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Into the Labour Party!
Into the trade unions!
The British Political situation and the’ tasks of the British section The following resolution has been drawn up by Tendency One for submission to the 1982 Conference of the IMG.
This resolution is part of the PLATFORM for voting of Tendency One and replaces the resolution submitted at the beginning of the pre-conference discussion entitled ‘Build the LSA’. 1. Introduction The world today is dominated by the rise of world revolution and workers’ struggles, on the one side, and the unleashing of a brutal imperialist counter-offensive against the working class and its allies, on the other. The economic crisis of capitalism is assuming catastrophic proportions and combines with the advances of world revolution since 1968 to fuel a deepgoing crisis of bourgeois rule and stalinism.
The most advanced points of this sharpening class struggle have been the revolutionary struggles in Central America and Poland. These combine with the. rise of the mess anti-nuclear weapons moveni-nts in the imperialist heartlan.is and the struggle for class independence in the semi-colonial countries to bring to the fore the unity of the world revolution in the struggle of the working class and exploited against the capitalist class and all of its allies.
In Britain, the period since the election of Thatcher has been dominated by a simultaneous deepening of the economic crisis of British imperialism and an acceleration of the political crisis.
Within the working class, the development of the Bennite current, and the political offensive of the right wing of the labour bureaucracy against it, represents the deepest political polarisation of the British labour movement for fifty years. We are at the beginning of a historical crisis of British labourism.
The decisive task of revolutionary Marxists is to shake off all sectarian prejudices and participate in the coming political battles that will shape the future of the British working class movement. "For this a new newspaper and new methods of work are necessary. Workers and youth to- | day increasingly look to the | Labour Party and its left wing for political solutions to the crisis of ‘British society. For this reason a [revolutionary socialist newspaper ‘within the Labour Party is necessary to give a. voice .and . political direction to ‘heir struggies and explain their inseparable connection with the cause of ,world revolution. | . 2. The question of govern-| iment dominates all classes.
In Britain today all classes are dominated by the question of |government and the coming ; general election. | Thatcher’s policies, whilst i providing super profits to certain sectors of capital, notably banklabour mover strength of the battles against the capitalist of- ‘ fensive. a The widening gap between the productivity of British industry and that of its capitalist competitors, in the context of the deepening of the world economic crisis, necessitates a qualitatively broader assault on the economic and social gains won by the work-" ing class since the Second World War. The ‘Think Tank’ report on dismantling the Welfare State | | vividly illustrates the necessary scale of this assault.
The chief obstacle to carrying through such an offensive against the working class remains the labour movement. For the ruling class, at present, the winning of 2 second term of office for the Thatcher government is the only ifrom British industry in terms of ‘declining profit rates and ‘bankruptcies, without delivering , the goods in the form of really decisive defeats to the British labour movement. ‘Despite the effects of unprecedented levels of unemployment, despite partial defeats in particular sectors, and despite : real political setbacks such as the results of the Malvinas' war and maintenance of a_ significant working class. vote for the SDP, : the basic organisations of the tion for the job of beginning to | break up this obstacle.
The instability of the Labour | Party rules out ruling class support for a Labour government at | this stage. While the SDP/Alliance : will continue to play a big role in ' the political manoeuvres of the | ‘ ruling class, at this election the | alliance is necessary to work as a _ bloc to a Labour victory through | acting as a safety net for Tory : voters, working class remain intact and .capable of launching tremendous [
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3. The decay of British Imperialism in the nineteen eighties.
Underlying the immediate question of government is a developing crisis of the British state.
At the same time as “having failed to overturn the unfavourable social relation of forces neither has the Thatcher government been able to make any significant progress in resolving this developing crisis of the British state. This reflects the fact | that the problems confronting the :
British ruling class are not simply an economic crisis of British capitalism, but an historic crisis of British imperialism.
As a result, all of the international connections of British imperialism are coming under. strain. This is reflected in the ten- ; sions with US imperialism over} the Malvinas war and the Soviet, gas pipeline; the mass movement! against nuclear weapons; and the; massive opposition to member-. ship of the. EEC within the British : working class. These strains and, - tensions will deepen.
The anti-unionist population! of Northern Ireland has been able: to launch wave after wave of| political struggle against British | imperialism preventing any restabilisation of the situation.
Each successive phase of the struggle .in. Northern Ireland in-| creasingly threatens to spill over into the political crisis in Britain : itself. This has been evidenced by : - the break off by the Unionist par-, ties from their historic block with ’ the Tories; by the break-up of bipartisanship; and by the i increas-; ing tendency for the Irish crisis to, create new divisions in the Tory | party itself.
This will combine with the: necessity for the ruling class to: step up movement and repression against the periodic upsurges of the black . community.
An increasing factor in this crisis of the British state in the eighties will be the national question in Scotland and Wales. This is fuelled by the inevitability of a massive rejection of the Tory Party at the polls in the coming general election, whatever the results in England. This development that has already eroded the traditional block around the Tory Party will inthe future contribute its attacks on the: democratic rights of the labour : to undermining the cohesion of the British state.
This is evidenced both by the| launching of new bourgeois parties like the Scottish National Party, Loyalist parties in Northern:
Ireland and the growth of the 8.D.P./Liberal Alliance on the one | hand and the uneven decline of | the Tory vote in key sectors of the | working class such as Scotland, Wales and Northern England. A new factor in this latter development is the beginning of an erosion of the traditional support for the Tories amongst millions of | working class women.
At the same time the labour bureaucracy, which constitutes the material basis for a stable | parliamentary system in the epoch of Imperialism, is de- ; stabilised, as is graphically illustrated by the instability of its | political expression —- the Labour | Party.
The Labour Party is no longer | a stable governmental option.
This puts major political manoeuvres by the bourgeoisie on the agenda in the nineteen eighties. The stability of British bourgeois parliamentary democracy is coming to an end.
For all of these reasons, taken together, a defeat for the Tory:
Party in the coming general election would tremendously accelerate the political crisis within | the ruling class overall and within | the Tory Party in particular. 4. The Bennite current and | the Labour bureaucracy's | counter-offensive.
It is this historical context, together with the prevailing class relation of forces, within which we should see the political crisis | in the labour movement today. | For the Labour bureaucracy : the only possible Labour govern- : ment is one that acts in the in-! terests of the capitalist class. That | means today a government con- | siderably to the right of the:
Wilson-Callaghan government. | This defines and sums up the! political orientation of the domi- ; nant sections of the bureaucracy: ; the necessity of a tremendous: political counter-offensive ! against the left wing of the labour movement, against those policies © least acceptable to . the bourgeoisie and against the democratic reforms: that were won in the aftermath of the Z debacle of the Wiison-Callaghan government.
The drive to control, limit and | fragment the mass industrial struggles against the government : forms part and parcel of this’ policy.
It is this counter-offensive of | the Labour bureaucracy that in, reality constitutes the chief’ obstacle to removing the Tory government from office and achieving a Labour victory. Its ef- | fect was most sharply revealed by the results of the Malvinas war where the bureaucracy’s tailending of the Thatcher govern- | ment did not allow a real reversal : of the relation of class forces but | did result in a serious loss of elec- | toral support to the Labour Party.
This political defeat coinciding with the escalation of the Health workers’ dispute clearly revealed the historic contradiction built into the British Labour movement: the combination of immensely powerful organisations with extreme political weakness. It is this political weakness that constitutes the Achilles heel of the working class in the face of the political attacks of both the ruiing class parties and the Labour bureaucracy.
At the same time, however; the Malvinas war und the whole pattern of strugge under this Tory government sevealed a se-. cond fact: the existence of a minority current with roots in the masses prepared to fight back against the Tory offensive across the board and oppose the | sabotage of the Labour bureaucracy.
This current is a definite minority within the working class. But the existence of such a minority, opposed to any return to Labour governments of the Wilson/Callaghan type, is the most important development in the Labour Party and trade unions since the nineteen twenties. It represents a first approximation to a political alternative to the dominant right-wing Labourist orientation of the labour movement for the past fifty years.
This Bennite current is based upon the most militant sectors of the working class and youth and increasingly. acts as a pole of attraction for all of the oppresssed.
Its political centre of gravity is : within the Labour Party and is | _— pt A - focussed upon the Benn/Scargill |
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leadership and the fight for a Labour government that carries . out the key policy positions won within the Labour Party: for unilateral disarmament; for full employment; withdrawal from the EEC; defence of the Welfare _State and defence of democratic draws : therefore Tights. It together and politically focuses | the political movements develop- | ing in the trade unions against the right-wing bureaucracy’s | sabotage of the industrial struggle ' and their political counter-,; offensive in the Labour Party.
Today it is possible and necessary for these forces to challenge the fright wing bureaucracy’s offensive. This requires a policy of support and extension of the struggles against the Tories and the organisation of the Bennite current into a militant National Left Wing organised from top to bottom of the Labour Party and trade unions.
Such 2 policy, however, is in conflict with the orientation of - Benn and Scargill who constitute i the left social-democratic bureau- - . cratic leadership of the Bennite . movement. Today this conflict is. sharply brought out by their: refusal to break with Foot in the run-up to the general electi-:n.
This policy of conciliation with | Foot and with the mainst ‘eam leadership of the TUC is justified in the name of unity. But in reality the unity of the working class is broken up not by a class struggie - policy but by the declaration of - Healey and Hattersley that they - will ignore Party policy if elected; by the TUC’s sabotage of the | ASLEF strike; and by Foot’s witch-hunt against the Labour | Left.
The road to a Labour victory = and an end to governments of the Wilson-Callaghan type lies through an organised struggle to remove the Healey-Chapple dividers of the working class and a break with Foot who gives them cover.
The policy of revolutionary’ Marxists towards the Bennite current must flow from this reality.
Today it would be a disaster for revolutionaries to separate themselves from this political advance within the core of the working class. It would reduce revolutionaries to an impotent ’ sect making propaganda for their programme on the sidelines. To - the right wing leaders will break | . The campaign to defend socialist correctly grasp the bureaucratic | character of this currents leader- | ship and on these grounds fail to participate in it is an error of the ; most sectarian variety. :
The correct policy of revolu- | tionary Marxists is to fully par-| ; ticipate in this current (which | presupposes joining the Labour | Party), in order to fight for a class | Struggle orientation. At each | phase of the class struggle there will be successive differentiations | within the Bennite current on all | of the political questions thrown , up by the crisis of British im- | perialism. It is in this process of ! this political struggle within the | Bennite current that the next | steps towards a revolutionazy | party can be taken in Britain. | 5. The coming general elec- | tion and our slogans. _ In the run up to the general elec- | tion the burning questions con- | fronting the working class will be ! concentrated on how to remove | the Tories and ensure a Labour! victory. At the centre of this! struggle is the necessity of the! broadest possible mass action} against the Tories’ attacks to; force them from office: * Kick out the Tories through’ united Labour Party and trade union action! For a. Labour Victory!
But within the Labour movement the open proclamations that ; with party policy and are already organising to witch-hunt the left ‘ constitutes a further obstacle to’. united action against the Tories.
Therefore we demand: * Defend Socialist Policies! * Stop the Witch-hunt! * Remove the right wing leaders!
We explain these slogans within the framework of the de- | mand for a Labour Government | committed to socialist policies. , policies is inextricably linked to | the question of leadership. We demand that the Bennite leadership organise their forces up to and in- i cluding a challenge for the leader- | ship of the Party. Only by such a fight will the policy gains of the last three years be defended. In that. sense we demand that ‘the .Bennites fight for a government based on central] elements of their programme, won in struggle in the labour movement, eg. _ 4 > - withdrawal | Yight’s offensive and for a Labour - -unions and mass unilateral nuclear disarmament, from the EEC,’ 35-hour week, etc.
At no time do we mix, in our! propaganda, such a government | with a) revolutionary workers’ government — a government based on central elements of our programme.
These slogans will be at the centre of our work until the: general election. They are the line | ‘along which we campaign for Benn and Scargill to organise their base in the fight against the victory. 6. A ‘new newspaper is. necessary! F The next stens towards a revolutionary party in Britain comprise | a fight for a class struggle line | within the Bennite current. For : this a new newspaper is necessary | — one that is seen as the voice of | revolutionary socialists within | the Labour Party and which ¢an | thereby give political expression to the mass struggles of workers | and youth who in the next period | will seek overall political answers ' within the Uabour Party.
For thee reasons we-need a! new paper, organised around our new project, which is aj. qualitatively different project | than that of Socialist Challenge. A: new name and a new format is re- | quired to express the new role of | the paper in the coming period. | Socialist Action will fight for | leadership inside the Bennite cur- | rent, - i Therefore t the launch of a new | newspaper will be directly linked | to carrying through those cam- | | paigns and projects which con-: ' cretise our orientation into the.
Bennite current. This means that we will seek to involve forces supporting those campaigns in its’ public launch, in particular: leading Bennite figures in the: ' unions and Labour Party.
The paper will aim to organise , and recruit from class struggle | forces within the Bennite cur- | rent. Today these forces generally | are primarily active in the trade! movements against the Tories whilst looking to the Labour Party left for'| overall political orientation. The paper will therefore be a paper inside the LP and LPYS, based on the mass- struggles against the Tories, the political fight in the
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unions and LP and campaigning in support of and explaining the international class struggle.
The first task of the incoming leadership will be to organise a national public launch campaign of the newspaper which will be called Socialist Action.
Socialist Action is the paper of . a definite tendency in the Labour Party.
Our campaign for a Labour.victory is directed toward united ac-, tion with the Bennites across the‘ LP and unions locally and na-: tionally. Therefore at its centre: must be the demand that this false unity is broken and the Left leaders organise now against the Right wing’s declaration of war : on LP policy and the Labour Left.
We put no programmatic con- | ditions on unity i in action with the Bennites in such a fight against | the Right. 8. Our Central Political Campaigns In the period prior to the general | election we will give flesh and. blood to our main political slogans | - through a campaign for a Labour victory organised through the newspaper and its supporters in : the main cities around the coun- ; try. The public launch of the! newspaper will set this campaign | in motion. Its main themes will | be: * For joint Labour Party/Trade | Union action to kick out the Tories.
Fighting for the centralisation locally and nationally of solidarity and united action of the industrial struggles against the Tories, through the Labour Party, trade unions and LPYS.
At the same time laying the basis for Labour candidates to | be invited to explain and act count for their policies to shop | stewards’ - committees and | workplace meetings. Through . all of this activity seeking to in- . crease trade union involve-: ment in and affiliation to the | Labour Party on a socialist basis. * Defend Socialist Policies/For a Labour Victory.
We seek to win the mass campaigning bodies, in particular CND, to the campaign for a _Labour victory and, at the . same time, campaign with them for a Labour manifesto that commits a Labour government to carry out these policies which can advance the class. struggle. At a local level we fight for the same orientation to the election by CLPs and for shop.stewards’ committees and | union branches and campaigns to fight for a Labour victory on a socialist basis. * Stop the Witch-Hunt The bureaucracy has placed the YS in the centre of the firing line. The defence of the YS is at the centre of the work of all of our supporters over the coming period. We must fight for the most massive aitendance at the Easter Conference | of the YS whatever the attacks of the bureaucracy. This Con- | ference must be built with every trade union branch, shop stewards committee, broad left and left-led union that can be approached. For this most vital task we have the instrument provided by the Hackney conference, and our role within it.
The national campaign established from the con-: ference should be used to con- | struct the alliances — locally | and nationally — required to | defend the YS, and to build the | | Easter Conference. We seek to | establish a real base for this | campaign in every .najor city | and within the trale unions and shop stewards commit- | tees. i 9. Jobs not Bombs — the policy for Labour Victory. it The defence of socialist policies is | not primarily a matter of conference resolutions for us but first and foremost one of mass action before and after the general election.
Against the Labour right we demand that Benn and Scargill base themselves on the struggles : and campaigns that have won ' mass support for these policies in order to fight for a Labour government that carries them out. 10. Stop the War Drive — Scrap Cruise and Trident campaign in Britain for decades.
It is part of an equally massive campaign across Europe and now extending to the USA. We par- 4 . solidarity - with _ revolution against the imperialist.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disar- | mament is the broadest mass ticipate fully in this movement and its structures locally and nationally.
In 1983 we will centre our line on fighting for the Labour Party and TUC to organise mass action of qualitatively broader dimen- Sions than anything yet seen against the siting of Cruise in Britain and Europe. Locally we will campaign to deepen the organisation of the CND in the factories and workplaces.
Such action will aid the prospects | of a Labour victory, and through | , mass pressure, be the best. guarantee that such a govern-— ment would implement its own unilateralist policy.
We givea particular priority to building and giving leadership to the most consciously anti-.: imperialist and militant wing of the campaign ~- Youth CND. We will build the Spring Festival called by YCND and campaign for an international youth convention against the siting of a new generation .of nuclear weapons in Europe. In all of this work we | seek to forge the closest possible | alliance between YCND and the | LPYS.
We give politica] leadership to | the. actual dous strength of this movement, with its own objectives which we wholeheartedly. support, provides. the best possible conditions for the mobilisation against actual imperialist wars, as the.
Malvinas showed. We are not for | the transformation of the move: | ment against the missiles into a : permanent committee against im- . perialist wars — an ultra sectarian :' and impossible orientation which would not divide the movement, but divide us from the movement.
Weare for mobilising in the move- ° ment against concrete imperialist interventions; and for building a current in the movement which understands the Imperialist basis of the war drive.
It is within this mass move-_ ' ment against nuclear weapons ' that we can most rapidly win an audience for the urgent tasks of the . colonial war drive — in particular in Central America. Our newspaper will wage a permanent campaign of solidarity and explanation of the Central American revolution. We will participate in the solidarity — mass movement | | against the missiles. The tremen- |.
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campaigns now in existence and build the May 1983 E} Salvador Solidarity Conference.
We will campaign for Labour Party implementation of its 1982 conference policy in solidarity with the Palestinians and PLO and seek to build links between the Asian communities and labour movement on this question. 11. Defend living standards and jobs!
We stand for total opposition to incomes policy, calling instead for the index linking of wages to 4 defend living standards against inflation. We extend this to: welfare benefits to protect the unemployed.
Defence of the National Health Service and opposition to privatisation of the nationalised industries will be central to the next period of working class struggle and to the issues at stake in the general election. The building of campaigns to defend the National Health Service on the basis of the unity in action achieved in the health workers strike is a key necessity. _ Defence of the nationalisedin- — dustries against Tory attack will require a deepening and extension of the principles involved in the Triple Alliance to sectors like telecommunications, linking up ' with the already existing campaigns in the unions.
The campaign against privatisation and denationalised goes hand in hand with the fight for a Labour government pledged to reverse Tory measures. Joint trade union and Labour Party action to fight privatisation in every sector is a key requirement of the next period.
We reject all economistic responses to the Tories’ attacks that do not situate the fight for a Labour victory at their centre.
At the same time we fight | against all wage limits and incomes policy to defend living standards against inflation. We extend this policy to include defence of all welfare benefits especially those of the unemployed. We explain the need for a crash programme of public _works to meet social need and employ the jobless. 12. Defend Democratic Rights — Against the Strong State.
The ruling class’s drive against the living standards and social gains of the working “class / necessitates a powerful series. of | attacks on democratic rights. We 14. Our tactics within the trade unions.
The trade unions are the most | powerful organisations of the | British working class, organising powerful network of shop stewards. The main base of the stand for united front mass action | Bennite current is within the campaigns against these attacks / most militant sections of the trade unions and shop stewards’ move- | and for a Labour government that _ reverses them: millions of members and with a; - | ment, Rooting ourselves in the | ' core, industrial, sections of the | * For non-implementation of the Tories’ anti-union bills and for a Labour government that repeals them. * Against racist laws and for building the CARL campaign in the trade unions, Labour Party and black communities. For trade union pledges of nonimplementation of race checks. * For a woman's right to. choose — free abortion on de- | mand established in law by a |; Labour government. * Against British repression in Northern Ireland. We par- | ticipate in and build the Labour Committee on Ireland and the | conference against plastic bullets. The framework within | which we situate this work is that of fighting for the im- | mediate withdrawal of British ‘~ troops from Northern Ireland. 13. For socialist democracy! | Defend Solidarnosc!
As against the attempts of the right wing and the Tories to portray themselves as the true friends of the Polish workers, we fight for a Labour movement campaign of solidarity counterposed to the imperialist boycott campaign.
We are fully behind the | workers of the degenerated and deformed workers’ states in their struggle for a political revolution to overthrow the bureaucracy.
This is a key inseparable part of | the struggle against the world imperialist system and its allies.
Within this framework, the Solidarnosc movement is a critical : advance, and we will take the defence of this movement and the truth about its demands and programme fully into the labour movement, at the same time exploiting the divisions of the Communist Party and the Labour Party on this question.
Ss trade unions must be at thecentre | of any policy to give leadership . ‘within the Bennite current over _the entire next period.
Under the impact of mass: unemployment and the offensive of the Tory government the ' workers turn more and more to _ the trade union organisations for defence of their living standards and democratic rights, both in | direct struggles and in fighting for ; a Labour government that acts in their interests. This is the basis of At the same time the Labour . bureaucracy,- and in particular the trade union bureaucracy is forced to play more and more of an openly political role as it seeks | to use the unions to police the | roots in the unions. \ i | ranks of the worxers and to deliver the Labour Party into the. hands of the most pro-capitalist politicians.
This contradiction between ' the orientation of the ranks creates the pressure for tremendous political upheavals in the unions and deep splits in the bureaucracy itself. The lines | of cleavage run from top to bot- Party and closely linked to it.
As the trade union bureaucracy is forced out into the open as the political force con- , trolling the Labour Party, all.of the political conflicts in society as a whole increasingly become issues dividing the trade union the Bennite current’s origins and | bureaucracy and the needs of the | | i } + tom of the trade unions mirroring | the political divide in the Labour | _ movement. The Benn campaign > for deputy leadership of the: ' Labour Party concentrated this’ development which is equally expressed in the wave of support for CND, the role of the unions in defence of abortion rights, and the removal of Weighell from the leadership of the NUR.
Equally the struggle for
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democracy and the fight for leadership in the unions more and more openly decisive arena within which the battle within the Labour Party ' will ultimately be resolved.
What therefore, is a deepgoing process is seen as the we are witnessing, ' of politicisation of the unions : and intersection between the trade union struggles and political : struggles of the working class.
Within this process newer and younger layer of rank and file leaders are coming forward who identify politically with the Bennite current and seek a class struggle orientation against the bosses and right wing control of the unions and Labour Party.
The central organisational task of our newspaper is to link up with this layer of militant young workers.
Our policy within the trade -unions, therefore, is to link up with every campaign and development in the direction of a struggle against the bosses and the right wing bureaucracy. We seek to generalise this orientation in the fight for a National Left ~ Wing from top to bottom of the unions and linked to the political struggle in the Labour Party. This is a fight for a united front with the “Bennite wing of tue bureaucracy.
We concretise this line around © the demand that Scargill organises - agai the bureaucratic sabotage of the TUC shown so clearly in the ASLEF dispute sell-out. We demand an “end to bureaucratic deals selling posts and policies in the TUC and | ‘Labour Party — for organised, democratic control of the trade union vote.
This political fight between! the Bennite and Right wings of: the Labour Movement is most clearly expressed within the.
Labour Party and therefore we: seek to extend the Labour Party: struggle around policy, leadership, democracy and against the, witch-hunt into the unions.
In unions not affiliated to the | Labour Party this involves central campaigns for affiliation. In those affiliated it involves promoting campaigns for control over the bloc vote, and for policy positions to the LP and LP women's conference. In all unions it involves promoting and building the LPYS within the union at every level.
Our tactics within individual unions form part of this overall orientation taking into account concrete circumstances. We stand for the organisation of left wing currents in the unions.
Where such currents exist we | fully participate in them to fight to orient them in a class struggle, | mass campaigning direction. We ' seek to win such ‘Broad Lefts’ and reform movements to taking : the Labour Party battles and mass political campaigns into their unions and onto the shop floor.
We fight for single candidates | democratically selected and a. democratically agreed programme to stand against the right.
Our newspaper will throw its ‘resources behind such campaigns . recognising their political significance for the labour movement as a whole.
Our persistent struggle to influence and give leadership | within such left formations is in no way counterposed to campaigning through the official | union structures and from outside | the workplaces linking up with shop stewards’ committees | through campaigns, the Labour |: :
Party and LPYS.
In the NUM, even under the leadership of Scargill, the right | wing leadership of the labour | movement at national level was ; the obstacle to struggle. This | tendency for the left in the trade unions and the left in the LP to al- ! ly politically on central campaigns is of central political im- | | portance.
It is this which has begun to | squeeze the CP and which opens the road to revolutionaries to increase their influence and deepen their implantation in the class.
The old Broad Lefts, under the domination of the CP, concentrated on electing loosely identified left candidates. The polarisation in the class and the divisions in the bureaucracy | makes such vaguely left campaigns increasingly difficult. Can- | didates need to line up on one side or the left/right divide or the other.
The political motor force for this divide springs from the undefeated organisational is from the LP. The CP is increasingly squeezed in this situation.
We must base ourselves on the Bennite left to exploit this and insert ourselves into these developments to marginalise the CP.
G -reflect this: priority.
This organisation faces a crisis _ of perspective, as its traditional dominance of the trade union left is challenged by the centrality of the LP. Its influence in the major unions has declined dramatically since the days of the LCDTU and _ the AUEW broad ieft. It has suffered considerable losses to the LP. And those forces it would . once have pulled behind its Broad Left orientation now look | towards the LP.
The disproportionate in- | fluence of Militant is evidence of the growing importance of the ' left forces in the LP. The key to | organising the left in the unions is to link with the Bennite left, and to take up the questions of © government such a link brings to . the fore.
Through our newspaper and its supporters we will from time to time organise particular campaigns around exemplary strug- « gles, for reform of particular | unions or for changes in policy. In ; this sense and as outlined above | our trade union work forms a part : — a central part — of our overall | struggle for leadership within the Bennite current. Its place in the concerns and priorities of our newspaper’s supporters both locally and. nationally must Around the newspaper we will organise regularly meeting fractions of the newspapers’ sellers in unions and an annual National Trade Union School to centralise our supporters’ work and exchange experiences of carrying it out. 15. - The work of our _SUpporters within the Labour, art In the Labour Party, with the ex-| ception of spokespeople for the Fourth International all of our supporters will become active in. the CLPs.
Our supporters will seek to| | recruit to the Labour Party on the | basis of activity in the mass cam- | paigns and trade unions and sup- | port for the newspaper's policies | on a class struggle basis. Socialist | , Action will carry the slogan ‘Join | strength of the class, but the fuel the Labour Party to fight for! socialist policies’ which will be | given a concrete content accor- , ding to the main struggle of the day.
Within the Labour Party, our supporters will promote and sell our newspaper and. seek to
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organise its supporters in regular forums open to Labour Party and non-Labour Party members alike.
Our supporters will collaborate in their work in the CLPs through regular local meetings to | play out activity in each CLP. We j will give special priority to building the LPYS, to increasing trade union involvement and to building the women's sections on a mass campaigning basis.
Our supporters will not, ex-! cept in the most exceptional cir- ! cumstances, stand for selection to . candidates for public office on’ behalf of the Labour Party. They © will, however, fight for leader- : ship including officers’ positions within the LPYS; stand for delegation to the GMC particularly from the unions; and for delegations to national con-. ferences. . bureaucracy.
In all cases our supporters will ° individually and collectively work within the Labour Party on the basis of mass workin themass ; ment to win support for the | political campaigns and the trade unions. in the Party seeks to provide the | this sense that we promote the _ line that Benn must break from_ Foot. 16. Build the Labour Party:
Young Socialists ; The LPYS is under attack! The YS | is the next target of the bureaucracy’s furious offensive ; against the left in the movement and the policies which that left defends.
It is a central task of all the | supporters of the paper Socialist Action in combination with the: supporters of Revolution to: repulse this attack.
Our main line to defeat this attack is to massively build for the Easter Conference of the LPYS — regardless of the threats and measures of the labour Campaigns must immediately | start in every area to mobilise in every part of the labour move- | Easter Conference. The sup- | : porters of Socialist Action and | The work of Socialist Action. ; political focus necessary for work | in the mass campaigns and the unions. Socialist 4 ction will fight to give direction t> the key strug- | gles to defend po icy and defeat the witch-hunt to that end.
To seriously challenge for the ' leadership in these struggles Socialist Action must be con- | testing for the-téadership of the left in the GMC’s in motions to Conference, gates etc., and in the local and naconference dele- : ’ tional organisation of the cam- — paign against the witch-hunt.
In short we seek Socialist Ac- : tion to be recognised as a national political force in the Party, striv- | ing to give political leadership within the Bennite current both inside and outside the Party.
In short we seek Socialist Ac-' tion to be recognised as a national -political force in the Party, striving to give political leadership’ within the Bennite current both inside and outside the Party.
We seek, through our orientation, ‘to force the left leaders to fight’ around our three main political slogans. The concrete form of that fight in the current stage is that Benn organise to defend socialist policies and defeat whe witch-hunt across the PLP, the Party and the unions. It is in the YS on the convening of the | Revolution will push through the fight to build the Easter con- | ference in alliance with all sections of the Bennite left which can be mobilised for the fight,.: and, if necessary, use these | alliances to prevent iny com- | promise with the bureai cracy offered by the present leas ership of Easter Conference. | This fight, and the strategic | role of the YS which has put it in- | to the firing line, necessitates in | the view of Socialist Action, that all supporters under the age of 26 |. must immediately become active | inside the LPYS — based on the mass campaigns and decisive trade union battles.
The building of the Labour Party Young Socialists is a key : strategic task for the construction ; of a class struggle left wing in the | British Labour movement. | Whatever the particular form it | takes in any one period, the youth | organisation of social democracy | | | | will provide a pole for the most politicised and militant section of the youth, It is precisely for that reason | that the LPYS today faces the gravest battle in its modern . history. Its battle for survival against the right wing can only be fought by the LPYS placing itself at the head of the mass campaigns of the youth. The campaign > against youth unemployment and Tebbit’s scheme for youth; the political leadership of the Youth CND and the fight for the democratic rights of black people | and women all demand leadership i from the LPYS.
Precisely because the problems facing the LPYS are the | same problems facing the labour movement as a whole, the. method by which the LPYS must be built in the next period is not through furious denunciations of | its centrist Militant leadership, but through a united front with the Bennite current in the Labour Party and the unions.
We must place in front of the Bennite current as a whole our. own conclusions; namely that the youth organisation of the Labour - Party can be a motor force for the © whole future dynamic of the Labour Party. It is therefore in the interests of the left wing of the mass movement not to allow the LPYS to be left the property | of a sect; but for the whole left to ; make the building of the mass organisation can be built its property.
The question of leadership inside the LPYS will therefore be posed as a function of the success of such united front work. Within this context we are in favour of joint work with all those prepared to actively build the LPYS on the | basis of mass campaigns.
Our supporters and those of | Revolution fight to win the :leadership of the LPYS at every | level. I. 17. The upsurge of feminism! in the labour movement.
The failure of the labour move- ! ment to resolutely fight for and defend women’s rights, womeri’s structural isolation from the pro- ductive process, and the mass. organisations of the working | class, allowed the Tory Party to build up an_ historical base amongst women, including working class women. Today this base is being undermined by the scale of attack on women’s rights and living standards necessitated by the capitalist economic crisis.
This is reinforced by the leadership of a woman .campaigns from which the youth |
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Margaret Thatcher — in carrying through these policies which threaten to drive women out of the positions they have won in the workforce and to roll back their gains in terms of social and democratic rights.
Women workers are turning to the mass organisations of the working class to defend themselves against this series of attacks. Women are playing a leading role in many of the struggles — from the role of women in the Irish struggle, to the occupa-’ tions led by women to the role of women in the campaigns against racist deportations.
The most advanced aspect of this development is the turn of a militant minority of women to fight to win the labour movement to the side of women in their struggle against their oppression as a sex. This resulted in the breakthrough of the TUC itself calling a mass demonstration in defence of abortion rights in 1979. It has resulted in the rapid development of women’s organisations within the labour movement and important policy advances by both the TUC and Labour Party in defence of women’s rights. ' Its most advanced point today is the mushrooming of the Labour Party Women's Conference and its role in the left/right fight in the labour movement as a whole. This opens up new opportunities to take the struggle for women’s | liberation into the labour move- ; * ment as a whole.
The period ahead will see a tremendous struggle for the political allegiance of women.
TheSDP are manoeuvering to pre- | sent themselves as the party of | ' women. The Tory party will step | up its ideological offensive to~ recoup ground that it has lost around campaigns in defence of the family.
The labour movement must be won to countering this offensive by coming forward as the vanguard fighter for women’s rights.
Only in this way can the hostility of millions of working class women against the Tory government be focussed on the fight for a Labour victory.
Socialist Action fights for a woman's right to choose and a _woman’'s right to work to be guaranteed in law through abortion on demand and legally enforceable quotas in work. We wut take this forward both through the building of single issue cam-. paigns and propaganda for these policies.
Thus the building of the women’s movement today not on-ly conforms to. our strategic view ; of the necessity of a mass: autonomous women’s movement, | but is also a key element in the: left-right battle in the labour movement and the fight to con-: struct a class struggle left wing.
We also have opportunities: through these developments to recruit to the organisation some of the best fighters from this emerging movement, through taking special measures to attrach such women to our ranks, such as a supplement to our paper, we can start to recruit a new layer of women workers.
We stand with the black’ youth, for black liberation, | against state racist harass: | ment! the black youth led a "dramatic rebellion of youth in the inner: cities in the summer of ’81.
The deep social crisis that this! rebellion indicated also graphically illustrated the vanguard role of black youth in the fight back, and! therefore their disproportionate | role in the struggle of the youth of ! the working class as a whole, In political terms, black youth | did not accept that they had the same interests as the British rul- ; ing class and its state over | decisive political questions such : as the Malvinas war. The imperialist character of the British state is more deeply understood | by these youth than any other: sector of the working class.
The struggle for the decisive! demands of the black population to be the demands advanced by the labour movement as whole will be qualitatively advanced by the strides already taken by black youth in their resistance to state, ' racist harassment. Socialist Ac-| tion and its supporters will stand ; shoulder to shoulder. with the actual struggles of black youth.
This is the best basis for the fight to win the most advanced sections of the workers’ movement as a whole to a programme of positive action for blacks.
Coupled with this is an active 8 commitment to dismantle the leading edges of the attack on blacks by the state (disband the | SPG! No to all immigration laws!) ' This in turn creates the best framework for advance in the struggle for black liberation as such.
The Bennite current represents the best possibilities to amplify the struggle of blacks and their demands within the labour movement as a whole.
We give particular attention todeveloping a black cadre which will play a decisive role in the creation of a revolutionary leadership and party within the British working class. A vital task in this regard is the systematic assimilation of and education in, the lessons of the black struggle historically and internationally by all of our newspapers’ supporters, especially the lessons of the Black struggle in the USA. 19. Building the British sec- | tion of the Fourth International | ; For the! next period our key political focus| _ will be provided by the Labour Party where .all our supporters. will be active, with its main forces those at the base of the trade unions.
We aim to become the revolutionary Marxist component of the Bennite current in the labour | movement. This conference will! also mark the end of a period of decline in the membership of the organisation. In particular we can expect increased recruitment through the building of Revolu- _ tion Youth.
The turn to industry. Linking up with the Bennite current in’ the unions will provide the most favourable circumstances for the continuing reorientation of the’ organisation to shift its centre of gravity into the manual and in-| dustrial unions. Through a com- | bination of members changing ; jobs and recruitment we aim to | get a majority of the organisation implanted in the industrial and: manual unions, It is our experience of the Turn : which confirms its tactical centrality for building the organisa- tion over the coming period. But the economic conditions within which we make the turn — together with the political line which frames it requires us to
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make a break from the old way of organising the turn at the level of the leadership at the level of the branches and in the targets which | we seek to gain.
At the level of the leadership, we seek through a CC plenum,, and the mobilisation of national teams of comrades, to organise: nationally led drives towards na-. tionally significant openings which emerge, whatever region of the country they emerge in.
At the level of the branches; the stronger districts will and. should be able to maintain:
District Committees which cen-: tralise the work on the turn and relatively large jobs teams. The ; medium to small size branches! can not in our experience, and ex- : cept under exceptional cir- ; * cumstances, sustain jobs commit: | tees. The task of working out the | precise openings in the area will be an important function of the branch committees.
The targets we seek to make; - these need rapid overhaul. We | must expand our fractions into industrial and manual fractions. | We are convinced in this | period of the possibility and | necessity of direct recruitment from industry. Even where condi- :| tions are difficult from the point of view of finding jobs for our edes. branch leaderships should , direct the work of cdes, towards ° recruitment from industry.
This means measures. at the ~ local level and nationally to effec- ; tively organise our work. Frac- | tions will meet at minimum once a quarter in the above industries | and unions and national fractions ° will be rebuilt among health workers and teachers. Where fractions do not exist or are inappropriate, caucuses before national union conferences will plan out resolutions aimed at the trade union conferences and coordinate our intervention within them. All fractions will mobilise their members for the annual trade union school.
To organise these measures a national Jobs Committee will be reconvened.
Building the youth organisation The most consistent source of recruitment to the British section over the last period has been from * the youth organisation.
The growing importance of the LPYS for our youth perspectives means ‘that, in particular, the fight to build a mass campaigning LPYS must be at the centre of the | Labour Party perspectives of | every branch. In addition the fight to win a black cadre to the ranks of the youth organisation is a task of the organisation as a : whole.
It is a norm that every member . of the section should have a subscription to the youth paper and will remain the case that . every member of the sect‘on | under 26 will, unless assigned to other specially by their branch, have their first political duty towards the construction of the | youth organisation. 21. Our policy towards other | left organisations.
As Socialist Action \eads us into | the fight within the Bennite cur- ' rent — so our contact and struggle ; with other political organisations ' ; and forces will massively IN-:
CREASE. ° The most important of these ; - currents in industry is the British Communist party. Our overall aim ! in relation to this formation re- ' mains to destroy it. The political . conditions for our offensive ° against the CP are particularly” favourable.
Today the C.P.G.B. is caught | between the international crisis | of stalinism and the crisis of | British imperialism. Every step it : takes to the right threatens it | with being outflanked on the left | by left social democratic currents | both in the trade unions and mass : movements. Every attempt to | push forward its own political | profile results in its further iden- | tification with the international | crimes of the Soviet bureaucracy | most recently in Poland.
It emerged from the period of | the Labour government greatly : weakened by its right-wing line. ; It has been unable to distinguish: itself most recently from the Ben-: nite current except by moving to: its right. This situation opens new’ possibilities for revolutionaries to deal further blows to it.
These possibilities are illustrated by the capacity of revolutionaries to build united 4 fronts for action with the Bennite forces in the Labour Party, trade unions and mass campaigns on: the model of the Anti-Nazi| League and the National Abortion | Campaign.
The Militant Tendency, by the | very fact of their presence in the ‘ Labour Party, have come to the : centre of the national political ! arena, and we increasingly en- | counter them in the unions and Labour Party. This organisation exhibits in their purest variety | the traditional traits of ‘British ' Marxism’: extreme organisational sectarianism (towards the Bennite left, the CND, the inter- | national revolution and the mcve-. ments of the oppressed); combin- | ed with the most rotten opporer pre tunism towards the labour bureaucracy and British imperialism (eg the Malvinas).
Today the fundamental evolu- | tion of Militant is to the right. At the same time by the very fact of their strength within the Labour party, and despite their barren sectarianism, they have been in- | creasingly pushed into a leading | role in the left currents emerging | in the unions and the political | i struggle in the Labour Party.
This creates new contradic: | tions as the Militant's sectarian | and propegandist perspective can | give no leadership to these ; developments, nor defend either | the Militant itself or the LPYS | from the Right wing’s offensive.
Socialist Action will contest for.|’ leadership against the Militant in the.new reform currents in the unions, in the LPYS and in the struggle against the right wing bureaucracy. It will bring to bear principled alliances with Bennite forces for action, combining this with intransigent defence of an internationalist revolutionary | programme.
The Socialist Workers’ Party, | despite placing itself outside the fundamental dynamic of working class radicalisation today | nonetheless retains its revolu- | tionary character as demonstrated in the Malvinas war and its line of solidarity with the .
Polish workers. As a result of its sectarian abstention from the Bennite current the SWP’'s . political influence has massively © -declined and will continue to do so.
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Inevitably this creates a crisis of orientation above all for those militants most deeply rooted in the mass organisations. A small but important number of trade unionists influenced in the past ' by the SWP will be drawn. towards Socialist Action in the next period as they seek an effective orientation for their work in the unions. 22. We ca mpaign for fusion © with the W.
The WSL is itself becoming part of the political differentiations within the Bennite current. One section, led by the leadership, want to stand as candidates, bury themselves in the routinist electoralist orientation of sections of the labour left, municipal socialism ete. That trend led on . the decisive political sisue of the Malvinas war.
But half of this organisation called their leadership to order.
The WSL can be encouraged to break out of their national trotskyist isolation through a firm and - principled line for the fight in the Bennite current on the part of Socialist Action. Around that line Socialist Action seeks genuine united front activities, such as the Jobs not Bombs march, rejecting the frontist ‘committee’ approach ' of the WSL leadership.
Our overall orientation to this current (without any com- — mitments to timescale etc) is that of fusion within the framework of the Fourth International. 23. We are for a change of name for the British section.
Our ability to have an impact on ° these organisations will be a function of our political influence in the labour movement. We should mark our reorientation towards the unions and Labour Party by changing the name of the organisation. The British section is not the small propaganda group it was at its foundation; we do not accept a party-building Strategy of ‘talking socialism on the job’.
While we do have a national presence and impact and we can launch serious initiatives and actions in the class struggle, nevertheless we are not a party with majority support in the working ' class vanguard or even among a small section of. the: masses. We should therefore change our name to the Socialist League j (British section of the Fourth International) 24. Organising our work The launch of the newspaper will | be prepared for by the whole : organisation from top to bottom | reorganising their work to put the paper first. Nationally our | fulltime resources will be at the | disposal of the paper. Locally | each branch will have a leading + comrade whose duty it is to ensure articles are written for the paper and that the paper is used in the most effective way each week, Such arrangments will make | sure that there is a regular flow of | material from outside the office in. A school to prepare both this aspect and the general launch of the paper will be held as soon as possible after the conference.
Alongside the launch of the paper we will drastically step up promotion and sales of two journals openly associated with the Socialist League and the Fourth International. International, our theoretical review, wil: further expand its influence by every comrade buying and selling it asa norm, and we will further encourage every member and supporter to subscribe to International Viewpoint. We will campaign to increase the'sales of In- : ternational Viewpoint in Britain | to 500 by Easter 83.
The whole internal function- . ing of the organisation will be overhauled. First, the recent internal crisis has clearly revealed the need for a thorough education of the organisation from top to | bottom around the classics of our movement, from Marx to Trotsky.
The leadership will direct such an education programme throughout the organisation. We will organise a summer education school/camp, and another ‘International Debating Socialism school next autumn.
Together with Revolution Youth we will continue to participate in the Fourth International’s educational projects to | _ build an international leadership — the summer leaderships cadre school and the permanent cadre school. Political centralisation , will be improved through CC! lo plenums, report-backs to every branch and regional aggregates to | link branches outside districts. | Second, there will need to bea big increase in our regular | revenue from dues and pledges from our members and sym- | pathisers even to sustain a slimmed down full-time apparatus geared almost exclusively around the press, whose sales will also need substantial increases. Along with political centralisation of our resources we will need a limited retreat to an organisational centralisation of resources to the national centre to allow the necessary expansion of our printshop and the maintenance of our bookshop. Third, weekly branch meetings must be regularised as a norm ans the functioning of our union fractions established.
We propose conference elects: a smaller and simplified leadership structure, among whose Inain tasks will be to draw up a new constitution for the next conference, and to prepare the next world congress discussion. A new plan for geographical and sector prioritisation will be drawn up immediately by the incoming leadership, including a plan for | the reorganisation of the Socialist jj i League in London. i 25. Build the Fourth International Our first. task will be to dramatically improve our financial commitment to the F.L., with | the regular payment of interna- i tional dues as a top priority. We : will continue to release resources | from the leadership and ranks of | the organisation to help staff the international centre as required. | The British section will maintain its political and organisa-. tional commitment to building a. strong international centre of the!
Fi and promoting its publications. | At the same time the British | section has particular interna-: ‘tionalist obligations to building | sections. Our paper must become | identified with the Irish struggle. | The promotion of People’ s Democracy in this context is a central task, The revolutionary ‘process in :
Ireland and Britain is extricably linked. We should take steps, . therefore, to step up the political ' djalogue and collaboration bet-
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ween the British and Irish sections of the FI, We have a permanent respon- | sibility to campaign to build the Irish section, to recruit to it, to , help its fundraising activities, to promote delegations between Irish and British sections and to sell and support its press.
We apply a similar policy in promoting and building the sections of the FI in the colonial world where we have important populations with ties to those countries in Britain.