continue to take place in Socialist Challenge. HAVING since the early 1970s embarked upon a course of considering the Soviet Union as the main enemy, the Chinese bureaucracy in turn used its hegemony over the Kampu chean CP leadership to whip up a systematic anti-Soviet and anti-Vietnamese campaign.
inflamed Kampuchean and did hesitate to appeal to the international bourgeoisie for and comfort against both Soviet Union and the VietMannese workers state The Vietnamese bureaucracy could have made the outcome of this process at least uncertain nael presented to Kampuchean masses communists attractive of aterialve genuine Indochinese socialist federation. A federation in which the peoples of Indochina would have enjoyed equal rights and all those forms of workers and peasants demoTHE extract we publish below reflects the position of | the Fourth International on the Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea. It was endorsed by the Political Bureau of the International Marxist Group last week.
A debate on the issues at stake will, however, cracy which would enable them to control their own destiny.
There can be no doubt that such a federation would have helped to solve the economic and social problems which the revolution was confronted in all three countries in the afteraid math of the huge destruction the and disruption barbarism of imperialist aggression.
But instead of following such an internationalist course, the Vietnamese bureaucracy transthe concept federation scarcely hiding the domination and control. and The Vietnamese racy's relations with DOVICES SITE DOOOL! in the eyes of the Kampuchean masses.
Under these circumstances, it was inevitable that traditional Kampuchean nationalist hos tility to the Vietnamese would again unfold and give both the Chinese bureaucracy stooges in Phnom necessary basis irresponsible campaigns against the Vietnamese workers state.
In turn, the extreme terrorist methods of mass deportation and mass executions used by the Pol Pot regime led to widespread discontent, and demoralisation among the Kampuchean masses, thereby facilitating the attempt by the grave bureaucracy Kampuchean question through victorious a full-scale military invasion, starting around 1978.
caused by the By opposing the invasion of Kampuchea by the Vietnamese army, the Fourth International does not give an of atom of support to the bloody formula terrorists of the Pol Pot clique Vietnamese That regime was a disgrace for socialism as no regime since bureauc- that of Stalin in the thirties has Laos been.
But the task of overthrowing these tyrants was and remains the job of the Kampuchean workers and poor peasants.
Under no circumstances can this task be bureaucracies of other countries and their armies.
and its Penh the for their claim of the new Pol Pot tyranny.
passivity irresponsible MESS resIStanceVietnamese the warfare present circumstances Christmas reactionary back against the 1975. regular The very defending ism make lutely imperative.
should oppose given to the Any further presence of the regular Vietnamese army on the cover territory of Kampuchea will not intervention. only transform into a farce the The regime in United Phnom Penh to be a genuine Kampuchean alternative to the It will also strongly inflame Kampuchean national feelings against foreign occupation and risk to trigger off long-term The • even une form of prolonged guerilla Kampuchea which under the could make it easier for the Thai dictatorship and imperialism to prepare a comeVietnamese revolution for the first time to Indochina, since its crushing defeat interests of chea Vietnamese attached. workers state against imperialan immediate withdrawal of the Vietnamese army from Kampuchea absoKampuchea!
Workers, peasants and other oppressed peoples of the world demands that the United Nations intervene in Kampuchea. Such intervention conflicts while unlikely given the states! present relationship of forces in Indochina and on a world scale - would only be a paper-thin ism!
for US imperialist US rulers used the Nations -LO mask counter-revolutionary moves during the Korean war in the 1950s and later in combatting nationalist forces in the Congo.
attempts use a pretext for tightening US military encirclement. diplomatic bovcott. and economic blockade of Vietnam should also be opposed.
The US rulers, who brought so much death and destruction provide massive reconstruction aid to Vietnam, Laos, and Kampuno strings No support to the Pol Pot and Immediate withdrawal of the Vietnamese regular army from Let the Kampuchean workers and peasants freely decide upon their own government!
Stop the military threats and between workers workers states against imperialReturn to the Leninist tradition of genuine proletarian For a democratic socialist federation of the Indochinese peoples, with a strict level of equality!
Against the bureaucratic dictatorships, for the demo. cratic rule of workers and peasants!
Imperialists hands off Kampuchea, hands off Viet nam!
ntercontinental Pre INDOCHINA and Iran are the central features of this week's Intercontinental Press/Inpre cor (Vol 17, No 8), along with coverage of the French stee strike, Spain, the Middle East the Indian women's Single copies i are 30p. Sub. scriptions are £9 for one year £5 for six months or £2.50 fo an introductory offer of 10 Write now to inter continental Press/Inprecor, PO Box 50, London N1 2XP. Cheques payable to Intercontinental Press/Inprecor
SOCIALIST CHALLENGE EVENTS Problems of Labour THE article How Labour councils could pay' (15 February) provides far too facile a solution for the very real problems finance Labour councils in a capitalist state.
As it stands, Refuse to pay interest charges' is simply sloganising.
Local government authorities have only three sources of income: rates, grants from central government, and raising loans in the money Capitalist financial institutions are hardly renowned for their altruism, and any local authority which withheld interest payments would soon find itself cut off from this source of funding.
As for rates, this is one of the most unfair systems of taxation. It does not discriminate between rich and poor. Our transitional demands include the abolition of the rating system (with a special super-tax on empty privately-owned buildings such as Centre Point), and the introduction of a progressive local income tax afford to pay.
This a demand immediately realisable if the Labour movement brings its full strength to bear on a Labour government.
Furthermore, our programme should also include the demand for nationalisation without of all institutions, such as banks, insurance companies, etc. This would enable central government interest-free loans to local authorities, provide capital for expanding the health and social services, education, the arts, etc.
While we must press inclusion of this in programme, we must be under no lusion that such a policy is feasible under capitalism. Only a democratically controlled workers government, determined on a planned transition to sociansm, can rcanse unis In a planned socialist economy, with profits no longer being siphoned off into the pockets of the capitalists, or utilised to finance imperialist suppression in Ireland preparatons against Union and other non-capitalist states, output itself generate the capital required both to assure the workers a civilised living standard and to improve our environment and community services. CHARLIE VAN GELDEREN [London NW10] THE DEADLINE for this column is the Saturday NORTH WEST WARRINGTON Socialist Challenge grester Socialist Challenge olice for group meets reculary.
GREATER MANCHESTER Socialist ontact Chris (273 5947, day) or Stev Manchester Se Caine, 14 Piccadily. LLO 4208 write BOLTON Socialist Challenge pubil neeting: 'Iran — an eyewitness repor or ine revolution Thur 8 March, with speaker Brial 8pm, IN TE wine Lion, moor Laner Deansedie MOSS supporters sell the paper at Moss Side SIDE Socialist Challenge OLDHAM Socialist Challenge group Manchester Sc Centre, clo tortnightly to equality?
Women's Group March 7.45pm, Windso pub, Egan St.
SALFORD Socialist Challenge Socials acted at n Centre c/o 14 Piccadilly, Manche which face instant-leftist"
March) to turn one should public which is claim...
transitional the Labour financial because their make a position, in other words, audience and war Soviet would real names from publication LCUUCSL. group NORTH EAST NEWCASTLE rocai supponers are active. It vou want 2905in them, phone Pete on (0632) DURHAM Socialist Challenge Sup For details contact Dave Brown Pittington, Durham.
MIDDLESBROUGH Socialist
Saturday lunchtime near tand at Cleveland Centre MIDDEESBKOUGH socialist lence supoorters meeting. vorkers and the state' with soeake om locar social worker STOCKTON-ON-TEES readers can buy Socialisi Challence from Green Books upstairs in the Spencer Hall shopping centre SCOTLAND For information about the paper or its scotland oleas contact Challenge Books.
Sat afternoons. Phone for alternative arrangement (221 401). Wide range or Fourth International publications EDINBURGH Socialist DUNDEE Information about Socialist Challenge activities from 64 Queen St, Ultra-left on Camden I AM staggered at your attempt (1 of the most significant developments so far in the the pay award won by Camden NUPE into a supposed sell-out on the national claim. The article acknowledges in its first paragraph that it is a significant pay victory', but goes on to say la blow has been dealt to low pay in Camden' (not anywhere else, note) and that Camden should have continued 'to play their leading role by staying out for the full national To my mind it is ultra-leftism gone mad to suggest that Camden NUPE should have told their employers council - to get lost offer involved the consolidation of some bonuses (the Camden offer represents in the order of a 45 per cent increase for the large majority of the Camden workers and is almost certainly in excess of what will be achieved at a national level).
This is tantamount to arguing that for revolutionaries it has to be all or nothing...a position which would lead to the rejection of a return to work in almost all strikes, at almost all times;
which would guarantee revolutionaries an consisting solely themselves (was it parts of the far left who made up the six opposition votes at the mass meeting of over 1,000?).
The logic of your article, however, usually be kept down to 400 words in order to encourage as wide a range of contributions as possible. All letters may be cut at the Editor's discretion.
Unsigned letters will not normally be published, although we will withhold on time.
Saturday 11am-2pm Challenge HAMILTON supporters sell Socialist details of local activities contact John Ford, 553 Eliot Crescent, Hamilton.
ABERDEEN June rantan revoluton Chal- Brian Grogan. Wed 21 March Aberdeen Trades Council. Adelphi (of Union Street) from Newsfare in YORKSHIRE Chal- HUDDERSFIELD Socialist Challenge Thur 8 HUDDERSFIELD Socialist Challenge croup meets forwenty or nursddys Northumberland St. 1 March: speaker on castem curope regularly on Saturday Westgate the Nat Bank, 12.30-2.00pm Yo You Community Beikhop, throughout Socialist Walmgate LEEDS Socialist Challenge sales ever when Leeds Utd are playing at home!
MIDLANDS VENTRY Socialist Challenge gr ets fortnightly on Tuesdays at 8 SCREEN YOU SEE A STANDING IN THE DESERT IN JO DEAL TOM NOT STRANGE is that the offer should have been rejected even if it had met the full claim. In other words, oppose local negotiations. This contradiction to your article the DICVIOUS week, which correctly argued that the offer secured by Camden NUPE's all-out strike showed to all public sector workers that their £60/35-hour claim isn't pie in the sky.
But instead of trumpeting this achievement, and suggesting that the Camden branch publicises success in the country, you denounce the branch leadership for having the temerity to accept the offer.
The only circumstances in which the branch leadership could credibly argue that remaining on strike (and risking having the offer withdrawn) would be the only way to strengthen the national struggle is where that struggle was, at the very least, on the brink of substantial all-out action. If that was the analysis of Socialist Challenge you have been manifestly reluctant to put forward the evidence. PAT MASTERS (Islington)
PSC lives YOUR issue of 22 February includes a letter from a member of the British Anti-Zionist Organisation (BAZO) informing everyone that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has disbanded. This is not true, and we are surprised that you published the letter without checking the information in it.
Anyone who wants to contact the Box 98, Rising Free, Street, London N1.
NIGEL WARD (London)
Hats off to Camden!
THE INTERNATIONAL Marxist Group's Political Bureau obviously enjoys facing both ways at the same The great victory of Camden NUPE is justly applauded in Socialist orner of Reform Si eac each the new technology NOTTINGHAM SocIalIsT For details supporters mrouenout ine onanena LINC An eyewitness account o with speake Birmingham (021) 643 9209 TOL SOUTH WEST ISLE OF WIGHT reader Socialist Challer BATH Socialist Challenge Club, details saturda commercial Road Precinc Challen College: SaturSOUTH EAST WITH HIS Challenge (1 March): *If the eventual (national) settlement was to match. that one in Camden, then the attempts direct of the government to restrict further wage increases this year would be stopped dead. But then the branch leadership is lambasted for not having urged rejection!
Unlike Socialist Challenge, Camden Journal reports what secretary John Suddaby actually said at the mass meeting: achieved a great deal, although we their have not won our full claim...This is just Sine beginning should he have done Camden NUPE have shown the way; they can hardly be berated for not having taken on the national struggle virtually single-handed. How Camden's victorious return to work can be seen to weaken the fight nationally is beyond our under standing.
True, they didn't storm the Winter Palace, but it would have been irresponsible for any revolutionary to have argued for rejection. This would have jeopardised the unity forged in Camder NUPE's isolated) all-out action and the veryt real material gains made. In that unity lies the key to the future.
The IMG Political Bureau seems out or touch with ine reanties ol industrial struggle. Hats off to John Suddaby and Camden NUPE!
IRENE BRUEGEL.
KUPER (London NW5)
Give us a quote Upper ZED Press is planning to put together a volume of quotations from a wide range of socialist thinkers and revoronaries, paruculany from te 20th century and stressing World figures. Anyone on the left interested in playing a role in this project or able to send us quotations they admire (together with precise details as to source, please), do get in touch with Zed Press, 57 Caledonian readers regulary Tuesdays.
Susalom Books, Heathetest. for details of • activiTes Midlands loca Docidilst onalenge Digbeth hion street 11am-1pm, do Union Sha lenge from the Oz Shor OWER saturday, 2-3.30pm, outside Macrisr Ring Bath 20298 for furthe SOUTHAMPTON socialist Cnallende ales every Saturday from 10am-1pi bove bar. Post Office. Bargai Challenge TOWER lenge WINDON supporters sell Sociali Saturdays, Challenge Say tam pm in the als NORWICH Socialist Challenge sale: every Saturday in Davey Place (London N1)
branch BOB •We have tency sexist more sexual and anti-racist (almost earlier books RICHARD Third naiversity of East Angl Thursdays at DHIGHION OU TOrUMS TORTIOnE Contact Micky on 60505 COLCHESICH SocIalIst Challeng sudoorers meet reculary. ror deras onone steve on vivennoe 234s LONDON SW LONDON sales every Saturday Clapham Junction (Northcote Rd), Brixton tube, Claphan tUDe Dainlan - TUDE hiso on bookstals outside ovar Tude HAMLES Socialist Chal lenge supporters sell every weekend saturoays meet 1o. suam Whitechao lupe, bunadys meet quam, brick Lane comer or Duxion ou WAL MAM rokEs Daper sales ever Daturday, am-noon outside ine dos office. Hoe St. Walthamstow, Londor HAMLETS Socialist Chal one 247 2717 for details) fortnight RENT supporters sell every Saturde PADDINGTON/N. Kensington Social"The speaker Toni women's Gonor meeting room of t 'Tabernacle albot Rd. (Powis Sq.). W1 Road, London N1 9DN ROGER ZWANENBIG LeGuin's SF Gilbert's puzzlement (8 February) concerning the inconsisbetween Ursula LeGuin's critique of science fiction and the structure of her children's books should be easy to dispel.
Looking at LeGuin's work from these early productions to more recent adult works (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, ete.), there is a clear development in her thinking an increasing concern with issues o politics socialism and anarchism, and the transformation of personal relationships.
Like many of us, she has been deeply affected by anti-imperialist struggles women's movement, and the article reflects this growing awareness. Her can thus be seen as examples of how an exceptionally sensitive writer can unquestioningly take over the presuppositions of the field in which s/he works.
Of course this doesn't exhaust the issue. Should LeGuin write a preface to new editions of the children's books attempting to explain this to her young audience - and would shi be able to persuade her publishers to And, while accepting that LeGuin's breadth of vision in her recent work is something that most revolutionaries could learn a lot from, this isn't to say that it doesn't pose problems of its own, even in the terms of her article -why are the main characters almost always men, even when non-sexist societies are portrayed? What space is there for revolutionary organisation (or is this another alien)?
IAN MILES (Brighton)
Moad NW2, 7.30pm. Everyone welcome HACKNEY Socialist Challenge grou , left going?' With Dodie invited from sWP 7.30pm, at the Britannia pub, Mare St.
HACKNEY Saturday Sainsbury's HARINGEY Paper sales at Finsbur Park and Seven Sisters tubes evening; Muswell Hill and Crouch End B Lane, N: and newsacent Bookmarks, Finsbury Park Middle HARINGEY Socialist Challenge sup porters DUDHe meeting. record over the last six months'. Thur 8 Community Centre, Stanley Rd., N1: TWVOSI (Turnpike Lane tube)
WALTHAMSTOW readers can Sheridan's Newsagents, 86 Hoe 91
reactions from the press.
The Guardian THE SHOWING last week of It Ain't Half Racist Mum - the Campaign Against Racism in the Media's Open Door programme on BBC-TV — brought mixed said it was an important half-hour of comedy'. contribution to the debate'. The Dail Mail made it their 'Pick of the Day'. The Observer announced: "Those interested in the sort of censorship that will prevail after "the revolution" should not miss this JOHN THACKARA, describes the nine months of frenetic activity that went into the making of the programme; and MIKE PHILLIPS, a freelance West Indian journalist, expresses some doubts about its usefulness. secretary of CARM,
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which will place the burden where it belongs - on those who can best
or priced ly. Discrimination Acts P
Socialist Challenge 8 March 1979, page 14 table (CORMACI
Regent St (Brunel Centre) York
actor 02. marks 110 Che ten am Road.