Socialist Fight No. 21 Winter 2015/16 Price: Cons: £1 (€1) Waged £2.50 (€3) No French Tricolore in sight by Celtic supporters to sanitise the crimes of French imperialism against the peoples of South East Asia, the Middle East, North and Central Africa and the Caribbean, the millions killed, maimed and staved for the profits of their trans- national corporations; Well done the Bhoys and Ghirls! The other, forgotten, Paris Massacre, a police slaughter of 200+ Al- gerians led by Nazi collaborator police chief Maurice Papon (1961). Page 2 Socialist Fight Where We Stand (extracts) Socialist Fight is a member of 1. We stand with Karl Marx: ‘The emancipa- imperialism so to combat this threat we must tion of the working classes must be con- redouble our efforts to forward the world the Liaison Committee for the quered by the working classes themselves. revolution. Fourth International with the The struggle for the emancipation of the 11. We also support the fight of all other Liga Comunista of Brazil and working class means not a struggle for class specially oppressed including lesbians and gay the Tendencia Militante Bol- privileges and monopolies but for equal men, bisexuals and transgender people and rights and duties and the abolition of all class the disabled against discrimination in all its chevique of Argentina. rule’ (The International Workingmen’s Asso- forms and their right to organise separately in The Editorial Board is: ciation 1864, General Rules). The working that fight in society as a whole. In particular Gerry Downing, Ian Donovan, class ‘cannot emancipate itself without eman- we defend their right to caucus inside trade Carl Zacharia, Ailish Dease, cipating itself from all other sphere of society unions and in working class political parties. and thereby emancipating all other spheres of While supporting the latter right, we do not Chris Williams, Clara Rosen society’ (Marx, A Contribution to a Critique always advocate its exercise as in some forms and Aggie McCallum. of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, 1843). it can reinforce illusions in identity politics Printed and Published by: 2. In the class struggle we shall fight to devel- and obscure the need for class unity. Socialist Fight PO Box 59188, op every struggle of the working class and 13. We fight racism and fascism. We support London, NW2 9LJ, oppressed in the direction of democratic the right of people to fight back against racist workers’ councils as the instruments of par- and fascist attacks by any means necessary. [email protected]. ticipatory democracy which must be the basis Self-defence is no offence. It is a legitimate Liga Comunista, Brazil: http:// of the successful struggle for workers’ power. act of self-defence for the working class to lcligaco- 5. We fight for rank-and-file organisations in ‘No Platform’ fascists but we never call on munista.blogspot.co.uk/ the trade unions within which we will fight the capitalist state to ban fascist marches or Voice of Anti-Capitalism in for consciously revolutionary socialist leader- parties; these laws would inevitably primarily Guildford: ship in line with Trotsky’s Transitional Pro- be used against workers’ organisations, as gramme statement: history has shown. http://suacs.wordpress.com/ “Therefore, the sections of the Fourth Inter- 14. We oppose all immigration controls. In- Signed articles do not necessari- national should always strive not only to re- ternational finance capital roams the planet in ly represent the views of SF new the top leadership of the trade unions, search of profit and imperialist governments boldly and resolutely in critical moments disrupts the lives of workers and cause the advancing new militant leaders in place of collapse of whole nations with their direct routine functionaries and careerists, but also intervention in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghan- Subscribe to Socialist to create in all possible instances independent istan and their proxy wars in Somalia and the Fight and In Defence of militant organizations corresponding more Democratic Republic of the Congo, etc. Trotskyism closely to the tasks of mass struggle against Workers have the right to sell their labour Four Issues: UK: £12.00, EU: bourgeois society; and, if necessary, not internationally wherever they get the best £14.00 flinching even in the face of a direct break price. Rest of the World: £18.00 with the conservative apparatus of the trade 19. As socialists living in Britain we take our Send donations to help in unions. If it be criminal to turn one’s back on responsibilities to support the struggle against their production Cheques and mass organizations for the sake of fostering British imperialism’s occupation of the six Standing Orders to sectarian factions, it is no less so passively to north-eastern counties of Ireland very seri- Socialist Fight Account No. 1 tolerate subordination of the revolutionary ously. For this reason we have assisted in Unity Trust Bank, Sort Code mass movement to the control of openly founding the Irish Republican Prisoners Sup- 08-60-01, Account. No. reactionary or disguised conservative port Group and we will campaign for political 20227368. (“progressive”) bureaucratic cliques. Trade status these Irish prisoners of war and for a unions are not ends in themselves; they are 32-county united Socialist Ireland. We reject but means along the road to proletarian revo- ‘two nations in Ireland’ theories. lution.” 21. We are for the re-creation of a World Join Socialist Fight 6. We totally oppose all economic nationalist Party of Socialist Revolution, a revolutionary campaigns like for ‘British jobs for British international, based on the best traditions of Would you like to join Social- workers’ that means capitulation to national the previous revolutionary internationals, ist Fight or learn more about chauvinism and so to the political and eco- critically understood, particularly the early our work and revolutionary nomic interests of the ruling class itself. We Third and Fourth Internationals, with their politics? are therefore unreservedly for a Socialist determination to combat and overcome both Contact us at the above email United States of Europe. reformism and centrism. It is by orienting to 8. We fully support of all mass mobilisations the ranks of workers in struggle, struggles or PO Box addresses. against the onslaught of this reactionary Troy against imperialism, struggles of oppressed Government, in particular we stand for the minorities against varied all forms of social repeal of all the anti-trade union laws and oppression, as well as political ferment The following are some of strongly opposed the new ones promised. among intellectual layers radicalised through the 21 points of the political 9. We are completely opposed to man-made these struggles, that we will lay the basis for programme of the Socialist climate change and the degradation of the regroupments with forces internationally biosphere which is caused by the anarchy of breaking with reformism, centrism and vari- Fight Group which can be capitalist production for profits of transna- ous forms of radical populism/nationalism, found at our website here: tional corporations. Ecological catastrophe is and seeking to build a new revolutionary not ‘as crucial as imperialism’ but caused by Marxist international party. Leon Trotsky: I am confident of the victory of the Fourth International; Go Forward! Page 3 Contents Editorial: The Syria war, the neocon attack ...…..p.3 Brazil: Dilma betrays her base……………..…....p.19 Deselect Labour Councillors and MPs ……….....p.5 The Hills of the pro-imperialist ‘left’ .……..…...p.20 Momentum, Mass Movement for Labour Left?....p.6 Statement on the bombing of Syria……….….....p.21 Support the Junior Doctors’ Fight for NHS……..p.7 The Russian intervention in Syria……………....p.22 Eulogy to Brian McNeil (Lynam)……..………...p.8 The Morning Star and Denis Healey…………...p.24 McCluskey stabs the fight against the TU Bill….p.9 Rojova—US imperialism is the main enemy;…..p.25 Scottish Rank and File on Corbyn………….…...p.10 SA’s Julius Malema’s EFF……………………....p.27 GRL on the election of the GS of the GMB….....p.11 The imperialist rape of the Congo……………...p.26 Death by DWP—A case study of one avoided…p.13 Turkey’s downing of the Russian fighter jet…...p.30 The Sword of Damocles over Glen Hart…....…..p.14 Imperialism and the Paris Massacre:…………...p.33 Class and political struggle in pictures……..…..p.14 Marxist World Splits from the CWI………..…...p.34 Bloody Sunday; that struggle continues!.............p.16 Extracts from the MW Split Document………...p.35 Irish Republican Prisoners Support Group……...p17 Back issues of Socialist Fight and IDOT.…..….p.36 Editorial: The Syria war, the neocon attack on Corbyn and Labour democracy he defiance of the Labour Party member- they do point to is a policy of the main imperial- T ship and its elected leadership by 66 Labour ists that has collapsed into incoherence. Camer- MPs, including about a third of the Shadow Cabi- on’s claim that there are 70,000 ‘moderate’ fight- net, poses point-blank the question of working- ers independent of both IS and the Assad regime, class democracy, as the functional expression of which was being torn apart even as the parlia- independent working class politics, in the Labour mentary debate took place, collapsed into a much Party. -ridiculed delusion within a day or two. It is a The parliamentary vote took place in the con- good deal less plausible than Blair’s ‘weapons of text of the Cameron government’s stated desire mass destruction’ from 2003. This war has a good to extend its participation in the US imperialist deal less popular backing than Blair’s Iraq war military campaign against Islamic State (IS) from even as it begins.