issued with the controversial grading sheets. Pickets outside Marlborough Street Magistrates Court- of one • London magistrates courts hit by strike action in pursuit of a pay claim for members of the CPSA and SCPS.

EETPU

militant still sacked Arthur Pearse, an Steward

EETPU

Shop at the Vosper Thorney- croft naval yard, South- ampton, remains victim- ised and sacked Six playing weeks after leading role in the rejec- tion by the workforce deal of new wage introducing productiv- ity ties. Following the victimisa- the

EETPU

Area tion Scanlon official addressed meeting a mass held in the works canteer while confirming the and victimisation, opposed any for strike action support saying that: "We (sic) should think of children wives and OUl walking out of our before jobs." Scanlon also stated that: "Now the case has gone to an industrial tribunal we should await its outcome before taking further action" effect, This, means that no picket is being main- tained on the gate, , and no leaflet has been put into the shipyard In thus betraying an the elected shor steward appointed bureaucracy have weakened the worktorce's itself defend further imposed against wage cuts EETPU Branch 293 of which Pearse is chairman, has passed resolution demanding his immediate stand endorsed by Southampton Trades Council Such support must be transformed into tangible not to get away scot-free with victimisation leading militant.

PRESS

Rolls Royce shut down as 'revolt' crumbles The ignominious collapse workforce will intensify so long of yet another propaganda as employers sense Tory press leaders are holding back all-out blitz by the aimed at breaking the two- is sianificant day pay strikes called by the most tenacious this Confed was marked attempts have Monday when a pathetic which, through from 1,200 workers the Enterprise Board, are controlled workforce 5,000-strong by ine ory govertittense.

turned up for work at Rolls There choule The Royce's Derby works. ions. at the Heavy picket lines most ruthless firm's Anstey works in Coventry an added deterrent anita do there, and in neither case 100, of the threats compay d indefinite lay-offs succeeo in drawing in enough scabs to start Locked out Royce AIl 30,000 Rolls therefore workers declared locked out end of the Confed pay struggle.

another pre- Ntem

CONTRACEPTION

two would-be scabs! Elsewhere, the two- day involving nearl million held have solid, despite the limitations the action by placed have Confed Wile defied mounting calls for all-out win the full claime sole blackspot was once Cowley plants,

BL'S

where a conscious decision two weeks ago by Body Plant leaders to sabotage the strikes paved the way for by the press and the paign mass right wing to whip up the anti-strike movement nearby Assembly Plant. As the Solidarity up for the National But the shortage com- tion ponents from other firms shut anti-abortion down ov ne sake nave causc particularly important that these plants to lay

OTT

union branches and Labour workers on the two days. te overweimine sonaarity Parties are of engineering workers which is defend abortion rights. decimating

SPUC,

the industry Thie "Society abortion massively strenothen tne nano of Confed leaders as they meet

FLECON

this week with engineering and ACAS officials em diovers legal But there that the manoeuvres and efforts of high as 85%. lie streligen

FUND

Reports from the areas indicate that the response to the increase in our fund target this month from £600 to £750 has been very strong. Nearly the whole of the f150 increase has been covered by pledges.

However the need now is to turn these pledges into cash. Half the way through September we find ourselves with £301.70 in hand, far less than half our new target.

But this money is urgently needed. Just last week for example, the cost of distributing Socialist Press rose by 20%-the second increase this year.

All donations should be sent to: Socialist Press Monthly Fund 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 1HR Oxford Tote Winners 2 September -7, 15-304; 9 September-6, 13-140; 16 September -28,2-161,94 Published by Folrose Ltd for the Printed by Anvil Printers Ltd (TU), London. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office.

SOCIALIST

lorganisations hand-in-glove with Thatcher ir controntino tne conted Confed leaders main be called that the upon This means strike breakin. resoone Kind. been made escalating the strike both of indefinite stoppage and all-out and BL the National to naming ine date or d las national demonstration which workers in engineering no illus. stubborn militancy that Ine Engineering sustaining these strikes can find a united focus of expression.

Federation Dosses

VAL DAY OF ACTION

ABORTION

2).

NU FURUEU

7 STERILISATION

Fight Corrie Bill-Oct 28! merely proposing Far from campaign builds a new, shorter time limit for October 28 Corrie's plans abortion, t80d TUC demonstra- destroy existing charit- would against John Corrie's able abortion clinics that account for up Bill, it 60% of abortions. grounds for And rephrasing of reportion after this would mobilised to arbitrary Tante restrict cases of proven abnormality of the foetus.

viciously women who have suffered from anti- for the there is a 30% German measles Unborn the since qualify, that estimated Corries Bil world effectively than a 100% chance of ratner abnormality. abortions 60%: The result could only be a other estimates put the figure as exploi return to the agony, the tation and degradation of illegal abortion, coupled back-street suffering by wholesale WILl working class women and un wanted children brought into the world as a result of Corrie's mediaeval bigotry. Three line whip In mobilising maximum dele- gations uctober branches demonstration that local

MUSL

alst - Donana Labour MPs pledge tenselves third reading and call upon the against the Bill on Party's NEC to demand a three line whip this by the Parliamentary imposed Labour Party. Further information on the 28 the Octobe campaign for demonstration is available fron Campaign Against the Corrie 374 Grays Inn Road, Bill, c/o London YLiN oDo Workers Socialist League, 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 IHR.

Stea Act to pains stop 'H' Block tortures On Three after the years Mountbatten's funeral alone Kieran Nugent became 42 prisoners were beaten up the first Irish republican all courageously prisoner baton-wielding screws. to refuse to wear British Nor is the restricted to male prisoners.

uniform in the prison Armagh jail thirty Kesh Long concentra- republican women 250 prison- tion camp, protest., still continuing cells for 21 hours a day and are ers subjected the struggle for the res- to harassment by screws. toration of Prisoner of stripped War Conscious move status from them by the last This Labour government. against defenceless prisoners The struggle, nOW. is not simply the expression then, takes place under the of the and most the prison officers: rather it conditions barbaric and torture, intimidation conscious move by imperialism Left naked militant

MOSU

fighters to accept that they Republican prisoners are no more than criminals.

who refuse to wear prison thus clothing and 'criminalise' 'criminals' for branded fighters in Ireland is consis- political their legitimate with struggle for national libera- tion are left naked save for government single blanket damp, unheated cells, with dark, no recreation, no exercise, public sector ana no association They are allowed only a Clear stand mattress, a water container, blanket chamber pot, the THOr and towel. They are British capitalist entitled to visits from rela- organised tives only once a month. should control inadequate, Food cold. and often generally full violence adulterated. Medical treat- ment is withheld from even have shown by the severely ill. Repeated violence such crush their As if all this were not capacity. are enough, LOe subjected to repeated viol- physical ment, ence, abuse and hands of the

LOTLUIC

capitalist prison screws

OHN BURKE

Sinn Fein supporters highlight 'H' Block fight

IRISH

POLITICAL PRISONERS

ARE LYING NAKED IN LONG KESH

ROL TICA

IRISH

POLITICAL PRISONERS

ARE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENTI

CLTKA

IRISH

HENSOL

POLITICAL PRISONERS

ARE BEING SYSTEMATICALLY BEATEN

RESTORE

STATUS

POLITIC

the currently repressing must take Lear stand alongside clear stand tne Long Kesh blanket men in their struggle for the restor.

ation of PoW status means, of This course, fighting in every union Party and Labour branch for resolutions to the appro- Wednesday of priate regional and national an end to bodies calling for the torture and the immed- of violence by PoW iate restoration ill-treatment preparatory SLaLUb amnesty five But it also means coup- this with demanding 'on ling are their immediate withdrawal Conned le the British army of oppres sion which remains the root continual cause of the continuing war in the six counties: war of libera- The Irish tion must be made a central kind of savagery of discussion, debate topic and active solidarity within labour the British perverted malice by reformist ment, whose leaders share the responsib- and ility with the Tories for the continuing British perpetuation and intensific- force to of the violent repres-

LINC

republican sion of the Irish people.

has seen year attempts to raise such dis- Of course the attempt to cussion in the labour move- anti-imperialist Newcastle Trades ment. Council sent a fact-finding the delegation the Tory which has

COULICS

to criminalise published a report. And in May of this year trade union activity such as picketing and strikes in the a successful labour move- ment conference on Ireland the Oxford area called attracted 150 trade union- ists and youth to a whole crisis-ridden discussion on the day of class any waI its opposition From that conference a be made committee to organise illegal' and subjected to the labour movement delegation of the state. to Ireland has met regularly Irish republican militants the spo nooshi pin under their cour local union number ageous struggle over the last trades branches and three years that they utterly attempts to Its first labour movement fighting bulletin on Ireland has sold out: a second is in prepara The British labour move- tion, and a public meeting is which also faces the planned for October 12. frontal attacks of the same Oxford Meanwhile NUJ branch has called on class executive the union's to special confer- organise ence on Ireland. Withdrawal offer Such examples trade in which ways unionists in other areas and should unions other actively campaigning on Ire land and creating conditions to develop the struggle for withdrawal the immediate

12 YEARS

of British troops. Trade unionists and Labour Party members can details on the : obtain more 'H' Block the struggle blanket men and the cam- paign in Block writing 170a information centre, Falls Road,