The atmosphere, in Brixton in If it went no further than this, kind of approach would win the back- the days after the riots was we could laugh off such false and ingof the more liberal politicians, carnivalesque - despite the mec~cal reasoning as not worth especially in the Labour Party, who police helicopter circling thinking about. But when it is made do not see the rioters as criminals, constantly overhead ( even at the basis for an opportunist camp- but as victims, and who want to all- night )~ and pairs of coppers aign such as that being run Qy the eviate the underlying causes of pov- on every corner, the sense of SWP over the New Cross fire in which erty and unemployment Qy injections satisfaction and solidarity I3 black people died, it is no laugh- of cash, finance for black business among people on the street was ing matter. In its frantic attempts ventures, more sports facilities and almost tangible. That moment to win recruits in the black commun- so on. It's a more subtle approach was an important milestone in ity, the SWP is prepared to assert and one that deserves from us a more establishing the self-identity as a fact that the police are cover- sophisticated appraisal than the of the local multiracial comm- ing up, that the fire was beyond dou- simplistic dismissal that "soft cops unity, and it was apt that it bt the result of a racist attack, and are the same as hazd cops." should come about in a sudden so on. It concluded that no-one sh- explosion of hatred and revolt ould ever believe anything the police So mich for the state. What about against ~he police. In fact one say. the rioters? Clearly they do not THE 131~IXT()N C/\I~NIVI\L of the most positive aspects of In such a heated situation as this constitute a ready-made band of high- the riot was its obvious anti- there is nothing to be gained from ly conscious insurrectionists. They police nature - attempts to the cultivation of a righteous hatred share a hatred of the police born of classify it as a race riot were of the police for behaving like pigs. bitter experience, and on this occa- obviously ridiculous. The vill- They certainly did not bring about the sion took the opportunity to settle ains of the piece were indent- Brixton riots on their own. they are some racial scores on the side, not- ified beyond reasonable doubt not to blame for capitalism's inabil- ably Qy burning down two racialist as the police, evidence of ity to provide a just economy, or for pubs. On ~he other hand, when some- whose harassment and intim- employers' prejudices against blacks, one started throwing stones at the idation of the local black or for the educational disadvantages windows of the community action population was recently made faced Qy black kids in school. It is office, whose work is appreciated Qy abundantly available Qy a their job to hold the fort when trou- local people,they were stopped. It local council-sponsored inqu- ble is engendered Qy such injustices. is also true however, that many shop- iry into police-community re- Although they are permamently in the keepers got their windOWS broken who lations. front line, as it were, the society did not deserve it. they serve is not of their making, The riots were as, "Socia- nor does it exist to serve them The "movement" now seems divided list Worker" rightly called ( or at least most of them ); maybe over how to proceed. When it met them, the "festival of the this is why they develop precious just after Easter, the defence oppressed, but where do the little understanding of what is hap- committee did oblige the self-app- oppressed go from here ? pening all about them. And as the ointed moderate spokesman, lawyer Euphoria is all very well, but demands of their role become increa- Rudi Narayan, to take a back seat this is not a football match in singly brutal and they themselves but the meeting seemed not to know whether it wanted to be specifically which the referee stops his watch increasingly brutalised, the chances while the team that has just scor- of such consciousness dawning become black or mixed - when a vote was tak- ed a goal celebrates - the world correspondingly more remote. en most abstained, and of the few carries on, and decisions have to There is apparently an alter- who voted, a small majority wanted a black-only group. be made about what happens next native for the ruling class, af~er the dramatic events of April. based on a 'soft' approach includ- It would be unfortunate in our ing the adoption of cOmIll\lnity view if the movement opted to be The ruling class IIlIlStalso be policing as a key method of 'in- definitively black-only. In part asking itself the same question; filtrating' the population and iden- this is because we see our opp- from its point of view, Brixton ••as tifying areas of potential disaffec- ression as transcending racial a disaster. tion before they explode. This divisions and requiring a solut- ion that must do likewise. But it rate by swamping the area with Exactly how the defence co~ would also be a pity if the move- macho SPG squads. The rationale itee sees things is not yet known ment by accepting the racism openly is that it should work - there Its most immediate task is prov- displayed by many police officers is no point in trying to keep iding aid for the nearly 300 people were to respond with equally dist- the lid on a boiling pot if you who were arrested. What will be aimed orted prejudices - it is not true haven't got the strength to do at in wider terms is more difficult that all police are racists, or so. In this case the pot boiled to see; a spokesman for the defence support the NF, and so on, even in over, and the police got their committee has talked of the need to Brixtonl difficult though it may be I fingers burnt. defend the community against the things must be kept in perspective police, but whether this will be if fundamental changes are ever to undertaken as part of a wider polit- be achieved. The experience doesn't seem to ical programme is not yet known. have made them any the wiser. Had The riots were all the more they withdrawn after the first in. The West Indian community, which is unwelcome for the fact that cidents, many observers said the most involved, is not particularly only a couple of weeks before rioting most likely would not have known for its libertarianism. Conven- the authorities had found it developed. But local police chief~ tional sexual roles are more closely impossible to make charges seemed so afraid of the challenge adhered to than in the white community. stick against 8 of those acc- to their authority that they could Kids tend to be brought up in a more used of serious offences in only think in terms of violently repressive way; in fact conflict between 3uppressilll1:it. the Bristol riots of Easter black parents and kids is widespread, last year, charges against the causing the "Sunday Telegraph" to call remaining 4 were then dropped, Their "pig-headed" refusal to on black parents to improve matters as presumably not so much in the consider any alternative appro- their contribution to stopping the riots interests of racial harmony, as aoh was shared by Ms. Thatcher, happening again ! Black feminism has yet was claimed, but to save the and indeed is only to be expected to establish itself as a movement of any police and the prosecution from of the authoritarian Right, whose significance. Rastafarianism, which is the prospective ignominy of a instinctive reaction to authentic adopted or looked on favourably by ma- 100% failure in securing con- activities by the "lower orders" ny young blacks, doesn't have much to victions. is to quash them. This attitude is do with socialism. The movement will mirrored by the more neanderthal limit its undoubted potential if In Brixton the immediate elements of the Left, whose polit- those within it fail to raise these cause of the riots was the ical know-how goes no deeper than problems and perspectives. police's heavy-handed attem- mindlessly asserting that the worse pts to reduce a high crime it is , the better it is. N.T.

Dear solidarity,

I think it would be worth putting the Brixton riots in the context of the several other riots/mass direct actions that have taken place in Europe within the last year or so- Zurich, Berlin, Amsterdam, Bristol, Brokdorf, Plogoff, etc •

•••the riots do seem to have been overwhelmingly positive in that black and white working class peo- ple united against the oppressive police presence in their area, and in that the looting and attacks on property were directed in the vast majority of cases against shops, businesses, churches, ~ubs, schools and other capitalist property rath- er than against possessions belong- ing to working class people. Both rioters and Government ministers/ politicians have said the conflict was not black versus white, but black and white against the auth- LARZAC INTERNATIONAL GATHERING to adopt illegal forms of struggle. orities and the police. They put their "popular resistance M.V. The Larzac peasants and the Lar- against the logic of war-mongering" zac Movement, who for 10 years in the context of the growing dan- have been resisting the extension ger of world war, which they see Gays in Brixton have suffered from of the military camp on the Iarzac as related to the world crisis and the hostility of both the police and Plateau in France, are calling an the consequent reinforcement of some local residents (see,for example International Gathering this Aug- the economic battle between the the Final Report of the Working Party ust. They want the gathering to gre<;l.tpowers. into Police/community Relations in give the opportunity for arguments Lambeth,pp.72 et seq.). It was not, and debate on how to oppose the The gathering will be from 9th to therefore, surprising that of the threat of war and increasing state 18th August. whites involved in the riots the maj- repression, and on how to create a ority were gay. ~~ (30 April) "communalist world" free from the More information from: reports that their involvement has drives of profit and exploitation. led to increased acceptance and sym- Paysans du Larzac, pathy from the black street community. The Larzac activists wish to dis- Rencontres Internationalo5 Pour la Common action often leads to greater cuss methods of resistance - they Paix, respect for one's~fellows; we hope state that in their own fight they potensac du Larzac, that the solidarity which has develop- have not hesitated, where necessary, 12100 MILLAU. France. ed will be maintained and extended. At the Westminster bosses' ship has been reversed, 80,000 For a start the myth that the talking shop, aptly described people joining in the last Labour Party is monolithic as the best gentlemen's club year, while the adoption by in the way in which the Soviet in town, all is not well. the Labour Party conference, Communist Party or even the Tory wets, that is those who although not by the parliament- Tory Party is must be dispelled. favour, even in these crisis- ary Party, of such policies The Labour Party is a consensus, ridden times, a continuation as unilateral nuclear disarm- a "broad church" uniting conflict- of Butskellite consensus ament indicate a turn (lurch ing elements who know that, politics as opposed to monetarist would perhaps be more accurate) however much they dislike each confrontation, have voted away from the Gaitskellite other, in order to enjoy the against a Tory government. One policies which have dominated benefits of office they must has even crossed the plush Labour since the fifties. stay together. It is that carpets to join the ranks of knowledge that has prevented the opposition, and others may any serious split in Labour's follow. On the Labour side, NEW RECRUITS 80 year history and has brought the Williams-Rodgers-Owen gang numerous "Left" defectors back of three has grown to a gang of Many of those who've recently to the Labour ranks. Certainly, fourteen which, together with joined the Labour Party, are attempts to build a "Left" a motley crew of failed polit- people who a decade ago WOUldn't parliamentary alternative to icians, academics, businessmen have touched it with a barge Labour, the Communist Party, and trade union bureaucrats, pole. Included in the ranks the post 1931 ILP, Commonwealth, has formed the grossly misnamed of these converts are not a etc, have all been dismal Council for Social Democracy now few Libertarians who, it may failures. While the main rechristened the Social Democratic be argued, have abandoned the tendencies, exoluding entrist Party. The original Social sterility of trad anarchism Trots, in the Labour Party are Democrats led Qy Henry Hyndman for the impotence of the the advocates of a mixed were exponents of a singularly Labour Party. However, it is economy on the one hand and of dogmatic brand of Marxism. too eaey to shield oneself from leftist state-capitalism on an unpleasant reality with the the other there are at rank and The media, perhaps fearful of armour of dogma and endless file level many actual or the results of the Tories' repetitions of the stock potential Socialists. These are right turn and Labour's move phrases about people who join the people who year in year out back from the Crossl~~d mixed- the Labour Party having crossed do the leafleting and canvassing economy ideology to leftist the "class lines" and the Labour without thought of reward. To state-capitalism, has portrayed Party being the "left-wing of dismiss them as traitors or the Social Democrats as the capital" or "social fascist" or as opportunists ready to sell greatest thing since sliced whate'!er the current epithets out at the drop of a fiver bread. And the notoriously are. Reassuring though this would be a great mistake. unreliable opinion polls may be, it does not answer inform us that if -the Liberals the questions of why have a and the Social Democrats formed growing number of revolutionaries Many of these people agree with a united front it would win joined the Labour Party, of the criticisms of both Labourism the next election. However, it why many thousands of honest, and Leninism made by Libertar- is more likely that the Social decent, sincere people are ians. Yet for them leaving the Democrats will have as little members, of why, despite its Labour Party to join or start real impact on parliamentary aQysmal anti-working class a Libertarian group would be politics as the Ecology Party record, millions of workers a step into the wilderness. or the Workers' Revolutionary still vote for it and see it The sectarianism of those more Party. as their party, or at least concerned with preserving as"the lesser of two evils. their ideological purity than More important from a revolution- Until a realistic attempt is winning support for that ary viewpoint than the antics made to answer these questions ideology amongst those for whom of politicians is the fact the debate amongst revolution- the ideology is meant to act that the defection of Williams aries about what the Labour as a guide to their self- et al and the row over how the Party is and what to do about liberation, does little to leader is to be elected has it will remain so much hot air. encourage them. There is given the Labour Party. badly We should also be asking ourselves within the Labour Party a discredi~ed by the performances why in times of crisis does potential large audience for of Wilson and Callaghan, a Left working class rebellion against the self-managed Socialist veneer, a measure of ostensible both the economic and authority alternative. Given the loyalty credibility as a "socialist" relationships of society of this audience to the Labour alternative to Thatcher. manifest'itself not in a radical Party and their, in some ways Certainly, the long term revolutionary, but in a radical healthy, distrust of verbose decline in LaboUr Party member- reactionary, fascistic way? declasse intellectuals more concerned with reliving the past Today the same is true for the than changing the present the Labour Left ideologues. What is problem arises of what is the important for them is not best way to address this audience? working people taking control of The belief that the best way their lives, but state control to do so is by joining the of industry (sanitised with the Labour Party has led some cosmetic of "participation") Libertarians into the Labour and the defence of the British ranks. Such a path is fraught nation state from foreign with dangers! History is full competition. Their bait for the of revolutionaries, Herbert masses, who are seen merely Morrison is a prime example, as voting fodder, is populism who joined Labour to turn it and radical nationalism. Nor in a revolutionary direction and have many lost their admiration have ended up on the right. for the USSR, just look at the What then is the alternative? utterances of the Alex Kitsons A choice between the incestuous and James Lamonds! life of isolated sects and sinking in the Labour swamp is like that between Satan For all sections of the Labour and Beelzebub! Party the parliamentary road is the only road and this is The over idealistic or over the most dangerous illusion of pessimistic may see support all! What happened in Chile for Tony Benn as an answer, in 1973 must never be forgotten. after all he has a lot to say Nor should we forget the rumours about democracy and decentral- here in 1974 when the miners' isation. However, a reading of strike was at its peak and Benn's "Arguments for Socialism" Heath fell, of a military coup, will reveal that far from being rumours which led to the hasty a blueprint for revolution his dispatch of junior officers to thinking is less "revolutionary" the wilds of Belize. Socialism than that of Cripps, Bevan, can be brought about by neither Strachey, Cole and Co. in the parliamentary reform or the 'thirties or for that matter machinations of conspiratorial IT'S ZELDA CURTIS TIME! of MacDonald in Labour's early vanguards. It can only come days. The Labour Party far from about by the conscious independ- SOLIDARITY is very short of cash. moving towards socialism is ent self-activity of workers. The last issue was produced with merely moving back to its The potential for such activity money borrowed from a member. There position of the years 1931-51. undoubtedly exists, but it is is barely enough money to pay for The ideology of this period far from being realised, For this issue, and none for the next. far from being libertarian the most part. the working class Please send all subscriptions and was a hotch potch of Fabian "little man" (and woman) is still donations to Solidarity, c/o 123 reformism, Morrison style caught in the straitjacket Lathom Road, London E.6. corporatism, Keynsianism. and of submissiveness and deference; anglicised versions of Stalinism, for him/her politics is something It was by no means accidental done by politicians not by that Fabian intellectuals such workers. How to realise that KICKING UP as Shaw and the Webbs found potential, how to u!lstrap the their mecca in Stalin's Russi& straitjacket should be the A STINK and Mussolini's Italy or that concern of all Socialists of Labour Lefts such as Mosley all uarties and none. Otherwise A new tactic of protest Has invent- and Beckett were the founders all ;f us will be labouring in ed by residents of East London's of British fascism. For all of vain. Poplar district after the Spring them it was the plan and the BarJc Holiday. Dustmen in Tower planners and not the people T. Liddle, Hamlets have been in dispute with which were all important. the Council for over five weeks and have been refusing to collect rubbish. Not s1l-~risingly, this has got up the residents' noses. So in the launderettes of the area the word was passed, and on 5th May at about 5 p.m. people gather- ed, collected the bags of litter in the chutes of the tower blocks, and built barrioades across streets used by traffic as short-cuts. Police gathered in force, even dog- handlers, but confined themselves to putting up bollazds and advis- ing drivers to turn round. A GLC van was booed and pelted Hith rubb- ish.

This is an ingenious way of forc- ing councils to provide services which have suffered under the "cuts" • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • e' , WE'LL HAVE NO MORE TALK OF SOCIALISM IN THIS PARTY ---- ~---- -~------

Cabinet believe that the monetar- ists have a point). There are rumblings of Trotskyist takeovers, there are motions about nuclear disarmament, there is a new leader and there are moves to establish a successor who will be 'still more radical'. The party has moved far enough to the left for it to shed a number of its more right wing members and M.P.s and for a large number of the politically active left in this country to join it. There is a new mood of optimism amonst its members and people you talk to speak-of it becoming a real alternative and a mass left wing movement. OPTIMISM

Such naive optimism is immensely depressing. Because the Conserv- ative Party is so bad there is an assumption that the Labour Party must be good. Because the record of the Labour Party was so awful when they were in office (reduced real income due to an income policy which ignored prices; remember?) there is an assumption that it 'must be different' next time. To me it seems more likely that the future record of the Labour Party will be similar to its past record. Just because there is a new party leader and a new system of voting does not mean that the fundamental nature of the party has permanently changed. There is surely every danger that the· current leftward stance of the Labour Party is all part and parcel of its usual trick of becoming more radical in opposition - only to become increasingly timid in office. There is a very long tradition of good honest people joining the Labour Party and working damn hard ? to get it elected, in the hope that this time the party means • what it says; that this time the Over the past couple of years language in the vain attempt to slogans won't be dropped as soon the political scene in this maintain the interest of the as the election is over; that thiE country would appear to have British public in what were time there won't be another changed quite sharply. We had basically pretty tedious squabbles. incomes policy and another grown used to a large area of commitment to NATO; that this time political agreement between All that has now altered. We have it will be different. To date the major parties which involved for the first time in many years it never has been. The party in particular a shared acceptance a clear divergence between the regularly takes on a more radical of the economic objectives of Government and the opposition tone when out of office and with government (low uqemployment, about genuine issues. The boring regularity drops it again economic growth, high investment Conservative Party, or at least once in power. regional aid etc.) and a shared the section of it which has acceptance of how these objectives control of the Cabinet, believes What is worse is that the might be achieved (Keynesian. that inflation is the main individual members get changed demand management). Arguments evil facing this country and in the process. They get worn between the parties have tradition- that monetarism is the only way down and altered b,y the experience ally been about differences of to deal with it. The Labour of trying to get their ideas emphasis; about how successful Party, for all its variety of implemented b,y the party. There each party had been at achieving responses, is clear on a number is a long slow process of hard the shared aims, and about non- of things. It regards unemployment work meeting with frustrating economic issues such as comprehen- as the main menace and it does failure, of trying once again sive education. The areas of not regard monetarism as the and failing, of compromising dispute have often been so sole guide to the management of where necessary and of toning insignificant as to be virtually an economy (though it is well down the message to appeal to undetectable and had to be artif- worth pointing out that several the electorate. Given enough icially blown up by rhetorical key members of the Shadow time this process turns good strong militants into those weak proponents of 'realpolitik' who cling onto their positions out of pride and slow down and wear out the next generation of militants. Barbara Castle was a left winger, so for that matter was Wilson. Foot was so far to the left that the media campaigned against him exactly as they are now doing against Benn. Once he hit office he seemed to quieten down a lot. What kind of blind faith is it that assumes that once he becomes Prime Minister he will prove more resilient?

What is really dispiriting is the number of people who currently often not based on its failure left in this country wants, is believe that the problem is one to adopt a particular policy or in the most part highly unattract- of personalities, that the reason of its bad record in office. The ive , In other words, the way tha,t whY there is such a long historical most commonly leveled criticism the left of the Labour Party record of staunch left wingers has always been that it is the (and the 11arxist movement becoming tame Ministers is because whole tactic of reform politics generally) conceives of socialism they were all somehow susceptible which is wrong. vfuenyou join is seriously flawed. to corruption because of who they something like the Labour Party were, that it is all a matter you are joining a party which There are a la-rge number of of finding an honest man, that believes in operating within people among the left of the Benn is somehow different - the system; which believes that Labour Party who seriously the incorruptible. It is not a something can be done to alter believe that increased nation- question of Benn or anyone else the system and improve it and alisation will have the effect being dishonest or selling-out - that whatever can be done can of gradually bringing Britain it is simply a matter of the forces be most effectively done gradually. nearer to socialism. They talk which operate upon a reform I would argue (and a great many of nationalising the banks or orientated left-wing movement. of those now joining the Labour the top 100 companies as though Party themselves used to argue this will in some way improve The system has had a long record the lives of the ordi.nar'y of success at absorbing 'reform this way) that what is required members of the public. It should movements and it has an equally is not an alteration of a basic- not be left to the Conservatives long record of getting once ally sound system but an honest to gleefully point out that the radical reformers to become opposition to a system which top 100 companies are nationalised, mild-mannered. There is a whole cannot be reformed into the history of reformers starting kind of society we want. I would in Russia nor should it take out strong, just like Benn. further argue that even if you a genius to notice that there What is frightening is just how believe in reform then the are state run banks in several timidly most of them finish. most effective way of getting it countries in Western Europe It cannot simply be a matter of is precisely by revolutionary which don't seem to have advanced the socialist cause one iota, chance (it has happened in too activity, If you ask for radical many countries on too many reforms you tend to get mild The left of the L~bour Party is otill caught in the ideological occasions) and if it is a matter ones; a Brixton riot tends to spawn radical reforms. trap of conceiving of socialism of ~ historical force operating as something to do with state aga~st reformist socialists The Labour Party may now be a planning and there is precious then why should Benn be immune little real aHareness amongst to it? clear alternative to the Conserv- ative Party but this is not them that what matters is not because the Labour Party iself so much who owns industry but BENN'S SOCIALISM has changed and dropped its who controls it, After a.ll reformist approach. lmat has the B.B.C. is a state run instit- happened is that the Conservative ution yet it would seem to be Benn has been built up by the Party has moved sharply to the one of the leading bastions of media as some kind of madman right whilst the kind of reforms the establishment. It shoulc', (he is in fact, remember, a which the Labour Party is pushing surely be clear by nOH (to fairly mild Christian socialist for have changed somewhat. The anyone who looks at the r'ea.I. and has never believed in any Labour Party's programme has begun world instead of their EarxLm kind of revoluticn). The mere to sound increasingly like the textbooks) that Khen He look d suggestion that he might (with demands of the Euro-Communists. 3. na,tionE~,lised inCl1.1st2'Y ~'rh5.t Tlie the change in election rules) The party hasn't so much moved :lye looking at is almost identiccl become leader of the party at to the left - it has rather in form an0 content to Cl non- some time in the future has been fallen increasingly under the nationalised giant corporation. met Hith a split in the Labour sway of those who see increased ranks and a furious press campaign. state intervention as identical Those who are currently rushillR It is almost as if the media is to a move to the left. to join the Labour Par-ty are ' training him. If he ydshes to therefore, it wouLd appear, operate within the system ignoring (almost as an act of then he Hill have to learn the STATE SOCIALISM Hill) both the poverty of system's rules - or else. ideology of much of the left of the party and the Hhole tradition This is not a nel'lpoint, It is This brings me to my final of the accommodation of the party a long established one that many criticism of the Labour Party, Hithin the establishment oncp' of those now joining the Labour I would argue that the kind of it hits power. They are cur-rorrt Iy Party are well aware of. The reform the Labour Party wants, feeling virtuous because they criticisms which they themselves and also the kind of socialism are 'doing something' and are used to make of the party were 1'1hichmost of the revolutionary enjoying the illusion that they ABOUT OURSELVES IF YOU WANT TO CONTACT SOLIDARITY ••• Habitual readers of "Solidarity" for the opinions of each. We have will have noticed the considerable no need of the kind of acceptabil- 123, Lathom Road, London, E.6. diversity of views expressed in our ity to be gained by attaching labels 34. Cowley Road, Oxford. recent issues. to ourselves, or by tailoring our 56, st. Benedicts street, Norwich. ideas to conform to the prejudices 30, Blenheim Terrace, Leeds 2. of oth"'~. 8a, Hector Road, Manchester 13. The disagreements which are aired Box 23, 163, King street, Aberdeen. in these pages reflect the debates If we aren't to recount the whole 21, Treliske Lane, Highertown, and the divergent tendencies within of our political experience in every Truro, Cornwall. Solidarity. It would be foolish to issue, it is inescapable that this 4, The Grove, Lancaster. pretend that this lack of uniform- journal will be largely made up of ity has not created problems for us fragments, the public formulation The Natimnal Secretary can (or that the silence of other groups of a dialogue through which we give be contacted via London group. on such matters means they have no shape and substance to our lives. internal dissensions.) But there are The least of our expectations is The International Secretary can many problems which will still that a few of these articles, creat- be contacted c/o 83, Gregory eresc., have to be solved, not least because ivly applied, may be of use as we Eltham, London, SE9 5HZ. many of these solutions can only be try to make sense of a bewildered practical ones, and to abandon our world. While the contents of this The National Treasurer can be commitment to critical, and self- journal generally reflect the group's contacted c/o 65, Oxford Road, critical, thinking would mean the politics, articles signed by indi- Exeter, Devon. stagnation of our politics. viduals don't necessarily reflect the views of all our members. From the letters and comments we receive it is apparent that some The editorial production of this articles have given rise to mis- journal is rotated around various understandings. while others would Solidarity groups nationwide. This like to make all of us responsible issue was the work of London group.

movement, in the gay rights groups, in local community LABOUR AGAIN? protest groups, in the anti- bomb movement and some of the are fighting the Tories by among the non-political general more imaginative struggles supporting the Labour Party. public who would disagree. fought by those at work (e.g. What they are forgetting is that This means not placing all your Lucas Aerospace) and those out it is not enough to have something political eggs in one basket - of work (e.g. some claimants worth fighting against - you have Le. not staking everything on unions). It means fighting for to have something worth fighting the return to power of Labour whatever you can in whatever way for as well. nor on the precise political you can for yourself. By this I programme devised by the guru do not mean tr~t we should get Having said all that the obvious of som.e minute left sect. carried away on some anarchist question becomes what can be dream and idealise each and every offered in terms of an alternative It means doing all our fighting riot in the streets or each and strategy. My argument would be for ourselves and not leaving every new punk band which spouts that the alternative strategy it to anyone else (and then revolution. What I mean is that already exists and is being cr3ing 'sellout' when they fail there are elements in the youth implemented by fairly wide to come up with the goods), It movement, elements in the black sections of the population. means placing our faith in some community and elements in the It seems to me that the first of those fragments which SheiJA workers' movement which have and most basic plank of any Rowbotham described in her book common interests against the attempt to change the system 'Beyond the Fragments', In terms system which can be brought out must be to believe in no-one of examples one could cite and shared. The left in this and to trust no-one but ourselves. some of the work being done by country should be turning its On this score there are few certain elements in the women's attention to the long, tedious and difficult task of helping us all to learn to share our various fights and to develop our tactics (e.g. along the lines worked out in some of the Polish strikes). It should not be engaged in the task of assisting the efforts of any party - be it reformist or revolutionary - to persuade us that this time, with this leadership and with this programme things will be different. Only when it stops treating people as voting or recruiting fodder will the left begin to have something worthwhile to offer to ordinary people and I see no evidence that any of the political parties currently existing are prepared to do so.

Andy Brown. JS - This ,is what happened; the workers were ready to call off the POLAND - ANAL YS IS strike if the government agreed that Qy 21 October all the demands should be met; on that condition AND PROSPECTS CON. there would have been no strike on 3 October. But the government would at the level of informal commun- to be against the electlon of fac- only commit itself on a very gener- ications. They would like to have tory councils by all the workers, al formula, with no exact date. more deputies and more space for whether in a union or not. For Mazowiecki himself was in favour of the opposition, more newspapers, them that would present the risk of that formula, and Walesa likewise, and so on. In addition they claim- submitting to the test of popular- but it was opposed Qy the presidium. ed to have a grip on a mass move- ity. They don't want to share any- The problem is that Walesa cannot ment of that size. They wanted to thing they have gained. They do not stop wildcat strikes that do not ar- show that they could control it. even want the number of delegates ise from the non-implementation of But that was a mistake, because in the regional union committees to the Accords, but from the Accords now that some of the workers have be determined by the number of work- themselves. The situation is very arTived at more ra~ical positions ers in the factories, because they dangerous, since if the presidium they will pro-bably not accept that do not want to share power with the no longer has control of the work~ formula and the problem will be old unions. It's very dangerous. ers, and if the workers have no still more difficult, because it They do not see the seriousness of more confidence in the presidium, will entail· overt rebellion. the economic situation. For years 1.e. if their ideal of free tradF they have been saying that every- unions dissolves, they will then MS - Would you say that the aim of thing was for the best, and now resume their activity as a mass, the Hazowiecki group is to estab--- they imagine that it's enough to ii~n the 70s" with the same lish what we in the west call 'so- take from the rich, but it's im- problem of articulation. .cial dialogue'? possible. It is probable that they will declare a general strike, be- MS - Can we foresee what will JS - Yes, it's like the Eurocom- cause the wildcat strikes will ex- happen on 21 October? munists. This is where we also ert so much pressure on them that get demands for rotation of fun- they'll have to choose between ols- JS - I think the government is ctions, strict definition of res- ing contact with the workers and not capable of applying the ac- ponsibilities at each level, etc. launching a general strike. And cords in their entirety. For ex- It's the next stage in the instit- certainly Mazowiecki will not be ample, improving supply of prov- utionalisation of -totalitarianism. able to stop them. He couldn't isions, abolishing "commercial even stop the one-hour strike al- prices", instituting food ration- MS - In Austria a perfect organis- though he did everything he could. ing - that last point would lead ation of that type already exists., He was in Gdansk and he drew up fOl to disaster. Because with ration with ~~ion and company officials Walesa the text which was to be read cards, the situation of regions disussing on TV and which did not fix a date like Silesia or Gdansk could only discussing and fixing wage and for fulfilling the demands, and it get worse. You need to be able to price increases round the table. was the presidium which voted No. distribute in a more or less equal All the same the presidium is not way. Now there is not enough meat JS - We thought of that too when very radical, it is the plenum for everyone. At the moment they we were talking about control over which is increasingly so. distribute most of it in certain budget planning in the course of regions; if distribution was to be the negotiations. Unfortunately MS - By the plenum you mean the equal for all, those who are best provided would lose out (and they the government is now getting back delegates from the whole country? are also the ones who struggle in to the corporate system, it only the most resolute fashion). In the wants sectional and regional unions JS- yes. The presidium (of what was small industrial towns, the situa- as partners. It is opposed to the MKS, whose members constitute tion is really bad, even bread sh- the higher level which would be essentially the leadership of the ortages occur. I don't believe th- neceeaary for waat you' re talking unions) was founded when there were ings will improve between now and about. More important still, the only 32 enterprises represented in the end of October. 1'Iorkershave no interest in hier- the MKS, on 15 August. Later there archy as such. It W8>S even diffi- were nearly 400 of them, yet no cult to set up a coordinating other member was elected or co-opt- EXPERTS committee of the six regional MKZ. ed onto the presid~um. That's why In pa.rticular, the workers of their interests diverge. The dele- 2czeczjn and Gdansk were only in gates to the plenum have no access MS - Does a reform have any chance agreement for the purpose of prot- to the leadership. They wanted new in Poland? (,cting the weakest. The Central. Co- elections in the two months follow- nmittee was formed on the model of ing the Gdansk Accords, but the st- JS - As far as I can see, there is the :·lKS. The workers do not re[;ard atutes envisaged a delay of 2-5 no chance that agreement will be central functions as being all that months~t factory level, and up to reached on an economic reform. important. 10 months at regional level. The Three models are being published, presidiun decided that, and here two comparatively good. They're we can see its party mentality. applying the worst, Professor paj- THE PARTY they think they are the only ones etska's, which apart from its con- who know what has to be done. It's fusion, is not even a real system. a very dangerous development, and His group is the only one working MENTALITY in this respect Gdansk is distinct with the government. He was in Gd- from the other regions. Elsewhere ansk too. r:S - 'ilalesahimself was against people who haven't this experience centralised p01'ler. of clandestinity behave differently. MS - On the other side?

JS - That's a very interesting MS - Walesa wrote a letter to Kania JS - Yes, it was quite surrealist- thing, and it goes back to their claimirlg that he had not annulled ic. Given the ambiguous attitude activity in the illegal unions, the strike order because the gover- of people who adopted a critical where they acquired a real party ment was not disposed to satisfy position in Poland in the 70s, mentality. That's how they come the workers' demands. Pajetska, as an "official" was That was what provoked the wild- cause they did not include that it would have attributed a new deg- cat strikes. The government is formula about the leading role of ree of power to the workers. That's using the old unions to put all the party. If it was not included why they had to use the experts , that into effect, because they are it's becasue the plenum of deleg- because we had seen at first glance organised by sections. It insisted ates now controls Walesa and pre- what it meant. The formula was brou- on this model, because it wanted vented him from bringing it in. Of ght in through the mediation of the to map out an area of action for course it is there indirectly, experts and the trust that was pla- the old unions. since the statutes affirm the val- ced in them. The government alone, idity of the Constitution and of faced with the workers, could never MS - And this is how it's still the Gdansk Accords, but the gover- have introduced it in that way, tak- happening today? nment wanted it to appear specif- ing account of the radicalism dis- ically. I think, though, that the played by the workers, and without JS.- Of course, because it's in present degree of radicalisation them fully understanding its imp- the accords. The government is makes it impossible. Already dur- ortance. I saw exactly how the work- right to s?,y that the strikes did ing the strike, the formula could ers were reacting; why bring it in not break out because the accords only be introduced by using here, it will all be worked out in were not respected; there's only manipulation, without it being ]ractice. For them it was a pract_ one factory in five where they voted in the big hall. It should ical problem, That was the differ- were not. Rather, the workers are have been put to the vote, because ence in the capacity to understand; less and less satisfied with the the rule was that they would vote radicalism is a question of the negotiations and with the indepen- on fundamental questions, and when capacity to understand. dent unions. I'm in the middle of there was disagreement within the investigating this; we have been presidium. But it was not put to MS - The party is insisting more questioning workers in Gdansk, and the vote, when even in the pres- and more on the principle of its the first interviews show that cer- idium there were some opposed to leading role. Kania says for ex- tain of the workers have been over- it. ample that the unions are divided come by apathy, because they think on the organisational plane, but that the independent unions are It was a very interesting situation that their unity on the political the same as the old ones. About a from the point of view of the work- plane must be preserved. quarter of them are becoming rad- ers' class consciousness. I was on icalised, especially the young. the small working group when the JS - The formula of the leading government formulated that require- role of the party is fundamental ment for the first time, on the sec- for them, but not for the workers. ond or third day of negotiations. The way it was brought in seemed to CONFLICT There were twelve people present; 3 many delegates to be completely negotiators on either side, and 3 unjustified. On the last day, cer- experts for each. On the third day tain delegates were not allowed in- MS- So there are also contradic- they explained to us that the ind- to the hall becasue of their opp- tions in the new unions? ependent unions '"ould constitute an ositional attitude. There were lots ideological precedent, and that on of little incidents of that kind. JS - Yes, heaps. For example, all the workers' side we would have to Hhich meant that the radicalism of the conflicts that were present at do something to refute that.Of the plenum increased, and that of the time of the strikes are now course, all this was way beyond the presidiun declined. All the arising again. Thus there was a what the workers could imagine or questions which were decided in an conflict with reference to the make sense of. The MKS (Inter-fac- undemocratic fashion, like point 8 form of the new unions, the lead- tory Coordinating Committee) was an (wage rises), and the political ing role of the party, and so on. entirely practical creation, it had formula (leading role of the party) been conceived of as a place for are now time bombs. Regarding what MS - I noticed that during the technical coordination; the workers we can learn, it's very good, bec- negotiations, when the delegates ause it shows that in a movement were arguing over that last point. were not thinking in terms of class representation on one side or the like this all interference and man- They asked Walesa to come and dis- ipulation is futile. cuss it, he got up on the platform other, they had no mOdel. So they and said it was all a misundersta- did not understand what this point nding. meant. For that same reason it was CATHOLICS difficult to get them to accept it. JS - And today the conflict reapp- The government would have had to ears. The Solidarity Statutes were explain it to them in advance, but MS - It's a movement which can't be refused by the court in Warsaw be- it wanted to avoid doing so because 'led astray.

JS - Right, that has only been done from outside. And it only ffiCGe the situation more difficult. Dur- ing the negotiations in Gdansk the government was ready to make conc- essions, it did not absolutely in- sist on that point; if the worst came to the worst, it would have been content simply with the ref- erence to the constitution, like at Sczeczin. The Sczeczin formula was put forward by the government, it wasn't made the object of neg- otiation, they received and accep- ted it as it HaE, and the party doesn't come into it. I think it's all Hazowiecki's fault. They H2nt- ed to show their loyalty, it'S,~!l argument in favour of their own catholic movement, it's ,clrecc'y been put forward in Parliament 2nc: Dear Solidarity,

When I read the sound libert- arian arguments of your magazine, it comes as a surprise to me LETTEI~S that such commonsense does not appeal to the vast majority of workers in this country. Naturally There are striking similarities such a mass rejection of a between the Polish workers' Dear Solidarity, workers' magazine by the workers need for a leader, and the At long last some of the Trad Left must cause you some qualms, Hungarian workers need for a groups have woken up to what is but you seem to pay little leader in the revolution of happening in Poland and have decid- attention to the reasons 1956. In Andy Anderson's account ed to do something about it. This behind this rejection. As a (Solidarity London 1964) the something was a march to the Soviet relatively new reader I am name of Imre Nagy recurs Embassy on April 13 by 500 people therefore left to assume your again and again. To the obvious including a couple of Solidarity explanations - possibly along bewilderment of the author of members. The march organisers, the lines of a ruling hegemony, this account, the Hungarian which included a number of local maintained by capitalists workers persist in supporting Labour Parties and several Trot- through or by the State, with or clinging to their 'moderate', skyist groups had banned "cold-war" blanket control of education law and order leader, even slogans though nobody knew what the and mass media; thus ensuring after (the author suggests) these might be. Someone suggested that all challenging ideas Nagy calls in Russian tanks. that "Fuck Brezhnev" would be, are stillborn. I find this whereas "Fuck the Bureaucratic De- kind of argument unconvincing, In the face of such a powerfully formations of the Workers' States" just because in my experience abasing need that looke like wouldn't be. Because of this the workers nearly always have a human nature, it is indeed Polish Solidarity Campaign had set of worthy reasons for difficult to see how such leaders withdrawn its original sponsorship rejecting Solidarity's ideas. can ever be made accountable to of the march. The realities of large assemblies, re-callable, Trad-Left double-think were shown Now although your magazine ready to be sacked or to make way by the slogan saying "Defence of presents the arguments for for others to share or rotate the Soviet Union - Yes; Bureaucracy libertarian/anarcho-communism the job. The iron law of - No". clearly, and with topical oligarchy rules, and revolutions and practical reference, only reshuffle the top people. The traditional march was followed nevertheless the (in some by the traditional meeting, ad- cases strong) arguments against I emphasise that I don't dressed by Tariq Ali and a couple do not seem to be presented subscribe to such views, but of Labour MPs. Comrade Ali called and refuted. that I think they are widespread, on the Western bankers to cancel and that I would like to see the debts owed to them by Poland. As an example take the 'problem them taken seriously, and There followed interventions by of leadership'. An 'a-political' seriously refuted. the Sparticists, a Trot. group person (maybe the 'man in the whose favourite slogan is "Hail street') might claim leadership Yours fraternally, to be necessary in order for to the Red Army'~, and World Rev- Nick Keene olution, who accused Reg Race MP anything to get done - and ------•••of murdering Rosa Luxembourg. instance organisations such as the Army, Hospital, Ship Reality was restored by a Polish etc. Similar claims were made speaker who said that what Solid- by Lenin, who could also quote arnosc needed was money to buy Dear Solidarity, Engels (Lenin - State and duplicators and similar equip- ment. So far, for all its blather, Revolution: Continued Part 2: Carry on ~he gO~d the Left in Britain has only sent Controversy with the anarchists.) work, don't be too dogmat.Lc - hfe two duplicators. The TUC has lau- started in the swamp. nched a half-hearted appeal for a In order to bring the argument The libertarian l:f~ over here miserly £20,000, but much, much into focus take the example of (Norway) seems to be d1v1ded betwe-more is needed Poland and Lech Walesa - (who en rather 'orthodox' anarchists/ • is able to delay and perhaps anarcho-syndicalists without much Towards the end a sister said that prevent strikes by the simple f~llowing and milieu/ecolo~ acti- if we were hone~t the only way we and familiar expedient of V1stS w~o are very,strong 1~ No~ay could support Solidarnosc, faults threatening to resign as union relat1vely speak1ng. Pub11c op1n-and all was on its own terms. leader). Interviewed by Italian ion against nuclear weapons is also ' jOUL~alist Oriana Fallaci for strong here, maybe 50% of the pop- Meanwhile, while the British Left the Sunday Times 2.2.3.81, Walesa ulation, at any rate a really siz- has rabbited, Rumanian workers, made several revealing comments. able proportion, with even the big- inspired by the Polish example, Thus, at a crucial meeting gest (or next biggest) daily paper have acted. In the mining and oil- of 2,000 Gdansk workers, their against such weapons. Norwegians refining districts, they have thr- boss had just asked them to are well aware that even in a 'lim- eatened to strike for a shorter leave and they were complying - ited' nucIea'rwar there won't be working week, profit-sharing, and when Walesa arrived, gave the much left of Norway after both sidesYugoslav-style workers' councils. boss a straight left and became are finished. Unfortunately the Dissidents have been silenced and ~Drkers' leader. The workers, main political parties aon't seem the security forces strengthened, ng to Walesa, need a to understand this - so as usual but Rumania may well be the scene ~ertain ideas follow it's no good asking them for help! of the workers' next big struggle -o- Walesa: a contempt against the parasitic bureaucracy. . -ussf.on, and a All the best, . government' • .rohn Downing A. Sorotnik I)()L/~NIJ- I~N/~LYSIS J\NIJ J)I~()SI)ECTS

The following consists of ex- JS.- That's something else again. you expect the Obstruction mech- cerpts from an interview (about This workers' movement is anarch- anism to provoke a major shake- the beginning of October 1980~ ist in its way, but in the good s up, or will it lead to a general with Jadwiga Staniskia, an Ass- sense of the term,that is it opp- strike? istant in sociology whose activ- oses every institution and hiera- ity during 1968 led to her being chy. It is constructed on the pri- JS - Ii:mreally afraid that there imprisoned and then excluded from nciple of minimal hierarchy. It's will be a general strike in a university. In intervals of work not interested in guarantees about month's time. I'm not in favour, as a nurse and other jobs and be- control of leaders, what they want becaUse it would mean Soviet int- ing registered as unemployed she is confidence and rotation. They ervention. But from another point prepared a thesis on bureaucracy have decided not to participate in of view the situation on the work- (I97I) and published it in 1972. the existing institutions, like ers side is very complicated; they Her thesis on the contradictions the factory councils or the self- are not only dissatisfied with the of organisation was refused acc- management committees. They are a fact that the Gdansk guarantees are ess to a printer. After a year in applying the same general plan as not being applied, they are also the USA she wrote 'The Dialectic during the strike: demand and pre- more and more dissatisfied with the of Socialist Societies' (to be test, without taking on any respo- Accords themselves. There were mis- published by princeton Press and nsibilty. Moreover, it must be sa takes on both sides, on Walesa's Einaudi). On her return to Poland said that there is no area in part and on the part of the govern- at the beginning of July she ob- which they could have taken part ment. Point 8, on future wage nego- tained a teaching contract at un- in decisions. For the moment, at tiations, stipUlates that they iversity. factory level, no-one is taking should be carried out by sections, This interview was published in decisions. So, short of a reform using the old scales. l;hich has two German, translated into French on the Yugoslav or at least on consequences: it will get out of and made available to us by com- the Hungarian model, there is not the control of the new unions, whicr rades in Echanges. English trans- the slightest possibility of par- is why the government insisted on slation and editing: LW. ticipation. The workers are using it;and it also means tha.t it will their strength ouly to obstruct be very anti-egalitarian, because things. Unfortunately, the reform those at the highest levels will PROSPECTS project currently being worked on get more than those in the lowest by the Kania group has no control- paid categories. The workers' pro- ing line and is very technocratic. tests and the several weeks of st- FOR REFORM The unions will oppose this reform rikes in Krakow and Silesia were and block it •••{The Kania group) not directed against the non-app- Js •••• When they are remote from are inconsistent, they only take lication of the Accords, but arose power people adopt a critical att- half-measures. That's why I think because this way of applying them ude but they don't change their our economic situation will only is creating increasing tension. way of thinking. The only way out get worse ••• In these conditions, for the Party would be a new lead- short of a real reform that would ership proposing a new course offer the unions the room to part- WAGES with some credibility. But there icipate in decisions, they will is no question of that. The Kania win nothing but penury, with enor- group is clearly using the same mous power of obstruction by the I1S - This undifferentiated incr- methods as Gierek: slackening the unions which are becoming increa- ase in wages is already under way reins, temporising, resorting to singly radical because they have no and the workers' delegates have already reduced their claims by Cl. the Catholic Church as a factor power of positive action. for stabilisation. They thought quarter. they could bring the workers to the same point as the intelligen- DILEMMA JS - It goes even further than that. There are very wide ineq- i tiJ', in the 70s, that the workers ualities between the various , ,'.mIdbe content with the exist- JS •••Reform means the modification «nce of independent unions, with categories of workers, and more of prices, and 'socialist bapJcrup- differences with each section. At no access to the decision-making tcy for about a quarter of all en- process. That might have been the the start they were asking for terprises, which lack efficiency. 2000 more zlotys for evex~one. At case with organisations like the It also means that the whole plan Free University or even the KOR, the end of August, they were ask- system will be changed, with no ing that all those eurning more for whom it is enough to exist, more authoritarian planning, only but for the workers that's not en- than J500z1. should get 500 more, models and very generous controls and those earning less than J500 ough. After scarcely a fortnight, for the banks. Loss of employment they were already demanding more. should get 1000 more. And ther ,,/illfollow for thousands of peop- Walesa andJa~ielski a~reed In the Gdansk Accords provision le in the administration, and the was made for the creation of com- een themselves that ever-: dominant group is incapable of one It missions to deal with workers' go up category. bringing about anything of the khld. ible mistake, becau~ safety, and then nothing came of They are so weak that they cannot great inequalitiF it. do anything to risk disturbing workers, The gar such a fragile equilibrium. les vary wide MS (interviewer) - So they wanted est it mgr workers' control? MS - But what can come of it? Do 150 ei., a also a bit critical; and I, or Kowalik, or Mazowiecki, naturally a bit more so. But we were all part of the same Establishment in Warsaw and met at the same conferences and so on. That's why the negotiations could go so quickly, the atmosphere was pleasant, but the danger was that it could end b,y creating too much complicity.

Mazowiecki decided not to broadcast any information on the conflict to the plenum of delegates during the negotiations, so as not to disrupt them. It was the first step that led later to suppressing the twice daily delegates' meetings, votes, etc. And that arose partly from the fact that the atmosphere was so fr- iendly. The preliminary pourparlers were very easy. we were on the same wavelength, sympathetic to the wor- kers. This certainly allowed a good framework of the CRZZ, the old tr- what it meant, I refused to negot- synthesis of their demands, but it ade union congress. Of course, that iate on it. Firstly because it was also falsified the authentic expre- was modified later I after the Gda •• meaningless anyway, as it was put ssion of their movement. Because nsk Accords. in the formula. And then, it should the workers were really very oppo- have been discussed by all the wor- sed to the system, to the point SELL-OUT? kers, all the delegates.I was oppo- where they wouldn't even touch it, sed to this procedure behind closed still less reform it. They were ag- But on the other points the pres- doors. It was a question of an id- ainst it, full stop. And this was ence of the experts solved nothing. eological decision which should what was falsified; in a way we On Saturday )0 August, the last day have been taken by the workers th- made 'liberals' out of them, after of negotiations, the workers decid- emselves, not by the experts; the the fashion of the intelligentsia. ed, after the first point had been question was one of decision, not In the end, they were heard to say signed, to negotiate all the foll- of expertise. But at the same time things like: high-ranking party owing points b,y themselves, becau- the situation was exceptional, and members must not be excluded from se they were not happy with the it was a difficult decision; so on the new unions, that would be dis- political formula.in point One - 28 August I told the presidium: I criminatory - which was not at all 'leading role of the party in the thiILk tIlis is a decision which dep- the way they spoke at the beginning. state'. They negotiated alone th- At the start they would think: whY rough the night of Sa.turday to ends on the workers, and we experts be against discrimination - given Sunday and imposed several of the should hold back for a moment. The that they themselves had been dis- most radical resol:-Il-tions,with the other expel~s said that they would criminated against for years. They exception of point Eight (wage stay and work on the formula. I were for discrimination against rises). They got along very well in withdrew from the group of three party members. subsequently they the negotiations. experts and Garenek took my place.I amended their language, but at the came back later when they got down organisational level they behaved MS ,-10.'1'10 were the participants'l to practical questions, medical in a less democratic manner. There vices, hours of work, etc. was less and less voting and infor- JS - Three people, Gwiezda, Lis, mation. There was an excessive or- and Kablinski, with no experts. I had the impression that this ques- ientation towards liberalism, and All the points except the first tion of the political formula was on the other hand less and less three were negotiated twice over so at variance with the real feel- direct, practical democracy. on Saturday night, without experts. ings of the workers that it should There was a moment of drama when at least have been discussed with MS • We might point out in this Jagielski made a little speech af- them. But it was read out to them connection that if Walesa had been ter the signing of point One: he without explanation as a formula alone, faced with the government explained what that meant to him, that had definitely been decided representatives, it could have how pleased he was that there was by the presidium and the experts. turned out worse than with the ex- agreement with his party, etc. They were very annoyed. perts. Perhaps the workers would That was when the workers realised have fallen into traps? what the politica.l formula meant, HOW DIRECT drawn up in such carefully-chosen JS - I don't think so. The onLy terms; they were so furious that point which could have been more Walesa said afterwards: our only DEMOCRACY difficult is the registration. The chance is that the central Committee government lawyers tried to demon- wil refuse it. But it accepted it DISAPPEARED strate that this demand was a false on Saturday afternoon. It was then p~eblem because Convention No 87 that the workers wanted to throw Mazowiecki and all the experts of the I10 banned all government out all the experts from the ship- knew very well that panic had. sup- interference in union activity, and yards. It didn't affect me, because ervene~ on the government side, be- that registration meant less than I had taken no part in working out cause of the miners' strike, and what the union's centrals are doing. the formula; I was against it. that it would probably have accep- All this is wrong, of course, but ted a non-statist definition of none of us is an expert on the ma- MS - Did you play a personal role socialism, such as for example, tter, neither Mazowiecki nor Kowa- in it? socialisation of the means of pro- lik nor I - I had never taken an duction and. people's power, and interest in the unions before. At JS - When the government put for- that could have been the basis of Sczeczin they decided, without ex- ward that requirement, and I saw negotiation. Well, there was no perts, on registration within the that the workers did not understand ~egotiating, only editing. On the would get nowhere on that one, that because the majority 6f workers it was part of the leading role of have not got that far. Seeing. POLAND the party to take such decisions. that the decision to strike And if they construct an apparatus carries risks with it, even today, CON. to control the central powers they even from a material point of view will be told the same. They lost a lot during the summer, government side they got more than they only got basic pay, and most they hoped for. It is probable that the party lead- of what they get comes from over- ership will not bring any changes time, etc. Wages are very low. MS - Why were there no regular mass tending towards greater equality This leads the workers towards apa- meetings of the shipyard workers even with reference to the higher thy; they are tired of strikes.So and delegates, where it could have family allowances for members of there must be something between the been discussed? That could have set the security services, party app- two, between demand and protest. in motion a process of learning aratus, militia, arrny,etc. I don't But for that to happen there has to be an economic reform, and there and of politicisation •••? believe they'll risk it, because in the 70s the support of all these is no hope of that happening. That would require real decentralisation JS - Because the workers would groups was won b,y granting them as for example in Yugoslavia, with have refused the Accords. They were these privileges. It's a point workers' councils able to decide very radical, although a third of which played a role in the nego- what should be invested and what them were party members (200).The tiations with Jagielski in Gdansk. leadership were afraid of mass What's more, the Gdansk workers distributed in wages. directors nominated annually, workers able meetings, and the experts themsel- said that they could find other re- to decide on personnel policy, etc. ves advised against them. The way sources to allow an improvement in In the present system, authoritar~ things were, the workers did not wages, for example a redefinition want to allow any party members of the export policy of the Gdansk ian, with planning from above, none into the unions. Their opposition shipyards. But that is also a pol- of these attractive possibilities could have been used as an argu- itical problem, the problem of un- exists. ment in the negotiations. In my taxable exports to the East. view it would have been better to But this workers' movement is hos- tile to all political institutions let the government see the real There was a sort of ideological mood of the workers, to formulate for political reasons. They have b movement here, and the acceptance been deceived for years with "self- it explicitly. Because it was an of the (political)formula falsi- ideological precedent of rebellion management conferences", that's why fied their position. The workers their programme is to take no part against the statist definition of obviously never thought in those socialism. For me, socialism is in that sort of thing. But they are terms, but they sensed it. we're not satisfied. They are in a false not a one-party system, it has no- sure of that now. I saw how fur- thing to do with the party, it has position. They have accepted a for- ious people were at the signing mula which is not acceptable to to do with the organisation of soc- of the Accords. If we go into one iety with (collective) ownership of most of them, and conversely they of the yards now,theY're less and are more radical than they want to the means of production, etc. For less pleased to see us. The situ- me, it was arrogance on the part of be in reality. On the other hand, ation today is that the implement- the party apparatus, e.g. in Gdansk the experts to want to enunciate ation of the Gdansk Accords is the political formula in the work~ is likewise getting involved in a bringing to light the mistakes that development which does not corres- ers' place. All the delegates would were made in Point One and Eight. have needed to discuss it. Of pond to what it wants. It would course, that was not without its like to do more, but can't because risks, because we knew to what ex- of Kania's policy, tent they were radicalised. But it THE WORKERS' was their movement, they had the right to express their position. MS - The leading groups in the From my point of view, it was bet- GREAT REFUSAL party are obstructing each other. ter that that radicalism which made them oppose any political concess- JS - Yes, and there is an incre- ion should prevent them from ob- We have problems posed by the in- asingly wide polarisation between taining so-called independent un- stitutionalisation of the unions, the workers and the local party ions. Then the alternative would by the postponement of elections, organisms. The economic situation be a reform of the old union str- by the tendency to oligarchy, etc. is getting worse, and it could ucture, under guarantee of a and we also have others born of happen that the free unions could pure utopian faith in the future. the movement itself, as it arose lose control of the whole movement. Today, they have supposedly ind- here ~~d there, through external That seems very likely to me. ependent unions which are not in- groups, the Catholic Church,and dependent. others besides, trying to enhance MS - Then people will take to their standing •••still it remains the streets, and it will come to MS - And what are they dependent a workers' movement. a confrontation. on? MS - After the strike, I interview- JS - I hope they won't, because JS - They are even dependent on ed Andreas Hegedus in Budapest; in they don't want to get shot. But the party secre-tary in the factory. my opinion the free unions must they will reduce production. At the start they wanted to begin not try to take on the social-ser- with little things, taking posts vice role of the old unions, MS - That means a strike which at a level lower than managers in because if they do they will become doesn't call itself that. the factory, for example foremen, bureaucratic. away from the 'apparatus', They JS - Yes, but the situation will met with a refusal: before, it used probably be so serious that the to be the province of the local JS •..They don' t want to. \I/hat they Russians may be tempted to do some- party secretary, and that's still want is the exact opposite,to take thing. We shall see, I'm very pess- the case today. It is not necessary no part in any decision. They only imistic. to be a party member to become a want to put forward demands, with- foreman, but it depends on the lo- out trying to find out how they can cal party organs. In September, the be s~tisfied, just demanding and • • •• • •••• •• • ••••• free unions were told that they protesting. It's very dangerous, but he was not prosecuted for that. Nor was he prosecuted, as some seem to think, for publishing a book of child pornography, for sexual assault on children, or inciting people to do such things. STIRRING He was sent to prison for having made contact with Cl- number; of people who shared his interests and swapping his sexual fantasies with them. Technically he was given two years for conspiracy to corrupt public morals, an THE P.I.E.offence which was invented by the House of Lords in 1961 in The recent trial and imprisonment less concealed, less repressed, the famous case of DPP y Shaw, of Tom O'Carroll, the principal perhaps. It cannot simply be when they claimed to have the mover of the Paedophile Information the need of people conscious power to declare illegal all Exchange, raises questions which of aging to feel youthful and "ways in which the wickedness must be of concern to libertarian desirable, for that is common of men may disrupt society." socialists. to both sexes, and as I suggested above paedophilia seems to be O'Carroll had also published a First, there is the matter of almost exclusively a male concern. book (Paedophilia: The Radical sexual relationships involving Case) which argued for a lowering children. It certainly seems to What I find particularly disturbing or-the age of consent, to an be the case that children are about paedophilia is not what extent which most of the country sexually aware at a much earlier dark secrets it may awaken in would find very wrong. However, age than adults like to admit. my own subconscious - I have in a democratic society people I can remember at about the actually thought about it a good are supposed to have the right age of ten discussing sexual deal and come to the conclusion to advocate and argue for any fantasies (principally involving that I prefer the greater change in the law, so long as a harem) with one of my best emotional depth in my relation- they do not break the law in so friends at school, and much more ships which only comes with wider doing. No evidence was presented recently the young daughter of experience; indeed I find that to show that O'Carroll was involved a neighbour holding my hand and throughout my life I have preferred in sexually assaulting or inciting refusing to let me leave the house relationships, not only sexual others to sexually assault for at least ten minutes, ones, with persons of at least children, or indeed that any causing the mother to remark my age or older. But once one children had been so assaulted that if her daughter was like that or corrupted. Groups advocating a becomes aware of sex - through a at that age she could expect a reduction in the age of consent proper sexual relation - one can good deal of trouble when she for homosexuals are not prosecuted, never again look at another person was "old enough to take a serious nor l,ere the authors of the recent of the gender (or genders) to which interest." But there is something report of a Royal Commission one responds without assessing undeniably disturbing about sexual them as a sexual partner. One's which suggested reducing the age of hetero-sexual consent, relations between children and friendship can never again be adults which is hard to analyse. albeit to a lesser extent than entirely innocent, and it is Mr. O'Carroll. In the I think that essentially it is this loss of innocence which I 1971 an abuse of power. By this I find sad, not only among the editors of IT were convicted do not mean that the younger (and given 18 month suspended eleven-year-old, but also among partner is necessarily physically sentences) of conspiring to the fifteen-year-olds, and even or emotionally frightened into corrupt public morals by printing the eighteen-year-olds. Obviously acquiescing,but where such activ- homosexual contact adverts. ities do take place they generally people have to grow up some time Today the back pages of Time Out seem to be where the adult is but I mourn its loss too young. are composed of little else. in some relation of authority to the child (e.g. parent/child; O'Carroll, then, was done vicar/choirboy; scoutmaster/ because the prosecuting authorit- scout). It is also noteworthy ies disapproved of what he said, that such activities and fantasies wrote and thought; not for anything seem to be predominantly the he did. Tomorr01f it could be the prerogative of the male sex. Legalise Canabis Campaign, or Such sexual fantasies of women the Lucas Aerospace workers for as I have been able to discover thinking factories ought not to seem to relate to the youth be shut, or Solidarity for advocat- rather than to the pre-pubescent ing workers' councils as an boy. Whether this is because the alternative means of organising older female/young male couple society. A judge-made lynch-law is far more socially disapproved which entitles the courts to of than the opposite, or because penalise any thoughts of which women in general seek more emotion- they disapprove has got to go. ally mature relationships, I cannot say. Sid French This leads on to a further point, what is the actual appeal of p.s. Most of the observations the child? It seems to me Having said that I find paedophilia concerning the psychological that active paedophiles must be wrong, Q'Oarroll's case must aspects of this subject rather seeking relationships without give rise to a great deal of than the legal aspects of the particularly complex emotional concern and serve as a dire O'Carroll case remain speculations involvement - the child's desires warning. I maintain that what on my part, and further discussion and feelings are less hidden, he advocates doing is undesirable, would be welcome. activists had worn themselves out organising marches and peti~ ions, lobqying MPs and wooing the Labour Party, but for all their efforts they had achieved nothing. In spite of the election of a Labour government pledged to unilateralism qy conference, in spite of the thousands who had marched to Trafalgar Square, in spite of the celebrities who had been attracted to the cause, there was not a sign of govern- mental willingness to even consider disarmament. The tactics which CND had chosen, those of traditional pressure group politics were clearly not up to the task: CND had simply underestimated the entrenchment of the governmental committment to nuclear weaponry, even in the face of massive popular disap- proval. Yet qy the time its members realised this, it was already too late, and instead of adopting new tactics better suited to the harsh realities of the situation, they gave up in exhaustion. The bomb, at long last, is an that we learn from the mistakes issue again. Just like in the made last time if we are to Now this would be a mere sixties, many thousands of succeed in ridding the world cautionary tale but for the fact ordinary people have been forever of the nuclear menace, that the current movement against frightened qy the threat of a the bomb is suffering from nuclear holocaust, and once precisely the same naive faith more there have been well So what went wrong last time? What lay behind the apparent in ' a few more demonstrations attended demonstrations and and a Labour vote next time'. evaporation of public concern public meetings throughout. There is not a hint in CND the country. The Campaign for about the bomb in the mid- today that disarmament might be Nuclear Disarmament is currently sixties and the resultant a little more difficult than experiencing a rapid revival, demise of the anti-war movement? that, not a mention of the ways and the Labour Party has adopted In one way, the answer is simple, in which the bomb's existence a conference resolution calling in that the international is intimately connected with for unilateral disarmament, tension which reached a climax the needs of the power structures just as it did in 1960. The with the Cuban missile crisis of modern industrial societies. faces of the demonstrators and of 1962 eased considerably No-one, in short, is asking the names of the latest weapons with, ironically, the escalation why the nuclear arms race have changed with time, but the of the conventional conflict exists in the first place, and message and methods remain the in Indochina. Having brought this is a question which demands same as they were twenty years the world to the brink of an answer if we are to be clear ago. Yet for all the positive nuclear disaster, the super- what we are up against. There aspects of this resurgence, powers decided to play out their is not the space here for a one cannot help but remember aggression in a manner which detailed discussion of this that the old 'ban-the-bomb' was less immediately threatening issue, but two points can be movement failed utterly in its to the inhabitants of Western made which seem particularly most important objective; and Europe, and although the radicals relevant. The first is that in this light the similarities reacted qy simply shifting their expenditure on nuclear weapons between the sixties movement focus to Vietnam, most people specifically and arms in general and its modern equivalent take simply stopped bothering about grew up initially because of on a somewhat ghoulish complexion, international affairs. To claim the nature of arms expenditure especially when it is considered this is the whole story is, as a stimulous to national that the nuclear weapons now however, somewhat mistaken. economies both sides of the Iron facing us and our counterparts Changing international conditions Curtain. The growth of the in Eastern Europe are both no doubt go some way to explain- military sector of both Eastern more deadly and more numerous ing the collapse of the Campaign and Western economies after 1945 than ever before. To put it for Nuclear Disarmament, but on was just one of the ways in bluntly, if all that happens top of such extraneous factors which states integrated potentially now is a repeat performance it is undeniable that the unused resources and labour with of the failure of the old disintegration of the movement the market, the unacceptable movement, the human race may was induced qy the disillusion- face, if you like, of the state have missed its last chance: ment and despair of the rank regulated economic expansion it is absolutely imperative and file membership. The CND which gave the industrial world full employment for two decades. increased: and this happens action will inspire ordinary While such factors were decisive more and more as the weapons people everywhere to seize for a long period, however, get bigger, more numerous similar political initiatives. as a result of fundamental~changes and more deadly. We find To put all this simply, we just in the world economic situation ourselves living in a world can't afford to be fooled again they are less immediately which has played out competitive by the leaders and ideologues relevant today. On one hand, the n~tionalism to a point which who rendered the anti-war national economies of the West threatens the very survival movement impotent last time: are suffering from an inflation of humanity: only an international the fact that CND today looks which is increasingly ruling out abandonment of the system of as if it is once more tramping expansionary fiscal policy of divisions between rulers and down the road of polite protest the type which characterised the ruled and between nations is a without any sense of the post-war boom, while on the other, wholly satisfactory way out of necessity for undermining the the continued economic expansion the danger. entire shibboleth of mystific- of the Soviet bloc is threatened atory nationalism and domination by an imminent shortage of labour of our everyday lives by bosses and certain crucial raw materials. MANIPULATING and leaders of all types On purely economic grounds, both bodes ill for its future and, sides would thus seem to have THE MOVEMENT indeed, for the entire human good reasons for slowing down race. the arms race: the fact that the Now it should be clear from all escalation of armaments continues this that the arms race in at breakneck speed in spite of general and nuclear weapons Paul Anderson. this indicates that other factors in particular have their are at play. reasons for existence deeply embedded in the social and political structures of the THE BOMB industrial world: and this has important implications for AND POWER anyone who would like to see the nuclear menace removed. First of all, we must be So we come to our second point extremely wary of the new in this attempt to explain anti-bomb movement being nuclear proliferation, that the manipulated by power seeking bomb's continued existence politicians of whatever pers- relies on the fact that it helps uasion; a unilateralist labour to maintain the divisions of Party is all v.ery well, but society into those who have the fact that the labour Party power and those who have none. exists for the pU2~ose of B,y dangling the threat of gaining power over ordinary nuclear extinction by the people makes it ext.remely THEN AND NOW 'enemv' under the noses of their unlikely that a Labour government subje~ts. the ruling elites would not use the 'Russian on both sides have found a threat' as a means of whipping uniquely effective device for up nationalistic sentiments bolstering their power. Not to enhance its legitimacy. only can they lay claim to even before American pressure popular allegiance on account is taken into account. Secondly, of their protection of the Vie should be extremely cautious citizenry by building 'deter- of simply becoming a pressure rents', but it is also possible group; the bomb is part of the for governments to so develop wider issue of who controls conventional 'defensive' forces our everyday lives, and rather in the climate of international than crawling to those in power tension that any opposition we should be seizing the to the regime in question has initiative with a bold and to take into account the exist- daring campaign of direct action 3nce of massive armies ready against military installations. co make a blood bath of popular Nuclear shelters for county dissent. The latter use of the councillors, recruiting offices arms race is perhaps more typical and perimeter fences are just of the Soviet bloc, while the a few targets to start such a former is characteristic of campaign: later, to be success- both the Soviet bloc and Western ful we shall probably need much democracies: in either case, larger actions to force the It is reliably reported by our however, the perceived threat government's hand. Thirdly, legal sources that a certain of an aggressive enemy is used any attempt to whitewash the SW1SS inventor has come up with by the relevant governing elites nuclear armaments of eiiher yet another nuclear fall-out as a way of increasing their own side must be vigorously opposed; shelter, but is having trouble powers, and it follows from this the arguments of Communist and agreeing a contract for its man- that neither side really wants Trotskyite apologists for the ufacture with a possible supplier. to pull out of the arms race so-called 'workers' bomb' of ,Apparently he wants to include a game, so useful is it as a the Soviet Union, or of establish- term absolving him from all lia- means for keeping the sentiments ment multilateralists excusing bility to relatives of the users of domestic populations in the West from all responsibility if the device fails to live up to check. Problematically, as time are equally pernicious. OUr aim ,its advertising. goes on, so the dangers of should be to force the British patriotic indignation reaching government to disarm regardless Justin Forcash. a level which can only be satis- of squeals about the Russian fied by nuclear attack are threat, in the hope that such ------JJJ~NGEI~S ()F I)()WE I~ SR group named from their must evolve an organisational Christian Rakovsky, "Selected journal Borotba (Struggle) form to facilitate this. It Writings on Opposition in the which had considerable support is obvious that a centralised, USSR 1923-30", Allison and amongst the peasants and its elitist structure of the Busby, £4:95". own independant partisan units. Bolshevik type is useless for It is a great pity nothing is this task, that a tyrannical Rakovsky, like so many of his said of the equally treacherou~ comrades, was one of the Old organisation with a tyrannical manner in which the Bolsheviks ideology cannot build a free Bolsheviks who fell victim to dealt with the Makhno movement the bureaucratic tyranny he society. Yet the bulk of without the support of which Rakovsky's writings consist had helped to create. The they could not have defeated of protestations of unswerving work under review is a compil- the Whites in Ukraine. ation of his writings from the loyalty to that organisation and ideology, protestations years 1923-30 when he was a For those who believe that echoed today in defiance of leading figure in the Trotsky- socialism and bureaucracy are reality by the ever-increasing ist Left Opposition. Unlike not identical and that the number of Trotskyist groups. many of his fellow opposition- outcome of October 1917 was as ists, he never recanted and much due to the nature of spent many years in exile in It is indeed tragic that the Leninist ideology as to the efforts of a Rakovsky, efforts remote parts of the USSR, an adversity of economic and motivated by a genuine desire attempt at escape meeting social circumstances, the most with failure. When the terror for the liberation of the interesting of Rakovsky's working class, should have of the purge trials was unleashed writings is his essay "The ended in failure, a failure in the mid 1930s, it was Professional Dangers of Power" inevitable that he should be written in 1928. The essence for which millions of workers in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, a victim. After an interrog- of this essay is Rakovsky's ation lasting eight months, statement: he confessed to espionage and in March, 1938 was sentenced "When a class takes power, to twenty years imprisonment. one of its parts becomes the It is thought that he was shot agent of that power. Thus on Stalin's orders in 1941 arises bureaucracy. In a after the Nazi invasion of the socialist state ••• this USSR. differentiation begins as a functional one; it later becomeE Gus Fagan contibutes a biograph- a social one." ical essay to the book, which shows the great contribution He continues: made by Rakovsky to the formation of the Labour movement in his "Another consequence is that native Balkans. Nothing, however, is said of the strong Libertar- certain functions formerly ian influence on the Bulgarian satisfied by the party as a working class or of Rakovsky's whole, by the whole class, opinion of this influence. have now become the attributes One can also not help wondering of power, that is, only of a what were the feelings of the certain number of persons in Bulgarian and Romanian Social the party and in this class." Democrats who were imprisoned STALIN: FROM VICTIM TO and murdered by the Communist He goes on to compare the EXECUTIONER tyranny of which Rak~ky, Russian experience with that of Romania and beyond have paid a founder of Social Democracy the French Revolution writing: with their lives. But until in both cOuntr~, was in part revolutionaries progress beyond the architect. "The political reaction ••• the simplistic but reassuring consisted in this, that the power practice of blaming it all on Perhaps the most interesting began to pass both formally and the wicked Stalin and examine part of the essay. is that effectively into the hands of the ideological roots of the dealing with Rakovsky's years an increasingly restricted Soviet tyranny these failure in power when he was head of number of citizens. Little by will be repeated again and again. the Soviet regime in Ukraine. little, first by the force of While this book is useful in This throws much light not only circumstances and then legally, that it makes available to on the contradictions between the popular masses were eliminat- the Anglophone world the the theory and the practice ed from the government of the writings of a leading figure in of the Leninist doctrine of country." the Russian Revolution, because the right of nations to self- much of its content will serve determination, but also on the It follows from this that to reinforce Trotskyist mythol- Bolsheviks' attitude to other if a socialist revolution is ogy its use as a tool of a Socialist groups. In particular not to experience a bureaucratic most necessary demystification it shows the Machiavellian reaction then power must be will be at best limited. nature of their dealings exercised by the working class with the Borotbists, a Left as a whole and that the class A.A. Raskolnikov. Dear SFSR,

Luciente's article 'Patriarchy, Capitalism and Feminism' in SFSR 15 raises some interesting points (and I ~ee with much LETTEI~S of the argument) but it seems to me that the author falls into a number of traps common to many discussions of feminism les. Now this tension between in children. Similarly, and the women's movement in solidarism and criticism 'revolutionary (or radical) SFSR and elsewhere. The first leads to an intense instability feminists', while admittedly concerns the author's method in the women's movement: 'it distinguished from socialist of criticising the women's is pulled simultaneously on one feminists by their insistence movement on the basis of a hand towards an empty and on patriarchy as ~ basic form critique of the arguments of ultimately quietist unity, of social stratification (in a handful of feminist theoret- ~nd on the other to principled a more than merely anthrop- icians. It seems quite obvious discussion of fundamental ological-historical sense), to me that the women's movement issues, which leads to fragment- are themselves crucially cannot be accurately character- ation. It is the latter tendency divided over the origins of ised by the overtly theoretical which I believe should be enCO~' patriarchy itself. Some offer statements certain participants aged; the former leads nowhere crudely biological-determinist have issued from time to time, but the idolisation of 'woman' models, others Freudian or neo- but rather that it is notable much as workerists idolise Freudian explanations, still precisely for its lack of workers, and for all its others adopt Jung and Hegel explicit and coherently formul- possibly spectacular short (see for example Mary Daly's ated theory: the dominant trend term 'practical' results, bizarre but fascinating 'Beyond in the women's movement for the 'solidarism' in the long term God the Father'). In this light, last decade and a half has, if does more harm than good by to seize upon particular anything, been a rampant anti- effectively acting as a brake arguments as the positions intellectualism. This does not on thinking for oneself, surely of revolutionary and socialist of course mean that the women's a prerequisite for acting for feminism is to drift into movement has been somehow oneself, If the women's movement hopeless caricature: if Luciente 'theory-free' or magically really was thinking as clearly wants to criticise Firestone, 'concerned with practice not as Luciente makes out it is, Mitchell, Rowbotham, Wolstone- theory': particularly in discussion with it and within craft, Pankhurst or anybody politics, the very idea of it would be no problem, a else, he or she is more than 'theory-free. action' is ludicrous. ••.:f:..:ru:.::.:i;.;t_:::f~u::::I...li:r::..o:::.:c:::.:e::,:s::,:s~f~o:;:;r-.::::a=I=I.:..:...:::::::...... ~-:"'t welcome to do just that, but It does, however, serve to ~under- ::::- 'llet' s not get involved in line the fact that whatever iII fighting paper tigers which theory the women's movement has 'represent' whole tendencies been based on has remained in the women's liberation largely unconscious or unclarif- movement. Unlike 'Marxism' ied, implicit in the practice feminism has no single ultimate of the movement. Trivially, this means that books are not reference for criticism, and it seems crazy to treat it the place to find the theories as if it had. of the movement: more importantly though, a whole new set of To conclude, it seems to me problems are generated. In that two main points emerge particular, the implicitness ~ from all this. First of all, and unclarity of the theoret- MIDDLE CLASS REVOLUTIONARY it is absolutely necessary in ical foundations of the women's GROSSLY SIMPLIFYING THE OVERTLY discussing the women's movement movement lead one to wonder THEORETICAL DIVISIONS WITHIN THE not to blur the distinction whether such foundations might ••..•.::.W.:.:OME~ilJ;S.:..'"""""M;,:;:O.:.VE~ME~NTO:':":.---4I between the gurus of the not be extremely shaky; and it is, it seems to me that movement and the movement itself. this in turn makes one ask it has yet to reach that stage Secondly, it is pointless, exactly why it is that the as a movement. indeed mystificatory, to simplify women's movement has not and caricature the ideas of generally engaged in deep, My second criticism of Luciente's the gurus, or for that matter rigorous, public discussion to approach is that he or she those of anyone else. The women's clarify its basic principles - grossly simplifies the overtly movement as it currently why, in other words, the sharply theoretical divisions within the exists is a complex phenomenon, defined tendencies Luciente women's movement which do exist. and while it is essential in claims to have identified have Neither 'socialist' nor-- the current political climate not really developed throughout 'revolutionary' feminists form to maintain continuous debate the women's movement. Here, as united theoretical blocs: on its stances, actions and I see it, the answer seems to 'socialist feminists' are prescriptions, to play down lie in the high value placed divided between those focusing its complexity can only hinder on the autonomous expression on the material bases for the task of developing an open, of 'sisterhood' by all elements patriarchy (in the form of universalisable, libertarian in the women's movement: the domestic unpaid labOur) and approach to the problem of the solidarist assertion of a separ~ those concentrating on the sexual stratification of ate and unified identity has ideological (usually psycho- society, a task which, I presume, tended to act in such a way sexual) origins of the same. we all share. as to prevent or limit the The latter, in turn, argue development of the wide range continually about the relative Yours faithfully of critical opinion necessary merits of classical Freudian for rigorous discussion of and neo-Freudian accounts P.A. (Oxford) fundamental theoretical princip- of the development of sexuality The Destruction Of Nature REVIEW In The Soviet Union The Destruction of Nature in the We've heard rumblings about Lake no such point in the Soviet Soviet Union. Boris Komarov. Baikal for some time; Zhores Union, the benefits being Pluto Press. £2:95. Medvedev's detective work on 'political.' (3) the atomic disaster 'cover-up' at Cheliabinsk has become well- The de facto ruling elite Boris Komarov's account of known; but pretty well everything knows about the eco-situation ecological mayhem in the USSR else in the book will be new but does nothing because such is, among other things, an to Western readers. Komarov makes action would threaten its power engrossing read - prime subver- four major allegations: and privileges. (4) sive stuff. The foreword, by one Harry Rathman, isn't bad Colossal environmental destruct- Komarov's remedy for the either. With commendable restraint ion, rivalling anything the situation he so effectively he only mentions Trotsky ~. United states has 'achieved'. is evokes is linked to human in fact taking place in the rights and autonomy. While it According to the blurb, 'Boris USSR. (1) is difficult to be optimistic Komarov' is a high Soviet about positive developments official in touch with the The Soviet authorities have in the face of current Soviet scientific and political done everything they can to repression, the motivation for establishment. Publishing this suppress public awareness of change, Komarov insists, is book must rate him prolonged this: by censorship, propaganda, powerful: "The very air we residence in the slammer. He is showcase deception, and by breath forces us to understand: therefore very much saying what diverting attention to the if we want to survive we must he wants to say: his account is ecological misdemeanours of the know the truth, and tell it to not a down-payment on a grant, 'capitalist' West. (2) others." not a text-book. It's vivid, blackly humourous in :parts, and The destruction in the USSR is This book should be on the shelf plonks you solidly down in a even more insane than that in of anyone interested in human land of gargantuan excess which the United States where short- emancipation. Cautiouc spenders makes the world of Catch-22 term profits are made and consum- might like to recommend it to seem sane and reasonable. ers duly stuffed. There's often the local library.

1). Komarov estimates that an area equal to that has long since exceeded the short-term advantages of Western Europe has been converted to 'sterile the plant once yielded. land, industrial wasteland or semiwasteland' by dumping, logging, mining and other industry, Lake Baikal is the notorious instance of this including lunatic hydroelectric schemes initiated syndrome. Originally it was industrialized to by the NKVD itself. produce a specially durable cord for bomber tyres, a process demanding huge quantities of pure water. A bulletin resticted to a 'narrow circle of The water has since become too polluted to allow specialists' lists more than one thousand cities the production of such cord. "However, this no with levels of noxious gas in the atmosphere five longer bothers anyone. Since 1964 •• such cord times the legally permitted minimum concentrations. has been made from petroleum." Nevertheless the Largely because of increasing air-pollution, the lake continues to be destroyed to produce marginal incidence of lung-cancer doubled between the late amounts of such products as ordinary cord and Sixties and the late Seventies. Each year five to coarse wrapping paper. The authorities plan to six per cent more infants are born with genetic complete its destruction by setting up a mining defects. complex on the Kholodnaia River, north of the lake.

Pollution of Lake Baikal, the largest body of fresh 4), "All the grandiose plans to 'harness nature', water on this planet, proceeds remorselessly. The to divert river courses, to correct 'millenial Sp-a of Azov is now a 'latrine' yielding a fish errors by nature' were advantageous for the ruling catch only one ninetieth of what it was 30 years bureaucracy purely politically, and they became ago. Rivers in the basins of the Black and Azov facts ••• ecology was not taken into account seas have been turned into 'sewers'; likewise rivers at all. On the contrary, the more'such projects and tributaries of the Urals, and in the southern contradicted the laws of nature, the more highly Ukraine. they were regarded. The more brilliantly the illusion of their success demonstrated the power 2). "The poisoning of Lake Erie, the oil-drenched and wisdom of the new leaders of the country." beaches of England, and the mountains of garbage in New York ••• flash before him on the television I think anyone who has been in the armed forces will understand the lunacy which prevails in the screen ••." But, since 1975, the ordinary Soviet citizen has not been able to find a 'single USSR. The first thing you encounter in the forces reference' to the air, water, and soil pollution is 'bullshit' - in its strict military meaning: in his own country. activities like polishing bed-springs - the useless creation of appearances to placate authority. I was once stationed at an RAF camp where many J). The USSR is unique in that it has constructed hundred cut flowers were stuck in the ground to hydroelectric power plants on flood plain rivers. create a 'garden' for the benefit of an inspecting This produces vast re~ervoirs which spread out and Air Vice Marshal. Grass was-painted green round a have laid waste a land area equal to four Belgiums. flagpole, etc., etc. Blow this up to gargantuan Merely the hay harvest from the area flooded by scale, throw in a generous proportion of Gulag the Dniepr Hydroelectric Power Plant, used as fuel, logic, and you've got much of what goes on in the would yield as much energy as th~t put out by the USSR - and in 'coercive hierarchies' in general. plant. The money spent on controlling erosion of the shores of the reservoirs and combatting algae Bryan McCarthy.