North Wales and Cheshire Labour Briefing, June 1985

PRISONERS OF

UP” war? ~

by Ian Salisbury (Delyn CLP)

Last November two

miners set out to make a protest against those who sought to decimate their

industry and communities. Today Dean Hancock and Russell Shankland must both face up to serving life sentences, both unfairly convicted of the murder of a taxi driver carrying a scab across the picket line.

collusion

A lesser plea of Manslaughter was rejected for the more politically favoured verdict of murder which carries an automatic life sentence. This is more evidence of collusion between parliament and _ the law ina further attempt to suppress the working classes and those who wish to. stand up for their rights.

solidarity

However, in a defiant show of solidarity with the jailed men the entire workforce of Taff

Merthyr Colliery walked out on strike. They were joined by 92 men from the Oakdale pit in Gwent.

They are joined together along with the N.U.M. “leadership to protest and organise events in an effort to see justice done, In a speech at a weekend rally,N.U.M. General Secretary Peter Heathfield said that the jailed men were victims of legislation designed to tell working people, "It is your lot if you choose to rebel against the establishment." A petition has been started: it must be signed by each and every one of us.

Hancock andShankland must not be forgotten.

Support must be gathered from the grassroots by passing motions in Union

Dean Russell

and Labour Party branches and forcing so far moribund leaders into action.

As conferences near serious consideration should be given to sending resolutions in support of Dean and Russell,

Protests should also be made to your local MP.'s who should be asked to raise this matter in the House of Commons.

Finally we call upon all Labour Party and Trade Union J.P."s to resign from the Bench in protest at a serious miscarriage of justice.

Remember, it could have been any one of us on that bridge last November,

De ee en Se Se

who we

are...

This first issue

of North Wales and_ Cheshire

Labour Briefing which, even

as you read, is probably on sale in at least 7 or 8 different constituencies in

the area, represents a daring experiment on the part of a small but dedicated group of collaborators. Unlike the regional Briefings familiar to many Labour Party activists, in areas like

London or Merseyside, this magazine cannot be said to have grown spontaneously out of a large and flourishing Left movement in the Party: rather, it represents the frustration and determination of a number of isolated and scattered individuals in our area who see the Party retreating daily before Tory attacks, abandoning its historical role as a political forum for the oppressed, and alienating itself from the very class it claims to represent.

months provide alarming confirmation of this view, adding a special urgency to our task: on the one hand, we have seen many of our local Labour dignitaries apeing Kinnock's stance on th miners' strike - condemning the 'violence' of pickets, defending the police and bemoaning the "bad effect on the Party': on the other hand, we have had elected Labour (sic) County Councillors refusing even to talk with the

Recent

striking Nursery Nurses of

Clwyd, bringing in scabs and

threatening them with the ck.

Wright - believes in 'democracy'

for Unions, and witch-hunts for the Labour Party!

pact

There may yet be worse to follow. At the recent Welsh Labour Party

Conference, we heard George

Wright deliver a blistering attack on Militant supporters, and saw a

resolution passed by a 3-1 vote in favour of a generalised witch-hunting campaign to expel them from the Partys this was accompanied by speeches from Kinnock emphasising the disunity between Liberals and SDP=ers in the Alliance, which may be interpreted as a coded message to the Liberals in favour of a future Lib-Lab pact. Another recent statement from Kinnock in connection with the County elections, is all of a piece: singling out

Cheshire as a model amongst ‘hung’ Labour Authorities, and advising the Labour Group there to ‘split the

Alliance', it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Kinnock wants to extend the Cheshire policy of collaborating with Liberals to its logical conclusion.

It is out of this kind of situation that NW&C

Briefing is borne Those who believe that the kind of

positions outlined above are a legitimate expression of Labour principles and policy - or represent the kind of compromises Labour must make at present - need read no

further.

For our part, we believe Labour to be the Party of the working class and the oppressed - who alone will provide the majority of votes needed to return a future Labour government to power. We reject the cry for ‘unity’ in the Party at the expense of Socialist principles and policy, and emphatically oppose witch-hunts conducted under this spurious banner. We aim, through our work in the Party to present a clear, coherent alternative to Thatcherism and its retinue of social ills - the misery of the dole queue, the destruction of public services (transport, communications, schools, Health caresses), the curtailment of democratic rights and the rising spectre of a police state.

solidarity

As a result, we share a common dissatisfaction with the present parliamentary leadership of the Party, which is pursuing policies - often in defiance of Conference decisions - of collaboration with the ruling class, whether it be

industrial management (the stated target of Kinnock's grovelling new ‘campaign

policy’), Whitehall bureauerats, financial speculators or world imperialist "international opinion’. We believe that Kinnock's stance on the miners alone makes him unacceptable as a Leader of the Opposition (what opposition?) let alone a future Prime Minister. We invite contributions froin all those who believe in international working-class solidarity , and reject any attempt to set British or Welsh workers in conflict or competition against those in other countries.

organise

One final word of

warning. Our. view of the Labour movement is not that of a vast army of white, male blue-collar workers struggling to provide for those faceless encumbrances ‘the wife and kids'. Recognising that discrimination against women, against lesbians and gays and against racial minorities, not to mention youth and unemployed is as endemic in the Labour

Movement as it is in society as a whole, our answer is not to take refuge in pious resolutions, appeals for

The miners' strike showed the importance of working-class women organising on their own terms - a lesson for future struggles?

‘unity in struggle’ and promises that a future Socialist government will

somehow miraculously bring about the necessary changes in society 'from above'. We support the right of specially oppressed sections of society to organise as

they see fit, and consequently support the drive to establish Women's Sections, Black Sections etc. throughout the Party, as part of the wider struggle to overcone discrimination in the Party, and turn the fight for Women's rights and against other forms of special oppression into a central

part of the Labour platform.

To return to the point made earlier: this magazine is not a finished product, but an experiment.

To survive, a publication of this kind needs the active participation of a large number of people; and, given the task we have set ourselves in covering the whole of N. Wales (not just the North East as this edition might lead you to suppose) we hope that all those reading this will not only consider whether they

would like to contribute news, articles, letters, cartoons etc. in future but also whether they are willing to sell copies of Briefing in their own

constituency, or know of others in the area who might be willing to do so. Our

hope is that Briefing will become a recognised and respected organ of the Left

in N.eWales and Cheshire as it has become in other parts of the country.

4 a STS

UNITY= at

what

Price ?

At the recent Welsh Labour Party Conference, Terry Thomas (Vice-Chair, South Wales NUM) stated that there

should be no recriminations brought against those in the

Labour Party who had not given full support to the miners* struggle. Never-

theless the standard cry for

‘unity in the party’ at any price has never been so dangerous for the Labour

Movement as it is now. The time has never been better, with the defeat

of the miners’ strike, for the Right Wing to justify their politics - they will

attempt to capitalise on the defeat by deliberately demoralising workers engaged in class struggle, in order to contain these struggles and ultimately see them defeated. Recent events have not only shown the Right in the Labour Movement quick to respond to these favourable conditions, but also many of those on the "Left" obediently surrendering to their arguments. In a relatively short time since the end of the strike we have witnessed many of those supposed to be leading the Labour Movement beating a hot-footed retreat down the road of despair and demoralisation.

At the end of March we saw the GLC running away from a confrontation with Thatcher when they voted to accept a legal budget, at a rate which was even lower than Jenkins allowed. They thus set the pace for other rate-capped Authorities to surrender in a similar manner.

In April we watched Moss Evans and Ron Todd give in to a conspiracy

by the Right Wing and ‘Tory media to oust Todd from office, when they sanctioned a re-run ballot instead of

exposing the nature of the

plot and sheer hypocrisy of George Wright's arguments. Many militant workers who have had previous contact with Wright will understand the disastrous consequences a victory for him would have, both on the T&G and in the arena of the TUC.

It is little wonder that, in the conditions created by the miners' defeat as well as the cowardice of some

elements of the ‘Left', the Right in the Labour Movement have felt able to go on the offensive. This offensive is best epitomised and can _ be

seen at its most dangerous in recent pointers that Kinnock has given. In the

course of the last few weeks in particular, he has exposed his willingness to enter into a pact with the Liberals in the next government - something which the Thatcher propaganda machine will no doubt exploit in full in the run-up to the next General Election.

A couple of weeks ago he advised newly-elected

County Councillors to attempt to drive wedges between the SDP and Liberals, with the clear intention of attracting the latter over to a policy of mutual collaboration. At Llandudno Kinnock with the aid of his new stooge Larry Whittey simultaneously attacked the SDP as ‘closet Tories* and listed the policies which the Labour Party and Liberals supposedly had in common. It is quite clear that Kinnock is preparing to take power at any cost.

Regrettably the Right in the Party have not been slow to follow Kinnock's lead. Already in Cheshire County Council the Labour Group has prepared, in the absence of any serious consultation with the Party, a series of policy guidelines for the next four years, the

"Cheshire Charter’. It is an extraordinary document, clearly intended to be a basis for collaboration with the Liberals in order to control the Council. A far ery from the famous 'Three

ee OOee@Ve

Noes ' policy defiantly pursued by Labour Groups in the ratecapped London boroughs (no cuts, no rent rises, no rate rises beyond inflation).

With the Right now completely exposed as_ the traitors to socialism that they are, now is not’ the time to heed Terry Thomas' words and cover up our differences. If the Left do not stand firm now, not only will they witness the Labour Party turning into an empty

electoral machine with not a socialist principle to its name: we will also be party to a further devastation of the working class by Thatcher, in the absence of any leadership prepared to fight back.

Apart from the

magnificent example of the miners, their wives and communities over the past year, what better lead can

the Left wish for than the

ps

NUPE, who have come out on strike largely in spite of their Union leaderships' attempts at containment? The working class in struggle face difficult conditions since the miners' defeat -

it is up to the whole of the Labour Movement to rally round and support them. The Labour Party in particular has nothing to lose but its chains to the Liberals!

Yvonne Conway (Chester CLP)

recent militancy of members of the NUR, UCW, NGA and Ei

BRIEFING

All articles and correspondence should be addressed to " Nwé&C

Labour Briefing" c/o 21 Chichester St., Chester. Or phone Cllr Dave Orbison en Flint 61450.

Kick inthe Teeth for

Courtaulds Workers

The recent announcement from Courtaulds that its factories at Wrexham and Greenfield are to be closed, with the loss of 1,100 jobs, has come as a kick in the teeth to its workers and their families. The reward for their years of labour? - a place in the dole queue, and all the hardship and frustration that unemployment brings. No longer will children be

allowed the option of following their parents into employment in the textile industry. .

On the other hand Courtaulds are free to continue their ruthless

pursuit of profit, wherever in the world the workforces are prime for the cruel form of exploitation Courtaulds serve up. Capitalism depends

on such treachery and devastation in order to thrive, forcing workers to

take low wages in their next job if they in fact get one.

The way forward is not to let our towns become a cradle for this new form of capitalism, where small private .factories are built to replace the large textile mills. Instead we must fight for a major programme of

public ownership, to prevent the injustice of the redundancy

notice. Workers

should be allowed a real say in the decisions made in their industries, as they are the best qualified to do so. Then and only then will we begin to counter the capitalist system, and give workers their just rewards. Of course, we can't expect the capitalists to wave a white flag all of a sudden. We must’ harness the combined strength of the people, to say to Courtaulds

‘never again'. To achieve our aims we must work for it, struggle for it,

organise for it, and in the end we will achieve it.

Eirwen & Terry O'Neill

pe

Lf Thatcher's first period of office may be characterised by her crusade against losses being made in the public services then her second would be by her ‘endeavour to ensure tht any profits that are to be had should go into the hands of her business cronies. The main concessions given to the working class during this century in the form of public sevices are now being clawed back in a period when

their labour is not in such demand given the present economic crisis of British capitalism. Cuts and privatisation are the methods by which the public services are being demolished. Having started with the NHS and British Telecom, and with the NCB, BR and British Airways in mind, the Tories' present target is the Transport

services. The Transport Bill aims to privatise and de-regulate the national bus services. The Bill, which has had its 3rd reading in the Commons, will firstly privatise the National Bus Company (thus fragmenting it) and all the municipal operators which are owned by the District Councils, and secondly de-regulate all bus services. It is the second plan which requires some explanation.

At present County

co-ordinate the of bus services in

controlling both and "nonprofitable’ routes, using "cross subsidies' to balance the books. Within such control they plan time-tabling, routes and the use of bus stations. The Bill proposes to remove the duty of County Councils to co-ordinate public transport

Councils running

the area, "profitable'

and force them to put subsidised services out to tender. In other words,

The GLC 'Fares Fair' campaign failed because of the GIC's reluctiance to involve the rank-and-file ef Transport workers.

de-regulation will mean bus services becoming the subject of a profit-making free-for-all, the consequences of which will include the following:

* Non-profitable services such as_ rural and off-peak services will either not be

tendered for by the privateers and will therefore become obsolete, or will become very

expensive as they will no longer be subsidised.

* Profitable services will be catered for by several private bus companies whose routes will not be controlled CoBe by timetables or bus stops. Buses will be able to pick up when and where they want. With several companies doing this, chaos and unreliability will ensue, with buses racing for passengers.The passengers, 70% of whom are women, will suffer with such irregular services.

* As companies compete to provide services cheaply, maintenance and safety standards will decrease.

* While some services may be cheaper for a short while, once a company has beaten its rival for control over a route then the fares will rise.

* Concessionary fares will

be under threat,

* 17,000 workers at present employed on the buses, in the midst of a competitive free-for-all, will be working for the cowboys who will take on the bus services. If privatisation of ancillary services in the NHS is

anything to go by, this would mean reduction in wages and the worsening of working conditions. Just as bus companies would be competing for business, so the workers would be competing for employment to a greater extent than they already do.

eo

response

should of the

What then

be the response

Labour

latest services? campaign

Movement to

attack The

on public present

revolves around propaganda work and

petitioning , conducted by the TGWU and the Labour Party. It is unashamedly a ‘popular front' style of campaigning which is prepared to take on _ board any ally, including ‘wet' Tories. The GLC mounted a similar style of campaign, on a higher profile, in its attempt to keep London Transport under its control. It failed.

Is then the present strategy going to work? The GLC experience, involving a far more energetic campaign, would indicate perhaps not. Where

the GLC fell down was in not involving the rank and file

of the transport workers. They only approached T&G bureaucrats and did not

extend their campaigning to the rank and file, who could have pushed their officials to act. Onl industrial actionby the T&G could have forced the government to withdraw. It is clear that privatisation is so central to Tory policy that polite

DEESIDE Cap

this ,

petitions are to move then.

hardly going Indeed so keen

is Ridley to push the Transport Bill through Parliament, that some normal Parliamentary procedures have, in the Bill's case, been abandoned. Propaganda work is important, however, to win support for any actions that the transport

Unions may take - it is not in itself a strategy to win.

A campaign without industrial action would be one without muscle.

No Tories!

As far as_ the campaign itself goes, those on the Left must also beware of making convenient alliances and must bear in mind the underlying political issues at all times. The privatisation of the bus services is only part of Thatcher's plan to

end public services and them at the mercy of

enterprise ' of the racketeers. To take on board certain Tory MPs who want to retain their rural seats would be to misunderstand the proposed plan as a single issue. It would be treachery to make alliances on this campaign with those who are prepared to beat the miners viciously into defeat in order to privatise the NCB, and who are quite happy to see the

leave the ‘free

p7

Any campaign should not be party to the myth that nationalised services are socialist in themselves. The nationalisation of services is not an aim in itself (the NCB is a nationalised service). The bus service at present is by no means wonderful, either for the consumer or the employee. By keeping it in public hands we in the Labour Party do, however, have a better

NHS decimated.

_chance of pressurising those

who run it - i.e. our elected representatives who are included in the executive management of transport companies - to do so as we would wish. Also, and more importantly, previous experience of privatisation would indicate that the conditions for Trade Union mlitancy would

be enormously difficult for

employees of cowboy transport companies.

It’ is the responsibility of the Left not to let slip the

concessions that the working class have won this century. We must campaign against the

Transport Bill on the basis of:

* Industrial action of transport workers being

central to the strategy - if it is one to win and not an electoral showpiece.

* Refusing to campaign with Tories or Liberals.

* Rejecting cus and poor services.

give peace a chance -CONCERT—

Tickets £1,00 each TINE: 7,00pm - 1,00am

PLACE: CIVIC HALL

CONNAH’S

DANCE TO SIX LUCAL

PLUS STARBURT DI35CO

GROUPS

LE

wUAY

friday

Sept 13

Bar Extension 12,.30pm

The Labour Party, CND & NATO

The Left in CND and in the Labour Party have

a common interest and an important fight on our hands.

Many activists would agree with the first

statement but wonder at’ the second.

Didn't Party Conference overwhelmingly pass yet another clear,

disarmament-orientated policy decision? Don't we have a Party Leader with a strong record of unilateralism? Isn't the Party associated more than ever with opposition to nuclear weapons? Most certainly.

However, the direction of the Party and of CND is more and more

towards a worrying attitude of ‘patriotism with a human face'. In other words there is a strong movement towards proving that a non-nuclear defence strategy is a better defence strategy.

In CND this coincides with an obsessive interest by large elements in wooing disaffected Tories. It was reflected by the non-positions of CND on the South Atlantic war and towards NATO.

(In the LP, the NATO question has actually been resolved - we must apparently stay in

eT

NATO because we have to show the voters that we are passionately concerned with

"defence’. Those of us who

are passionately concerned with defence of the progressive government in Nicaragua (including probably the majority of those who supported the NEC document) might well ask how

socialists can favour a military alliance with the US.

The naive response

would be that if the US intervened directly in Central America we would oppose them, and that US, not NATO, troops would be used.

The dominant theory seems to be that

socialists in Western Europe should use their influence (when in government) in NATO to counter the excesses of

Reaganism. After all, even Denis Healey has spoken of solidarity with ‘our

comrades' in Nicaragua. Those who remember Wilson's collaboration with the US in Vietnam should be a_ little cynical as _ to the relative weight of ‘our comrades’ in the Pentagon.

We should remember nuclear weapons, while

Harold

that

representing a qualitative change in arms technology, are in other respects merely a logical development from the kinds of weapons used to

devastating effect in countless imperialist wars this century. We must point to the fatal flaw in the ‘forty years of peace" argument.

We must realise that the political significance of Western

the effect they have of aiding the Kremlin bureaucracy in suppressing political freedon, and fettering progressive political and economic change in Eastern Europe. Consequently they prolong the division of Europe and particularly that of Germany.

‘nukes' is

NATO is integral to this, because NATO is the key to US policy in Europe. Therefore withdrawal from NATO must be the policy of both the Party and CND.

At the same time we must have an absolute commitment to build CND and ensure that the next Labour

government carries out its commitment to the antimissile movement.

Evan Pritchard

(Chester CLP)

Defend the Capenhurst Women!

women arrested last year at Capenhurst for opposing the illegal collaboration beween British

Nuclear Fuels Ltd, (BNFL) and the racist regime in South Africa must be defended by entire movement.

The protestors

the

The extraction of uranium by British-owned Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) from

Nuclear

Waste

There is

Namibia, is in direct contravention to UN decree no. 1, 1974,

women's pay the fines, give the

The refusal to and decision to money to SWAPO is, in international terms, far more legal than any attempt to jail them for

non-payment. But whatever the

legality of the issue (a

concept dear to the hearts of our movement's leaders), they deserve our full support.

Messages of solidarity and donations tor

CANUC Ofice, PO BOX 16,

LONDON NW5 2LW.

- Evan Pritchard (Chester CLP)

Nuclear

Threat

enough

Once again we have

radiation from a mass of witnessed the uncaring plutonium the size of a Thatcher and her government grapefruit to kill every in action. After failing person on this plant with political argument, (providing it could be 1,000 soldiers, airmen and divided so finely) . An M.O.D. police in 400

accumulation of over 4 tons has so far been dumped

into

vehicles, with helmets riot shields, devastated the

and

the Irish sea. "There is peace camp at Molesworth, no known safe dosage of set up by people who wished radiadtion ", Knowing this, to proclaim their opposition it is inconceivable that any to the evils of nuclear sane person could weaponse

contenplate increasing our This action by nuclear energy programme Heseltine and his thugs »Yet,it is planned to litter marked the start of a the country with nuclear sustained and continuing power stations, Our resistance by CND to the energy needs can easily be siting of American - satisfied by using a policy controlled missiles at

of investment and expansion

in our

industry...providing it is not decimated as planned by over

Tan (bag Macgregor!

mining just sit

Molesworth. No longer can we back as terrible government plans to thousand million Trident missiles

this

of mass cut-backs in

hospitals and education.

spend ten head) pounds on

at a time

unemployment, Vic Button

Sealand L.P.

ee:

p10

COUNTY ELECTIONS « what the fuss was about...

by Ged Lewis (Chester CLP)

This letter, sent to all Clwyd Nursery Nurses during their recent strike,

shows the previous

As we go to press the expulsion from the Labour Party of one Mr Ainsley Lovelock, formerly County Councillor for Flint - an event described by the local Press as "near-certain' following his

decision to stand against the official Labour candidate in the County elections, and his

subsequent defeat - is well on the way» Few Labour supporters in Flint are likely to feel any misplaced sympathy for this man, whose

irresponsible action might well, under different circumstances, have led to the return of a Tory councillor by default. Fortunately, although the Labour vote was split (Mr

Lovelock having chosen to confuse the electorate by describing himself as ‘Labour’ both on the doorsteps and the ballot paper), it was still large enough to ensure the return of theofficial Labour candidate - i.e. the one chosen by democratic

decision of Party members in Flint. Mr Lovelock now stands condemned by his own actions.

More serious even than this, however, is the fact that in choosing to confuse the electorate, split the vote, and oppose the return of a Labour candidate, Mr Lovelock was seen to have the tacit or explicit support of several other Party officers in the County. It is hard to account otherwise for the reluctance of Party officers to condemn publicly Mr Lovelock's actions at the point where they clearly departed from Party policy. Why is this? The answer, we feel, lies not in personal loyalty of the many friends Mr Lovelock undoubtedly made during his twenty years of

office at Shire Hall, but in

the fundamental political issues at stake in the County elections - which

deserve to be examined in some detail by all those who supported Labour Party candidates in the recent

ree

Labour Greup's appreach to ‘industrial relations’.

election. More particularly, those resident in Clwyd, Gwynedd or Cheshire whose ward is now represented by a Labour councillor have a right to know - where does their County Councillor stand on the issues which so recently divided Mr Lovelock and his supporters from the majority of Labour supporters in Flint?

priorities

Underneath a barrage of propaganda and evasive speeches from our respective candidates, it is all too clear that the central issue behind the

recent County elections was one of priorities.Whereas many Labour councillors, like the Tories and their stooges in the Alliance, see

themselves in the role of managers, who once elected are accountable to no-one,

the fact is that now more than ever before, the urgent need is for genuinely Socialist Labour Councillors

who are prepared to remain fully accountable to the working class, the organised Labour movement and oppressed sections of society who represent their base of electoral support.

Nor is this accountability a mere matter of rhetoric. The

recent climbdown of the GLC over ratecapping demonstrates that even Councillors who adopt "‘left-wing' rhetoric as a means of furthering their

careers are, in these dark times, of no use to the working class when it comes to resisting the terrible onslaughts of the Thatcher government, because they have refused to base themselves on the organised strength of the working

class that elected them.

The options are clear for Labour Councillors over the next 4 years: either business as usual, which given the financial position of most Authorities will mean the judicious implementation of cuts,

sackings and the general drastic decline of services - or making a stand against the fundamentals of Tory monetarist policy - and against the legislation which has been introduced to back up this policy.

controversy

If you compare this with the situation in Clwyd, for example, Le becomes obvious why there has been so much dissatisfaction and controversy over the record of certain Labour County Councillors there. Unlike their counterparts in the ‘frontline’ Labour Authorities, Labour representatives on Clwyd

c.C. have not held, and still ap not hold, overall contro1; therefore there is no question of their being made personally liable for

an ‘illegal' stand against cuts, since against a united Tory/Alliance/‘'Independent'

opposition such a stand would be voted down. But

would they be likely to in any case? Recent experience

shows that a number of Clwyd Labour Councillors, far from

measuring up to the principled stand taken by their beleaguered counterparts in Merseyside or London, are unwilling

even to make a show of defiance against the Tories - preferring instead, when questions of expenditure or wage claims by Council workers are on the agenda,

to accept at face value the familiar Tory argument just

that "there isn't the

money".

EXPELLED — Ainsley Lovelock.

The incredible

situation which occurred during the nursery nurses’ strike, when ‘Labour’

councillors voted with the Tories to sack striking low-paid workers, is the most obvious example. Councillors like Alf Jones, Ron Drennan or our good friend A. Lovelock, while refusing to provide either the electorate or their own workers with an explanation for this disgraceful

behaviour, might (judging on past form) be xpected to use some such argument in

their

pil

defence if confronted - ‘the

money isn't there, don't blame US, blame the governmenteess's Presumably

if these people were members of a Labour government, the money would still not be

there, but the World Recession would be to blame. What these arguments deliberately conceal is a refusal to come to terms with two basic facts: firstly, that when the

Tories argue that there is no money, this should be understood to mean that the wealthy ruling class they represent have no intention of making it available - and secondly, that if this money needed to provide jobs and services is to be fought for, this can only be done on the basis of mobilising the strength of the working class, to whom Labour representatives in local government and Parliament should be providing a resolute and determined leadership.

leadership

Looking at the ,situation in Clwyd and Cheshire, certain obvious facts spring into view: the first is that neither county has had much of a history, up to now, of determined Socialist leaership in the Party of the kind we are arguing for; the second is

that such leadership is becoming an urgent necessity. The budgetary proposals of both Labour

Groups show great cause for concern - one need only look as far as Clwyd's plans to

axe 153 full time and 162 part time staff over this financial year, or its

budgeting on the basis of 3% wage claims - likely to be significantly lower than the rate of inflation. The fact that neither Labour Group holds overall control means

piz

that the temptation to collaborate with Liberals, SDP-ers and others and thus to compromise on issues of crucial importance is constantly present; and

whilst the vast majority of Labour Party members and supporters would consider this kind of sell-out beyond the pale, recent history shows that the majority of our councillors think otherwise - witness the much=publicised four-year long romance between the Labour and Liberal groups in Cheshire.

What is to be the respomse of Party members in this situation? Here, once again, we have to face the central problem of accountability. If this noion of accountability is to be transformed into a reality, the necessary machinery must be first of all present. In the Labour Party, this means a genuinely democratic Party structure, including

(a) the right of individuals to join the Party, and if their membership is refused by the Constituency, their right to appea; and to be given an explanation;

(b) regular monthly branch meetings, of which all members are notified, and where they may have a chance to participate in decision-mking;

(c) regular election of officers, and selection of parliamentary and other candidates in accordance with the Rules; and

(d) the participation of where appropriate, branches, branches, Black sections and Party bodies.

This

active members, in LPYS workplace Women's sections, other

kind of situation is so far from being a reality in many areas of N. Wales, that’ the behaviour of councillors like Ron Drennan, and their re-election to office (in

his case unopposed) becomes much easier to understand.

reports

While not seeking to present internal democracy in the Party as an end in itself, Briefingpledges to support any fight for the establishment of this necessary machinery. In particular we would highlight the constitutional requirement of Labour County councillors to present reports to GMC meetings and to consult with their local Party on the work they do. But accountability does not stop there. Only through constant initiatives involving workers and oppressed groups locally, and particularly Trade Unions, can councillors be enabled to speak and act with the authority of a united Labour movementbehind them; and this again should involve the co-operation of Party members, CeGe in arranging public meetings on aspects of local struggles, or fighting in their Union

for the necessary action in

defence of jobs, services,

Drennan

pay levels, working conditions or public assets. In particular, members of

public sector Trade unions must prepare for the struggles ahead by

campaigning for their Branch and Area to adopt a policy of strike action as a direct and immediate response to the implementation of cuts

<==

or at the first sign of redundancies. They should also point out the failings of national Union leaderships in this respect - there being no substitute,

in the grim times to come, for a policy of nationally co-ordinated industrial

action - which Union leaders have up to now shied away from.

campaign

Having sais all this, we can, perhaps, appreciate the significance of Mr Lovelock's vicious and contemptible betrayal of the Nursery nurses, and his subsequent reluctance to abandon, in the interests of democracy, his council seat. It is consonant with the attitudes of a whole generation of Party careerists - who up to now have dominated the Parliamentary Party, and whose policies formed the substance of the treacherous Wilson and Callaghan governments. Small wonder, likewise, that Alf Jones and other careerists like him were loth to condemn a fellow member of this profoundly reactionary clique.

But what of the alternative? We do not, in N. Wales or Cheshire, have ‘ratecapped' Labour controlled Authorities in the frontline of defence against the consequences of Tory anti-working class

laws.But the same arguments

still apply. Where the Tories argue for cuts, redundancies, the sale of

Council assets, or against wage demands - all with the excuse that ‘there isn't the money' - we must clearly argue the opposite, and bring our own local Labour Parties and councillors into the midst of, the national campaign in defence of local government,

(Contineed om back page)

Labour Movement Campaign for

Palestine

' The Palestine question is one of the most important issues facing the Labour Movement. It has an importance not only for Palestinians, Jews and other people but for the whole

question of world peace. The Labour Party's record on

campaign rooted in the Labour Movement whose platform really tackles the

important issues in relation to this question. Its activities ought to be supported by every Labour Party member. ' ( Jeremy Corbyn MP ).

ignorance. The LMCfP aims to

promote wide discussion and greater understanding of these issues in the British

Labour Movement, so that the working class movement may be won to support for Palestinian selfdetermination. If you would like

this question has shown that Whereas few Labour a speaker for your branch, it has, in this particular Party members would fail to GMC, LPYS, Women's Section area, always fallen short of take a strong position in or Trade Union branch a socialist and inter- support of the struggle for meeting, or if you would nationalist position. self-determination of black like literature explaining Moreover, the NEC has people in South Africa, for the Palestinian case, write consistently failed to example, the situation in to your nearest local implement Conference Palestine - which is contact Ged Lewis, 21 decisions. The Labour directly comparable - is Chichester St., Chester or Movement Campaign for still the subject of a great contact The Secretary, Palestine is the only deal of misunderstanding and BMLMCP, London WCIN 3XX. oe Nicaragua The situation in

Nicaragua clearly underlines the need for solidarity with

the oppreseed internationally by the Labour movement, and our recognition of the greatest

menace to democracy in the world today - the government of the USA. Having failed to manufacture a ‘popular’ or "democratic' overthrow of the ‘totalitarian’ Sandinista government, the US has introduced an economic blockade aimed at

sabotaging the government -

elected in the first free

elections ever in Nicaragua - and forcing it to carry out policies which may give an excuse for direct intervention,

In Britain we should realise the full extent of our "own" government's collaboration

in this adventure. We have two immediate tasks: firstly to raise funds to provide medical supplies and food to be sent in containers to ports in Nicaragua to break

the blockade. Secondly, to expose and fight the slavish support given to Reagan by Thatcher and the Tories.

Activists in this area will be forming a campaign for the purpose of

organising solidarity work. For details contact Evan Pritchard c/o 1, Yew Tree

Cottages, Pulford, Chester. Remember - the

only true guarantor of democracy is the international Labour movement !

p14 VIEWS ON THE PARTY CONSTITUTION

The Labour Party Constitution, at first glance,should enable Party

members to have a say in the running of the Party and in the formulation of Party Policy. However, it would be more accurate to say that the successes enjoyed by the Party's individual membership in these respects have been achieved despite the Party's Constitution.

Thus, it would appear that there is something of a fundemental nature that prevents the Constitution from working as it was intended. The answer isn't very far away, for if you read further through the Party rule book you will come across the many reasons for the problems that face the Party and in particular,the reasons for this small,almost negligible influence that the individual Party members exerte

battle

For example, there appears to be a never ending battle between the wills of the Parliamentary Labour Party and the wishes and policies of Annual Conference. To the majority of activists the reluctance of the PLP to follow Party policy is totally indefensible. We view the decisions of Conference as binding, yet we do this with the knowledge that a significant number,if not the majority of the

Parliamentary Labour Party view Conference with total indifference, There are

some,unfortuneatly,all too many Labour MP's who regard Annual Conference as an embarrassment and some who display total contempt for its policies.

We have a

that places too emphasis on the Leadership and the Leader's patronage. Leaders,past and present will be seen eagerly seeking the favours and cooperation of Trade Union Leaders and the Media and all too ready to ignore or dismiss the views of the Constituency Labour Parties.

Party structure much

The Leader expects that the CLP's should follow his advice out of loyality rather than conviction. The Leader's power is based on patronage, the ability to select his Cabinet, the support of his Shadow

Cabinet and the final pen on the Manifesto.

The Annual Conference is the only opportunity for the CLP's to put forward their views with any degree of cohesion and

to elect their 7 representaives to the NEC. At Conference the CLP's do battle with the Trade

Unions,or more specifically with the Unions' Block Vote. As if that obstacle was not sufficient,the Trade Unions are given a total of 12 seats on the NEC and worse still,are then able to elect the 5 NEC members for the Womens' Section (although the CLP's are allowed to use their derisory vote, just to be faire).

block vote

Any member who goes to Confernce as a delegate becomes rapidly familiar with the games the Party plays,all within the Rules of course,to weaken, undermine and restrict the effectiveness of the CLP's. There isa growing feeling of resentment by CLP's,it appears that we are invited to Conference purely out of a sense of tokenism. The

Militant refusal

expulsion of the Editorial board,the to accept Tariq Ali asa member,the refusal to allow the Womens Conference to elect the NEC members,to select resolutions to Annual

Conference and set up a rules revision for the Womens' Sections were all

contrary to the views of the huge majority within the CLP's. However, the block vote was wielded on all these issues and many,many more the shouts and complaints of the protesting CLP's were as effective as a

dissenting voice in Thatcher's Cabinet. At the 1984 Conference the

Leadership and Trade Union

plock vote conspired to defeat support for Black Sections and yet again the Trade Unions influence through the election of a far from radicle Confernce Arrangements Committee prevented a number of subjects from being raised

including the issues of Gay Rights and Conference Voting

despite these subjects having a greater number of resolutions and amendments than some of the subjects

that were actually debated.

Perhaps the event of 1984 that exemplified the influence and power of the Party Leader and the Trade Union block vote to undermine previous Conference decisions was the thinly veiled attempt to

rewrite the Parliamentary Selection proceedure which, if it had proved

successful,would have given the sitting Member of Parliament a definite advantage over any rivals. Neil Kinnock blazed the Media trail singing the praises of the proposed changes to the selection proceedure (whilst denying he was attempting to exert unfair influence),twisting

as many arms that he could

in a dictitorial fashion obviously gained from studying Margaret

Thatcher,David Steel and of course, the super democrat,David Owen.

Unfortunately, due to poor organisation, the opportunity to change the

reselection proceedure

vanished in a series of votes that clearly confused

the Right and we were left,more by accident than design,with the status quo.

onslaught

However,the Right picked themselves up and we are to face a new onslaught. It appears Ken Cure,the AUEW hatchetman of the NEC,not previously known for his original thought and

and aptitude towards political philosophy,in his capacity as Chair of the NEC

have

disputes committee has been given a very important asignment.His task is to define Socialism- no doubt this task has been made more difficult as he will be pressured into defining Socialism in such a

legal,watertight manner so that the NEC, if they wish,will be able to expell whomsoever they wish (all in the interests of Party unity) without fear of legal

proceedings. This promises to be a document worth waiting for.

Having painted a fairly pessimistic picture of the role and effectiveness of the CLP within the Party it may be tempting to resign ourseleves to becoming

nothing more than a pressure

group within the Party. However,this is by no means the case,there are many tasks we should set ourselves within the Party

in an attempt to redress the

whilst fairer

and for

balance campaigning representation.

educate

Firstly,we must that unity of purpose is paramount,there are many divisions within Solidarity - the organised Right- but they are united in their determination to remain the power base within the Party and particularly the Parliamentary Labour Party. We must realise that there are many members of

the Party who do not realise

the wheeling and dealing that takes place amongst the PLP,the Leadership and the Trade Union leaders. We need to educate mebers in the

realise

CLP's as to how Conference works, the obstacles that resolutions and delegates face,the importance of choosing a good delegate for conference and the

importance of attending CLP meetings. Even in those CLP's which are dominated by the Right,we need to be present and persist with the

arguements and resolutions in support of Socialism.We should look closely at the

Labour Councillors we select and the running of the County and Ditrict Labour Groups.

unions

Whilst being eritical of the Trade Union block vote,the role of the Trade Unions within the Party must continue a fairer distribution between the Trade Unions and CLP's far from weakening the ties should strengthen them,as we would then then have a greater resposibilty towards

one another and-~ greater trust. We must also encourage rank and file

members of the Party to take an active interest in their

p15

union,for many of the criticisms detailed hold not only for the Labour Party but also for very many Trade Unions .

organise

Perhaps most important of all,if this isn't stating the obvious,we need to choose our Parliamentary candidates with care,although the machinary exists to remove MP's that unsatisfactory,it often takes a very strong will to resist the pressures exerted by the Right and the Media, thedeselection of a bad MP is never a from certainty.

Organisation,is the key to success,we should be fair and legitimate and ultimately is the only course of action open to individual members wishing to maximise their effectiveness within the Labour Party Rules and Constitution. Though changes are long overdue,it may be many years before we achieve

them and secure a_ truely democratic Party, a Party that gives its members an effective say in its day to day running and policy formation.

by Cllr. Dave Orbison (Delyn CLP)

16

In the ‘Evening Leader’ of May 20th it is reported that Ann Winterton, Tory MP for Congleton, will be approaching Social Services Secretary Fowler over the case of a young woman of 15 who is to be allowed an abortion ‘against her mother's wishes'. The same young woman has been

made a Ward of Court - ‘a scandal" - and been allowed the Pill - ‘an absolute

disgrace’.

The individual responsible for this en- - which

should

lightened decision all socialists welcome - is a judge. The real scandal Winterton,

and disgrace, Ms

Historically the Youth sections of European

Socialist Parties have tended towards the Left or radical wings of those Parties.

The LPYS is no exception - the present leadership is drawn from the supporters of Militant, the most well-known Left current in the Party.

The Right wing

this as a fundamental threat to their position and have launched periodic witch-hunts, which all genuine Left-wingers have resisted. Recent progressive steps by the YS on the issue of Youth Training Schemes - the support for a national school pupils’ strike organised by Youth Trade Union Rights Campaign (YTURC) - have given rise to more attacks by. the Right Wing. Those who” supported the strike have been

have seen

Youth in struggle

Whose right to choose?

is that such decisions should either be up to. the mother or to the maledominated, bourgeois courts.

It is sad and ironic that opponents of the Gillick ruling should find ourselves for a single instance on the same side as a High Court judge. It is also ironic that the defenders of mothers' rights to interfere with daughters" rights to control ren production are the same type of people who would curtail their rights to choose whether or not to be mothers in the first place!

Evan Pritchard (Chester _ CLP)

publicly criticised and attacked both nationally and locally.

Kinnock and _ the others should bear in mind that the Youth leaving school at the moment and facing YTS exploitation - not to mention those already suffering from the effects of this bogus ‘attempt' at dealing with mass unemployment - are not idiots. They certainly aren't voting fodder - most of them are too young!

Calling supporters of the strike ‘dafties’ and evicting YTURC from Walworth Rd. are not progressive steps to win the Youth vote, nor is any statement suggesting that there is anything progressive about YTS. ‘ In Chester 200 young people expressed their feelings on the day, risking all kinds of victimisation. Yet in the build-up to the

WELL MY MUM SAYS HAVING YOUR .TONSUS OUT 1S MORE DANGEROUS THAN AN EARLY ABORTION

while the

strike, YS gave

its full support, statements in the Press by certain Labour councillors and the Party Secretary showed that they were at pains to dissociate themselves from the action. The youngsters took their lead from the politics of struggle demonstrated by the NUM - a speaker from this Union got a warm response at a rally of school pupils on the day - not from the politics of adaptation. A School Students' Union is presently being formed among many of the participants as welll as others who were too intimidated to come out,

Evan Pritchard Chair, Chester LPYS (personal capacity)

(next issue-"the inadequa of the Militant leadership . the left wing alternative")

Se ara F. = 7 ae sve vy avon iy, : rer Cw Seen ray

A Clwyd Health Authority member shows the Tories how it should be dene. (N.B.—hidden in this picture is a Labour County Councillor. Can YOU spot him?)

| NHS: AN END TO COLLABORATION:

On a national level, the response of the Party rank-and-file to the Tories' moves to privatise the NHS ancillary services has been encouraging. Many Labour Party members up and down the country have been closely involved in strikes (such as those at Barking and in Newcastle), occupations of hospitals due for closure, lobbies and campaigns against the cuts and against ‘competitive tendering'.

@n a more local level, while the same potential for resistance is undoubtedly there, Labour Party members have found their efforts to organise and campaign in defense off the NHS, blocked at every turn by Party, and in some cases Trade Union, officials,

‘ In Clwyd, the campaign led by NUPE in response to cutbacks was sabotaged by the actions of Labour County Councillor Ron Drennan and TGWU official Jim Morris, In their capacity as delegates to the Area Health Authority, they proposed and supported

. a motion to 'seek public consultation over the ‘uture of Chatsworth House, Prestatyn’. and endorsed the Authority's proposal that it cut jobs by seeking voluntary redundancies and take other measures to reduce the wages of hospital workers. These scandal-

4 ous actions have received wide and gleeful publicity from the Tory Press,

In Chester, Party officers have repeatedly refused to organise a meeting of the socalled Labour Campaign to save the NHS, despite the recent introduction of competitive tendering at the Royal Infirmary and imminent threat of privatisation at the Countess of Chester Hospital. In addition, requests from a local NUPE official to speak at Labour Party meetings on these matters have bern met with stony silence from the Party Secreaary.

Briefing is appealing to all its readers to act now to defend their Health Service, In future editions we will be including detailed discussion on these topics; in the meantime we invite readers to write to us with details of the situation in their local Health Authority, and any measures which are being taken to resist cuts and privatisation. Our columns are also open to Health Service Trade Unionists to give their viwws on the way forward.

Remember, the NHS is about as 'safe' in the Tories MacGregor's:

' hands as British Steel was in

Ne magazine purporting te deal with the political situatien in North Wales would be complete without seme discussion on the question of Welsh Nationalism.

For this reason we include in our first issue an article on the subject by a member of Plaid Cymru, which we hope will stimulate serious discussion and debate en this important question.

For a Welsh Socialist Republic!

EE

"Abandon hope all class reductionist British Socialists!" may not be the most concise of slogans, but it is one that needs to be posted up all over Wales to remind British Marxists of the distinctive struggle now taking place in Wales. Socialism in Wales will only be realised when the

struggle for National liberation is taken into consideration, much as

women's liberation must also be an integral part of our revolution.

For too long this century the Labour movement and Nationalist Movement have been not only mutually separated but mutually antagonistic. The Labour Party with its stronghold in the South Wales proletariat has condemned petty-bourgeois - led Plaid Cymru as an irrelevance to the Welsh working class, while Nationalists have denounced the bureaucratic corruption of the Labour Mafia as well as its British Centralist nature.

Both viewpoints are valid but in attempting to uphold their own side (almost exclusively in an electoral context) the potential debate descends into childish name-calling. In seeking to move beyond that, socialist activists in both parties have attempted to develop a more detailed critique of the situation in Wales.

reformism

Plaid Cymru's Left

- the National Left - is basically Left reformist unable to break free from the cosy cocoon of

electoralism and reformism. The easiest thing in the world is to argue against bourgeois nationalists campaigning electorally for an independent Wales, by exposing their lack of an

economic analysis for the current crisis.

Outside the Eastern European states

Wales has the largest state-controlled sector with 60% of the workforce working indirectly or directly for various levels of the British State. of the remaining 40%, threequarters are employed by outside multinationals. Clearly Welsh workers are not only in conflict with the anonymous might of international capital ina branch-factory/extractive industry economy, but also the faceless British state - through ‘nationalisation' (sic) and the neo-colonial bureaucracy of the Welsh Office

Kinnock

Plaid has no answer to this except ineffectual bleatings for a decentralised State. Equally

ineffectual has been Labour's claim to represent Wales adequately in the Parliamentary field; in truth, Wales has been a launching pad for innumerable pink careerists. Among Wales' exports is the present Labour leader and MP for Thames Valley, Neil Kinnock, who is a classic example of a Welshman unable to face up to his own nationality and who therefore clings desperately to British chauvinism and displays a paranoid hatred of all things Welsh. Consider for example his accusation of ‘linguistic apartheid’ with Anglesey teachers apparently ignoring pleas by English children to go to the toilet. Kinnock backed up his allegation with a single letter from a parent who happened to be Glenys Kinnock's sister-in-law. In the devolution campaign Labour's British Centralism came to the fore as six MPs in South Wales stood by the Tories.(Incidentally, Glenys' brother is now parliamentary candidate for Ynys Mon, where the language

situation is reaching crisis proportions). Historically the

absence of a distinct Welsh boutgeoisie has meant that Welsh Nationalism has consistently been in the hands of the ‘gwerin' (the common people, rural proletariat) and has been

recognised b socialists as an integral part of the class struggle. Other small nations in Europe such as

Denmark and Czechoslovakia had a stronger national bourgeoisie who established stronger national institutions - including Parliaments. In Wales the bourgeoisie was either English or rapidly

Anglicised and absorbed into the British ruling class, making any class struggle anti-imperialist too. So the ‘nationalist card' - so often a weapon of the ruling class in imperialist countries for uniting opposing classes and ethnic minorities - is in fact a class weapon for Welsh socialists to use against the imperialist flag-waving mentality which Thatcher and

her class have used so effectively. The Falklands War, which sent Welsh soldiers to fight Welsh speakers living in Patagonia, was one such occasion when the setting

sun of the British Empire temporarily rose again. British

nationalism is typical of

the ‘big nation' chauvinism which afflicts ex-colonial powers like France, Spain and England and which seeks to envelop and smother smaller adjacent nations. Since the anti-colonialist struggles of the Third World

have destroyed the myth of 'Great' Britain the smaller nations have been reasserting their

identities. Similarly, the Basques in Spain and Bretons and Corsicans in France have engaged their oppressors.

jingoism

Unfortunately such jingoism is cancerous and

has afflicted much of the

Labour Movement and even so-called Marxism in Britain. Most Marxists would deny this, arguing that international socialism not

bourgeois nationalism is their philosophy as they demonstrate their support for national liberation struggles world-wide. All well and good, but such struggles, armed and

otherwise, don't always take place 5,000 miles away. Some

p19

occur in your own back yard and when that happens they're usually denounced as weakening the British working class and pandering to bourgeois nationalism.

After 15 years of guerrilla struggle in Ireland most British Left groups are

still quick to criticise the Republican movement.

Feeble sloganeering about internationalism occurs when British socialists are confronted with a direct challenge to their own national identity - where do

they stand? Are they British, defending an imperialist mentality and

denying a nation's right to self-determination? Or do they go beyond their abstract internationalism and recognise that a Welsh Socialist Republic, as a link in the chain of world socialism, is the only way for Wales to escape its present situation as a rotting appendage of a rotten state?

Marc V. Jones (Plaid Cymru)

There is ne better way te bring up yeur chilren than te teach them the geed eld-fashiened virtues ef scabeing & treaehery. After that, though they be mecked and secerned by men,yeu kmew they will rejoice in the certainty ef a future glery beyond retirement. As the Geod Beok says, ‘fhe Heuse ef Lerds has many man~ sienSece's

(Continued from p12)

Tt should be remembered that the smashing of Local Goverenment resistance to their policies is a central part of Tory strategy - second only to the destruction of the Trade Union movement in its present form. Since the defeat of the miners’ strike and the deluge of Union sell-outs which followed, the fight in local government is likely to become the number one area of anti-Tory struggle over

the coming year. This struggle has tremendous potential - not just

mobilising to defend jobs and services, but looking further ahead, preparing for the return of a future Labour government, and determining what will be the state of the Labour movement when this comes about. If we are not to see a re-run of the old class collaboration methods of the Callaghan era, workers must learn the lessons of the miners' strike and the struggles still to come - that only

DEESIDE MINERS’ SUPPORT GROUP

“JOBS NOT JAIL

concert

DANCE TO

JIVE PILOTS ABSTRACT BETWEEN OURSELVES FALL FROM LISBON BLUE PARTY voTts plus: STARBURST DISCO

friday ¥

July 19 <

independent, united action by the working class will be Tickets: £1,00

able to bring about change Time: 7,00pm = 1,00am

and safeguard the historical place: CIVIC HALL, CONNAH’S QUAY gains already won by the movement «,

The need for those on the left of the Labour Party to organise and to make independent assessments of the political situation has never been greater, both

lecally and nationally.

Nerth Wales and Cheshire Labour Briefing is produced by a broad left group of individual L.P. members. If you are interested in the politics ef this magazine and would like to contribute to Briefing in any way, contact us at this

address: NW&C Briefing, c/o 21 Chichester St., Chester. - or ring Dave on Flint 61450.

The contents ef this magazine are copyright ©1985. Reproduction of any part of its contents in the Press without prior authorisation of the Miterial Board

may result in legal action.

UR—TAKE THE POWER!