London Labour Briefing no. 30

TO WIN PEACE JOBS &FREEDOM!

by Ken Livingstone

Labour can win the election on June 9. Whilst the party’s chances have been damaged over the last four years by the right wing attacks on socialists within the party, by the press support for the SDP which was created to keep Labour out of office and by the last minute NEC decision to impose Reg Freeson on Brent East,we can still win.

Labour can win votes if we can convince the people that we have a solution to the central problem of the economy. Thatcher’s decision to go for an election a year early is because of the economic predictions the Tories are getting. We have been told by the Tories and big business that things are looking up, the recession is coming to an end and the economy is about to start growing. But the effects of four years of Thatcher is that we are in a weaker position economically than all of our competitors.

* Unemployment has risen twice as fast in Britain as in any of our rivals.

* Our manufacturing firms have contracted to the point where even if we did have a boom again there is not the capacity in British industry to supply the goods people would want to buy. Any boom in those conditions would simply suck in imports from abroad and cause a balance of payments crisis.

* Our dependence on oil means that if there was any further collapse in oil prices it could knock the bottom out of the government’s budget.

* Our dependence on financial dealings in the City of London means that if any Third World country was to default on its debts we could see our entire banking system sucked down in the collapse of the international banking system.

Many economists are predicting that sometime before the end of 1984 we will see a world depression as deep and as unexpected as in 1929. They predict a complete collapse of the property market with ordinary peoples’ homes losing up to half their value. If the Labour charge that the Tories want the election out of the way before the economy goes bust begins to stick,then the election could go badly wrong for the Tories. All that Labour wishes to do in government hinges on our ability to control

LABOUR— TAKE THE POWER!

the movement of capital. One thousand million pounds a month is flowing out of Britain to be invested abroad. A Labour government must take immediate action to halt that flow and redirect it into rebuilding our economy and the infrastrucuture of the welfare state.

There must be a cut in defence spending of four thousand million pounds in the first year of a Labour government and that money redirected into rebuilding health, education and housing programmes. This sort of action can start to create the jobs necessary to bring down unemployement.

No gimmicks such as wage control, devaluation or import controls are a substitute for a Labour government taking control of capital.

If we can convince the voters we are serious about such measures we can win a mandate.

If we fail to do so we open the door to five more years of Thatcher.

London Labour Briefing, page two

hen the

I’m going to be calling for a Labour vote. Everyone in CND knows the election is a vital time to get our issues across, and we should do just that. But I depart totally from some people in CND who go for ‘tactical voting’.

The SDP or the Liberals aren’t what we want at the end of the day. Only one major party has unilateralist policies ready to put into practice.

bomb goes off

We should be calling for a Labour vote, but demanding .Labour sticks . to. its unilateralist policies.

Unlike Michael Foot we are not watering down our policies. There is a straight choice: either we ban Cruise from this country and get a breathing space to get full nuclear disarmament, or they’ll be here for good.

lam very alarmed at the way Foot is talking. ‘If they arrive’, he says, ‘then we will

®LABOUR FOR

KEEP THE BOMBS OUT OF BRITAIN

Cath Take

by Helen John

send them back’. And then he says we mustn’t be despondent if they arrive.

But once they’re here, people will say we can’t send them back because the Russians will misinterpret it. They’ll be in place and Reagan will be one step nearer to what he really wants, which is to start a nuclear war in Europe.

We have to stop them coming; and that means we the Labour Party has to get together with the unions to exert enough

economic pressure to make sure they can’t put them here.

That’s why I’m disturbed that there seems to be some idea we should downplay disarmament and highlight unemployment. Clearly the two issues are desperately linked. I’m sure, for example, the Timex workers understand very clearly that money should be spent on their jobs instead of weapons. But unfortunately some people in the unions are trying to protect their jobs rather than their lives, and if you’re dead a job isn’t much use.

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TOGETHER WE CAN STOP THE BOMB AND THE TORIES

On 7 May 70,000 young people filled Brockwell Park for Youth CND’s first ever national event - a huge ‘Rock the Bomb’ festival.

Their message was loud and clear: Stop the missiles and kick out the Tories.

Nuclear disarmament has huge support. CND has held the biggest demonstration since the last war - 250,000. And on May 24 the .Greenham Common women will stimulate something previously unheard of: the first nationwide industrial action against the missiles. They have called on all women to take action against the siting of Cruise Missiles in Britain. Their appeal has the backing of the Labour Party NEC, the TUC and five national unions.

So nuclear disarmament is the most decisive issue of the general election. Youth want Jobs not Bombs - but they don’t want

to be offered the jobs while Labour keeps quiet about the bombs, or pretends we can get rid of some of the bombs, but not all of them in case we upset our allies. You can’t work if you’re dead.

The Labour Party has to give a lead to youth by proving it will get rid of the missiles. Three-quarters of a million people will vote for the first time on 9 June. So if

By Jim Coutts, Youth CND

Labour campaigns for unilateralism it will prove to them it means what it says about the missiles. If it proves that you can’t get rid of the missiles without getting rid of the bases, it will expose the hypocrisy and vacillation of the Liberals and their SDP allies.

But it’s not enough just to get the youth vote out on polling day. Whatever happens in the election we must stop the missiles.

We can do it if we back up the Greenham women and the youth who filled Brockwell Park by working with them to bring this country to a halt if they try to bring the missiles in. And indeed, that is the best way to win the election. If May 24th makes it plain that a Thatcher victory will make the country ungovernable, just as in 1974 the miners made it plain, we will get the Labour victory we need.

So if you want to stop Thatcher, Labour has to put its weight behind CND, YCND and the Greenham women. Starting with the May 24th women’s international day of action and going on the TUC day of action on Hiroshima Day - August 6th - and the big CND demonstration on 22 October together we can stop the bomb and the Tories.

London Labour Briefing, page three

ETHNIC MINORITIES - DON'T TAKE US FOR GRANTED!

by Vidya Anand,

The ‘de-selection’ of Russell Proffitt in the new Battersea seat may not have made the headlines, but the message came back to the ethnic communities loud and clear that ‘the Labour Party does not want us’. That is how this de-selection is perceived. Our communities do not make fine distinctions between left and right, or between progressive and reactionary wings of the party — they see the party and its performance as a whole. We cannot escape this brutal political fact.

No one in his right. mind would wish to challenge the right of a CLP to choose whosoever they wish. But, equally, no one can dispute the fact that the party, and above all in London, is firmly supportive of the principle of positive discrimination in favour of women and ethnic minorities who have been discriminated against from the very early days of the Labour Party.

It is just not good enough to hurl ‘verbal hand-grenades’ or ‘paper darts’ at the establishment, the police, the civil service, the municipal bureaucracy, the armed forces, without asking what we are doing in our own party to promote the cause of justice for women and ethnic minorities. We are told that it is the party which is the power base where decisions are taken and not the serried ranks of officers who are held to be blocking, resisting and even sabotaging our policies. It is the party therefore where the changes have to come first and foremost.

The election this year at the AGM of the Greater London Labour Party of three more members of the ethnic minorities on to its Executive Committee is to be welcomed. But it is a small step along a bumpy road full of potholes, and barbed wire obstacles.

The Executive Committee has already had to cope with a number of cases associated with charges of racial discrimination. Ansel Samuel is not an isolated case, unfortunately. The Commission for Racial Equality is giving full support to Mr.Selvarajan — a member of the Putney GMC — in his contention that ILEA has discriminated against him. These issues should never have arisen in the first place. It is up to the elected comrades to deal with these problems at the grassroots, and not to allow them to fester away, only to blow up in their faces; or worse still, to inflict damage on the Labour Party, and create distrust amongst the ethnic minorities about the real intentions behind the fine words.

With a general election in the offing, the party cannot afford to ignore the ethnic minorities in their communities. The ethnic minorities are not there to: be tapped on and off for electoral purposes by party politicians. They expect that the politics is reflected in its actions. In Haringey, Brent, Lewisham, Hackney, and Islington — the Labour Groups have delivered! Women and Blacks have taken over key positions in the leadership of their respective local authorities. And immediately! There were no delays and excuses in implementing these central planks of their manifestos.

Today the Labour Party is at the cross-roads. It is faced with a mighty battle ahead and needs the whole-hearted support of trade unions, women, and ethnic minorities in the crusade against Margaret Thatcher's reactionary Tory Government.

This can only be achieved by a partnership where all the groups in this great alliance can transform the party into a socialist beacon of hope for people of all races and creeds throughout the length and breadth of the country.

Every hour of need throws up a hero...

Editorial HOW NOT TO FIGHT THE ELECTION

The attempt of the NEC to impose Reg Freeson as Parliamentary candidate on Brent East CLP is a kick in the teeth to the whole Party. It is an obscene abuse of the democratic right of constituency parties to select their own candidate, and is a thoroughly divisive move.that can only demoralise our supporters.

If the NEC is prepared to tear up the Party constitution and go to such lengths to keep a socialist like Ken Livingstone out of Parliament, how much further will they go to avoid their radical manifesto commitments?

For London Labour Briefing the overriding priority is to secure a maximum mobilisation for a massive Labour vote at the election. It is infuriating that in this task we are obliged to fight not only the Tories and their media but also the right-wing splitters who control the NEC. We won’t let them deflect us from our task.

Let Golding and company be warned. This is an episode Party activists will not forget.

seats it most hopes to gain from the Tories are Dulwich (won by

WHERE TO CAMPAIGN

Compiled by Deborah Knight (Brent East CLP) and Nigel Williamson (Tribune)

The boundary commissioner has reduced the number of London seats from 92 to 84. Of the remaining seats 14 have new names and Labour has lost 4 sitting MPs as a result of the changes — Reg Race, John Tilley, Stanley Clinton-Davis and Jock Stallard.

Of the 84 seats, Labour can only be certain of victory in about 28. Its most vulnerable seats to the Tories are Edmonton, Lewisham East and Lewisham West and Ealing North, which although won by the Tories in 1979 is now classified as a Labour marginal. In addition, it will be fighting SDP defectors in Erith & Crayford, Hayes & Harlington, Islington North and South, Hackney South, Woolwich and Leyton. The Labour in 1979 but now considered a Tory marginal), Hornchurch, Fulham, Westminster North, Ilford South, Putney, Eltham, Hornsey, Hampstead and Enfield North. It will also be hoping to take Bermondsey and Croyden North West from the Liberals. If Labour succeed in winning all these seats, London could return up to 44 Labour MPs to Westminster. To do so would require a swing to Labour of nearly 4 per cent across the whole of London.

The table below will allow Briefing supporters to decide where their energies will be best spent during the campaign. The addresses and phone numbers of constituency party election agents can be obtained from the London Labour Party 703 6511.

NOTIONAL 1979 MAJORITY ON NEW BOUNDARIES (BBC/ITN

CONSTITUENCY CANDIDATE

figures) ACTON Gareth Daniel Tory BARKING Jo Richardson Lab BATTERSEA Alf Dubs Lab BECKENHAM Jim Dowd Tory BETHNAL GREEN & STEPNEYIan Mikardo Lab BEXLEYHEATH Andy Erlam Tory BOW & POPLAR Peter Shore Lab BRENT EAST Lab BRENT NORTH Sandra Jackson Tory BRENT SOUTH Laurie Pavitt Lab BRENTFORD & ISLEWORTH Pete Rowlands Tory CARSHALTON & WALLINGTON Joanna Baker Tory CHELSEA Nicky Palmer Tory CHINGFORD William Shepherd Tory CHIPPING BARNET Nigel Smith Tory CHISLEHURST Alistair Macdonald Tory CITY OF LONDON & WESTMINSTER SOUTH Tory CROYDON CENTRAL Andrew McKinley Tory CROYDON NORTH EAST Kathy Riley Tory CROYDON NORTH WEST Ian Smedley Lib CROYDON SOUTH Robert Brooks Tory DAGENHAM Bryan Gould Lab DEPTFORD John Silkin Lab DULWICH Kate Hoey Tory EALING NORTH Hilary Benn Lab ELTHAM Colin Moore Tory ENFIELD NORTH Brian Grayson Tory ERITH & CRAYFORD M., Smart Lab FELTHAM & HESTON Russ Kerr Lab FINCHLEY Laurence Spiegel Tory FULHAM Tony Powell Tory GREENWICH Guy Barnett Lab HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON Ernie Roberts Lab HACKNEY SOUTH & SHOREDITCH Brian Sedgemore Lab HAMMERSMITH Clive Soley Lab HAMPSTEAD & HIGHGATE John McDonnell Tory HARROW EAST Tory HARROW WEST Keith Thoms Tory HAYES & HARLINGTON Peter Fagan Lab HENDON NORTH Tony Williams Tory HENDON SOUTH Doreen Neall Tory HOLBORN & STPANCRAS _ Frank Dobson Lab

COMMENT

8,700 8,250 6,950 13,900 9,450 10,400 12,200 5,900 12,000 12,700 5,000 Lab needs 4.5% swing

10,400 15,950 12,400 14,000 9,750

15,800

8,800

7,800

— Was Tory marginal until Lib byelection victory 1981

21,400

8,850

7,450

450 Won by Lab in 1979 but boundary changes now make it Tory marginal

1,400 Won by Tories in-1979 but boundary changes make it Lab marginal

3,000 Lab needs 3.3% swing

4,100 Lab needs 3.9% swing

4,500 SDP defector

4,100

7,900 Margaret Thatcher’s seat 1,500 19th most marginal Tory seat. Lab needs 1.7% swing

7,000

9,350

11,400

3,500

3,850 Briefing supporter. Tory marginal

9,100

18,500

3,300 SDP defector

6,450

8,700

7,900

HORNCHURCH HORNSEY & WOOD GREEN

ILFORD NORTH ILFORD SOUTH So ISLINGTON NORTH

ISLINGTON SOUTH KENSINGTON KINGSTON ON THAMES LEWISHAM EAST LEWISHAM WEST LEYTON

MITCHAM & MORDEN

NEWHAM NORTH EAST NEWHAM NORTH WEST

NEWHAM SOUTH NORWOOD

OLD BEXLEY & SIDCUP ORPINGTON PECKHAM

PUTNEY RAVENSBOURNE RICHMOND & BARNES ROMFORD

RUISLIP NORTHWOOD SOUTHGATE SOUTHALL SOUTHWARK & BERMONDSEY

STREATHAM SURBITON

SUTTON & CHEAM TOOTING TOTTENHAM TWICKENHAM UPMINSTER UXBRIDGE VAUXHALL WALTHAMSTOW.. WANSTEAD & WOODFORD

WESTMINSTER NORTH (PADDINGTON)

WIMBLEDON WOOLWICH

EXPRESS 3

Alan Williams Val Venness

Mike Gapes John Hogben Jeremy Corbyn

Chris Smith Ben Bousquett Peter Smith Roland Moyle Chris Price Harry Cohen

David Nicholas

Ron Leighton Tony Banks

Nigel Spearing John Fraser Chris Kiff David Bean Harriet Harman Peter Hain John Holbrook Keith Vaz

Jack Hoepelman Mike O'Brien Mary Honeyball Syd Bidwell

Madeline Long Nigel Waskett Geoff Dixon Tom Cox Norman Atkinson Pat Nicholas Allan Hughes Jake Magee Stuart Holland Eric Deakins Lesley Hilton

Arthur Latham

Rock Tansey Audrey Wise

Single vote sinks Jim—now

NOTIONAL 1979 MA-

JORITY ON NEW BOUN-

DARIES (BBC/ITN

figures) COMMENT

Tory 769 11th most marginal Tory seat. Lab needs 0.8% swing

Tory 4,250 Briefing supporter. Lab needs 3.6% swing

Tory 6,500 Lab needs 6.8% swing

Tory 6,300 Lab needs 2.6% swing

Lab 6,650 Briefing supporter. SDP defector

Lab 6,630 SDP defector

Tory 5,200

Tory 13,550

Lab 2,100 Lab’s 30th most marginal seat

Lab 867 Lab’s 14th most marginal seat

Lab 5,700 Briefing supporter. SDP defector standing

Tory — Was Lab marginal until 1982 byelection. SDP defector

Lab 10,000

Lab 10,450 Briefing supporter. Deselected former Lab MP also standing

Lab 12,800

Lab = 3,300

Tory 13,450

Tory 13,050

Lab 10,450

Tory 2,600 Lab needs 2.6% swing

Tory 18,300

Tory 2,500 Strong Liberal hope

Tory 8,800

Tory 17,200

Tory 18,350

Lab 11,300

Lib Safe Lab seat until 1983 by-election

Tory 4,800 Lab needs 5.4% swing

Tory 10,800

TOry 15,700

Lab 5,050

Lab 9,850

Tory 12,900

Tory 9,100

Tory 8,000

Lab = 8,600

Lab 4,450

Tory 17,750

Tory 2,400 Traditional Lab seat lost by 106 votes in 1979. Boundary changes make this harder to win. Lab needs 2.5% swing

Tory 13,300

Lab 10,600 SDP defector standing

London Labour Briefing, page five

RALLY TO BENN!

by Phil Vowles, Chair, Bristol East

Bristol East Constituency Labour Party is fighting for the Labour left’s political life. At the local elections 23,240 people voted Labour in Bristol East, 22,961 voted Tory and 12,290 voted Liberal.

And the dirty tricks have already started. Within hours of the election being announced, Bristol East voters were getting anonymous phone calls - which later turned out to be from the Sun - asking their ‘opinions’ on Tony Benn. Labour voters were asked ‘do you know Tony Benn backs unilateral disarmament?’ and ‘would you prefer to vote Labour if Peter Shore were standing?’.

We are sure a disproportionate amount of Thatcher’s £20 million election spending will go into stopping Tony Benn getting back in the Commons.

But the whole labour movement is fighting back. We’ve just been set up but we’ve been flooded with offers of help. The South Wales miners and the Steel union are sending flying teams over. The Bristol Transport and General Workers Union have donated their Bristol office as a permanent headquarters and seconded fulltimers to the campaign, as have the National Union of Public Employees.

We are pulling no punches. We’ve agreed to put a Young Socialist and a woman speaker on every platform. Nuclear disarmament will be up front. We’ll be out in force when the People’s March comes to Bristol on 28 May and Tony will be in London to welcome the marchers when they get there. But the rest of the time he will be fighting in Bristol. We aim to find out the shift changes and meal breaks at every factory and visit them all, any time of the day or night if necessary.

The labour movement is solidly behind Tony Benn and the media is solidly against him. We need your help now!

Briefing is discussing help with transport for anyone who wants to spend a weekend helping Tony Benn. Contact us if you are interested!

London Labour Briefing page six

STOP FUDGING-START FIGHTING!

Labour is going into this election with one

hand tied behind its back.

We know the opinion polls distort. We know Labour’s vote is swelling as disillusioned Labour voters are awakened by the horrific prospect of another five years of

Thatcher. But who can deny that the Tories have

built a critical and damaging lead which it will take more than a huge canvassing effort to budge. /t will take the right politics and the rigkt campaigning methods. And we’re not getting them from this leadership.

‘Think positive’ is about as inspiring as ‘don’t despair’. There is nothing positive about downgrading our unilateralism for fear of a media witch-hunt. Nothing

positive about scoring the series of union conferences which have voted against incomes policy. Nothing positive about trying to get the People’s March called off, as some trade unionists have done, so we can

do more doorknocking.

The only way to win is to harness the despair of the unemployed, the anger of women, the determination of anti-nuclear protestors and the rebelliousness of youth in Labour’s cause. The only way to win is to demonstrate now that Thatcher cannot hope to govern this country. Which means a clear indication that Labour, and the unions, intend to stop fudging and start Sighting.

We may, or may not, succeed before the election. But we have to start now. To prepare for every possible outcome, the left must lead Labour’s campaign on the ground. If Laborr wins, we want the strength to stop another IMF-dictated surrender. If there is a hung parliament, we want to stop a coaiition. If the Tories win, we want to start the battle against the right from the strongest possible position.

All these options demand the same thing:

Labour says

YOUTH A FUTURE

the biggest possible vote for Labour, won by using the methods of struggle instead of the methods of compromise. ;

Briefing therefore welcomes the initiative, however hard it has been to organise in the time available, taken by Socialists for a Labour Victory. SLV is mailing out draft leaflets putting forward Labour’s socialist policies to every constituency; we reprint a sample here. It is sending out campaigning guidelines which, in our view, represent the best way to mobilise Labour’s vote: linking up with the mass campaigns, defending Labour’s socialist policies, mobilising the youth and the unions. It has prepared a speakers’ panel for parties wanting to make these links and get our socialist message across.

If you want to make use of the service which SLV is offering Labour’s campaign, contact SLV c/o the secretaries at 28 Middle Lane, London NI. For speakers phone Val Coultas on 582 3667.

DEMAND

What does a new TI Promise youn

RACIST ATTACKS Black people are

hatcher governme: 9 People? NOTHING an

physically under

| For the + the racists, f jmated that there are ALL. $i F | jgned to appeas _ It is estimatec, vel + Since the Torie: i, divide ‘om. Under this government of year. The Tories have done Ty been ~ No jobs. Le : an expect from the Tories is nucle | o Joyment among bla is violence. Police _ % ss than half of this 8" For youn pal tered unemployret; there has been 2 stop this Wet ainst the black comm Year's school leavers will get ajon, '® Future’ is one witha yt, TOY more than doubled: t under the concentrated _@¢ idea that racis = _ job. : ithout jobs, flats massive increase in harass Nationality nity. They ree ice disciplinary No training. There are 40% he education. They will have plenty ee immigration laws; ane Tr ave been behaviour should 70 2 Done ane polices apprenticeships than in 1979, °°” fine to stand and watch as the Torie. n passed; the P fence, and want to 8 ice Bill. - ; end billions 8 ct raed ooreat ‘increase in powers. powers of harassment in the Police Laie: No Supplementary Ben. Plow us up 30 cms oee S *nough to cKS NITE Wo months aft : : INTERNAL PASSPORT CHEEIS., BL ack AND WHITE eee are onl {Sheol Training allowances keptdoins glee YOU WANT. A JOB, THEN ital treatment ber These attacks | working . Grants worth 1 E SURE : seeryare any more, Since mnt paY a part of te ae a tool to 1979, 0% less than in BEATEN ON JUNE Eee 's werseas students any jing com- people. The Tori eat a time when F Guerreatment. It is now becoming SATE ae working people eed to fight Tory Party ‘thinkers’ have the, LABOUR STANDS For: lack or ‘foreign-looking’ Pe! ity is more than evel ‘he cuts Plans for youn @ their © Unilateral ie mon for black or oy their passports tO Unity Te employment and t going back 100, soe. Thev dream of gq a oe wclear disarmament ‘pbs ene yy qualify when sory in public services. Britain, Years to Victorian é Srant for FE students pre FS in increase in traini; : © They talk of stoppi raining allowances . topping Suppk ©) Trade Union ric ; 2 tal pplemen- Inion righ: . wryIDED FAMILIES LABOUR STANDS AGAINST olde, Swett Payments for all 16 year COurses Aiming DIVIDED jldren of men settled 6 ACiSM. L. ABOUR WILL: «: the © No Police Bill " y threaten to cut off dole

The wives and ch it years and gO here often have to er Lied interro-

Repeal the ra

oar C jst Nationality Act an cit a Act within a Year

and humili 1 Immigration . nonunt young people onto © Special traini through long they are all in, Some the 197 t for everyone in a aon £25 a week slave ting wen, training schemes for young tions peed admission. Anwar DINGS Restore fre ea ort checks in ining’ schemes; and maybe women to help them get better on’ are refused aerrrable to join their 6 HS and end PASSPOT er social | | 37mv: aybe into the jobs, «pala onl , ce jn Rochdale after 2 SDH" oeitals, dole qveuss = ° They will cut college cou DONT Waste paret Elderly parents can’t come services; a aren’t needed by ind ses that VOTE L Your vote, Pt aber oo re black families £0 Pe heer © They will mi MENT is THIS GOVERN. grees low i 18; wil 3 ne To they support the family wie and hen, fanoos a ee Bill. reintroduce their Police ABOUT Whee SERIOUS TO MUCK b Sta ‘ for i Beibialeghet Black people have Teg Give a full right of avped Grove their marriages are ‘genuine "threatened with a ay can be anion and can End discrimination and the t eORTATIONS cost in registerite Tat of citizenship to DEPOR “ citizen. R the rigvnich Labour a Ali ; cater ee have put a lot oe died co Aricat een in 1968. | 888s to friends or ie without Weneed— 4 DECENT FUN, bs 3 ro kicking out many jong. time & “illegal stop any attempts 19 reintroduce the pooch roht of Srories’ Police Bill.

© Cutting unemployment’

London Labour Briefing, page seven

Labour and the

People’s Ma

GREET the PEOPLE’S MARCH !

THURSDAY JUNE 2nd 2pm. MASS RALLY:

Brent Town Hall. Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone, Ray Buckton.

FRIDAY: JUNE aed 1,30 p-™ meet marc at ir ital , with Fang EP 3.00 p-m:

thall RALLY at Michael Foot.

ACCORDING to Ron Todd, the chairperson of the organising committee, there should be a quarter of a million people on the streets in London on June 5 for the rally to mark the end of the People’s

March.

Already 3000 have turned out in Sheffield to greet the Yorkshire and Humberside legs of the march. A Yorkshire marcher reports: “All along our route the support from workers, the unemployed, pensioners, and in fact most people we passed, has been very strong and most uplifting”.

. This response is proof that support can be gained for action against the Tories. And the fact that the March will now run through the election campaign is a great opportunity for Labour.

Community

SATURDAY TUNE Ah

ble Batterse 10.304 7m, As tere ee tpalece. RALLY all afternoon,

SUNDAY JUNE Sth

12.00 noon, Assemble

Battersea Park for march to Hyde Park.

Deptford, Battersea,

Ealing N. & Putney C1-Ps will os leafletting for the March whilst canvassing. What about your party ?

Only Labour could conceivably implement the policies needed to restore employment — expanded public services, hospitals not holocaust, a shorter working week, nationalisations. The Tories do not even pretend to have any programme for jobs other than waiting for the automatic mechanisms of capitalism to bring a revival.

by Martin Thomas

The People’s March and Labout’s election campaign should dovetail, each

boosting the other.

The problem is that Labour’s Shadow | Cabinet never wanted the March in the first place — they thought that angry unemployed youth on the streets would

reh

harm Labour’s image. They will be loth to identify themselves with the March now.

None of this stops local Labour Parties from identifying themselves and their election campaigns with the March, and organising a visible and vocal Labour presence on demonstrations to greet the marchers as they come through London.

Supporters of the March will be receptive to the message that only the labour movement can win the right to work — by getting a Labour government and continuing the fight for socialist policies. And by a strong identification with the March Labour Parties can fight the despair and demoralisation which is the Tories’ no.1 political asset.

I think we have failed to recognise that the capitalist and patriarchal society we live in, doesn’t just oppress us economically, it oppresses us as human beings in terms of the conditions it forces us to live and work in, and in the social relationships that exist within and between families and individuals. The labour movement (including the left) has often denied the human and social aspects of many issues, reducing them to slogans and demands. Where it has taken them up, it has rarely attempted to go beyond picking up the pieces and applying the sticking plaster. The consequence is that the image of the Labour Party is one of austerity and deprivation. In continually defending the Welfare State without going beyond it, we have become identified with a second rate society — poor council housing, inadequate health and education services etc. The Tories, despite their actual practice, are identified with a vision of a better wealthier society. I think that the Labour Party Manifesto despite its title ‘New Hope for Britain’ fails to provide a positive, relevant image of socialism.

HOUSING — REDUCED TO STATISTICS

For example, in tackling the awful problems of homelessness and bad housing conditions, the issue is reduced to one of statistics — how many houses we will build, how we willimprove repairs programimes. What is completely ignored is the fact that many of the major problems that exist on council estates, such as crime, vandalism, and the terrible isolation that

laking our socialism relevant

The last four years of Tory government in Britain have inflicted more misery and ruin on most people’s lives than they have ever experienced before. It seems incredible therefore that at the time of writing, Labour is stil] trailing behind the Tories in the opinion polls, Quite clearly we have not succeeded in convincing people that Labour’s policies are an alternative. We are not convincing people that we have solutions to the problems we face. Yet we are a real alternative. So where are we going wrong?

especially women feel, are built into the estates in their design. Nowhere do we consider what kind of houses people want to live in. We need to consider the design of houses in order to enable us. to live in the size and type of social unit we would like, rather than imposing the standard sized nuclear family as the norm.

LETTING MEN OFF THE HOOK

‘The better deal for-women’ in the Manifesto aims to achieve women’s equality by transferring the ‘burden’ of childcare and social service provision from women to the state, and then removing obstacles to women’s opportunities in employment. In other words, it does not challenge the view that it is women’s caring and nurturing role in society that has hampered our progress to equality. It denies the value of this role and the needs of women and children, as well as firmly putting the emphasis on women to change to fit into male organised structures, completely letting men off the hook from taking their share of the caring and nurturing side of society.

Its response to violence against women is just to pick up the pieces by helping rape victims and setting up family crisis centres. It doesn’t even attempt to deal with the causes of violence against women.

WHAT JOBS WILL WE CREATE?

The Manifesto’s programme for the industrial revival of Britain again reduces the issue to one

Pheto + Cath Take

of economics and statistics. It is concerned with numbers of jobs and levels of investment, but doesn’t deal with the type of jobs we will create. It says ‘we intend to create new companies and new science-based industries’, but what will these companies be manufacturing? — what services will they be providing? — what will be the working conditions in these companies?

Above all, the Manifesto creates the impression that the Labour Party can do everything on its own, and everyone else just needs to sit back. We make the same mistake if we think we have all the answers and don’t build a movement which is habitable for and representative of all races and cultures, of both sexes and of people with disabilities.

We can only convince people that socialism is a real alternative by making it relevant to our needs in our daily lives. The peace women have brought the issue of nuclear disarmament to the fore by relating it to the things that people are most concerned about — our homes, children and families. We need to have a positive vision of the society we wish to live in, which takes into account human needs and relationships, and which we can begin to put into practice now. The ‘Streetlife Supplement’ has attempted to begin that process. Another term of Tory government would not only be a setback it would be a disaster. The election of a Labour Government and the implementation of the manifesto policies is vital, but that must be just the beginning if we really want to build a mass movement committed to socialism.

Jane Stockton (after discussion with other women)

Next issue out on June 23rd. Deadline for articles: Tues June 14th.

: Next editorial meetings: June 10th & 27th at County Hall, 7.00pm.

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