It would take a truly gigantic campaign to force cancellation of the debt, when so much is involved for the banks and financial institutions. But campaigning against the debt, raising it as a central issue in the labour movement, will create the conditions to support movements for fighting the debt burden in the third world. A big campaign against the debt will pressurise the G7 loan sharks, making it more difficult to impose harsh new conditions.
The fight against the debt has to be a dual fight - against the ruling elites in the third world andagainst the IMF debtsquads in the West. The Cancel the Debt campaign in Britain is a small steptowards what mustbecome a much larger campaign. Next year's G7 summit is in Germany, and already preparations are being made for an international demonstration. missed were leading activists in the strike. nearby slums. as illegal, and has decided to take Michelin to court. of protest to:Michelin Fazenda Tres Pancadas Rodovia Itubera - Camamu Kin 5 Caixa Postal 2, CEP 45442 Itubera, Brazil Send copies to:
Sindicato de Trabalhadores Rurais de Camamu CEP 45444 Camamu, Bahia Brazil Rubber giant Michelin has dismissed 45 workers at its plantation at Camamu in Brazil. Camamu was the site of a strike in 'April and May, and many of the workers disAll the dismissed workers have been told to vacate their houses on the plantation, and they will now have to find housing in The planation workers union has condemned the dismissals The union has appealed to workers internationally to put pressure on Michelin to reinstate the sacked workers. Send letters No. 5 July 6, 1991
Mahmood in the Walton by-election against official Labour candidate Peter Kilfoyle has caused intense controversy on the left. Socialist Outlook, while blaming the Kinnock and the Liverpool council leadership for the division, says the decision is a mistake. SEAN TUNNEY spoke to a member of Liverpool Labour Party who is also in the Broad Left, but who opposed the decision to stand Mahmood. This is his explanation.
The decision to stand Mahmood came in the wake of the victory of five Broad Left candidates in the local council elections. The five were successful for a number of reasons. First, it was a genuine vote against the cuts and redundancies strategy of the Harry Rimmer leadership of the council. Disillusion with the council made many Labour voters abstain - Labour's vote city-wide went down from 80,000 to 50,000.
The five successful Broad Left council candidates called themselves things like 'Anfield Labour candidate' and so there was a lot of confusion. But also, some of the Broad Left candidates were the sitting Labour councillors, and that compounded confusion.
The Broad Left threw a lot of resources into the elections -they had up to 70 people canvassing for each candidate, an enormous number for a council election here.
The response to the council elecThis paper has argued that the The decision of the Broad Left to stand Lesley tions was euphoria in the Broad Left. Two weeks before the local elections they had decided not to form a separate Broad Left group on the council. After the election, suddenly they reversed the decision. They thought they could take on the world. They'd defeated the Poll Tax, and beaten Labour in five local seats. They thought they would be the official opposition on the council within a week and win a majority on the council within a year.
I think the council victories went to the heads of the Broad Left. Wat toy should have said is: "Wonderful, we have won a victory in the local elections. Now we are going to turn this back into the Labour Party locally. going to demand the reinstatement of the suspended Labour councillors. going to link up with those Labour councillors who are not in the Broad Left but who oppose cuts and redundancies. We are going to fight for a Labour majority against Rimmer's strategy"
Instead of doing that the Broad Left went for forming guised Socialist Organiser supHome News their own council group and then made the decision to stand in Walton. They drew the wrong conclusions from their council election victory. In Wirfight to reinstate suspended Labour councillors has been successful.
Oneargument used in favour of supporting Mahmood is that Kilfoyle is an imposed candidate. But he is not - he beat Mahmood in a selection contest. As for winning unfairly, lots of candidates have 'unfair advantages. Jeremy Corbyn has a strong advantage in Islington as a sitting MP. No serious charges of irregularity have been made about Kilfovle's selection.
It is important to understand the character of the Broad Left in Liverpool. It is an invitationonly organisation; it has about 420 people in its city-wide group. Though Militant is not lominant numerically, it is politically. Many people outside Liverpool have the illusion that the Broad Left is massively popular amongst trade unionists fighting the redundancies, or that Mahmood's candidacy is deeply linked to that fight. But that is really an illusion. The Broad Left has some support in GMB, but in fightback and the Mahmood candidacy weakens the united front approach which is neces sary to build the maximum unity in the workforce against the cuts and redundancies.
It remains an open question whether Militant supporters will try to extend what they've done in Liverpool across the country. At a Broad Left meeting they explained that there would be a temporary break form the Labour Party nationally in Liverpool, but they would soon be joined by other areas nationally to form a new Labour Party which would replace the old one - the rest of the Labour Party would just be come a shell.
If this is what they really want to do, then it's a complete misreading of the present situation and of history. Socialists are in the Labour Party not because of it currently has a left wing or a right wing policy - anyway that can change. They are there be cause it is the mass party of the working class, and becauseof its links with the unions.
When the ILP split from Labour in the 1930s, they had 16,000 members and at least 17 MPs-and in five years they had virtually disappeared. So if the Broad Left are really going to try to make tnis a nanonal develop ment, they are misreading the situation today. We are nowhere near a split which would create a new and viable socialist party.
The programme and concerns of the Broad Leftare politirecord on this issue, especially in Liverpool where many people remember the Sam Bond issue and Militant's opposition to Black Sections. When Martha Osamor stood for selection in Riverside constituency Militant supported the sitting MP Bob Parry as the 'class struggle candidate; immediately after his selection he turned his back on the Broad Left.
When it was first talked about, the SWP dismissed standing, candidates as irrelevant, but they were taken aback by the size of the Broad Left vote in the council elections. Now they've gone gungho for the Mahmood campaign, which is logical from their viewpoint of counterposing an alternative party to Labour.
I think Socialist Outlook should be saying to Militant supporters across the country that this candidacy is a mistake, and that they're going to get their fingers badly burned by it. Of course for socialists this is a tactical question, but this candidacy is a very bad tactic. Instead of demonstrating the strength of opposition to Kinnock chosen a tactic which will minimise it.
I think we should be arguing that the key task is to prepare, in the unions and in the Labour Party, for the outcome of a general election. Either Kinnock wins and we have a right wing Labour government; or he loses, and Kinnockism has been a failure. It would be a mistake, at this point, to believe a national