FROM 5 April one of the most repressive laws in recent times, the Child Support Act (CSA), comes into effect.
Unlike the Poil Tax though, there is o effoctive mass campaign against it. fet the affects some of the poorest and most marginal sed women in Britain.
The CŠA aims to enforce maintonance from absent fathers; womon who are judged to have refused to identity 300 Club the father can have their Income Support out.
To administrate the implementation of the CSA, a brand new wing of the DSS has been croated - the Child Support Agency. The Orwellian powers which have been invested in this agency are staggering If a single mother on income Support refuses to co-operate and provide information on the 'absont father", she faces losing 08.80 a wook (20 per cent) of beneft for the fist six months, then €4.40 a wook for another year. Anyone struggling on state benefits will know what a colossal sum that realy is.
Tha effect of this of course is force contact with the 'absent father' to naintain it, whatever the cost in terms of emotional damage or even physical safety to the woman and her childron.
Those who resuse to make this unwanted contact, will be complied just do lose money.
Tracking down 'absent fathors' wil not provide a singlo extra penny for single parents, 95 per cent of whom are women. but will oo straight int Treasury coffers.
The Act is is a direct attack on the economic independence of women, and thus their utimate abilly to make choices about their lives.
In this the Act follows through the anti-lesbian, anti-gay Section 28 (which forbade local authorities to pro. mote pretended families) and the antlesbian aspects of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
The state will now openly penaise those who do not or will not it the mould. Those under immediate attack trom the CSA are those who always have to struggle to survive: single par ents familes (who are 42.4 per cent of By Kate Ahrens JOHN SMITH is hoping to regain the 'moral high ground' with his speech on christian values, Jack Straw is calling for removal of Clause IV from the Labour Party's constitution, and the only argument the Labour front bench can put against Tory policies is that they thought of them first.
As can be easily seen by the moves to break the Labourunion link, and the adoration of Clinton's Democrats, the Labour leadership is politically running the party into the ground, and the Labour left is ragmented, weak and unable to mounta serious fightback.... yet.
With the Socialist Campaign Group's successful conrence in Leeds last June, the left saw a new opportunity ap pear for united action in the party.
Already, new, local Sodalist Campaign Groups have been set up around the country. In Birmingham, for instance, there is now a united group on the Labour left for the first time The recall conference, April 17th in Sheffield, will be discussing the structure for the Socialist Campaign Group Supporters' Network and developing ideas on united campaiging work in a number of The Network has the potential to build genuine united action on the left inside the Party:
Socialist Outlook and others have argued for many ears, the only way to tight ack against the rabid, rightwing politics of the Labour leadership, , with all its associated attacks on democracy in the Party, is for the left to fight together against them.
t won't, of course, be all Dramatically weakened by the sailing from now on! witch-hunt, and the drift out of the Party or many long-time activists, the left has a long. hard struggle to achieve any confidence in its own abilities to fight.
And years of division on the left will not be overcome in one conference. But the possibility is there. Whether that potentia. is turned into reality depends on the effort of left activists.
The Socialist Campaign Group of MIP's has a vital role to play in that process too Their support of the Network can start to bridge the gap between grass-roots activsts in the constituencies and the left in parliament, and the authority of that support can give an extra boost of conidence to the left that it so badly needs.
That has to mean a firm committment to building the Network with a democratic decision-making structure, and to united action in campaigning.
confronting the Labour leadership's hopeless rhetoric on the pit closures dispute, organising around the public pay freeze, fighting against all job losses, and campaigning against all witch-hunts in the Party things can only serve to strengthen the Labour left.