enterprise as a major element in the economy. Neil Kinnock and the TUC leaders are not the only ones to have effectively given up on socialism and embraced the So the answer to the Polish riddle is much less complicated than it may first appear: Polish workers hate the Polish state because it is nor a genuine workers' state which they control, but something qualitatively different; a grotesque, bureaucratised deformation - a parody - of a workers' state. Many of them see Thatcher as a figure The chief counter-revolutionary force in Poland today is not the gle, and must be the driving force for any socialist perspective - hut the state bureaucracy, which keeps the working class in chains and concessions to encourage major capitalist firms to set up new bust- capitalism - and therefore opposing or restricting revolutionary technology to boost the flagging soviet economy: that's why Gor- bachev is also removing the top limit on the size of capitalist invest- Gorbachev's glasnost, similar economic moves are taking place else- working class — which has shown its strength in struggle after strug of freedom primarily because they see Jaruzelski as an oppressor. counter-revolutionary ning the system efficiently or democratically. stoking up new crises for the future. Spot the "market" Instead! and baton charges - is not one which engenders tender affection. IT WAS NOT a pretty sight: thousands of militant Polish workers giving enthuslastic applause to Margaret Thatcher in Gdansk. How Of course, the television coverage was selective. It did not high- light the leaflets distributed by left wing Solidarnose activists oppos ing the Thatcher visit and Lech Walesa for inviting her. It did not headline the Solidarnosc steering committee statement denouncing the sacking of GCHQ trade unionists. And it downplayed the extent to which Polish militants were simply using the Thatcher visit as a pretext for their own mobilisation, especially siace the Lenin shipyard faces closure. But the applause was definitely there, and We must remember that Solidarnose exists - despite brutal repres- sion - because In Poland the official trade unions are simply organs of management and state control over the workers. More than forty years of's stalinist pollee state pumping out "communist propagan- repression of independent political currents, have totally disorien- shortages and bureaucratic privilege and corruption upheld by tanks Polish workers' well-founded mistrust of all official pronouncements and their lack of independent information leaves them vulnerable to the politics of the crude populist right like batcher, The confusion is compounded by the role of the catholic church, which has been carcfully nurtured by the Polish bureaucracy as a useful diversion There is no basis for the British left to look scornfully on the Polish events. The soft line on stalinism which led to the timid refusal of many would-be socialists to support the Solidarnose struggles in 1980-81, or mobilise to oppose General Jaruzelski's military crack- shouted hypocritical support: how should we expect Polish workers Ifany of these same timid socialists now claim they were right all along, and that the welcome for Thatcher is 'proof" that Solidarnose should ask themselves the difficult question: why did Jaruzelski in- vite her to Poland in the first place? Why is it Jaruzelski who most The fact is that despite its nationalised economy, far from having developed as a 'socialist' state, Poland is reaping the bitter harvest of decades of bureaucratic misrule. The Warsaw bureaucracy, like those in most of castern Europe, Is composed of 'communists" who have never led or supported a revolution, ruling countries where the Their experience of life in the "socialist camp' - of queues, down, created the bizarre and baffling spectacle of Tony Benn and Arthur Scargill opposing strikers while Thatcher and Reagan Is nothing but a counter-revolutionary church conspiracy, they vocally praises Thatcher's "free market" approach, and his industry minister who praises her hard line against the miners' strike? da and obligatory bureaucratic 'marxism', together tafed many sections of Polish workers. represents a real problem. could they be so wrong? to understand that? from class struggle.
The solution - in Poland and other stalinist-ruled states - must be healthy opposition to burcaucratic power and privilege. This means clear, internationalist and proletarian programme for the revolu- tionary overthrow of the bureaucracles and the establishment of a class struggle solution, building on the workers" instinctive and developing a new leadership in the Solidarnose current based on a genuine working class power as a foundation for workers' manage- ment of the economy and solidarity with revolutionary struggles. La- terestingly, It is on the kind of forces ignored by the western press - the left of Solidarnosc, including the Polish Socialist Party, that such Paged a new leadership can begin to be built. working class has never (as it did in the 1917 Russian Revolution) The expropriation of the old cast European capitalists in the years curred, the political base of the bureaucracy in each country remains the suppression of any independent movement of the working class; Instead, the bureaucracy itself has been managing the creaking after 1944 was carried out from above by a powerful, bureaucratised state machine, under the watchful eves and guns of Stalin's Red Army. Though the direct subordination to the Kremlin has gradual- ly been relaxed, and certain rivalries and differentiations have oc- this means steadfast opposition to any genuine workers" control. SOCIALISTOUTLOOKno11December1988/January1989 held power in its own hands.
FERRIES HELP US TO MAKE THE SAFER PO STRIE COUP DEAL THE 1988 SUPPORT NEEC YOU FEEL SAFER TO HELP ELP US PLEASE stay in the country. It will be a organised successful campaignsto criminal offence to he an 'overstayer Such people will have no altemative but to seek With the deportation of around 50 people every week from Britain trade unions are increasingly being forcedto take up the issue. The Na- tional and Local Govemment Of- Ficers Association (NALGO) has protect its members from deporta- tion. The Manchester branch of Last chance for Viraj UP D Mendis VIRAJ MENDIS has become a symbol in the fight against the cension in Hulme, Manchester immigration laws. That is why the Home Office wants to deport him. For the last two ycars Viraj has been in sanctuary in the Church of As- to avoid being deported to Sri Lanka. The Viraj Meudis Defence Campaign has be- come the best known anti- deportation campaign in the
Afternoon workshops, on the Linking up the struggles Women's support groups: key to P&O battle THE CONTINUING P&O HELE NALGO (with 9,000 members) al labour movement conference on immigration and nationality in early 1989. Such a conference can become an important step forward in involving the the whole labour movement in the defence of Black people against racist and sexist im- Mendis' right to stay is the number one priority at the moment. But a lahour movement conference on immigration and nationality can become a step forward for all anti- Finn Jensen have decided to organise a nation- campaign for Viraj migration and nationality laws. deportation campaigns. country. But the Home Office press) are determined to go despite widespead fears for his Viraj Mendis in the country have now been exhausted. The Home Office has made it clear that as soon as the House of Lords tums down a petition for an appeal the police will be ordered to arrest and imum pressure through letters to (backed by sections of the ahead with the deportation All legal procedures to keep deport him. Thas could happen any day now. All efforts should there- fore be made to build up the max- safety in Sri Lanka.
NHS, local govemment, GCHQ. women's struggles and building support groups, took forward the themes from the moming and produced positive suggestions for The Solidarity Network itself was launched in autumn 1987 lol- Silentnight strikers who were sold cut by the leadership of the Fumi- ture Trades Union (FTAT), and conditions and rates of pay. They lowing a request from the left isolated in their fight for union with miners, printworkers, the building support for strugeles lo- cally and keeping the national had already made their own links link-up growing. seafarers'strike was the topic conference a moving account of the dispute and the need for of the major speaker at the second Solidarity Network conference in Leeds last month. Becky Sawbridge from Dover gave the 120-strong some of the striking seafarers have Tos their homes because they have refused to give up or be bought off. The media and the official trade union leaderships are silent about the P&O strike, hoping we will just As with the miners and others, forget that it is still going on. continuing support. Contact: Viraj Mendis Defence Campaign, North Hulme Centre, Jackson Cres- cent, Hulme, Manchester Manchester Branch Office, Jacksons Row, Manchester NALGO MI5 SAL, 2061-234 3168. Ist floor, Elliot House, 3 A WELL-FRUMDED PGAR DE PLASACATION M2 5NJ. 22061-834 6564 IN HOUR. COUNTRY IS NOT GAGUCH Wood, deporting Viraj Mendis it will be a sanctuary more difficult as a last called overstayers' will no longer ROR BUTICAL PAFVORES WID WANT D SAY the pross and petitions and delega- If the Home Office succeed in setback for all other anti-deporta- tion campaigns. It will make resort to avoid deportation. With the now immigration law, so- sionate grounds for the right to be able to appeal on compas- THE GUNNE COURT TIMEND TIS EULES Political Asylum tions to the Home Office. IN TIG US.
Hangers striker, Women Against The feeling after the wave of not intend to substitute itself for trade union bureaucracy, It is a work should be kept going to help organise support for future strikes. support structure for workers and Pit Closures and many other dis- disputes in 1986-7 was that a nel- The Solidarity Network does mass action or to become an alter- native to fighting the frustrating ing them link up, spreading infor- giving advice on for communities in struggle, help- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 December 1988/January 1989 Other key contributions to the conference came from postal workers, striking nurses, and a Bradford councillor. The common theme throughout the day was the lack of any will by the trade union and Labour party leaderships for a In Bradford, where working creased school meal charges, and a 'mock election" - in the ward class people face massive cuts, In- trict Labour Party strategy is tocall loss of hasic services - and coun cil workers face the sack - the Dis they lost in the real election! VOUR DICTATOR A NOTE FREA WHAT KIND OF EMPENCE WOULD BE ENOUGH? Page 2
take effective action is only half'a Similarly, acceptance of a com- argument to the Tories. If there in government of the day" to decide what it is at any one time. Of course, challenging the idea of such a common interest also means questioning the need for lo he cffective and hit the employers, The right to union membership without the right to mon national interest concedes the such a common interest then it makes sense for the elected GCHQ - TUC bottles out operations at GCHQ as 'proof of appeals to British and European courts and the International In choosing to make their main focuscounteringthe courtrooms rather than mobilising for action, the TUC and CCSU (Council of Civil Service Unions) have conceded large parts of the They have quoted Tory state- ments on how industrial action by civil servants never disrupted government's arguments in Labour Organisation. Tories' argument. UPDA jobs of trade union members at GCHQ contrast the timidity of Thourands of trade union mem- here took strike action on Novem- civil servants, and demonstrations developments around the light to defend the the TUC leadership and the willingness of union members ber 7th, by no mcans all of them and rallies look place in many major towns, often organised inde- pendently of the TUC. to take action. The Network is also attempting often regard trade union struggles The Network is not a talking shop: it consists of activists who have been strikore themacives or community organisations (such as things strikers have learned during their disputes - such as informa tion on benefits, the law, and or- ganising demonstrations, rallies to link up with the Labour left, who as secondary to the crisis within the Labour party. It has jointly or- ganised rallies and meetings with involved in support groups or tenants' groups or nursery cam- the Chesterfield movement.
spy-centres like GCHO Chelten- ham and arguing for alterative TUC and CCSU pussyfooting has considerably weakened the Fight to defend trade union rights, but it doesn'tmean the fight is lost. The response to even the limited call on November 7th shows the possibilities. Union activists have to step up support for the further actions called by the CCSU and TUC, but also demand they go beyond their present policy to call- ing all-out action, the only way to stop the Tories taking away more employment. how unnecessary the ban is and have argued that there is no con- tradiction between TU member- ship and 'defence of the national interest", that trade unionists are as patriotic as the ruling class (or Despite winning the support of all opposition parties to a commil- ment to restore trade union rights at GCHQ, all of this has (predict- ahly) not prevented the govem- ment moving ahead with its policy, sacking union members, or union membership dwindling to a If union membership means
small hard core. For its part, the TUC called on union members to do no more on "GCHQ Day' than tum up in their breaks to the rallies. Many TUC unions circulated nothing more than this appeal, though the civil service unions balloted their mem- bers and NALGO local govem- ment conference voted for a one- Ever since the ban on union membership was announced in January 1984 (to be enforced from March) the TUC and civil service union leaderships have avoided the scale of fight needed to force the government to back down, paigns). It produces a regular hul- Ictin giving information about cur- rent struggles, and is an open, democratic and accountable or- ganisation that does not push any one organisation's political line. A new steering committee was elected at the conference, and will meet regularly (all meetings are open); an editorial group was also electedto supervise the production The next year will provide us with plenty of opportunities for ac- tion. Local authorities - whether Tory or Labour - are now making cuts that hit the poorest and most vulnerable, and there is a need to of the bulletin.
and more of our democratic rights. and €8.50 the next: it falls far mitted three months ago, for an eight percent (E15) per woek in- The wording on the ballot paper held out no possibility of short of the unions' claim, sub- Strange line-up in Austin Rover crease in a one-ycar deal, pay sell-out anything, then ultimately it means taking industrial action, and if such action is to achieve anything it has spectacie of the deal being op- Longbridge delegation, who are More surprising still was the posed by the regular right wing, including every representative from Cowley, among them Ivor strongly influenced by Adams. AUSTIN Rover's 23.000 hourly paid workers have voted by a two to one majority to accept a two-year deal recently offered by manage- ment and promoted by a curious alliance of the Com- despite fine speeches about preferred to hecome enmeshed in democratic rights. They have and services. Bosscs are cutting ford, Brent and Hackney, where poople are organising to fight for The Tories are planning even more anti-union mcasures, while privatisation of local govemment departments will decimate jobs There are battles in the NHS: battles by council tenants against landlords, and the perennial fight link campaigns in areas like Brad- their workforce, speeding up production lines and closing fac- tories (Austin Rover. British compulsory transfer to private johs and services.
further negotiations il the offer were rejected, saying that: "The only alterative is to take in- dustrial action, and therefom if the deal is not accepted there will be an immediate ballot fur sinke However wages were not the only thing at stake in this pay review. Austin Rover stands on the brink of massive redondan- cies and the threat of closure of its Cowley body and assembly com- plex. A successful campaign on the wage review could have radicalised the membership for Alan Thornett action to defend jobs as well. Ce eye opponent or cone The settlement represents a shift allowances. In carh tems it is worth £7.50 for the first year Braggins, convenor of the Secretary Ron Todd on the In selling the deal to the mem- bership, both the management and those (including the Morning Star) who supported it exag- gerated the size of the offer by in- cluding the shift allowances in four percent incrcase on basic rates plus sizable increases in TGWU executive. proposed by the Electricions' Management put £500 behind the At the end of the negotiations, supported by Jack Adams, the ber of the Communist Party, He bar for their drinks in the evening. munist Party and the hard-line The negotiations and the agreement at the end of them were extraordinary. The JNC were taken to a plush residential conference centre for three days. acceptance of the offer was (EETPU) representative, and TGWU national officer, a mem- was backed on this by the SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 December 1988/January 1989 bulletin or more details of local Andrea Campbell more pressure to choose between contacts, write to the Secretary, of workers against victimisations Women face even low paid, low status part time jobs or staying at home on poverty level benefits caring for children or The Solidarity Network cannot sues: but it can begin to support those who are fighting, and make For affiliation, copier of the Andrea Campbell, 6. Cherisey handicapped, sick or elderly rela- promise to win on all of these is- House, Arnold Circus, London E2. the links between the campaigns,
cumstances - by saying: 'the best way to ensure there is no denial of justice is to make such practices The media han has similarly been implemented through the wholly undemocratic structures of speak - or stay Thatcher's Britain No right to official and legal': silent! WITH THE announcement of a media ban on the expression of republican views and the removal of the historic right to silence, it is clear that the Thatcher goverment has be- AT E Govan by-election: Gillespie looks smug - before the Govan result PHOTO: Piers Cavendish/Reflex
the British state. Self-censorship was already widespread in the media, with dovens of program- mes on Ireland altered or withdrawn since the early 1970s. The ban itself is being descrihed by TV and radio newsreaders an applying to Northern Irish or ganisations linked to temorism': in fact the han is a broad political sweep aimed at clamping down on the government's handling of the cluded the late Miriam James of the growth of any public debate on Within weeks, those barined in come one of the most repres- Coming in the wake of other developments in recent ycars — the total erosion of trade union rights, kill policien and the frame-up of the bann on the 'promotion ofles bian and gay sexuality, shoot-to black and Irish prisoners (causing Amnesty International to affack British justice tiree times in the The right to silence in an ancient abolition of the Star Chamber in past year) there is an urgent need for a broad political movement un right than can be dated back to the defence of democratic nights. sive this century. which underlay Labour's spec- Lacular defeat. The problem is cer- tainly not that Govan's over- whelmingly working class electorate failed to understand the party's policies. Rather it is those policies themselves - not least of refusing to organise any serious resistance to the poll tax - which have been tested and found want- Two months ago, the Scottish Labour party held a rocall con- a warning to Kinnock AS THE Labour party in Scot- land hegins to take stock of the party's by-clection defeat in Govan, all the signs are that the result has only served to deepen the divisions over party strategy which bave been developed since last year's Jim Sillar's victory, which the Scoltish National Party has hailed as a "sea-change in Scottish general election,
the Labour Conmittee on Ireland. POI or oppose the governent on: Bernadette McAliskey, a radio Four, featuring Enrol Smalley (one: of their relatives) and Sinn Fein councilor Dodie McGuiness on the closure of a Derry matemity programme about the Guildford unit. Suppression of poblic sup port for the IRA is thus a very This will make official a double standard in electoral politics - in which different rights are acconded to voters, representatives and par- tics according to whetherthey sup key issues. Today it in Ireland. small part of the ban's aim. 1641. Under the star chamber, and the Europcan inquisitorial judicial systems, the accused were forced through the use of torture to in- development of rules preventing those accused from heing com- pelled to appear as witnesses in their own cases, and barring the versely on the cxercise of this right - hecame basic elements of any syslem in which there is a presumption of innocence and the onus is on the prosecution to prove themselves. The prosecution from commenting ad presumably by somcone with a strong sense of irony - in Govan ference to decide the party's at- Litude to the poll lax. The con- town hall. Arthe conference, in the face of strong opposition from the inned the strategy of the dented shield. Surrender to the Tories that the Govan by-election was now; hope for a Labour govern- It is Little exaggeration to say lost two mooths ago in Govan town hall, and the explanations which concentrate on the personal left, the party leadership real- was organised Politics, was indeed impressive, if sadly predictable, achievement for labour majority of 19,000, Sillars 24,000 at the general cloction to the nationalists. Overturing a increased the SNP share of the vote to forty-eight per cent. Labour's vote slumped from profile campaign, flooding the constituency with activists. They emphasised opposition to the Poll Tax and spport for a campaign of non-payment, while pouring scor on the ineffectual conduct of The SNP mounted a high Labour's 'feeble fifty' MPs. just over 11,000,
Tomorrow it may be extend to these advocating defiance of the Poll Tax, Section 28, or trade ther measures on the cards include on the word of an RUC officer, and the introduction of an oath against The widespread opposition to liberties will most certainly not be the last: it is well known that fur- membership to be obtained solely the measures is very positive. Dexpite its apparent strength, the The current attacks on civil enabling convections for IRA goverment is taking a big risk. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 Decerber 1988/January 1989 violence for electoral candidates, Although the current proposals do not appear to affect the defendant's right not be a witness. in court, the abolition of the pre- trial right to silence 1s in many vunerable - that prisoners are most in custody - often denied access to Lawyers, questioned for lengthy fessions. The government has Totienham Three, Guildford Four, ways more dangerous. It is while periods, denied sleep, isolated and exposed to pressure to make con- responded to the concern over the and the Birmingham Six cases-all 'confessions* under such cir- calibre of the candidates or the technical details of the campaign simply obscure an basic fact of Scottish political life. As the prospect of a Kinnock led Labour believe, and in the absence of a serious fight, the SN' svision - of recedes into political make- an independent Scotland within the EEC - will continue to gain by-election should stand hoth as a challenge and a warning to the government in Westminster ground, In this respect, the Govan By contrast, Labour's cam- paign generated Little enthusiasm. The candidate, Bob Gillespic's stance on the poll tax - personal non-payment, combined with a refusal to call on others to do Likewise - epitomised the timidity In response to the defeat, the tish organiser, Jimmy Allison has already ventured to suggest that and incoherence of Labour's offi- party leader has called for an en- the Govan electorate enquiry is un- likely to identify the real factors quiry into why Lahour Tost. Scot-
in Washington, Gorbachev is plan- ning an initiative on the Middle East, and desperately needs for- mulations that are acceptable to hangers in the most difficult ses- sions, Soviet diplomats worked tirelessly in the corridors and final- needed from the PLO before they begin to unfold their new game- tion of independence was a major boost in as much as it strengthens the authority of the united leader- ship of the uprising. However. the recognition of the state of Israel In fact, far from 'electrifying precedented gesture. Aralal has. for many years now, jumped at "talking' to the PLO. In spooch the USA. Despite some cliff- ly achieved the flexibility they For the intifadah, the declara- every opportunity to meet whatever conditions US im- perialism has impored before after speech he has proposed direct, explicit, de facto recogni- tion of the zionist statc. But to im- pose this position, as he did in Al- It is here that Soviet diplomacy Habash's Popular Front and some sections of Fatah battled Nor did they offer a credible Arafat's victory at the Palestine National Council is an important step for Gorbachev's plans for peace in the Middle East. But while questions on the Arab side are moving towards some resolu- tion, the Israeli election quagmire The worst possible scenario for Gorbachev would be the formation the world', as the US media sug gested, the declaration is not an un giers, on all the other PLO George throughout, but in vain. They could not walk out for fear of jeop ardising the unity of the intifadah can only be a serious sctback. factions, was no mean fcat. remains still to be settled. filted the balance. irategic altemative. plan. Home Secretary Douglas Hurd: using gag and thumbscrews Palestine 'parliament' adopts m + Moscow line Carlos PHOTO the absence of cross-party or sive measures have been taken in ready, despite the official Labour opposition to the measures, "civil This is the first time such repres Piers Mostyn public consensus. Operating out- side of such a consensus poses real dangers for wider British govern- ment on "law and order' and But there is also a pornbility that measures will succeed Al- proposing altemative repressive measures instead. The framework The broadest possible cam- paign must he built in defence of hamc democratic rights: to defend silence in the courts and to break light the measures munt be taken. temment, Bloody Sunday and the Broadcasters must be en- the fight to get Britain out of for the discussion is already libertarians' such as Kevin Me- Namara have responded by the silence in the media. Every op portunity to challenge and high International campaigns are essen- tial as they were in response to in- couraged to challenge the han. Banned videos and republican speakers must be offered a plat- form everywhere. A campaign must be waged in the lahour move- ment against its leadership's ser- whether in Belfast. Govan, Tottenham, Winchester or Gibral- ter. Trish self-determination and Ireland has to become a central plank of the socialist agenda - or the British working class will be paying a bigger and bigger price in vility to the British rule of law"- moving to the right. the ycars to come. hunger strikes.
Jack Goldberg of a rightist coalition who will look Lo extreme solutions - expelling the Palestinains en masse from the likelihnod of a fourth Arab-Isracli war, and throw Soviet plans into This would increase the Page 5 Join the Labour Move- ment Campaign for Pales- Details: BM Box LMCP, London, WCIN 3XX tine leadership grounded in new forms of resistance: civil disobedicnee, a This the PLO factions could not ig- Apart from internal Palestinian considerations, there was also a wider, even global dimension to pressure pulled into line its direct the Palestine Communist Party - and neutralised the only pole of self-help network, and strikes. the debates, as the Soviet Union played a leading role in giving sup port to the pragmatism of PLO leader Yassir Arafat. Moscow allies - the Democratic Front and With an eye on the new regime opposition - the Popular Front. promising the legitimate rights of over how and whether to include recognition of Israel without com Unlike the old sterile debale in the 1970s over the concept of 'goverment in exile versus "provisional government', the PLO leaders could not afford the time to bicker for ever against the background of the intifadah, the historic uprising in the occupied terrilones which has entered its The mass struggle, having. resisted the mighty iron fist of the zionist state, has developed a powerful and united leadership-a SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 December 1988/January 1989 the Palestinian people. and a further eight weeks of National Council finally took AFTER three mouths of dis- cussions and consultations, vacillations, the 19th Palestine The undateral declaration of an independent Palestinian state, and rac were widely known even the finul political declaration ex- plicitly recognising the state of Is beforc the inaugural session However differences belween the main factions of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) still prevailed until the last minute place in Algiers.
A UP Glasnost under Soviet Union
pathetic speech asking to bo relieved of his duties, ing was over in less than 2 fully slow because tens of buzeaucrats nationwide, who are expected to put it reluctant to change their Second, the CC plenun glasnost propaganda. There was no dehule on Gorbachev's report, and, apart from Gromyko's there were no other speakers. The whole meet- revealed that progness on perestroika reformsis pain- thousands of lower level into effect, are extremely plenum old privileged ways. CC The threat hours. in the Polithuro, Yigor Ligachev, Gorky which almost amounted to THE struggle over perestroika - restructuring the cconomy and the state - is hotting up in the Soviet Union. While Gor- bachev isshowing growing im- patience with the speed of the implementing the perestroika reforms in the economy, there is increasing evidence that the 'Moscow Spring' of glasnost During Gorbachev's Black Sen summer holiday, his leading critic atilised the opportunity to make a detailed speech in the city of Gorbachev's programme of counter-manifesto may be short-lived.
Sovier withdrawal. The Soviets ghan govemment with long range ghan government replaced, but group coming to power. Thus the Soviet Union wants desperately to bolster the Afghan government's forces to prevent a complete roul catastrophic tum of events would reverse Gorbachev's determina- tion to complete the Red Army's being built by Kohl's Moscow Moscow's policy in Afghanis tan has. however, come under renewed pressure as the US and Pakistan have Increased their military aid to the Mojahedin guer- rillas, taking advantage of the have replied by halting their troop There is no doubt that the LISSR is prepared to sce the present Af- wants a political solution which prevents a hard line anti-Soviet when the military pull out is com- Stil, it seems only the most withdrawal by the end of next SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 December 1988/January 1989 withdrawal and supplying the Af Do great minds still think alike? The old Politburo ing precisely those economic links halls which had previously been On the domestic level therefore Gorbachevism seems to be in a period of uneasy equilibrium, with working their way through, or new initiatives in freedom or openness being apparent. But it should not be thought that by sidelining Ligacher, Gorbachev has inflicted a final defeat on cither the man or Iniemationally however Gor- bachey has undouhtedly scored a major new successs with the Oe- tober visit of Federal German cow. Kohl took an entourge of 500 with him, many of them top German busincemen, hungrily cycing the 240 million-strong Soviet market. Dozens of new Thatcher, in evident pique al this success, has launched a 'don't pay for perestroika" crusade, probably in cahoots with the few real advances in the cconomy the very large forces that he repre Chancellor Helmut Kohl to Mos: United States, aimed at discourag- trade and aid deals were done. used for mectings. There were persistent rumours over the summer that the politburo down on non-party organisations demonstration in Pushkin Square rally broken up by an array of The party leadership has bad no But an attempt in Novemher to emulate the Estonian example in Byelorussia was crushed by the violent dispersal of demonstra- lions in Minsk. Unofficial clubs in socialist clubs, reported that they were no longer able to book public had taken a decision to clamp In August a commemorating the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 was bru- security forces, including a new not squad not seen in public choice but to accept the legitimate continued functioning of the "popular front" in Estonia, which Includes the Estonian party leader- determination which have a huge percentage of the adult Fe- Byclorussia, including the ship. The front has held demonstrations for Estonian self- mobilised over a million people gar and open way, which has nothing whatever to do with glasnost! But there are showed Gorbachev's penchant for accruing per sonal power in a ratber vul otber straws in the wind in- dicating that glasnost may tonian population. and events. be under threat. perestroika, Ligachey warned of Ligachev as politburo number 2. Three new Gorbachev cronies function of regional Communist managers — a sort of parallel state apparatus. This Latter decision will threaten the role of thousands of lower party officials. Finally, President Gromyko was asked to Gorbachev's coup against the Ligacheviles was carried out in a manner totally al variance with the methods espoused by the official While hacking the general the dangers of too much marketisation, too many conces- sions to imperialism and too much freedom for non-party, informal, political associations like the Socialist Clubs. It was a declara tion which was sure to get a good reception in lower levels of the bureaucracy, which see themsel Gorbachev's response was swift. Following a melodramatic visit to Siberia, where many ness of the reforis, Gorbachev summoned a special Central Com- mittee plenum which rcmoved and shunted him into the agricul- were brought onto the politburo, and a decision taken to end the organisations as economic renign 'for health reasons', to be replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev people complained about the slow. ves as threatened by Gorbachev. Page 6
m Tories put the - FEA Nurses' pay battle
cial government response to Griffiths: but his hurden of providing costly free care to tens of Page 7 such services should be removed from the Rigorous central govemment control would The result could he hundreds of thousands more elderly people being forced to plunder their life-savings or sell their houses in order to tually been welcomed, hailed as "bold' and "radical", hy academics and naive elements in local government: a lobby grouping called "Griffiths now! has been formed headed by Labour boroughs. Though NALGO has recent- ly published a heavy crique of the Griffiths Report, other health unions have been slow off The Tories have not yet announced an off- plan offery them a series of advantages. It simultaneously enables the NHS to shed the thousands of elderly patients; lands increased, exercise on new means-testing for pensioners. The same philosophy of targeting' is arcady making itself felt in discusrions on the future of Waiting in the wings, and apparently being strongly promoted by Health Minister David Mellor, are far-reaching plans to ditch NHS responsibility for much long-term care of the ciderly, mentally ill and mentally handicapped. These plans have been drawn up by Thatcher's chief advisor on NHS matters, Sainsbury chief Sir Roy Griffiths as a strategy services - especially those to the elderly. Griffics proposes that all NHS, and run by local goverment, levying charges under a system of means-testing also ensure that all such community care ser- finance their own care. Yet this policy has ac- the mark and reluctant to reject it outright. vices were put out to competitive tender. Nurses - now facing threats of injunctions for 'community care" some NHS serviceR. to impose swingeing new charges for eye tests and for dental check-ups, despite Tory hack- volved (£150m a year) are puny compared to the E20 billion NHS budget; the motive is not Significantly the row over the new charges was followed by Nigel Lawson's kite-flying The top level review' of the NHS. promised by Thatcher at the beginning of the year (after vices), has still not appeared, and no date has It seems certain that the cabinet now want first to do some preparatory work on softening public opinion to weaken support for the We have already seen this procedure appliedto education policies, before the government moved in for the kill with Kenneth Baker's The straw in the wind demoostrating that the Tories are still determined to press home their attack on the NHS was Clarke's dogged Fight bench opposition. The amounts of money in economic but to register a political declaration towards short-tem questions: it still holds a long-term ambition to reform' the National Thatcher knows well enough that to attempt such a project at present would be politically unacceptable. It would antagonise not only the public at large, but also big sections of the Tory electoral base, who are also dependent on the the govemment had been pressurised into con- ceding additional funding for hospital ser- yet been named for publication of its findings. NHS and create conditions where brutally reac- Lionary "radical" proposals could get a hearing. Health Service and massively Tones would not be too to use the media to attack unhappy to be able to tum the tables for the first time been able to enlist public repeated concessions and holding back on their real decided this is their chance We must remember that the Tory government is on the nurses, who have plans. They may have not simply looking provision of health care: 'militant" nurse action. 'reform' proposals. sympathy lo SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 December 1988/January 1989 disgust. The scene seems set for a winter of limit the numbers of nurses they could afford to only apply to militant norses but also to Meanwhile ministers have begun to step up health unions, exploiting events such as the temporary closure of the intensive care unit at discontent" created by deliberate goverment be a degree of method in his madness. The their rank and file into action, the dispute over happy at being obliged by rigid cash limits to ingly cheesed off as Clarke deliherately winds Indeed the threat of disciplinary action does not Birmingham Children's Hospital and patients sleeping on foorrat Leavesden Hospital. Some staff have already heen suspended for working strictly to the grades imposed on them by management: others have defied management threats and forced limited concessions. Others have taken the individual course of resigning in However a closer look at the way Clarke has provoked the current escalating dispute with tens of thousands of nurses suggests there may govemment - putting much more money onto At first sight, the Tory strategy is crazy. among previously inactive and poorly- unionised sections of the workforce, who enjoy massive public support, be Short of an unexpected about-tum by the unions, which have again been propelled by As this issue of Socialist Owlook goes lo press, union militancy, (work-to-grading ac- tion, sometimes coupled with overtime bans, ing through every region of the NHS. The no. strike Royal College of Nursing, which has op- posc any form of collective action to challenge contested gradings, is losing members in large Management, who in many cases were un put onto higher grades, are hecoming increas up the nurses and forbids any local concessions. the media propaganda offensive against the Health Secretary Kenneth Clarke has embarked what seems on another un- winnable confrontation with the nurses. By inflaming new levels of militancy the table to fund a fair and proper implementa- ahrupt and massive betrayal by the health and token or even all out strike action) is spread- appears to be on a hiding to nothing. tion of the regrading of nurses pay numbers to TUC-affiliated unions. grading seems set to run and run. managers who step out of line. policy.
----- pull-quotes on this page ----- boot in Another 'winter of discontent' seems a real possibility in the NHS. Has the government miscalculated? HARRY SLOAN argues that the Tories may be deliberately stoking up the conflict in order to attack the National Health Service.
Sink the Tory Poll Tax URES LL
no reason why councils should encourage im- plementation. Precisely what powers Finance mum councils must protect staff taking action Trade unionists should fight for the boycott of refusing to do additional work connected with the tax. The poll tax reaches into every comer count details, to rubbish collectors being asked to snoop on who is living with who, or libratians workers need to be organised to ensure they are fices, for example, that it in not in their interests to take on additional work - not only because workload. As for rates officers whose councils concered working, for example, as housing Whether it is college administrators or workers will find themselves heing asked to they can and should be won to boycott the work, But it is vital that both these approaches are Directors have must be lested out. At a mini- of poets to do work on the poll tax, and a policy of council activity. It is not just finance depart- From housing officers handing over rent ac- being asked to hand over their records, council It is quite possible to convince either council housing officers or workers in social security of- they are likely to he opposed to the tax, but be- with their existing will be proposing in redeploy to poll tax units, arguing that they would be more useful to all private industry personnel officers, many other provide information and help enforce the tax - combined with building a mass community- hased campaign. Trade unionists and council- Tors are much more likely to stand fim if they know that the community stands behind them, On registration, it is necessary to find far as the Labour Party SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 December 1988/January 1989 refusing to go even as Labour authorities are benefit officers, sounds pretty convincing. seeing that many "Already we are official position... on civil liberty grounds if no other. ments which will be affected. not unwittingly cooperating cause they cannot cope and is itself taking action. document on the poll tax. Despite the instance, the Lahour gmoup refused to discuss So said the Labour Party's conference frantic attempts to find scapegoats, it is clear that the Govan electorate have Whilst councils in Scotland are busy sending out £50 fines to poll tax registration refuseniks, local authorities in England and Wales are now setting up their registration and collection sys- tems. What has boen an abstract debate for many is now beginning to have a practical expression. Already we are seeing that many Labour authorities are refusing to go even as fur as the Labour Party official position. In Brighton, for whether to use its discretion to write off debts which might arise in eighteen months time, on Given that such write-offs were one of the mainstays of the Walworth Road-approved na- fional strategy, one wonders what sort of op- position will be forthcoming through the official partymachine. The Local Govemment Informa- tion Unit has been ordered to stop producing Despite this defeatism the campaign to stop the poll tax is far from over. The Conference in Newcastle on December 10 called by the Socialist Conference marks not the end but a new beginning to the campaign. We must use it as an opportunity to discuss a new way forward, learning from the Scottish experience, bringing Detailed discussions will need to take place about the tactics to build a mass campaign to sink the Tory flagship. This means turning to the tion called for April by the TUC into a real mass event, and planning local initiatives for around the same time (when collection starts in Scot- land and registration in England and Wales) At each stage of the battle it is necessary to operate at a number of different levels. Councils should be urged not to comply with the tax, as Lambeth council have recently agreed; not to buy the computer hardware needed to collect the tax; and to refuse to appoint staff to deal with the poll tax or to order other staff to hand over infonnation collected in the course of their ex- Despite the independent obligations of Finance Directors enshrined in the law there is tion to defeat the tax. Building the demonstra- Tahour movement, and building collective ac must be a key component of such a strategy. given the lie to this absurd claim. the grounds that this might be illegal. the campaign south of the border. isting duties to such officers. campaigning material. meat hand into the assets and savings accounts from the role of kindly uncle giving an "extra" nise the seriousness of the fight, and strengthen the action. There are already signs that this is alongside those already on strike or working to government, who have ridden roughshod line up the NHS for the kind of "radical review" but under-funded, responsibilities into the lap of local govemment which can carry the can for of the elderly; and offers the prospect of juicy profits for a host of unscrupulous private firms It is in this context that we should see Ken- neth Clarke's tactics. He has switched ahruptly (but ludicrously inadequate) E138m to finance. the nurses' pay deal, to the vicious, hard-line Perhaps he sees this entirely avoidable dispute as the way to swing public opinion against fully-organised section of healthworkers happening, with the spread of resistance at rank and file level. National officials must stepup the sary to hit back against individual or collective victimisations of nurses by management. If they do not fight now, they risk losing members and handing initiative back to the scab leaders of the The stakes are high. Another victory by the nurses would represent an important setback for movement. A defcat forthe health unions would But as well as fighting on clinical grading, the unions (and the Labour Party, which bas aiso sound the alarm and fight for the rejection of this Far-reaching attack on the NHS, and all systems based on the introduction of new means-testing The answer from the unions must be to recog the inevitable foul-ups; puts a grasping govern- employer sticking the boot into the NHS unions. "greedy" nurses, who are now the most power- fight, urging weaker sections into action grade, and pledging strike action where neces- over most other sections of the trade union largely accepted the Griffiths Report) must Clarke's tactics have revived militancy and individual providers of 'community care". obstructing future Tory schemes for the NHS. that the Thatcher cabinet has threatened. and charges. Page 8 RCN. the
----- pull-quotes on this page ----- flagship! "North and South of the border, inside and outside Parliament, nationally and locally, our campaigning efforts have already been successful.*
is Socialism PHOTO, Wayne Edginton F Borh PHOTO, John Harris/IFL
sues raised by the impact of Gorbachevism on democratic rights is also being organised to munities with civil libertarians, trade unionists There will be a series of public meetings unilateralism. Unlike the official policy review, On top of this there are plans for a serics of Page 9 scheduled over the next six months. An inter- national conference on Gorbachev and the European left in April will debate the policy is- both east and west Europe. A conference on bring together thosc in the black and Irish com- and lesbians and gay activists: the aim is to dis- cuss a charter on democratic rights. A further At the same time as taking the initiative on these campaigning issues, the Socialist con- ference is also linking up with the Campaign group of Labour MPs, with its "Campaign for Socialism' specifically geared to providing a around the country stressing key socialist policies such as public ownership and these will be aimed at involving trade unionists, Socialist Conference pamphlete to combat the The hand left in the Labour Party has been on the defensive for the past few years as Kin- nock has succeeded in driving the party to the right. The Socialist Conference providesa valu- Lions, Lahour Briefing and independent forces As such, it could play a key role in projecting a green and socialist conference is also planned. left alternative to the official Labour policy women and black organisations in a real discus- official new realist drivel in the glossy Wal- able opportunity to link the best forces of the labour left - the Campaien group, Black Sec- - to those socialists outside the party who are active in their unions, campaigns and struggles. serious socialist altemative into the 1990g. Keeping socialism on the agenda worth Road productions. already off Labour's conference agenda Chesterfield redistribution of wealth from poor to rch by a It is Thatcher's stated aim to remove attack: local government, strong socialism from the map. All potential outposts of resistance have come under strengtisened state have heen accompanied by a strong ideological offensive reasserting the values of the market, the family, patriotism and individualism. The socialist left has been mar- But there is still a strong socialist current - in the party, the unions, in numerous campaigns and amongst seclions of the intelligentsia, The value of the Socialist Conference movement is that it draws all these different components together, multiplying their strength in a way Since the June national conference of 2000 ing of local activity and organisation. Regional tracted 200 people, and one in Taunton pulled in 100. Large organising meetings have been held in Scotland, Wales and the North West to plan activities, and regional conferences are planned for both the East and West Midlands 'The Socialist Conference has also begun to take a lead on the key issues facing the labour movement. It hascalled the national conference against the Poll Tax in Newcastle on Decemher 10, and has been instrumental in establishing many local campaigns and actions against the Solidarity Network to build support for workers which the Labour left on its own could not do. people in Chesterfield there has been a flower- conferences in South London and Newcastle at- Pall Tax. It has also linked up with the in struggle, and is discussing a major con- ference next autumn on developing the left in At least three other major conferences are ginalised, especially within the Labour Party- unions, progressive social policies. Unemployment, privatisation and in Fast Anglia. the trade unions. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 December 1988/January 1989 mechunians that will allow maximum par- collective querying of the questions heing asked, we should use non-registration activity handled, can be un important mobiliser, laying the Labour leadership to altack the idea of non- payment. Despite this, some MP's and others In some hands this has been an attempt to in Scotland, and the non-payment which results Getting campaigns off the ground south of ticipation and politicisation - through the or- ganisation of 'retum to sender' days for ex- ample. Through mass burning of forms, or the to orgunise on estates and in specific com- munities, building up close networks able to support each other. Even if at the end of the day councils get the information they need, the obstruction and civil disobedience, if properly Reckless adventurism', playing with other people's lives have been the phrases used by have been encouraging the building of Com- mittees of 100 pledged not to pay the poll tax. payment itself to a few martyrs: but as part of lees can play a part. We must rejoct Kinnock's view of non-payment; but we can only do so if The Newcastle Conference cannot in itself call into being a national coordination of poll tax campaigns. But it must set itself the target other groups to pull together such coordination. We need to use the issuing of poll tax demands ability to pay, to build the non-registration and In that way we can properly pace the cam- - whether from deliberate non-payment or in- the border - where many local groups exist in sidetrack other strategics now, and to limit non- an overall strategy of dehance such Commit- we are able to build a collective approach which of providing a framework for discussion with paign. Timing will be of the utmost importance. non-implementation campaigns south of the name only - must be used to give a shot in the A successful conference In Newcastle will give the movement the boost it needs in order to combat the poll tax, one of Thatcher's most Greg Tucker. vicious attacks on the working class. does not leave individuals isolated. the ground work for non-payment. um to the Scottish campaigns.
ficer of the union who have stond for Delegations to Labour Party Conferences must follow their own union conferences' ly controllable, and some important vic- these positions against lay members, policies which are never, of course, total-