A number of the public sector unions have at last decided to take some national action against the cuts The National and Local Government Officers Association, the National Union of Public Employees, the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, the Civil and Public Services Association and the National Union of Students, along with the South East Region of the TUC, have called for a national day of action on cuts on 17 November, and a demonstration in London.
Like the NUPE lobbies of the TUC and Labour Party conference, this latest call ог co-oreinarce acuon renceis une growing pressure on the union leaders from a membership tor wnom tne curs mean redundancies. 20,000 newly qualified teachers are now looking for jobs, tens of thousands of civil service iobs are to be lost - indeed, the public service unions estimate that a total of 170,000 jobs will At the Labour Party Conference these cut-backs came under strongv worded attacks from Alan Fisher of NUPE and even Tony Benn, who yet again displayed that his capacity for left talk is matched only by his determination to stay in the most right-wing Labour Censure But although union leaders like Fisher are being forced to call for action on 17 November, they have no intention of taking up a real fight. While declaring their opposition to cuts, they maintain their support for the social contract of which the cuts are part and parcel. That is GI PU ILIC Part of the growing tide of opposition to the cuts. 4,000 take to the streets of Ox ford to protest against education cut-backs. (See p.3 for story). why Callaghan went out of his way to try to stop the Labour Party conference from passing any resolution critical of the JOVCEnMCHLS CULS. As Benn admitted such a resolution woula in erect De a motion of censure on the Government.
So the leaders of the public sector unions, while calling for the demonstraLION ana acuos -weekaak. nave avoided any call for strikes. Even the CPSA, which at one time opposed the social contract and initially put our a call for one-day strike action, is now doing noming to mobise is members.
Where the union leaders waver, rank and file socialists cannot afford to. They must fight to turn the day of action by the public sector unions into a day of all-out strike action. Support should also be mobilised from outside the public sector, with local action committees against the cuts sending contingents to the London demons anon By turning 17 November into a real day of action, we can stari to bulla an opposition which in fighting the cuts can end up fighting their source — the social conuac ana aose wo dow told GRAVELY iLL though it may be, Britain is still black and coloured revolt.
will end.
delivering.
of five African states have said that it is not enough.
the Zimbabwean blacks is being thrown back in their faces. cuts in public services because 'the party is over". Zimbabwe majority.
this country stand with them Smith, No Deal with Kissinger.
Fighters!
capable of playing its part in the squalid games of Western imperialism. Joining the unseemly trio of Kissinger, Vorster and Smith, the leaders of the British Labour Party have made a concerted effort to suppress the freedom fighters in Zimbabwe and strengthen Vorster's hand against the With the cynical promise of 'majority rule' within two years, Callaghan is partner to an agreement which promises Rhodesian blacks little except the good intentions of Smith, Kissinger and Vorster. To the whites there go promises to lift sanctions, grants totalling 2600m, and assurances that the African liberation struggle That is one promise Callaghan and friends will have difficulty in Already the euphoria which erupted in Western stock exchanges with the announcement of the Kissinger deal is subsiding. Leaders The most important sections of the Zimbabwe freedom fighters have said that their struggle continues. The arrogance displayed by the 'statesmen' of the western world in arriving at a settlement without consulting The freedom fighters know that the concessions that Smith has made are not a tribute to the diplomatic skills of Kissinger, but a product of their struggle — a struggle which meant that in the last four weeks alone 800 white Rhodesians packed their bags and quit.
And so it is that James Callaghan has helped to refloat the sinking ship while the rats were falling over each other leaving it. He is joined who not long ago was telling the working class in this country that they had to accept huge Yet for the party of minority rule in Zimbabwe, Crosland has no problem in finding millions of pounds. He does so in the name of the labour movement in this country, and he has no more right to do that than Kissinger and Vorster have to make decisions on behalf of the That majority stands confident and determined. Let militants in in repudiating Callaghan and Crosland's manoeuvres, and in saying: No Deal with Vorster, No Deal Victory to the Freedom
ESTATESTIMES a Disappointment f E645 out of every deal. Council housing