in Zagreb WHEN WE reached Tuzla two weeks ago we were all given a tremendous reception, greeted by the mayor and the miners' union of the Tuzla region.
We were tremendously impressed by the resistance of the people, the organisation of the workers and the continuing genuine multi-ethnic character of the Tuzla region.
Parcels
We delivered all the personal parcels which had been sent from Britain. The bulk of the aid was distributed at workplaces by the miners' union.
The situation is desperate. It was repeatedly stressed to us that the need is for the most basic foodstuffs: flour; oil sugar. The black market is rife. Coffee sells for £36 a kilo, Diesel is £11 a litre, if it can be found.
Solidarity
We found tremendous gratitude not only for the aid proVIGAN NIT alen for the international workers' solidarity it represented - the face that it came from the trades unions of western Europe.
We arrived back in Zagreb on 22 November. Our lorries themselves have not yet completed the journey back, since we were caught in early snow storms on mountain roads towards Split, which made further travel without snow chains impossible.
We are meeting up within the next few days with the second International Workers Aid Convoy, which is travelling through Zagreb from Sweden.
This convoy is carrying snow chains and winter equipment for both themselves and the currently trapped vehicles, which will allow us to complete the journey. The Swedish convoy plans to travel to Tuzla by the southern route through Split.
Before leaving Tuzla were given a moving statement from the Tuzla miners union which we hope will be made widely available to trade unions in Western Europe Socialist Outlook rejects reformism, not because we are against fighting for reforms, but because we know that the needs of the working class - for full decent living standards, a clean environment, peace and democracy - can never be achieved under capitalism.
Nor, as we argued long before the collapse of Stalinism, could these demands ever be achieved under the bureaucratically deformed workers states and degenerated USSR whose regimes survived only by repressing their own working class.
We are a marxist current, based not on the brutish totalitarian parodies of state marxism, nor on the tame, toothless version of 'marxism' beloved by armchair academics, but the revolutionary tradition of Marx, Name Address, Phone Age Send to Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU ism. The fight for policies which can mobilise and politically educate workers in struggle, must be taken into the unions, the Labour Party and every campaign and struggle in which workers and the oppressed fight for their To strengthen this fight we press for united frontcampaigns on key issues such as fighting racism and fascism - in which various left currents can work together for common objectives while remaining free to debate their differences. If you agree with what you see in Socialist Outlook, and want to join with us in the struggle for socialism, readers' groups meet in towns across the country. Contact us now, get organised, and get active!
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 53, November 27 1993, Page 15 AND