pull-quotes on this page ----- Serving up the media on a Thatcher's deregulation is not about press freedom but about profitability plate
FEATURES doch is lell untouched while reserve powers to alter owner- without even a cursory refer- The BBC hardly rates a will the Secretary of State retains ence to the Monopolies and that the media empire of Mur- ship regulations at Mergers Commission. ship
mention in the Bill: It will of course, be the next target of direct government interven- coupling of the license fee rom inflation. And in the run already being starved of cash through the de- up to 1996, when the BBC It is Lion.
Charter is doe for renewal, it political attack and demands. come under sustained privatisation from the kame people whe led the cam. paign for deregulation of com- for: will
material rewards but a say in the future of frecdom and diversity in the modia with ac- As Tony Hear, General Sccretary of "Our values include commitment lo manipulation of the media by govern- ing access to broadcasting and in the ac- for the quality of the product made by our members as well as the quality of life to We are against the corruption of the standards of nakod appeal to individual interest and the suhstitution of price for valuc. These are mat- The Campaign for Press and Broadcast- ing Freedom can be contacted at 9 Pond Street, London, WIV 3DG (01 437 2795). In- dividual membership is E10 per annum, or- their industry. Collective bargaining remains For workers outside: the industry and tor genuine choice, cess for the many and not just the privileged few, the strength of the broadcasting unions will be decisive in preventing a headlong rush BETA, told the rocent Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom conference on Broad- casting in the 90s; The Democratic Alterna the public good rather than to private profit, concern for the weak and under- privileged, opposition to the abuse and ment and employers, a belief in widen- countability of those who control it, care public life, the debauching of the political vocabulary, the trivialisation of the media, the ganisations from £15 per annum depending SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 24, May 1990 Lers on which we will not compromise.* contributes. You thought she was selling the "Tuffo' socks she is wearing: but the ad is for camera equipment! the only way to achieve that broadcasting others campagning Into tabloid TV. on siDe. which "The BBC will, of course, be the next target of being starved of cash through the de-coupling direct government intervention. It is already The favourite joke in Manchester media circles is that the damage at Strangeways wasn't caused by prisoners trying to get out but by Granada staff trying te get in hecause conditions were hetter. Granada suff were recently given the option of personal contracts These alacks will increase ax in-house production is eroded and independent produc- broadcasting time. With this will go the casualisation and the weakening of trade union organisation. It could also lead to a nition itself, as is happening in the print and The broadcast unions are alert to the threat process in the print hetween the NGA and SOGAT. The National Union of Journalists is Lant hargaining powers. The Industry, in spite of technological developpient, remains jahour intensive requiring a labour force with dis- parate bur indispensable skills. You cannot television programmes well informed and responsible workforce - a workforce which will not only want proper tians are increased, under the terms of the Bill. a minimum of 25рет cont of Charinel 3 erosion of standard conditions of service, they face. The ACTT and BETA are currently And workers in broadcasting retain impor- without the cooperation of a skilled, vocal, frontal assault on the principle of union recog of the license fee from inflation" deciding on amaigamation, mirroring magazine sector at the moment also looking for a partner: produce radio or This is why issucs of training within the in- its economic and political purpose is clear: to use market forces to restructure broadcasting kentation are not addressed. Where unbridled market forces have boon unleashed, as in the posiive employment practices have been pushed into the background, Equal appor tunity policies, barely in place in this country. will be undermined by the new fimancial con- straints and decreased level of puhlic account- privatising services and the recommendations The ITV companies abandoned rational agrcements with the umions in 1988 and 1989 poscd agreements. A lock out of its members Allied Technicians (ACTT) in 198H, More recently Thanes was only narrowly thwarled from withdrawing recognition from the Broad- casting and Entertainment Trades Alliance (BETA) in respect of clerical staff. Last Oc- tober pay talks al Tyne Tees opened, in management's words, with a 'unique offer of USA and Italy, issues of representation and sociation of Cmematograph Television and dustry, squality of opportunity and repre by TVam led to the de recognition of the As und started down the road of employer dominated and, if necessary, employer-im in the interests of the media multinationals. leashed a whirlwind of artacks om the workers in the industry. 1,800 gobs at years, with six to nine thousand more threatened hy the BBC's policy of petitive pressures being produced by the the BBC have been lost in the past two Not surprisingly. the intense com government's media policy have in The technicalities of the Bmadcasting Bill, running to Schedules, are complex, hul af the Phillips Contitlee. and mercial TV and radio, Clauses 167
created by Thatcher's policies require increas- The more urgent battle is to see that the caught in the vicious pincer movement of Party, socialists will be keen to see that the not with its victims but is perpetrators: the over-enthusiastic "clear-up rates' for crimes in tor workers" get in fighting that battic al- publicised scandals show a nationwide spread: sification of evidence by the West Midlands scrious crime squad (now disbanded); and The depth of the problem is highlighted by the willingness of the establishment to own up Lo it, Tory newspapers run stories calling for inquiries and the relcase of innocent prisoners like the Birmingham Six from jail. Even the police themselves are beginning to admit to the scale of the problem. Deputy Commis- John Dellow of thc Metropolitan Police, and the current President of the As. sociation of Chief Police Officers admitted: •We have certainly run out of the rotten apple Most marxists will agree that with the thetoric and the reality of Thatcher's free economy' goes the growth of in ever-stronger state. The two go together, of course, hecause the deep economic and 50cia] divisioms Meanwhile the police themselves are call- ing for urgent action to tackie recruitement difficulties and low morale, with better condi: liens, pay and status high on their list of re. Socialists will watch with interest to sec how far Mrs Thatcher's favourite public sec- though organising solidarity to support their demands for real justee of the many vicums. And unlike the leaders of the Labour blame for last month's poll tax violence rest, Page 8 Manchester; fal- British justice and Thatcher's laws, are met ingly repressive forms of social control. demands won't be a top priority. police and their paymasicis. set-ups and corruption in "Alright! Which one of you lot wants to see our new pot plants?" The other idea is to bring a bit of market gets set for cash-raising schemes as diverse as more surprising. It's a pathetic, desperate response to what many, right across the politi- Thirty years ago 839 of the British public 40% will admit to glowing pride in the great British bobby. Another poll a year ago showed that more than one in five people believed that ces at the sharp and of policing inner cities. At Jeast 21 of the 43 forces in England and Wales are currenily involved in inquiries into other forces over allegations of corruption and criminal malpractice by officers. Recent well- il mirrors attempts in the NHS from 1987 on- has been set up at Scotland Yard to explore possible profit-making services, Besides get- ting driving lessons and vehicie maintenance and repair from your local bobby, you may be able to pop down to your local cop shop (literally), to pick up handy accessories and clude rubber truncheons or any leit-over con This latter idea is particularly Thascherite: wards at income generation, with local tar- car parking services and weaving company plied to the problems of the police force is cal spectrum, recognise to be a deep crisis - in A recent MORI poll showed thai nearly two thirds of the public think that the police bend the rules to get convictions. Only 17% believe they do not More than half think there's one law for the public, another for the police. The same proportion have cither little had 'great respect for the police. Today only corruption is widespread in local police forces: Only 325 believed that police corruption was Clearly the problem is no longer restricted to the Met, or even to other metropolitan for- pressure to bear in the force. A working party memorabilia. Whether Items stocked will in fessions and convictions remains to be scen. To see the same disastrous solution' respect" or "mixed feelings" for the police. public confidence, and in police practice, FEATURES emphasis on advertising into hospital carpets. 25 have dogged the Met over recent This initiative includes a "statement of valucs Complaints of racism, of false arrests and beatings, and of suspicious deaths in police And a string of successful civil actions for damages against the police are heginning to take their toll: not just the Met's reputation. but their bank balance is suffering as the public by-passes the ineffectual Police Com- plaints Authority in London and take their cases straight to court. The Met paid out more than £500,000 last year for wrongful arrests, Just hefore Christmas, record six-figure damages were awarded to black lay preacher Rupert Taylor who was fitted-up on a drugs charge by police in Notting Hill. More recent- ly, athlete Linford Christie has received un- disclosed but "substantial" damages for unlaw- ful arrest and libel when the police swung into action on their unwrillen rule: a black man in a But men from the Met are taking the prob- One has been to introduce a more polished displayed on police noticeboards all over Lon- don. It promises to protect, help and reassure people in London.. to be seen to do all this We must be compassionate, courteous and paticnl.. professional, calm and restrained in the face of violence and apply only that force which is necessary to accomplish our lawful duty. This rings a bit hollow in the light of their actions during poll tex protests across the Police are also to be treated to discussion groups (where they are advised If someone calls you a pig, remember it suinds for profes- integrity and guts, and say thankyou*), better overcoats, new pullovers, and more pol plants (the green variety, rather with integrity, common sense and judgement. management style, "The Plus Programme'. than attempted drug busts) in station lobbies. conduct at the News International plan in 1987, Officers, it found were out of Senior officers in the Met have got a Their force recently came in for heavy criticism in the Wapping report on police lem seriously. They have at least two ideas. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 24, May 1990 mounting problems facing JANE WELLS looks at the their attempts to contain the police, and assesses malicious prosecutions and assault. Mash car must have nicked it, A fair cop? lot on their plate. the crisis. control.
MANDELA MUSTRUCEDUR, COMMUNIST PARTY NOW TOD COUNTAI FEATURES AN retreat from The release of Nelson Mandela stalinism forces on the framework and has generated a new debate objective of talks with De Slovo's within the anti-apartheid
Soviet people was swallowed wholesale not there was growth in the Soviet economy, the misery. Slovo could have saved himself years from iron stalinist discipline and read, among "Socialism is a structure of planned produc- tion to the end of the best satisfaction of human needs, otherwise it does not deserve the name of socialism' (The Revolution Slovo writes that self-pity is not enough, still equates stalinism with socialism. This thome recurs throughout the document Thus style of leadership (of parties both in and out of powct) which denuded the party and the practice of socialism of most of its democratic where there is no democracy in state and Stalm proclaimed the 'complete triumph' of socialism as long ago as January 1931 and the SACP dutifully echoed this, as did all its fraternal parties throughout the world. The lying satistics emanating from the stalinist school of falsification which depicted the ever-growing prosperity and happiness of the only by Party members but by a host of fel- low-travellers like the Webhs and Bernard Siovo now recognises that even where methods employed resulted only in human of travail if he had the moral courage to break amining just how far he has gone and what this means for the future of the SACP in the Failed? which would seem to indicate that he and on page 3 he defines 'Stalinism' as 'the bureaucratic-authoritarian conteni... What he does not yet grasp is that SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 24, May 1990 Slovo titles his document Has Socialism he constantly refers to 'existing socialism'; produced a Stalin and SACP politics have always been a kay factor in the line of the African National Congress party, there can be no socialism. South African political scene. other, Trotsky, who Betrayed p.64). the Bolshevik Icaders Zinovicy, Kamenev. It is against this background that we have by Joe Slavo, the current General Secretary of document, Slovo unreservedly lines himself It is, of course, impossible to give an in- controverible answer to this. As Lenin once remarked, 4 "sincerometer" has not yet been profitable, so we will confine ourselves to ex- When war broke out in September 1939. the SACP correctly declared it an imperialist African participation Fascism, it said, had to Soviet frontier. The Purty now called for the cism, the liberation of oppressed nations and a Later came the 1950s show trials of Laszio Rajk and Rudolf Slansky, the invasion of (1968) by Soviet tanks; all were endorsed with the same enthusiasm with which in the 1920s they acclaimed the trials and murder of to look at the pamphlet Has Socialism Failed" the South Alrican Communist Party. In this up with Gorbachev, perestroika and glasnost. The question we have to ask ourselves is: is this a genuine and decisive break with his self-confessed stalinist past? Or is the SACP just running true to form, and once again lol- invented. To discuss his motives would be un- war, and were even prepared to work Joully with the Afrikaner nationalists to resist South be fought at home. This all changed on 22 June 1941. when German troops crossed the tory would bring about the destruction of Tas: The SACP was used by Moscow to signal Hungary (1956) and the exccution of Imry defence of the socialist homeland. whose vic- its break with Popular Frontism after the war. Nagy; the crushing of the Prague Spring Backing glasnost rapid transition to world socialism. lowing the Moscow line? Bukharin and others. physically assaulted. (SACP) has, for most of its existence, jected to veto there. The Path to Power. intern, when Stalin proclaimed the Third leftism and presaged Stalin's break within Bukharin, it started a witch hunt for Right Oppositionists'. Where none existed they in- vented them. Thus, ultra-loyal stalinists, like the trade union leader Solly Sachs, were sum- marily thrown out of the Party. Under the Icadership of the Moscow-appointed Douggie and Molly Wolton, oppositionists were even The South African Communist Party firmly and uncritically adhered to the gencral line coming from Moscow. Until very recently, its successive programmes were either dictated by Moscow or sub- adopted at the 7th Congress last year was probably the first "native" programme in The whole of the present leadership of the party and its predecessors after the expulsion doctrinated with Stalinist, revisionist concep- tions of Marxism, the first principles of which was that the Soviet Communist Party (CPSU) were always right in doctrinal and practical matters. What it said had to be accepted In the 1920s, when Trousky and the Left Opposition were being persecuted in the Soviet Union, the SACP expelled everyone who even mildly hinted of support for Trotsky. After the Sixth Congress of the Com- Period' which signalled a sharp turn to ultra- of R.P. Bunting in the early 1930s wore in changing political line of the SACP's leader, JOE SLOVO. factor in the politics of the African National Congress. Party can prove a decisive Klerk. In this context, the South African Communist CHARLIE VAN GELDEREN pronouncements by the reports on the latest without question.
debate on the way forward for the South Stalinism is in line with the general trend of negotiations with the Pretoria Further there 1s one aspeci is nol rejected in either Slavo's docu- ment or the 1989 programme - Slovo's document is of course to be wel- comed, although it should be appreciated that it is not an official statement of SACP policy. In raising the sort of questions he does, Slove opens the way for the possibility of a real revolution But his critique of Eurocommunism", and part of its aim was probably to make the SACP more acceptable to join in the of Stalinism which regime in May. African programme consistently talks of 'countries of popular democracy (sic) and strengthen the vanguard revolutionary party It claims that the victorious revolution in Mozambique and Angola 'set the stage for development towards expression of which is a Marxist/Leninist socialist origin" and calls on them lo widen When refering to these states FEATURES SUARTE say we were ed people were in power. He ignores com- pletely the false ihcoretical foundation of deceived?' He accepts thar the docades of stalinist-bureaucratic rule brought horror and misery to the Soviet people and to the people of Eastern Europe. But he puts it all down to the subjective factor. The wrong people, wick- deceived" but also to ask why were stalinism, the utopian, revisionist belief that socialism could be es- It was the adoption of this bonal which transformed the heing the policy in 1926 at the Sixth Con- gress of the Communist Iniema- that it is not enough to tablished in one country: Comintem from
SACP's definition of South African society as 'colonialism of a special type and which theorises the ex- istence of an oppressor while nation and and oppressed black nation. Not only is this in the of the two-stage cells us, there has to be a "na- tional democratic revolution in alliance with the nationalists. and then later - perhaps much And anyway Slovo now thinks that socialism could evolve the This theory justifies the revolution. First, the theory later - a socialist revolution. that through democtatic process! the theory peacefully STAND LEADERS RY DUR socialist construction'. Since then of course. socialist path, and. just as it once proclaimed liself Marxist/Leninist, has now disowned the ahandoned the TAND AT OBADERS STAN SE The question is where the leaders stand now? LEADERS Mozambique has openly STAND LEADERS BY 88B WE STAND LEADERS BY BIE Slovo deals very well with a number of is- WE Moscow were unccrcmuniously ousted. A vanguard party? main role as an instrument of From then on, the Communist Partics- became instruments to implement the policies and inter- oils of the ruling bureaucracies follow the line as dictated in world proletarian revolution, as Lenin and Trotsky conceived it, into a b