NO CRUISE! NO PERSHING!

DISARM. REAGAN. AND

THATCHER AND REAGAN have might, of their commitment to I .' called in the slick sharks of the the 'zero option' they are simply advertisiny ayencies in a desperate trying to disguise the fact that bid to shore up the image of their what they aim for is a massive their war drive. Thatcher's Gover­ nuclear superiority over the USSR ment is shelling out £1 million to which would guarantee to Imper­ disposal at least 9,000 warheads) it can Such an arrangement would make the the Present Danger' and passionate op­ fund a Ministry of Oefense Cam­ ialism its dominance in world po­ be seen very clearly that the Western entire arsenal vulnerable to a success­ ponent of ratifying the SA LT 2 agree­ ~ii:ln on behalf of Pershing and litics, force the Soviet bureaucra­ States possess overwhelming superiori· ful attack .... unless, of course, the dense ment. But Rostow was obviously too C~uise missiles. The Reagan admi­ cy out of projects to aid or arm ty at present, whether they site Cruise pack is sent on its deadly mission first. wet for Reagan. He has been replaced movements of. national liberation and Pershing or not. The positioning by an up and coming bright star of the l)istration is reported to have set In this context Reagan and Thatch­ of Cruise and Pershing would represent US "New Right" - Adelman, an arch aside S65m for its own particular and enable the west to defeat the er's so-called 'zero option' is a laugha­ a decisive increase of the West's nu-' cold warrior appointed as a sop to the Public Relations campaign. US USSR in armed conflict. ble ruse which offers to maintain Im­ clear arsenals aimed directly at the New Right in the US Senate. Vice-President Bush has been shu­ Reagan and Thatcher are set on perialism's arsenals in exchange for So­ USSR. The intention is to install 572 maintaining and extending their esta­ viet disarmament. Under the 'Zero-op­ ttled around Western Europe try­ new missiles in Europe - 108 Pershing Elements of the Reagan team have blished overwhelming nuclear superio­ tion' Reagan and Thatcher have offer­ ing to mend the cracks that have 2 launchers due to be positioned in become increasingly worried about the rity, Back in the 1960's the US was ed to scrap the siting of Pershing and appeared amongst the Western front line West Gerl')'lany and 464 image of Reagan in the face of the So­ ble to maintain a 4 to 1 superiority Cruise in exchange for the dismantling bourgeoisie in the face of Andro­ Cruise Missiles to be PQsitioned l(1 G.er­ viet peace initiatives. The normally over the USSR in terms of nuclear hard­ of the Soviet S520$. It would leave all many, Britain, Italy, Belgium and the hawkish 'Time' magazine expressed its pov's stepped up peace drive. ware, The Soviet Union 'was able to of. Imperialism's arsenals intact - and Netherlands. fears that the US was being boxed in All. of this is evidence of two close that gap somewhat"'during the . - - the USSR with 'zero'. Only at that 9705, It ited~:,l land based' S§20s by Soviet diplomacy "Preposterous as tl ings., Firstly, Reagan and That­ ;rh Reaga admiDistratiCUk-has pint do th ~ imper i alists claim they it seems to Amerfeans, Andropov Is cher are set on ensuring that by - 220 of which were targ.eted at 'NATO committed itself to this gigantiC in­ would concede any reduction in their managing to portray the Soviet Union West Europe. In fact NATO's nuclear crease in its nuclear arsenals as a existing nuclear armaments. the end of 1983 they will have a as the Superpower most concerned a­ clear superiority in European land strategy has trad itionally eschewed the means of reasserting US imperialism's use of land based missile' launchers in faltering grip Qn the world. Not only is bout controlling nuclear weapons."ln based nuclear weapons. This will In reply Andropov and Gromyko Western Europe against the USSR. it honouring Carter's 1979 commit-· have bowled a quick succession of the face of mounting alarm in the af­ match their superiority over the The US withdrew its long range mis­ ment to site Pershing and Cruise in peace offers into Reagan and That­ termath of the Rostow sacking Reagan USSR in every other sphere of siles from Europe 20 years ago and has Europe by 1983. The Reagan admi, cher's armed camp. On the 21 st De­ attempted to reassure his main allies in nuclear arms. Secondly Reagan since relied on its Inter-Continental nistration has nearly doubled its nu­ cember Andropov offered to reduce a televised address "Our allies should Ballistic Missiles and submarine based not be concerned about whether we're and Thatcher are fast losing their I clear spending compared with four the USSR nuclear armoury to that of credibility as protectors of the systems! years ago. In 1979 S 12.1 billion was the combined strength of France and lacking in determination or whether peace of the world. Their hand NA TO High Command, for example, allocated for nuclear spending. By the UK so long as the 572 new missi- we are, indeed, in disarray. We're not." on heart protestations of peaceful has at its disposal 400 nuclear missiles 1983 that figure has reached S22 bil­ _ les wer.e not sited ir:' Europe. In early based on Poseidon submarines. France lion. Next year Reagan is set on hit­ January the Warsaw Pact followed this The West German elections present­ intent, their feigned indignation ed the Reagan administration with a t Soviet "aggression" have been and Britain between them maintain ting the .30' billion mark!! Military up by proposing a pact guaranteeing 162 nuclear missiles which are formal: . major problem. All of the Pershings cutting less and less ice, as the strategy and Siting practice is being the non-use of military force between Iy independent of NATO but targeted altered so as to ma'ke a first strike NATO and the Wars.aw Pact. By now, and 96 of the Cruises are due to be si­ date for the deployment of the directly on the USSR and the Warsaw "wipnable" nuclear war more possible. Andropovand Gromyko were openly ted there. Hence the legitimate fears of lethal cruise and Pershing systems Pact. If one adds to thi's the enormous There is no other logic to last year's signalling that they were prepared to millions of Germans as they are dragg­ draws near. When Reagan and arsenal of the US inter-ball istic missiles attempt to 'dense pack' 100 US based d~troy withdrawn SS20s and capping ed closer to the abyss of a nuclear ho­ Thatcher talk of matching Soviet aimed at the USSR (the US has at i ts "MX missiles with 10 warheads each. their proposals with the offer of a locaust. SPD candidate Vogel has set 500~600 km nuclear free zone in Eu­ out to exploit these fears in order to rope. defeat Christian Democrat Kohl, and At first the Reagan and Thatcher with definite results. With an eye on

PAGE 2 WORKERS POWER FEBRUARY 1983 ~rmm~~~~m~~r~m~m~rm~u America the existing polarisation along racial and ethno­ religious lines inside the working class. The re-emer­ gence of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazis has co-incided with increasing racist attacks and murders, often with the collusion of state ag­ encies and the vicious police • • Reagan's W~ · agai ~t Not surprisingly the State of the Union address left out these uncomfortable facts, but they too "AMERICA IS ON the mend", was the are hallmarks of Reagan's success. For Reagan the theme of Ronald Reagan's recent "State of worrying aspect of this "success' is that at the mid­ the Union" address, marking the mid"point point of his Presidency he is even less popular than of his Presidential term of office. the hapless Jimmy Carter, two years into his term To be sure, things have not gone as well of office. One poll recently estimated that 65% of as he had hoped two years ago (the promi­ Americans thought he was doing a bad job. The sed balanced budget in 1983 is now expec­ U.S. workers proportions of those supporting him sunk to 9% among black Americansl But if the opposition re­ ted to be a staggering ~190 billion deficit, mains passive, then Reagan will continue to press for example.) But Reagan claimed that with home the attacks of America's ruling class. "sacrifice and patience" America would soon be back on the road to recovery. There can be no doubt that the AF L-CIO lea­ ders will use every trick in the book to stifle and de­ It hadn't escaped him that"For many of our rail all attempts to wage a class-wide fightback fellow citizens - farmers, steel workers, autowor- ' against Reagan. But they have not had it all their kers, lumbermen, black teenagers and working own way in containing the militancy of the working mothers - this is a painful period " and so "We class. must do everything in our power to bring their or­ deal to an end." A significant section of workers have moved into He then proceeded to outline the measures he conflict with the bureaucracy's "giveback" plans. would put to Congress to "end the ordeal" . There Ford workers accepted a "giveback" proposal from should be a freeze on Federal spendin·g; steps would Ford's which was iJacked by UAW's F raser who pio­ be taken to "control" welfare, Medicaid and the neered a previous giveback at Chrysler. They did so cost of Foodstamps. Families putting their kids by a majority of three to one for a package that through private school would qualify for a new tax guaranteed profit sharing and no redundancies. A relief (laid off carworkers, black teenagers and wor­ later and less "attractive" offer was passed at Gen­ king mothers should book their places nowl) and eral Motors by a narrow 52-48 majority. Chrysler if the deficit didn't fall below 2%% of GNP an extra workers have now refused to accept another round .50 billion would be raised from taxes in 1986-8. of their deal. In each case there has been a sizeable, The exact meaning of all this was spelled out Tear gas from Reagan's cops for workers demonstrating in Colorado. and increasing, number of workers who have wanted by the White House officials. As they explained to by his handling of the air traffic controllers' (PAT(;O) Auto Workers leader, blazed the trail in Chrysler to do battle with the bosses and the trade union the New York Herald Tribune " .... the Reagan for­ strike. Union leaders were arrested and strikers given with a "wage-cuts for no redundancy" agreement leaders. It is within this layer of workers that the mula would translate into a significant increasa in an ultimatum to return to work or face the sack. (since when Chrysler has halved its workforce) and potential exists for the organisation of a militant military spending, accompanied by real cuts in prac­ Eleven and a half thousand remained solid and repeated the deal later at Fords and General Motors. fightback. tically every major non-military domestic program were promptly fired. They remain blacklisted from The givebacks have since reached epidemic propor­ while the president holds firmly the line on the tax all government office, their union has been decerti­ tions as bosses increase work speeds, cut safety There are other indicators that the American cuts that he pushed through Congress in 1981." fied and Reagan has spent S4 billion training replace­ costs and hold down wages. working class - despite its leaders - has not been (27th Jan.19831. In fact the budget means a 9% ments. With a single blow Reagan inflicted a ser- Like their British counterparts the union leaders completely cowed by Reagan's offensive. In the 'l1crease in war spending and a real 3% cut in wel- ious defeat on a section of government workers, spare little effort to derail potential action in de­ South-West an "American Federation of Workers" I re finance. While the income tax cuts will give a cowed other government workers facing his spend- fence of workers interests. Instead they peddle their has recently been formed which links farm workers , .-fistful of dollars" to the highly-paid they will only ing cuts and gave a cue to the bosses to press home own version of the Alternative Economic Strategy, unions in Texas, Arizona and Florida with the Cal­ mean "a few dollars more" to the low paid who thei r attacks. and channel discontent into votes for "friends of ifornia based "Brotherhood of General Workers". come off net losers after increases in regressive taxes Labor" inside the bourgeois Democratic Party, who, This represents a serious attempt to organise some and cuts in services. For the impoverished masses in Less dramatic perhaps has been the campaign for their part, seem less anxious to espouse a New of the most oppressed and downtrodden workers the United States (30 million are on or below the to curtail trade union organisation. Anti-strike and Deal than take the edge out of the "ordeal". in the United States. Mineworkers have done battle phoney "official" poverty line, while 15 million are anti-picket "R ight to work" laws have been adopted with their bosses and their union leaders. The UM­ out of work) Reagan is promising more of the same. by several states to prevent 'trade unions organising Recently Kirkland has publiclV endorsed a pro­ WA waged a sixteen week strike in 1977 and an So much of his talk about ending their ordeal. while decertification under tlfe Wagner Act has been posal from banker Rohatyn whereby the unions eleven week strike in 1981. On both occasions rank Reagan came to power as the candidate of that on the increase in recent years. So far Reagan has would sell condition~ and wage levels in exchange and file miners organised themselves against the section of the US bourgeoisie committed to a savage , refrained from imposing "Right to work" laws for pledges from the bosses to step up investment treacherous leadership of Sam Church. Those strug­ anti-working class programme to reverse the decline nationally. He has preferred to stuff the National in the decaying traditional industrial areas. Many gles contributed to the ousting of Sam Church by both of America's world hegemony as far as polit­ Labour Relations Board t"ith his T en, thus avoiding trade union leaders have added their voices to the "Miners for Democracy" in 1982. Other important mOUfltin!J"Cllmpaign for import controls - particular­ ics were concerned, and also as regards her faltering an unnecessary provocation of the unions. But he groups of workers have fought protracted battles ly aimed at keeping out Asian imports. A vigorous economy. The 1970s saw a marked fall in profit is under pressure to disband protective legislation in in the last year including the New York tram dri­ fight must be waged to root out this class collabo­ rates in the US, which highlighted declining Ameri­ a number of fields. The Davis- Bacon Act which vers, 37,000 UAW workers in CaterpillarTractor rationist and racist poison from the ranks of or- can competitiveness compared with West Germany guarantees the union rate for

WORKERS POWER FEBRUARY 1983 PAGE 3 r >

r?:~~,:E~':~1:~:~~:~~~~:£:~~~mTrotskYlsts, as with their predecessors In the '~' HE " Social-Democratic Federation (SDF) and the . COLLAPSE< OF E British Communist Party, the great strength of • • ~i~~E~t~~~;JSi;~~§.;:g~j~ TR' g~SKYIS ' M' • Between 1934 and 1936 splits over work in " ~ I AFTER the (I LP) or the ' Labour Party (LP) completely derailed the head of the proletariat" and that1:he Fl's task to 'this movement. From 1936 - 39 there were at one end was to educate and organise the proletarian moment or another at least ten "Trotskyist" vanguard. This article in our continuing series on the tactic of "", looks at the rolethatth groupings in Britain. Where more than personal Taken in epochal terms Trotsky's perspective and misapplication of this tactic played in the collapse of dritish in the 1940s. Th intrigue was involved, the Labour Party question strategic conclusions were correct, Stated thus at period of t3ritish Trotskyism is an underexplored one. Leaders of left groups today like was usually at the heart of differences. the l.ieginning of a world war, they were a justifiable of the Militant, of the SWP and of the WRP, have mo The "Peace and Unity" Conference of 1938 cen- perspective full of revolutionary optimism and will. tered on Labour Party and ILP perspectives. The im- However, as Trotsky pointed out in the same docu- interest in obscuring the history of this period, in which they were participants, than in mediate collapse of the resultant Revolutionary Soc- ment: "What characterises a genu ine revolutionary shedding any instructive light upon it. Their mistakes of this period are crucial in ialist League (RSL) - official section of the Fourth organisation is above all the seriousness with which understanding how and why t3ritish Trotskyism got shattered into a host of centrist frag­ International (F I) - partly stemmed from unresolved it works out and tests its political line at each new ments. To admit these mistakes would mean admitting a departure from revolutionary differences' on this score, test of events", communism - hence the silence of Grant, Cliff and Healy. The 1944 Fusion Conference which produced the The Fourth International however clung to the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) was deeply validity of Trotsky's perspective well beyond the The mistaken method developed in 1945-51, a period of Labour government, pver the divided over the question and the party was to remain end of the war. The failure of a revolutionary sit- question of "entryism", is being repeated by centrist organisations today. "Socialist Organ so. The majority reporter to the 1946 National Con- uation to materialise in an exhausted, occupied and and "Socialist Challenge" are in the forefront of this process. Whether or not they admit ference complained of : "the tremendous energy divided Germany, where the remaining prestige of their attitude to the Labour Left, their abandonment of fundamental revolutionary positic which has been consumed by the Party, and which Social Democracy and Stalinism were thrown into partly consumes the Party, in the factional struggle the scales to support the huge armies of the occupy- and their fantasies about the "evolution" of a "hard" reformist "Ieft", have precedents in especially insofar as it related to the question of en- ing powers, seriously undermined the projected revol- the 1945-51 period of British, and eventually, international Trotskyism. try or non-entry into the Labour Party." (Special In- ution.- The prestige of Italian and French stalinism In our view this period saw a qualitative degeneration of Trotskyism into centrism. On ternational Bulletin Sept. 46), gained both by the partisan's fight against the Nazis the question of strategy and tactics with re\iard to the Labour Party, the co-sponsors of The fusion which produced the RCP was a move and the victory of the Red Army, headed off revol- the centrist revision of Trotskyism were Thomas Gerard Healy (Gerry Healy) and Michel of great promise, bringing together delegates rep re- utionary situations in both of these countries. In senting some 490 members. Whilst this figure was an Britain and the USA, no pre-revolutionary crises Raptis (Pablo). The former was leader of the Minority Faction of the Revolutionary Con overestimate, as was later recognised (the figure being comparable to the post-1918 situation emerged, In munist Party (British Section of the Fourth International); the latter was Secretary of the nearer 350), the RCP had a solidly proletarian class 1918-25 in Britain, 192,250,000 days were lost FI itself. Though history was to cast Pablo in the role of the great Satan of Revisionisr composition, and was well-rooted in the trade unions. through strike action. In 1945-51 the figure was and Healy as the patron saint of "Anti-Pabloism", in the key period which prepared and Unlike the European sections the RCP had not been 14,250,000. In the USA there was a massive strike executed the centrist liquidation of Trotsky's programme, they were close allies - who the victim ,of massive repression; its cadre was intact. wave but it was under constant bureaucratic control, Yet none of this was to save the RCP from poli - and achieved economic concessions but resulted in moreover had the 100% support of Jim Cannon of the American Socialist Workers Party, tical collapse over the following five years. In part the passing of harsh anti-union laws like the Taft- the other main figure in world Trotskyism. this was due to building on insecure foundations, Des- Hartley Act. Clearly by 1947, no revolutionary or We will follow this article with a further one on the practice of Healy's group durin pre-revolutionary situation existed in the principle pite the historical differences over the entry question the "Socialist Outlook" venture, from 1948 to 1954. This period, following the colla ps .. < a veil was drawn over the experience and therefore imperialist countries. The leaders of the F I, and especially its Secret- of British Trotskyism, provided irrefutable evidence of the centrist practice of the over the politieal lessons of the preceeding ten years, ariat members Pablo and E. Germain (Mandel), clung Healy group. The fusion conference agreed not "to open up old remorselessly to Trotsky's perspective of economic wounds and go over sterile discus~ions of the past crisis and stagnation despite these developments, which can have value only for the archive rat or the They li nked to it a perspective of revolution, The to be clarified for us at the beginning of the 'cold could get started in England ...... lf one were to historian of the future, but which would only intro- 1946 document "The New Imperialist Peace and the war'; the relatively short period before the war breaks take to write the real history of Bri,ish Trotsk) duce the antagonisms of the past into the fused party, Building of Parties of the F I" stated these erroneous out; the new and decisive character of this war; the he would have to set the starting pOint as the ( and therefore be a godsend to the professional faction views unequivocally: "the war has aggravated the fighter." accelerated crisis of the capitalist regime which will and date on which your group finally tore itsel disorganisation of capitalist economy and has. Such 'agreements to disagree' have been a hall-mark in any case acquire a generally explosive character in from the Haston regime and started its own in! of unifications throughout the last 30 years, of British destroyed the last possibilities of a relatively stable the wa r itself." dent work". (Trotskyism versus Revisionism, V equilibrium in social and 'international relations ... lf Pablo's perspective was false on every count, The p.262) "Trotskyism", They amount to a decision not to the war did not immediately create in Europe a rev- decide on crucial tactical questions - usually on the "cold war" was a retrenchment of the spheres of in­ What was this splendid struggle in which Ca olutionary upsurge of the scope and tempo we pretext that "only tactics" are involved. Yet pol­ fluence agreed at Yalta and Potsdam with conflict acted as midwife at the birth of British Trotsk ~ itical life has yet to produce a way of carrying out anticipated, it is nevertheless undeniable that it des­ only in the areas where no agreement existed. Given The fact that this lusty infant turned out to be a strategy except by means of tactics, Since fighting troyed capitalist equilibrium on a world scale, thus the resolution of the inter-imperialist contradictions, ism should give us pause, re f ormism - in Britain at least - is a central question, opening up a long revolutionary period". the massive destruction of productive forces in Eur­ The first majority Labour Government was the tactical questions cannot be left aside, These formulations were in stark contraSt to ope and the uncontested economic hegemony of the in a landslide victory in July 1945, 48% of the Tactics can be applied in either a principled or an Trotsky's warnings to differentiate between different USA (dissolution of the French and British colonial had given it 393 seats, 146 more than the com unprincipled fa~ hion. If the latter is the case then they situations and periods, and to orient the programme empires and their transference to the status of US opposition, The British working class expressed corrupt and dis'integrate the revolutionary strategy of accortlingly, The longer the crisis and the revolution- semi-colonies) the likelihood, let alone the probabil ity desire for fundamental change, its desire not te whi<;h they are a part. Thus strategy and tactics do not ary period extended without pro'ducing real crises or of a new world war was a thoroughly false basis for turn to the dole queues of the thirties in a ma! inhabit separate realms _ indeed consigning tl)em to revolutions, the more Pablo and Mandel emptied these a perspective. Certainly Marxists could not easily "pre­ electoral show of strength but one that had litl mutual isolation is the first sign of centrism. How terms of any specific concrete content."Crisis" they dict" the long boom that lay ahead but to stake all , no counterpart in direct action in the factori.Q' this disease destroyed British Trotskyism is integrally turned into' an epochal ever-present phenomenon, and to revise fundamental principles in the operation streets. In the first 15 months after World V( linked to a parallel process within the Fourth Inter- "Revolution" became a process whose protagonists of crucial tactics (entrism) on such un6ialectical there were 12 times fewer strikes than in 19',_ national as a whole, Indeed in some respects the became "forces", "currents" and "tendencies", schema-mongering led straight to disaster. From this British experience pre-figured the issues and events rather than parties grouped around programmes. false perspective, and using the same method with J\:"'"! ~ ~ . ' . of the great schism of 1951 to 1053 when the Fourth The precision of definite revolutionary or pre- which he had elaborated it, Pablo predicted a "pro­ ' ~ .~. 0°. , . ' t· " International split in two. revolutionary situations, of parties, leaderships, pro­ cess of differentiation" within the social-democratic I grammes, were dissolved in the name of fidelity to and Stalinist parties, Since these parties "cannot be I Trotsky's perspectives, Conferenc~ smashed and replaced by others in the relatively By 1950 Pablo extended this method into a new THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL short time between now and the decisive conflict" I' Document~ pespective of war-revol ution; of centrist tendencies they must be transformed by differentiation, This roughly adequate to revoltuionary tasks. If the itself would take place by stages; first "Bevanism", D 9.+~ An important preparatory stage in the centrist implementation of these positions only began in and then at a later stage a "genuine revolutionary degeneratiq.n of the F I took place in its process of 1952 on an international scale, the' forging of the tendency". But the latter stage lies at a distance reconstruction after the war Between 1944 and underlying method took place in the earlier period. whose arrival cannot be foreseen, Therefore "it will 1·948 it raised a correct, indeed couragebus, revo­ With Healy as his loyal local representative, Pablo first be necessary to go through the experience (of lutionary programme for Europe in the aftermath of discovered in B1"itain a "pre-revolutionary crisis"; a Bevanism - WP) by penetrating it and helping it the Imperialist War, However, the work of its con­ centrist current (Bevanism); a new tactic, total entry from the inside to develop its last resources and ferences and Congresses (European ~onference 1944" for a long period; a new programme - "transitional consequences... Pre-Conference 1946, Second'Congress 1948) on the demands. to mobilise. thousands"; a new vehicle for This is the basis of entryism of a "different kind question of perspective< feli decisively below its pro­ revolution - the -Labour Party, suitablv transformed. from the entrism practised before the war", one by D.O, grammatic and tactical positions, The F I:s strength based on a desire "from the inside of these tendencies in the latter lay in its firm adherence to Trotsky's to ampl.ify and accelerate their left centrist ripening". PAB~O'S "NEW TYP~" ENTRYISM positions, Yet, paradoxically, a, similar fidelity to In this process the Trotskyists were to compete ~iE ";OUHNE ~IOUTH COlfFEREl~C'& Trotsky's 1938-40 perspectives and prognoses led to for leadership of these centrist tendencies. Gone was a !::.i,Ll 'l'Y Alli) ILLUS I ON serious problems, . Thus in February 1952 , Secretary of the fight for a revolutionary tendency, able and by Tee Grant Trotsky's perspective in 1938/40 was one of war the Fourth International, in introducing his "special willing to criticise and expose all shades 'of centrism and revolution as immediate prospects. He correctly type" entrism pointed to the pilot-run entrism of the and reform ism. Gone was Trotsky's specific, concre;te foresaw the catastrophic effects of the war on both British and Austrian sections. He notes that in the perspectives and the principled entry tactics approp­ Labour's 1945 programme declared that the the capitalist states and on the USSR , He considered period 1944-47 the work of the International was one riate to them. our Party is a Social.ist Party and Proud of it" that the Kremlin bureaucracy and its totalitarian of "essentially independent work". This work was, but its programme in general reflected the socia apparatus would break up under the blows of the in Pablo's view, based on a perspective of "the masses political consensus of the leaders of the wartim war; that rotten to the core bourgeois democracy deserting the old reformist parties" and "disillusioned" alition. There was a Liberal-Tory-Labour agreen THE ROAD TO RUIN FOR THE R.C.P. would collapse, bringing down with it the reformist with Stalinism. Here he remarks that England and on such things as full employment and social se parties and trade unions. These, threatened or real­ Austria were "special cases" and "did not fail to and a national health service. These were the fil ised catastrophes would open up the necessity and attract the attention of the International". For Pablo Pablo's entrism sui generis produced an "explo­ priorities of the Labour administration. Its nati, p~sibility of the FI assuming revolutionary leader­ this work prefigured his later tactics (entrism sui sion and a differentiation" all right - but it was within sation progr"'~"ne for the coal, electricity and e ship of the masses during and after the war. generis - entrism of a special type): ...... in the entry the ranks of the F I not those of the social democrats industries refiected the ruling class' willingness ' Of course this was not a "prediction" like a into the Labour Party the International embarked on and stalinists. Alas this differentiation did not go to extend the advantages of state capitalism (learn horoscope, Above all it was not a description of a the course, of long-term work within these move­ the roots of the matter because the leaders of the ing the war) to the loss making industries and I process which would happen-rega rdless dJ. the exist­ ments and organisations through which flow - and "Anti-Pabloite" forces, particularly Cannon and l;Iea­ lic utilities. ence or actions of the revolutionary par-t Y. In 1940 most probably will flow for another period - the fun­ Iy were thoroughly embroiled in the pioneering Case It was in this context that the RCP leadersh Trotsky wrote that: "The capitalist. world has no damental political current of the class." (Entryism of of British Labour Party entry. It was only when the around Jock Haston and Ted Grant tried to ori, way out unless a prolonged death-agony is so con­ a Special Type: International Secretariat Documents "special entry"was applied to Stalinism at the height the group. Fraction work had been carried out sidered. It is necessary to prepare for long years, if Vol.1 p32) of the Cold War, that, belatedly, Pablo's tactics were ILP by the Trotskyists since 1940 when there v not decades, of war, uprisings, 'brief interlU,des of Pablo's conception of longterm entry was based on discovered to be liquidationist. a marked turn to the left in repulsion from the truce, new wars, and new uprisings ... The question of a definite perspective that -he advanced at the time. Yet Healy - with Cannon's blessing - had waged litian. For a short while the ILP even tried to i tempos and time intervals is of enormous importance; "The essential forces of the revolutionary party a four year struggle to destroy the RCP and develop vene in industrial disputes. However, the RCP (, but it alters neither the general historical perspective lI)Iould appear through differentiation or explosion in precisely the fundamentals of "Pablo's method". Can­ the WIL/RSL before 1944) intervened as a seri, nor the direction of our policy". He concluded that these mass organisations. This tactical conception was non in 1953, looked back on this period: 'The whole independent force in the industrial disputes wit "the great historical problem will not be solved in and is based of course on the perspectives of the ev­ Haston (leader of the Rep - WP) system had to be much stronger CP scabbing on them all. The T\ any case until a revolutionary party ·stands at the olution of the international situation as they began blown up before a genuine Trotskyist organisation ,Apprentices strike was, perhaps, their !lreatest s

PAGE 4 wo RKERS POWER FEBRUARY 1983 r

DEPORTATION FROM BRITAIN is a real ies' legislation has shifted slightly. The 1981 Nat­ prospect for thousands of people at the mo­ ionality Act and the linked Immigration rules are ment. Deportation means Leing torn from a codification and extension of all the previous your job, your home, your family and your immigration laws. They are aimed at preventing community and being forcibly taken to ano­ existi ng black and Asian British residents from ther country. Deportation applies virtually bringing, their dependants to Britain. In a nutshell, In Muhammad's own union, they attempt to split up families, as the Anwar exclusively to black and Asian people. De­ NALGO, the campaign has been Ditta case proved. Their underlying intention is to active. The Dr Barnado's branch portation is a repugnant, racist practice. It make black and Asian people feel insecure in Bri­ has been sanctified by that most venerable has passed the model resolution tain in the hope that this will encourage them to and is forwarding it for discussion leave. "democratic" institution, the House of Com­ at the NALGO national conference mons. in June. Furthermore it is sending Muhammad Idrish is one of the many vic­ The Act and the Rules do this by redefining British citizenship. This is no longer a unitary cat­ Muhammad as its delegate to tims of the present wave of deportations. egory. It falls into three categories. The significant the conference - offering to pay He is a Bangladeshi social worker in West one is British Overseas Citizens - mainly blacks his air fare from Bangladesh if his Bromwich, a member of the Dr. Barnardo's and Asians. They cannot even visit, let alone re­ deport.ation goes through, so that NALGO branch there. He came to this coun­ side in, Britain without being subjected to a bat­ he can raise the matter personally try in 1976 as a student in further educat­ tery of degrading immigration restrictions. Further­ at the conference. Things can't ion. While he was a student in Bristol he more, through these new categories a whole num­ be left at this however. It is vital met and married his wife, with . whom he ber of black and Asian people now resident in that NALGO branches throughout the country pass the resolution lived for five years. i Britai n, are deprived of the right to live here - and (especially in the Midlands When the marriage broke down and Muhammad hence the wave of deportations. and Bristol) should affiliate to began to live separately from his British-born wife, The case of Muhammad Idrish shows, as did the defence committee and the Home Office began proceedings for deportation_ Anwar Ditta's before it, that deportations can be participate in its activities. Ever vigilant in their search for victims, the Home fought,and in Birmingham and Bristol this is being Blacks awaiting deportation in Harmondsworth detention centre_ Office were not deterred by the fact that Muhammad done by Muhammad Idrish Defence Committees. Action must be taken now. The complicated demo should be held together afterwards in local and his wife were not divorced. Their separation was The Birmingham campaign produced a letter for appeals procedure is in motion and looks as if it committees vigorously campaigning against the Tor- enough to set the Home Office immigrant-hunting trade union and Labour Party branches and com­ will go against Muhammad. On January 27th Mu- ies' laws and their effects. squads in motion. Muhammad's fate now hangs in munity organisations. The letter is directly aimed hammad's appeal to an adjudicator was lost. This the balance. at winning affiliations to the defence campaign means it is only a matter of weeks before action The Labour Party has taken a step forward by The British state has an armoury of immigra­ and invites delegates from sponsoring bodies to is taken against him. Labour movement and black calling for the repeal of the 1971 and 1981 Immi­ tion legislation with which it can intimidate and campaign meetings. A model resolution produced community support for the defence committee's gration Acts. It must be won to opposition now, intern black people. Most of the previous legisla­ by the campaign (see box) has been passed by a activities must be built. to all of the effects of these Acts and the others, tion was aimed at stopping the entry of black and number of labour movement bodies and Muham­ including those, like the 1968 Act, that Labour Asian immigrants into Britain. With primary immi­ brought in. It must also be won to pledging the mad's case is on the agenda of the February mee­ Support for the Muhammad Idrish campaign gration now almost nil, the emphasis of the Tor- repeal of all Immigration controls, and not to ting of the Birmingham Trades Council. and other local campaigns against deportations trying to clean up what are thoroughly dirty laws. should be used as a basis for co-ordinating activity MODEL RESOLUTION------against the racist laws that lie betlind individual de­ All of these laws are based on the idea of a To defend Muhammad Idrlsh practically this portation cases. A campaign won or lost on the "national interest", a fictitious harmony between This branch notes that branch should: "merits of the individual case" will not halt the 1. Affiliate to the Muhammad Idrlsh Defence Com­ British bosses and workers against "outsiders". They 1. Successive governments have Introduced immi­ mittee and send a delegate to its meetings. 2. Send Tories' cruel vendetta against black people. The are relaxed when the bosses need cheap labour, gration laws since the early 1960s. 2_ These laws a donation to the campaign funds. 3. Support the Guardian's estimate of a monthly average of 250 t ightened when the bosses want to sack workers. are used mainly against black people from Britain's activities of the campaign including demonstrations, people being deported or leaving Britain because of ex-colonies. 3. Immigration laws are part of the le­ I n other words these laws, in the guise of serving pickets and public meetings. the threat of deportation, is a statistical remi nder gal procedures used against black people in order to Muhammad Idrish is one of many thousands the nation, actually serve the people who are now prevent them playing an active part In the Labour facing deportation under this legislation. This branch of the Tories' inveterate racism. They must be closing factories, cutting services and slashing wa­ and Trade Union movement. 4. Despite Labour should support actions and activities against Immi­ fought. The local defence committees should be governments being responsible for Introducing the gration controls called by the C

predominantly black areas. Community policing These arguments are seriously flawed. They ig- comes to mean policing of the community by em­ nore the fact that the "law and order" that the bryonic vigilante groups and IRUs. police defend is that of the bosses not "the public". The breaking up of picket lines and occupations, t or-­ The new Police Bill currently going through harrassment of minorities, the terrorising of the poo, ARMS OF THE LAW Parliament is of a piece with Newman's plans. It est sections of society driven into petty crime by makes local liason committees statutory, thereby A MIXTURE OF anguish, horrified disilelief overt attempts to overthrow democracy, to subvert poverty and inequality are the custom and practice the authority of the state, and to, in fact, involve giving a liberal gloss to the tough measures that fol­ and downright cynicism, made up the "offic­ low. The Bill would provide a more effective version of the police. These are the functions they are paid ial" response to the shooting of Stephen Wal­ themselves in acts of sedition designed to destroy and trained to fulfil. Their role as defenders of a our parliamentary system and the democratic govern­ of the repealed "Sus" laws. Wide ranging stop and dorf. A specialist squad of gun-toting men search powers would be granted under the Bill, inclu­ society based on inequality cannot be successfully ment of this country." changed while that society itself is left intact. Pub- , from the Met slipped up when they opened ding the right to search premises and persons of en-' lic accountability itself blurs the class question. It fire on a car full of innocent people. As the T'his is why the police chiefs in all of Britain's tirely innocent parties. All the police have to do is major cities have developed militarised Special Pat­ convince a magistrate that a "serious arrestable of­ ignores the reality that "the public" is itself class gunsmoke clears and a few officers are done divided. What happens when part of "the public" for attempted murder (Stephen was ueaten rol Group bodies. There are now 28 local SPGs fense" has taken place - by whom is not decisive. throughout the country. In 1980 there were 12,000 The National Council for Civil Liberti'rs pointed out: . wants to break a strike with the use of the police? after oeing riddled with bullets), the govern­ Accountability via local council control, even if it ment hopes to draw the curtains on an em­ officers specially trained in riot control (7,000 in "In striking contrast to the present powers of search London alone). The figure has risen in the wake of they would enable the police to search the premises were granted, would not prevent this from happe­ ning. lJarrassing incident. the 1981 riots. A new addition in the large black and possessions of an entirely innocent person who The call for a democratic, accountable police community in Brixton, South London, and else­ is not even suspected of any involvement in any of­ This incident, however, is very revealing. force under capital ism is therefore a utopian one. where is the army of "Immediate Response Units". fence, in the hope of finding evidence against a third Allegations of systematic police brutality and It serves to deflect attention from the crucial imme­ These mini SPG squads on constant patrol are de­ party." the indiscriminate flouting of the inadequate diate tasks of building defence of picket lines against signed to intimidate communities in general and In the Labour movement the most common res­ police attacks, building defence of black communi­ existing procedures for gun use, are invariably young blacks in particular. portrayed as the wild fantasies of the left by ponse to the extension of police powers has been ties against daily harrassment, campaigns to force the the Tories and their press. The shooting The proposals to re-organise the Met, by its new the call to make the police democratically accoun­ , disbandment/withdrawal of SPG and IRU squads. of Stephen Waldorf proyided tragic, but stri­ chief Newman, and Whitelaw's new Police Bill, are table. The Labour GLC has proposed that the Met These are the vital tasks in the here and now. They king proof that they are not. Indeed in the both designed to extend the powers of the police. should be broken up into borough forces (with a are tasks that mobilise workers and the oppressed Regional Crime Squad for London-wide functions) in struggle against the paid agents of the oppressors same week as Waldorf was shot two raids by Newman's five year plan for the Met combines and placed under the political control of police and exploiters and thereby prepare the forces for armed po/ice on London homes were carried a symbolic nod in the direction of 'community po­ authorities based on the borough councils. This the destruction of the capitalist police force. out in error. licing" (recommended by Scarman after the Brix­ would make the police local government employees. However, while this remains our strategy we ton riots), w ith the "offensive policirlg" tactics ac­ Control would consist in determining how finance do not stand aside, in a sectarian fashion, from Police forces throughout the country now have tually practiced on the streets of Toxteth, Brixton was allocated and what the policing policy should struggles to "reform" the police. We support such huge stockpiles of guns and ammunition along with Notting Hill and Moss Side. The powerless consul­ be in the given locality. struggles as the one being waged to make the police CS gas and riot shields. The Met is well in the lead tative committees are to play a minor role in his accountable to the G LC. As a democratic reform we in this particular arms race. Between 1970 and 1979 plans. On the other hand "neighbourhood watch" Uncritical support for these measures has come do not oppose accountability. We recognise that the Met had 76% of the national total of guns iss­ committees are to become a vital component in from left-reformist papers like Tribune, and Labour if workers are actually mobilised to reform the ued. No surprise then that when a black youth, police intelligence work. Newman candidly declared Herald, and from the so-called revolutionary paper police, then that can have an effect useful in de­ Colin Roach, was found shot dead inside Stoke New­ his hope that a network of narks could be establi­ Socialist Challenge. The rationale behind the accoun­ moralising the police force, breaking up its hierar­ ington police station (a well-known nest of racists) shed: "I would hope a black leader or street leader tability proposals is very revealing. In Tribune and chical chain of command and weakening its effecti­ in January, there was a widespread belief among the would come forward and be a useful contact for the Labour Herald, accountability is posed as a means veness as a tool of the bosses. of restoring public confidence in the police. It is local black community that he was killed by the polic:e." But two' points must be made absolutely clear posed as an extreme measure of reform of the ex­ police. to those campaigning for reform. Even a limited The Immediate Response Units are to be main­ isting police force. Labour Herald argued:"Public process of reform would require an enormous active There is, undeniably, a heavily armed police for­ tained and strengthened. Their role will be to set confidence in the police is, in the end, impossible struggle by workers to break the entrenched power ce in this country. Its primary function is the pro­ up road blocks, act as "anti-rowdyism patrols", and without public accountability." (21.1.83) tection of the property and institutions of the weal­ carry on as an intimidating presence on the streets. of the police chiefs. The powers that be will not thy and the terrorising of all who pose a threat to Again Newman is forthright about what their role Left G LC councillor Paul Boateng criticised New­ allow the armed guardians of their power to be so that property or those institutions. Actual "crimi­ will be. Having stated that a major consideration in man's plans because they' 'Would mean that :"The easily undermined. Secondly the fight for reform nals" come low on the list of police targets_ In Lon­ his battle plans is a "problem with young people, result is bound to be increased alienation of the rylust not deflect from immediate tasks of workers' don the Met has a ludicrous record of solving repor­ particularly young West Indians", he went on to de­ public from the police." defence or be a substitute for the only real solution to ted crimes. Only 17% of crimes reported are cleared clare: "I n some areas there is a brand of destruction Tribune were worried about the police flouting the "police problem". (As well as the "crime prob­ up by the Met. Manchester's infamous Chief Con­ and hostility which has led to deliberately enginee­ the "rule of law". 'An editorial stated:"There is a lem".) This means the abolition of the police and stable Anderton was explicit about who the main red confrontations with the police. It is therefore a race on to save civil liberties and the rule of law by the society of inequality and exploitation that they defend .• enemy was : "What will be the matter of greatest priority to restore order to such areas." The mea­ bringing the police, especially in London, under con­ concern to me will be the covert and ultimately ning of-this is clear. It means offensive policing in trol again." (28.1.83). by Mark Hoskisson

PAGE 6 WORKERS POWER FEBRUARY 1983 mmmmmmmmmr~tt~: Labour and the Left :mmmmmmmmmmtttttmrtttmtttmmm~~~~tttIIIItImmmmt~~l~~tm~mm~~mmm~mmmmtttrmrmmmmrmmmr ~'

Once again they appear to have taken vows of silence, while the gangsters of the right spew out CLPD FRANKS STRIKES the 'official' view. Despite the fact that MPs were told 48 hours before the publ ication of the report, that Thatcher was to be exonerated, they could not even get it together to stand up and denounce her filthy war. The clown Dennis Skinner made jokes about Thatcher only quoting the bits of the report that praised her. The mealy-mouthed Benn asked the same question as Healey, but added a humanist LEFTS DUMB "Could the lives lost in the Falklands have been MOVES saved if other action had been taken?" What, WHEN MICHAEL FOOT demanded firm invasion by threatening to torpedo Argentine ships cautious Mr. Benn - the dispatch of frigates, the action against Argentina after their occupa­ which had come to within 50 miles of the Malvinas. course you favoured in 1977? Once again the tion of the Malvinas last April he got more Nobody had briefed Foot at the time, but Callag­ imperialist logic of Thatcher's war is followed. than he bargained for. The patriotic poltroon han and Healey were able to point to it as a token Ready as ever with a contingent excuse for his cowardice Reg Race fumed: In short, there was no TO THE of their competence as imperialist statesmen. had hoped to make political capital out of time for those 'dissidents' who had dared to chal- Thatcher's temporary embarassement. Instead The nub of the Labour case was that a show of force could have frightened Galtieri off. The war lenge the government's Falklands policy to read the Thatcher well and truly outdid him_ Having would then not have been necessary. This only goes report tefore the PM made her statement." Labour secured Labour support for the despatch of to show that there was no fundamental difference Herald 21.1.83) As if a real 'dissident' would need the fleet, he lunged into her bloody adven­ between the Tories and Labour over the war itself. to have known the ins and outs of the report before they could have stood up and used the RIGHT ture in the South Atlantic. Falklands fever - For the logic of the secret orders of 1977 and the chauvanism inflamed by Labour's role in fail­ criticism of the Franks report today is that if, des­ debate to denounce again and again the whole bloodstain exercise. OVER 560 DELEGATES yathered for the ing to oppose the fleet's departure - has since pite a show of force, Argentina had still invaded, Campaign for Labour Party Democracy ensured a massive boost in popularity for the then Labour would have gone to war. Tribune left the bulk of its criticism to the right (CLDP)AGM on January 29th to vote on Thatcher government. This is why at every single stage of the war the wing opponent of the wa~ Tom Dalyell. Following Labour Leadership cheered on the callous Thatcher on from an article that bemoaned the passing of the the question of registration. Foot obviously hoped to win something A victory (though narrow) for the right back through the Franks Committee inquiry. war-cabinet and roundly conuemneEl' 'all those who the days when surface ships played a key role in sea warfare (an era long gone thanks to the Exocet) wing in favour of registration ensured that It was Labour who pushed for an inquiry. opposed the war. During the war the Labour left mingled pacifist he used the pages of Tribune to air his present ob­ there will be no immediate split in the organ­ Having won full military honours in the war, confusion with the attitude that since the war was session . Why did barmaids in Gibraltar know that isation. The hard left current Social ist Organ­ Thatcher might at least be exposed as an underway there was little that could be done. The subs were heading south on March 28th, when Mrs iser had actually declared in advance "No i,ncompetent before the fighting. result was that they sat mute for most of the time. Thatcher clairred that the invasion on March 31 st split in the CLPD", in their bid to stay allied Not surprisingly the four Lords, one Sir and a The 'left' in Parliament took six weeks to pluck up came out of the blue! with the' respectable left" in the C LPD. Mr. who made up the Franks Committee failed to the courage to move a vote in Parliament on the The truth is that the left have no coherent alter­ critise the government. Especially galling for Foot fleet, When the shooting started, like the good native to the Callaghan-H6aley line. In the decisive , Significantly the proposals from the CLDP exe­ was that even the presence of Mr. Merlyn Rees and patriots that they are, they left the demonstrations test of war they revealed that their loyalty was not cutive in favour of the registration were aimed not Lord Lever as Labour members of the committee, against the war to their fate, and issued :1ot a word merely to the Labour establ ishment but through only at complying with the Register but also at failed to ensure that Thatcher was criticised, The of condemnation of the senseless blood bath. that loyalty to the British imperialist state and its charting the future of the CLPD - putting the cam­ Committee was made up of Privy Counsellors - these The left have done little to rescue their "anti­ war. No wonder then that they could mount no paign in the strait jacket of legality and constitutio­ these are the Queen' s own council, the most trusted war" reputations during the debate on Franks. attack on the whiteyvash report.• nality. A motion of 'party unity' - so called - from trusted, hand-picked servants of the state. To have right wingers Vladimir Derer and Pete Willman criticised Thatcher, would have been tantamount to Lord Franks, with his report, standing outside his committee's offices at Admiralty Arch cheerleaders for peace with Foot, put the cards on criticising the war that she fought. These _pillars of the table. 'Top priority for Labour the coming year" ( the--establishment would not risk that. As the far the motion reads,"must be work for a majority f

WORKERS POWER FEBRUARY 1983 PAGE 7 r I I STRIKE A BLOW AGAINST TEBBIT '8 PLANS 'f-, - ; :( .. I-:'~j NORMAN TEBBIT'S RECENT like Ken Graham, assistant 'gener~1 ~ec­ offensive i,)n- fiVfno- 4(j,ndards and jobs, Green Paper, "Democracy in Trade retary of the TUC it is clear that. they or even a vitble reft(rmlst Labour gov­ Unions" is the latest step in the have learnt nothing from their past ernmental .Iternative. unfolding of the Tories' strategy failures. When Graham replies to Teb­ Whilst we have never placed any bit that" .... unions have developed faith in the ability of either the present to render the unions ineffective as their own democratic praotices which union leaderships or the Labour Party defenders of working class interes­ are responsive to their members" and to defend the interests of the working ts. Its three main proposals, legal­ goes on to add that it was "wrong" to class for the unions or Labour Party ly enforceable postal ballots for subject the unions to government dic­ to be even further weakened· by the the election of union officers, sim­ tat, he gives weight to the Tories' claims . Tories or to become subject to state EETPU: ilar ballots before strikes can ile that they are in fact only interested in control or financing would be a serious called and an end to the present "democratising" the unions, not in blow to the working class. It is pre­ arrangements by which the unions bashing them. cisely the present weaknesses of the finance the Labour Party, have al­ The Tories have let it be known labour movement both in terms of its ready been widely discussed by the that they do not necessarily intend to politics and its organisational structures whi~h has allowed the Tories to go as Tories and their supporters. The push through all the porposals straight Organising away. Their "consultative paper" we far as they have and as quickly as they Financial Times outlined them as are tOld, is only designed to be a con­ have. Successful defence must be based long ago as December 1st 1981. tribution to a public debate. The real on a thoroughgoing transformation of This careful preparation is fully reasons are, however, clear. Ballots be­ the unions. This means taking them in keeping with the Tories' gener­ fore strike action can easily backfire, under the control, the direct and demo­ al approach to the problem of how as happened in the case of the miners' cratic control of the masses of wor­ against to weaken the unions. Against ballots in 1972 and 1974. With this kers who belong to the unions. And those who wanted an immediate proposal they are only testing the wa­ in answer to Tebbit's threat to the po­ head-on coll ision with the TUC ter, erecting a negotiating gambit which litical levy we reply - hands off our straight after the Tory election they can withdraw if opposition seems money Tebbit- we the rank and file likely. On the other hand the threat to will fight to control the political levy victory, Thatcher's government curtail union financial support by in­ and to democratise the bloc vote in Chapple's heirs has developed a step by step off­ sisting on members positively reques­ our own interest. Above all it means ensive. Prior's Employment Act ting to pay the political levy, has ano­ mobilising the rank and file for direct THE VICTORY OF the right­ eering Staff Association and withdrew. was the fi rst step. It outlawed ,. ther role. By highlighting the fact that action to stop the rot, to throw back wing candidate, Eric Hammond, This left Hammond and Sanderson mass picketing, solidarity action many workers do not consciously pay the Tory offensive. The Tories have with 73,000 votes in the recent to share a spl it right wi ng vote. and sympathetic ' blacking, laid the the levy at present they want to under­ proved themselves both determined elections for Frank Chapple's suc­ Chapple has got his wish, the right basis for later attacks on the closed pin their "democratic" pretentions. and well prepared in their attack on cessor as General Secretary of the wing retain their stranglehold on shop and paved the way for Teb­ At the same time by their tactic of the whole of the working class. Suc­ the potentially most powerful only raising the prospect of Labour bank­ cess against them requires a similar EETPU was by no means an un­ union in Britain. He himself is now bit's current electoral proposals ruptcy as a possibility for enactment working class resolute approach. qualified disaster for the Left. free to turn his attention to his new by providing state funds for unions after a general election they are firing Their attacks on the unions are cen­ The Broad Left candidate, John j ob, as Chairman of the TUC. Having to hold postal ballots. After that, a warning shot accross Labour's bows tral to their plans and only the most . Aitkin (32,000) came second, methodically transformed the EETPU Tebbit's first Bill removed the and are casting themselves in the role widespread and militant action will for­ beating another strong right win­ into a model "business union" in "legal immunities" from unions of honest brokers not prepared to ce them to retreat. F or this reason it ger, Roy Sanderson (26,000). which any branch, let alone member, by giving the employers the right take unfair advantage of their present is necessary to recognise that only a However, whilst this is evidence who disagrees with the executive is to sue for loss of money through parliamentary majority. general strike could achieve this and to of a resurgence of support for simply suspended, he can further strikes, made political strikes il­ The third of their proposals, how­ campaign for the established leaders of the interests of the bosses, whose legal and provided compensation ever, for legally enforced secret ballots the unions, the TUC to call such a the Left in this most right wing stooge he is, together with the likes strike. However, no one can have any for scabs who lost their jobs by in the unions, may well \lO onto the of unions, it has to Ue placed in of Boyd and Duffy. statute book before the next election. doubts that this itself will only happen context. All the same, the size of the vote refusing to join a closed shop. There is sufficient parliamentary time if the TUC is under pressure from the Chapple announced his inten­ for Aitken is evidence of a growing That the Tories should now feel to allow this. It is, therefore, impera­ rank and file. Only if they fear that tion to stand down (if he was opposition to the bureaucrats who confident enough to openly suggest tive that the whole plan be opposed developing mass actions will get out satisfied that his successor was control the EETPU. Equally, the de­ state interference in union rule books immediately by direct action to pre­ of their control will they reluctantly " reliable"!) at very short notice. termination of the Electricians' Branch and procedures is a glaring confirmat­ vent any enactments this year and to accept their duty to m.obilise the ion of the bankruptcy of the official This was · intended to further re­ in Fleet Street in insisting on taking prepare the way to successful opposit­ whole movement the better to con- strike action to support the Health­ leaders of the trade unions who not inforce the right wing's built in ion to further measures by any future trol it and strangle it at the first oppo­ workers' day of action last Septem­ only failed to lead a serious fight but government. tunity. For this reason all disputes and advantage based on its control ber indicates that Chapple and Co. have, at every step, sabotaged any ac­ Taken in conjunction with aJI their strikes have to be fought with a view :Jf the union machinery and its have not completely destroyed all tion that appeared capable ot' develop­ other anti-worki ng class measures, it to developing recognition of the ur­ newspaper, Contact, by not giv­ rank and file independence and mili­ ing in that direction. Their strategy of is perfectly clear that these latest pro­ gent need for a general strike against ing the Left mUGh time to both tancy. To build on that base and re­ calling for resistance to the Bills if and posals are part of a coherent policy to the anti-union laws amongst militants choose a candidate and set about transform the union, this t ime into when they ever became law was con­ prevent the working class' existing or­ and the building of democratic organ­ campaigning. an' organisation controlled democrati­ demned to failure from the start. ganisations from being able to offer isational structures necessary to lead From the initial response of leaders Nonetheless, the careerist appetites of cally by its members and committed a successful resistance to the capitalists' and control one.• the leading right wing contenders, led not only to their defence but to the to there being, at first, four rightist destruction of the system that spawns candidates: Hammond (who led the the likes of Chapple must be the op­ scabs across the Isle of Grain picket No. Militants and revolutionaries enly avowed aim of revolutionaries should fight for the policies that the lines), Sanderson (who staked his and militants. claim to Chapple's mantle by praising working class needs despite the stren­ It has to be said that the electoral the union's . "democracy" and who gth of the right wing and against the was responsible for doing the deal manifesto of John Aitkin was, at best, right wing. At the centre of this for private medical insurance with only a small step in that dir- fight must be the defence of all BUPA). Lou Britz, Chapple's own ection. His advocacy of a strategy of trade unions against the Tories' anti­ chosen heir and Tom Rice, head of import controls to protect electricians union laws. Although the present the white collar section which he actually brings him into agreement leadership clique of the EETPU do developed by recruiting managers with his rightwing opponents On the f rom the railways and steel industry. n.ot intend to fight these laws, many central question of defence of jobs. of those who have been duped into Of these fQur Britz simply could Equally his rather timid cal! for the not get enough branches to nominate supporting Hammond can be won to right of all members to stand for ele­ an understanding of why they must him and Rice gained a seat on the ction to all union offices is an avoi­ be fought. This will not be achieved executive with his new job as Nation­ dance of the central question, the re­ by the electoralism to which the al Secretary of the Electrical Engin- moval of the ban on communists. Broad Left and its newspaper Flash­ Similarly, his demand for a" biennial light have limited themselves. Ham­ delegate conference to whose decisions mond will not have to stand for ele­ the executive would be subject, whilst supportable, would still leave any , ction again for five years, and, in any event rank and file mobilisation future leadership with a dangerous SUBSCRIBE! to take control of the union cannot freedom to manoeuvre and would be achieved simply by putting cro- not be as effective as annual confer­ ences . sses on ballol papers. The active in­ RESPONSES volvement of the membership has to 11$'~Wnl• • 'T.· ~TO T~=HE WAA Whilst such criticism is necessary it does not mean that revolutionaries be won for a fight both inside the Thatcher's victory­ could not work alongside and give union against the right wing find out­ electoral support to the Broad Left. side against the Tories and the em­ ployers. We, therefore, call for the workers' defeat The demand for election of all full­ Fleet St EETPU members striking in support of health workers. time officials and the end of bureau­ building of a 'reform movement in the the membership of the EETPU have, uation by proposing that they should, cratic closure of oppositional branches, EETP~ based, ,as a minimum on the necessarily, taken their toll of even rather, join SOGAT, with whom they follOWing demands. I '~ =~= for example, are important starting the most militant. A closer look at have quite close ties. Whilst it is points for any campaign to democra­ the possible futu re of the Fleet Street understandable that any trade union­ Election and recallability of all offi­ tise t!1e EETPU. What it does mean branch reveals how Chapple's tactics ist should want to put as much dis­ cials of the union. is that revolutionaries need to point can very easily lead to the adoption tance as possible between themselves Re-instatement of all suspended bran­ NAME ...... out, and argue forcefully against, of a mistaken strategy by his oppo­ and Chapple, this is an entirely wrong ches, such as the Birmingham Midland. those weaknesses which will limit the nents. Since 1955 the Electricians in and short-sighted proposal. His stra­ An annual delegate conference whose ADDRESS ...... " ...... poss ibility of success in such a cam­ Fleet Street have enjoyed a consid­ tegy is not limited to the electricians' decisions will be binding on all offi­ paign . erable autonomy from the central union. It is aimed at the entire wor­ cials and on the executive. In particular, revolutionaries must bureaucracy of the union and have kers' movement but it is based, at Rank and file control of the block emphasise that gaining control of the won rights and conditions at work present, in the electricians' union. vote. EETPU is not an end in itself, it is comparable to those of the print Full and automatic support for all only part of the much greater struggle Send £3.60 to the addr_ below end unions - control over manning levels, For perhaps the most militant, and workers taking industrial action in receive 10 issues of the peper. against the bosses and their state. training, pre-entry closed shop etc. confident branch of that union to defence or furtherance of working Therefore, the fight to democratise Mike cheques or Po. payeble to Chapple, who bitterly attacked their adopt a "cut and run" policy by class interests. the EETPU must simultaneously be a Workers Power and forward to: support for the healthworkers{he joining SOGAT will not stop Chapple Opposition to, and a campaign of fight to commit it to using its vast Workers Power, characterised the healthworkers them­ or the rest of the right wing from direct action against, the anti-union power in the interests of the working &CM Box 7750, London selves as "terrorists") is now widely shackling the trade union movement, laws .• WC1 N3XX class as a whole. reported to be planning to sell the but it could seriously set back the Years of bureaucratic chicanery prospects of destroying his power. entire branch to the NGA. Many ele­ by Jim Bel/man. and the denial of democratic rights to ctricians have responded to this sit- base in the EETPU.

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