East of London Labour Briefing no. 2

The problem of asbestos was one of the first which I met when 1f became MP for Barking, nearly ten years ago. Because the Cape Asbestos factory had been in Barking, and so Many people from the Borough and from the East End had worked in it, there was virtually not a family in the community who had not heard o worse still experienced - the tragedy of asbestosis.

As with pneumoconiosis in mining villages, asbestosis was, and still remains, a dread to those who worked with the material and to their families.

Much greater public concern has developed since then, and now the problem is recognised as a national, and even an international one. Awareness of it has produced many reports, and even an EEC Directive on its dangers > and still people are dying of the disease, and still industry is reluctant to change.

But those who have campaigned over the years for tighter controls and for aban on the use of the material - individuals, groups, our local Labour

Parties, the General & Municipal Workers Union and others - can at long last take some comfort, for there are now.signs of veal action.

5. To “set up an asbestos working group to report periodically, and check the cleaning of premises.

6. To issue guidelines on the dumping and handling of asbestos waste, which is at present uncontrolled.

The Health & Safety Commission have recently made concrete proposals -which are encouraging. They are:-

le To impose stricter controls on industry in the use of asbestos ( though sadly and inexplicably they will not come into force for twelve months ).

ya To discuss, with the Department of the Environment, measures to protect the public from the dangers of asbestos.

3 To ask Parliament to BAN imports of asbestos, and to BAN the manufacture of products containing the material.

4. To reduce the level of asbestos dust which is permissible in the air in workplaces...

That's fine, and I've already written to the Secretary of State for the Environment to ask when he is going to introduce the legislation to ban the material. The Commission also acknowledged that the link between. asbestos and cancer is indisputable - a fact that sufferers could have told them in the first place. What we now need to do, is to campaign for more generous Compensation from industry, speedier processing of applications for State benefit, and a more generous level of benefit.

Jo Richardson MP

‘Barking

Continued on Back Page......

SEPTEMBER COMMENT

AS we prepare to fight against the most reactionary

government in living memory,

and

made it known

we should be ready to

chew over new strategies and tactics. that they will be

discuss The Tories have

cutting local services

further, with tighter controls and even bigger reductions in

the Rate Support Grant.

Labour controlled councils in London responded to the Tories first wave of cuts in vagdous ways.Some refused to make the cuts and raised. rates, others made the cuts.Both of these strategies are now untenable. The former because not only did it make Labour councils unpopular but it will disappear as an option with the governments proposed rate capping: The latter not only because those councils who

adopted it cannot be considered to be

Socialist, but that services are now already

wholly inadequate.

Political Strait-Jacket

The ability to raise the rates to run local

services is the last degree of political

freedom Labour controlled councils have.The

removal of this by rate capping will in

effect turn local authorities into apolitical quango's. The Labour Party was set up to represent

working people, as it's first name suggested

(Labour Representation Commitee):And nat to

represent a reactionary government to

working people. If we do not want to

become the arm that pulls the hangmans lever on the people we represent, we will have to

act precisely and in unison.

The the

mobilising

campaign discussed in

article by Nadine Finch, is undoubtedly

major first step.But we have to face the

fact that this may only be the first step.

New Strategies

Recently people have been begining to talk

about the latter of these options and three

ideas have been floated-

1. Mass resignation of Labour controlled

councils (London Labour Briefing.Feb

'83),co-ordinated with as many councils as

possible and with safegaurds to the community. 2. All majority Labour groups move into opposition. 3. Force the government to bring in a

commisioner and then isolate them through

trade union action.

These and other strategies have to now be discussed and the pages of EAST OF LONDON LABOUR BRIEFING will be open for the debate.

The important point is that when we do act

we must act together. As East of London LABOUR BRIEFING develops, we intend to rotate the editorship so that

there is the maximum scope for style and

The editorial meetings, which are

opinion. completely open to members of the Labour Party, will be moved around the magazines.

catchment area. September editor

Michael Mckeever

LABOUR PARTY

CONFERENCE

our last Editorial meeting (nb. ~° our Gewleee are open to ALL Labour Party members) a slate was chosen and is reproduced below on point 3. rt. “ds, however, a great pity that wider consultation was not possible. This could mean, for example, that subscribers to Militant will split the Left vote (ie Pat Wall, Terry Fields)

Fight the Tories

It is evident that the new leader of the Party must be surround by comrades who are firmly in touch with Party workers on the ground and can be relied upon to end the witch hunt.

Since the General Election tragedy, the NEC Meetings have been wasting. time on the irrelevant witch hunt. It is an insult to

HEFFER-MEACHER

ar the people who voted for what was the Will not damage your nearést thing we have had to a Left

rr manifesto, in spite of the media attacks. We political health are supposed to be representing them. VOTE

FOR THE LEFT SLATE....LET'S GET INTO THE

Now that the media are unable to determine the leader of the Labour Party, by scaring eo MATTERS....THE FIGHT oe THE

and cajoling the Parliamentary Labour Party into a ‘leader who is sympathetic to the establishment they represent; they have decided to use the .unstoppable band-wagon technique. This has taken the form of portraying Kinnock as the acceptable face of the left: but acceptable to whom? The Media's narrow consensual to right wing political standpoint? The Kinnock/Hattersely ticket has certainly been calculated to be likely to cause the minimum damage to the media's interests.

Support the left slate

CONSTITUENCY SECTION ‘Tony Benn

David Blunkett Eric Heffer

Michael Meacher

Jo Richardson Dennis Skinner

As Reg Race pointed out in last month's London LABOUR BRIEFING, Neil Kinnock's record on the NEC has been abysmal. He has ‘also expressed a strong desire for the abandonment of specific policy pledges in the manifestos and has advocated the maximum freedom for the leadership when in government.( A leaf out of Thatcher's book?)

Audrey Wise RESERVE NOMINATION

Norman Atkinson

WOMENS SECTION

Margaret Becket

Judith Hart Patricia Hewitt

In the leadership campaign, Kinnock has not only upheld the commitment to expel socialists, who dare to rear their heads on the left of the Party, but has indicated a positive appetite for an increase in this type of witch-hunt. Nowhere has he attacked groups which associate on the right of the

Party.

It now looks as though the press has done its job well. Kinnock is likely to be elected but, that still leaves us’ three essential tasks:-

1) Make sure that as many CLP's as possible back Eric Heffer. This will highlight Kinnock's lack of support with Party activists. ( The comrades who actually do the work in the Party ).

2) Continue to work in our CLP's and Trades Unions for Michael Meacher as deputy leader. 3) Ensure the election of a Left NEC.

Joan Maynard Rene Short

Youth Training Scheme: Yes or No?

School leavers this year are being bombarded

with adverts in Job Centres, Careers Offices, on TV and radio and in the press, all extolling the virtues of the Youth

Training Scheme.

Many of them will have been looking for jobs since they left school last May, and will have learned the ‘no thanks' and ‘ring back later' routine. They are being told that YTS is an opportunity to get some training, so that they will be better equipped to chase what few jobs there are. The message from the adverts is:-

“How are you going to get on if don't get on a Youth Training Scheme?"

you

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS ON OFFER????

The deal is one year's training with an employer, which should include 3 month's off the job training, and the other 9 months on "work experience'.

The naturally

type of training schemes on offer will reflect the sort of jobs available, so the majority of training will be in offices. There will be some training in shops, engineering and in the building trades. The standard -of training varies enormously. There is no quality inspection, so it is pretty much 'pot luck' as to how good the training you get turns out to be.

So whether or not youngsters can improve their chances of getting a job will depend on the nature of the scheme itself. Under

the old style YOPS (which YTS replaces) only one in three trainees got a job as a_ result of the scheme. Under YTS the odds could well be longer, simply because so many jobs will be replaced by the large elements of work experience included in the schemes.

Bear in mind that most youngsters start out in the dogsbody jobs (if they get that lucky) - cleaning floors, running errands

and the general 'here and there' work. This will become part of the training schemes. If

your job is classed as unskilled, then you will need to watch out. That old nagging fear of being replaced by someone younger

and cheaper is now suddenly a stark reality.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, the employers get a much better deal out of the scheme. Not only do they get free 'trainees', they are actually paid by the Government ( out of our taxes ) to provide this training. An employer gets £1850 for every trainee he takes on - and if he offers a large number of places, he can become a 'managing agency' and collect £1950

for each trainee. For example the BIG FIVE banks ( always in the front ranks of the bloodsuckers brigade ) are taking on hundreds of ‘trainees' and literally laughing all the way to their own cash tills.

The the apprenticeship system it is designed

organisation of these schemes resembles to

destroy. The difference between YTS and an apprenticeship is the wage level - a mere £25 a week. So whereas an apprentice at

British Telecom can expect to earn about £70

a week, the YTS trainee will get £25. Ther are other important differences, which “the Labour movement needs to be aware of.

employment

The apprentice has a contract of and

containing a statement of their hours duties and protection from race and sex discrimination ( in so far as the law provides it ). The YTS trainee will have a training contract. He or she will be outside the current employment legislation, outside

the race and sex discrimination laws and in a dubious position with regards to the Health & Safety at Work Act.

NEWHAM 8 DEFENCE CAMPAIGN NATIONAL MARCH AGAINST RACISM & RACISTS SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 24TH

PLASHET PARK Defend the GLC

ASSEMBLE 1.00PM

The GLC is under threat! The Tory government with its renewed mandate is determined to get ite teeth into the Labour

YTS cont controlled GLC and ILEA, which have been a ane source of endless irritation to the Tory

massed ranks in the House of Commons.

A recent 'TV Eye' programme explained that in the past year alone there have been 2 | can we ignore this threat? Can we from the deaths and 300 injuries to young people on | ethnic minorities, sit back while the GLC is YOP schemes. These figures are certain to | threatened along with the other metropolitan get worse as more and more youngsters are | authorities in England? Can we wash our press-ganged into YTS. The trainees are not | hands of the whole business like some latter only exposed to very real chances of | day Pontius Pilate, and leave the GLC and exploitation, but their physical safety is | ILEA to Mrs Thatcher's carving knife? put at considerable risk. We, from the ethnic minorities, see the So WHY should youngsters take part??? attack on the GlC and ILEA as a direct The simple answer is that, come September, frontal attack on us, as an attack on the when school leavers are able to sign on, initiatives taken by these Labour controlled THEY WILL HAVE THEIR DOLE MONEY CUT FOR 6 | authorities to improve the lot and standing WEEKS IF THEY DON'T. Their money will be of our brothers and sisters. reduced from £15.80 to £9.80. If they refuse again they could face a repeat of the _same True, we may not always have been happy penalty. Many families, already hard hit by | about the manner in which these initiatives unemployment, will find this cut in their | have been promoted. We are not uncritical income a very serious blow, particularly | too, about the apparent lack of consultation when they face the loss of the youngsters | and involvement in some quarters about the Child Benefit from September. It is not | direction and conception of some of these surprising therefore that youngsters will initiatives. take up the scheme; they will be conned by x the adverts and if they are too bright for | put these qualifications can in no way alter that, they will be forced into it by the | our absolute determination to support and financial penalties. defend the GLC and the ILEA, in the areas of . — , positive discrimination, improvement of job What is surprising, is that there are so few opportunities and enhancing the qualities of voices in the Labour movement willing to ynr educational facilities.

speak out against this form of exploitation. ; Yet it strikes at the heart of everything The GLC is now setting up the necessary the Trades Union movement has stood for and machinery to provide the broad front that is it represents a return to the days of a needed to block this Tory onslaught. The

ready, hungry and cheap labour force. ethnic minorities are being sensibly consulted and will be playing a major part

The ‘schemes are coming into effect NOW. in the campaign to halt the Tory juggernaut.

Trades Unions, Labour Councils and potential trainees are not politically ready to deal wtih them. In order to promote the necessary debate, within the columns of East of London LABOUR BRIEFING, let me propose the following basic demands that the left should make within the Labour Movement:-

We see the next few months, beginning in early autumn, as being the most critical for Londoners, and above all for the ethnic minorities. The dismemberment of the GLC, the carve up of the ILEA and the removal of accountability for services for Londoners is nothing less than a huge backward step for

: : ; val a) TUC pull out of talks with bbit London. Londoners are- losing the socia MSC ® “_ Tebbit and the gains they have made in the last hundred

b) Tuc alert the trades union movemnet to years and are being forced back to the the dangers of YTS Victorian soup kitchen era. That is what Mrs c) The PLP to agitate about the dangers of Thatcher is aiming to achieve.

¥TS d) Labour Councils to pull out of the scheme until financial penalties are removed and job replacement is excluded from it

We must galvanise all our communities for the battle ahead - the London Labour Movement will not fail us.

Vidya Anand Iford South CLP Careers Advisor & LP member Chair Ethnic Minorities Working Party GLLP

| Leyton Shows the Way

Labour in Leyton saw off the defector Magee and the Tory challenge in the general election. It wasa tremendous team effort in the best socialist tradition, and the victory belonged to all our Party activists and workers.

Despite lies spread by our opponents of our campaign crumbling one week and disintegrating the next, we were able to say (in an eve-of-poll leaflet) that we had knocked on every door in Leyton and had won massive popular support.

During the campaign we explained our Socialist policies to all by completing a 100 per cent canvass and by producing and distributing over 220,000 leaflets and ward newsletters.

We were not caught napping by the election announcement; our campaign was well planned beforehand with an ‘organisation not only relying upon an effective eleciion agent (this we had), but also based upon an active political organiser and organisers for each branch. My election address was part of our team effort. All branches had sight of an early draft and were involved in having a say as to its final form.

We had a variety of leaflets (we produced.

ourselves) to meet the special interests of electors; e.g. women, pensioners, blacks, parents taking their children to school, council tenants, workers relying on public transport, etc. Canvassers had never known such a choice of leaflets to hand out. On election day itself we shocked our opponents by man and woman-ing every polling station, having well-organised committee rooms, and by the number of Party workers we had getting our vote.

Leyton Labour Party ‘President’ 89 year-old Jenny Hammond described our effort and commitment as being ‘as good as in the old days’, and other experienced Party members acknowledged it as the best campaign in which they had fought.

No wonder we had the best result for Labour in the south-east! Our aim locally now is to build on the links we have established in Leyton during the past year. If we do this, we will have a socialist network of political activists and support which is second to none. I have already told my. general committee that I will wholeheartedly play my part as our MP in consolidating and continuing this effort in whatever way the Party sees fit.

TRAGIC MISTAKE

We know that the policies we fought on were right. Our victory locally demonstrates this. To retreat from them now to policies more akin to the SDP would be a tragic mistake and a betrayal

of the hopes of millions of our supporters nationally. Our duty is to analyse the reasons for our national defeat — we know full-well in Leyton that we cannot pull off socialist victories in limbo indefinitely — and to make sure that our policies are properly communicated and understood by our people. Factors in our defeat were: The polls swamping our policies. 1 would not object to the banning of these polls during election campaigns, but the real answer is to communicate our policies. Locally, we side-stepped the polls and the press by getting out onto every doorstep. We have to make sure that this is done nationally, not just in the four weeks of an election. Our campaigns must be a continuous crusade. We also have to join and lead campaigns against Thatcher-induced job losses, cuts in welfare services and her bigger and deadlier nuclear missiles wherever we can.

We should have a permanent ‘rolling’

manifesto, updated each year by our Annual

Conference, in which our policies are clearly set out and which we can campaign upon. A daily paper of the Labour and trades union

movement should become a reality.

Leadership equivocation over our policies. There

‘was a failure to support enthusiastically Conference policies, eg witness the defence debacle. The anger felt by many towards the Tories was not communicated. Thatcher herself was not shown up as the incompetent she is in many respects and also, tragically, no vision of a better, socialist future was put across.

The divided Party image. 1 have heard some Labour MPs already blaming reselection for this, in their own desire to turn back the tide of accountability within the Party. But that issue was settled eighteen months before the election. (It would have been settled before then but for their, and the now SDPers, rearguard action.)

What really contributed to this image was the unnecessary witch hunt in the last year. It fed the press lie about extremists which was not properly dealt with. That lie had been going on for four years without reply.

Poor organisation nationally. The national campaign gave the appearance of being organised from scratch in four weeks. Our policies were agreed well in advance and strategies for campaigning on them should haye been well prepared. The role of the Campaign Committee

Harry Cohen MP

Leyton

of the NEC, widely alleged to have been inefficient and Ineffective, also needs to be fully scrutinised. We cannot properly fight elections if we are organisationally handicapped, and Harold Wilson’s phrase about not being able to run a

vinegar stall in a chip shop should never be allowed to apply.

WET TORIES

A few final points need to be made:

Cecil Parkinson, the ex-Tory Party chairman, has been shown to have lied when he said that the SDP were a danger to the Conservatives in 80 seats. The SDP’s historic role in this election was to take Labour votes and let in Tories throughout the country. One of our jobs now is to expose the SDP/Liberals as wet Tories (Owen, in his first speech to the new Parliament, even asked Thatcher to broaden her base to accomodate them), and support for them just allows the Tories to prosper

Who said THAT 7?

Jack Thomas, Chair Parks and Recreation Barking & Dagenham Council. ; Speaking on Thames TV on people asking for local parks to be kept safe for children.

Play it Black

We also, though, have to recognise that we ourselves must no longer take what we thought of as our traditional Labour voter for granted. As I have stated, our socialist policies are right in that they are based on the needs and requirements of our people. But we must show that they are reievant. Talking in slogans or jargon, or just talk (whether in the local Council or on the General Committee) and no action within our communities, does not help.

Some of the right of the Party have been speaking in effect of ‘following’ the voters by latching on to short-term consumerist aspirations. But as a socialist Party, we have to do much more than that. We have to inspire and lead our people into a better future free from the various types of capitalist restriction of all our people before the accumulation of weaith for a few.

Only if we do this, and learn the lessons of this defeat, will we make Leyton an example for next

time to be repeated in the form of socialist wins over the country.

"It is alright for them to sit back when they are not in the driving seat. If they are prepared to accept all the responsibility for over-spending on estimates; if they are prepared to accept that AND pay it on an increased

rate AND support the members of this Authority so be it. We would look at it very very seriously. No one is prepared to do that. No one is prepared to have extra rate increases”.

-‘The debate

Labour councils

Association ..is BREIFING readers

and reaching

SMASHING THE CONSENSUS

over the future role of London the

might find it

London’ Boroughs crucial stage. useful to

have a summary of the position.

The LBA is an association of London Boroughs, set up to speak on behalf of local government in London when discussions with central government, or other bodies are needed. Its political composition reflects the political compositions of the various boroughs. Consequentially, it changes hands from time to time.

Whether in the majority or the minority, the to

Labour delegates to the LBA have tended

be the ‘old guard' established leadership figures. The younger radical councillors have rarely been involved. Until recently the same has been true of the Tory delegates.

However, particularly since the 1982 elections, the influence of doctrinaire

Thatcherism on the Tory group has grown rapidly, in some respects mirroring the growing influence of the hard left on Labour councils over the same period.

In autumn last year, when we established the Association of Socialist Councillors, we declared ourselves opposed to the so called "bipartisan' attitude taken by the older generation of Labour leaders on the LBA and the other local authority associations. We believed that these leaders had always tried to use the opportunity to negotiate with the

Tories, in these arenas, aS a means of softening the conflicts caused by the cuts and the attacks on local democracy. They would argue, for example, that the Rate Support Grant settlements had been less terrible than they could have been, because of the technical arguments they had put forward in private meetings. We felt this approach was wrong. What should have been central to the thinking of the leaders of Labour councils was public campaigning and

not private supplication.

The as remove these excuses field, and open the confrontationist style.

AMA etc. We wanted to

the political to a more

leadership were using the LBA, excuses for NOT fighting.

from road

We need not have been so anxious. The Tories were more than willing, for their part, to break the 'bipartisan' approach.They steamed into their 'Smash the GLC' campaign with a degree of energy and ruthlessness that we should try to emulate in our own activities.

The Labour old guard were horrified. were the nice gentlemanly Tories yesteryear? One might almost think that the Tories were fighting the class war.

Where o=

Last year's London Regional Conference responded angrily, and by a clear majori called on Labour councils to pull out of the

LBA. The London Labour Leaders Group began to make plans for an alternative organisation, which eventually became the

Association of London Authorities (ALA), which all the Labour Boroughs, except Tower Hamlets, have now affiliated.

Growing support for ALA

growth of support for the ALA of withdrawals of Labour Councils from the LBA began to alarm the Tories and created a new opportunity for the Labour right to manouvre again. Both of them began looking for ways to attack the ALA and to force the Labour Party back into the LBA.

The and a

series

Leading Labour right wingers began privately to lobby the NEC on behalf of the LBA. Roy Shaw, deposed leader of Camden, and Jack Smart from the AMA continually pressed the NEC to overturn the Regional Conference decision, on the basis of no mandate other than their private enthusiasm for wheeling and dealing with the Tories. Eventually they gained a tactical advantage. By sheer persistence, they got NEC endorsement for their line. It must be asserted in every discussion on this subject that their is no democratic mandate whatsoever for this interference with policy formulated by Regional Conference. It represents nothing more than the activities of a handful of dedicated right wingers.

Tories saw their chance to go into the and help Shaw in his attempts -to the left. At the LBA General Purposes Committee in June, they adopted a hardline statement claiming to be the ONLY group able to speak for local government on London,and decided to begin a campaign to force the Labour Party back into the LBA.

The attack

isolate

Their main line of attack was going to be on grant making. The LBA makes a certain number of grants to voluntary organisations whose activities cross borough boundaries, so that some joint funding machinery is obviously sensible. In 1983/4 they have budgetted to give out £750,000 ( about the same amount as the GLC is giving just to sports this year )

However, they will lose the power to make these grants if they cannot show that they represent ALL the boroughs. Four boroughs

have already pulled out of the LBA and so no grants can be made next year unless other arrangements are made.

The Tories and the right wing of the Labour Group on the LBA wanted to use this factor to blame the left boroughs for the hardship caused to the voluntary organisations and their clients. They began making contact with the voluntary organisations concerned and seeking to persuade them to bring pressure on the four councils that had pulled out.

How could this argument be countered? We can point to the previous record of the Tories and the Labour right on the LBA to expose their, recently aquired, concern as hypocrisy. The LBA has never used its grant making powers to the full, and Roy Shaw was not even willing to argue that it should do so ( even though the Group had agreed that this was the line ). Paul Beesley, leader of Tower Hamlets, went so far as to agree with the LBA GP Chairman that it was helpful to have a restricted grants budget, because it makes it easier to .turn away unwanted applications.

GLC grants

When the GLC began to pump out grants in a serious way, the response of the LBA Tories was to review their own grants with the intention of making compensating cuts if

money

there was any GLC money going to any of ‘their' organisations. At least one Tory borough now regularly turns away all grant

applicants, telling them to go to the GLC

first. This is the information we should use to reply to any pressures from voluntary groups who want the LBA system to continue.

The ALA however, was not dull enough to be caught in this trap. ALA leader, Margaret Hodge wrote to Tory LBA leader Bowness, suggesting joint discussions to arrive at a voluntary joint agreement for grants to be paid. Bowness rejected this out of hand; his

hands were tied by the Tory hawks line that the LBA was the ONLY body of London local authorities.

The next counter move from the Labour side was Brent's offer to co-ordinate joint funding by the London’ Boroughs. It is

perfectly legal for any group of boroughs to work together in this way, whether or not it is done through an association like the LBA.

The indications are, at this stage, that several Tory boroughs will refuse to take part in this venture, and thereby avoid making any grants, so the fault for removing funding to the voluntary groups falls back onto the Tories. The GLC has not yet had time to discuss the position, but leading

spokesmen at County Hall are anxious to reassure the voluntary groups that they will

give “very sympathetic consideration" to their needs. : Many Labour activists are involved with

voluntary organisations all over London, and it is important that tha Tories' arguments are rebutted :at.every opportunity, and that the Tories should be shown up as the party who have disrupted the work of the voluntary organisations and used them as political

....Where do we go after the LBA?

All the same points can be made about’ the other arguments that the LBA puts forward about its reasons for existence. Housing

mobility for council tenants would be a good example. They point to the 'Inter Borough Nomination Scheme' (IBNS) as one of their great contributions. This is a voluntary agreement intended to allow some tenants, from overcrowded inner city areas, into council housing in the 'leafy suburbs’.

Whitewash

In fact it was a whitewash job from its inception, designed to camouflage the fact that the abolition of GLC Housing, by the

Tories, would demolish the real chances of

moving into the suburbs for inner city tenants. To say nothing of the damage done

to the chances of getting a move into the

outer boroughs, resulting from Council House

sales, which the Tories welcomed so enthusiastically.

The pressure to return to the LBA and to, abandon the struggle for the creation of a fighting Labour-based association of local

authorities will not go away yet. The old

guard still have the ear of the NEC but,

their line should be opposed as undemocratic and flying in the face of policy created out of discussion at Regional Conference.

More subtle pressures come from other directions. In the fight against the imposition of central controls over local

democracy, there will certainly be attempts to trick us into alliances with the Tories, Liberals and other species of vermin, ir defence of an abstract conception of 'democracy' that would encompass the right of Tory authorities to resist comprehensive education or other progressive measures.

Right not stupid

more, the Labour right are not stupid. Realising that they have lost a lot of ground, they are now looking for opportunities to counter attack, and we can expect organised right caucuses at various levels to begin to operate. In the LBA Labour Group, Barking's Deputy Leader, George Brooker, made an unexpected appearance to voice his proposal that the "Bastern Bloc' of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking & Dagenham should form the basis of just such a caucus within the ALA.

What is

not likely

Although these kind of moves are time, they

to produce much effect for some will provide a solid base from which the right will counter attack if the London Labour Leaders and the ALA fail to deliver the goods in terms of effective defence against cuts and the destruction of local democracy. roan

John Plant ° .

Newham North East CLP/Newham Council

HILE.... THE JUNTA |

a,

September 1983 sees the tenth anniversary of the military coup that toppled President Allende and brought the bloody dictatorship of General Pinochet to power in Chile. It

also finds the junta at its weakest point ever, with successive waves of protest sweeping the country and casting real doubt

as to whether Pinochet can survive.

PEACE- AND-FREEDOM-IN-LATIN-AMERICA

been escalating since March, STOP US.

es in Santiago, accompanied on several occasions, INTERVENTION wave of discontent. A long IN

xe on the construction site

followed by protest CENTRAL A focussed -industrial arches, attacked by othed thugs, were Copper Workers Union nal day of protest for The response of the workers and of the big cities amazed even the of the protests, and galvanised asingly broad political opposition ta into coordinated action.

3 7 They dominate the most influential “ine current wave og 9pposition grouping, "the _ Denocratic and its limitations. With the Alliance, formed = wet ae from country in unprecedented economic crisis eee donee fhe ie bheio cen dane witnge Massive sections of the bourgeosie, hitherto arseaings a avert luded all The Tere either allies of the military regime or at cote has Sarety 4 oo “eG tention of least silent in the face of its atrocities, parties, with fee oa ccket catie the were catapulted into the ranks of the is pehpreehe SS a BE an overtly ' - opposition. Spurred partly by their own Bataan eat inkent on safeguarding the | economic interests and partly by reaction to ae a ce ae Chile's middle and upper | the repression turned against them, the: interests = |

i : 5 classes. Tight control will still be kept —— ‘ce eeotad alLieness o eewamee over the working class and its political themselves and in some cases with the left, ergantsatzons:s

fo confront the junta. The opposition has called days of protest

every month since May, around the llth, and Particulariy prominent have been the: each time both the popular mobilisations and Christian Democrats, who welcomed the coup) the repression have increased. against Allende. They hold a crucial

influence in the workers’ movement, July's protests saw the army used as well-as especially with the copper miners, whose the military police. 18,000 troops were leadership allies itself with them. ordered into Santiago for the August protest

Repression has enhanced their reputation, With orders to a ES aot a pany Phas Particularly after the July protests when pee, egeens ae Bins eae Tae § 2ne. aves

rene ousands of homes have three leaders of the party were arrested and Several chi : charged with organising the day of action. been raided and numerous detentions made.

Despite this, each month has seen strikes in

industry, demonstrations of students and professionals, barricades of burning tyres in all the slum areas and mass

confrontations with the army and the police. The evenings of the days of protest resound to the banging of pots and pans.

It is likely that the anniversary of the coup on September llth., will be marked by the biggest demonstration yet, calling for the end of military rule, which should be matched by a huge turnout on the solidarity march in London.

Were pinochet to fall however, the struggle of the workers will intensify rather than

drop off. It is likely that a replacement government would be either a civilian/military one without Pinochet or, a civilian governmert dominated by the Christian Democrat right. The left parties would be excluded.

en

1973-1983: TEN YEARS OF RESISTANCE

Nicaragua —

“Assemble 1pm Clerkenwell Green +Rally in

Trafalgar Square

SUNDAY tr SEPTEMBER

‘NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION

Organised by CHILE, EL SALVADOR and NICARAGUA Solidarity Campaigns. For mtormation: Chile Solidarity Campaign. 129 Seven Sisters Road, London NT.

Telephone: 01-272 -4298

“Organised-by No Intervention in Centra ica (NICA)

BRIEFING AT LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE '83 SPEAKERS-

KEN LIVINGSTON

JANE STOCKTON

COLIN TALBOT

ANNE PETTIFOR 8pm on Sunday 2nd

October Venue to be decided. See London Labour

Briefing.

— I DONT Have TOGO To. MEETINGS e ICAN MAKE VPEMYT OWN MIND”

It is uncertain whether there would be a

complete and unconditional return of the

exiles, whether the repressive labour legislation would be revoked and whether there would be a complete amnesty for political prisoners and measures taken against the torturers of the last ten years.

The economic crisis would continue. government would not shift the burden of paying for it from the working class. Workers' aspirations and militancy would certainly rise, and the long struggle to rebuild the left parties and the workers’ organisations would continue in the face of virulent opposition from the ruling class, civil or military.

Any new

Our job as socialists and trade unionists in Britain is, to continue our support to the resistance to the junta, and should it fall, to continue our solidarity with the Chilean workers and their political organisations under whatever regime may be put in the place of Pinochet.

Andy Brown

* NO BRITISH ARMS FOR CHILE | * END US INTERVENTION IN EL SALVADOR AND NICARAGUA * PEACE AND FREEDOM FOR |

LATIN AMERICA

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

September 1 |

SocialistRadia

The British Labour Movement gets a _ bad

press. This is nothing new: it always has! The decline in popular support for the Labour Party Didn't start with the closure of the 'Daily Herald' in the 1960's, and it

is unlikely that the launch of a new national daily, by the TUC, will prove to be the panacea that some on Labour's right would fervently hope.

arguing that a popular socialist media isn't needed. The vicious Tory lies propogated in Murdoch's tabloids are obvious, and the last decade's studies,by

Marxist media academics, have adequately shown how the BBC and the commercial

I'm not

‘independent' radio and TV stations work to construct or encourage a narrow liberal - consensus view of the world, culling their sense of what's news from the ‘'quality' press.

Something must be done: The TUC daily ( ata proposed launch cost variously quoted between £3 and £7 million ) is one proposed "solution". As the Labour Movement has finite cash resources I would argue that our money could be better spent on an efficient distribution and guaranteed sales outlet for our existing national papers and magazines, and a range of local media projects. Put crudely, this diverse approach could provide a better ideological return for the money.

Socialists today are making their best advances on local issues. In London the fight to save the GLC, for instance, is

capable of winning popular support. As Town Hall cuts harm more people in our communities, we CAN lead people back into the fight. National publications can't work at this level. For them, reporting a thousand tiny struggles a week is impossible. Local media projects CAN do it.

( ; / 2) an, She O.K!

building up these local campaigns in print. There's little mystique today in producing leaflets, posters and news letters. The next stage will involve using other techniques in film, video, radio and TV.

We're already

Unfortunately,

= B YZ GN A 222 Ke 43, SS 2 Bm

m7 > io im zy

SUMMER. ISSUE INCLUDES: Charles Parker's Radio Ballards * New Zealand's Access Radio * Peacq Radio * Non Sexist Speech * Sheffield Radio

Conference Report

SUBSCRIBE! Single Issue 65p; 4 Issues £2 for Individuals; £5.00 for institutions.

WRITE TO: RELAY, Box 12, 2a St Pauls Road, London N1 ,

the BBC and IBA have a total "duopoly' on the legal right to broadcast on the airwaves. Fortunately there are now more facilities to make radio programmes in London, outside of the 'duopoly' than ever before. You can be on the air with your own transmitter for under £50! How many leaflets can you distribute for that price?

So far, there have only been a few attempts to broadcast regular oppositional radio. Producing 6 hours of interesting, speech

orientated, radio a week can tie up a lot of people and time.

However, the technique of ad hoc 'guerilla' attacks on the airwaves has barely begun to be exploited. There should be Radio stations set up for say factory occupations or anti nuclear demonstrations. Broadcasting such as this played a strong mobilizing role in pre Mitterand France. Solidarity broadcast the full negotiations between the government and shipyard workers in Gdansk.

RADIO Cont. ..--.

Such projects could play a useful England. In July, for instance, Avilon" took the Glastonbury CND festival. one watt VHF transmitter and a few hundred pounds worth of borrowed equipment, the station provided 12 hours a day of community radio for the 50,000 festival goers. Unwittingly, CND leader Bruce Kent and the GLC Nuclear Bunker Party performers found themselves on the air together with live festival information and peace news.

role in "Radio to the air for three days at

With a mere

By the end of the event, 'Avalon' had become required listening. Two weeks of coordination by 15 people, from all over

England, put Radio Avalon on the air.

13

Peace protesters will probably provide more opportunities for one off projects ( oh, if there had only been a_e radio station coordinating the Greenham link-up).

But strikes, days of action and local festivals all provide opportunities for socialist radio. How about running your own election day special? Publicize your station with posters, leaflets and word of mouth and watch the curious tune in ( after all, Capital Radio is SO boring!)

Making radio is easy. Hundreds of political activists are now graduates of cable, hopital and student stations. They are just waiting to show you how.

Chris Huculak Barking CLP

BARKING & DAGENHAM Campaign Against the Cuts

The Cuts Campaign held Polytechnic,Longbridge Rd, people, trades unionists

and political parties discussed

conference at N.E.London

Barking on 2nd July at which local what

needed to be done to defend jobs and services in the area.

The emphasis was on the impact of public spending cuts and Tory policies which are designed to attack the welfare state; both locally and nationally.

As a result of the conference, we can look forward to increased cooperation between the Labour controlled Local Authority and the Cuts Campaign.

The clear political message of the conference was that Labour Councils can no longer afford to simply manage the local administration. The political situation has changed dramatically. If Labour Councils are to effectively fight for the interests of those who elected them, they will have to behave in a different manner. A new political style is required in which the Labour Party, the Trades Unions and local political and community groups work together; in which the Labour Council gives a clear lead in defiance of Tory policies designed to weaken the organisation and morale of the working class.

Political activity is necessary on every level, at Council level, by an active local campaign in defence of jobs and services.

Immediately, the Cuts Campaign has organised a lobby of the Department of the Environment on Friday 26th August in which the situation prevailing in local parks was brought to the

attention of the Tory politicians: it is because of Tory cuts that local children were exposed to risk during the summer

holiday period.

Over the next few weeks, the Cuts Campaign is planning a series of publicity events to get the message across about what cuts actually Mean to those people directly affected. There are also proposals for a London-wide campaign, in which the Cuts Campaign is involved. Any help people think they can give will be most welcome.

The next meeting of the

September 5th., at 8.00 pa ROOM 1015 N E LONDON POLYTECHNIC

PRECINCT) ; g.Roche (Chair N.A.T.F.H.E.)

Campaign is on

(BARKING

14

Barking & Dagenham MCPs

I joined the Labour Party as a natural progression of considering

myself a socialist. I believe we are all responsible for the society we live in and making sure that no one suffers unnecessarily.

Having believed the Labour Party stooa NO, I don't expect, or accept, only lip

for equality for all, I was shocked by the attitude I found. Being a_ single parent, I had to take my son to the evening Ward meetings until I could find a baby sitter. No one chatted to us, or

welcomed us and made us welcome. We were outsiders.

As the only young woman at the meeting, it obviously embarrassed some members

that I actually participated in the discussion and had the audacity to have my own point of view. I found that enquiries made at Ward or GC meetings were seldom followed up. "Women are weicome"- said in a patronising manner is the usual response to a request to help women attend meetings, by providing creche and other facilities. Other typical responses are:-

"The party couldn't afford to pay for creches" "Women shouldn't neglect their children

to attend meetings”

"It isn't fair to children to have creches, as meetings go on till 1o pm" "There can't be a demand for creche facilities as women with children don't attend meetings"

Pointing out that 50% of the electorate are women does not seem to penetrate.

As a parent, of course my son comes first. If I hadn't managed to find a baby sitter, I would have dropped out of the Labour Party.

shocked

I am still shocked that people like me are considered naive: just because we actually expect the Party to carry out its policies. ( such as the NEC ‘Charter

for , Equality for Women within the Party).

service to this sexism; or the belief in racial equality, the Health Service or the other ideals of Socialism. These hypocrites say, when I quote women I have spoken to:- " Why don't they join the Party and come and tell us themselves" or "“ They're lazy and apathetic and not worth worrying about".

What woman is going to go to the trouble and expense of a baby sitter, to attend a meeting where she is not made welcome and her contributions are dismissed?

not welcome

From what I have seen in my area, the Labour Party does not in any way, represent ordinary men and women. We are not welcome in the Party. They do not want ordinary members to have their say or put forward their point of view, if it differs from their own.

After Kensington & Chelsea, Dagenham have the largest single parent families. So, fellow Socialists in Barking & Dagenham, who believe in equality and justice for all, where are you? Are you going to leave me feeling like a voice crying in the right wing wilderness.

Barking & number of

Get up off your backsides at Ward and GC

Meetings and support us. Tell all the Party geriatrics we need the energy and idealism of women in the Party, as well

veterans, of ( who of course wonder the

as the experience of the whom we have a surfeit. are mostly men ).... No LABOUR PARTY is Dying.

Anne Fell Dagenham CLP

NEWS 72? Ring 01.517 3876

: East of London LABOUR BRIEFING

Catchment Area

RS v

o 5 (arse - N Tt A Xu = = KT 2 NEWHAS N. NORTHEAST =. 7 j++} y HI a SOUTH

...apolicy statement

There has recently been a realisation in the outer London CLPs, that party activists are isolated in their Constituences. This has meant that many good local initiatives have remained just that. London LABOUR BRIEFI NG also has problems of penetration in outer London

; CLPs, which is mainly due to its meetings being at County Hall. This has limited the editorial and local stringer inputs into London LABOUR BRIEFING.

In a bid to provide a forum specifically The East of London LABOUR BRIEFING will for East London, and a permanent input be a Bi-monthly magazine and the channel for London and National LABOUR responsibility for producing an Editor BRIEFING, East of London LABOUR BRIEFING and hosting Editorial meetings will be has been set up. The format will be rotated within the Editorial Group and news, views, comments and policy catchment area respectively.

Gisection in the magazine's catchment

area. ( see above ). The articles that The next Editorial meeting is advertised appear in the magazines will not in this edition. All Labour Party necessarily be the opinion of the members are invited to attend. Its your Editorial Board, or the Editor of that Magazine, why not contribute to it? If Particular month's edition. But, will be you can't make the meetings, ring 01.517 a reflection of our policy of covering 3876 with items you would like to see

as wide an area of debate and opinion as included. possible. ’

.NEWHAM MONITORING ““"" PROJECT

The Labour movement are invited to sponsor and participatevin a half day conference on the theme of racism,the police and education.The aims of the project are to monitor racist activity in Newham and the response of the police and local authorities.A typical incident the project has to deal with is the case of Osei Owusu.

A 45 year old black resident of Newham,faces charges of assaulting police after they raided his home in early August.

not driving, was claimed

Osei Owusu, although challenged by a police officer who he was drunk and wanted to breathalyse him. Mr.Owusu said he had not been driving and therefore refused to be breathalysed.10-12 minutes later while he was at home, police their way into his home and brutally assaulted him with truncheons.

At the police station he was breathalysed and was found not to be over the limit.As a

result of this brutal attack he suffered 13

stitches.

The conference will be held on Saturday lst

October,from 1-6pm and will discuss (1)the conspiracy laws which are now being used against the Newham 8,and (2) the police Bill which is expected to be Parliament in October '83. Speakers include:-

A Sivandan (Institute of Race Relations) ,and}

Anwas Ditta.

Deatails from Unmesh Desai Newham Monitoring Project Tel.01-555 8151

ASBESTOS ACTION <..

The Commission's proposals are welcome, but why has it taken so long? The General & Municipal and Boilermakers Union, the organisation SPAID and many others have produced detailed, documented reports which could have been acted on before.

The answer is that private industry is responsible for the processing of asbestos, private industry makes a profit from it, and private industry isn't accountable to anyone but its Shareholders. Some firms provide proper Protection for the workforce, others are lax about it. There has been too little development of alternative materials and at too slow a pace.

Well they will have to get on with it now, and do what so many of us have been trying to achieve for so long. But I warn you, they'll struggle.

brought before }

NEWS or VIEWSE

BRIEFING 01.517 3876

.. ring

our chest

‘Get it off

| TOWER BLOCK CAMPAIGN _—

Newham has more tower blocks than ‘anywhere else in England - over a hundred = and so a high percentage of ‘families are forced to live in high rise

:-blocks.

:‘The Newham Tower Block Tenants Campaign ( NTBTC ) was founded approximately two years ago, following the suicide of a “young mother — who threw herself out of a 21st floor flat - and the announcement of proposed spending cuts in tower block maintenance.

Though many problems have become

apparent during the lifetime of the

;Ccampaign such as frequent Lift

breakdowns, faulty and expensive heating

‘systems, endless waits for repairs,

:condensation and infestation of

cockroaches and ants and lack of play

area for children, the NTBTC has

concentrated its campaigning around

three fundemental issues which we

believe are common to _ tower block

tenants, no matter where they live:-

a the need to re-think the way high

rise flats are allocated, to all

categories of people, regardless of

whether they are disabled or families - with young children.

b the need for increased spending on

tower blocks, so that conditions are not

only maintained but improved.

c the need for more reasonable rent

and rate levels to be fixed ( flats are

rated higher than comparable houses ).

NTBTC is trying to make links with tower block tenants everywhere, to build up pressure on central government to build ‘More council houses, so that the last families can be moved out of tower blocks. :

National conference

A NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TOWER BLOCK PROBLEMS IS PLANNED ON SATURDAY 22nd OCTOBER AT EAST HAM LONDON DETAILS FROM NTBTS c/o SOUTH, EAST HAM. 01.472 6652

81 HIGH ST

THE NEXT EAST OF LONDON - LABOUR

BRIEFING EDITORIAL MEETING WILL BE HELD

Wednesday 14th September, 1983

Newham North West Labour Party

Headquarters, 306 Stratford High Street, LONDON, E15

At 8pm

PRINTED BY BARKING & DAGENHAM LINK c/o 245 PORTERS AVE ‘DAGENHAM

PUBLISHED BY EoL.

LABOUR BRIEFING c/o 245 PORTERS AVE DAGENHAM