THE FIRST COMMENT to be made about the London to Brighton march of the Right to Work Campaign takes the form of a tribute to the 500-odd marchers who took suffered blistered feet, near-exhaustion, and for some, demoralisation. marchers spoke passionately of the frustration of being unemployed. What is to be criticised is that the march only served to increase that frustration.
The organisational failures are the least important. That the march rarely ran on time, that it ran out of money unemployed marchers asked to contribute £1 each, that some of the marchers had to sleep in the open, that many never completed the march -against all these failures, while regrettable and avoidable, were not the main mistakes. 28 SepYet they were symptomatic of the march as a whole, in that they underlined the political failures of the march organisers, and led to confusion and part and who Paign should take.
SUCH discussions WelC head-scratching as to what exactly was the purpose of the whole venture. For, apart from rather repetitive sentiments fight the such as *we are angry, so we're marching to lobby the TUC', there was no lead around. given as to how to direct the anger, as to the policies necessary to fight unemployment, as to what direction apart from a projected conference the campThis was especially unfortunate as the march was an opportunity to develop Apart from many members and symapthisers of the Inter- grabbed by national Socialists who took part, most of the participants were young, fresh to the stewards would political experience, and eager to discuss and argue. But the leadership of the march denied them such an opportunity.
Mass meetings were predominantly restricted to 'organisational" issues; tent meetings, usually led by IS members, were similarly restricted; and there were no meetings at which the way forward for the fight against unemployment was discussed. In brief, the marchers were not encouraged to learn about how to TUC/Labour Government • policies or what demands to organise Not only did this take the form of an absence of discussion: the banners of political parties were banned throughout most of the march, and the issuing of leaflets was strongly discouraged. There were more ominous aspects. When a contingent of gay workers attempted to carry their banner at Brixton, it was stewards who told the marchers that if they wouldn't remove it Shortly afterwards a 'Woman's Right to Work' contingent trying to display their banner were met with the outstreched hands of march leaders John Deason and Tommy Douras. Again the banner came down, and in the argument which followed Douras was dragged away by Deason when he started to issue threats of physical violence.
On the first night, at the meeting of the march council, a delegate from Bristol had his finger grabbed and twisted by another march organiser, Jimmy McCallum, after arguing about the question of democracy on march. On the second day, another supporter of the women's contingent, Val Coultas, a marcher sponsored by the National Union of Students Executive, was shoved and pushed by stewards and told to 'get to the back of the march'.
This was no isolated incident, for at times a witch-hunt atmosphere existed against IMG members or Red Weekly supporters. At the mass meeting when the issue of women's and gay con gents was discussed, John Deason s *This Woman's Right to Work banne the banner of a political party, International Marxist Group. No b ners of political parties are allow which is why this one isn't."