La letter from an or the air force.
Le Personne & h London. The he shotguns are nal The current Kelly's guide does not even recognise the existence of the building! aig Colonel G.H. Matini, the head of the ing rs. Centre, does not appear on the London Diplomatic List. A flustered embassy telephonist was unable to confirm or to deny the existence of this department lot telephone at the Centre itself seemed a voice which answered the ine he little uncertain about where it worked.
The Logistics Support Centre shares Le Personn Attention_of Mr. Box Dear SIT, SHOVOURT Yours (festhtully.
Importa Frontens "Support
referred to as Millbank) and was under the control of the Crown Agents.
recently became lepartment under the personal contro of the Secretary of State.
presumably to prevent its activities being exposed as the Crown Agents' financial affairs were coming increasing scrutiny.
Millbank handles most deals with Iran. It also emerged during the Racal trial that Millbank was a channel for payment of 'commissions'.
Shapoor Reporter, business consultant, received £250,000 from Racal.
Sir Lester Suffield revealed at the trial that Reporter had also got Elm in 1971 for helping secure a £100m contract to supply Shah's regime. The directly approved by government, which knighted Reporter in 1973 "for services to interests'. (See box.)
The Royal Ordnance Factories, 13 of movement.
the building extended to BLUCCULIC.
Support Centre itself.
IMPERIAL IRANIAN AIR FORCE LONDUD MOD private arms production.
Ordnance makes them.
According nere to do a contradiction, Sir Tehran-based understand it, over Chieftains to the as 46 shotguns. payment was told Socialist child's toy gun.' None of this is very remarkable, except for the light it casts on the Iranian state's buying operations and how the arms trade works.
the implications of this case and the role of the government in promoting arms sales, and STEVE POTTER argues campaign against arms exports is a central task of the solidarity according a nameplate visible from the street with the Galustian Engineering Co. and the Perren Fire Protection Co.
The unit's security against unauthorised entry does not seem to be its equipment ordering When Socialist Challenge rang to speak to John Boyd, Manager of Le Personne's arms department, his assistant mistook us for the Logistics 0873 for further information.
them, are state-owned arms producers employing 22,500 people with sales of £211m in 1976. This is only a fraction of full The Ministry of Defence research and development establishments design and test new armaments; the Royal Master of the Ordnance Sir Hugh Beach, he is 'simply job. there then that is for government to reconcile. As far as I they don't find any insuperable difficulty in reconciling it.' Export Licences are the last point of contact between the arms dealers and the state and the one they must all go through - even on a contract as small One Department of Trade employee Challenge: 'You even need a licence to export caps for a The Department of Trade insists that each licence is given close individual The company hadn't yet replied to the request for a quotation on the Browning shotguns, we were informed, because the details given were too vague. We had to be more specific about the barrelling of the guns. Then Le Personne, an equipment ordering agency, could obtain details about supply from the Belgian manufacturers of the gun.
We said we'd let them know.
The letter from the Iranian Air Force ordering shotguns; and Hai House, wherethe Logistics Support Centre has its offices. Ring 937 consideration. In practice it is unlikely that any but the big contracts get the treatment. This consists submission to a panel of advisers appointed from top civil servants in the rcievant government Departments, 1 this case the DoT, MOD and Foreign Office.
The decision can be taken right up to cabinet level, though it is only wher Foreign Secretary vetoed an arms deal with E Salvador - that the public gets to hear of it. All details of individual export licences are aggregate totals are released.
Like the entire arms trade it is an Cric Conner operation immense political significance, concealed by the innocent commerce and the civil service.
But the crucial weakness of the arms export machine is that it still relies on workers to make and transport the weapons.
There lies our chance for solidarity.
with enormous tasks.
Photo: G.M. COOKSON (Socialist Chi Challenge has some detail. demands for culminating in the constituent assembly important at the present time.
We argued along DeCaUSE soft-pedalling on soviets, establishment of a workers state. did so because bridge between the present level Ihave mine."
democracy and they are correct. nave to strengthen the West. It also has power.
of democratic rights.
party, there will be not be determined in ability to respond to the only rank-and-file emerge.. party jargon of revolutionary party in Iran.
In a recent La party', Nigel Harris wrote:
In recent weeks both Socialist Worker and Socialist Challenge *The only DURING the last six months Socialist concentrated on disciplined analysing the Iranian political crisis in We have stressed that workers. rights election of were crucially these lines not was favour of the of power the struggle will develop further out of the fundamentals contradictions which are developing in the struggle for a constituent assembly.
It is always important to search for a consciousness of the masses and the future. It is important to find even the November smallest footpaths to that bridge. For without them one can easily be reduced Avanguardia to empty, albeit correct, propaganda.
Trotsky was fond of quoting an old German proverb in this regard: Indeed a silk hat is very fine, provided only that At the present time the masses want move democratic rights and fight against any manoeuvres by the army or sections of clear. Khomeini's supporters which delay elections for a constituent assembly.
At the same time the economic boom of the 1960s has created a new working which is characterised by al impetuosity and courage rarely seen in CMOT directly socialists. experienced the defeat of 1953, when a Their military coup restored the Shah to The need to fight for and organise trade unions is another important task Iran? which confronts socialists and those who are in favour of real and lasting Before there is a mass revolutionary revolutionaries. Its ability to grow will by any abstract today. models of party-building, but by their the prescu It would thus be foolish if the central task of Iranian revolutionaries in the working class was seen to be building discussions, groups in a situation where unions are only now beginning to comes a sect.
be built independently of its programme or its central political tasks. In a number of cannot simply articles the comrades of the British Socialist Workers Party have indicated that they too are in favour of building a article in Socialist Worker, entitled Iran, it's time to have the workers can establish a stable order is for themelves to take the lead, to take over the state. But for that they need an organised and party clear programme expressing the interests of We agree completely those sentiments. But a number of questions arise. The political current represented by the SWP has hitherto argued that it possible to construct revolutionary international. It there fore sought close links with likeminded organisations in other countries.
Likemindedness, however, consisted of agreement on tactics rather than the COSTS TSE proThis approach resulted in disaster, as Portugal and Italy revealed.
In Portugal the hectoring ultra-lefts of the PRP[BR] must bear part of the responsibility for the success of the 1975 counter-revolution, while in Italy the rank-and-filists Operaia drifted rightwards before its eventual break-up.
SWP leaders
extremely critical of their former allies in these two countries.
Does the recognition of the need to build a party in Iran signal an end to the old shibboleths of the SWP or is it essentially an attempt to recruit more ranians in Britain hat is stil noi modest group of supporters in iran at Fourth International has the present time. They have recently launched a weekly newspaper called Che Bayad Kard and are preparing a conference of Iranian revolutionary aim is to construct revolutionary workers party. How does the SWP view this and is it proposing to build an alternative organisation in We are not making any extravagant claims for the Fl in Iran. But we do stress that our ability to lay the basis for an organisation in Iran flows from our view that a revolutionary International can be constructed and needs to be built It must be a disciplined organisation, but one that is internally democratic The last thing that is needed is a small group established onrangles enterial which strangles internal the growth of independent-minded cadres and be The political crisis in Iran [or for that matter in Peru or southern Africa] does indicate that British rEVOLUTEC be contented providing solidarity. They must play s part in helping to build revolutionary organisations throughout the world.
The SWP should admit this and participate in the process, not just in Tran but internationally.
Socialist Challenge 1 February 1979 page
----- pull-quotes -----
• Re. АРИЕ 1357/6082 - 15 30th November 1878,
Thanking you in advance for your co-operation. blet - Loglettes Support Centre (Burope)
On this page GEOFFREY SHERIDAN visits the home of the Logistics Support Centre, RICHARD CARVER looks at some of
sort of that a
party? THE RETURN of Ayatollah Khomeini to Teheran will mark the end of the first phase of the mass struggle which brought down the Shah. In the period that follows the Iranian left will be confronted
have stressed the necessity of building a revolutionary workers party in Iran. But more is needed than just words.