Pacific anti-nuclear campaign Zionism and the left. British workers and Ireland
the Labour Conference arena of the class struggle. change of views. months. No. 7. September 1985. Final copy date September 4, 1985 Printed by DOT Press (TU). Oxford. Published by Socialist Viewpoint, BCM Box 3956. London WCIN 3XX. ISSN 0268-3164
for next month is a more detailed look at the devloping strug gles in Latin America: and a review of the new volume of the history of the British Communist Party- There will also be extended coverage of the fight against racism. plus analysis of
- and much, much more!
Socialist Viewpoint is a magazine committed to the fight for a principled, class struggle programme at every level of the workers' movement in Britain and internationally. We see the fight for Trotskyist politics taking shape not through introspective sectarian debates in small groups of would-be gurus, nor as simply trailing behind this or that "Left'" talking trade union or Labour Party dignitary - but as a patient fight for the independent interests of the working class, and for demands and action which express those interests, in every
With all too little clarity on offer from the various dogmatic left groupings in Britain, we believe that it is possible and necessary to combine debate with policy and programme. Our columns are open for discussion on the issues raised. We urge those with differing assessments to take part in an ex-
For our part, obviously, we hope that the positions we put forward and discussion on them will persuade many readers to become Socialist Viewpoint supporters in the coming
P. P. 7-1 p. p. 2 9 p. p. p. 26 p. 27 p. 28 p. 31 p. 36
Old hulks survive Thatcher's reshuffle
EDITORIAL greesing the appointment of dinare dish. greeting the appointment of Tory Party.
It seemed to make good sense: strengthening millionaires' representation upstaging the events at the TUC, and underlining the fact that Tory election success depends above all on cash, media connections and fiction. personal profits out of charity should endear him to Thatcher's "rob the starving" cabinet gang. have said on one occasion that Archer could "bottle my that is more or less the task Archer must undertake for Margaret Thatcher.
Thatcher's "new look" cabinet is certainly no best seller: all the most unpopular old hulks are still there Joseph, Lawson, Fowler, Heseltine - with the grisly figure of Norman Tebbit, his post-Brighton wires and rivets apparently working loose, 'Parkinson's disease",
It is unlikely that Archer's slender literary gifts will be able to build these all-too-unpleasant characters into anything more attractive than nonentities. He will not find it much easier with the newly appointed clean-cut go-getting "jobs boys", Kenneth Slasher" Clarke and Lord Young, whose job as straight men for unemployment statistics will be no laughing matter -least of all for young people.
Perhaps the grimmest news for the labour movement is that Leon 'Orgreave" Brittan has been found insufficiently dynamic as a hang-'em Secretary, and replaced by the freshly-blooded Douglas Hurd, hot-foot from the occupied six counties. This can only mean that Thatcher, seeing the writing on the wall for the economy, is preparing a major fall-back option of a "law and order" election.
Neither the cabinet reshuffle - after months in which the Tories have trailed embarrassingly in third place in the opinion polls, lost the Brecon by-election and staggered from one public relati ins blunder to the next (not least Brittan's gaffe over the BBC and Ireland) - nor the essential continuity of hard-line Thatcherism should come as any great surprise.
It has been all too clear that something new was needed to win the next election, whenever that may be: but that whatever else is changed, Thatcher's basic line will remain intact until she is
millionaire the in the Tory leadership. fund-raising. elevated to even the office. rises, and publicly flog-'em Home old lies. state benefits tack, the latest comings rangements sideshow. Socialist Viewpoint, No. 7, September 1985. Page 1
deposed from within, dies, or is ousted from
The willingness of the government to soldier through the storm of abuse over top people's pay
Wto propose the wholesale demolition of the welfare state as discussed in the Fowler review, should prove beyond anyone's doubt that Thatcher will make no retreats or concessions on policy: that is why now she is casting round for novellists to dress up her politics and a few reshuffled smoothies to put a new face to the
For the millions on the dole or facing cuts in
Tand social security, for the thousands on housing lists, the 700,000 on hospital waiting lists, the parents without hope and the youth with no future; for working class women and for