socialism Racism is on the increase in Tory Britain. The urban uprisings of recent years show that black youth are organising to defend themselves. WALID HADDAD shows why the autonomous organisation of black people is necessary to fight for liberation not only in society at large but in the inert and often racist structures of the labour movement. While the Black Sections movement is one of the most advanced expressions of black people's fightback, the road to liberation passes both inside and outside the Labour Party.
The intensification of racism also poses a series of strategic questions for the black community. How are they to defend therselves? How should they organise? Who can they rely on for support and how can alliances be built?
This article outlines the main features of an anti-racist strategy. It argues that racism is more than just the sum of individual attitudes and prejudices, which can be educated away. It is a system of ideas which are institutionalised in society and which have a large effect on black people in all facets of their lives. In particular, racism is institutionalised in the state, and state racism plays a critical role in reinforcing racism in society in general.
An anti-racist strategy has to be anti-capitalist because the history of racism is intertwined with the history of capitalism. It has to be based on two solid pillars. Firstly on autonomous black organisation and secondly on an alliance with the labour movement. But this alliance will only succeed if the first of these pillars is built as well.
To explore these ideas more fully it is necessary to say more about the nature of the beast. What does racism actually mean
19 for black people in Britain today, and why is it still so strong?
GOVERNMENT THREA The roots of racism It is widely arcepted that the roots of racism lie in Britain's imperialist past: as an ideology to justify slavery and the plunder and exploitation of Asia and Africa, as a 'science' to justify a hierarchy of raurs. Racist ideas scoped into and shaped every do et ol British altare and society. However racism is not merely a legary of an imperialist past, for Rritain is still an imperialist power, albeit a declining one. Preciscly as a consequence of this decline, the growth of racism is inder wined with the concept of nationalism.
The linking of racism to nationalism is a particularly spong feature of the Thatcher wine of the Tory party It can in seen in thatcher's infamous 'rather swamped' statement in the 1979 election campaign; in the Malvinas War and in her sup port for the Botha regime in South Africa. This racism which was a product of the birth of British capitalism, is nov: reprodnced in its slow, painful decline.
from this analysis we can conclude that an anti-racist strategy must also be and imperiali and internationalist
Black people face not only incist attitudes but suffer discrimination in employment and living conditions. Black people were brought to this country to fill jobs with the worst pay and conditons . on mughtshifts, in the foundries. textile inlustry, bralth service, on the buses and on rail. Little has « hangro exerpe that now black uneniploymen is at least ¡wice that of white; black people are more heavily concentrated i senior unskilled manual jobs and are more ikely to be working on shifts or part time
Black people fare discrimina n wherever they go: in hospuals, social security offices and schools. They are subjecred to racist amigration laws which deny even elementary human rights. Stereotyped as illegal immigrants' er muges the col our of your skin puts vou automatically dadder suspicion, conmuddy risking the special attentior of the police. In addicion Mach people are suffering a rising Inde of racist attacks. Black women In this sitation, black women suffer most of all, oppresser by both racism and sexism. The specifie experiences of black
women cannot be discussed here in any ilerall and will be it subject of a future artice in International. Suffice it io mennon In exprniences of Asian women attempting to come ate thes country ncated as appendages of then husbands whike smutaneod degraded by strip searches and vigoody dsti blairk nomen strreotyped as sexually availalde "untaneously denigrated as immoral Giver, the gore pol.. often part tune, sometimes in swear gope and o 21. l 20 ing homestsking
However black women have recognised the need to orgame autonomously from men, and a number of black women's groups now exist. In addition blach ivomen have taken the lead in the workplace, fighting for umon recognition and agaius, racist discrimination. Examples lach as Grunwicks and ihe sitix plant in Slough where Asian winnen led the si: ike, overtuned at a stroke the stereotype of thee passive, law-abiding Arise hereau Black autonomuds urganisation In ersponse to this all-pervading racism black people have long meansed themselves as black people. The Indian Workers Asson tation, the West Indian Standing Conference, the Black Peoples" Alliance, Blacks Against State Harassment, Asian Youth Movement, the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent, the Black Movement and more recently the Labour Party Black Sections — these are just some of the varied organisations.
Antonomous black organisation is absolutely necessary in the struggle against racism; as the victims of racism and therefore the best fighters against it black people are the only ones who can define racism when it occurs.
Only when the question is taken up by the black communiry itself, is anything done about it.
Unfortunately the vast bulk of the Labour movement does not support selt-organisation. One of the main arguments against it, put most vociferously by Militant supporters, but ironically also argued by the Labour leadership, is that autonome sell organisation divides and weakens the working dis What de Meltand supporers fail to recognise is that the working dass is already divided, by gender as well as colour. Karist oppression experienced by black workers and reflected in the last of eepresentation of black people in labour movement strummes, the failure of the movement to take up the specific demands of black workers, simply reinforces thai division. Not only that but experience shows that when black people go into acton agamsd racism, without waiting for white support, the efferd is to strengthen not only the fight against racism, but the labour movement as a whole.
The problem, therefore, is not that black selt organisation splits the working class, but how to overcome the divisions whirl exist and on what basis to build unity.
Black self-organisation and positive action are needed to overcome the division in the class. Black workers need to meganise as black people to ensure that they have a powerful, independent veirs which can push white workers int, recognising racism and supperring the spe de demands of black people. Simila he copposting posine artion, white workers will be
International, No 3. March/April 1986
saying we want to build unity not on the basis of black people accepting their lack of' representation and their worse position in the labour market, but on the basis that special measures have to be taken to overcome centuries of racist oppression and exploitation. Indeed, support for black self-organisation is a litmus test of an understanding of racism and how to fight it. The role of the labour bureaucracy A factor behind the continuing hold of racism which cannot be ignored is the role of the leadership of the labour movement which accepted imperialism and national chauvinism in return for some of imperialism's super-profits being used for social reforms. The leaders of the labour movement not only acquiesced in the rise of racism, but often actively encouraged it.
'This is clear from an examination of the record of the Labour party over the last 20 years. Such an examination also exposes the scale of the problems faced by black activists and anti-racists in the labour movement. For the Labour party has, not only a racist past, but a racist present, and until black people and anti-racists really make their mark, a racist future.
The Labour party's duplicity on race has been starkly shown on immigration and nationality legislation. It opposed the 1962 Commonwealth In migration Act introduced by a Tory dioverment and then within one year of resuming power introduced a hill which restricted immigration further. In 1968, when it appeared that Asians in East Africa, who had been given British citizenship, might try to come to Britain, Labour passed an act which deprived them of their right to reside in this country.
Out of power, Labour again opposed the 1971 Immigration Act which gave white Commonwealth citizens rights to reside here, while simultancously removing that right from black people In March 1974 Labour returned to power, but didn't repcal the act; inderd it was under this government that the virginity testing scandal was exposed. They also introduced a Green Paper on Nationality which formed the basis of the Tories' Nationality Act. A virtual bi-partisan policy operated throught his period, just as it did on the question of northern Ireland. BLACK SECTIONS your voice in the Labour Party The Labour party passed laws which were to make life a misery for thousands of black people, laws which blamed black people for Britain's economic and social problems. black people for lack of jobs and inadequate housing diverts attention away from the real causes.
It is a step forward that the Labour party has agreed to include repeal of the 1971 Immigration Act and the 1981 Nationality Art in its manifesto. This would carry more weight, however, if the whole of the labour movement were to campaign now for the repeals and against deportation. The role of NALGO in backing the campaign against the deportation of Muhammed Idrish, which was successful, needs to be repeated with greater strength throughout the labour movement.
In addition, the Labour party's position of replacing these Acts with non-racist versions needs to be challenged. Any immigration law, given the racist nature of the British state and the continued existence of imperialism, would be racist in practice. Any inunigration law woukd encourage the idea that 'foreigners" caused unemployment and would be contrary to the democratic right of freedom of movement. International, No. 3. March/April 198t.
Anti-racists should campaign for an immediate amnesty for all 'illegal" immigrants and for an immediate opening of the borders to divided families. These demands could be conceded on day one of a Labour government.
Labour also needs to take action against the growth of racist attacks which have terrorised black people in their homes and on the streets. This means a package of policy measures including supporting black self-defence, funding groups which can give support to victims of racist attacks and which can pressurise the police to arrest and prosecute the racists, and evicting the perpetrators of racist attacks and harassment from council housing.
'Labour didn't repeal the 1971 Immigration Act; indeed it was under their government that the virginity testing scandal was exposed. They also
introduced a Green Paper on nationality
which formed the basis of the Tories' Nationality Act' The Labour party's record in other areas is equally awful
its failure to support anti-imperialist struggles and the acquiescence in a toughening of policing and the police protection of National Front members who marched through areas where black people lived. It was under a Labour government thai Southall was held under siege by the police while the NF marched, leading to the murder of Blair Peach by an SPG thug. The notorious Sus law, used to criminalise Afro-Caribbean youth who were arrested under it because a police officer suspected they might be about to commit an offence, was only repealed after the Tories won the 1979 clection. Given such a record it is a wonder that the vast majority of black people in Britain still vote
An immediate task for Labour is to build support for the youths (black and white) arrested in and after the rebellions and to combine this with an implacable campaign to stop the Public ()rder Bill and the tooling-up of the police with repressive equipment. The importance of this for the labour movement's own future has already been argued at the start of
In addition, Labour should campaign around the motions passed at the last two Labour party conferences and include a commitment disband the Special Patrol Group in its manifesto, disarm the police, repcal the Police Act (and the Public Order Act if it is passed) and take measures to reduce the repressive powers of the police.
A key demand that needs to be taken up is for police accountability. Marxists in the labour movement have been slow off the mark on this question, leaving all the initiative to left reformists and cither mouthing the same phrases or dismissing the demand as one which will create the illusion that the police can be reformed. We should argue that this position is wrong and police accountability can be a transitional demand, because of its objective and subjective dynamic. Objectively accountability could reduce police powers of repression and would be in contradiction with the prime role of the police force in capitalist society as a force which preserves social order for capital. Imagine the difficulties which would have been faced in the miners' strike if the police had needed permission for their activities from a host of elected police authorities.
Subjertivrly, the demand is a popular one (in a London Werkend T poll following the youth rebellions, a majority of adults, black and white, said they wanted to see the Metropolitan Police made accountable to an elected body) which raises questions about the class nature of the police force.
However, rather than simply repeating the slogans of the left reformists parrot-fashion, Marxists need to discuss how and
21 in what forn the slogan shoukd be raised. A couple of thoughts
on this: first an essential part of the demand must be that the police are made accountable for their day-to-day operational decisions and not just a bland accountability on broad policy
the demand for the police to be accountable to the committees of local councils is fraught with difficulties. What if right-wing Tories or racists sicize control of the council? They would use accountability to direct police repression at black communities. Unemployment Racism has been stengthened by the massive rise in unemployment in the mid-seventies, and in particular since 1979. This reinforces racism in (wo way». First, in times of crisis people look for explanations and solutions. Racism provides a simple explanation — 'the blacks are taking "our", - which fits in very cosily with existing racist ideas. Secondly capitalism is characterised by competition between all sellers of commodities, including those selling labour power. White workers compete with black workers (and men with women) for the diminishing number of jobs and for better jobs amongst these diminished numbers. The more desperate the competition the greater the tendency for white workers to view black workers with antagonism. The importance of a socialist economic policy for combatting racism cannot be stressed too much. One only has to look at the French experience where the failure of the Socialist government has allowed a tremendous growth of Le Pen's openly fascist party.
In Britain following the success of the Anti-Nazi League and the capturing of the overtly racist vote by Thatcher, fascist organisations have fragmented and turned away from open political activity towards semi-clandestine terror attacks on black people. However, if a Labour government did return to power and once more, failed to deliver the goods, it would create the basis for the rapid growth of fascist groups.
Labour also has to fight for an extensive programme of positive action to aleviate the discrimination which exists in employment, housing, health, education and so on. Without
Faction these disadvantages cannot be removed. However positive action by itself is not enough, particularly at a time of economic recession. The removal of racial discrimination requires an expansionist plan to remove the unemployment in the lifetime of a Labour government. 'One Million Jobs a Ycar' is as necessary for black workers as it is for white workers. Labour's current economic programme is simply not enough. Reducing unemployment by half a million or one million is meaningless for the black youth in Handsworth, Brixton and the inner cities. They know that given the level of discrimination, there will not be any jobs for them in that 1 million. Black self-organisation in the labour movement The explosive growth of the Labour party Black Sections has prompted a big debate among black activists. This article argues strongly in their favour, but before examining the arguments, (wo points need to be made.
First, the black community in Britain is overwhelmingly proletarian, much more so than Britains white population. In addition, a larger proportion of black workers are unionised than white workers and a huge majority of them vote Labour. (If they don't vote Labour they generally don't vote). Given the history of autonomous black existance, it was therefore only a matter of time before black workers began to challenge the labour movement's racism from inside the movement and when this happened it would have a mass impact. The growth of the Bennite left and the battle for democracy in the Labour party acted as a catalyst in this process.
Secondly, the Black Sections movement in its short life has been astonishingly successful in forcing the labour movement to discuss the question of race and in raising the isue of the need for autonomous black organisation in front of a mass audience. They have created the climate which has ensured that three black candidates have been selected in safe Labour seats to date, and a small number of marginal seats. Following the impact of the excellent stand taken by Bernie Grant, leader of Haringey 22 council, on the arrests at Broadwater Fram it can hardly be
argued that representation is irrelevant.
Many black activists still react in horror to the idea of Black Sections because of the racist history of the labour movement and the fear of 'careerists'. However the movement's racism is a challenge not an immoveable obstacle
Black people cannot succeed in the fight against racism on their own. As four and a half per cent of the population in Britain they need to win allies, and in particular they need to win the labour movement as an ally. (At the same time, as already argued, the labour movement needs to fight racism and keep black people as allies). 'This alliance can ony be forged by black people organising autonomously and taking action without waiting for permission from the labour bureaucracy. It can only be forged by challenging racism in the labour movement and this cannot be done just by organising outside the labour movement. The challenge has to be taken into the trade unions and into the Labour party. Links have to be forged with workers in struggle as was done in many cases during the miners' strike. Particular effort has to be put into building black caucuses and support for Black Sections in the trade unions, given their economic strength and political weight in the Labour party.
The success in drawing white workers into struggles against racism in anti-deportation campaigns, defence campaigns, the recent strike in Islington over deployment of racist workers, the strikes in East London schools — all prove that it is possible to make alliances inside the labour movement.
Black Sections are also important because of their role in building a broader alliance of black people. A problem which repeatedly confronts black socialists is how to expand support beyond the activist base of defence campaigns, anti-deportation campaigns and so on. Black Sections provide a national framework for uniting black people not just around a case or issue but around racism in all its manifestations. In particular at a time when the state has put resources into stressing 'ethnicity', Black Sections have forced the quesion of black unity back onto the political agenda. Black Careerism? The fear of black careerists among black activists is a genuine one, but is used by many white people to justify failure to support any struggles against racism. This careerism is related to the 'race relations industry', used by the state to buy off black activists. However it is necessary to examine the Black Sections movement more concretely. The bulk of Black Section activists represent a new layer of black people in the Labour party who are prepared to challenge racism in the party rather than accept the cosy, corrupt relationship between so-called 'community leaders' and the Labour right which has been the main feature of black involvement in the party in the past. Many Black Section activists have been involved in black struggles in the past
In addition, while it is true that one of the initial motivations behind the Black Sections movement was the frustration of some black Labour party members, whose careers were blocked by Labour's racism, when these people organised black people against it, then it was essential for black socialists to unite with them in this struggle attempting to broaden it out to take on the whole of Labour's racism. Too often the potential for building broad, united campaigns against racism has been squandered.
It would be a mistake for black socialists to solely focus on self-organisation in the labour movement. This would carry the danger of being absorbed and contained in a fight for a few positions in the labour movement. A strategy for black liberation
also rely on the long and rich history of black self-organisation in campaigns, self-help groups and so on. This organisation strengthens the will and ability of black people to resist racism and also puts pressure on the labour movement and others to support the fight against racism.
An understanding of the importance of this needs to inform the approach of Black Section activists to organisations within the black communities. Whatever the views of these organisations towards them, Black Sections need to act as their voice in the labour movement and thus build up a network which hammers labour's racism from within and without.
International, No. 3, March/April 1986
you, twinkletoes
The Tories political project has offered youth 'no future'. Yet Labour has failed to inspire young people. DAVID SHEPHERD argues that to win back the support of youth, the labour movement must genuinely champion youth rights. As part of this process the left will have to ensure the LPYS is transformed into a mass campaigning organisation. IN FIGHTING FOR youth the labour movement is fighting for its future. The Thatcher Government has thrown an entire generation of young people onto the scrap-heap. Today over 25 per cent of 16-19 year olds are either jobless or on youth training schemes. The figure for those aged between 20 and 24 is just as bad. Schools and colleges have been deprived of resources to such an extent that the whole educational system is now in crisis. On some inner city estates, unemployment is the rule rather than the exception and the alarming increase in heroin addiction and solvent abuse among the young is testimony to the hopelessness and despair that Thatcher's policies have brought in their wake.
Black youth and young women have suffered doubly through racism and systematic police harassment (resulting in the summer rebellions of 1981 and 1985), and the sustained ideological offensive for 'Victorian family values' breeding attacks on reproductive and employment rights in particular.
In addition, the crisis has exacerbated the specific oppression of youth within the family. ¿conomic independence is the necessary foundation for young people's self-respect and autonomy. It is this they are being denied. Unemployment, low wages, and pitiful YTS allowances reinforce young people's economic and social dependence upon the family. Those youth who nevertheless decide to leave home find that the young, single person goes automatically to the bottom of the council housing list. For many, getting married or pregnant provides a 'solution' to this problem. For others, joining the ranks of the young homeless is the only alternative to a family situation which has become unbearable. Even those able to leave home through getting a place at a polytechnic or university find that the Government assumes they are still their parents' "responsibility' and expects sizeable parental contributions towards grants, even from those on average or low incomes.
The desperate situation faced by youth today is not the result of an uncaring Government blindly persuing nonsensical monetarist dogmas. Neither should the labour movement fight this situation purely out of altruism or compassion for the harddone-by younger generation. No. The attack on youth has been a rentral feature of the International, No. 3, March/April 1986
Tory policy for youth: a 'short sharp shock' at Kirklevington Grange detention centre in Yorkshire. Tories hammer youth And that means Tory offensive against the labour movement since 1979. The disproportionately high levels of youth unemployment are a by-product of the Tory economic offensive against the organis- ed labour movement. Clearly, if there is a general decline in the number of jobs created, youth looking for a first job will be hardest hit by unemployment. However, it is the Tories" response to youth unemployment
Cario; Augusto Guarita/Reflex which reveals their strategy.
The Youth Training Scheme is an attempt by an increasingly unpopular government to improve the unemployment statistics and present an image of concerned action for Britain's young people. Anyone seeing the advertisements showing happy school leavers signing up for the soon-to-beintroduced two year schemes will have no doubt that this is true. But it is only part of a 23
story which has huge implication, for the working class movement.
YTS is in fact at the very centre of the Tory offensive against the labour movement. Hundreds of thousands of youth are being 'trained' to work for a pittance in conditions where in the overwhelming majority of cases they have little Or contact with the organised labour movement. We are witnessing the attempted creation of a generation of workers whose expectations i terms of wages and conditions of work arc whose attitudes towards trace union and! workplace organisation are qualitan elt ditferent from those ef previous generagons Mass unemployment and fronta! aracks on the trade unions lo brow beat today s workers into giving up hard won conditons and accepring falling real wages is i start. next tomorrow's workers are trained to fit into this situation without any fuss. Indeed. it's far casier to educate young school leavers in the new spirit of industrial slavery than it is to take away hard-won trade anion rights and relatively high expectations about wages and conditions of work from older workers
In the long term, if this strategy were to be
"The attack on youth has been a central feature of the Tory offensive against
the labour movement since
1979' successfully implemented a young industrial 'ifth column could be created wither the working class whose existens would aid hugely attempts to inflict decisive blows on the organised labour movement. 'This would not of course be a conscious, organised fifth column in the sense in which the KETPU is today. but it could be more dangerous as it would consist of the best part of an entre generation of the working cass racher than one or two organised sections.
It is not only the VT'S project that could have disastrous consequences for the labour movenient for mass youth employgien itself is simlarly dangerous. One of the el fects of mass youth unemploy us in the removal of any contad with de organised labour movement and radicalist is certamil! dio: the decessary response of you in this predicament. The 1983 Cieneral Retor irsotts demonstrate quie ileanly 1:1t aparly, desponden: and wheread tho any marrest in polites am rapid!! responses to the desperate sonation ed tonh
Mor young voters (in the 1821 age group) voted SEP/Liberal rod Tor than cord
Labout and the majority of cord due l le he poling at all. This was not me! he desalt of Labour's inadequare aRE
the Falklands teeter'
probably the grop l worst:
by this wave it chandist
was a reflection of the shena! g
tion abandoned by
political system associated a!!!
What ed the oppostag 24 tor the left! First. d rate tie:
Unemployment in Barnsley the amorate response of youth to the effects of Thatcher's austerity policies a is not ruled out. Young people are a social group with feast to lose and most to gain from the overthrow of capitalism and the building of serialism. In every major trade union and social struggle since the Tories came to power young people have bern prominent and oiled contral. Two examples should suffier the mass actions for disarmament have bert overwhelmingly vouthfil in composiden, and voung people have been in the toretront of this movement; and in the year long miners' strike, it was the young miners who it: inauy areas were the militant bankbon of the stride — the front line prchers and the most dynamic class fighters, do ten epeedly referred to by Scargill and oiner leaders of the NUM.
The second area of opportunity for the labour movement lies in the nature of youth radicalisation. Youth are less hampered by memories of yesterday's defeats, and are impatient with bureaucratic structures and procedures. Whether in a trade union struggle or a mass movement, or indeed in a political party, youth tend to be among the most militant and radical forces involved. They are more open than older generations to looking at radical solutions to particular problems at the level of society as a whole. Whereas the labour bureaucrats have comfortable careers, limited horizors and the best part of a lifetime of pragmatism and opportunism behind them, youth tend to have no vested interest in maintaining the bureaucratic status quo. In attempts to transform the unions and Labour party into organisations that really fight for the working class youth will be to the fore.
It is partly the threat youth pose to the labour burcaucracy which accounts for the labour movement's pitiful response to the Tory attacks on youth since 1979. This is illustrated in the trade union response to the YTS and youth unemployment and the Labour Party's policies for youth and approach towards winning the youth vote. In the unions, on the key issues of fighting for full trade union rights and rates of pay for trainees, ensuring that trainees are given i decent training rather than being used as chcap labour and of guaranteeing i job at the end of the scheme, the majority of trade union leaderships hor fallen down. They have collaborated in administering the schemes on the government's terms and in
International, No. 3, March/April 1986
the Government's framework. This is a
criminal betrayal of both a gencration of
working class youth and the entire labour
movement.
In line with this, the Labour Party's of-
ficial 'Charter for Young People' is probably
the least inspiring document on any topic
produced by the Labour Party for many
years. The only concrete policy advanced in
relation to YTS is the magnificent offer of
£10 extra per week for trainees! This is com-
bined with vague promises of improving the
schemes. In effect, if a Labour Government
was clected and operated on this basis, what
we would see would be a continuation of the
attack on youth and on the labour movement
that YTS currently represents. On every
other area of policy relevant to young peo-
ple, the "Charter' offers only vague promises of 'improved' this and better' that. This is the case in relation to education, housing, anti-racism, women's rights, lesbian and gay rights and disarmament. It is certainly not an adequate basis for reversing the disasterously low Labour vote by youth in 1983.
Socialists should welcome the involvement of personalities such as Paul Weller and Billy Bragg in 'Red Wedge', designed to interest roung people in politics and encourage their involvernent. The Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism in the late seventies emonstrated the role that popular music an play in the radicalisation and politicisaion of youth. But there should be no illuions about the intentions of the Labour cadership. Their aim is to increase Labour's opularity among youth by means of gimternational, No. 3, March/April 1986
micks and trendy public relations - at the
expense of advancing positive policies for
youth. Their treatment of the Labour Party
Young Socialists, Labour's youth wing, is
evidence of this.
Neil Kinnock, since his election as Party
leader, in alliance with his acolytes in the
leadership of the National Organisation of
Labour Students (NOLS), has launched a
serious offensive against the LPYS. Recently
£5000 was lopped off the LPYS annual
budget, leaving it with 18000 per annum,
and given instead to NOLS. Its paper,
Socialist Youth, and its full time worker, An-
dy Bevan, may well soon be chopped. More
than anything else this reveals the Labour
leadership's attitude towards youth. Those
who slavishly support the leadership are
amply rewarded, those who show any sign of
independence and radicalism are stamped
In these circumstances it is hardly surpris-
ing that the LPYS has declined in size and
influence over the past year. At last year's
national conference there were sixty less
branches represented, last year's sumer
camp was one third smaller and this year's
'Neil Kinnock has
launched a serious offensive
against the LPYS in alliance with NOLS' regional conferences have been small and singularly uninspiring. While it is obvioush difficult to build the LPYS in conditions where it is under continuous attack from thr Party leadership, the LPYS leadership itali must bear some responsibility for the current condition of Labour's youth organisation le has sought to build the LPYS on the see tarian and propagandist politics of Militan! It has refused to engage with the left in the Party, going so far as to condemn potential alles such as the Black Sections, voting against them along with the right wing. In defending and building the LYS the Mailant is in many ways its own worst enemy.
So how can the labour movement defend itself from the dangers posed by the Tory 1. tacks on youth? First, the labour movement peoples' rights, acting now to defend poung become the champion young people and developing policies for the uxe Labour government to decisively reverse dr current dire situation faced by vouth. Moves in this direction will be resisted by the current trade union and Labour leadership. » the left should organise to fight for you as an inseparable part of a fight for a Labour Government committed to socialist policies.
Secondly, if the labour movement is 1o fight against Tory attacks on vouth, then ir will be youth who are at the forefront of that fight. While the unionization of trainers and other young workers is essential in this regard, the building of a mass campaigning youth wing of Labour is also. The school students strike last May, called by the LPY and the Youth Trade Union Rights d-onpaign, shows what can be achieved. Tens of
YU TAUCA
" BRAG RAT CAL £30 or Week Let all school students aer 16 RED WEDGE thousands of vouth took to the strects to protest Tory plans to make WIS compulsory by stopping benefits to school leavers not on schemes. The Government backed down. I stortunatels, the Ll'YS leadership has fail.!!o build on the success of that mobilisadon. Areitedly. it was hampered in its attimpt to do this be ETE ROs cjection from the Debo Partsoftices at Walworth Road be the Labour leadership. By turning outward towards thoss vouth who are radicalising ancied she ampard of the crisis and by linking up with obe left in the fight for octals policies the Ills could begin co help win back the vouth sote for Labour.
All ihis might sound like a tall order. No donbe it wall be difficult to achieve. But the seriousness of the stakes involved makes ar mempt to do so a priority. 25