Merseyside Labour Briefing no. 2

BENN INTERVIEWED

After speaking at the Liverpool District Labour Party’

ed by Merseyside Labour BRIEFING.

MLB:

BENN;

MLB

BENN;

In view of the Tribune Group’s decision to apply for registration, do you feel there is a need need for a different alignment of the parliamentary left?

Well, shall | put it like this; | think that we need a group of members of parliament who don't see the work only in parliamentary terms, but are open to campaigns to flow through them. We have had a campaign group meeting all year which, for example, got together to help the ASLEF strike. We've also drafted a bill to ban foreign nuclear bases, and drafted another bill to provide an amnesty for trade unionists who were going to be jailed or punished under Tory legislation, Alan Roberts has done a bill, under the auspices of that group, which would give greater rights to council house tenants == the right to be consulted, and so on, So it isn*t a question of dividing and subdividing until you get ideological purity. | think that's a great mistake, What we've got to do is to build around issues, and | think that's the way the minds of many of us are going.

tThat sounds very similar to what

we are trying to do in BRIEFING.

Yes. We have people come in, We don't confine it to members of parliament, People come in if they've got a problem. If you like, it's a collective surgery; you can come in, talk to members, get a motion down, or run a campaign. That's the way, | think, the thing is beginning to work.

continued Page 2

‘Photo: G Cookson

4s Preaconference rally on’21st September, Tony Benn was interview-

Support the

Health Workers

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

.. BRIEFING INTERVIEW

could be fashioned and then funded. And

MLB:What kind of a role then do you then there's the shorter working week, earl=

see for BRIEFING or a network of

BRIEFINGS? ier retirement and raising the school leaving BE NN: Well they're appearing all over the place. age to 75, so that people can go in and out There’ is one in Manchester, | saw last week, of education all their lives. | think it is one in Bristol and there is London Labour i ‘possible to do, but it does require a com= BRIEFING, | think what is happening is that plete break with market forces, because it's : anew approach to socialist journalism is de~ market forces that have denied Merseyside . veloping around giving people information, prosperity even in the good years and have so that they can direct their own efforts more brought it desolation and deprivation in bad effectively and constructively. | think that®s years very uatiliy ; MLB:Labour's programme pledges that MLB:You mentioned in your .3peech,, the the next Labour Government will the need to draw in people who repeal the Nationality Act and are outside the labour movement institute non-racist immigration at the moments; women and the ° controls. Do you believe that | ethnic minorities in particular. immigration laws can be non-rac- . How do you feel we can achieve 4 ist? | this? BENN: Yes, E try h h BENN; Well, my arswer is that we should open the i f é Ae son in ee meme ee tillcie lid oF tie Rxéy. Teatad is, of people who move in and out, Our objec= n up et NALGIO ar — us ct a tion is that present laws are racist. We have 8 to ge n ) tocaee nee giles the most ludicrous anomalies now; every like the CPSA to affiliate, we s ould open it Common Market citizen can come in freely to socialist feminist groups and to CND, and yet even Falklanders can't come in if they're soon =~ if they wish to affiliate, That doesn't more than a generation or two back, and of preclude them having their own policy. The ; course the discrimination against blacks is EEPTU has it's own policy but its still affiliat= very strong, Whatever we have has got to ed= the NUM has its own policy. | think we be entirely non=racial in character, The de~ should now deliberately open and advertise — tails are something which we will be ‘debatthat it is open, an affiliation list of the Labour ing at Conferences. | think and hope and be~ Party, so that socialist feminists en anes fo lieve that it will give confidence to the eththe beget ea eneaeeeey og at Fen nic minorities that they‘re not going to be inist group or black people representing a victimised black group. They could contribute to pol= MLBiArising’ from what ‘you said in icy at constituency level, come to confer= your speach about the NEC's deence with a vote appropriate to their mem= cision today on the Middle East - bership.and so on. | think, apart from the that the NEC have decided to. sup™

port an independant Palestinian

fact that it's the way to extend the ideas of state. Is that your own position?

socialism, this approach is also the total

answer to the idea that you solve the prob BENN: Oh yes, very greatly, Bi lem by expelling people. We want a broad~ MLB:Are you still involved in Labour er, not a narrower, base. Friends of Israel? MLB:On a local note, we're sure that BENN: Of course, | have made that clear today. you recognise that Merseyside The amendment | moved which was accepted hes. fad moresehen tte piace, Oo was the addition of a few preliminaries about problems~ even..in relatively the Beirut Massacre and American policy; to good times the area has been be- e ane ss ve h % priedte devilled: with high levels of un- say that guarantees for the security of Israe and the establishment of a Palestinian State

employment. Do you feel that the AES will provide the solution to the area's problems?

BENN: We do have to have a national strategy, such as a big house building programme; the construction industry in Merseyside is very

should be the subject of international negotiations .and the PLO should be invited to take part. That was a big leap for Labour policy and I've always taken that view. | had a tremendous argument with Golda Meir

badly hit. Th demand for steel, rail elec in 1963 in Israel about it.

trification and all that.- But | think a great MLB:Thanks very much for giving us deal of the full employment that | visualise the chance to talk to you.

is based upon local plans, locally worked BENN: That's OK, thank you.

out and funded. The TU Resource Centre which is being set up in Liverpool could be

& short of centre for socialist “entrepreneurs", i don like using capitalist language but you know what | mean; places where projects

LABOUR— TAKE THE POWER!

Page 2

The NHS dispute has now been run= ning for 7 months = one of the long= est ever pay campaigns in the public sector. It was way back in April that the TUC, fresh from the ASLEF sell-out, decided that the NHS

workers were to be pushed into the frontline in the battle with the That=

cher regime.

They took note, | suppose, of the facts that, NHS workers are not only fairly new to trade unionism, but are also one of the most divided groups of workers in'the movement. For the record there are 16 TUC affiliates, not forgetting 53 other non=affiliates Royal Colleges, chartered societies efc.).

Despite this, 1.2 million NHS work ers were plunged into a campaign, the tactics of which have caused dissent and concern. One day stopages, two day stopages, days of act~ ion etc. All through the campaign calls for a,more dynamic approach have been ignored. The fact that, for obvious reasons, we have fought with one arm tied behind our backs, having to provide emergencyand essential services, has both kept up a degree of public support, and kept the government from being too worried

by the action. DILEMMA

This is the perrenial political and moral dilemma facing trade unionists

in the NHS; faced with a Tory gov= ernment who could not care less for

peoples suffering (after all they can pay for private health care), and who care even less for the enforced pov erty of low paid workers,

Nearly 70% of NHS workers are wo= men (88% of whom are part~time). Clearly this factor is a major reason for low pay and poor union organisation.

It seems obvious now that the cam= paign cannot continue to feed off the public sympathy far the nurses. Calls

for an all-out general strike have already been made, but whether or not workers in the private sector are prepared to risk their own jobs striking on behalf of sister and brother trade unionists in the NHS remains to be seen,

ON MERSEYSIDE

On the TUC's one-day token nation= al Day of Action, Merseyside was one of the strongest areas, and yet the area failed to deliver when chosen to be the first region in the programme of “rolling days d actin. To be fair to Merseyside workers, 7 days notice was certainly not very helpful. But

- the whole tactic of rolling days of

action has been mishandled, failing to maintain the active support of in= dustrial workers. The campaign is continuing and the government is con~ tinuing to sit it out. The NHS work= ers alone will not break them.

MAKE LINKS

The next significant date for action is on November 8th when the trans= port unions have called an all-out strike in sympathy with the health

workers. We should make an.effort to get other workers out as well to make as big a demonstration of solidarity as possible, A second national ‘day of action’ is likely to be called for November 24th and this too must be built for. The best way to do this is by local action committees which can unite NHS unions and non=NHS unions with Labour Parties and other groups. Such committees exist locally, and it is the task of all of us who

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

are concerned about both low pay

and the future of the NHS to get involved in them, forge the links and keep up the campaign.

The fight is not just for pay, but per haps more importantly in the end, to save the NHS, The Tories may have tried to hide the think-tank proposals to destroy the NHS, but we must real= ise that the defence of the NHS could

become the real battlefield in the fight for socialist ideals.”

STOP PRESS Liverpool District Health Authority, who are now being forced to cut some £7.5 million in the next 4/5 years, have now presented a document proposing 5 options for cuts, All contain proposals for hospital closures. Hospitals threatened include Princes Park (geriatric), Newsham General (geriatric), Park Hospital (Psychiatric and geriatric), Sefton General and Rathbone hospitals.

Major job tosses are also threatened and we may see redundancies an= nounced in the near future.

Bob Quick COSHE Regional Officer

Left Foot- Right Foot

AM A LONG-TIME SUPPORTER)

NucLEAR DISARMAMENT— BUT NoT NecEessARiL *

Page 3

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

Discussion on the register has been limited by a tactical difficulty in deciphering what the NEC intend to

do. Out of the four constituencies on Merseyside with Militant-support= ing PPC*s Toxteth, Wavertree and Kirkdale have met since conference and reaffirmed their support for their properly selected candidates, Edge~ hill did not because its October meeting was inquorate, Toxteth and Kirkdale are petitioning their full membership in support of their candi= dates, The remaining Liverpool con= stituencies along with Bootle, Birk= enhead, Wirral, Wallasey and Ells mere Port are all opposed to expul= sions. The Crosby CLP had written to the NEC before the conference to indicate their refusal to co-operate with any attempt to remove Marxists and socialists from the Labour Party. Unfortunately Huyton CLP*'s meeting at the end of October misses our deadline.

OUTHPORT FLOWER SHOW

Not only did it cause controversy with its links with South Africa but initial figures suggest that the South= port Flower Show has cost the Sefton ratepayers £36,000. We hope that the Council can turn over a new leaf next year.

PRIVATISATION)

There is growing concern about the current plans being made by certain councils on Merseyside to privatise some of their services. Wirral has already disbanded its DLQ with'a job loss of 200. They are also plan= ning to sell off the municipal golf course in Hoylake and privatise re~ fuse collection and street cleaning. In Liverpool the council have recen=

tly taken the school bus contract Page 4

from MPTE. Plans are being drawn up to break up refuse collection so that private companies can make an

easy profit on the refuse that is easier to collect, In Sefton the Tory Coun+ cil claim to support their refuse col= lection department. However they are seeking private tenders in what they claim is an information exercise’ They even accuse Labour's opposition to these tenders as being based on party dogma.

MTUC & UR CENTRE

The old police station in Hardman St.

opposite the Philharmonic will house the Merseyside Trade Union, Com= munity and Unemployed Resource Centre when it opens in December.

PRIVATISATION GOES THROUGH The centre will provide a wide range

Wirral Council's recent decisior: to of facilities for working class organ= privatise depended on the isations. Individuals can affiliate

actions of the Borough's Mayor. The (£5 waged, £1 unwaged); further de~ Tories had a majority of one over the tails from M. Cantor. Membershii combined Labour/Liberal opposition, Secretary MTUC&UR Centre c/o 70 with the Mayor abstaining, Crucial- Victoria Street, Liverpool L1.

ly, had ‘His Worship*cast his vote EXPULSION IN NORTH WALES

with the opposition the vote would

have been tied, giving him a second,

casting vote, Readers may find noth=

ing strange. tothe Miyor's Boer ety Paul Bellis, a member of East Flintshire CLP, has just been expelled after writing to his GMC complaining that his ward wasn't meeting regular=

given that he presides over a Tory=

controled council. . Unfortunately for ly. The GMC decided that the pro= test was “bringing the Party into dis-

our credibility as a party, it is sad to report that the Mayor in question is repute"$ Although the decision was reached without following proper

a Labour member’ A defeat for the procedures, the Welsh Regional Of~

Tories would have meant at least a fice has yet to intervene and enforce

six=month postponement of their as— set=stripping plans, At the October

Party rules, An appeal has been lodged with the NEC, and we will ree

DLP meeting, attempts to raise this failure to support Party policy were port future developments,

put off on the grounds that "His Wor-

ship’ was not present to defend himself.

INVETERATE PRACEMon

1 aM AN

WaR wut NeT SETNE INTERNATION DisPuTeS — UNLESS WE ARE MISSING COUNCILLORS TALKING, ABevT THE FALKLAN

SHoULB TRUST IN

Labour Party members in Liverpool are concerned at crucial votes being lost in the city council because of missing Labour councillors. Dingle Ward has sent a resolution to the DLP demanding an hourly attendance sheet.

ROOTING

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

PALESTINE

The Liverpool District Labour Party has decided to invite a speaker from the Merseyside Palestine Support Group to their next meeting. The Wirral DLP have taken a similar de~ cision as have the Liverpool Trades Council and Birkenhead CLP. If any ward, constituency or borough party would like a speaker from the group, please ctact Ms. F. Gelder, c/o32 Rock Park, Rock Ferry.

NEC ELECTION

Ms, E. Gallagher got 2,358, 000 votes in this years vote for the Wo= men's Section of the National Execu~ tive Committee. She came eighth,

beating Margaret Beckett and Fran= cess Morrell amongst others. Al= though she is a member of the Toxteth Constituency Party, the Toxteth GMC had no idea of her candidacy. In fact she has kept an amazingly low profile in the Constituency Party. One delegate to the GMC thinks she has been to one meeting over the ‘past two years, Her ward chairman has never heard of her. Even so she was nearly elected onto the NEC.

BAC KHOUSE RESIGNS John Backhouse has resigned as Pros=

pective Parliamentary Candidate for Crosby because of personal reasons.

LABOUR WOME MEETING

The North=West Regional Annual Conference of Labour Women was held in October, and consisted of some 250 delegates from party organ= isations and trade unions, The pro= ceedings were dominated, however, not by the debates, but by the re= strictions imposed on the proceedings.

No resolutions were allowed and a= part from tne election of the regional

committee, there were no votes,

Delegates were simply asked to listen fo the speakers and join in a discussion by deciding on a resolution, which could have been used as a basis for campaigning,

The level of the discussion was high. Botn Robert Kilroy=Silk on "Law and Order" and Gwyneth Dunwoody on "The Future of the NHS" provoked constructive debate. Speakers em= phasised the need to support the heal= th workers in their present dispute. Almost every speaker stated her com=- ments by stating her’ wish for a reso= lution conference. If women send,

in enough protests, it should be even better next year.

HAVE YOUR SAY......4

Items for Grass Rooting should be sent to BRIEFING, c/o 8 Ashford Road, Meols, Wirral.

Merseyside Labour Co-ordinating

Committee

SUPPORTS BRIEFING

For details of meetings & other activities contact:

Julian Clarke 34 Grant Ave., L15 733-1459

| REJOICE]

Unity Theatre is just around the corner from the MTUC&UR Centre at | Hope Place, On Firday 19 and Sat~ urday 20, November, it stages Rejoice*, a play by John McGrath. This play concerns the hilarious at= tempts of a Conservative business man to convert a Toxteth youth into

a Young Conservative.

H A OVE OR

The film, Not A Love Story, direct= ed by Bonnie Klein, will be given a women only showing on Saturday, 27th November at the Rialto Com= munity Centre, 70-74 Upper Parlia— ment Street, Liverpool 8. Entrance is 50p. Tea and discussion after film. Creche available. Film starts 2:15 pm

v..DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST

The Liverpool Playhouse is putting on the very funny socialist play, Acci= dental Death of an Anarchist from Navember 25 - December 18, The play describes the conseq vences of

the death of an anarchist held by the Italian police. Everything is held up to ridicule, including the reformism of the Italian Communist Party.

RRA KKK RRR KERR RRR REESE

- INCOMES PoLICIES Do NeoT

WeRK - Bot WE MOST PLAN To CoNTRol iweeMeS |

Page 5

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING Weighell’s

After the burst of jubilation at seeing the witch=hunter burnt at his own stake, the euphoria over Sid Weighell's political demise is now turning _to concern for the future of the union he misled for so long. The cause of

socialism can only be enhanced by the removal of a man whose every reactionary phrase fell like manna into the columns of the gutter press. But the real target, rather than an individual, must be the legacy of intermingled corporatism and centralism which has put one man into such a powerful and, until recently, un=

accountable positon in the Labour movement,

PAW IN THE BOX

It was not the Left that brought Weighell down. He caused his own downfall by being caught with his paw in the ballot box at Blackpool, None-the-less, five or so years ago he might have survived. Since then the NUR has changed; so that when he fell this time it was not into a safety net of adulation, but into the lion's den of an increasingly active rank and file. His attitude on the “winter of discontent', on the witch= hunt, on pay policies and "produc= tivity’ deals, and the oppositim en=- gendered by his authoritarian advo= cay of these helped to ensure his de= mise.

SUPPORT JIMMY KNAPP

What socialists in the NUR must do now is ensure that, whoever the new General Secretary is, he or she is the employee and servant of the membership, rather than the tradit= ional trade union baron, At the very

INTERNATIONAL. AGREEMENTS ”

Last Turn

least he or she should be prepared to stand for re-election and to turn the NUR away from being the advocate of managerial policies. The only declared contender who seems anywhere near fulfilling these promises is Jimmy Knapp, current chairman of the Southeast TUC. His standing has been enhanced considerably over the last week by Weighell's malicious and unprecedented attacks on him,

BARONIAL PATRONAGE

Moving away from the NUR, the burning wreckage of Weighell*s career has thrown light on some of the murkier corners of trade union baron~

lan Williams

Member of NUR NEC

ial patronage. What should be examined now should not be Weighell*s individual actions, but the whole ob= scene concept of one man throwing 170, 000 block votes onto the board on behalf of a union with only, 155,000 members! It is now time to consider how to develop links between the unions and the Party, and translate these into real Party mem= bership and activisim on the part of trade unionists individually and col= lectively. Various ideas involving, for example factory branches,. have been floated. | consider that Sid Weighell's going will prove even more of a blessing if it gives rise to

serious and constructive thought on these lines. KHER KIKI ERE EEKRER ERE KEKE EEE REE EER ERE ERE REREREREREERREEEEE

KK RRA IEIKR ERR EI HRR EIR ERIE ERIK ERIK AIK IK IK HERRERA REAR ER REE

LL. Paul Thompson Dingle Ward.

GETTING ON THE PANE

Choosing a candidate to fight the local elections is a very important task for any ward, it is made more difficult by the Liverpool District Labour. Party's *s Local Government Panel for 1982/1983. When our ward = Dingle - drew up its shortlist there were only 27 on the total panel, and only about fifteen of them were actually available. There were no women, The information on which we are asked to choose is ludicrous - age, occupation, trade union and time of LP membership. Surely the key is a candidate's views, both of activit and policy. We have been told that a candidate provides greater information to the DLP, before he/she is selected. To withold that from wards is an inver= sion of democratic procedures. Without such information, selection of a short

list can only be blind, or on the basis of the "old comrades network".

With this in mind, the ward unanimously passed a resolution which calls on the DLP to:

i. Give greater publicity and information to Branches concerning the procedures ard functioning of the Panel, and of the job of Councillor, so as to encourage a greater number and wider range of nominees.

ii. Give positive encourogement to women members to apply (given the ; wholly male composition of the 1982/1983 list). The DLP should liaise with the Wanens' Council and active Womens’ Sections in the canstituencies to

ascertain the most effective methods to achieve this aim,

iii, Make the task of shortelisting by Wards easier and more democratic by requiring each nominee to submit additional details (minimum 100 words, maximum 300) of their experience and views, to be circulated with the

panel list.

Persuading people to stand is never going to be easy given the arduous nature of the job of Councillor. But spreading information and creating more demo= cratic procedures will help to improve the quantity and quality of the Panel.

LIVERPOOL

Women’s Rally

The fifty people (mostly women) who braved the elements and resisted the attraction of lan Mikado and the Troops Out Social to attend the Toxteth Women's

Section pre-conference rally must have felt that this was time well spent.

Fran=

ces Morrell stressed the need for constitutional reform within the Party and Hil= lary Wainwright ex plained how socialism cannot succeed without feminism.

WOMEN'S COMMITTEES

Val Wise gave an account of the women's committee of the GLC and its success in attracting over 300 wo~ men to its open meetings. The speak— ers may have felt that they were preaching to the converted but there was less consensus in the room than one might initially imagine, Issues such as positive discrimination and the establishment of women's com~ mittees at local level (which pro~ voked such opposition by the Tories in London) are likely to be the cause of much internecine wrangling in the

Labour Group in Liverpool. While nobody openly objected to the con~ cept of women's committees, there were calls for women to get involved in the mainstream of politics and the implication being not behind the scenes in committee rooms,

CHILD BENEFIT

There was probably greater consensus on the issue of doubling child benefit Allowances. Ruth Lister of the Child Poverty Action Group put forward a strong case for the abolition of the married man®s tax allowance in return for an increase in child benefit. But one felt that she had perhaps too much faith in the PLP and the trade unions, The proposal is contained

in Labour’s programme and was endorsed by annual conference this year, but history has shown that this

is no guarantee that the proposal

will be implemented, Under Callaghan the scheme to replace the

income tax allowance for children and family allowance with child ben-

efit was very nearly shelved under pressure from the trade unions, Admittedly tne trade unions are no long= er staunchly opposed tosuch a policy but one can forsee problems if women are asked to accept a drop in take home pay and some sort of voluntary wage restraint.

WIDER INVOLVEMENT

Looking around the room it was dif= ficult to spot anybody who is not in= volved in the Labour Party or the wo= mens movement. This was understandable because this was not just

a women's meeting but also a Labour Party meeting. In future the Toxteth Women's Section must build on the support and interest shown at the meeting amongst party activists, but it must also involve women who are not necessarily active in the Labour or women's movement. As one black ‘woman from Toxteth remarked, we are not going to attract a wide cross section of women to meetings when our method of publicty is a leaflet in "News From Nowhere".

Ruth McDonald Kirkdale CLP

Turning the

Party Outward

At a recent meeting of the Wirral District Labour Party, a resolution was passed calling on Labour council: lors not only to hold regular surgeries in their own wards but also to provide surgery facilities in wards not having Labour councillors. It was felt that in order to build in wards where sup= port was low, often because of low membership, the existence of regular surgeries combined with increased ward activity to attract new members could make inroads into a number of Tory and the few Liberal wards in Wirral.

The issue is not just a question of winning more council seats. The need to turn the party outwards, tak— ing on board local issues, being involved in work with tenants associe~ tions, local pressure groups etc. is essential,

Years of right wing control, particularly in previous Labour strongholds has left a vacuum, filled in many cases by the Liberals, appearing as the "campaigning party of the peop~ le", This situation must not be allowed to continue, Labour councillors must be committed to playing a major role in reversing this process and in this regard the left in the party must not be coy in seeking selection as

in local elections as well as candidates fighting for a radical programme on which to campaign.

Colin Penfold Wirral Boraugh Councillor

“we witt ABou SH \ WWE House of LORDS, Whe Needs 'T wilh AN NLE.C. LIKE, WE'VE GoT Now 7

Page 7

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING asked Alex Bennett of the Black Workers Consortium to give his views on the value of positive discrimination and on the Government's response to last year's riots in Liverpool.

in 18?

A year on from the riots, has the government's res= ponse to the area's problems produced any results?

MLB

BE NNETT

Before referring to the work of last year it is important to point out that no government has been able to respond effectively to Liverpool's situation for the last 30 years. In that context this government has been no different - the window dressing has been more flamboyant in the shape of Michael Heseltine and the so-called *captains of industry’ but inthe grocer's shop the shelves are still bare apart from the shabby little corner occupied by the Manpower Services Commission. It is from this pandora's box of neverending little tricks that Michael Heseltine has tried to 'regenerate* the Merseyside economy. Over the last 12 months the Government has taken more money out of Liverpool than Heseltine could dream of putting in, in terms of cuts in local author= ity spending, increased taxation etc. And the ef fects of the policies have been felt all over the city, especially in Liverpool 8, with rising unemployment and cuts in services like education and the social services, and loss of benefits to DHSS claimants recently highlighted by the trade unions. Also one of the more diversionary arguments recently used has been that of the ‘outer areas’ syndrome. This is the argument used to camoflage the failure of the Merseyside ‘initiatives. If the people of the inner areas aren't happy with what they've received the politicians say that they are greedy, and what

about the people in the ‘outer areas’. Divide and rule. If the government were serious they would allocate the necessary resources, not make more people compete with each other for the ever decreasing amounts of money. That is the failure of the last twelve months ='not to fail to identify the illness, but to with-hold the medicine and in fact exacerbate the patient's disease.

Page 8

What’s happening

MLB

There has been a lot of controversy lately concerning employment policy for the ethnic minorities. In particular, the idea of positive discrimination has been opposed locally by sections of the Labour Party. Do you think that such policies have any _

value? BE NNETT

Affirmative action policies are valuable in so much as they are effective in redressing the balance, and offering opportunities to groups who have formerly been disadvantaged. This, of course, includes the black community as well as women workers and a number of other groups who experience prejudice in our society.

Not to recognise the need for affirmative action is to deny that prejudice exists within this society =

a facile argument when you compare the unemploy= ment figures for the black community in Britain against that of the white. Therefore, if politicians of whatever political colour or faction are serious about combating racism and latent prejudice they can only support measures that will achieve that, goal, i.e., affirmative action progriammes.

There is, of course, also the argument that these policies will create a ‘white backlash’. The black community has been subject to this backlash for the greater part of its history and one suspects that this may be political concern for lost votes rather than concern for the welfare of the black community.

The role of affirmative action programmes should be to identify areas of concern and develop strategies

to combat racist practices and policies. It has been the experience of agencies that have adopted this type of action that, even if they had previously considered themselves ‘equal opportunities employ= ers', there were a whole range of areas in which they seemed to discover discriminatory practices.

Yet despite the need, you also need tosay that if these action programmes are to work properly and achieve their objectives there must be cooperation from as many sides as possible. Thus it is impor-

ant for the politicians to understand the issues and for the trade unions to underwrite any policies, and to monitor their effectiveness. They are, after all representatives for the workforce and should be seeking equal opportunities for all members of socie=

tye

Setting up Workplace Branches

Merseyside -abour BRIEFING

The 1981 Annual Conference approved ammendments to the Party Constitution and the Rules for Constituency Labour Part= jes to provide for the establishment of workplace branches, These are to be formed through Regional Officers in accord= ance with rules and regulations sanctioned by the NEC.

The obiectives of workplace branches are: to recruit more activists and supporters to the Party, especially from the trade unions; to provide political education for members and propaganda for the Party; to help co-ordinate joint trade union/

Labour Party campaigns and activities; and, to work with Constituency Parties,

A minimum of ten individual members of the Party, at a workplace, may establish a Branch by requesting a Regional Of~ ficer to convene an inaugural meeting, at which the Regional Officer must be present.

But it appears that a single employer spread over a wide area does not qualify as a workplace. (Clearly, there is going to be some difficulty in deciding about a large coal mine or a large car plant that stretches over several miles.) Also, the work= ers in a single department might not qualify for a workplace branch, The Party’s North-West Regional Office say they have been instructed to ap= ply the rules, strictly, as meaning a single site. This would eliminate most council departments and disenfranchise a large number of workers on small sites-such as teachers in primary schools, A large school or college should qualify, according to a recent circular to members of the Socialist Educational Association. The SEA say that all teaching and non-teaching staff, and students over

15 years of age, are eligible to join. Anyone with a specific enquiry. about setting-up a branch is advised to write to the National Agent, David Hughes, at Labour Party Headquart— ers,

RULES INTERPRETATION

It appears that it will be comparatively easy to build a workplace branch in any large office or factory, but, if the present rules are interpre ted too strictly, this progressive development will not reach a large number of hitherto isolated workers. There are people working in small branches of chain stores and banks and the like, with low levels of unionisation, And there are large numbers of people, working on small, fragmented sites, in the Teachers?

and Local Government unions, where

the battle for Party affiliation has yet to be won. To leave these people isolated from Labour Party influence because of a rigid use of the rulebook will be to lose a historic opportunity to build the Party and a misinterpretation of the spirit of the 1981 Conference Decision.

MCDEL RULES

The Model Rules, finally approved by the NEC in July 1982, are similar in many respects to those for ward bran= ches, But there are important differ~ ences: the workplace branch is entitled to only a nominal delegation of one to any constituency parties in the area; *...Industrial matters... properly the responsibility of the appropriate trade union...‘ are not sup= posed to be discussed; and, members subscriptions are paid to the wards in which they live = so funds have to be raised by donations, collections, and other activities.

There is also a great deal of uncer= tainty as to what actually constitutes

abranch, The Model Rules refer to any ',..factory, office, depot, or other place of work to be covered as agreed locally}, and 'In any dispute over the precise definition of area to be covered, the NEC will have the final decision’. What precisely that final decision is likely to be could be a cause of uncertainty and a deterrent to members eager to build the Party at their workplace. This may account for the rather slow way in which these branches are being built around the country. )

MERSEYSIDE BRANCHES

On Merseyside, a Branch was set up in the Liverpool City Council Housing Department in February 1982; two more are planned, in Copperas Hill Postal Offices in Liverpool and at Cammell Lairds shipyard in Birken= head, There is a lot of enthusiasm for a Workplace Branch in Wirral Dis~ trict Council which would be a base for a political fightback against 200 sackings by the Tories last summer.

John Nolan Birkonhead CLP

ELEEELELELELEELELEL Appeal for

Money

MERSEYSIDE LABOUR BRIEFING IS AN INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST

MAGA ZINE,

Your support is necessary if we are

to continue. We rely upon contri= butions from individuals, trade unions,

and Labour Groups.

Please send any contribution to:

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING c/o 69 Lambton Road Liverpool |7

EEeseeeeerereeeeeens]

Page Ts

ss

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

GAY RIGHTS

“Don't ever expect that campaigns are won by talking to people at the top. Nobody every got their rights given to them by anybody else. You've always got to fight for them. And campaigns only really get going when people are proud of what they are,“ Tony Benn told the fringe meeting organised by the Labour Campaign for

Gay Rights (LC GR) at this years Conference.

Earlier in the year, we in LCGR had high hopes that at last the Party would adopt the programme of fairly basic rights

for lesbians and gay men set out in the NEC*s own discussion document,

The Rights of Gay Men and Women. Our opti~

mism was based on the fact that over 100 CLPs had written to Walworth Road endorsing fhe document's proposals, and

none had rejected them, But the NEC perpetuated discrimination in its draft for Labour's Programme 1982 by continuing to make illegal homosexual acts in the armed forces and merchant navy, and by amending the age of consent for male

gays to 18, as against the current age of 16 for hets. So we went to the Conference in force for the first time - gay, proud and angry, fighting for our rights and the rights of our sisters and brothers.

NOT ALONE

We were not fighting alone. Over the the past year, Socialist Organiser has given us space to express not only our political demands but to write about gay sexuality. In the pre-con~ ference issue of London Labour Brief= ing. there were eight pages of arti-_ les, mostly by LCGR members, which tackled the personal/political issues of being gay, and which publicised our fringe meeting. The News of the World seized on the articles on the Sunday before Confer= ence. “Gay Row Rocks Labour", it said on page 2. Apparently we were "plaguing the Labour Party with fresh turmoil," in a "massive attempt to make homosexual rights a dominant issue," at the Conference. The article supplemented a story which the Sun had run on the Saturday, contain= jing the shock=horror story that Peter Tatchell had gone to the Gay Olympics - a story which is completely de~ nied by Tatchell, The Daily Mail ran two pages of stores on the Mon day: "What makes Tatchell tick?" and "Foot upset by gay campaigners" vhich said that "MPs and trade union delegates have been shocked at the tirade of abuse from Gay Rights Cam~ paigners." The Mail was particularly intruiged by the London Labour Briefing articles by Mary Evans, who recommended being a lesbian, and by a transvestite, Les Tate,

SURGE OF SUPPORT

The result of all this was an added surge of support for us. By Tuesday evening, when our fringe meeting was held, we were no longer raising what many might formerly have seen as a fringe issue. By the BBC's count Page 10

we had 250 present in a room booked for an audience of 100 - and that was after we had ejected reporters from the Sun, News of the World and Mail. Our platform included Joan Lestor, Jo Richardson, Ken Livingstone and Peter Tatchell: Tony Benn cancelled an engagement to attend in solidority with us when he read of the press' attemot "to hound and harass in a disgusting way." ELECTORAL LIABILITY?

Joan Lestor said that there were two categories of people who opposed gay right within the Party: those who have the prejudice themselves, and those who defer to what they believe to be other people's prejudices be~ cause of electoral problems. She said “one thing that has surprised and delighted me is the number of CLPs who are interested. Now they've got a job to do. Peter Tatchell echoed this when he said “those who say that we must opt for 18 on the age of con= sent because we don't want to turn the voters off have really got an un= derlying view that weve got to get power." But | say that if we seek power at any price, if we compromise on fundamental principles ... of opposing the different forms of oppression, vhether it be sexual or racial, the oppression of class or of sexval orientation ... then we're a very weok and a very poor Party." Tony

Benn emphasised that rights were never gained by stealth, This con= trasted strmgly with Neil Kinnock, who told us when we lobbied him af~ ter an NEC meeting at Brighton that whilst he felt the age of consent of

16 to be an electoral liability, there would be nothing to prevent the next Labour government from legislating for 16 once it was in power,

Ken Livingstone spoke of the prdblems within the GLC Labour Group on the question of grants to gay groups and particularly the Gay Teenage Group. But Tory George Tremlett, who believed "there are votes to be made out of queer=bashing on public plat= fornis “had put on such a gross display of prejudice that Labour members had been totally united when they saw the true nature of the opposition. Since then “virtually every grant pro posal for.every lesbian and gay male organisation sails through unchallenged in the Group meeting, "It shows the progress which can be made if we sit down and talk to all the people we need tocarry with us."

It isa political issue '

NO IFS AND BUTS

Two men from the Gay Youth Move= ment and a former member of the armed forces spoke from the platform of the discrimination which they and their sisters and brothers experience. The answer to the prejudice is to fight in the open. As Peter Tatchell put it, "As long as we pander to what we think are people's prejudices they will be reinforced, they will never change." Within the movement, Joan Lestor said, “Democratic Soo cialists are being forced to recognise that if you are committed to equality you can't stop when someone is black neither can you stop when someone is gay. It*s a total committment. There aren't any ifs and there aren't any buts about it.”

GREAT SUCCESS

The meeting was undoutedly a great success, and we will be using the im= petus generated by it to build a much stronger campaign for next year's

conference. But one major problem will clearly be to put ocross the fact

that, in LCGR, our struggle is about politics not civil rights. One way

forward will be to promote, within our CLPs and trade union branches, policies which are explicity con= cerned with fighting patriarchy, dnd which are contributory to rather than seen as alternatives to the fight for women’s rights, We hope shortly to have discussions on these lines with the Women's Action Committee of CLPD. Ken Livingstone spoke for LCGR as well as for himself when he

said; “We will carry on fighting and

JOIN THE STRUGGLE! FOR DETAILS OF INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP AND AFFILIATION OF YOUR

CLP? PARTY BRANCH AND TRADE UNION BRANCH? WRITE TO

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

Chris Beer LCGR

challenging prejudice in every CLP and trade union branch until we com: mit this Party to a position not just on gay sexuality but on all forms of sexuality. The Tories and the press know that our campaign unlocks the repression in their sexuality, As we do so we take ourselves much closer forward to transforming the whole of

society than perhaps we can on any other single issue that this movement

‘T Pesener

LCGR, 6la BLOOM STREET, MANCHESTER MI 3LY. SPEAKERS ARE AVAILABLE; ARRANGEMENTS CAN BE MADE VIA THE SAME ADDRESS,

HOUSING STORM _IN SEACOMBE

Council maisonettes in Borough Road East, Wallasey have caused a storm in the local press and local Labour Party recently.

The maisonettes are badly in need of repair; some of the rooms have cracks that you can put your hand into, window frames are rotten and badly fit ted, and doors are badly hung. The communal bins are only emptied once a week, despite being full again within a few days. Large lumps of concrete have fallen away from the sides of the buildings and from the stairs. Recently a child narrowly escaped being seriously injured or killed when a large piece of concrete just missed falling on him.

Understandekly the residents are angry. When Housing Director, Mr. Darnley, turned up at the maisonettes lumps of masonry were thrown at him. But Mr. Darnley is not the only one

to come under attack, The residents on the estate have collected a 700

signature petition calling for the res= ignation of the three Labour Councillors for Seacombe, When the Execu= tive Committee of Wallasey Labour Party heard of this situation they ime mediately called a public meeting to bring together the residents and their councillors, At the meeting residents complained that they never saw their councillors. It was also alleged that one particular councillor had resorted to referring to people on the estate as "animals", and had made racist re= marks about one family.

Fortunately some of the Labour Party members present at the meeting were able to point out that the real problem was the Tory Council on Wirral, and that even when councillors did

take up complaints the Council would not willingly put money into council housing.

It was also pointed out that the residents could influence who represent= ed them on the council by joining the

Labour Party ard selecting candidates who would fight their corner and sev~ eral new members were recruited.

‘Members of Seacombe Branch and

Wallasey CLP now have to rebuild credibility in Borough Road East by

leading a fight for better housing in the area. The left in Seacombe Branch are still trying to bring the three councillors to account, after failing by a few votes to win a no confidence motion in a packed ward

meeting.

BITTERNESS AND TENSION

The degree of bitterness and tension created in the Branch over this issue is demonstrated by the fact that a meeting between the Branch chairma and one of the councillors degenerat ed into a brawl and is now in the

hands of the police.

Mick Cashman Wallasey CLP

rseyside

Labour BRIEFING

CROSBY DELEGATE’S DIARY

MONDAY

Monday morning begins with the usual scrabble that delegates have to undergo to justify the claim that the Labour Party Conference is not stage manag~ ed. This is the ‘reference back® pro~ cedure to try and ensure that missing words, phrases, resdutions and com= posites are promptly reinstated on the agenda. Conference Arrange ments Committee (a body more in need of infiltration than any other e) epito= mised by its chairman, Derek Glade win, seems immune to any democratic control, pleas, cries of anguish and shouts from the body of the hall, but occasionally and often quite orbitrare ily a delegate can be successful and

a composite can be returned to its original form or returned to the time~ table fa debate. ©

This all intensifies the atmosphere which is both expectant and electric. Then the debates start and in theory, the shaping of part of the Labour Man= ifesto. This year, because of Left Wing Briefings, delegates were aware of the necessity of the card vote for recording a 3rds majority and as any~ one who watched conference could see, this at times became cumbersome, but it was always needed, especially in view of the disastrous NEC results.

Conference was in no doubt about committing the Labour Party to abol= ishing private medicine. This compo~ site allowed the whole Labour move~ ment to be united, fighting for a com~ mon cause and feelings were euphoric as the results of the vote were ane nounced. After dinner though, this feeling was reversed with a vengence. A gloomy financial report was follow= ed by the registration debate. The constituency section was overwhelm= ingly against the register yet the union block vote ensured that the register will be instigated and the same block vote wielded for a right-wing NEC ensured that the register will be acted upon,

TUESDAY

Tuesday saw the Labour Party at one again, determined to repeal antitrade union laws, This must have been too much fa saneone because the next event was a bomb scare and the hall had to be evacuated. Rumors were circulating that this was one more attempt to prevent the debate on womens organisations.

A call to make a short list of one unconstitutional was unfortunately lost, but three good composites were car= ried on transport, renationalisation and public ownership.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday conference vded by a huge majority to “oppose. eval nuc= lear weapons in or by Britain.” The sheer jubilation as the result of the vote was announced was tremendous. Delegates jumped up and down, shouted, cheered and clapped.

John Boyd"s strange expression could now be directed at himself, the was in the conference but not of it.* The same could be said later in the day of Brother Sid,

When Clive Jenkins and Arthur Scargill raised the question of the missing votes the hall buzzed with specula~ tion. Then the news filtered through that it was the NUR vote that was questionable. Members of the NUR delegation told me that when they asked Sid Weighell to confirm or deny the rumours he denied them, Finally, Mr, Weighell announced on News= night that he had indeed broken his

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Union's mandate, The NUR delegation were angry. Even Weighell sup~ porters among them were less than pleased. They were upset that he had lied to them about the vote. The delegation had heated meetings on Thurs= day. Some wanted to recommend his sacking to the NUR executive, others were not prepared to go that far.

They decided to submit a factual re= port and not give any recanmendation.

CANNOT wT |

READ MY NoTES, KNow THEY SAY IT WevtlD BE SueRT- SIGHTED To TAKE THE LONGER WEW ON Some

IssueS. WE WiLL ExPEL MILITANTS suis YEAR, AND WHe KNOWS

wat we CAN ACHIEVE, NEAT

year !

*1 Am AGAINST WITCHMUNTS,

1 Don'T WANT MILITANTS OuT of THE PARTY— But | wie Net HAVE

Hem ww! “

-~DELEGATES’ REPORTS

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

WALLASEY D ATE’S VIEW

This year's Labour Party Conference has seen the result of not enough attention being paid to democracy in the trade unios, Time and time again tne block vote was used to push through the policies of the Right. The NEC is now well

and truly in the hands of those opposed to democratic reforms within the Labour Party and the register is there for those who think any different.

“THURSDAY/FRIDAY

Some other strong composites were debated and carried on Thursday and Friday:

-more investment for council hous= es and a tightening of both council and private tenants rights.

-a 35 hour week with no loss of pay, a national minimum wage.

-a radical education policy, both in schools and opening up higher education to everyme,

-abolishing inhumane immigration laws,

=banning the use of plastic bullets.

-a legal right of reply in the media

The call for unilateral nuclear disarmament got it's two thirds majority to go into the manifesto, but the call for withdrawl from NATO was defeated. Healey, commenting on the decision, said that it didn" really make much diff=

erence = as long as we belong to NATO we are committed to nuclear arms. He's right; and a major push to win withdrawl from Nato as part of Labour's programme should take place before next years conference,

SUPPORT FOR THE PLO

The decision to recognise the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian People is a dramatic turn about considering the Labour Party's pro--

Zionist policies of the past. The resolution was however only narrowly carried.

So conference over the week had put firmly in the manifesto some radical socialist policies giving us all good reason to fight hard for a Labour vic= tory. However there lingered a feel~ ing that a constituency conference would have demanded a more socialist manifesto, designed to change the balance of power and wealth in the country. They certainly would not have begun by introducing a register or by voting in a right-wing NEC, Still, Trade Union block votes includ= ed, conference had been alive and exciting, real debate had taken place.

For the future however, this years conference has shown that there is a greater need for ordinary members ¢ the Party to control the Party. If the newly elected NEC and the PLP do not wish, for example, to have uni= lateral nuclear disarmament, they may still water it down at their first Clause 5 meeting. It is this elitist attitude

of the Right that must be abolished.

WOMEN'S MOVES SNUBBED

In the debate on women's organisation all the resolutions; attempting to get the women's section on the NEC elected by the women's conference; to have a woman on the parliamentary shortlist in every constituency where a woman ap= plies, and to have resolutions from women's conference brought to the national conference, were shamefully defeated.

IMPRESSIONS

My first Labour Party National Conference has reinforced my ideas about the leadership and structure of the Labour Party, Most of those now on the NEC are not working for Socialism or for the involvement of the majority of the | people in the way this country isrun, They work for the “mixed economy* and in their own self interest, They work for wage restraint and the management of the capitalist economy, using Organisational maneouvres rather than democratic debate to get rid of their opponents ideas.

At this years conference the left in the Party seemed to run scared, holding back from the fight for democracy. Unless there is a fightback against the register and for socialist policies, the Labour Party in government will be the managers of capitalism and the working class will suffer again.

Lol Duffy

Jane Tonner Wallasey CLP

Crosby CLP

A Song

from Red Review

Oh dear, what can the matter be,

Oh dear, what can the matter be, Callaghan wants to throw out Solidarity, Militant's been thrown out by the NEC, Healey's defected and opted for anarchy, Soon to be joined by all of the IMG, The Party's united at last.

The Party's united at last. Oh dear, what can the matter be,

Oh dear, what can the matter be, Grantham is wanting to throw out the CLP's, Hattersley wants to throw out CLPD, Duffy is wanting to throw out the T&G, Soon to be followed by Tribune and LCC, The Party's united at last.

The Party's united at last. Oh dear, what can the matter be,

Golding is wanting to throw out Roy Hattersley, Foot's not quite sure, but supports it for unity, The Party's united at last,

Oh dear, what can the matter be, NEC's voted to throw out the PLP, PLP*s voted to throw out the NEC, The Party's united at last.

Page 13

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

The Health and Wealth

of Associated Octel

In a time of mass unemployment and vicious attacks on the

jalists to give priority to environmental issues. flict between capitalism and the need

sent major areas of direct and indirect

con

welfare state and trade unions it Would be ludicrous for soc=

However, we believe these cannot be ignored because such issues repre= s and interests of workers. It is obvious

Socialist Environmental

Scientists

Group

Flat | 106 Princess Road,

Liverpool 8

that when jobs are at stake, workers can be blackmailed into accepting hazards in the workplace and the general envir~

onment. In addition to the obvious hea rain, and metal pollution, these also cause damage, to realise the demands for clean air an. However, this must not be achieved at the expense of jobs.

society.

duction of cleaner, safer alternatives formulated

As an issue which illustrates some of the points we feel are important, we would like to consider lead in petrol. We have chosen this for the following reasons, firstly the alkyl lead com= pounds added to petrol are manufac~ tured by Associated Octel at Elles~ mere Port, and, secondly this com~. pany has recently stepped up its prop aganda offensive in the national press, An example of this was a full page newspaper advert in which they claimed the absolute necessity of lead in petrol tor economic reasons and

asserted that fears about health haz~ ards are unfounded. They also claim-

ed that their record of concern for the environment is impeccable,

FALLACIOUS CLAIMS

It is simple to show that Octel's

claims are, at best, fallacious and frequently little more than propagan = da with which to obscure their real objective, which is the maximisa= tion and maintenance of profits.

One paragraph in this advert: trum= pets, “Octel can state with absolute conviction that the assertions of the anti-lead campaign regarding a con= nection between airborne lead and health = childrens health in particu lar, are unsubstantiated medically’ or scientifically". This statement is deceptive; in fact it is comparable to those trotted aut by the experts of the tobacec industry about links be= tween smoking and lung cancer. Similar verbal discharges have been made by scientific apologists for the asbestos industry, who have, for much of this century, defended the mythi= cal safety of their wonder praducts. (Octel's deception is emphasised by the judicious positioning of a photo= graph of a blissful mother and child

sage 14

Ith risks from such things as nuclear often irreversible, to our environment, unspoilt environment as part of the struggle for a fairer Emphasis should, instead, be placed on the pro= with the full involvement of workers' initiatives.

J water and a relatively

above the statement.) MERSEY BIRD DEATHS

As for Octel*s concern for the envir= onment, the reality is not all that pretty. In 1979 thousands of birds were killed on the Mersey estuary with about 3000 carcasses being recovered. Autopsies of these, and those of scavenging rats, revealed massive levels of lead, and alkyl lead in varticular.” Additionally many surviving birds showed symp~ toms consistent with alky lead pois-

oning.

SHIP. CANAL

Octel alone discharge waste alkyl lead into the Mersey, via the Man= chester Ship Canal. Discharging takes place at very high tides, which "coincidently" the pattern of bird - deaths followed closely. The com bination of these amazing coincidences and the absence of alternative explanations leads to an inescapable conclusion. Indeed, the North West Water Authority has ceased looking for alternative explanations to the “totally scientifically unsubstantiated" conclusion that alkyl lead killed the birds.

Interestingly Octel themselves carry out and support "objective", (i.e. unhostile) research on alkyl lead in the environment. Is this a guilty conscience?

POLITICAL CONFLICTS

Although it is absolutely necessary to challenge the assertions of companies like Octel with informed scientific

and technical argument, we must not lose sight of the predominantly polit=

ical nature of such conflicts. “Im=

power, pesticides (e.g. 2,4, 5-1), acid .

We believe it is imperative

partial" experts or organisations can not be relied on; in fact claims to be impartial are usually either fraudue lent or hopelessly naive as complicity inevitably results.

Present legislation cannot be relied on either, as it is weak or non=existent and is proving to be pitifully in= adequate, representing, as it does, the vested interests of the profit mak= ers. It is therefore essential that committed scientists and specialists fight alongside workers not only in mass campaigns against industrial and

environmental hazards, but also in attempts to prevent their occurrence

in-the first place. Ultimately this can only be achieved when workers, who are the major victims of existing

‘ and potential hazards and environ-

mental deprivation, possess control of the means of production geared for need and not for profit.

oe

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS

_ ACROSS

|, Taxidermist, 9. The apple,

Il. Inca, 13, Grit, 14. Sea, 16. Nought, 17. Anthem, 19. Lie, 20. Them, 21. Calm, 23. The Alamo, 26. Coordinator,

DOWN

2. Ant, 3. Idea, 4, The Empire, 5. Militant, 6. So, 7. Nationalist, 8. Disarmament, 10, Asthma, 12. Caus= es, 15. Thatcher, 18. Nepali, 22. Data, 24. Oxo, 25, Go.

[EES (RE

For a number of years, public trans= port has borne the brunt of attacks on public expenditure from successive governments, Former Labour Minister of Transport “Wild Bill“ Rodgers, now tiding shotgun for the "Sudden Death Party", spear-headed the threat to the bus. Several Metropolitan Counties like Merseyside and South York= shire felt his heavy hand on the brake. He warned them that if they didn't increase faresy revenue sup= port from taxes would be severely

chopped.

With the foundations for the under= mining of public passenger transport having been laid by Rodgers, the Tories started ta finish the job.

They introduced legislation enabling private operators, often employing non-ynion, part-time labour, fo cream off the praceeds from the more profitable routes operated by Nation=- al Bus Company. This forced NBC into slashing fares and twisting the arm of the trade unions into "accepting "new agreements. This put in jeopardy many of the more "unprofi~ table" rural routes.

PARALLEL ATTACK

Running parallel with this attack on

the nationalised sector of public transport was the Tories assault on the

finance of transport operated by local government. Merseyside®s share has been a cut in real terms of its trans= port supplementary grant in the past three years of around 20 percent, with a further chop expected in 1983

of seven percent. Local authorities were forced to cut services, increase

fares, increase rates or a combination of all three,

RESPONSE

Although some authorities have fought honourably against this blackmail, Tory-controlled. Merseyside planned

cuts in services == in some areas up to 60 percent - linked with swingeing

fares increases. The result of this policy would have been to isolate large areas of Merseyside, hitting young land old and the large percentage of working people who have no access

to acar.

That many people found this policy unacceptable was shown overwhelm= ingly by the County Council Elections in 1981, All the Metropolitan counties and the GLC returned Labour administrations pledged to reducing fares, Faced with this situation the Tories turned to the law, coming down particularlly hard on the GLC who, faced with overwhelming odds, were forced to retreat.

No one on Merseyside needs remind= ing of the attempt by Great Universal Stores to have the council reverse its

cheap fares policy. FURTHER RESTRAINT

Undeterred, the government now in= tends even more vicious attacks, in= cluding the re-structuring of London Transport and legislation to drag re~ ccalcitrant councils into line.

What a pity that past Labour governments weren't so enthusiastic in dealing with reactionary local authorities like Wirral over its education and housing policies. (One more oppor= tunity lost by a Labour minister later to transfer to the SDP)

CHEAP FARES WORK

One thing tne Taies have failed to explain is that during their adminis= tration, passengers dropped by around 35 percent. Conversely, under

Labour, that decline has now been reversed, with a growth in passengers double that expected even by MPTE, With a further reduction in fares planned next year, the future looks bright for Public Transport on Merseyside, but only if we fight. The gloves are off. We cannot allow the government to succeed in its attempts’ to decimate public transport. We must link up with other Local Auth= orities and trade unions to fend off this attack, and help it protect jobs and services,

One thing is clear; to deny mobility is to deny freedom. The Tories must not be allowed to cripple one more public service by wielding tne sharp édge of Thatcher's axe. We must halt the Tories now before they stop the bus for good,

John McCabe

County Councillor

| ask Tus conFeRENce To uNiTG IN OUR COomMHon eavSt— To DEFEAT THIS

MISERABLE ToRY GoveRN- -MENT—AND | ASK You To REMEMBER THE WeRDS °F THAT LITTLE- KHowN SectAlt ST,

LEONARD MuRRAY— NEVER

UNDERESTIMATE THE plabioed b fo BE _ GAINED

Page 15

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

Pension Funds and Merseyside

Pension funds represent the deferred wages of you and me, In total their assets now amount to £40 billion. They own over 20% of the shares of all UK com= panies quoted on the stock exchange. The pension funds for most local govern= ment employees are managed by the relevant County Council, If all local authority funds were put together they would constitute the largest fund of

all ~ over £7 billion = nearly 20% of all pension fund assets. The political importance of this makes allegations of thobbit socialism" look silly. In addi~ tion the importance of pension funds allied to the establisment of local enter= prise boards has been recognised by the TUC and Labour Party.

MERSEYSIDE DEVELOPMENT FUND Sa IEEE

In July 1982 the County Council agreed, in principle, to establish a Aerseyside Development Fund. This is intended to provide venture capital

for new or expanding enterprises, particularly those having difficulty

in obtaining finance and thereafter to consider the option of the County Council itself taking a stake in such an enterprise, It is hoped the Devel~ opment Fund will attract investment from the County Council's Pension Fund and cher public and private pension funds. The problem with in= volving pension funds is the argument that this could conflict with the interests of their contributors and bene= ficiaries and the duties of the trus~ tees - County Councillors on the Superannuation Committee. So is the strategy of investing in Merseyside companies a ‘high risk" venture which would jeopardise the pensions of local government employees? These arguments have to be answered if the pension fund source is to be unlocked and the process of local economic development and employment creation assisted. Without pension fund participation the money available to any Merseyside Development Fund will be very limited. At the most it might represent £5 million (the product of a 2p rate under section 137 of the Local Government Act, 1972 which is available for any spending in " the interests of the area"),

CENTRAL PROBLEM

The central problem surrounds the pension funds main objective which is to provide for the retirement pen= sions and other benefits of contributing employees. Any investment policy is said to be subservient to

this main objective ~ the preservation

Page 16

of the real value of the fund's assets. Thus the emphasis of pension fund investment is on:

(i) equity type investments ~ UK equities represent 50% of the market value ¢ the County Council*s Pension Fund and are mainly in the larger companies « the soscalled "blue chip” shares.

(ii)fixed intérest government stocks or gilt edged securities which represent 20% of the market value.

The Merseyside County Treasurer has stated that it would be beyond the powers of the trustees to invest local= ly to support employment oportuni= ties regardless of the rate of return. So where do we go from here?

The basis & the County Council's pro= posal is that investment of part & the pension fund should be in local com~ panies. Under the present regula-= tions, for example, up to 10% of the pension funds of local authorities can be invested in unquoted securities (e.g firms not quoted on any recognised stack exchange). This would represent around £30 million in the case of the County Council's administered pension fund. While not all local investment would be in — unquoted securities a significant prow portion would probably be in com= panies (small/medium size) that come into this category. The investment would be for long-term growth with= out expectation of short-term profits. Such investment in local growth helps to guarantee the Council's ability to pay pensions in the future. Local authority pensions are guaranteed by ratepayers, If the industrial and commercial base of Merseyside is undermined, so too is the rate base, since industrial and commercial ratepayers that exist, the greater the payers ccntribute up to 50% of that rate base. The fewer industrial and

commercial ratepayers that do exist, the greater the burden falling on other firms, so threatening their abil= ity to survive and pay rates.

RETURNS Nicomeieransie

There has also been a continuing debate about the ability of the standard investments, such as stocks and shares of “blue chip“ companies, to provide sufficient income for future pensions. One survey by a stock broking firm showed that the total return earned by the average pension fund was a negative rate of 3%. Another report found that fewer than

2 out of every 100 pension funds matched the rise in average earnings. Since pensions are linked to the final salaries of employees, a fund which cannot match the rate of increase of earnings is creating a financial bur= den on employers and employees, and in the case of local authorities funds, on the ratepayers.

Investment in firms with long-term growth prospects for capital gains, rather than dividends and short-term increase, may also help reduce the existing liability on ratepayers. You could ask the question - "If the Merseyside Pension Fund will not invest in Merseyside, why should anyone else"?

It is important that the role of pension funds in the national and local econ= omy is better understood, The issue needs to be taken up in Labour Party branches, CLP’s and in workplaces. It is not a peripheral issue but an integral part of the developing local alternative economic strategies being pursued by a number of Labour controled county councils. With cen= tral government controls over local government expenditure increasing, the pension fund resource is becoming even more important because it is exempt from public expenditure con= trols.

Alan Chape Birkenhead CLP SP ER SAS ENE HELPS HELPS

All copy in this and the fast issue of BRIEFING has been typed by one poor sod. Anyone who can help with the typing, please call 727-7486,

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

5.A.0. FIGHTBACK

SAD (Sisters Against Disablement) is a group of feminist women who got together to form a collective because we had had enough of being treated as second class cititzens.

As feminists we wished to use the understanding that feminism has given women to explore their opp= ression, We see many parallels with our oppression that can be explored in this way. Just as the term racism “has been coined to describe the way black people are oppressed, and sexism is the way womens+are oppress= ed, so we see our oppression in terms of handicapism.

| HANDICAPISM

What is handicapism? We think it is obvious; it is the means by which we are oppressed and so we use the term in the same ways as racism or sexism. Disabled women are doubly disadvantaged in society; both by sexism and handicapism and we have to organise together to fight back. Handicapism is about social and ec onomic oppression, segregation both in terms of access (buildings, places of entertainment, communication systems), condescending attitudes (even when masked as 'help') and being rele gated to Christmas and the charity collection boxes.

It's about being used (and abused) by the medical profession/social work profession/the charity business and many more.

In Sisters Against Disablement we are concerned with taking the position of disablement out of the understanding of disability as individual tragedy and show it for what it really is, political, a social minority group like gays, ethnic minorities etc.

UNDERSTANDING DISABILITY

We are dis-abled by society the same as these other groups are and we link our oppression with theirs. We will no longer be seen as pathetic, helpless, second class and we demand our rights and an equal place in society, The Labour Party can assist us in our struggle. This of course will mean adopting a radical position regarding disablement and by passing policies that will strike a blow at handicapism, which is rife in this country.

CHARTER OF RIGHTS

As the women's movement has seven demands, similarly SAD has six demands for a charter of rights.

|. Compulsory legislation concerning access. All new buildings to be built accessibly. Old ones to be given grants for conversion.

2. Legislation for positive discrim= ination in the workplace.

3. Closing down of segregated

i schooling (special schools), segreg=

ated work places (sheltered work= shops), and segregated residence institutions, Compulsory integrat= ion of schooling.

4.End of means test for Women's pension, comparable payments to be made with men,

5. Planning for and implementation of a fully accessible public trans= port system. Whilst this is in proce ess all segregated transport (ie Diala-ride) to be run by and for disabled people.

6. State Benefits concerning dis= abled women paid directly to the

‘disabled woman concerned to be

used at her own discretion.

The adoption of these demands would go some way to crushing the handicapism that is rife in Britain today. We demand the support of the Labour Party, as a people's party, in making sure our rights are given full priority.

If any woman is interested in join= ing our struggle, contact SAD at 54 Whitby Court, Parkhurst Road, London N7 OSU, or phone 01-607= 3671, Subscription for membership and newsletter ({ly) £2.50, payable to Sisters Against Disablement. We

have regular meetings so come and join us. AB (able bodied) women

‘welcome.

WRITE FOR BRIEFING

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING welcomes any contribution from Labour acti= vists that is not racist or sexist. We see our prime roles to be:

-To encourage the exchange of views between Labour activists.

-To provide activists with information on issues that can help make the Labour Party a more effective and campaigning body.

-To provide a forum where political issues of local relevance can be given an emphasis not available elsewhere.

Contributions should generally be limited to.a maximum length of 800 to 1000 words. If possible articles should be written double-spaced with wide margins. The deadline for copy for the February/March issue is Tuesday, January IIth. All material should be sent to MLB, c/o 8 Ashford Road,

Meols, Wirral.

Page 17

GROXTETH COMP

More Help

The occupation of Croxteth Compre= hensive School, which began in the week before the summer holidays, is breaking new ground in terms of resis~ tance to the Tory/Liberal massacre of education in Liverpool.

SUMMER SCHOOL

A highly successful summer school was mounted during the holidays, in which parents and children participated on a voluntary basis; this included subjects such as history, sociology and art, provided by volunteer teachers and

FE lecturers. Many of the teachers gave up their summer holidays to do the school.

AUTUMN TERM

At the end of the holidays many of the teachers returned to their fulltime jobs and the occupation was fac~ ed with a shortage of staff to begin the autumn term timetable. The pub= licity which the school gained on the first day, however, led to offers from unemployed, retired or part-time teachers. More are still needed.

While private schools prosper, with large grants from this Tory Government, state education is facing the biggest threat yet. Cuts in both re= sources and teachers have been going on throughout the country and now the Liverpool City Council led by the Liberals and Tories have just got ound to its own series of cuts in lee with government requests. Gebools have already been closed and @ bet more are listed to go. Teachers @ee being token from schools and not

replaced, while the schools themsetves face large scale re-organisa~ Sen. The educational needs of the Pace 18

Needed !

Joseph: Wants Croxteth Closed

PARENTS TENACITY : Parents have been the mainstay of the occupation: guarding the buildings by night; cleaning and maintaining them; supporting the teachers in the class~ rooms; teaching 'non-academic* subjects (games, cookery, needlework, typing etc); doing the secretarial work and cooking meals ~ the best

Parents’ and Teachers’ Common Cause

children in the city take second place to the financial savings that the council are determined to make.

Fortunately the NUT leadership in Liverpool have anticipated a lot of the moves being made by the Educa= tion Authority and to a certain ex= tent teachers have been prepared for the fight for their jobs and their schools, It has however still taken a lot of people by surprise. For too long teachers have thought that it wouldn't happen to them = but it has and for the first time they are realising why it is important to be in a union, Continued on Page |9_

school meals in the country!

The parents have truly displayed a capacity for self-organisation and tenacity at which we can only marvel. OVER 300 CAME BACK

The first day of term was a real vindi-

cation of the stand taken by the Act= ion Committee. The campaign, fac ed with a brick wall at the end of a two year battle with the political and legal authorities, could have very easily shrugged its shoulders and col= lapsed. It is an indication of the determination of the parents; however, that they did not allow this to hap~ pen. And on the day when term be~ gan over 300 pupils, out of 450 last year, came back.

HELP STILL NEEDED

Offers of help, whether teaching (teaching qualifications or a degree), administrative, secretarial etc. are still needed in order to relieve the burden on existing volunteers, Help has come from people all over the Northwest, including Theatre in Education (from Leeds) and Open Eye (who put on a film-making and photography course). Please phone Phil Knibb (548-8927) or Cyril D*Arcy (220-3269). Messages of support and donations should be sent to Croxteth Community Action Committee, % 45 Finch Road, Liverpool L14.

He KKK RK RK KEK KKK EK KERR ER EREEER

In the past week the campaign has received further support. The Liver~ pool Division of the NUT passed a resolution pledging support for reten+ tion of the site for the comprehensive school for the area. This was despite attemots to whip up opposition from teachers at Ellergreen, where the Croxteth pupils were to have been transferred.

BRIEFING EDITORIAL MEETING

The next open editorial meeting will be on Wednesday, January 5th at the Pig and Whistle, Covent Garden.

——

LABOURS LOST

VOTES

IN REPLY TO A LETTER FROM THE CROSBY CLP SECRETARY, PRINTED IN THE ECHO AND ASKING MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO ENSURE THAT ALL MEMBERS OF THEIR HOUSEHOLD REGISTER AS ELECTORS, THE FOLLOW» ING COMMUNICATION WAS RECEIVED: =

Dear Mr, Kenny,

As a lifetime working man and a Labour=man and trade=unionist, | felt | must answer your very sensible letter in a recent issue of the "Echo",

There are many reasons why people like me cannot vote and which of course

costs the Party valuable votes and enthusiasts. Here goes =

Many, many men, like me, living in a house (THERE ARE 9 OF US HERE) in our furnished rooms = completely self-contained .... except tor sharing toilet and bath, wish not to be on the Register of Electors.

Firstly we avoid being recipients of vast amounts of literature which is use~ less — ranging from Readers Digest (worst offenders), household and clothing manuals, Conservative and SDP leaflets, other advertising media etc., etce, and most horrific ¢.eees from maintenance men, police, TV prowling squads,

and reps from Skelmersdale Development Authority, seeking ‘moonlight flitters® |

from Skem who hurriedly departing from that hopeless outpost “forget® to settle their rent and bills before departing back to civilisation?

These organisations, authorities, firms, and even individuals, all know their quarry by name and address obtained from the Register of Electors which any

citizen has the statutory right to see.

Ergo = stay off it like me. This is an old chap = over 40 years at sea = and like any old sailor, | dodge nobody; | only want peace’ Sadly, however, the

Labour Party loses all our votes.

Disliking writing letters without my address, | must apologise, but with respect = once more | want peace. In closing, | sign my ex POW no, 242,

~ Continued from Page 18

"PARE NTS/TEAC HERS A COMMON CAUSE"

Whenever a school under threat has sought support from the parents the _ response has been magnificent. This support has taken the form of petit~ ions, lobbying councillors and, as at Croxteth Comprehensive, sitting in. Parents at my own school were prob= ably a major factor in forcing the reversal of a decisim to redeploy four members of staff, But if parents are going to help then the problems facing the school must be explained to them by the teachers.

FALLING ROLLS

With the fall in the birth-rate has come the first real opportunity to re~ duce class=sizes, though even with this the state schools would never achieve the pupil/teacher ratio en-

joyed by the private schoo!s, In=

With respect and good wishes, sincerely X

lot of cases, actually increasing class sizes.

Children in Liverpool in Liverpool in the coming year are going to be faced with teachers and schools in disarray. Teachers worried about their own jobs and schools concerned about how many members of staff they are going to lose. We can expect to see larger classes and children may even be moved to a different school. Teachers will be stretched to their limits and this’ is bound to lead eventually to educational standards being eroded. Fewer teachers, especially in secondary schools, has already st arted to limit the number of subjects available

to the pupils.

BRIEFING CROSSWORD

ACROSS

I, Populate (6) 5. Instruments of warning (6)

6, Red Indian trophy (5)

8. Dangerous sport (6)

10. Working=class party (6)

13, Chooses by vote (6)

14, This weapon sounds like a holie day at sea (6) :

15. Desert (6)

| 18. -Irish river (6) 21.,Time=piece (5) 22. Symbol of principle (6)

23. Scene of recent riots (7)

DOWN

| |. Destructive animal (4 )

2. Largest livestock and meat=pack= ing centre in the USA (5) f

3. Area of Liverpool. Famous for re= cent direct action on education cuts

| 4,. By an autnor unknown (abv) (4

| 5. Curved sword (5)

| 7, Internationally recognised repre~

sentative of middle=eastern

people (3)

PARENTS AND TEACHERS MUST UNITE 9+ Respirator (3,4 )

Until a Labour government is returne ed to power the only way to defend our children's education is for par-

ents and teachers to join together in their common cause and show this Tory government and the councils who support them that they are not going to stand by and see education in the state schools collapse.

David Hornby

Hoylake & Royden Branch LP j

‘II. A presentation of facts and infor= mation (8) 12, An organisation to defend citizen's rights (abv) (4) 16, A nuclear authority (abv) (3) 17. The positive electrode of a cell (5) 19. Middle-east country. Scene of atrocities against the Mojahedin (4) : 20. Mongolian tent (4): ‘

Solutions:in,the next issue..|4,)) Page 19

ea

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

NO CORRUPTION

Dear Briefing,

The same day Comrade Tonner's article appeared on supposed corruption in the Party, | was reported to the Merseyside Police by the MP for Edge Hill because of the last editon of County Extra, Both accusations share the same approach - a mixture of half-truths and innuendoes - except that the Liberal MP throws in malice as well,

1 do not have, contrary to what was suggested, a chain of office. It has never been proposed | should have and | would’not want one. | do not regularly attend lavish functions nor go junketing as a way of life.

It is true there is a Chairman of the Council who has been given a chain of office (at no cost to the ratepayers and funded in part by trade unionists) and wears it at civic functions. It

is true there are receptions from time to time. The scale and extent of these are now under the control of the Labour Group and to suggest they are corrupt is absurd.

Comrade Tonner might, in fairness, have reminded you that Merseyside Council is the only Labour Council not to pay responsibility allowances; that in May 1981 the system of some coun= cillas having free MPTE zone tickets was ended; that many Labour members make enormous personal sacrifices in terms of time and personal life to work for the Movement; that every Labour Group meeting is attended by representatives from the County Party; and that, against an enormously difficult background, the Labour Group works very hard and honestly. None of these things are other than they should be and they only need to be repeated

because of the distorted picture given. | know the article was obviously writ~

ten In good faith but it did comfort the enemy and was unworthy of its author. If Comrade Tonner is still in

Page 20

any doubt about its unfairness, she can come to a future meeting of the . Labour Group if she contacts me.

Yours, Keva Coombes RR SE AD

FIGHT THE RIGHT

Dear Sir,

| purchased the first editon of Mer= seyside Labour BRIEFING ‘with an intention to take a copy regularly, However, after reading the founding statement | am having second thou= ghts. A statement such as "Socialism in Britian faces a major crisis which threatens its existence as a credible political force" is both vague and lacking in historical perspective. Temporary problems or unpopularity does not alter the fact that socialism is the only real alternative to capital-

ism in decline.

It is becoming more and more obvious that the Conservatives can do no more than manage the collapse of British industry. The continuing increase in unemployment, falls in industrial pro= duction, contraction of world trade and critical instability in the world banking system, point to a deepening recession, intensified competition and desperate attempts to main= tain profit levels. This is leading to an unprecedented attack on the liv= ing standards of working people, and this will have the effect, seen throughout the history of capitalism,

of the development of political con= sciousness. And, after a period of

initial uncertainty and subservience, an expansion of industrial militancy.

The Left have failed to lead and direct this growing disatisfaction because they are not yet in a position to do so. The working class look to the Labour movement and its leadership for direction, and the Right's combination of moderate policies and attacks on socialists will not inspire enthusiasm. The self=activity of the

working people of Britain is and will be thwarted by the likes of Chapple,

Healey and other non=socialists who in the past managed to gain control of the Labour movement.

They are now, however, politically bankrupt. Keynesian reflation will not work because the present slump is much deeper and more permanent than a conventional trade-cycle.

The "crisis" of socialism in Britain has nothing to do with "over~simplified ideas" and the "jargon" of party activists. Rather it is to do with the right-wing leadership which accepts capitalism and whose major preoccu= pation is with discrediting socialism and workers* power. The ousting of that leadership must be the number one priority of all genuine socialists. Strangely the founding statement does not even mention it.

West Derby LPYS

SRS ESSE Published by

Merseyside Labour Briefing, 8 Ashford Rd., Meols, Wirral. Printed by

Whitechapel! Press (TU), 100 Whitechapel, Liverpool.

Paul Rimmer

Sk Rikk we ee ER RRR

WANK “God FoR THAT! 1 WAS NEARLY OUT oF