FOR THE SECOND time the print were correctly recognised by the union leaders are holding talks with London leadership as a potential Murdoch. Their sole purpose is to challenge to their authority. They end the bitter eight month old dis­ therefore did their best to ensure pute at News InternationaL For the that they did not turn into authori­ second time the sacked printers tative decision-making forums. They are being kept in the dark con­ ensured that all resolutions coming

cerning the details of the negotiat- 0 out of the meetings were strangled ANEW ions. with the labyrinth of the fleet This round of talks is even Street union structures. more dangerous than the first The London leadership were round two months ago. Then the largely successful. Attendances print leaders were divided amongst dropped, as printers came to see themselves. SOGAT's Brenda Dean them as talking shops. With the was willing to settle for far less pressure off for mass meeting the than Dubbins of the NGA, whose London leadership could go on the craft union had more to lose. Now offensIve. At the last weekly SOCIAL CON-TRICK! as the NGA's resolution to the fOC/MOC meeting they were con­ TUC Congress admits, he is willing IN A SICKENING spectacle the reference to the pre-strike ballots TGWU's policy yet and could not fident anough to threaten militant to settle for far less: fOC's who dared call for mass leaders have been fall­ be deleted from the UCW resolu­ be until next year 0 when its con­ " • • • this dispute must be meetings with removal from the ing over themselves to find forms tion. But he was soon singing a ference meetS. The advocates of settled by negotIation on the room. of words to sign away trade union different tune. A Congress House an incomes policy are ready to basis of achieving trade union The London leadership has rights under any future Labour sub-committe proposed a composite walk over this kind of opposition. recognition • • • therefore suffocated every spark Government. The rotten fudge they calling for: The rotten carve-up has only "a right to strike and to have opportunltleA, retraining facil­ of rank and file Iniatlve or c!'kf manufacture will only serve to en­ one aim. To pr<>;ent ~ :mit_t:d Ities ~ ant.! adequate- compensa­ cism of the leadership. They have a secret ball'lt in sueb situat­ courage the bosses and th~ Tories face of a tuothless tame-cat TUC tion". confined all activity to the chapel to kick the unions even harder as Ions and to take other indus­ that will neither rock the Tories' trial action". More importantly for the outcome structure which they control. The the TUC chiefs show just how boat now nor upset the bosses of the ballot, within SOGAT there result is that Dean, who months spineless they are. should Labour come to power. It The UCW and GMBATU chiefs were significant divisions between ago was howled out of 8 ' mass There are two key issues on were perfectly happy. No wonder is a recipe for further retreat in the National leadershIp and the meeting, can now safely I1ppear to which the Congress House cabals since it was their policy. So too the face of this government and London leadership. Then the London h

0 leadership. union. The collective strength comprises the EETPU and an workers who want to fight. Murdoch's plants; an end to secret This task cannot simply be left Confronted by this hot potato, negotiations and for the strike which the unions need to mobilise assortment of flabby left talkers. the London leadership promptly against the bosses to secure the The EETPU leaders make no bones to the official 'left' leaders. In committee oto observe all negotia­ every union militants must raise handed leadership back to Dean. tions; the mass meeting (joint most modest of gains, and the col­ about the fact that their leaders The Stalinists never wanted a real lective rights which the unions are in business to serve the skill­ the alarm and organise together NGA/SOGAT/AEU etc) to have to defy any and every rotten deal break with the national leaders. ultimate control of all decisions have fought to secure against the ed, the well paid and the scabs. By the end of the Conference Dean ruling class are bidden farewell in They reject

NO ANTI-UNION LAWS! However, o continued on page 11 ~ 2 WORKERS POWER 86 September 1986 NUM

IN A BID to eradicate the tradi­ get the rise du to them led the South Wales Des Dutfield has used tions of the great strike, the South Wales men to vote over­ the ban to suggest that; EDITORIAL NUM's 'left' leaders used the whelmingly for an overtime ban it is an alternative to strike: annual conference In Tenby to rub­ on coal cutting. action, that is now bish Scarglll's calls for the union dated and "different tactics" are to consider Industrial action in needed. The South Wales leadership defence of the Industry. have explicitly stated that they are An alliance of 'left' Labourites MILITANT not calling on other areas to follow like Eric Clarke and Jack Taylor their example. .and Communist Party members like George Bolton was built up to Des Outfield, a South Wales EXPEL EETPU fight Scargill. Their chosen theme leader who joined the anti-Scargi 11 ORGANISE was the call for "reconciliation" chorus in Tenby, was taken by surprise by the enthusiastic support THE NGA's PROPOSED motion to the TUC, widely presented with the scab UDM. Eric Clarke spelt this out in an interview with for the overtime ban from the rank as calling for expulsion of the EETPU scab union, is a cruel, the Morning Star: and file. Seaham and Vane Tempest These moves can derail the calculated and cynical manoeuvre against trade unionism in "We need to create the both agreed to fight and the present round of struggles unless general and the NGA's members at News International in atmosphere nationally for Durham Area Council is organising militants consciously organise to particular. reconciliation." (19/8/86) a ballot to get an area wide over­ fight them. It will enable the The motion calls on the TUC to instruct the EETPU to tlarke was not only seeking a time ban against the closure. Pits Board to take on each pit and area stop its members crossing the official picket line at Wapping. sweetheart deal with scab-herders. in Yorkshire are campaigning for separately. As a first step to re­ Although a, possible implication of this might be the EETPU's The I MornIng Star also reported a national overti me ban. 'building the fighting capacity of suspension if the motion was adopted this was not specified that the: In individual pits the militant the NUM at a national level, the in the motion. ''ScottiSh Area NUM Is gradually mood has been reflected in a present round of militancy must series of sporadic strikes. Hatfield ,become a springboard for a It is cruel because its intention was to raise false hopes developing an Improved relation­ Main struck on 26 August demand­ national total overti me ban. As in the hearts of the Wapping strikers, hopes that real action ship with the Coal Board's Scottish area." ing reinstatement for the sacked Hatfield branch delegate Dave might at last be taken against the scabs. At Tenby the new realist, new lads. At Armthorpe 200 men struck Douglas recently said: It is calculated because Congress has no powers to make rightist coalition seemed to have for 3 days over management mis­ "It is vital that another area such an instruction and would therefore be ruled out of order. everything going their way. But treatment of a workmate. At takes action so that South The NGA leaders knew this full well when they formulated two factors are opening up new Frickley a spontaneous strike Wales are not left out on a it. possibilities for defeating their greeted a visit by the notorious 11mb." It is cynical because those same leaders knew equally well plans. British Coal hatchet-man, Ken The South Wales ban on coal cut­ that, should rank and file anger force the motion onto the Moses. Miners remembered his ting has already cost the Board agenda and pass it, then the bureaucratic machinery of the gleeful declaration that as far as £450,000. With the Board still he was concerned strikers could desperate to increase production, TUC would ensure no action would be taken for months on BlITCHERY eat grass. At Frickley their a national overtime ban can hit end. walk-out showed that they would .them hard indeed. The milita Finally, lest all this fails, Dubblns leaves a way out. The not eat dirt. Even in an area that in South Wales, Durham and in t, resolution ends by quoting from the EETPU scabs at Wapplng. largely scabbed during the great Doncaster pits (Hatfield Main,"'" It retails, in good faith their "concern" to reach an honourable The first factor is British Coal strike, Leicestershire, hundreds of Armthorpe and Rossington) that "settlement" of the Wapping dispute. Through the mouths of itself. It is still dizzy with its suc­ NUM members at Ellistown struck have called for an overti me ban scabs, Dubbins is signalling that he Is willing to negotiate cess in defeating the great strike. when the management withdrew must co-ordinate their efforts. some form of compromise over Wapplng. It is not prepared to give an inch. office facilities for the union. These areas and pits must get to The sole purpose of the manoeuvre was to rehabilitate All the signs are that - despite the This militancy is a sharp re­ militants in the other areas to get naive hopes of the NUM leadership Dubbins' image as a militant. By latching onto his rank and minder to both the new rightists· them to campaign for a ban. This - MacGregor's successor, Haslam, file's justified hatred of the EETPU, and their distrust of the and British Coal, that the rank and action - though limited - will be will continue with the butchery of a hundred ti mes more effective TUC leaders Dubblns hoped to direct attention from his file still have the capacity to the Industry. fight. But to bu ild this mood the than any Stalinist inspired 'broad ~ "'"----+---=~~.pi(::able opposition to organising ana leading a fight against There has been no let up in various actions need to be extended based' (cross-class that is) Murdoch and the Fleet Street barons. ,.. British ' '(;oal's lldrive. to rub the and spread and the backsllClers in campaign. NUM's nose in the dirt over pay. the leadership need to be openly An overtime ban won't defeat They are refUSing to grant the fought. the plans of British Coal. Only a NUM the £5.50 pay rise given to The left Labourites and Stalin­ renewed strike that breaks out of all other unions in the industry, ists are trying to keep each of the its sectional isolation can finally lessons Including the scabs. They are de­ actions separate and. isolated, and achieve that. But a ban can check manding the forfeiting of pension channel the new militancy In a the immediate offensive and begin rights from the NUM as the priCe harmless direction. At Seaham, for to inspire new confidence and for the'rise. example, a Save Seaham Colliery organise the spontaneous anger in All the same, the furore over the motion contains lessons Neither has the Board changed Campaign has been established on the ranks into an effective fighting for working class militants. Socialist Worker (23 August) its tune on closures. Their latest the basis of involving local business power once again •• argues that the NGA is "quite justified in making its de­ move is the announcement that men and convincing 'public opinion' Seaham in Durham would be mands" but qualifies that by saying that "the beSt way to stop of the need to Save the pit. In By Mark Hoskisso "mothballed" and its 500 workers electricians working at Wapplng is to picket them out". This transferred to Vane Tempest. The avoids the question of whether the call for expulsion should board had only recently told the be taken up and campaigned for by militants in the unions. NUM at Sec1llarll that the ~lt'S Of course there should be a real fight to picket out the scabs future was viable. The transfer but that is not an alternative to plaCing demands on the proposal would put 1,300 men - far' TUC. It is not a matter of the NGA being 'Justified' - it ' too many - in Vane Tempest. It should be obliged to fight tooth and nail for the expulsion. is a deliberate attempt to get rid That obligation should be enforced throughout all unions by of men. The colliery manager put a determined rank and file campaign. it bluntly when he said: THE NATIONAL JUSTICE FOR MINEWORKERS CAMPAIGN Socialist Organiser, typically, is even more craven. In the ''These are the arrangements name of 'unity' It argues against either expulsions or even for transfer - If you don't like OrganlSl:tlon them go on the dole." suspension It believes that: "the expUlsion of the EETPU would Aodress weaken not strengthen" the union movement. There would be As well as Seaham, two workshops, "a real danger of an alternative trade union centre". in Lancashire and the Midlands, are to be closed. The Board's bloody-mindedness Enclosed Affiliation F.e : Nation,l Organisation £50 0 is, in turn, producing the second Rf'gion.' Organisation £25 0 factor that could underm ine the local Organh.tion £ 5 0 plans of the new realists in the C~ues payable to -".tion,l Justice for Mineworkers C~ig"· please scabbing NUM. There are definite signs of Plene return to ... Uon.1 Justice for "in~"kers C'!IIp.i9n_ a rekindled militancy amongst the CID NUM Durh .... Mech,nics Associltlon. 26 The Avenue. Durh •• OHl 4(D rank and fi le in the face of the rel~ntless attacks. The failure to Far better that the anti-working class leaders of the EETPU, who are consciously and openly orchestrating a scab­ bing oper ation, be publicly distanced from the labour move­ ment than that they they be allowed to pursue their politics within it. The regroupment of electricians in a class struggle union could then take place. As for the suggestion that Dubbins might lead the NGA out of the TUC, this is merely another of his rhetorical WORKERS POWER is expanding. To fulfil our plans we need to smokescreens. No credibility should be given to it. The NGA won't last long. We have a target We are growing In size and are buy new equipment - new type­ of £2000 between now and Decem­ stands at the abyss of complete elimination at the hands of Involved in an ever Increasing setting and printing machinery and ber 31st 1986. We will be setting the press barons. Dubbins' empty threats are no more than range of activities. To match these so forth. We need to be able to a new target in 1987. So rush your . an ' attempt to stop his members fighting that elimination developments we want to expand meet the regular printing costs donations to: while he and his like prepare to safeguard their own positions the size of our paper ,and, sooner that go with running a paper. We through merger with their equals in SOGAT '82. 0 rather than later, go fortnightly. need to finance our other publi­ At the same time Workers cations Permanent Revolution, 'Power, as a section of the Move­ our theoretical journal; Red Miner, WORKERS POWER ment for a Revolutionary Commun­ our mineworkers' bulletin; and FIGHTING FUND ist International (M RCI), has projected pamphlet s and books. considerably increased its expen-· So, after reading Workers BCM BOX 7750, diture on international work. Our Power, do not fie it' away until LONDON WC1 N 3XX. published by Workers Power, BCM 7750, London WC1N 3XX work in collaboration with the you have remembered to send us comrades of the Trotskyist Workers a cheque, postal order or cash - Fraction (FaT) in Peru and Bolivia as much as you can possibly afford printed by Spider Web Offset, 14-16 Sussex Way, London N7 for example requires money. The and then a little bit more. and make cheques etc payable to comrades in these countries face We made a good start to our Workers Power. enormous financial di:fficulties. fund at the rece t sum-mer school, Financial aid to them is voital. collecting over £700. But that WORKERS POWER 86 September 1986 3 CONTROL THE PRESSES in~~ THE WAPPING DISPUTE Is now Ul1Ions in its eighth month. The strengths and weaknesses of British trade unionism have been on show In I the course of this dispute - the heroic of the rank and file versus the tame-eat legalism possible nor desirable. Needless to say the reply from of the leadership. But the strike Militant strikers must be in Maxwell, Matthews, and the rest has also placed on show the specl-' a position to argue that not only will be that it cannot be done. fic strengths and weaknesses of does the battle centre around Many platitudes will be preached the print unions themselves. jobs and union recognition but about management's right to man­ An understanding of these guild­ also over the c;ontrol of photo~ age and even the right to a 'fair' like structures and their continuing composition, di rect input,' and rate of return on investment. Influence Is crucial in order to the many less spectacular changes There's nothing complex to the explain the as yet largely unbroken in production technology. More workers' answer: "Open the books". stranglehold of the NGA and than this, rank and file activists After all Murdoch is not the only SOGAT bureaucracies. Such an· cannot afford to shrink from the one to preside over a vast multi-­ historical view also highlights the reality of systematic discrimination national corporate empire strewn difficulties faced by dedicated that traditional print unionism across all aspects of publishing militants in Fleet Street in their perpetuated against women and and communication. so far stymied attempts to build ethnic minorities in hiring for an alternative leadership. better paid jobs. Many production For decades the magnates of chapels actively excluded blacks the national newspaper industry and women, as a print union mem­ EXPOSED have made substantial wage con­ bership card became a virtual cessions to printworkers in fleet family heirloom. Street, especially those in produc­ Workers' control must go beyond tion chapels. As a result many the issue of hiring and firing. By opening the books; the printers took home more than Given the Ideological role of the transactions involving millions, twice the average wage packet press for the bosses - how many the book-cooking, the disregard for male manual workers through­ fleet Street titles have you read for workers' in pursuit of profit out the 1960s and I 970s. However Shah's new technologv meant smashing the unions that have ever given a good press can be exposed as a starting point begrudging the Beaverbrooks and to a striker? an elementary for mobilising workers' in action Rothermeres may have been in veto over hiring and firing, regu·­ witnessed rapid change in union demand that must be won is the against the press barons' plans. granting high wage settlements, lated working hours and staffing organisation, with the consolida­ right to reply by the unions. Equal Where the millionaire proprietors their overriding concern was with levels, and exercised extensive tion/amalgamation of national space and equal prominence must plead bankruptcy, then workers keeping the presses running, some­ control over demarcation bet ween bodies, the elimination of many be wrung from the bosses to ans­ in the industry must demand times even at the cost of proflta- various jobs. These are potent chapels and a concerted effort 'wer them every time they print nationalisation without compensa­ ·lity. memories and explain something by the Newspaper Publishers' Asso­ their filthy lies about the labour tion and under workers' control, J Of course the anger of prlnt­ .of the deeply-ingrained attachment ciation and several national union movement. If they fall to meet occupying the presses to achieve workers confronting filthy working of print workers to their chapels. leaderships to sound the death this demand then the presses must It. The bosses would, of course; conditions, deafening noise levels, Despite the tangible achieve­ knell for shop floor organisation •. be stopped outright. Unless this claim that nationalisation would and unsociable hours was not ments of the chapels, which it for those already employed in demand is won, unless it is enforc­ threaten the "freedom of the always defused with financial car­ would be too easy either to de­ the . Street very little changed, ed, printers will weaken their press". But where that freedom rots. Nor were the carrots always mean or to over-romanticise, they at least on the surface: no assault. own position within their work­ ' Is the freedom to sack 3,000 on offer. By the mid 1970s Fleet never achieved workers' control on high and stable real wages places and within . the labour workers at will, It Is hollow in­ Street proprietors had collectively .over production. The Chapels' or shop floor bargaining power. move~ent as a whole. deed. The right to work comes decided that the industry was 'very structure, tended to reinforce (The Times dispute of 1978-79 before the proprietor's "freedom". in acute crisis. In the past several a narrow consciousness that did being a crucial exception.) In the heat of the present newspaper managements had cried not see beyond immediate, day-to­ But jobs were disappearing dispute the fight for workers' "wolf", but while some publications day concerns. Because of this in the production chapels - several OBSOLETE control may seem utopian. Yet IlBd indeed sunk, most proceeded the chapels found themselves not thousand through voluntary redun­ Its relevance is dramatically under­ to carry on with business as usual simply ill-prepared but virtually dancy or natural wastage. The lined by the very existence of' even while restructuring and shake­ powerless in the face of a coordin­ door was all but closed to new Those print barons with capital the dispute. The lack of control -outs were ruthlessly executed by ated offensive to achieve much recruitment and the situation for to Invest in ' new technology have over production enabled Murdoch US and Dutch publishers. The con­ higher rates of profi t through casual labour made more precari­ finally found a way to bypass to carry through his switch-over. vening of a Royal Comisslon in capital's. control over the introduc­ ous. So, at the same time as an the old craft unionism and the The demands O\1tllned here are 1975 to find solutions to the ero­ tion of new technology. Regardless overwhelming majority of print­ social division of labour they de­ merely the bare bones of a pro- sion of profitability signalled a of the specific equipment inside workers In London rejected a form fended. Now, with old typesetting . gramm«: that must be rapidly deve­ .new resolve to break with the ~the Wapping plant and contrary of class collaboration industrial skills rendered obsolete the funda­ loped as part and parcel of the past traditions of capital/labour to what many printers themselves unionism from above, FOCs gave mentally altered jobs have passed fight to establish a single, demo­ relations in the Street. believe, the use of new production a nod and a wink to the sale of from NGA members to journalists cratic union that seeks to maintain processes is very much at the jobs. at Wapping, at Today, and at a and build upon the new unity be­ heart of the battle. Though chapel officials were number of provincial papers. tween chapels across the labour Whatever their value in winning comparatively accountable to their The union answer to these force achieved during the Wapping CONTROL or avoiding shop-floor confronta­ members, their dangerous Isolation developments should have been, dispute. tions, a ,ehapel structure which continued. federated house chapels and must become, a demand for dates directly from the 17th cen­ at most papers existed in name a drastic reduction in the length Union organisation also wrested 'tury could- not combat the tendency only, or to negotiate parking fees! of the working day with no loss more from management than high to be obsessed with the relative A valuable opportunity to build of pay, for those in the manual FIGHT-BACK wages. Whatever their shortcomings and temporary advantages of sect­ the desperately needed class strug­ production chapels. Even at this the print chapels engaged in a ion and craft. An industry-wide gle Industriai unions, smashing late date the need remains for daily battle, generally low-key organisation capable of forging the time worn craft diVisions, militant activists to raise the We appeal to militants within though occasionally intense, for strong links between workers in , was missed. slogan, "cut the hours, not the the print who can see the dangers an extraordinary measure of con­ the various papers, be they c\eri­ Against this background Mur­ jobs" and to discuss the concrete of relying on their traditional trol over the shop floor. Manage­ cals, domestlcs, machine minders doch, Mackenzie and co. dug deep implications of . translating the methods of strugle to collaborate ment sometimes fought to overturn or compositors has long been need­ to give new meaning to the phrase slogan Into reality. At a minimum with us In developing this pro­ customary working practices but ed. Instead a chaotic quilt of "gutter journalism" and prepared this would mean on the job re­ gramme, In organising a fighting frequently proved a reluctant part­ chapel organisations survived well to shatter both the reality and training, a strict union-supervised force - a real rank and file move­ ner allowing Fathers of Chapels into the 1970s. In 1969 a total myth of union power in fleet programme to monitor the possible ment - to act on It •• (FOCs) to perform a supervisory of 128 NATSOPA and SOGAT Street. There can be no turning hazards of working in front of ·role. Many News International chapels represented workers at the clock back. Whatever the out­ 'a VDU, and a re-assertion of con­ strikers hark back to these "golden II Fleet Street titles. come of the battle for Wapping trol over production levels and BV George Binetti days" when the chapel had a solid In certain respects the 19705 traditional print unionism is neither 'hours worked. NOT CHARITY I

T1-IE NEW DARLING of the TUC raised. It's a case of 'Lets ail pull will merely soften the bosses' 'to . payout credit free aid - with must be called for and built - right wing and 'top man' In the together on this one "brothers", attacks by acting as a benefit no strings to' the countries of the amongst the affiliated bodies of Amalgamated Engineering Union "sisters" and "guvners"'. society, not a defender of pay, imperialised world. After all it is the International Metalworkers' (AEU) - Bill Jordan - looks set to For the AEU leaders, this is jobs and conditions. Indeed all of their system that reduces millions Federation. become the Bob Geldof of the nothing more than a grandiose pub­ these are sacri ficed for recognition to poverty in the first place! Yes, an hour's pay in solidarity entire trade union movement! lic relations exercise, designed to in single-union, no strike deals on But there is another dimension with the black struggle against Following in the footsteps of portray the AEU as a thoughtful, the Nissan model. to what Jordan is putting forward. apartheid is something our leaders Band Aid, Sport Aid, Soap Aid - "caring" union. Jordan, Gavin Laird Whilst trade unionis:n has nothing should argue for amongst the mem­ to name hut a few - Jordan has and the other top union bureau­ in common with charity, it has bership. The money would aid in come up with Trade Union Aid . ." crats want to rid the AEU - and plenty in common with solidarity. the buildi ng of COSATU, for hard nct to follow! He is proposing other unions - of their images as INSULT If Jordan was really serious about example. But we doubt very much ' that engineers who work for com­ militant, disruptive, industrial con­ relieving the plight of the African if the bosses in the EEl' would panies in the Engineering Empioy­ flict ridden organsations. · Yes, worker and peasant then he should then be willing to cover the sum ers federation (EEl') donate one strikes and industrial militancy are In this context Jordan's propo­ argue for and support those black raised pound for pound, for in the hour's pay to famine relief in definitely out! sal is nothing short of an insult. workers who are fiighting at this end many of these member com­ Africa on a suitable day next year. Put simply, improving the image We get poor wages as it is! If moment for an e d to poverty, panies have links with South . To show that he is not just of the AEU means doing away with Jordan is in favour of aid to the oppreSSion and for national libera­ Africa.• biased towards the "workers" on this effective trade unionislIl, of pre­ starving millions then those with tion!! Black South African trade one, JorJan is also proposing that venting worker resistance to the the money - the bosses - should unionists don't wan charity, they the various EEl' boardrooms should bosses' a ttacks on engi neers - all foot the entire bill. We should want solidarity actio 1. cover pound for pound the sum the time! The union Jordan wants force them and their government International workers' action BV an AEU Member (Birmingham) .4 ______IFlIEL~[) ______W_O_RK_E_R_S_P_O_W_E_R_~ __ s_e_Pt_em_b_e_r_19 .. 00

THE RETREAT OF Peter Robin­ son's Loyalist mob from Dundalk. under a shower of broken glass and petrol bombs, symbolised the frus­ tration and lack of direction within Ulster Loyallsm. It is now in the ninth month of its campaign against the Anglo­ Irish Accord. But although this is the highest level of mobilised reaction in Northern Ireland for over ten years, there is not yet any prospect oJ outright victory for Loyalism. The key weakness of the Loyal­ ist campaign is the deep division within it. On the one hand is the bourgeois Unionist wing under Molyneaux's Official Unionist Party egated the Asse mbly to the junk,­ withering of the old workplace the catholic 10% of the workforce. between violent Loyalist reaction (OUP). On the other hand there yard of Irish history along with the networks and the pervasive crisis Clearly Thatcher's 'success' against and the project of the Thatcher is a plebeian alliance of rabid Convention, the Sunningdale Assem­ of confidence in Unionism have the Loyalists has been at the ex­ government: a stalemate that will Loyalist youth, 'workers and farm­ bly and Stormont Parliament of meant much less mass appeal for pense of the already oppressed not be broken as long as Thatcher ers - grouped in and around the yesteryear. Since then Molyneaux's the Ulster Clubs and the UDA. catholics. retains the loyalty of the state Loyalist paramilitarles and Ulster forces have played no other role The changed balance of forces Some of the Loyalists' difficul­ security forces. Stalemate too, Clubs - which at present looks for than disowning the extremes of the is partly reflected in Thatcher's ties lie in the nature of their tar­ exists in the military struggle of 'leadership from the Democratic Paisleyite mobs. As an or:ganised success in holding the RUC on her get. Unlike power-sharing in 1974 the IRA against the RUC and the Unionist Party (DUP) of Robinson political force the OUP is staring side against Loyalist intimidation there is no concrete institution to British army. and lan Paisley. a historic dead e nd in the face. and rioting. A campdi~.1 of anti­ destroy. The flexibility process Resistance to the Anglo-Irish Effective leadership of Loyalist catholic rioting, house-burning and agreed by Thatcher and fitzgerald In Ireland the Irish Workers Group argues for organised mass deal from the OUP, so far as it reaction now lies in the hands of sectarian murder reflects the lack gives them room to play out and struggle against the Loyalist went along with the DUP, was no the 'proletarian' wing of the DUP: of more solidly organised Loyalist fragment Loyalist resistance. The pogrom threat: for mass self de­ more than a constitutional protest. a shady network stretching from resistance to the Agreement. major problem for Loyalism, how­ Its high point was the resignation the paramilitary UVf /UDA, the In Lisburn, Co. Antrim, 124 ever is that the Agreement repres­ fence organisations of the national­ of all Commons seats. After they Ulster Clubs and the Orange lodges catholic families have been forced ents a strategic attempt, jointly ist working class. This is a pers­ were ritually re-elected the OUP to shop floor workers in the big to_ move. Every day petrol bomb undertaken by the British and pectIve ignored by the trade MPs' boycott of Westminster was engineering, shipbuilding and elec­ attacks occur in isolated sections Southern Irish ruling classes, to unions, whose bleating about sect­ hardly noticed. Their promise to tricity plants, and fronted by of the nationalist community. They re-establish imperialist and capital­ arian violence .generally masks bring local government to a halt Robinson. go unreported by the press, un­ ist order in Ireland. their 100% accommodation to the crumbled in the face of threats But can these forces wage an checked by the RUC. The Uff Without' the forces of the Brit­ sectarian state. of personal fines! effective fight against ~he agree­ issued a statement threatening the ish state behind it Loyalism is in It is a perspective rejected by Hijacking the Northern Ireland ment. Working class Loyalism failed lives of all catholics living in pro­ the final analyis impotent. Unable the Republican movement, in Assembly for use as a Loyalist to muster anything like the fist testant areas. Two weeks later the to split off the RUC the 'Loyalist favour of the continued war of at­ soap-box equally failed to impress of organised power that brought 'Protestant Loyalist Council' at veto' becomes a dead letter. The. trition against the British troops the British government. Thatcher's down the 1974 power-sharing deal. Shorts aircraft . factory launched Thatcher~Fltzgera l d deal seeks to and against the civilian contractors hireling, Tom King, quickly rel- A decade of economic decay, the a campaign of intimidation against alter the political complexion of who service police and military the northern state In a way which forts and barracks. threatens the protestant ruling class not one iota, but which Day after day the British medV severely dents the Loyalist view is hammering home the messag6. of the catholic masses as an alien 'Ireland is descending into a pit minority with no equal rights to of sectarian terror, protestant out­ jobs and housing. rage followed by catholic reprisals; The British army, the brave RUC, and most of all the brave', brave COSMETIC Mrs Thatcher are all that stand in the way of religious civil war! To rekindle support for the faced with this the Labour reformist SDLP British imperialism left, so outspoken in the days of' must give it some reforms to relative peace, has allowed Ireland deliver. Thus they concede symbolic almost to (all off the agenda at measures like the 'right' to fly the this year's Party Conference, as Irish tricolour. At the same time the leadership re-establishes its bi­ they keep up the pressure for partisan agreement on Ireland with cosmetic reforms in recruitment the Tories. Socialists and solidarity policy on the big Orange capitalists activists need to stand firm. We such as ·Shorts. need to use every lever to create But such measures have proved a movement in the British working extremely provocative to Loyalist class in solidarity with those fight­ workers and ' youth, while offering ing to destroy the Orange state•. no fundamental gains to the Britain has no progressive role to nationalist masses. The deal does play in Ireland. The British pres­ nothing, and was never meant to ence underpins every Loyalist privi­ do anything, to remedy the system­ lege. In Britain our first duty b atic discrimination against catholics to n~ht for Troops Out Now, tl, which is the social bedrock of par­ support the Republican fighters tition. It has not even produced against the army and the RUC, and real gains for the SDLP. Neither to support them, whatever our has it marginalised or defeated the criticisms, without condition.. military resistance of the Repub­ lican movement. Today the situation is charac­ terised by stalemate. Stalemate Bya member of the Irish Workers Group

Loyalists on rampage TROOPS OUT NOW! -----_... _------.:::::::::::::::::::::!:::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;:::::;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;: sumably because you've already de- To fail to analyse the basis of cided that she's not going to! the sanctions issue is potentially This is a serious over-simplifi- disarming for the working class, cation. In fact, the £12bn worth faced with the possibility of im- IWG Journal of British investment in South perialist sanctions, and as such, a Africa does not mechanically lead serious shortcoming of the article. to a policy of no sanctions. It could also mean a policy of sanc­ Simon Anderson tions, depending on the existing Hford. political situation. SOUTH AFFlICA Thatcher does not refuse sanc­ tions, and will not implement sanc­ WE REPLY: Dear Comrades, tions in Isolation from the needs The point we were making in the I find it necessary to comment up­ of British Imperialism. The needs article was precisely that at this on a deficiency in the front page of that imperialism may dictate critical juncture in the South article on South Africa in Workers different policies at different times African Revolution Thatcher will Power 85. That deficiency is the - dependIng on the political situat­ ,not Implement sanctions. That failure to elaborate upon the rea­ Ion. Thatcher's current estimation developments may force her to sons for Thatcher's refusal to im­ of the South African crisis is that implement them in the future is, plement sanctions, or to even state British imperialism, needing a reso­ of course, true. But, as the title why she may be forced to imple­ lution by repression, is best served of the article, "Workers' Sanctions ment them in the future. for ex­ by a policy of no sanctions. But NOW", makes clear it Is her ample, the article points to £1~ should Botha prove unable to re­ immediate plans and the Immediate billion worth of British investment solve the crisis by repression, then tasks facing workers here, that we and to British trade with South British imperialism's needs will be were referring to. _ Moreover our Africa and mechanically con­ safeguarding of its interests and point that if sanctions were used cludes that this means no sanc­ of capitalism in South Africa, via by Thatcher then they would be tions. Later on, we're told that reforms, to head-off the struggle circumvented remains valid. The ' although it is clear that Thatcher ,of the black workers. It may be case history of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe won't introduce sanctions, even if necessary to implement sanctions shows that. However, we would she did, they would be evaded by in order to pressurise Botha into accept your general point that the bosses - certainly the bosses adopting a policy of reform. If under certain circumstances sa~ would do all they could to evade that is the case, Thatcher will be tions by the imperialists could be­ the sanctions, but there is no men­ forced to implement santions - it's come a possibility (see article on tion of why Thatcher might be not a question of choice, but of Workers Sanctions, back page). forced to introduce sanctions, pre- the needs of imperialism. WORKERS POWER 86 September 1986 5 THE CRISIS OF RSHIP

"The world political situation as a whole Is chiefly characterised THIS IS THE first of a series the Transitional Programme. by a historical crisis of leadership of articles on the Transitional Reclaim, because the centrist of the ." Programme (which will 0ccas­ fragments of the Fourth Inter­ These are the opening words Ionally alternate with a Workers national who claim the pro­ of the Transitional Programme. History series). By looking at gramme as their own In fact This Idea, the crisis of leadership, the Issues covered In that pro­ distort It and trample on Its is fundamental to the Transitional gramme and their relevance to method and principles. Programme. It Is repeated regularly today we will explain fundamen­ Re-elaborate, because after by those who claim to follow Trot­ tal aspects of our own politics. almost 50 years the develop­ skylsm today. But what does It In particular we will demons­ ment of that programme Is mean, and why Is It Important? trate why we believe an urgent urgently needed to enable us In 1938, just as today, there task for revolutionaries today to deal with developments In was no shortage of 'Marxist' pro­ Is to reclaim and re-elaborate the world situation. fessors to explain that the world was not ready for a socialist rev­ olution. According to them the crash was always just around the "objective conditions" for a social­ corner. Both these Interpretations ist revolution had not "ripened" of the 1938 programme (as well enough. This argument was echoed as those that simply state, as does by many Labour and trade union Alan Thornett's Socialist Group, leaders. It was a perfect excuse that the Transitional Programme for doing nothing in the face of is, in every detail, 'valid today') fail to grasp the method of the the attacks of the bosses. In other words, the problem ,.of 'Trotskyism' was turned Into a Those who argued this, again programme and the role of pers­ pectives In it. achieving -socialism lay not In the theory of the "objective revolution­ like today, claimed justification objective conditions facing the ary process". And it was the above from Marx who had said: Trotsky started by recognising that in the Imperialist epoch character of proletarian leader­ working class, but within the work­ passage exactly, although ripped "No social order ever perished ship • • • The multl-millloned Ing class itself. More speci fically out of context, that degenerate, before all the productive forces periods of economic crisis became ever deeper and ever more convul­ masses again and again enter it lay in the leadership of the centrist 'Trotskyism' Inscribed on for which there Is room In It the road of revolution. But each class. its stolen flag. have developed." sive. [n such periods - and the 1930s was clearly a period of crisis time they are blocked by their During and immediately after For Pablo, and for many an They could also list a series of own conservative bureaucratic the Second World War the failure 'anti-Pabloite', the laws of history bitter defeats for the working - the features of the Imperialist machines." to resolve the crisis of leadership class. From the British General epoch, wars and revolutions, being stronger than the old leader­ became sharply pronounced. Thus, This is Trotsky's understanding of led to either the demobilisation of ships came to mean that the . laws Strike In 1926 to Spain in 1936 the the crisis of proletarian leadership workers had mobilised in mllllons. Trotsky's 'catastrophic' predictions workers' struggles through 'reform' of history would resolve the crisis on the eve of war. In the pre­ programmes (Britain, France, :Italy) of leadership, If not In the shape Each revolutionary situation had In 1938 were a concrete application revolutionary situation the masses or, where this proved impossible, of mass growth for the Fourth ended in defeat. For some, this in a specific period of the theory particularly in Europe had the physical destruction of those -International, then through a Tlto, was proof that capitalism could not of Imperialist epoch. This method entered the road of revolution. The struggles by the imperialists and a Castro, a Maurlce Bishop, be toppled, that the Russian Revol- of approach remains valid. struggles of the French and Spanish Stalinists (Vietnam, Greece). This Gadaffi, Scarglll, etc, etc. This is ~ Ion of 1917 had been a fluke of But Trotsky did not simply workers were not of a sectional, required a change of perspective 'only the first of many examples J ory. work with a perspective of general economic or episodic character. on the part of the Fourth Inter­ we will see of a correct formula-, catastrophe. It was more detailed, They were generalised struggles national. tion In the Transitional Programme CHAOS taking into account the problems pregnant with revolutionary poten­ The perspective of revolution turned into a 'truth', "valid for the confronting specific capitalist tial. and war lay at the heart of the epoch", providing good cover for countries, and the specific prob­ rhe specific feature of the cri­ programme. Within two years it opportunism. Trotskyism, on the other hand, lems confronting Stalinism. The sis of proletarian leadership at that had been confirmed. Yet by 1948 Nobody who has been Involved drew a completely different lesson Transitional Programme was based time was the ability of the old a new period of stability was open­ In the Print strike, or who watches from these events. A lesson sum­ on the perspective that capitalism, leaderships to stop this potential ing up. The perspect ive of war and the coming TUC and med up In the first section of the and particularly European capital­ being realised. The Stalinists and revolution, still characteristic of conferences, can deny that a "cri­ Transitional Programme. ism, was far weaker than at the social democracts had shown their the whole Imperialist epoch, was sis of leadership" exists today in Pointing to the deep recession beginning of the first world war. capacity for treachery in both no longer valid for the Immediate the British . of the 1930s, mass unemployment This very weakness meant, in France and Spain In 1936 and period in the imperialist heartland­ With a whole workforce sacked, and the slide towards war, Trotsky Trotsky's view, that a revolutionary 19"37. At the same time the forces s. Humanity's productive forces not with the very future of their wrote: CriSIS would bring about the col­ of Trotskyism were too weak to­ only ceased to stagnate, they unions on the line, the Print lead­ "The economic pre-requlslte for lapse of the whole capitalist sys­ challenge for leadership. In Trot­ underwent a· massive development ers have displayed exactly the the proletarian revolution has tem. Nor was the USA exempt sky's view the potential for· resolv­ in the post-war economic boom. same "cowardice before the big already in general achieved the from this perspective. ing this crisis of leadership did Moreover the defeat s or successful bourgeoisie" that Trotsky described highest point of fruition that Trotsky recognised that perspec- exist in the short term. demobilisations of the immediate In 1938. Their fear of breaking can be reached under capital­ tives are not infallible prophecies: The political result of the crisis post-war struggles took their toll capitalist laws means thay no long­ Ism. Mankind's productive forces "Political prognosis Is only a would be the collapse of Stalinism on the willingness of many sections er dare 11 ft a finger against stagnate." working hypothesis. It must be and social democracy precisely at of workers (particularly in the Murdoch. He went on to outline a perspec­ constantly checked, rendered the point when the masses were imperialist heartlands) to wage Likewise the Labour left, faced tive of economic chaos, war and more preCise, brought closer to propelled again to enter the road major class battles. with the choice "Klnnock or no revolutionary turmoil which would reality." of revolutionary struggle. For Trot­ Failure to recognise this, fuelled Labour Government", display exact­ be confirmed to the letter in the As such they were designed to sky, therefore, it was vital to arm by an appetite for repeating ly the same kind of cowardice as ~sulng decade. He concluded: guide the Fourth International for the Fourth International with the phrases from, the Transitional Pro­ the Print leaders. This year's con­ "The objective pre-requlsltes of the period immediately confronting means of taking advantage of gramme, led whole sections of the ference will see them knuckle-­ the proletarian revolution have them. This period was, in Trotsky's revolutionary struggle. 'Trotskylst' left to a mechanical under even further to the openly not only 'ripened' they have view, likely to be a protracted A decisive turn to the mass view of tlfe crisis of leadership. right-wing project of the Klnnock­ begun to get somewhat rotten." pre-revolutionary period: movement was necessary, with the According to this view the bureau­ ites. Without a proletarian revolution "The economy, the state, the Transitional Programme Itself being crats and labour leaders are the barbarism and destruction faced bourgeoisie's politics and Its the means to take the sections of cork; the workers a constantly humanity. International relations are com­ the Fourth International to the shaken bottle of Pomagne. CONFUSED Trotsky has been accused of pletely blighted by a social cri­ head of the mass movement: The end result is that real "catastrophlsm" by those, like the sis characteristic of a pre­ "Henceforth the Fourth Inter­ defeats, and the effects of such British SWP, who reject the TraJ}. But the crisis of leadership fac­ revolutionary state of society. national stands face to face defeats, are eithe r denied or sltional Programme. On the other The chief obstacle in the path with the tasks of the mass ing workers today goes far deeper' ignored: so for Militant every de­ than this. It exists at every level; hand Healy's WRP turned Trotsky's of transferring the pre-revolu­ movement. The transitional pro­ feat for Labour at the polls, for perspectives Into a vision of econ­ from the crisis of the union tlonary condition Into a revolu­ gramme is a reflection of this Liverpool In the courts, or for the omic "apocalypse now". The final tionary one is the opportunist Important turn." bureaucrats to the weakness and Militant at the hands of the NEC, demoralisation of shop floor mili­ becomes a 'victory' of one sort or tants; from the failure of Benn and another. The same was true of the 'the Labour lefts to the confused old WRP and the miners strike, and antics of the centrist groups. for the Thornett-Ied WSL faced In this sense the crisis of with the effects of successive leadership depicted by Trotsky in defeats on shop floor organisation 1938 has, If anything, become In the late 1970s/early 1980s. deeper as a result of the Fourth Another element of Trotsky's International's own collapse Into analysis of the crisis of leadership centrism. And, while the world sit­ often used out of context Is the uation as a whole is not pre-revol­ passage: utionary, a new penod or crisis has "The orientation of the masses opened up. is determined first by the - Solving the crisis of leadership objective conditions of decaying Is the key to victory for revolution capitalism and second by the in South Africa today, or for the treacherous politics of the old victory of a mighty economic workers' organisations. Of these struggle such as occurred in Britain factors the first of course Is during the 1984-85 miners' strike. the decisive one: the laws of The stakes are becoming hi gher. history are stronger than the We need to defend the method of bureaucratic apparatus." the Transitional Programme, This was a correct formulation re-elaborating It for today's_ tasks given two conditions: first that the and today's perspective. At the Fourth International was fighting same time we fight to build a -against all the other treacherous revolutionary party -' the only way and confused political currents to of resolving the crisis of leader­ practically resolve the crisis of ship. The fight for that party leadership; second, that massive means an implacable struggle revolutionary events were on the against the existing leaderships - horizon. the Labour leaders, the union But after 1948, t,hose who stuck bureaucrats, the Stalinists - and to this formulation when the against the myriad of centrist second condition, the revolutionary groups who kow- tow to those events, had come and gone, ended leaderships•• South A frican black workers in the 1930's - their crisis of leadership is still unresolved up abandoning the first condition. By Paul Mason 6

n March 1921 Harry McShane led his first demonstration, " ... a couple of I thousand turned up and they were really wild and angry men. Some of them were carrying hand grenades they had brought back from the front - I also knew that some even carried guns on demonstrations. They were a very militant, threatening crowd." They had good reason to be. They were among the 1~ million unemployed in that month. In percentage terms that meant about 12% "W WILL of those covered oy unemployment insurance. The following month an event took place Hannington puts it, "The Whitehall baton that was of great significance for the unemp­ charge .. had the effect of sharply awakening loyed, the founding of the National Unempl­ masses of the unemployed to a clearer under­ oyed Workers' Movement (NUWM). Although standing of their class position and making them realise that they would receive no redress for OT STARVI he himself was not directly involved in its their plight as unemployed by quietly looking inception, Harry McShane's life ran parallel to a capitalist government for sympathy." with that of Wal Hannington, the founder of A delegate conference was held and within the NUWM. Both had, by that time, dedicated a few weeks the LDC was meeting twice weekly themselves to Communism and the fight for with representatives from thirty one London the rights of the unemployed. Now, sixty boroughs. By February of 1921 the LDC had years on, with two million on the dole, that decided to press for a national organisation, I SILE CE" fight has to be taken up again. bringing together all the local groups through­ out the country which had been formed in the At the end of the First World War; those struggles against the Boards of Guardians, in who had survived the carnage were confronted order to co-ordinate and lead these struggles. with a crisis-wracked world. Hundreds of thou­ The basis of the NUWM was laid down at the sands of the recently demobbed and those from first national conference which met on 15th. the armaments industry who were no longer April, 1921. Fifteen months later there were needed, found that the "land fit for heroes" 300 local committees with a combined member­ that they had been promised was, in reality, a ship of 100,000, linked up by the NUWM and land of no work and little or no maintenance. its fortnightly newspaper 'Out of Work". As a The revolution in Russia, the five years of up­ result a permanent, well organised mass un­ heaval in Germany and the militancy of the employed movement was established, with en­ masses in France and Britain had sent shivers down the spines of the European bourgeoisie. rolled members and accountable leaders. They knew that their very survival depended on ·smashing down working class resistance to their attempts to impose wage cuts and perm­ anent mass unemployment. The Twenties and Thirties were years of con­ tinuous struggle. True, there were periods of In the following years the NUWM developed downturn, between 1920-24 and again 1926-28 and refined its tactics considerably. The main for example, but they did not contradict the plank of its platform was to be the slogan,"Work general trend of revolutionary crises and social or Full Maintenance at Trade Union Rates of upheavals that characterised the two decades. Wages". The 1926 was a high point in the Later, at the second national conference, British class struggle, but its aftermath was not the full programme was agreed upon as :­ all gloom and retreat. By 1929, sections of work­ iJ 'Work or Full Pay ers, the Durham miners, for example, were again ii) Abolition of Task Work locked in bitter strikes against the employers. iii)Relief for Unemployment to be While 1926 was a serious defeat, it did not ex­ Charged to the National Exchequer, tinguish the fighting spirit of the working class administered by the Trade Unions by any means. The events in France and Spain iv)Abolition of Overtime. in the Thirties, the mass strikes and civil war. These points were supplemented by add­ found a less noisy but not insignificant echo in itional demands such as, "No distraint for rent the struggles of the unem ployed in Britain. and rates on the goods of an unemployed per­ The courage and determination of the NUWM son" - important demands in the context of was an example to the employed and unem­ the eviction struggles. ployed alike. It constantly fought against However, key elements of a full action pro­ attempts to divide the working class and against gramme for the unemployed were missing. The the treachery of the leaders of the working call for work sharing was posed, later, (in the class. In 1931 Ramsey MacDonald led a defect­ "Unemployed Workers' Charter") as a cut in ion to the Tories which led to the formation of hours to be determined by "the requirements DAVE GARROCH looks at the u of the industry". This formulation lets the em­ review of two books aoout the per the National Government. In the same period ployers off the hook. A clearer basis to fight outside. Then, to the amazement and jubil­ the policy of the TUC leaders was 'Mondism' on would have been to call for workers' control ation of the demonstrators, about. 9 o'clock (Pluto Press) and Wal Hannington': which aimed at the integration of the unions of the sharing out of work. Similar criticisms just as it was getting dusk, we saw the red flag Wishart) into the State, thus crippling them as fighting have to be made on the absence of the slogan, run up on a flagmast over the workhouse." organs of the class. The factory raid was also an important began to shake with indignation as they near Against this the NUWM took to the streets, "trade union control of hiring, firing and pro­ ductivity" . aspect of local NUWM work. From the very London. Supposedly led by criminals bearin! mobilised thousands, fought with the police However, as well as the one penny weekly beginning, the unemployed saw the need for arms, and replete with Bolshevik gold, these and helped to smash the Mosleyite Fascists. subscription, NUWM members did have to the employed to come to their aid, just as they 2,000 men were said to be plotting murder swear an oath, "to never cease from active were pledged to "assist in every possible and mayhem on their arrival. In fact their de strife against this system until this system is way workers who may come out on strike or clared aim was to present their demands facl abolished". The many thousands mobilised on who are locked out." Thus, raids would usually to face with the Prime Minister, Bonar Law - this basis showed the real revolutionary be carried out on a factory where systematic hardly an insurrectionary act. Nor was tht'Y - '''' tfftfffffUNGMPLOYED decision to attem pt to deliver a petition tc potential that the struggles against unemploy­ overtime was being worked or where wages We can learn from such struggles by re­ ment had. were being paid below union rates. At a given George V. Buckingham Palace and Number examining the programme, strategy and tactics In fighting for its programme, the NUWM signal, a disciplined squad oif unemployed Ten were barred to them - by thousands of that Hannington, McShane and others develop­ carried out three basic types of activity on a workers would rush the gates, guard the exits police - but 70,000 people demonstrated wi ed in their struggles, learn from their exper­ local and national scale. It organised the un­ and phones, until the police came, and a them when they arrived in London. They als ience, their trium phs and failures and see how employed locally to fight for their rights and speech would be made explaining the need to received a tremendous reception en route, nc revolutionaries can apply these lessons today. entitlements - the fight to actually get benefit ban overtime, to fight for the going rate and of course, from the authorities but from the In 1920, thousands of militants previously or against eviction. McShane was involved in on the need for the employed and the un­ working class districts through which they active in the rank and file movements of, for a number of these, his own included, "We employed to unite. Major successes were ach­ passed. As far as the authorities were concerJ1 example, the Clyde Workers' committee and lived on toast, my wife said her stomach was ieved with these tactics in stopping regular it is difficult to decide who gave whom the the National Shop Stewards and Workers' all scratched from toast with nothing on it. overtime and getting workers taken on. harder time of it. One of the aims of the Committee movement, found themselves victim­ There were many others in just the same sit­ However, the demands and tactics were never marches was always to force the local guardia ised and among the unemployed. uation. I had always said that the unemployed developed further towards actually agitating to provide food and accommodation. Local t The first organisational form the unemployed should feed their families and not pay the for workers' control of the hours. efit offices and other municipal buildings we] had adopted in the post war period was that of rent, and that is what I finally did." In 1922 the NUWM was in the vanguard of therefore, often the target for the marchers. the local Ex-Servicemen's Association. These Then there were the raids and occupations­ the struggle against the national lock out of A feature of fhe marches that impressed bodies were primarily concerned with wandering both for meeting places and as a means of the engineers. Scab factories were raided and everyone was their discipline. "The disciplin the streets begging for charity. It was not un­ putting pressure on the local authorities. One pickets were reinforced. The unemployed and of the march was self-discipline, imposed by common to see rival demonstrations actually such occupation, if it can be called that, was locked out engineers demonstrated together men themselves, in everybody's interests," as competing for the pennies of the rich in Oxford of Wandsworth workhouse. for the right to "outdoor relief" for the en­ McShane puts it. Despite the long and arduOl Street. The likes of Wal Hannington soon put Under the 1834 Poor Law, still in operation, gineers - a ;magnificent example of the solid­ miles in the terrible weather, they took good a stop to that. He and others had gone through the Boards of Guardians were obliged to give arity and class spirit of the unemployed. care to preserve it. The value of such disciplir a communist training in the rank and file move­ either outdoor relief or accommodation and However, perhaps the best remembered was illustrated in Glasgow. On September 23 ments and they began the struggle to transform work. Barbarous as this 'workhouse' system activities of the NUWM locally as well as 1931, an unemployment march was savagely these local organisations into a fighting national was, the NUWM worked out a way to exploit nationally were the hunger marches and demon­ attacked by the police. The next day a 50,00 organisation. its provisions to the full. One day 700 people strations. Hannington explains their elementary strong protest demonstration was staged. Thi In October 1920, the London District turned up to the Wandsworth workhouse and purpose as the refusal to starve in silence. They time it was protected by a disciplined corps Council (LDC) of the unemployed was formed, demanded accommodation until the local certainly broke the wall of silence behind which of 500 unemployed workers, armed with hea helped by a particularly vicious attack by the Board of Guardians granted outdoor relief. the bosses' press tried to imprison the unem­ sticks - the police kept their distance this tir police on a demonstration in support of a dep­ On the second night, a massive demonstration ployed. Alas, such workers' defence corps did not utation of London mayors, led by George expressed its solidarity. Despite a large police The first hunger marchers set off from become a general feature in other cities and t Lansbury. They were demanding an interview presence, "from the hall of the workhouse Glasgow in October 1922. After trying the unemployed often paid the price for this wit with Lloyd George over unemployment. As speeches were delivered to the demonstrators total news blackout, the press lost its nerve and serious injuries at the hands of the police. Various contingents of hunger marchers set off. ~,1ffffffffft EnQ!iilouS demonstrations were staged in support of the hunger marches when they arrived at theiidestinations and often these t turned into savage battles when the police attacked. The early Thirties saw many street fights between unemployed workers and a brutally repressive state. In Birkenhead, the I railings were ripped up by workers as they defended themselves against unprovoked poli attacks. A few nights later the police took th revenge throughout the working class district: dragging men, women and children from thei WORKERS POWER 86 September 1986 7

OCTOBER FIRST 1986 sees the it plan to help organise the unem­ efforts came to nought. For his services as r Fascist", striving to create revolutionary unions launch of a "Jarrow Crusade". It ployed, or link up with workers' saboteur of the struggle against unempIOy~ent, and abjuring the united front tactic. Mc Shane is a commemoration of the original struggles today. Citrine; the TUC leader, was made a Knigh and Hannington, in practice, ignored the worst crusade of 1936. In the article re­ The whole thing is designed, in Commander of the Most Excellent Order 0 the lunacies of this line which would have spelt printed here from Workers Power the words of a mobilising leaflet, British Empire. As the Daily Telegraph notf.! d doom for the NUWM. The CP leaders were un­ No. 18 we detail the tragic nature "to make a major contribution to at the time, this was a, "generous admission able to call them to account because the NUWM and the militant battles it fought were the only of the original march. the election of a Labour govern­ that those also serve who oppose the govern­ It was designed by its reformist ment of the day." The bosses have always been mass actions that the CP was involved in. ment". It is .a publicity stunt. The CP's change of line in 1934/5 to.ll:,e sponsors to eradicate the last ves­ Trade unionists and unemployed glad of the service of men like Citrine whose Communist International's 'Peoples' Front' tac­ tiges of militancy in the NUWM. activists should use the occasion opposition to them is a gentlemanly bluff - The tragedy was that it succeeded. of this march to argue with the but whose opposition to workers defending tic (which called for class collaborationist fronts The re-run is a theatrical farce. marchers and labour movement themselves is real indeed. between communists, ILPers, Labour Party mem­ bers, Liberals and even 'progressive' Tories) The thirty strong march (!) is bodies that support it, that what The betrayals of the reformist leadership to be joined by 2 marches from is needed is a fighting organisation reached their culmination, however, with the blunted the cutting edge of the NUWM. Gone the limited number of towns it of the unemployed, not a Kinnock-­ Labour government which came to power in was the merciless exposure of the TUC and passes through. Each evening a play boosting roadshow. The lessons of 1929. It was this Labour government which re­ Labour Party leaders. on J arrow will be performed. On the 19205 and i 9305 are vital in fused to abolish task work, which refused to By 1936, the CP's criticisms had become so November it will present Thatch­ enabling militants today to put cancel the relief debts of the boards of guard­ mild that Clement Attlee was quite prepared to er with a petition. Nowhere does these arguments. ians and which presided over a vast increase in share the platform at a London rally welcoming the ranks of the unemployed. These measures the march of that year. A contemporary police were justified then, as now, as "economies" report remarked, "speeches were moderate in tone and the communist speakers avoided pro­ vocation or extremist remarks". Indeed, such an approach undercut the very li existence of an independent, rank and file based ::t fiir iiffii unemployed organisation. The 1936 march was The 1930 hunger march was the first to in­ the last major unemployed demonstration of the clude a detachment of women marchers. Iron­ 1930's. ically the first woman Minister of Labour, Wal Hannington's and Harry McShane's books Margaret Bondfield, was personally responBible books vividly evoke the atmosphere of the for the unceremonious ejection of a deputation class struggle in the Twenties and Thirties, the of the marchers from the Ministry of Labour. poverty and degradation that capitalist crises She had a long history as an enem y of the un­ visit upon the unemployed and their families. employed. A signatory to the Blanesburgh They also show the militancy and courage, the Report (1927) which had proposed a severe pride and dignity that sprang from resistance cut in benefits that the Tories had not dared to and organisation. On that basis alone they are carry through, she and her ministerial colleagues worth reading. But there are also lessons to be succeeded where Baldwin and Co. had failed. learnt, and problems to be-addressed. One prob­ They did this via the Anomalies Act and the lem with which the NUWM had to grapple, and introduction of the infamous Means Test, which which is still with us today, is how to unite the deprived the unemployed of £30 million in ben­ unemployed and the employed. The NUWM, efits. correctly, never ignored the official movement, It was an attempt to carry through a further despite its sorry record. They continued to de­ cut that finally split the Cabinet and made even mand that the TUC do what it claimed to do - the TUC jib and led to MacDonald's defection serve the interests of the working class. (with Margaret Bondfield !) and the creation The NUWM consistently fought for the right of a National Government. At the same time, of the unemployed to take their place inside the Citrine blocked a delegation of unemployed officilii labour movement, in Trades Councils, Welsh miners from addressing the TUC at Bristol. and at the TUC itself. It fought for the unioni­ When they were baton-charged outside the sation of the unemployed and against the be­ Congress by the police, Citrine attacked the trayals of Citrine and Co., who were eager to marchers and praised the police. forget the plight of their ex-members. As the dole queues grew, so did the deter­ mination of the TUC and Labour leaders to de­ fuse the extensive wave of militancy and to the same time, allowed the TUC to present it­ preserve the capitalist system that guaranteed them their priviliges. ." ffffffff' self as, "doing something" on behalf of the jobless. The legendary 'Jarrow Crusade' was, in fact, The life blood of the NUWM was its local The TUC consistently refused the NUWM a clear example of how the reformists neutered organisations, born out of the struggle against iloyed struggles between the Wars in a affiliation and equally rejected its call for a, the struggles of the unemployed. It is no acc­ Boards of Guardians. They provided the solid "24 hour general strike against the government dent that this march is the one that is kept alive foundation for the hunger march mobilisations, r Harry McShane's "No Mean Fighter" in regard to unemployment". In the aftermath by the reformists' and the bosses' propaganda, the organised resistance to police brutality in lemployed Struggles" (Lawrence and of the 1926 General Strike the TUC, in line as the symbol of the Thirties. It was one of the Birkenhead, Belfast, Glasgow and elsewhere. with its "peace in industry" policy, severed its smallest marches ever to go to London from They ensured that the unemployed were mobil­ connections with the' NUWM corn pletely and the unemployment blackspots. It was organised ised against capitalism - and not against their beds and beating them ;nercilessly. A report broke up the Joint Advisory Council which had by the Jarrow Labour MP, Ellen Wilkinson who employed fellow workers. from a Mrs. Davin to the International Labour been set up in 1923. From then on the TUC did ensured from the outset that it would be a law­ Such local committees need to be established Defence inquiry revealed the extent of· police its best to sabotage and betray the NUWM's abiding, passive, pleading demonstration. It was today. They need to be built in every town to violence, " My husband got out of bed without work. a far cry from the NUWM marches of the organise the unemployed, especially the youth, waiting to put his trousers on and unlocked the The 1927 miners' march was denounced as Twenties and early Thirties which set out fully on a permanent basis, bringing them into mili­ door. As he did so, 12 police rushed into the a "Communist stunt" which did not have the aware that the only official reception they tant action against the bosses. Such local roots room, knocking him to the floor, his poor head support of the official trade union movement. would get was from police truncheons. The non­ will provide the best basis for national initiatives, beir - ~lit open, kicking him as he lay ~ .. I tried This signalled, as Hannington points out, "an political nature of the Jarrow march was guaran­ marches etc. to .ent them hitting my husband. They then outburst of violent abuse and excitement from teed by a grotesque form of class collaboration. A national organisation of the unemployed commenced to baton me all over the arms and the capitalist press, who called for the govern - Two agents were appointed to arrange the eat­ must be built around a clear programme, clear body. As they hit me and my Jim, the children' ment to ban the march and for the police to, ing and sleeping arrangements - one from the political answers to the crisis that the unem­ and I were screaming and the police shouted 'show no mercy for the political incendiaries Labour Party and the other from the Tories! ployed and the employed face together. For they 'Shut up, you parish-fed bastards." who were organising it against the wishes of the On the other hand, as a result of Special do face it together, and if unity is not welded in The workers in Belfast faced even more respectable elements of the IJlbour movement". Branch intervention, a CP member was expelled action the working claas faces serious dangers. savagery. There, the police force was heavily The police duly obliged by stepping up their from the march. Fears were expressed that the There is no doubt that deep frustration and grow­ armed and barricades were thrown up when the campaign of harassment and intimidation. NUWM might take advantage of the crusade ing despair could develop within the ever­ police opened fire. Several workers were killed WaIter, later Lord, Citrine went so far as to but Wilkinson reassured the authorities by re­ increasing army of the unemployed, particularly and Protestant workers, who believed that the specifically instruct Trades Councils not to ren­ fusing to have anything to do with an NUWM so in regard to the youth. If that frustration and Six Counties was, 'their' state found out to der any assistance to the march. march from the North-East taking place at despair, that anger, is not directed against its whom the RUC really belonged. The marchers set out with a grim determin­ the same time. The Home Office rewarded this class enemy, there is a real prospect of it turning ation nonetheless. The first day's march was to respect for the rule of law by organising a tea in upon itself in the cancerous form of fascism. end in Newport, "Our reception in Newport for the Jarrow marchers in the House of Comm­ Not only the fascists could benefit from a leader­ surpassed all expectations. Men and women of ons as a "good way of encouraging and plac­ less army of the unemployed. The spectre of a the Newport labour movement overwhelmed ating them." (From the Special Branch report chronically weakened Trade Union movement "" fffffffff us with their eagerness to serve food and pro­ on the Jarrow March, 1936) lies before us in the shape of a divided and de­ When such bitter class battles were taking vide every possible comfort. Here was the real The Jarrow March, despite the undoubted moralised working class lacking the strength to place what, one might ask, were the official rep­ heart of the labour movement, beating to sincerity of the marchers and many who supp­ even defend, let alone improve, wages, conditions resentatives of the class doing ?Where were the greet us ! Here were the typical men and women, orted them, was a typical example of the TUC and social services. TUC and Labour Party leaders? Then, as now, examples of the great mass of hard-working and Labour Party attitude to the unemployed. Such a prospect need never become a reality they were holding conferences. folk who really constitute the life and vitality It was class collaborationist to the core and re­ provided, at every level of the labour movement, A delegate conference on unemployment of the movement." duced the unemployed to pitiful objects of in every town, every plant, every Trades Council, was convened by the TUC and the Labour This support. that ordinary workers gave un­ charity. Its aim- was to provide these leaders the question of the fight against unemployment Party in 1921. Hannington's report of it may stintingly, contrasts dramatically with the with cover for their own inaction. is taken up. A mass national unemployed move­ sound familiar to today's militants. "Many of the actions of the contemptible Citrine and his The mid and late Thirties saw a change in the ment, based on uncompromising hostility to the the delegates had come prepared to vote for cronies. Between 1927 and 1933, the TUC re­ CP's and NUWM's attitude to the reformist capitalist system and linked to the employed 24 hour strike action to compel the government peatedly tried to set up bureaucratically strait­ leaders. Between 1929 and 1933, the CP's pol­ workers, the trade unions can, and must, ouild to face up to the question of unemployment. Jacketed unemployed committees which did itics were dominated by the notorious "Third in the months ahead. The platform refused to allow the delegates to nothing for the unemployed. However, the Period" line dictated by the Communist Inter­ discuss anything other than the official res­ general secretaries were unable to organise in a national. Stalin's famous' dictum that Social olution which they had put forward. This res- sphere that was "non-negotiable" with the Democracy and Fascism were "twins" meant, olution contained no proposals for action, bosses. This ensured that even these feeble in Britain, calling the Labour Party "Social Each symbol represents 200000 unemployed. it simply condemned the failure of the gov­ f ernment on unemployment and referred to the five parliamentary by-elections which were in progress, urging 'that the best way in which the workers could express their oppo­ sition to the Iloyd George government on its failure in respect to unemployment was to work for the return of the ubour candidates in these by -elections." However, in 1922, the TUC General Council decided to organise a national, "day of action". Powerful demonstrations were to be held ... on a Sunday! Hannington, it must be said, fails to point out the function of these "Unemployed Sundays" (another was held in 1924) which, in fact, kept employed workers out of the direct action struggle against unemployment but. at .8___ INTERNATIONAL ______.W.OR.K.E .RS_PO.W.E.R.86_s.eP.te.m.be.r.19_86

THE ECONOMIST HAILED Pre­ sident Jayewardene's proposals for 'devolution' in Sri Lanka as "a genuine degree of autonomy" for the Tamils. Such a response was exactly what Jayewardene was after - Western approval and the accompanying cash with which he can continue to arm his Sinhalese chauvinist regime to the teeth. The reality behind Jayewar­ dene's proposals is exposed in the statement we print below from the Revolutionary Workers - Dangerous diversion for Tamils Party of Sri Lanka. This organi­ sation is implacably opposed to Sinhalese chauvinism. We print the statement as a fraternal act of solidarity with their current struggle. The statement has bee.. slightly abridged for reasons of space. ment and of capitalist class rule. in all spheres of administration in and through the establishment of the Province, where is the devolu­ 3. Land and Land Settlement socialism. tion of power to the Provincial Provincial Councils will have only 'PROVINCIAL COUNCILS' During the last 3 years since Council? Concretely, it means that a fraction of the cultivable land' Statement of the 1984, the ] ayewardene bourgeoise the limited executive powers that in its area under Its own power Revolutionary Workers Party regime believed it was possible to the Board of Ministers will exercise for any projects or settlement on sol~e this problem by launching will be at the will· and pleasure landless people. President J ayewardene has once military operations against the of the Governor- the President's It is expressly stated that again come forward with proposals Tamils and pursuing a policy of man. "State" lands mean all land under for a 'political solution' of the genocide of the Tamils. Having the Crown Land Ordinance, the Tamil national problem. However, failed to suppress the Tamils by 2. Law and Order land under the Land Development even at a moment when he is these means, ]ayewardene has Ordinance and Irrigation Ordinance seeking to get the attention of the trotted out a new version of a Section 11: I says:- - all these lands, that is the en­ Tamil people in regard to his pro­ 'poli tical solution' ••. "TIte D.I.G. of the Province tirety of the land belonging to the posals, Jayewardene has not made President ]ayewardene now pro­ shall be responsible to and Government. It is vaguely stated a single reference, either in his poses a plan for devolution of under the control of the Chief that the Provincial Council will get speech, or in the text of his pro­ power. The question that is posed Minister thereof In respect of only "lands required by Provincial posals, to the Tamils and their is whether he will open the road the maintenance of public order Councils for purposes devolved on problems. Evidently, ]ayewardenc for any real devolution of power. in the Province." them". Apparently, It is left to the To start with, it is relevant to does not want to show to his Sill­ Does this mean that the Chief Central Government to decide on butcher of ramils, Jayewardene halese electorate that he is offer­ refer to one fundamental right - Minister who is a democratically what amount of land should be left ing these proposals as a solution the right of universal franchise. elected member of the Provincial to be controlled by a Provincial this means that there will be no It Is expressely stated in his propo­ to the civil war situation in the Council will have control of the Council. However, even In respect industrial development within the country, arising from the liberation sals that the Provincial Councils maintenance of public order in the of this small category of land, Tamil Provinces, and on the other struggle of the Tamil people ... will be elected on the basis of Province? "Alienation and disposition of hand, the Councils in these Provin- ,.­ In regard to the Tamil national proportional representation the In the first place, "maintenance land under such schemes • • • - ces can do nothing to provide em- ' problem the Tamil people have the undermining of the power of the of public order" is left lllldefilJ(~d. will be made by the President". ployment to Tamils in industrial On the other hand, this provision right to a separate state (Tamil voters remain unchanged. And as for land development undertakings as the state-run indus­ Eelam) which has been their goal In order to inquire into the has to be read with Annexure 11 projects (e.g. Mahaweli) tries will remain virtually closed which lists the "subjects and func­ since 197:3. The right of self­ question whether there is, and to "the principles and criteria re­ to Tamils. determination of a nation has no what extent there is, any devolu­ tions that should be exclusively re­ garding the selection of al\ot­ The conclusion is plain enough. other meaning than the right to tion of power it would suffice if served by the Government". , lere tees for such land will also be Any devolution of power to the a separate state. That indeed is we consider this under 5 headings. is sub-section 1:4 - determined by the government Tamils through Provincial Councils the Marxist-Leninist position on the "Law and Order and Prevention of Sri Lanka". remains a myth. Jayewardene's national question. I. Executive Power and Detection of , subject The details given under the proposals, albeit with the blessings The workers and toilers of Sri to the extent that some of Alienation of New Allotments un­ of the Indian capitalist govern­ Lanka can do no less than uncondi­ As in the case of the Parliament. these powers will be devolved der Mahaweli reveals the method ment, is a trap for the Tamils and tionally support the present strug­ executive power will not be wield­ on Provincial Councils and Dis­ by which the Tamils are to be dis­ their liberation struggle - ] ayewar­ gle of the Tamils for a separate ed by the Board of Ministers of trict Councils·... criminated vis-a-vis the Sinhalese dene and his Sinhalese chauvinist Tamil state. Aut, the achieving of the Provincial Council which is That means only some of the on the burning question of land bourgeois regime is offering the a separate state is no solution to composed of elected members, but powers coming under law and order distribution. We are told of a sys­ Tamils this empty shell of Provin­ the problems arising out of both by an official, a Governor, who is are devolved on the Provincial tem of: cial Councils, with trappings of de­ national and class oppression. Such appointed by the President. Thus, Council. In the absence of any list­ "entitlement on the basis of volution of power, hoping that the a solution can be found only in and like the Parliament, the Provincial ing of these powers under law and National Ethnic ratios of Sri Tamil liberation struggle will be through struggles of the Tamil Council will only be a talking order, as powers that are so de­ Lankan TamUs, Muslims and abandoned and that the Tamils workers and toilers In unity with shop. volved, it is not possible to say Indian Tamlls - 12% for Sri could be brought under a form of the workers and toilers of the If the reality is that the that the powers granted to the Lankan Tamlls, 7% for Muslims Ilubjection from which they could whole of Sri Lanka for the over­ Governor (who is the PreSident's Provincial Council in relation to and 5% for Indian Tamlls." never rise. throw of the ]ayewardene govern- man) has the full executive power the maintenance of law and order And on this 'principle' 75% of the And, as far as the workers and can give the Tamil people's repre­ lands coming under the Mahaweli toilers in the South and other parts sentatives power to adequately pro­ Development Scheme will be re­ of Sri Lanka are concerned, the tect the Tamil people from the served and given the Sinhalese- so-called Provincial Councils will police oppressors and violence by not mean any devolution of politi­ the Sinhalese bourgeois central If this principle is to be adopt­ cal power to them which they government. ed in regard to the distribution of could exercise through the proposed What is most relevant in regard land, it is inevitable that the same Provincial Councils, Municipal and to the so-called power of a Provin­ principle will be applied to educa­ Urban Councils and Pradeseeya cial Council over law and order tional facilities and employment Subhas. is the fact that whatever power leading to the abominable "stan­ The Presidential dictatorship that is devolved on the Provincial dardisation" and "quotes". This is that ] ayewardene set up since 1977 Council in this respect is nullified not the road tor achieving the remains as before. Jayewardene and negated every time a State unity of the nation but tearing it will continue to exercise his dicta­ of Emergency is declared by the apart. torial powers in a camouflaged way President. In that event, the Presi­ through a system of local bodies dent takes over all the powers in 4. Education which in reality will function under regard to law and order in the the direction of the President. Province. In regard to education, the devolu­ tion is to be only for cultural In this context, the part that This reality of a dictatorial the so-called left parties are play­ President having the power to de­ ~a.tters and education up to secon­ dary schools. ing is not merely despicable, but clare a State of Emergency at his is treachery to the Tamils and a own will and pleasure without being The State universities within the Provinces will not come under betrayal of all the workers and responsible to Parliament makes the control of the Provincial toilers of the whole of Sri Lanka a nullity of any powers of Provin­ Councils. Nor have the Provincial to the ]ayewardene class enemy. cial Councils in regard to law and Councils. any power to set up their The LSSP, Cl" and NSSP, who order. own universities. Thus, in regard knew well the emptiness and the And the very next sub-section to the admissions to universities, deceptive nature of ] ayewardne's exposes the fraudulent nature of Tamil students will be at the proposals, rushed to welcome them the powers granted to a Provincial mercy of the Sinhalese chauvinists as a basis for the political solution Council in regards to law and of the state. On the question of of the Tamil problem ... order. Under this sub-section, with­ the rights of Tamils to university The LSSP, CP and NSSP helped out declaring a State of Emer­ education they are expected to be ]ayewardene, the murderer of the gency, the President can, if he is satisfied with one single sentence Tamils, to get himself an image "of the opinion that the security in the proposals. Under the head­ of a person genuinely interested of, or public order In, a Pro­ line "National Education Policy" in a political solution of the Tamil vince is threatened by a grave we have this sentence - ~is will problem, by their act of participat­ internal disturbance" be non-dlscrlmlnatory" !!! ing in the Political Party Confe­ by order deploy any unit of the rence and by indulging in secret National Division of the Armed 5. Industry talks with him. Forces in the province for purposes And, at a time when ]ayewar­ of restoring public order. It is a categorical statement in the de ne and his regime were hated Thus it could well happen that proposals that state-owned indus­ by all the workers and toilers of on the very inaugural day of the tries will not be transferred to the whole of Sri Lanka, and when functioning of the Provincial Coun­ Provincial Councils. The granting it was the moment to mobilise the cil in the Northern or Eastern Pro­ of power to the Provincial Council masses of the whole of this coun­ vinces, that the President chooses to 'establish' and promote indus­ try against this regime, these left to send his armed forces to massa­ tries within their own areas means parties LSSP, CP and NSSP cre the Tamil people because he nothing as the Councils have to actively came to ]ayewardene's entertains a belief that there is depend for all finance on the Cen­ assistance and have betrayed, in ramils burn efigy of Jayewardene a threat to public order. tral Government. On the one hand, advance, the coming struggle of these masses.• June 19R6 ...... ~ ...... WORKERS POWER 86 September 1986 9 u.s. ECONOMY SU INTO RECESSION DURING 1973/74 the price of 011 Industrial production in America in brief ... tripled. The Imperialists promptly has fallen consecutively over the blamed their emerging recession last 3 months and now stands 5!O/h on this price jump. below its peak in 1985. Between Twelve years later oil prices April and June 1986 American GNP PAKISTAN have collapsed. In fact, oil at increased by only 0.6% on an an­ THE DETENTION OF Benazir $10-14 a barrel is cheaper in real nual basis. the lowest increase Bhutto and many other leaders terms than before the price jump since the last recession. in 1974 when it stood at $4 a The most significant aspect of of the Pakistan Peoples Party barrel. It was therefore to be ex­ the 1982-5 world capitalist econo­ has sparked mass unrest In pected that these same imperial­ mic recovery was its dependence Pakistan. ists should now be predicting that on the US economy. The rising Coming on the anniversary the fall in oil prices will spark off dollar and growing US market of independence, and only months after the lifting of a new boom. acted as a magnet for the exports They were wrong in 1974 and of all the other capitalist nations. martial law, the government they are wrong now. Far from Between 1982 ' and the end of 1985 crackdown has spelt-out what sparking off a new boom, the fall exports to the US surged by 46%. capitalist 'independence' and in oil prices is a symptom of the It was too much for even the 'democracy' mean for the Paki­ ,deepening recession. This recogni­ mighty US economy. It buckled un­ stani masses. tion is beginning to dawn on the der the staggering weight of im­ Whilst Zia has clothed him­ capitalists and it is starting to ports. self in holy Innocence, taking a pilgrimage to Mecca, his Mus­ send shivers up and down the The impact of these events is lim League thugs the riot spines of every stock exchange. {ffltf dramatically reflected in the trans­ police and army have repeatedly THE BOOM THAT WAS! formation of America into a debtor attacked anti-Zla demonstrations nation. In 1982 America had $150 organised by the New Movement Thatcher and Reagan rose to power billion dollars of net foreign For Return to Democracy. The amidst the wreckage of post-war assets. By the end of 1987 it will MRD Is calling for the release Keynesian attempts at government have over $300 billion liabilities,

.. WORKERS POWER 86 September 1986 despite the repression

International BLACK MASSES AFTER TWO AND a half months prospect was a major motivation of Botha's State of Emergency the .for the crackdown. Since the brutality and scale of his' repression Emergency the townships have been has united the great bulk of the ringed with barbed wire. Massive National Party's base around him. repression has been launched to It Is also clear that South break the repeated schools' boy­ Africa's bosses - despite a few cotts. The townships are under crocodile tears wholeheartedly constant siege or occupation. support the State of Emergency. Gordon Waddel of JCI commented: Despite this repreSSion the, "There Is a view by the major­ flame of resistance and revolt has Ity of business that the Sta~e not been extinguished. At present of Emergency was necessary to the most active freedom fighters restore law and order." (Weekly are debating how to break the Mall 4-10 July) State of Emergency and open up It Is clear from the huge number the advance towards the revolu­ of COSATU officials and local tionary overthrow of apartheid. union activists detained that the clampdown was aimed at stopping the political development and IMPOTENT growing power of the unions. The Metal and Allied Workers Union ,(MAWU), whose leaders such as The repression has taught Moses Mayeklso have Issued calls hundreds of thousands that relying for a more political and anti-capit­ on 'democratic' countries like Brit­ alist role for the union, has come ain and the USA to pressure Botha In for particularly savage repres­ Is a hopeless task. Only the com­ sion. Not only has Mayekiso him­ bined force of the advancing South self been kept In conditions aimed African revolution Itself and the at breaking him, 41.% of the 203 US and British working class COSATU officials detained are movements passing from words to from MAWU. action will produce any response Yet the repression has far from from -Thatcher and Reagan broken the spirit of South Africa's Botha's prinCipal backers and workers. In the last six months defenders. MAWU has recruited 14,000 new The worth of the 'liberalism' members and the NUM some of South African big business has 80,000. MAWU Is still maintaining 'been shown up for what It Is. So ; an overtime ban In the metal too has the Impotence of the Industry despite employer/state United Nations, of the Common- , harassment. It Is balloting its wealth and of the European members for a ' 'living wage' for Parliament and US Congress. the Industry (£1 an hour). South Africa's workers and the 2ach de Beer, a leading direc­ entrepreneurship be nurtured and front and supporting the "armed The other great fear of Botha youth of the townships must rely tor of Anglo-Amerlcan, revealed encouraged and not crushed" struggle" - and '' - a and co was the developing 'alter­ .on their own strength and appeal continuing contact and 'Informal' (Weekly Mall 11-17 July) variant ' of economlsm that leaves native power' In the townships. directly for assistance to the world discussions with the ANC. South and that the ANC believed In a the political terrain open to the This is especially the case In the workers' movement and to the Africa's leading black businessman, "mixed economy". bourgeois nationalists. Eastern Cape where the ANC's, broad masses In black Africa to Dr Sam Motsuenyane, said after The ANC's commitment to the But COSATU as a mass union presence and mass support, was join them In the struggle. meeting Ollver Tambo In Lusaka defence of capitalism Is clear to federation Is stili 'developing and clear for all to see. The old com­ The State of Emergency has that the ANC had agreed that all who can read or listen. Its is the vital arena for forging a munity and town councils of apart-: shown up the crisis of leadership "private ownership of property leadership will t herefore play a new proletarian leadership. Those held stooges had been crushed and that exists at the top of the resis­ was to be allowed at all levels disastrous and ultimately a treach­ who stood aside from It like the swept aside. Street committees ,had tance movement. Despite the hero­ and the spirit of entrepreneur­ erous role In the South African 'black consciousness' Influenced begun to develop which had the Ism of the ANC rank and file and ship encouraged" revolution. groupings have played a much clear potential for creating a dual the courage of the fighters of in a liberated South Africa. The -advances of COSATU unio­ worse role in the resistance to the power. If linked up with t~e. shop' Umkhonto We Slzwe the ANC The ANC and the National ns towards political struggle cannot State of Emergency. The Weekly stewards' committees in Industry, leadership Is wedded to a path of African Federation of Commerce cover the continuing political Mall 11-17 July reports that ,commerce, transport and on the pressure, of governmental sanctions which Motsuenyane represented weakness of their leaders. They "The COSATU position Is nota­ farms they had the potential to by the main imperialist powers and agreed that remain torn between the Influence bly different to that of the two become the soviets of the South of class collaboration within South "It was In the country's best of ANC 'popullsm' - subordinating smaller federations the African revolution. This terri fying Africa. Interest that the spirit of the unions to building the , popular Council of Unions of South

charge for which no evidence Peru • Aftermath exists beyond the word of two FREE known management stooges. ' The of Gaol Slaughter real background to this frame-up ELEUI ERIO is that Eleuterio was a leading IN THE WAKE of the killing of militant In the general strike, In about 250 Sendero Lumlnoso prison­ the March 1985 miners' march on BoIvian Workers Renew the Fight ers In Peru's gaols by the mllltary GUfTEREZ La Paz, and has been active In an exceptionally tense situation Is organiSing private sector miners developing In the country. Mllltary ELEUTERIO, IS ,A MILITANT miner to resist the threatened closure of BOLIVIA IS A country wracked by ures and the freeing, of certain and police control Is spreading. and local trade union leader from their mines and to demand their social crisis. Inflation runs at over working class and peasant prison­ , Lima Is under a curfew. Two the Bollvar pit In Antequeral nationalisation. one thousand per cent per annum. ers. These were Eleuterio Guttier­ taxi drivers have been shot by the Canyon, , Oruro, Bollvla. He has But Eleuterio was not simply Severe food shortages hit hardest ez, an imprisoned miner (see sep­ trigger happy security forces and been Incarcerated In the San Pedro a trade union militant. He was also at the workers and peasants. arate article) and 12 peasants no taxis can be found on the prison for 11 months with no sign an active member of the Revolu­ The MNR Government headed accused of killing a government streets after midnight. of his case coming to triaL Eleut­ tionary Workers Party (POR) led by Victor Paz Estenssoro Is push- ' official who tried to prevent the Repression Is being used to erlo was arrestM' at the time of by Guillermo Lora and stood on ing through a vicious programme holding of a referendum organised quell all forms of social discon­ the five week general strike tn their list as candidate for the of closures of mines (copper, tin, by the COB, on the new tax sys­ -tent. On 21 August a large demon­ Bolivia In 1985. Oruro council. His imprisonment coal) and cuts In education, health tem being introduced by the gover­ stration of shanty-town dwellers He has been accused of stealing is part of a pattern of persecution and social welfare. After the fail­ nment. 'marched to the offices of the mining equipment, a ridiculous 'of working class militants In the ure of last year's general strike The COB itself, responding to water board demanding the exten­ aftermath of last year's defeats. called by the COB (Bolivian Work­ the Oruro strike, called a two day sion of water supplies to their As part of the renewal of the ers Center - the TUC) a period general strike on 21/22 August to areas, as promised by President fight during the general strike In of retreat set in. protest against the elosure of the ,Alan Garcia In his election cam­ Oruro In August, the mass meeting Yet only a year on the resist­ mines and also the presence of 150 paign. They were met with tear United Ma rxist Party (PUM), a which initiated this action placed ance of workers and ' also of the American troops In Bolivia (there gas and baton charges - women and twenty thousand strong centrist as one of its demands the release peasants and the urban petit-bour­ on the pretext of an anti-cocaine children being clubbed down before organisation. of Eleuterio. geoisie is mounting. In addition to campaign). The sympathy of the the eyes of Mayors and Senators Meanwhile another element of Eleuterio has a wife and child­ its other attacks the central gover­ peasants and the urban petit-bour­ (including members of Garcia's own Garcia's mass support the ren, and worker militants like him nment tried to ', close two local geoiSie for the ' workers' struggle Aprista party). peasants in the Andean South of can expect to rot In jail Indefinite­ private TV stations In Oruro the to prevent the closure of mines The campaign for the forth­ the country are planning to ly unless pressure Is brought to main mining and metal smelting Indicates that conditions are ripen­ coming municipal elections has launch a wave of land occupat­ bear on the Bolivian government. 'CIty of Bolivia. The reason was Ing for a renewed working class been profoundly affected by the ions. Garcia may wish to turn a' Eleuterio Is a class war prisoner that they had given voice to the counter-attack against Paz Estens.­ aftermath of the killing of the blind eye to this to refurbish his and all workers' organisations resistance to the dual policy of soro and his Austerity Programme. Sendero prisoners. The United Left tarnished populist credentials. He should press for his release. We mine' closures and privatisation. In Oruro the Trotskylst militants candidate for the mayora ty of has likewise used his present clash urge all labour movement bodies Their local owners - small bour­ of the Trotskylst Workers' Fraction Lima Aarrantes,' was quick to with the IMF to indulge In furious­ at local and national level to do ,geols - called for protests and sup­ (FOT) a group of comrades express his support for Garcia and ly demagogic 'anti-imperialism'. the same. We urge all union and ported strike action. This erupted expelled from the POR (Lora) and to support the re-establishment of The clash wi th the IMF also Labour Party members to write to Into a clty-v.:ide and regional gen­ at present engaged ' In discussions order since· the Sendero guerillas poses before his government the addresses below pressing for eral strike. A mass meeting was with the MRCI - have played an were simply "provocateurs". another dilemna - how far dare he this and to publish material In held In the main square uf Oruro active role In the strug~le. This statement has caused havoc go in even a verbal conflict with their union or party publications. on IS August that voted for 'an We hope to carry a fuller amongst the United Left's support­ imperialism? Peru Is once again We urge you to get your MP Indefinite general strike not only account of the situation In Bolivia ers in the shanty towns. It was entering a period of sharp conflict and union leaders to take up his to demand the keeping open of the" and of these comrades' political outspokenly criticised by the leader and upheavals. The military will case now. The Campaign to free TV stations but also the abandon­ analysiS In the next Issue of Work­ of one of the United Left's cons­ be keeping an ea51e eye on Garcia Eleuterio Guttierez - is orgamsl'ng ment of the scheduled mine clos- ers Power.D tituent partie:; Diaz Fonseca of the lest he lose control.D a picket of the Bolivian Embassy 11

Africa (CUSA) and the Azanlan Confederation of Trade Unions (AZACTU) who have proposed that employers and unions form a united front against the government. " It reports that CUSA did not sup­ NEIL KINNOCK FACES two major ;port the 14 July day of action and hurdles this month. He must steer that Its general secretary Plroshaw joint TUC/Labour Party proposals Camay stated that: on employment legislation through "National action could exacer­ both the TUC and ,Labour Party bate the situation rather than Annual Conferences. Only then can obtain the release of workers the proposals - summed up In the Chains and unionists. We want to re­ pamphlet New Rights, New Respon­ turn to the situation where the sibilities - take their place as one rule of law Is applied In this of the cornerstones of Kinnock's country." strategy for the next Labour Gov­ Worse, CUSA Issued a joint declar­ ernment. ation with the Federated Chamber Already the plans have come of Industries (the South African under fire from sections of the CBI) and with the Associated PLP and the 'left' union leaders. for Unions Chambers of Commerce saying that They must be stopped decisively they all believed that, at both the TUC and the Labour TGWU, has been bought-off by a their mildly reflatlonary budget "conflicts can be resolved Party Conference. classic TUC compromise. As the strategy. Hence the construction through negotiations, discussion The major sticking point for the TUC and Labour Party conferences of a series of Arbitration Boards and compromise. We therefore trade union leaders has been Kin­ approach, only the NUM and TASS and "independent tribunals" is built urge that all acts of violence nock's proposal for a legal re­ remain against the compulsory into Xinnock's scheme. that is no longer controlled by the from whatever source, quirement to hold a secret ballot ballot. Most Important, under cover of unions. cease ••• " before strike action. But the ballot wrangle has "restoring the right to strike", the The TUC/LP document does try This shameful statement indicates , merely served to obscure the fact Kinnock/Wlllls document says: to sweeten the pill with the aboli­ the dangers of the alternative that the union bureaucrats have "It will be lawful for workers tion of all existing Thatcherite alliances to COSATU formed by swallowed the rest of Kinnock's to organise or take part In a union law, and by restoring security CUSA and AZACTU. They are no KEY ELEMENT plan hook, line and sinker. strike or other Industrial action of employment rights, Wages less popular front 1st than the ANC The key words of the New In defence of their Interests. Councils, etc. Trades unionists inspired elements and indeed seem Rights document are "a partner­ The range of Issues on which should force Klnnock to implement to be pursuing the path of capit­ The central need for this mea­ ship" and "involvement in change". workers could properly seek to these, but not at the price of ulation to the repression. sure, which effectively retains a In 'Kinnockspeak' this means a re­ Influence an employer would accepting the Rights and Responsi­ The repression shows that what key element of Thatcher's antl­ turn to the union leaders being need to reflect the wider col­ bilities package. Is needed above all is a revolution­ union laws, springs from two able to negotiate away jobs, part­ lective bargaining agenda envis­ ary workers' party capable of guid­ sources. On the one hand it Is Icipate in productivity schemes and aged In our proposals on Indus­ ing the unions, taking the lead in demanded by the employers, who hold down wages by voluntary trial democracy." ATTACKS the townships towards mass strike have seen strike after strike in agreement. This is just what the action and the building of soviet-­ major Industries demobilised with bureaucrats have been longing for type councils. Such a party will this law. On the other hand the In their years in the Thatcherite But a few legal rights restored have to be built If the black TUC right wing have seized this cold. THREAT will not be enough to protect masses are not to be cheated out part of Thatcher's legislation as But their ability to deliver is workers from the attacks of the the destruction of apartheid and a golden excuse for avoiding con­ so crucial to the strategy of Kin­ Tories and employers now, and roots in South African capital­ frontation. From Tuffln to Brenda nock and Hattersley that it can't The unspoken threat Is that "cer­ ism. Dean they have tried It once and be left to chance. They must con­ tain issues" could be deemed by those that a future Klnnock gov­ ernment will make. Trades union­ Such a party must be a Lenlnist got themselves hooked. vince the employers they will be law to be outside of what was ists should fight to commit their ' party, capable of working In the The ballot proposal has been able to hold down wage demands "proper": like for example a boy­ union branches and national con­ savage repression and lack of legal opposed from the left, but after and prevent any restoration of cott of South African goods, or a ferences to a policy of: rights which exists In South Africa a lot of noisy recriminations, the shop-floor militancy. Otherwise the strike against the Introduction of while also utilizing every legal main source of opposition, the bosses will refuse to go along with Cruise missiles Into Britain. Work­ * Abolish all anti-union laws. No avenue. It will, moreover, have to ers must resist any attempt to lay state Interference In the unions. ,be a Trotskyist party one down In law the "proper" issues for committed to a strategy of perm­ trade union action. * No social . anent revolution, of the uninter­ The New Rights document Is * For a national minimum wage rupted struggle from the basis of a synthesis of Labour's previous based on the average industrial national and democratic rights to tactics of enforcing social peace. wage, but against all attempts the creation of working class "In Place of Strife" (1969) was pure at wage restraint. power in South Africa. legislation. "The Social Contract" The cadre for such a party (1975-79) was "voluntary". In both * Against all forms of "workers' exists and is developing amongst cases they were destroyed by a participation" In industry - for the vanguard fighters In the unions rift between the bureaucracy and workers' control. and townships. What Is needed Is the Labour leaders, under pressure * For workers' democracy in the the first nucleus of conscious Trot­ of rank and file militancy. unions. Elected and recallable skylst to begin the building of such offiCials, elected by mass meet­ a party. This first step Is a vital ings and receiving no more than one for the success of the South the average wage of their African revolution•• EXTRACTED members.

By Dave Stocking * Labour must legislate to guarantee the right to strike, Kinnock's policy of legislation to establish clearly and unques­ and voluntary agreement, extracted tionably the trades unions' legal on the first anniversary of his from the TUC at Its weakest immunity from prosecution for Imprisonment: moment, attempts to construct a strike action Tuesday 30 September legal barrier, approved by the 11.00 am tlll 2.00 pm bureaucrats, against any revival of At the Labour Party Conference 105 Eaton Square, London SWI shop floor militancy under a future the whole of tile Klnnock/Willls Send messages of support and Labour government. Only with this document must be thrown out. donations for Eleuterlo's legal barrier in place can Kinnock sell Rights, responsibilities, freedom, defence In Bolivia to: the idea to the e mployers and the fairness - like all the other mean­ Steve ~asterson bankers. ingless rhymes that bubble out of BC~ 7750, London WCIN 3XX Kinnock needs to prove at Kinnock's mOllth - cover-up a well (Tel 01-435 5652) Brighton that Labour is the Party prepared kick in the teeth for the that controls the unions. At Black­ working class.• Send letters urging action and pool in a month's time he needs Indicating your support to: a message for Kinnqck and the TUC to prove that Labour is the Party By He/en Ward (Vauxhall CLP) Bolivian Embassy 105 Eaton Square, London SWI Trade union Federation of Bolivian ~Ineworkers (COB) Ayacho 288, 4th Floor, La Paz, Bolivia DEFEND L.P'Y.S. ~Iners International Federation 8 rue J oseph Stevens, ONCE KINNOCK'S WITCH-HUNT The first part of Kinnock's YS just where it is at its weakest. cides a new age limit, it must 2nd Floor, 1000 Brussels, bandwagon began to roll It was strategy was to put into place a Militant always ignored youth cul­ preserve the structures of workers' Belgium predictable that someone In the mass, populist but politically empty ture. Their response to the Red democracy in the YS, even if they Labour leadership 'think tank' campaign alongside the YS. This Wedge tour ranged from half­ have gathered dust under Militant would come up with a scheme for took shape in the Red Wedge tours hearted to hostile. Traditional YS stewardship. But it must do more. getting rid of the ~lIItant-Ied and Labour listens to Youth rallies. conferences - IVodelled on their Last year's turgid and small YS LPYS. This scheme was unveiled To lead the politica'l backlash the adult counterparts - are never very conf!¥"ence and now the Kinnocklte ~ continued from front page In July by Tom Sawyer and now Kinnock machine has groomed the edifying for the new, youth fight­ attacks prove that the YS must looks set to be pushed through the leaders of the National Organ­ ers the YS should be recruiting. either transform Itself or die. This On the picket line and the demos, Party Conference. isation of Labour Students. And Militant, who turn every con­ is a job for youth themselves - to crucial because many of the mili­ All that remains is to deprive ference they lay their hands on do In their own way, in their own tants attend those every week, and Under Militant the YS has hard­ the LPYS of its one remaining into a rally, are not on strong time. in the chapels ' and the branches; ly been a thorn in Labour's side. strength: its independence and its grounds to protest if the NEC Faced with defeat at the Party militants must fight to win the Militant's politiCS of peaceful 'relatively democratic structure. turns the tables. Conference, the YS National Com­ mass of strikers to the only way co-existence with the Labour Relative, that is, to the NEC pro­ mittee must not be allowed to forward. It is only through that leaders until the long awaited day posals. The YS regional conferences Nevertheless the NEC proposals make big protests then 'duck and fight that a trusted and trust­ of 'mass influx' put the YS on the will be turned into rallies. At both must be fought. Not just at the cover'. It must call an Emergency worthy alternative to Dean, sidelines of the mass youth cam­ national and regional level key Labour Party Conference, where YS Conference to organise defiance Dubblns and the L.D.C. can be paigns that actually took place. decisions will be put into the hands block votes \\j ielded by Tom of Kinnock's measures. And if, as built. This the leadership could tolerate. of 'joint' bodies of LPYS, NOLS Sawyer's NUPE ~lIone are probably it has done twice before, Labour The first attempt at a sell-out What they can no longer toler­ and Trade Union Youth Sections, enough to cll ch victory for moves to close down the YS, we helped to expose the national lead-, ate is that the YS provides Mili­ including the right to elect an NEC Kinnock, but afterwards. must not flinch from a fight to ers. The fight against this attempt tant not just with a public plat­ member. The YS age limit will be The YS must refuse to comply keep the YS in existence and build may be the last opportunity not form, but with official party reduced from 26 to 21. with the new ref. ulations. It must it into an independent revolutionary only to expose them and their resources, a paper and a place on Both the style and the content continue to admit to membership Youth Movement •• allies but to replace them •• the NEC. of Kinnock's 'reforms' attack the those up to 26. Until it Itself de- WORKERS SANCTIONS NOW P.W. BOTHA SENT Geoffrey Howe ly .wlth the fact that they are their mernbers to Impose sanctions back to Britain with a flea In his major competitors of the apartheid against the racist state. ear. The Commonwealth leaders state in these marketS. The one form of action they turned up In London ready to which · ,has imposed a total' trade do endorse is the consumer 'boy­ 'leave the Commonwealth' If That­ embargo has relatively little trade cott. However well intentloned cher refused to take meaningful with South Africa. consumers are, they cannot ever action. They went away with tilo matter how principled these be as effective as organised 'unity' preserved around largely country's actions look compared workers. Twenty cashiers and fifty meaningless gestures. to Thatcher they will not be de­ shelf stackers with union backing These events sum up Botha's cisive. Only action that cuts apart­ can achieve in days what it would contempt for the hufflng and puf­ heid's lifelines, trade and invest­ take thousands of leaflets and fing of 'democrats' and 'world ment with Britain, America, Japan, months of persuasion of the amor­ leaders' and their endless reserves and West Germany, will help the phous mass of consumers to of hot air. Four months after the South African masses bring their achieve. new State of Emergency, with day of freedom nearer. Whatever the bureaucrats say photo - Bernie Ma/one 12,000 political prisoners rotting 1n Britain, only the labour about the 'backwardness of the in apartheid's jails, the question movement has the interest and the membership', and whatever echoes remains: who will take effective power to implement really effect­ this might find in the 'socialist' of exports as well as imports. ' action against apartheid? ive sanctions. theorists of the 'downturn' (such It is no accident that while the Thatcher and Reagan's number It is In our interest to aid the as the SWP) there is a will to take Dunnes strike forced the Irish BUSME one aim is to preserve Britain's black masses of South Africa be­ action against apartheid. government to ban Imports of and the USA's vast investments and cause victory for them will The Dunnes Stores~ Strlker5" South African fruit from I profitable trade. The UK has some strengthen the confidence of the battle started as an Iniative of the January 1987, exports of sophis­ BACK 40%.of all overseas investment in working class all over the world. rank and file. TGWU dockers In ticated computers will continue. South Africa, the US nearly 30% Since it would be a powerful de­ Southampton, backed by the NUS Britain provides South Africa and . West Germany 10%. British feat for apartheid's allies, Botha's blocked the export of military with 16% of its machinery im­ linked companies employ 7.5% of LOBBY downfall would massively weaken machinery to South Africa. Ports­ ports. Cutting these off is LONDON BUSMEN are to lobby the South African work force. But the confidence of the British ruling mouth health workers fought to essential for an effective cam­ the TUC to demand trade union it is not this economic interest class. boycott goods in their central paign. sanctions against apartheid. The alone which makes the US and stores. Thirty six unions are affi­ The South African revolution busmen's banner and campaign bus British ruling classes close allies liated to the Anti-Apartheid Move­ * does not have mortgage on go to Brighton on I September to of the Botha regime. In fact, since ment. Yet even the best union pol­ TRADE time. Now Is its hour of need. join trade unionists from all over 1982 profits in non- mining invest­ icies only agree to back workers While the TUC leaders sit on the country who will be lobbying ments have slumped considerably. action once it Is taken. their hands, and while we let the TUC. Many British firms have cut their We also have Il mlljor respon­ We desperately need a campaign them get away with It, Moses Terry Allen, TGWU London Bus involvement. sibility. AlthOl!gh South Africa's for workers sanctions. That cam­ Mayeklso is imprisoned In a Section District Secretary, said: Thatcher and Reagan know that trade with the UK does not paign has two tasks. To show the apartheid South Africa is a politi­ cell, kept lit 24 hours a day, "We are proud that our union amount to a great deal for Britain, TUC and the AAM that there Is is in the forefront of the cam­ cal and military bulwark of react­ It does for South Africa. In 1985, constantly monitored by TV a willingness by workers to take cameras. The torturing of a paign against the apartheid ion in southern Africa as a whole, Britain was the third largest mar­ direct action and to call on them capable of smashing any anti-­ heroic trade union leader by the South African state. The battle ket for its fruit and vegetables. to spend less time and money try­ in South Africa is a class ques­ imperialist moves that the sur­ The UK is also the third largest racist state makes action by ing to persuade Thatcher to take tion, and it I~ the decision of rounding states may consider British trade unionists Impera­ supplier of manufactured goods to sanctions, and instead spend more our delegate conference to making. Any revolutionary over­ tive. None of the resolutions the racist state. time educating and preparing the attend the lobby as a presence throw of Botha would be a catas­ at the TUC Congress Is clear In addition to the interest and union membership for workers' in solidarity with South AfricaI' trophe for imperialism. Sanctions on the need for action In the the responsibility our class also has sanctions. At the moment only the trade unionists • • . would destabillse him, narrow his the power to strike a major blow workplace against apartheid. The' NUR, NALGO and ACTT have offi­ UCW/NUR call for a boycott options and make his overthrow at apartheid. Most South African cially backed Anti-Apartheid com­ If British trade unionists don't of South African goods, but not understand what is happening easier. Hence, no sanctions. trade goes through Southampton, mittees. We need many more. of goods dest ined for South in South Africa, they would do Liverpool and Heathrow. Boycotting On top of this a workers' sanc­ this .trade and preventing it being Africa. The NUM call for a well to consider what it must tions campaign needs to promote 'complete embargo on all trade' diverted to other ports is a realis­ and organise action now, where it be like in that apartheid state RHETORIC tic form of action. but are weak on how to get It. for trade unionists to have their can be delivered, without waiting NALGO wants he government The press; and in particular for the TUC to get off its back­ leaders incarcerated. the BBC, is waging a campaign to to Implement sa ctions and a What about those countries side. consumer boycott. South African trade unionists spread the lies that 'sanctions can­ are asking us to support sanc­ which have implemented sanctions? not be monitored', or that there In July, Lambeth and Birmingham ,Much is made of their 'heroism', Trades Councils launched a cam­ tions against apartheid and de­ is always a way round them. If mand the release of their but behind the rhetoric and the they are carried out and checked ACTION paign for workers' sanctions. A limited actions stands the self­ successful lobby (and meeting) of leaders. Workers in Britain act by £20,000 a year civil servants very firmly when their organ­ interest of the bosses of compet­ this may well be true. But if the July TUC General Council is ing nations. Whatever Rajlv being followed by a lobby of the isations are under attack and workers themselves make sure the A strategy for workers sanc­ Ghandhi says, he has no Intention TUC Congress on I September. We now must support South African goods are stopped, then the bosses' tions has to take account of the workers." of ending India's trade In rough attempts to break a blockade can . following: call for maximum support both for diamonds with South Africa, which be checked. the Lobby of the TUC on 1 The chairman of the TGWU London employs half a million in India. The TUC has been pathetically * We must counter the argument September and the AAM's mass Bus Section, Peter GlbsOn, will Canada's and Australia's call for complacent. Vigils outside the that sanctions cost jobs. Only leaflet of the Congress on 4 speak offiCially at the meeting fol­ blocking South Africa's coal, steel Commonwealth conference! Full I f we let the bosses lay us off September. A fringe meeting at lowing the lobby. and agricultural goods squares nke- page adverts In the . financial will this happen. In fac,t leaving the TUC on 4th September will be papers and the Dally Telegraph (or sanctions in the hands of 'sym­ planning the next steps. Those next rather Torygraph) to persuade the pathetic' bosses and politicians "teps must be action in the work­ place. WORKERS' bosses that Investing in South is the sure way of letting them endanger jobs through sanctions. Africa is unprofitable! They prefer SANCTIONS pleading to the bosses to organiSing * We must fight for a boycott By K eirh Hassell AGAINST APARTHEID

FRINGE MEETING SUBSCRIBE! TUC CONGRESS Name•.••.••••••••.••••••••••••••••••••••• 4 September - 7.30 pm Address •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The Royal Alblon Hotel Old Styne, Brighton

Send £4 to the address below "WORKERS SANCTIONS and receive 10 issues of the AGAINST APARTHEID" paper. Make cheques payable to: Workers Power and send (Sponsored by Lambeth TC) to: Workers Power BCM 7750 include David Ki London ASS) (20 years in apartheid jails) WC1N 3XX