Capitalism is in crisis. The leaders of the Lahour Party and the trade unions ofter solutions that are in of the workers NO EPTES. but of the capitalist class.
Socialist Challenge believes that the two vilal tasks COULTERLEE • To build broad-based class struggle tendencies in opposition labour movement. These should grouping together militants hold- to caluate in character, ing a wide range of political views.
• To begin to fight unified Creamin democratic revolutionary socialist organisation an application united front laclics, begin to be seen as an alternative by thousands workers engaged in struggles.
Such an organisation should be based on the understanding that:
The for seeks to unite the fight of with that of other oppressed layers of society — gays struggling for liberation. This socialism can only be achieved by creating new organs ot power ano cerealing will al necessary means the power of the capitalist state.
and editorial on throuch of the Tory offensive.
familiar struggles socialism muscle for political reasons'.
La right-wing backlash to fascism'.
their be •WHEN SENSIBLE AND RATIONAL trades unionists make sensible and rational speeches, newspapers of a broadly Conservative outlook hesitate to praise for fear of the injury they may do to the advocate of sense and reason.
*Ancient and nameless fears may be conjured up simply by our name. Very well, then, Mr Joe Gormley will have to endure the scorching impact of our hand upon his shoulder. For Mr Gormley in his address to the National Union of Mineworkers yesterday spoke very good sense indeed.' Thus wrote the Daily Telegraph in its lead Tuesday. What appealed to this extreme right-wing Tory paper was Gormley's attacks on the left and his declaration that the unions should lie down and offer no resistance to The form which Gormley's attack took is the social-democratic refusal to see inter-relationship between industrial and political There must be no use of industrial Any attempts to remove the Tories would, according to Joe Gormley, 'inevitably bring about Gormley and his friends in the trade union all along the line.
was published a Treasury the out to be a totally false hope. moyement fail to understand that every union struggle to defend living standards, every strike to defend union rights, is automatically political. Especially in a period of grave economic crisis when capitalist governments seek to protect their class there is no other way of resistance but a fightback As for the notion that the thin line defending British society from fascism is the Conseryative government... all one can say is that old Uncle Joe must have been a good deal less than politically sober to make wild assertions of this sort.
The day that the miners' conference began there report by the Independent Economic Model Club (ITEM). semi-official report boldly stated that Britain was heading for a worse slump than in 1974-75 (thus confirming Ernest Mandel's analysis published in the Guardian in May) that this slump had nothing to do with the oil crisis and that it would necessitate a massive confrontation with the unions.
The ideologues of the Tory Party are clearly hoping that the rise in unemployment will frighten the unions as it did in the '30s, but this could turn In reality, of far greater use to the Tories will be Tories a vital necessity at the present time.
labour movement.
rights can be expected fairly soon.
militant's armoury.
If the only labour movement nothing but contempt. union leaders like Gormley who argue agsinst any action on the grounds that it is a 'challenge to democracy". It is this that makes a struggle againsi the union leaders advocating collaboration with the The Rank and File conference to 'Defend the Unions' was therefore a politically vital initiative. The Code of Practice which emerged from the conference must be taken into the heart of the The Tories are not playing games. They realise perfectly well that with a new slump looming on the horizon they have to 'sort out' the unions. An offensive on the powers of pickets and other union Thus the Code of Practice is not just a piece of It should become a vital part of every obstacle which confronted the British working class was the Tories, the solution would be relatively easier. It is the leaders of the make the fight really difficult. They are 'sensible and rational' to the needs of capitalism. For its victims they show