Merseyside Labour Briefing no. 3

Socialists fora . Labour Victory

‘Another five years of Thatcher would be adisaster for British workers. We would see. jobs disa

Kevin Feintuck Arundel L.P.

John Nolan ‘Oxton L.P.

ing rate, Ali that we have fought and worked for in welfore services ~ health, education, (pensions, decent housing w Fould be chopped, shriveled and sold off to cowboy privatisers. The present Tory repressive laws would be used to

attack the rights of trade unionists, blocks, countdown to @ ‘showdown with the commies'.

But a Labour Government would be & victory for the working cless and a disaster for the bosses. So, why don't we elect one? The Bermondsey defeat showed us how not to elect one

If we spend months slagging-off the condidate os extremist? ond then expel five loyal members of the Party the night before the election, we have @ good chance of not getting elected. But if we make it clear that, if we get elected we ore likely to backslide on all the policies that workers support us for, we are certain

to lose. COALITION?

Already sections of the Left are showing signs of giving way to the Right wing led NEC and PLP in the run-up to the election, The manifesto looks likely to be marked by 2 general fudging of the issues and we have heard murmurings amongst the Left ‘bout supporting a future coalition government and/or allowing e Right wing putsch against Foot in favour of short~ term elector al populority.

If the Left adopts these positions it

will be following an unfortunate trotion of pushing forward on policies

ond then giving way precisely at the crucial time when the election is raising political questions in working peoples consciousness.

A coalition would be the surest guarentee of demoralising those who look to the Lobour Porty to stand up for their interests against the bonkers ond bosses. Likewise a Hecley-Shore leadership would open the way to ‘quoranteeing further betrayals coup! ~ ed with witch-hunts which would dwarf anything seen to date.

If, on the other hand, we convince

women and youth, Reagan's missiles would orrive and we would be on the The Tory disease could be terminal.

people that Lobour will stop Cruise

‘ond Trident missiles, restore the NHS get us out of the EEC, introduce a massive house-building programme ‘and @ 35-hour week, and take away police powers of arbitrary arrest and detention, Labour will be the next

Government. This is precisely what Socialists for a Labour Victory sets out to do, to convince workers that we'll stop Thatcher's and Reagan's war drive, bring bock jobs instead

‘and kick out the Tories instead of the Socialists.

cont over

BRASS Hane athe hen nee People Campaining for Peace and Jobs p2¢

Socialists

for a Labour Victory continued...

SLV was launched in the House of

Commons on 7 March. It has the sup-

port of the Campaign Group of MPs=

as well as leading Labour figures like

Ken Livingstone. The campaign sets

out to unite all active socialists in

the Labour Party fighting for the election of a Labour Government, committed absolutely to implementing conference policies, As a minimum, these would includes

|, Unilateral nuclear disarmament = no nuclear weapons in Britain.

2. Withdraw! from the EEC, together with @ re-nationalisation and house— building programme; restoration and expansion of the NHS and the education service.

3. The repeal of all the Tory onti-un=

ion laws with no incomes policy. 4, Full commitment to positive action

for women’s rights to work and con= trol their own fertility, through public spending on employment, child-care and health facilities.

5. The repeal of all the racist immi=

gration and ‘nationality* laws. 6. An increase inc duction in police powers and increas¢ in police accountability. 7. Labour's policies cover many other ores; @ united Ireland; support for ration movements in other countries. These must also be part of a soci It is important that we take up this -ampaign immediately in the wards, constituency parties, trade unions, ‘and community groups. But this will not be enough. Most of the people ‘we want to reach ore outside the La~ bour Party. Women, blacks, trade unionists, youth, are orgonising in all sorts of Fighting bodies against the Tories. The women of Greenhom Common scare the Tories far more than @ hun= dred resolutions. The threat of the May-June People’s March from Glas g0w to London, gathering the support of workers across the country in the

run-up to the election, gives thebosses nightmares. So the campaign must be taken outwards into the mass anti= Tory movement and bring these com= paigners into the Party to unite in the Campaign fo bring in @ Socialist La~ bour Government. Procticol steps we must take now are: ) SLV must get the support of ts many PPCs, CLPs, MPs, and trade unions as possible. b) SLV must set up @ series of region al rallies. c) We must organise the Lobour Party support for the People's March. d) We must organise Labour Party in= volvement in Greenham Common, porticulorly for the May 24 Day of

Action. ORGANISE!

A. Labour Movement Relly on Mersey= side in support of Confererce Poli ~ cies, the Greenham Women and the People's March is the first step in ‘echieving that objective.

THE UNION OFFICIAL AND THE BARMAID

Hour article "The Barmaid ond the Union Official" was not worthy of the gutter press. Obvicusly Ms. McCabe Iwas upset, that is conveyed in the fone of her story. Unfortunately, her version of events simply does not tally with reality but perhops more damaging was your decision, as Editor, to Joublish the article without affording ihe Union involved and the officer responsible an opportunity to confirm Jor deny the allegations. Ifyou hod bothered to pick up the telephone, you would have found out that the story is pure "Enid Blytont, In fact, you may have even discover led that the full time Official paid to recruit, service, represent and for Bor Staff was a woman, That fact, would have, of course, smashed the whole purpose of the article. I shall not comment on the details IMs, MeCabets allegations rather 1 |would prefer to meet her at one of our jregular and well publicised Branch

IF the time

Rother than write to score points, my preference is to reach out to Bar Staff through your columns.

Let me tell you what the Transport & General Workers* Union is doing in Merseyside for bar staff.

Firstly, | have been appointed full time to represent bor staff. (Until November, | was o bor maid), but the fact is that the TGWU has put its money where its mouth is and paid me full time to orgonise the bor staff in this crea, along with other full time officers whose responsibilities include bor stoff.

Secondly, we hold bar staff branch meetings every month. The next one is Tuesday, 29h March and the fol= lowing one on Tuesday, 26th April. Both start ot 9:30 a.m. in Transport House, Islington, These are meetings at which the Bronch Canmittee, the full time officers and shop stewords are held toaccount by our members. We also formulate policy ond discuss how to implement that policy.

ly, we ore aware of the vulner= bility of our members and the lock of Trade Union tradition in the licensed trades, so instead of talking about it, we are getting organised, That's why

we ore mounting a specific course for| Bor Stoff with a creche provided. The course is from Il a.m. to 3 pam to suit domestic responsibilities, Hanning not pla~

Fourthly, as women, we realise the ifficulties facing us in developing effective trade unicnism.. That's why|

‘ve written to all TGWU branches Merseyside asking for their suppart

| shauld have thought that @ Socialist Broadsheet such as Merseyside Labour BRIEFING would have supported our

efforts rather than using us os excuse

to validate its anti-bureaucratic political position,

Those who read this ort

hopefully bring to the attention of ber staff throughout Merseyside the work we are doing ond help us to on= ganise.

Information, leaflets and advice con be obtained from Tronsport House. Telephone 207 3388 and ask for Clai Stonley, bor stoff official.

eS

Mes, Cloire Stonley Bor Staff Official TGWU

POLICE: @ Technology of Repressio

The first public meeting of the Merseyside Science for People Group took place on 4th March in the Swan Hotel. About 40 people attended the meeting which took os its topic the alarming increase in riot control technology, ond th

tion gathering copebility of the police. Tim Shallice of the British Society for Social Responsibility in Scienceyand Phil

Scraton of Edge Hill College outlined the ways in

which the police ore becoming the strong arm of political control with

‘weapons on the streets bocked up by decision making bureaucracy. This has been made possible by Improved informa tion gathering and recall on computers and the edvent of ‘non-lethal* weaponry.

RIOT CONTROL

Water cannon and CS gas were found to be ineffective during civil unrest in America, Hong Kong and Northern Ireland, The introduction of rubber bullets in Northern Ireland in 1970 lead to 3 deaths, | for every 18, 000 fired, However, their use os an aim able, personal weapon was very lim ited and so the plastic bullet was introduced in 1975. This "safer" altern— ative, ot 50 yards, hos the same ef= fect ds a snooker ball dropping from 30 story tower block. During the perod April~August 198] they caused 30 serious injuries or deaths and since their introduction as a "safe" weapon cone person has died for every 4 ,000 fired,

BATON ROUNDS LETHAL

Although this weapon is lethal the ef= fect is less shocking thon ordinary firearms, There is no blood on the streets, a victim dies quietly of brain damage or internal bleeding, hours or even days later, leading to a certain amount of immunity from public reaction, It also can result ina covalier attitude to their use. They ore misused at close range for retali~ ‘tion and harrassment, which has lead to some of the fatalities.

MISUSE

Misuse of riot weaponry is not con= fined to Northern Ireland, It has al~ ready been seen during the 1981 riots in Liverpool when "Ferret CS gas cartridges, designed to penetrate masonry, were fired directly into the crowd. Eleven police authorities are now armed with and trained in the use of CS gas and plastic bullets including "mobile" forces, used to back up ot = her authorities. The use of these

‘weapons can only lead to escalation, to everyday use ond all the opportun=

ities for misuse plies.

a?

COMPUTERS,

A device which automatically reeds vehicle number plates ond then checks them against the Police Nat= onal Computer and the Stolen Vehic~ le Index is on trial ot the entry to the Dartford Tunnel. The special branch computer has @ Teletext printout of ony of these which ore “of interest", this includes about 10% of the population. There are plans for extending this system to cover the MI ond even= tually the whole motorway system.

MILITARY DESIGN

This device links three of the four main central police computer sys~ tems. The 4th is the "Command and Control" computer, based on a mil tery design, for the rapid deployment of police squads in arees of unrest throughout the country. This removes any use of discretion by individuals tt the point of unrest and all actions dd by the military

Experimental use of « local computer in Skelmersdale hos increesed the number of reported incidents by some

times with no equivalent increase jn charges brought. This system will also allow for the storage of informa tion picked up by our new style com= munity policing techniques.

PART OF ARESOLUTION ADOPTED

tic/rubber bullets os being dangerous

express with that he should dispose of

the equipment described in the report.

PUBLIC CONTROL

These two areas discussed ot the meeting show how the introduction of technology by government is being used for political control os opposed to social benefit. Police capability ‘end training in the toctics of social control and not public protection im~ ply @ militarist bureaucracy, with all the attendant decrease in public ac~ countability.

The production, storage and use of plastic bullets must be ceased; infor mation held on individuals must be

publicly regulated, and accounto~ ity ond democrocy demanded.

Merseyside Science for People Dove arpeg 727 0155.

BY POLICE COMMITTEE

(Bjoccept his report so far as the use cof guns in incidents involving terror ists or armed criminals is concerned (c)supports the decision of the European Parliament and reiterates its previous decisions abhoring the use of CS gas os being ineffective and plas-

# not lethal in public disorders. (@)advises the chief constable of its

his existing stocks of CS equipment, beton rounds and riot guns, and that such Weapons should never again be used within the County of Mersey= side.

{e)esks finance subcommittee to ex~ ‘amine the cost in money ond manpow= er (sic) involved in training for use of

ICRIPPLED ALLIANCE|

The mould breakers have broken with themselves in Liverpool. Ernest Corr, leader of the Liverpool SDP, asked to stand candidates in 13 out of Liverpool's 33 wards. No agreement has been reached and the Liberal leader is now talking of hammering the SDP at the polls.

WELL=WOMENS CLINICS

Women in Ormskirk and Skelmersdale are campaigning to establish well women clinics in West Lancashire. Public meetings have so for been supported by more than eighty women. A steering committee is co-ordinat= ing further action, and anyone who wants to know more or to support the caifipaign can contact the committee through Judy Pickthall, 237 Prescot Road, Aughton, Ormskirk.

OCIALISTS FOR LABOUR VICTORY

Wirral Socialists for Labour Victory will hold @ planning meeting for all activists at Transport House, Berner St, Wed, March 30th at 7:30. Con= tact |, Wellington Rd, New Brighton:

‘Over’3, 000 people came to Wirral on March éth to make @ stance for peace. Their aim was to form a Peace Chain from British Nuclear Fuel's plant at Capenhurst to the Marconi factory at Neston, where Stingray torpedos ore made. ‘Unfortunately 3, 000 were not quite enough, 5,000 would have been needed for the six mile link-up. The demonst ration, however, was very successful, those present made their way to a rally ot Capenhurst to hear speaches from Frank Allcun, Angela Phillips (of Greenham Common) and women from the Copenhurst Peace Camp, and to be entertained by live

city. The cornerstone of the housing policy is a plan to build 3000 munici pal houses annually, The Party sup~ ports housing action oreas. On social services the party is committed to re= storing the cuts in 50 social worker

That so many did turn up was clear evidence of the strength of fee!— the Wirral ogainst nuclear weapons and of the support of local people for the magnificent ini= fiative of the women who set up and ron the Copenhurst Peace Camp. posts and work training, tack= ling the unacceptable waiting. lists

(Gcerecere omen homehelps and detreasing charges for domicilary services. The overall

policy is no cuts and no rent nor rate

charges. -This was overwhelmingly

carried on the grounds that any rate rise would merely pass on Tory cuts.

Following the success of the campaign to bon plastic bullets and CS gas on Merseyside (the police committee re~ cently advised Oxford to get rid of existing stocks), many socialists ore ‘ottempting to re-establish the Labour Committee on Ireland on Merseyside to toke up issue such as this which make the connection between the

‘A sauna in New Brighton, frequented by members of the aay community was 2 . raided by officers of the Merseyside ambi sees ielia sesgete Wy Bole Police ecrlier last month. Twentycand the repressive spin-off in Britian six people were token to the police arising from methods developed by the station for questioning ranging from RUC and other state agencies. For ‘what were they doing of the scuno" of meetings and cam to “names of others who visited the contact John or Jane on 05! ~ 728 establishment". Charges were event~ 9982. ually lodged against eight people tn-

cluding running « brothel, gross in

dency and buggery. Meeting places for gay people on Merseyside ore few Liverpool will now be flooded with the Focus leaflets quoting our suppos-

‘ond for between ond this attack is de~ ed plans to close church schools.

plorable. Last year they said that the Labour Party was planning to close down churches. One Liberal leaflet in Kensington actually named (with pic~ tures) the churches we were planning to close down. In 1895 the same tac~ tic was used by the Tories but against

WRITE FOR BRIEFING

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING welcomes any contribution from Labour

lectivists that is not racist or se contributions should be limited to 800}

words; longer articles are liable to be

POLICY CONFERENC!

Liverpool Lobour Party Policy Conference on March 6 adopted several

paced with wide margins. The dead-|

ne for copy for the June/July issue

is May 10th. All material should be nt to MLB, c/o 8 Ashford Rood,

Meols, Wirral.

radical policies. In education the party reaffirmed its commitment to I-18 comprehensives. Other commit~ ments include nursery facilities for every child of 3 years, grants for 16+

students, abolition of compulsory uni- Published by form and corporal punishment, and a Merseyside Labour BRIEFING edical programme for children in ed

special schools. The Party condemns the present housing disoster in the

Whitechapel Press

* Gay Rights will al Conference icy 9th April. The te at Shepherd Hall, reet, Bristol 2 on Sotur~ rom 10:30 a.m., to The registration fee will be oed) or £1 (unwaged) and @ be will be provided, For more in sn about the conference or the « Compaign for Gay Rights, contoct LCGR, 3 Raleign Rood, BS3 IQP. Telephone 0272 3203 (evenings)

Labour Party workplace bronches have recently been formed in Ormskirk's Edgehill College ond St Helens Col~ lege of Technology. Members report ‘on encouraging response from college staff - 25 out of 250 st off at St Helens for example.

These workplace branches are, impor= tont because they unite workers in different unions ~ teaching unions (vot affiliated to the Labour Party), manual unions (which ore) to clerical stoff where only @ few may be union= ised of oll.

Well, here | am at the jobby again.

Been looking for « job since | don't know when.

technically "employed" by the col=

One problem is that students are not

leges so they can not join the work place branch. Edgehill hos nevertheless invited all student Labour Party members toits meetings. And St Hel ens hos organised aseriesof public meetings to promote Lebour's policies leading to a General Election, Bor dara Castle will speak on the Common Market, Philip Whitehead on educo=

jon and a speaker on disarmament with the film "Atomic Cafe"

Labour took control of Merseyside

‘@ comprehensive policy on pol19, which was updated in May of 1982. Its implementation is now in progress. The Police Policy working group of the County Party have drawn UP Onewsletterto inform Porty mem~ bers, advise on developments and consider future oreas of concern to the public. It is hoped that the next County Party GMC will endorse the circulation of the document to all words ond CLPs in the Merseyside ‘rea and thet it will stimulate debate ond ideas. Included in the newletter core views on:

Giz a Job

Low ond Order ~ more police do not reduce lowlessness.

Consultation with the Public - Com= munity [iaison forums os « way of in creasing police accountability.

Complaints agoinst the Police - Spec~

ial complaints sub-committee of Police

Authority; proposals for new comolaints

procedures.

Community Policing and Public Order increasing foot potrols; improving relationships between police and* public; banning use of ES aos ond plastic bullets on Merseyside.

Computers ~ Securing codes of conduct for use of police computers,

Many policing issues ore being considered by Police Policy Group, the views ond porticipation of all porty members ore welcome. Contoct Paul Sommerfeld (convenor), 27 Canning St,

Le (709-2515)

EDITORIAL NOTE

Pic ie torial collective of BRIFFING eel thot the left should participate in the "Law and Order' debate, We are therefore asking for articles on

socialist approach to this issue for the next edition of MLB,

The Government sey they can't give me a job,

then the bastards have the nerve to call me a slob. You can't even get a part time job to earn a bit,

Paid a ten on the bus, it's all I could offad.

PIL just have a look at what's on the board.

New Vacancies. Here's one for a travel clerk "Must be over twenty five". God, that's « lark, “Be a dentist in the Army, Four thousand pound a yer", a few bob, steady job, pretty good coreer,

"Must be under seventeent,God, it moke's you puke, If you're in your early twenties you don*t get @ look. "Be a representative, travel near and far",

‘Oh aye, here's the rub, "must have acar,"

What about an office job, "Book Keeper required”, That's what I used to be, before | got fired,

| used to work hard, had to sweat like o skunk,

then they gave me the bullet cos | came back drunk ‘one day off me lunch. Well, it make's you laugh the bosses did it all the time, but | was only staff. I'm sich of coming here now. Every day's a bore. Come in, look around and go home. What for? Look mate, there's three million others unemployed Jind one look around this City makes you paranoid,

‘ond me dole doesn't go as far as I can spit.

All I want is a steody job with a decent wage

‘and no bloody questions about me age.

‘And Uncle Normen Tebbitt says "Get on your bike", Yeoh, O.K, I'll get @ private jet, if you like.

This is the new age, Great Britain's dream,

all men are equal", he! don't make me scream.

The pound goes down and they kick up a fuss,

Listen here, Maggie, don't forget about us.

You can go to the Falklands, but Liverpool's too for, without us, love, you wouldn't be where you ore.

‘Ah, you don't know how much it hurts. I've got me pride When I see me mates at work, God | ache inside, Well | must be off, I'm going to the chippy for me tea, I do that once a fortnight, @ treat you see,

Then I'll go home ond try to mend me soul,

That's how you feel when you're on the dole.

Mork Wakeman

Page 5

Merseyside Labour BR.

At_the Municipal Policy Conference

Womenand Blacks Snubbed

Despite passing many rodical resolutions several delegates ond visitors were olarmed at the manner of many of the debates and the Conference's attitude to women and ethnic minorities. The conduct of the debates on housing, positive

‘action and the general policy on rates was spoilt by too many references to per-

sonalities. Comrades suggesting the party should encourage housing co-opera= tives were \instructed by one DLP spokesperson to join the Liberal Porty if they wanted to pursue Liberal policies. Socialists will have differences of opi ‘on matters like the rate policy, decentralising services, housing co-operatives ‘and ways of countering discrimination in society. All too often comrades putting alternatives were treated to personal abuse rather than constructive arguments,

The Conference's most alarming as~ pects was its complete refusal to take positive action on redressing discrim= ination in society. A resolution from Anfield calling on the DLP to cam= paign more rigously on women's is= sues (demands 22?) was remitted on the grounds that it contained @ proposal to set up o Women's Committee ‘on the Council

The seddest episode in the day was the overwhelming refusal to adopt the calls from Abercromby and Church wards to take more positive action in dealing with racial discrimination. The Abercromby amendment (printed the box) merely called for @ rig orous interpretation of last year's pol~ icy of positive action. Unfortunate ly these mild proposals were over~ whelmingly rejected because alleged~ ly they would patronise blacks .

Question must be asked about the Liverpool Labour Party's attitude to fighting racial discri

city whose daily experience is one of

extreme rocial disadvantage in edu=

cational, housing and work opportun= ities. In the meantime comrades from Granby Ward extend an invitation to all delegates on the DLP to help can=

‘One delegate informed the conference

that black NALGO members had op Vass in the wand in order to explain

posed a resolution from the Liverpool branch because it called for positive discrimination. We learnt later that it was true that some (not all) black members had reservations about the Liverpool motion. But the reason for their reservation was that it did not go Far enough.

Liverpool Labour Party current ctti= tude to roce in the City.

Som Semoff Granby LP. Diane Henderson Gronby L.P.

Poul Lolly Anfield LP.

‘ABERCROMBY . AMENDMENT Recognising that despite the Equal Opportunity statement adopted at the DLP Policy Conference in 1982, the Party in Liverpool still fails to attrac block members or to be perceived by the black communities as genuinely concerned to combat racism and rac-

disadvantage. DLP asserts that:

1) It will energetically initiate and support policies in City Council that seek both.to overcome the historical disadvantage suffered by blacks as

Ja result of racism in this city, and to respond to special needs.

b) It recognises the importance of data to show whether equal opportun ity is being achieved in practice, an will continue the system of six month ly ‘snopshot* surveys of the numbers lof black employees - without perm= Janent records on individual files of rocial

c) It will set up @ sub-committee of the DLP on the same basis as other standing sub-committees, to develop

detailed practical proposals to make a reality of our commitment to positive action, and to re=activate our

Jexisting policy of liaison with black groups in the city.

id) Recognising that racial attitudes lore built into this society it wil vvolve the Lobour Party in active com paigning against racism throughout the city through regular propaganda Jond by a policy of anti-racist eduea~ tion in schools and colleges.

This will involve positive actions tor

1) Encourage blacks to apply for posts.

12) Ensure discrimination by Council

ing and education opportunities to assist them to acquit the skills and qualifications neces~ sary to compete equally with others.

4) Initiate nursery and social services| end other projects that respond to special needs. Without positive ction we recognise that existing ‘ond longstanding institutional rac=| ism cannot be overcome

Merseysidi r Briefing

Labou

WIRRAL: Fight For a Manifesto

After several years of discussing, jing and updating policy, Wirral District Labour Party has ot last drown its policy together in the form of a manifesto, The objective now should be to present this manifesto to the people of Wirral as the basis on which we will fight our election compoign.

DETAILED DOCUMENT

However, there are varying views in the Party on just how this monifesto should be presented to the people of the Borough. These range from @ press release, issues to libraries and distribution in news agents,to merely @ condensed version in the election leaflet of eoch candidate.

(One comrade admirably defined the purpose of the manifesto as a docu - ment which, on toking control of the

Council, the Labour Party would hand to.the Chief Officers and say "There

it Is, get on with it", This, | thought,

Six women from Caperhurst Women's Peace Camp were arrested on Febru~ ary 21 ofter a blockade of the gates to the British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. uranium = enrichment plant at Copen= burst.

Charged with “obstructing police man in the course of his duty", the women appeared in Chester Mogist= rate Court on March 16. Three women pleaded “guilty, and received @ two-year conditional discherge with @ £15 fine. The other three women pleaded “not guilty", and will appear back in court on April 21.

During the Court proceedings, no one from the women's families nor from their host of supporters was allowed in the court room, This was done ina deliberate ottempt to intimidate the women and to discourage others who might feel compelled to resort to civil disobedience to rid the world of this nuclear madness. In another ottempt to intimidate, some of the women were strip-searched at the time of arrest,

had convinced many party members of xd ond specific

Manifesto ‘83

The menifesto currently runs ot 25-30 pages, "too long” come the cry, no-one will read it" was cnother.

But the most disturbing remark was “what's the point of putting all that effort (ond money) into a manifesto? People know what we stand for’

IN OUR OWN WORDS

Do people know what the Labour Par ty stands for? If so how do they know ~ through what they read in the right wing press? If we do not tell them they rely on the distorted, big- ‘oted meanderings of for example,

the editor of the Wirral Globe. It is

CLOSE DOWN OF CAPENHURST

Approximately 50 supporters stood in the hall way outside the court room singing peace songs to lend encour~ ‘agement to the women inside, Following the court appearance, the mixed group of supporters moved outside to link arms and dance through the streets of Chester singing songs and passing out leaflets to passers-by. According to the women, the act of blockading the gates and the related ‘oct of invading the CEGB duck pond in small boats were done to draw at= tention to the fact thet more and more of our public lands are being taken ‘over to build these horrifying death centres, The duck pond had original~ ly been used by the villagers at Cap~ ‘enhurst until it was fenced off by BNFL some years ago, ‘As was the original plan, the Capenhurst peace camp closed on Internat~ ional Women's Day, March 8. The women had chosen to campaign at Capenhurst for a limited time with three major objectives in mind. They want= ed first of all to draw attention to the continued involvement of the BNFL plant in milit ary activities, while

essential thet we, in our own words, tell people about the Lobour Porty ‘and socialism.

SERIOUS ALTERNATIVE

IF the Labour Party is going to present a serious alternative to the odminis= n of Wirral, « full public dec= leration of what we stond for, what we will do and how we will do it is essential. Anything less is merely excepting the stctus quo that Wirral is, olways hos been and always will be under the control of the Tories.

I dismiss the question, "Does the Lo~ bour Party actually want to toke con= trol of the Wirral". OF course we do seedon't we?

Gaynor Farmer Wirral DLP EC member

professing to be a civilian facility. Secondly, the women wanted to alert local peace groups to the dangers of the new MOD enrichment plont at Capenhurst, which supposedly

supply fuel for Trident submarines, but could also provide highly-enrich- ‘ed uranium for bomb purposes, Lastly the women wanted to inform bath BNFL workers and local villagers bout the dangerous activities that go on at Copenhurst.

Since these octivities ore seen as an ‘on-going process, the women hove chosen to re=form as a Merseyside women's peace group, ond will con= tinue to campaign, not only on Cap= enhurst, but other peace issues as

=P Copenhurst Women

Merseyside Labour BRI:

h WOMAN'S PLAGE 2

In a letter to the last editon of BRIEFING, Sam Semoff pointed out that most women viewed the Labour Party as irrele~ vant, because women live in o society “where all frames of reference bear the stamp = male." 1 would like to expand this notion, because | feel that, if the Labour Party is to encourage more women to join its ranks, there is a need for a fundomental shift in attitude by the Party and its members,

At present, except for a few token women, the Lobour Party seems to per~ petuate society's tactics of making women invisible ~ except for when forced to acknowledge them (e.g. the Greenham women) or when it suits to display them (e.g. Pornography), It seems that the Labour Party mirrors wider society's opproach = that of paternalism and traditionalism.

Traditionally, men have been the ‘doers! = the politicians, writers, fight ers ond orators. The level headed, assertive, rationalists, Women have ipeen seen os the child corers (but not the paediatricians), the cooks (but not the chefs), the nurses (but not the doctors), the airline hostesses (but not the airline pilots), the -cbsent~minded (but not the professors). Women ore portrayed as the non-assertive, self= secrificing, coring gender. These

views have been part of our society for thousands of years. It seems to me to be extremely naive to believe that all of this counts for nothing as soon 1s people walk into Ward meetings, ‘ond all members are suddenly equal", Both the masculine and feminine ster otypes have qualities which | would judge to be positive in any human be~ ing, Equolly, both genders are as~ signed what I would see as negative quolities.

WOMEN'S STRENGTHS

5 not about women becom Women's groups have flou-

women's strengths and weaknesses, and cottempt to reinforce the former and rectify the latter. It is depressing to see how few men are engaged in simi= lor tasks, For example, women are working to gain confidence and speak

cout, but how many men are practising listening ~ not merely hearing, but ectively listening. However, working in « women's group os opposed to a mixed group is quite o different exper ence. Women tend to gain confi~ dence in men's absence, but in mixed groups (and Labour Party meetings) core greeted by the some "by men, for men, about men" routine.

POLITICS ~ MEN'S DOMAIN?

Creches, food prices, contraception, abortion and child benefits should not be seen os "women's issues", but as people's issues, which ore of vital concern to both Labour Party men and women. | feel that the irrelevance of the Labour Party to women is not

related to jes, but in the Por fies approach to issues and in its atti~ tude towards female members. Histor~ icelly, politics hos been men's do~ main, and so the mechanics of poli: tics have developed to be those in which men are comfortable, The solution should not lie in women "getting used to it" or “learning the ropes", assumes that a male designed/cre= ated system is innately correct, and equality far women then means learr= ing to exercise their new found con fidence and “freedom! in apeing men's behaviour and traditions,

ag

PERSONAL/POLITICAL

I feel that positive change relies on men as well as women modifying their behaviour. Also, | think that the sol= ution lies on the personal~political level. The problem seems to be that men, as always, are in control, and either like that way, or couldn't be bothered with the effort of changing. For women to function well within the

Labour Perty, men will have to relin= quish « good deal of their power and troditions, | don't see that it is in their (short term) interests, and | can net. see that they will. This mokes me afraid-for socialism, Is that too, to be male defined? Are women to be invisible of patriare= hal but "socialist society? No won der that mest women look once at the Labour Perty and then move on. The Labour Party must be seen to be not only supportive of women's issues,

but also living that support in mem= bers! behaviour and attitude towards women in the Party, and women in. general.

Pam Blain

Broodgreen LP.

Merseyside Labour Briefing

Edgehill

planners, media and government. It is really the problem of ‘ageism! the left must oddress itself to.

From Bermondsey to

When | first became actively involved in politics in 1968, it was only natural that I should join Bermondsey Labour Party. | knew of those radical organisations with the strange initials, Unfortunately, the Bricklayers Word in Spa Road |5 years ago was about as inspiring as an omnibus edition of Crossroads, The politics was strictly porish pump ~— the most heated issue, | seem to remem= ber, was that of dogs fouling the pavements.

43% of the Bermondsey electorate were classed as elderly one of the

I asked about the Young Socialists; The trouble with them was thot they were too political. We had to close them down",

Bermondsey Labour Party was, in 1968, obviously not where things were at.

It was not concerned about Vietnam, South Africa, anti-fascism and all the other burning issues of the day. It was senile, complacent ond reaction=

ory.

Like a lot of others on the Left, | sought to bypass the Labour Party un til [realised that the revolution not going to be made between Kings Cross and the Caledonian Rood. By the time | properly reintegrated into the Lobour Party I had moved to erpool, Edge Hill. A 'sofe* Labour seat for 30 years, and on MP who hed done nothing for his constituents for most of that time.

By 1977, the movement for democratisation in the Labour Party was on the up ond Edge Hill CLP unanimously kicked out Sir Arthur Irvine os its MP, When he died, however, a by~ election in March 1979 turned a

large Labour majority into a Liberal majority of over 8, 000.

EDGE HILL

“There are three importont differences between the Edge Hill by-election ‘and Bermondsey. Firstly Edge Hill has an extremely low proportion of council housing. Secondly, the Lib~ erals have been in control of Liver~ pool City Council for a number of years and have used this position to political advontage, especially in the sphere of housing. (The frequent libel writs Liberals issue ogainst op~ ponents prevent me from further com— ment).

Finally the Edge Hill Labour candidate in 1979 (March and May). hed the charisma of @ sponge pudding and the local Labour Party was no match

for the Liberal compaign machine. In all other respects however the byelections were very sit

SMEAR

In Edge Hill in March 1979, the Not= ional officers of the Lobour Party gave us the distinct impression that they were out to lose us the seat. It wasn't so much « deliberate ploy os sheer incompetence and ineptitude.

Secondly, many voters will not take the explanation “it has all changed in the Labour Party now that the right wing has been kicked out", They see what has happened to them as a failure of Labour, pure and sim ple,

In Edge Hill we thought that Alton*s victory would be reversed in a Gen= eral Election. It didn't happen. (His majority wes cut from 8, 000 to 4, 000, This is now a sofe Liberal sect,)

The Liberals are presenting an image locelly thot they are like what the Labour Party used to be, or rather what people imagine it used to be.

In Bermondsey, | think the same thing will happen. I cannot see the Liberal being shifted no matter how 'good" the Labour candidate, and clearly Peter Tatchell is the best Labour MP Bermondsey never had.

A fundamental lesson to learn from these two by-election defeats is the culty of to relate political~ ly te old working class people. Old pedple ore passive victims of councils,

R nearly 8,000 votes.

medic surveys. They really were the one to fall victim to the anti-Tatchell smears put about by the dog robbers dog O'Grady, probably with the help of fascist elements. Exomples of this heard were "Do you know that if you're gay or lesbian you can get a council flat dead easy?" or "They say Peter Tatchell lives on the Rockingham Estate but he doesn't actually live there

Despite the press, the Right wing ex=

Labour mafic, the Foot leadership,

the bigotry, etc., Peter Tatchell won That in itself

is a victory. Tatchell has helped in the restructuring and rebuilding of the Labour Movement. I hope he stands the General Election and

wins the seat.

Then of course there was the smear compaign on the lines of "Lobour hijacked by Trotskyists". In Bermond~ sey the Liberals didn't go in for

this because O*Grady ond Fleet

Street were doing it for them, Never

rals ore well=

ty politics!

theless, Liverpool known for their

People said that Bermondsey was a freak result. They soid the some a~ bout Edge Hill. In my opinion the Liberals will go on winning sects lil these over the next five years,

They have the best by-election ma= chinery of all three major porties and can really concentrate their forces. The present project of the Labour Right is for on SDP mark IL, This must be resisted. An exodus from the Labour Party of people who don't like losing elections will be an object betrayal of sociclism.

Peter Tatchell has politicised Bermond~ sey Labour Party. That is the reason why he is hated by our enemies. We have to carry on that struggle and

turn electoral defeats into vict ory.

Bos Hardy Picton L.Ps

The debate on the future of the Labour Porty continues af all levels, Nowhere wos this more evident than at the recent

AGM's of the LCC and CLPD. Briefings ond their role are on integral part of this debate, A conference of Pri

ing

supporters was held in London on Feb 5th and, on these pages, we publish the views of two local activists who attended.

RB

Rio? NOVEMBER

omer

LONDON LABOUR 3

> CONFERENCE

HONG

FEBRUARY AD

REPORT

The organisers hod expected the conference to be a small working one; in the event cbout 80 or 90 people turned up, mainly from London, but with a strong contingent from Brighton ond I0-12 people from Merseyside, Manchester, Strat~ clyde, Bristol, Oxford and the West Midlands.

OUR TASK Graham Bash, editor of London Lobour Briefing (LLB) set the bockground far the day. He emphosised that the idea of national network was certainly not to set up yet another national “left group". Rother he saw it as building up a structure within which we can unify our forces. ‘Our cen= tral task!, he said is to transcend those divisions which prevent us from feeling our strength*,

BREAKING DOWN DIVISIONS The aim of LLB had always been to break down these divisions. First to combat the isolation of the left in the CLP's by providing c line of commun— ication between them. Second, to bring together the ‘revolutionary!

‘and the "Bennie! left. Third to. oct 1 a bridge between the women's movement (and single issue campaigns) and the labour movement. Fourth, to link our struggles with those in other countries, And finally, though by no means least, 'to breck down the di= visions between politics and life it> self",

Groham felt that now was @ vital time to press forward on all these fronts, Taking o lesson from the experience of LLB he suggested that this could only be acheived by work= ing together "in proctice'; focussing on organising for o Lo=

introduction wes followed by re= ports from the ather Briefings, Com= rades from Brighton and Strathelyde spoke about how their "Briefings" hod been set up, what their political bases were, and what type of iswes they had been involved in,

In my report from Merseyside, |ex-

plained how we hed formed. | argued that despite our circulation (1,000 last issue) we had had less impoct thon we could have hod, and that ne reason for this was the lack of com= paigning activity for us to focus our work around. There were also reports from the W. Midlands and Bristol, and comrades from Manchester and Oxfordtold us thet tolks were underway fo launch Briefings in their arecs.

PAROCHIAL? In discussion several speakers criti= cised the "parochial" outlaok of all the Briefings. Some argued that some formal national coordination was nec= essary to combat this, On the other hand one person orgued against ony Form of collabor atin between the various Briefings. In o particularly useful contribution John Bloxan pointed out that campaigning on local issues and collaborating together should not be counterposed, He scid that we have to strive to work toget= her and, of the same time, we have to respect the autonomy of the differ~ ing local Briefing groups. The session closed with what I took to be general agreement that it would be useful if all the groups discussed trying to devote space in their next few issues on compaigning for confer~ ‘ence policies and for a Labour victory in the General Election.

PERSONAL POLITICS

After women's and men's coucus meet= lunch, the conference re what was for me its most interesting session = on personal poli= ties.

Cath Tate from London pointed aut that articles in the "Street-Life Sup~ plement" ¢ LLB whilst often less rodi= cal than those in Spare Rib etc,

coused ten times more apoplexy in the establishment. Cath felt that this over reaction occurred because by bringing these issues closer toconventional pol! 1g hed made them more difficult to ignore. Anne Bliss spcke cbout the conflicts between being a parent and a coun cillor.. *What kind of a saciety ore we building® she asked, "if in order ally active we have to lless?* The overwhelming impression of this session was that we were really talk= ing together. People were not afraid to expose their weaknesses, and there was «real sense of unity of purpose. Jane Stockton summed it up by saying that it was not a motter of choosing between politics and our personal lives, but of finding ways and struct= ures which release us from being forced to make such choices,

LINKS During the second half of the after= noon Ken Livingstone talked about the lessons for the left which had

come out of the §GLC experience! The Left had to be ‘more supportive cond less criticalt, he soid, Ken stressed that for him the greatest success of the GLC hod been in establishing Tinks between Labour in local government and the community outside conte.

‘As I have moved to London, it was possible for me to attend the "Towards A National Network" conference advertised on the back of Februory/ March Merseyside Labour BRIEFING (MLB), In the absence of pooled fares, only two other people from ‘outside London/Brighton attended — ‘one from Merseyside and one from Strathclyde,

"HARD LEFT" The discussions were firmly rooted in the concerns of the London-based “Hard Left", and it is first necessary to set out this context, The heyday of London Labour Briefing (LLB) was 293 years ago ~ a time of success in removing right-wing councillors, and often replacing them with their own supporters; « time of advance on con= stitutional reform; when the memory of the failures of the last Labour Gov~ ernment was sharp; and when Indust rial militancy and confidence was at ‘a much higher level than today. The Left appeared firmly entrenched, and with a monopoly of effective organis~ ‘ations was making gain ofter gain i the words and CLP's. There were significant defections fran the Right to the SDP, The problems of holding (e.g. on the GLC) had not yet been met, Clear and winnable goals were being supported by LLB, and they were organised with enthusiasm cand often success.

LEFT DISUNITY Since then, the situation has chang~ ed, The Benn campaign hos led to disunity on the left, and the right has organised. Un empl tered trade~union mi has developed on the left between those who wish to continue as before;

Jeremy Corbyn spoke on the need to build bridges between the industrial and political wings of the movement. This was an aree which LLB hod ne= glected; the establishment of work place branches provided an opportun= ity to work towards this end. CQMMUNITY GROUPS

A report from Lesley Lee on working with local community groups stressed

that our role was to provide support for their initiatives, Briefings, she felt,”

What next for BRIEFING ?

‘and those who felt the priority was to defend existing gains and to broaden support, both for the left within the Party, and for the Party within the Country. These two contrasting views were expressed in MLB No, |, pages 4énd 5,

Left" hos found its politics and its leaders are decreasingly popular with= in the left asc whole. They have suffered significant’ defects in the National LCC ond the Campaign for Lobasr Party Democracy (CLPD).

LLB is me organisation in which the “Hord Left" is unchallenged, and it* is therefore logical that in attempting to rebuild their political influence, they should attempt to use "Briefing" os a base, and to ch from 0 loose and open organisation to some= thing tighter ond more closed. Al= ready, LLB has become membership organisation, with only paying sup= porters allowed to vote at the previ ously open meetings.

BENNITES WORTH THEIR SALT

At the conference, "Hard Left" sup~ porters know themselves cs The Left, cond this was described es consisting of ‘three types of supporters ~ the Trot= skyist_ groups around "Socialist Challenge’ and "Socialist Organiser! and the unaligned (not all Trotskyists) who one speaker described os "Benn~ ites worth their salt". It is the inten tion of LLB to promote o Briefing Net work which would put over the politi= cal line agreed by the three groups which they define os "The Left".

This is in contrast to the much more

BRIEFING——BRIEFING——-BRIEFIN

had to try to provide the natural com nections between the Trade Unions cond the rest of the community.

There was also a useful contribution from Bryn Griffiths on how to produce a Briefing. Much appreciated - even by those of us who thought we had leorned quite a lot in that crea!

Finally the conference discussed and calling on LLB to

de Labour BRIEFING

diverse polities which are found with Merseyside BRIEFING. For instance, |

in the absence of local elections in London this yeor, local government] work is no longer seen as priority. One speaker stated cleerly that he felt Merseyside BRIEFING ‘too brood" and clearly this is a key issue to be decided by each local Briefing Group It is unfortunate that most local groups did not attend the London meeting.

THE CHOICE

Either the priorities of the founding statement are continued — “We will compaign on issues, but we are not a “line™ publication — or like LLB, MLB identifies itself with a particuler set of policies within the Party, end serves primarily to promote those policies. There Is also the view that promotion of political debate in it~ self is a positive political force which} challenges Merseyside's geriatric pol itics. And genuine debate con only be sustained while opposing views ore given fair coverage, and the readers ability todecide the best case fully respected, The decline in in= fluence of LLB should serve as a warn: ing of the dangers of pursuing the wrong course, But the questions con only be decided on Merseyside. Gi ‘en my view that interference by Lon= doners is unlikely to be helpful, | will restrict myself to this report of facts os | see them, and will leave the actual debate fothose directly i volved.

ectivists to press for the inclusion of conference policies in the manifesto ‘ond discuss how to campaign for a Lebar Victory.

All in all a very useful doy, sharing experiences and exploring our strengths, a process which | believe should continue. For me the journey was

well worth

Stuart Marshall-Clarke Hoylake L.P.

Page 17

r Briefing

Merseyside Lai

ECHO AND THE MONEYMEN

Do you want to hear some good news? It's not difficult in Liverpool, One of the leading BBC Radio stations, the “bri= ghtest? independent and then there's the Rost & Echo = all competing te bring you the news and hoppy hours. ‘You might be less than happy if you were o Croxteth parent concerned about education cuts. Or a journalist thinking of examining

the background of a school closure. ment; This editorial g

is just too expensive for a poper to research those

Because ya won't find much in the local media to inform you cbout local govern— sues, to poy the staff to ask the questions to write the stor nce extends across the boord with the same firm hand because the firms that handle the news (and

their directors and distributors) tend to be the same people (and keep the same company, whether the company of Radio City or the Post). A pattern has emerged on Merseyside. But not exactly a new sound.

There is on urgent need for on oltern= ative news service on Merseyside that reaches out beyond the confines of porty activists and examines issues that the other sources aren't interest~ The General Election com=

‘ousness within the Labour Party of the devastation that well-organised press compaigns can unleash, Every day the Bermondsey by-election campaign confirmed Peter Tatchell's attacks av undemocratic power. But too often debate in the lobour movement on this vitol issue is tured info ¢ moan about'media bias*, The ide of bios presupposes that the press ever could be objective; it certainly isn't in tended to be. The professional skills involved in naturalising'the idea that " industrial news" means "who's on strike" aren't deployed by the ignor= ant In need of correction. Reforms enshrined in the (unsuccessful) coampaign for a ‘right of reply! are very necessary but we must also grasp the real nettle; the establishment of community newspapers, Becouse it is vital thot the supply of information

monopolised by existing papers be challenged in some small, even amoteur way, but with the same commit= ment as the labour movement hos dem= ‘onstrated in monitoring the presenta= tion of those stories that do oppear.

USEFUL NEWS

The free press is a familiar expression on Merseyside, but it has nothing to do with the kind of free press James Goldsmith would like to buy. The Liverpool Free Press was, for several years in the 1970's, the most succes ful alternative newspaper in the coun-

try with @ circulation of 10, 000 for monthly issues. It was exceptional in

that it was written by professional Journolists ond achieved celebrity by ‘aging into the corrupt faundations of Kirkby building contracts, The essen= tial point of the LFP was that its pol= itical impact ley more in what it cov=

ered than in what its particular poli=

tics were. Its news content touched: nerve on Merseyside that no amount of abstract analysis can hope to do, Papers such os #Left Out? and the "Merseyside Labour Briefing! have different aims and functions and as +, adenits

is book on the alternative press, ("News Ltd", Minor ity Press Group, I96l) the "Free Press™ itself quickly

faced adilemma, Many readers found the paper foo critical, too negative without a balanced emphasis on the positive efforts of working people to improve their lives and communi= ties. But the essential point was that the LFP's news was . useful; a popular readership learnt very quickly the functions of some of the more obscure ‘creas of the Mersey machine.

Any such project obviously faces

huge difficulties; it ideally should lose the status of ‘project! as soon os possible and become very much the paper of the people it's writing abo It needs to appear regularly, accur= ote, well-researched, well-designed ond relevent, {nitially | think that such a paper is best starting small and covering the bosic issue that affects Merseyside more than any other orea within local control ~ housing, the rents, rates and repairs, The news that could be useful , the news that helps, in the smallest way, the begin= nings of a free press.

If you're interested in the potential (or problems) of such o poper contact Patrick Hawkins on 342~6990,

Patrick Hawkins ee

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

An Independent Socialist Paper

Merseyside Lebour BRIEFING

Press panies the Party

It is @ widely held belief in the Liverpool Lobour Party that the right wing hes the sole ive in spoili

he prerogative in spoiling Labour's chances of winning the next General Election. However in early March the Liverpool Labour Party helped Yo score few ‘own goals both nationally and locally. The issue concerned Liverpool's Labour Party's plans for education in the city.

The DLP Policy conference spent c little over an hour discussing education, many other topics were not debated ond accordingly were corried without

LABOUR'S PLAN TO AXE?

The policy document, now party policy, war passed on to the press. The Echo (March 8) headlined one feature that had posted unnoticed and that was “Lobour's plan to oxe city's religious schools". The report also con= tained certain remarks made by Dom inie Brady the DLP Educction spokes~ person, regarding the financial ond legal sanctions the Labour Porty might reluctantly explore to achieve its

THE POLICY STATEMENT

The section on church schools goes alot further thon last year which merely carried a statement critical of the manner of Catholic school re~ organisation. It states: “The Liver= pool Labour Party would like to see ‘an end to the division of schools by ideally we would hove wanted on integrated system especially as the Roman Catholic communi= ty is working class. Ecumenicel schools in some estates would have been a mojor benefit to the city. This does not appeor feasible although Lobar will enter discussions with Ro= man Catholic authorities ond parents on this matter".

LABOUR'S RESPONSE

The untimely combination of the Ed= ucation document, D, Brody's state— ment and the Echo orticle set the alarm bells ringing both nationally and locally. Locel Allionce MPs were quick to get national publicity by putting down motions condemning Labour in the House of Commons, The national Catholic press carried critical articles. Lobour's response was to express more clearly what wos implicit in the document: Labour has no plans to close church schools (in foct the Labour Party is curently ‘campaigning against Liberal plans to close 26 Catholic Primary schools).

Both Heffer and Kinnock made state~ ments giving reassurances to the par= ents. The officers of the Liverpool DLP produced a long statement with the pledge that no church school would be closed without the consent of the church authorities. However dessite these denials two Labour ‘Councillors (Burke and Lafferty) ore quoted in the Catholic press that they would not carry out Labour's plon and Jim Lloyd the Leader of the Labour Group on Knowsley Council hos dis~ associated his group from Lobour's plon.

LESSONS

Several immediate lessons con be drawn from this unhoppy offoir. If district policy statements contain os they often do long term objectives alongside the more immediate propo~ sals, they should not be released directly to the press. Prepared state~ ments of what the Labour Porty in~

tends to do in office should be releo~

sed.

In future Labour spokespersons should be careful to avoid the press direct

ing them away from the main purpose of our policy. To be fair to Dominic Brady the Party as a whole is too of ten guilty on this. The Labour Party should take leaf out of the Tory's book. They run extensive training courses for their people in how to handle the media.

Owing to a lack of time and perhaps interest nt with the document as a whole,

The discipline of some Labour councillors must be called into question. They appear to have taken their cue from the capitalist press rather than checking with the Liverpool DLP, All too often in recent years have mony leading figures in the party allowed themselves to be quoted attacking a person or prt of the party on purely the image that the press have served up to them,

The most important lesson is funda~ mental to many of the current debotes going on in the Lobour Party at pre~ sent, Democratic sociclism obviously involves continuing compromise be~ tween long term ideals and immedicte practice. The tension between the two ects on all of us. However it cannot be resolved by pious long-term assertions which are then immediately rendered null and void by ‘pragmatic? disclaimers. That is nct the road to

sm, it leads anly to confusion

Poul Lally, Anfield Ward

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We must not accept

Why has the witch hunt begun?

The purge has begun.

of the party. tage of the election campaign,

Totchell Faced a full scale Dr. Goebbels-style smear campaign from the media and the political opposition centred on antingay bigotry. The Labour candidate fought « courageous ‘and uncompromising campaign only to be stabbed in the back by his “own party leadership on the eve of poll. A more criminal note could not have been played by the leadership if the NEC had consisted of a set of cloned Romsey McDonalds, Phillip Snowdens and JeH. Thomastst

Totchell is not a revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination. He is very much @ left reformist radicel

By "extro-parliamentary activity he meant little more than CND type peaceful demos and liberal protest cctions, And neither ore "Militont” "revolutionary" organisation, des~ pite the fairy-tale media articles ao— cusing them of wanting to overthrow copitalism by force. A quick glance ct their pamphlet "What We Stand For" reveals a peaceful reformist strategy in which the transformation of capitalism would be "carried through in Parliament by means of an En= cabling Bill" (P. 23).

But, however much serious soci might be sceptical about the ability of either "Militant or Peter Tatchell to provide the necessary political ‘answers in the struggle ogainst the bosses and their agents in the leader= ship of the Porty; it is just 98 true that their muddled ppasition to the right wing acts to destablise the Porty and make it an unreliable instrument in government for controlling the working class, should the bosses need it as an alternative to Thatcher. In the present crisis this is doubly prob= lematical for the bosses.

The expulsion of the Five election demonstrates the contempt of the NEC both for The NEC have ployed a consciously cynical resulting in @ Liberal victory.

ition of to Japon, West Germany and the USA, a new redistribution of the semi colonial world between the im periolist powers is necessary. TI must go hand in hand with the over= turn of the nationalised property re~ lations and the reintroduction of cop~ italism in the Eastern block - hence the cold war offensive, the nuclear corms race, ond the drift towards a third, and final nuclear world wore The growth of the CND = influenced~ left within the party, ogain makes the ruling class uneasy about the usefulness of Labour in office as a stable instrument of capitalism,

The witch hunt is designed to curb the left in order to re-impose "stabil~ ity" in the porty so that it con cary ‘out its function os an instrument of imposing wage control and wor on the working class. The danger in the witch hunt is that the left organiso tions will choose to abandon the pol= jicies needed for the defence of the working class in order to avoid ex= pulsion, instead of stepping up the attack on the pro-imperalist, proNato witch hunters in the Party Lea dership and their “left cover" (e.g. Ben's loyalty speech at the confer= ence).

However, the danger of nuclear war con only be combotted international= ly. More than ever before, the inter~ national working class needs on inter national porty with a common inter national democratic process ond a common international discipline,

that it is necessary to effectively combat ond disarm world imperialism

ond Stalinism, before they destroy us. The size of this task must not pre~

vent us from doing the maximum to achieve this goal now,

“Militont" editorial board members on the eve of the Bermondsey by~ the democratic right of "Militant" and for the electoral success I note in ensuring the defeat of Tatchell. It amounted to sebo-

It is not without significance that one of the items on the witch hunterst register wos a question about whether groups were prepared to renounce all international s in favour of the pro-imperiolist Socialist "Internation= al", This sham "international" that has collapsed at every serious test since the First World Wor, is merely a front for organised chauvism, Trotsky's Fight for the construction of a genuine international party ~ the Fours th International ~ should be the fight of all Labour activists, if they ore to hove any chance of defeating world imperalism's cold war drive, and to avoid the treacherous duplicity that Peter Tatchell has experienced at the honds of Her Majesties loyal opposi— tion of pro-imperialist flunkies. If we ore forced to vote such a gang of re~ actionaries into government, it is merely because we conside best method of giving them sufficent political rope to hang themselves in the eyes of those workers who still sions in them; nothing more,

Chris Erswell

Merseyside Labour Briefin,

the expulsions ! pam STOP THE PURGE NOW!

Duncan Grant Wirral CLP

A spectre is haunting the Labour Party ~ the spectre of socialism. For most of its history, the Lobour Party has been dom= inated by those who see Clause IV at o meaningless ritual incantation, irrelevant to a mixed economy. Labour's aim, to them, should be to make capitalism palatable, to soften the edges and care for the weak while still preserving the sort of society where one can drink @ good claret in one's Sussex farmhouse ond reflect on the rewards of a life dedicated to

The rise of the left and the democratic reforms ¢ recent years have upset the opplecort. The response to those changes has split the right wing into the. Gang of Four and their coterie of clapped aut parliementery hacks on the one hand and those who have stayed to fight their corner within the Labour Party on the other, It is important to recognise that the difference between these two groups is fundamentally one of tactics rather than policies where, on major issues such as disermament, the EEC or incomes policy, there is den little if anything to choose between them,

Where they differ is in the means of achieving their ends, The SDP believes that the best chance lies in snuggling up with the Liberals and convincing enough of the public to vote for its image (they would hardly vote for its tpolicies"!) to enable it to get its foot in the door of government. To the hord right still within the party this was a cowardly action by @ group whose bottle had gone, they believed that it was possible to win the fight within the party, with the help of

their natural allies in mony of the unin bureauracies.

Both groups share a desire for reunion; the SDP wishing for more defections, the hard right hoping to draw back the defectors into a purged Labour Party. The precondition for this is the destruction of the left at any price up to and including electeal defeat. ‘OF course, defect for the Labour Party at the forthcoming General Election would not necessarily be a defeat for Healey and his followers = there is always the possibility of a coalition of tmoderate elements'.

The lengths to which the right will go have been made clear in recent mon= ths, A prime example of this has been the deliberate sabotage of Lob~ our's chances in the Bermondsey by~ election

WHO IS NEXT FOR THE STAKE

But, of course, the most seriaus action by the right has been the witch hunt, reaching its first climax on February 23 with the decision of the NEC to expel the five members of the editorial board the Militant, It is absolu~ tely clear that Golding, Duffy and the rest would like to get rid of thousands of socialists and that the attack on Militant is just a stort.

We should be in no doubt that the hit list extends well beyond its original targets to all other indentificble left

groupings. Indeed it may well be that the change of course will come sooner rather thon later. Golding recently admitted, during c televisic interview, that it would be very dif ficult legally to expel ordinary Mili= tant supporters, or even PPC's, On the elitist presumption that it is only necessary fo cut off the head for the remainder to flap around aimlessly like decopitated chickens, ‘names! connected with Socialist Organiser, Briefing, Socialist Challenge (Action) ‘and so on are likely to find the fag gots being piled under them in the near future.

IMPLACABLE OPPOSITION

The only way we can stop this is by demonstrating implacable opposti

to all expulsions ond the mechanism that backs them up. There is no fu~ ture in registering, lying low, our time; we must say quite clear! ‘we will not be driven out; we wi not let you turn the clock back twen= ty years; we will not let the Labour

Party be used, as it has so often in

the past, to sell out the working closs.?

The main focus for this action will be the CLP%s, for it is to CLP's that each member belongs and it is only with the consent (or, ultimately, disbanding) of the individual constituencies that victims of the witch hunt con be ex=

pelled from the Party. Nevertheless, individual CLP's

ere vulnerable and it is essential to let the NEC know what sort oa fight they face. CLP's should therefore do the following (all of which, | am

proud to say, Wirral CLP hos already

their members from victimisation and refuse to implement the register or any expulsions;

2)Pass resolutions calling for the im= mediate reinstatement of those al ~ reedy expelled and condemning all such anti-democratic persecutions;

3)Send messages of solidority to the CLP!s to which the expelled com= rades belong "(with porticuler emphosis on West Nor wood which has de= cided merely to (comply) "note" (with) the NEC decision); A)Affilicte to Labour Against the Witch Hunt.

Lebar has the policies the people of this country need, The only chance of getting them implemented is by stopping those who sell us out and building a socialist campaign for a Pete eg

Ireland - which way forward?

Militant Spokesman

The anonymous gladiator signed "Chris", who wrote “The Breckfield By-election ‘and the Ballykelly Bombing" displays a remarkable ignorance of the working

class of both Ireland and Liverpool.

It would take @ whole book to unravel

the abstract confusions and dangerous nonsence in every line of his article. Rut let us reply to tust a few of the issues raised, especially in answer to his attacks

on the policies of Militant,

Militant supporters have a proud, in= deed an unrivalled, record of arguing a clear socialist case on Ireland with in the Merseyside Trade Union ond Labour movement. Throughout the 1970's, we spoke at Labour Parties, Trades Councils and Union branches, goining widespread support at a per~ od when workers were understandably wory about "getting involved". If we knew who "Chris" was, perhaps we could judge his record, and whet= her he was giving us the benefit of his presence in the Lobour Party!

PARTY OF LABOUR

Militant have consistently laid respon sibility for the nightmare of poverty, 20% unemployment, sectarian violence ond repression at the door of the British copitalist class. Their age— old toctic of "divide and rule" was perfected in Ireland, injecting the poison of sectarianism into the veins of workers in order to weaken and de~ Feat the common struggle of Catholic and Protestant workers, In contrast to "Chris", Militant regards the Irish working closs...and that means the one million Protestant workers as well as their Catholic brothers and sisters 20s the only force capable of defeatthe sectarian division created by cap~ list interests. In the words of the great Irish Socialist, Connolly, "The cause of Ireland is the cause of lab~ our". Irish Trade Unionists ond their families make up the vast majority of society, ond have a history of class ection. The 300, 000-strong Trade Unions in Northern Irelond are the only organisation to combine Prtest= ants and Catholics in common strug= gle. Militant campaigns for a polit= ical Party of Labour based on the Un~ ions, armed with a socialist programme

‘on jobs, housing and repression, On= ly such @ movement could join hands across the border with the Labour movement in the South, building @

Page 16

workers' Ireland - o Socialist United Ireland. And only such o mass mobil— isation of the working class would force the ruling class to end repression ‘ond withdraw the troops, whilst organ— ising Trade Union protection of work= ers! families from sectarian gun=men. CLASS SOLUTIONS Any policies which endanger the growing unity of the working closs "deserve to be branded with infamy". Militant makes no apologies to anyone (end especially not anonymous writers) for our condemnation of the methods ‘and programme of the IRA, Armchair terrorists in Merseyside may applaud the Ballykelly bombings, shamefully ignoring the deaths of working-class youths involved; they may cheer young Catholics to imprisonment or death as they go down the blind alley of the IRA's methods. But the working class of Ireland or Breckfield won't take kindly topeople whose policies are designed to divide our class and aid our capitalist enemies! Labour Party activists, including Militant supporters, have campaigned to cut ‘across the old sectarian divisions in Breckfield, and have drawn workers fo class solutions to common class problems. What haughty contempt "Chris" shows for the working class, jin his complaint thet workers oppose bombing campaigns in Britaint These exe the very methods condemned by Trotsky os | “the futility of individual terrorism", which hove given the Tories and Labour-traitors like Roy Jenkins the excuse to step up repres~ jon, And the bombings have further driven the wedge of sectarionism into the working class. FUTILE “AND DIVISIVE IRA Militant opposes methods which weoken the struggle against copitalism, We won't hesitate to counterpose moss struggle by o united working class to the futile and divisive IRA compaign, just as Lenin and Trotsky ‘opposed the terrarist methads of the Russian anarchists, The IRA are fur~

- MILITANTS RESPONSE

ther from their aims todey than they were in 1969! And unlike the handful of ultra-lefts who today appoint them= selves as the British attorneys for the IRA, Militant opposed the use of troops in 1969, when we called for workers unity in oction as the only counter fo sectarian murders! LIVINGSTONE'S. MISTAKE Militant consistently defends other left-wingers from witchhunts by the kept press of the capitalist closs, and their echoes on Labour's right-wing, But we reserve the right to differ wi the policies and actions of left-wing comredes, such as Ken Livingstone. The rank hypocrisy of the press, which hides the daily depression in Northern Ireland and the daily atrocities com= mitted by the Tories ogainst workers of all backgrounds, does not influence Militant, Nonetheless, Ken Livingstone made o drastic mistake in ing Sinn Fein to a platform in in, We argued he should have invited activists of the Irish Labour ond Trade Union movement to publicise their struggle to unite workers cround socialist policies; or as a min= 1um measure, he should have made Sinn Fein answer for their sectarian record in debate with the non-sectar= ian viewpoint of the Labour Move ment. Insteed, an unopposed platform was given fo such as Gerry Adams, who moved a resolution at the 1982 Sinn Fein Conference which declared that SF candidates would only be en= dorsed if they “unequivocally support the armed struggle". The Labour movement of Irelond or Britain has absolutely nothing to gain from such policies or methods. Ken Livingstone's actions had the effect of roducing fears of sectarian divis= ions in creas such as Breckfield, driv= ing @ number of workers away from Labour for a temporary period. And this wos not confined to workers of Protestant background, as "Chris and his co-thinkers would have dis= covered if they had bothered to turn out to help Labour in the by-election’ Militant will continue to march shoul= der=to-shoulder with workers of all creeds, building a mass movement for socialism which will completely by~ pass ultro-lefts who indulge in their anti=Morxist abstractions,

‘WITH THEIR

With so many pressing issues all oround us, one hesitates to use precious space refuting the ideas of Pam Blain ‘and Sheila Hughes on the matter of pornography. Nevertheless, as some of their views are tendentious to the point almost of being sinister, it is perhaps o worthwhile exercise.

WHO IS TO DECIDE?

First, there is the issue of censorship. To any libertarian socialist, the very word engenders suspicion. The case in favour of censorship must surely be very strong before socialists can ac= cept it. Blain and Hughes do not make such a case. Centrally, they call for the banning of all pornogra~ phy, without bothering to define what pornography is. Is page 3. of the Sun pornographic? Is Mayfair mago~ zine pornographic? Is "Gay News" pornographic? Is "Spore Rib porno~ graphic? Is "Lady Chatterley*s Lover* pornographic? Are all these to be banned, or none of them? Who is to decide? Blain and Hughes? The Po~ lice? Magistrates? Mrs, Thatcher? Me? How ore they to decide? What ctiteria ore to be used? How is the law (if there is one) to be enforced? Can we expect extra police powers to raid shops and homes because there is @ possibility that (ill-defined) porno~ graphy is to be found there? Surely ‘one does not have to have much knowledge of history to know where that sort of thing can leod,

Secondly, Blain and Hughes seem hopelessly ignorant of what is ov able in sex-shops and the like. Per= haps they will allow me to enlighten them? a) 'Girlie* magazines such as ‘Flesto® and Playboy". These show almost entirely women with no clothes ‘on, Harmless enough, or does the banning start here? b) Mole Gay pornography. How does this fit in to Blain and Hughes scheme of things? ‘As aman, presumably | should feel humiliated by it. Sorry, but | don't. c) Magazines portraying people have sex-intercourse, oral sex etc. Given that these do not show acts of vio~ lence, ond they do not, why should people take exception to them? Why should a photograph of o man and a woman having sexual intercourse be humiliating to women ond not to men?

KN

I don't follow. d) Violent pornogro= phy. And here we come fo the heart of Blain and Hughes' argument, At first glance it seems a strong one. Violence is distasteful, many people would say, and censorship justified. Yet even here, on close examination, the for from clear cut. First, the violence is obviously simulated, ‘ond the end result, frankly, utterly ludicrous. Second, and I-con't em= phasise this enough, the vidence displayed is just os likely to be by women on men os the other way round. Again, as oman presumably I should feel humiliated ond degraded by this, Well, I'm sorry, but I don't, can't toke it seriously enough, Third, ond ogain this is very import= cont, the sort of material which shows women being mutilated or killed is not readily available in printed form ct least, The press calls this #snuF? pom, There is some doubt as to whether it really exists ot all, If it does I"ve never seen it, I"ve never met anyone else who'se ever seen i cond it it were to become available it would, quite correctly, be wide open

to prosecution,

HANGERS AND FLOGGERS

Next we come to Blain and Hughes?

exgument that pornography leads to rape, This is the classic hangers ond

floggers argument. Juxtapose two issues, oF sets of statistics, and then create on entirely unsubstonticted

link between the two. In fact, Blain ‘ond Hughes produce no proof whatsoever of such a link, If they have such proof, they should state it. IF not, their argument hes no intellectuel validty.

CENSORSHIP AND REPRESSION

Before summing up, pethops | should make one further point. Aneurin Bevan once said ~ *Why look ot the crystal ball, when you con read the book? There are in fact plenty of societies around which have just such laws as Blain ond Hughes apparently favour. One such is on the other side of the Irish Sea, where a woman's naked breasts can never be revealed

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

DOWN’

in published meterial. Another, until recently was Spain. Are these the sort of societies where Blain ond Hughes want to live in? The foct is thet heavy censorship of alleged porn ography almost always goes hand in hand with other forms of sexual re= pression, to the great detriment of all women.

PRIORITIES

Attentive readers, if ony now remain, may be wondering why, if | consider pornography to be an issue of monu~ mental triviality, which Ido, | should have written about it at such length. The onswer is partially because it 2 trivial. In the words of the hymn, Salvation's Comp, at the moment, is well and trully surraunded, Britain

is in real danger of becoming o very right wing society indeed, Surely socialist women must see thot the first priorities re the fights against Tha~ cherism, against the bomb, against the decimation of the NHS and eduction, not about the fact that « few of their (very highly paid) sisters are having their photogr ophs t cken with their knickers down.

Finally, | wonder if Blain and Hughes realize just how close their article comes fo just that sexism which they end BRIEFING claim to oppose.

They receive abuse from men. "Ment it is implied, do not 'give a shit cbout the oppression of womer *Ment want ‘profits, @ cheop thrill cond maintaining (sic) the status quot ‘Ment ere the 'perpetrotas® (what of?)., "Ment ore ‘the userst (Have Blain and Hughes never come across ‘a woman who is turned on by sexually explicit material? Honestly? Never)

There was a time when | hoped that fer ism would be one of the great intellectual and emotional opportuni= ties of the twentieth century. Per~ haps males having been given a well deserved kick up the backside, the two sides might start to understand ‘ond love one cnother more, Insteod, the battle lines between the sexes seem fo be being dug ever deeper. Whot a trogedy? DA, Rainbit Anfield LP

Page 17

REGIONAL CONFERENCE

The first cord vote of the NW Labour Party Conference (March 12 and 13) was over a motion to allow resolution 69 and 70 on the witch hunt to be brought forward to ensure they were debated, The vote wos 481, 000 for reference back ‘and 553,000 against. Thus the regional executive committee had ensured thot the purge ogoinst the left in the Perty was not debated.

Other attempts were made to get ¢ debate on the witch hunt, even the emergency resolution opposing the expulsion of the ‘Militant! editorial board were not taken "due to lack of time".

LEFT GAINS

Despite the setback at the stort the conference, the left were able to beat the Regional Committee on other important issues.

A resolution on re-notionalising com= panies sold off by the Tory Govern” ment without compensation was car= ried despite the cord vote.

Some gains were mode in the women's debate. Resolutions demonding dem= cratic reform of the Women's Section forced the Regional Executive to rec~ ‘ommend that the next NW Women's

Conference should take resolutions on whatever the Women's Section went.

The disarmament debate ‘clearly show- ‘ed that very few people, if any, be~ jieve that the present NEC or shadow cabinet seriously intend to implement conference policy on unilateral nu clear disarmament, Two main compo~ sites were passed. Both demanded

‘an unambigous commitment: to. uni=

lateral disarmament in the manifesto.

Comet Semen wes pecing womied

—— =

(One of the composites calling for the nationalisation of the arms industry ‘and its conversion to alternative production caused the regional committee some embarassment. They did not ‘want to call for opposition in case they were defected, so they attempt= ‘ed to add @ reservation to the resolution, When the regional committee were summing up the debate they said they supported the statement, but con

ference hod 'to understand that so

mony firms were involved that they would have to think cbout Tt. When the Chair, Jim Mason, wos toking the votes he asked us to support the composite with that reservation, but conference made it clear that they supported the whole; it wos not

for the regional committee to add bits to resolutions before @ vote.

Taking the conference os @ whole it ‘was cleor that, although we were unable to debate the witch hunt, the constituencies were clearly against it, and despite the NEC being con~ trolled by the right wing, the CLP*s ‘are continuing the fight for socialist

revokation afoot, whet shall I do”

Lew sent Sect = Teiememere oe OL seme

TAKING THE COUNTY SERIOUSLY

Lobaxr controls all the metropolitan counties; that's why the Tories have plans afoot to scrap this tier of local government. If the attitude of acti~ vists on Merseyside is any ‘indication, their job will be a pretty easy ones wwe just don't take the County Party seriausly.

REMOTENESS

The GLC has shown that such bodies cre capable of delivering important gains for the movement. To London ectivists the GLC feéls like their council. Here on Merseyside, how ever, there is a certain remoteness about the County Council and the County Lebour Group. This was illustrated ot the lost County Party GMC when Keve Coombes, reporting years budget, said he ‘hoped! thot it would meet with the approval of the Party. I dont believe that thopingt is good enough, If the Labour Group hed been more open and had Involved the Party in the preparation of the bud= get then Keva would have been assur~ ced of Party support.

ACCOUNTABILITY

This lock o input from the Party is just os much c.condemnation of the rank and file as it is of County Coun= cillors. We have to stort turning up before we can start demanding a closer involvement in decision making ‘ond greater accountability.

TAKE THE POWER

Now is the time for nominating dele~ ‘gates to the County Porty. The left

should be tooking to take these posi~ tions ond to nominate people who ore prepared to be active.

The power is there ~ its up to us to toke it.

Stuart Marshall-Clarke County Labour Party Delegate

Page 18

Merseyside Labour BRIEFING

Popularising the A.E.S.

‘Almost @ year ago Labour's "Plan for Jobs was launched.

Before that the Porty hed more or less settled on its “Alterna=

tive Economic Strategy". Last Autumn the "New Hopes, Jobs, Rights” campaign was unveiled; and only a few weeks ago the TUC's "Battle for Jobs" was published, In addition there hos been the much publicised 70 page “Programme for Re-

covery"drafted by Labour's front=bench spokesmen on the economy. All have highlighted the macro economic variables which the Government can influence, ond how these can be monipulated to arrive at the central objective, the reduction

of unemployment to below one mil Yet, while over this whole period unemployment has remained the number one issue with the public, Labour's economic programme is not seen as convincing. Why? Partly of course becouse some Porty spokespersons have spent o disproportionate amount of time vilifying their fellow comrades, and not enough on projecting @ socialist economic analysis. But also, | believe, be~ ‘cause so often the analysis is present ed in an utterly arid way, True, we do talk about introducing democracy into industry (but then we did last didn't we), and bout the magic ingredient the *Nat= ional Economic Assessment*. How ever, for the majority of people the ‘overall impression must be that if the Labour Party's plans are differe: degree from those of the Tories and the Allionce, ond even if they ore seen as "best! in terms of unemploy~ ment, they donot project an image of a different sort of society, and presage the emancipation of the working people ¢ this country. GETTING ACROSS If the Labour Party is to get its mess— age across then all of us, Including but not only those who hold positions 1s spokespersons, need to bear the

ple, We need to pre sent our ideas in terms that people in the pubs, clubs, shops ond factories

can relate to, That's not to be pat= ronising, but straight-forward examples of what we mean may be far more effective than long theories.

2. Keep it local. The Labour Porty nationally should have drawn up its Forecasts of jobs to be created from estimates mode by the regions in terms of public sector projects which could be advanced together with national commitments.

We should be able to say wi viction the number of new jobs which would arise in Mersey: through Labour's. plans.

3. Instead of being drawn intermin~ 5 So ae ee i “Notional Economic Assessment" is backdoor way of enforcing a pay on cy, let us project our view that to move towards a more equal society there hos to be o massive redistribu~ tion of income and wealth, not only between those in work, but also to~ ‘wards those who for one reason or a= nother ore unable towork. There are now over 6 million people, including many pensioners, wholly or partially dependent on supplementary benefit, while the top man at Sainsbury's "eorns" over &4 million o year. Enough said?

COUNTIES 4, Stress the role of local government. Merseyside as well as the GLC, West Midlands County Council, Sheffield City Council and others, is becoming more actively engaged in economic development, both with individual

jin the lifetime of a majority Labour Government.

Firms and the locel economy general= ye

5. The "Social Strotegy* of the Labour Porty should be portrayed as an inte~ gral part of our overall plans, not os © poor relation tagged on at the end. Health, housing, education, leisure and employment are all inter-related, net separate,

6. The same comment applies to in dustrial democracy. Whilst it would be mistaken to force par control onto workforces unwi 0 along that porticular road.

Positive encouragement fo trade unions to develop their own corporate planning will force onto the industrial ogenda a range of issues such os research and product develap~

vent, resource ond energy conserva~ 1, environmental factors, appropr= tate technology, social utility and so on, which to date have been left to monogement prerogative.

SOCIALIST VISION

In short what needs to be done to bring to life the Labour Party's pro gramme from a series of stratified proposals, worthy, essential but still somewhat dull, is to project our socilist vision of a new society. That cannot be done simply by talking of &x billion being pumped into the e= conomy, but cbout how society can be so altered that every person, man, ‘woman, and child, has the some op~ portunities for self-fulfillment and personal development,

OF course it's easier said than done,

the fore in local campaigning and in dealings with the media, only then shall we have the chance of winr hearts ond minds as well as votes in the coming months,

Jamie Robertson PPC Wallasey

Page 19

MARCH FOR PEACE AND JOBS

One major event of the next month or two is the national People's March for Jobs "83. Remember that the major pressure for this March came from the Northwest, following the March from Merseyside to Manchester lost October. The Labour Party ~ TUC Liasa» Com~ mittee then ditched the project, only to reverse their veto following floods solutions from Trade Unions and ‘cal Trades Councils. The TUC version hos still not conced~ eq the initial demand for a National mpaign for Peace ond Jobs, but os the pace quickens in local areas, the March is increasingly seen os only

'e. however central, piece of March Details Local Feeder der and longer campoign focussing SS r departs Skem May 9 ely gn aay om the threats of March Route aah Moy 9 «t unemployment. oat : ae = departs Wigan May 10 GET INVOLVED Cau salle arrives Leigh Ke 10% cae ve the North West local activities ore ese we generally being arranged by Trades ecient Mass National Carnival and Demo Councils. The broadest possible par- ee sf tendon’ dune 4 85; Lupport ore being Birmingham — May 2! (opprox) tN rs S lee London June 3 onal orgonisotions (Party, Union An Branches, Peoce and Women’s Merseyside Feeder ByOPae Uo Atianer Groups, ethnic minority organi —————r— (For June/July) ions) needing more information departs Liverpool May 9 vould contect local Town's Commit eee: St Helens Mey (Open Editorial Meeting... April 27H8 tees or Trades Councils or the Secre- Gopats St Helens May 10_-—(J(@ pm, Pig & Whistle, Covent Gorden! tery of the Merseyside Association of arrives Leigh May 19 Trades Councils ~ Pete Lenahan, (St deports Leigh Mey ll [Copy Deadline. v+-May 10th Helens 24401). arrives Solford May It (Mell t0:8 Ashford Rd, Meals, Wirral) eee departs Salford May 12 John MacDone crrives Manchester roduction Mesting..+.++++ Sec. S.W. Lanes (Ormskirk 78279) 2 beter) Ma Production Mesting May 14th Trodes Couneit enon,

MERSEYSIDE LABOUR COORDINATING COMMITTEE

RALLY ‘SOCIALIST POLICIES FOR VICTORY’

speakers include:

Allan Roberts MP FRIDAY 22nd APRIL

Peter Tatchell 730pm.

CENTRAL HALL, RENSHAW ST.