Scottish Socialist No. 6

[page 2]

Bomb Hits Glasgow Bar

According to reports received by Scottish Socialist there has been a terrorist attack in Glasgow. During the weekend of the 23rd- 24th April the bomb squad was called to the Burnside Hotel near Rutherglen, after an explosion. no-one was hurt. The Hotel is used by members of the Irish community and although there is no reason to connect any of its clients with political organisations, it is entirely possible that there was a political motive for the attack.

Readers may thin it odd that the Rutherglen bomb attack attracted no comment from the Scottish press. If it had been an IRA bomb it would have been front page news. It would appear that the press are nervous of calling attention to anything that smacks of loyalist terrorism in Scotland. They prefer to pretend that sectarianism is a dying cause confined only to a few hooligan Ranger's fans.

We are convinced that Orange sectarianism is thriving in Scotland. The power of the lodges is not doubted by anyone. Inverness District Council has recently announced its intention to ban the July 12th walk. It is more than probable that Inverness will receive the same treatment as did Dundee when it tried the same stunt two years ago - the town will be swamped with thousands of orangemen leaving the council powerless to implement its resolution.

Many in the Labour movement prefer to ignore the problem of sectarianism. They believe that to take it up will divide the working class. We consider that ignoring the issue is the most dangerous course that can be taken.

Ol course, Orangeism has its absurd side. In Hamilton in the 1850's the Rev. Dr. Dill prayed in the local United Presbyterian Church for a three months resurrection of Cromwell to exterminate Popery. Pastor Glass's recent vendetta against the comedian Billy Connolly has the same air of the ludicrous.

Despite this Pastor Glass is a powerful man. When the Burnbank lodge called a meeting to be addressed by him, the attendance was estimated at 4,000 people. Just what this can mean to the Scottish labour movement is shown not by Pastor Glass's theatrical antics but by the kind of general politics he preaches. Scottish Protestant View, the monthly paper edited by Class, carried in its May edition, extensive

To the best of our knowledge

[page 3]

THE FAR RIGHT

The fascist National Front intens to hold a major rally in Glasgow later tis year. This news, reported in the Evaing Times of 6th June, direct from an interview with chief Nazi thug John Tyndall, vill doubtless arouse "interest" throughut the Glasgow labour movement.

On May 25th, 1975 an attempt by the NF to hold an anti-EEC rally in Kingston Halls, Glasgow was met by hundreds of trale unionists who picketed the hall. The13 fascists, brought in from Edinburgh and English towns to stage this provocation, only passed through after an attack of unparallelled brutality by the Strathclyde Police Division Support Units.

The Police thuggery was thechief topic in the Scottish press throughout the following week, and, in the trials of the 78 irrested pickets later in the year, nearly half were acquitted. So telling was the evidence identifying police witnesses as participants in assaults that the trial had to be suspended at one point.

Subsequently a number of the most incompetent of the police liars were tired, having been exposed in leaflets circulted in the Glasgow trade union movement, and the extremely vocal Superintendent Dunford, chief architect of the policeriot has not fulfilled the promotion ambitions he long entertained.

Glasgow Labour Councillor Andy McMahon told the Evening Times: "the trade union and labour movements will mount a campaign against them such as has never been seen in Glasgow since the days of Mosley". But in 1975 revolutionary left was required to give the lead to this campaign. The mass picket of Kingston Halls called by IMG & IS was endorsed by the trades council only after a massive campaign of pressure in union branches.

Labour councillors overwhelmingly rejected appeals by Andy McMahon and labour organisations to ban hall lets to fascists. Most of the cowardly riff-raff responsible have recently been thrown off the council in just reward for their betrayals. However, their place as the ruling party has been taken by the Tories, whose councillors now include such people as Ross McKay, who has in the past boasted of his close links with the National Front and the Vanguard Party. The Conservative Party in Glasgow also includes as a member one DONALD 'GUS' MACDONALD, of 98 RAEBERRY STREET, MARYHILL, GLASGOW, whose claim on oath during the Kingston Halls trials that his only political affiliation was to the Tories was contradicted by his statement in the Glasgow Herald immediately after the demonstration in the capacity of "National Front Press Officer" in Glasgow.

The office previously rented under the name of Spearhead, the NF newspaper, on

Tyndall's Edinburgh Welcome

When National Front leader John Tyndall visited Edinburgh on June 11th, he got the kind of protection the fascists have come to expect from the Scottish police. After he'd assaulted an anti-fascist police moved in to arrest four protestors, including the injured comrade. They were charged with assault. Tyndall wasn't. Indeed he got star treatment with tea, smiles and a police escort.

the 4th loor of BALTIC CHAMBERS, 50 WELLINGTON STREET, GLASGOW no longer appears to be occupied. For those interested in the activities of the Glasgow NF there seems to be no other means of contact than via the local chairman, RICHARD.MONTAGUE, 28 PENDEEN CRESCENT, BARLANARK, GLASGOW, G33 (041-771 3153).

Inquisitive working class people, especially those, like Montague, employed by Glasgow District Council (Airdrie Street) should, however, bear in mind the deep distaste for profane language which this young man holds and explained in his capacity as a prosecution witness in Glasgow Sherriff Court in 1975.

2

Tyndall had good reason to be angry. In answer to a call by the local Anti-Racist Committee protestors had beseiged him and Front Scottish leader, Michael Corfield, in the Radio Forth Studios where they were being interviewed.

The press gave Tyndall's visit full coverage allowing him plenty of room to state his race hating views. With the fascist's decision to stand 2 candidates in Edinburgh and one in Dundee such publicity was a big boost for them.

The response to that campaign from the labour movement needs to be better than on June 11th when some lavish promises from figures in the Labour and Communist Parties never materialised. Only a few yards from the picket 10,000 miners and trade unionists, led by Mich MeGahey and Tony Benn, were marching past as part of Scottish miners day. Their leader did nothing to even publicise the anti-fascist protest.

The Front's danger is seen in Edinburgh where their recent renewed activity has coincided with a number of attacks on Asian Shops. The fascists are also trying to cultivate links with the Orange para-militaries.

[page 4]

Pha e 2 must be subordinated to a 'negotiate rett. n to free collective bargaining "after the present round of wage restraint".

Success in the present strike wave depnds on realising that the Social Contract is a road-block to achieving even limited ends. Therefore every strike must be placed in the context of a general offensive against wage restraint. Thus each isolated strike has the chance to reach out for support to the rest of the working class as part of this general Fortunately, many of the recent strikers have grasped this point. The workers at Laird Portch knew they were fighting the Social Contract as well as Coats-Paton and

This realisation has to be extended into a broad class struggle united front against the Social Contract: a latter-day Minority Movement. The conference of the Scottish Campaign for Democracy in the Labour Movement, which meets in Stirling at the end of June, represents the coming together of a modest section of the Labour Movement who recognise this need. A new Minority Movement cannot be proclaimed. It will emerge out of the kind of workers struggles we are now witnessing. But it will not just happen sponteneously. For this reason, Scottish Socialist will be supporting the

De the unions Strike Action Mounts InScotland

Industrial production in Scotland is now accelerating at a faster rate than the UK, according to Scottish Office figures published in June. This can only mean that on the factory floor the bosses are pursuing a productivity offensive. The STUC and big Scottish unions like EIS have given a green light to Phase 3 of the Social Contract. With the demise of the Devolution Bill, these events have switched the immediate centre of Scottish working class politics from Westminster back to the factory floor.

In May, there were strikes against productivity drives (power workers, United Glass, Hayward Taylor), against public spending cuts (Strathelyde janitors), against the oil monopolies (Bristows and Sullom Voe), and for equal pay (Laird Portch). Apart from the simple fact of an increase in disputes, this rise of strike struggles takes on a pattern. These strikes are tending to be lengthy (Hayward Taylor 9 weeks, Laird Portch 6 weeks). They are often unofficial or carried out in the face of intense foot-

dragging from the union machines (Laird Portch especially, but also Clyde Port Authority engineers and United Glass).

This is a similar phenomenon to disputes in England at Port Talbot and Heathrow. With continued support of the union leaderships for the Social Contract, the worker in the shop floor is rebelling, albeit in a confused and limited way, against the immediate problems which confront him or her. That most of these strikes have been partially successful is a tribute to the militancy of the workers under adverse conditions. That they have only been partial successes following many weeks on the picket line is a direct result of the limited demands, isolation and lack of material support imposed by the union bureaucracy. The union bureaucrats support the Social Contract and the Labour Government, and will not allow spontaneous worker's struggles to jeapordise the negotiations around Phase 3. Handmaidens in this betrayal are the Communist Party and all those who say ongoing struggles against

fight-back.

the NUTGW.

CDLM conference.

Socialist Opposition Conference

As previously pointed out in Scottish. Socialist the Campaign for Democracy in the Labour Movement is to hold a Scottish Conference in Stirling on the 25th June.

The conference has been sponsored by the Central Federation of Trades Councils and by Stirling & District Trades Council. Individual sponsorship has come from stewards and officers of APEX, AUEW, CPSA, EIS, NALGO, NUPE and the TGWU. In addition from inside the National Union of Students. Amongst political organisations officers of the Kelvingrove Constituency Labour Party, the Stirling branch of the Socialist Workers Party together with the Scottish Socialist League are backing the conference.

The conference speakers will include Alan Thornett of the organising committee of the CDLM, Rowland Sheret of Stirling Trades Council, John Wyles who chairs Stirling & District Labour Party as representatives of the Port Talbot, Laird Portch, Grunwicks and Trust House Forte strikes. Needless to say, ample time will be made for other contributions from the

Clearly a major part of the business of the conference will be assessing the results of the struggles of the last few weeks. Time will also be given to a discussion on the problems of democracy in individual unions.

The programme of the CDLM has already been published in Scottish Socialist. This programme was adopted at the National

support has come

as well

Conference of the CDLM in Birmingham on March 27th 1977. It covers wage controls, public spending cuts, unemployment, the opening of employer's books, women's rights, racialism, and the problem of bureaucracy inside the labour movement. In other words it is a fairly comprehensive summary of the struggles of worker militants and the demands that come from them.

However, the CDLM is new to Scotland. Instant agreement with its programme will not be achieved even among trade unionists who are highly politically conscious. Moreover, there may be specifically Scottish contributions to be made to the programme — on the multinationals, on oil, and on devolution. For this reason the organising committee has not made agreement with the CDLM programme a precondition of attendance at the conference. They see the main need now as to gather together militants prepared to fight under the main headings of the programme.

The politics of trade unionism are in any case somewhat different in Scotland. Whereas in England the Communist Party organises through the Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions to put pressure on the trade union bureaucrats in Scotland they do not have this option they are the bureaucrats. Far left militants in Scotland are not fighting for political clarity inside an opposition dominated by reformists - they are the opposition.

That opposition has taken two forms. The Rank and File movement organised by

the International Socialists (now the Socialist Workers Party), and the loose current associated with motion 17 from the 1975 STUC. The SWP has now turned most of its attention to party building and Rank and File is becoming increasingly less viable as a consequence. While Rank and File should not be written off - to the contrary both it and the SWP are energetic trade union campaigners — it is not likely that a debate producing the clear programme that is needed can come from there.

The aim at this stage has to be to give organisational and political coherence to the "motion 17" current. On June 25th there will be a resolution on activities and it is proposed that a Scottish Organising Committee is elected. It is hoped that this will take us across the first bridge on the road to a socialist opposition - joint action and co-ordination among militants.

This does not mean that the need for a detailed programme can be ignored. And in fact, it is proposed to have a further conference in the autumn to discuss the detailed points of the CDLM programme. In the meantime Scottish Socialist, and hopefully other journals of the left opens its pages to a discussion of that programme.

For further information about the CDLM conference contact The Organising Secretary, 18 Carrington Street, Glasgow G4. Tel: 041-332 8728.

JANICE MILLS

[page 5]

The Annual Conference of EIS, Scotland's largest teachers union, took place at the Mac Robert Centre, Stirling on 2nd-4th June. The proceedings represented a major victory for the strategy of General Secretary John Pollock in transforming EIS from a professional association into a trade union. Despite last minute blocking by the

Teachers Join In With TUC MANACEMENT

reactionary headmaster clique, delegates overwhelmingly endorsed affiliation to the TUC and a change in the EIS constitution to bring the union within the terms of the Trade Union and Health and Safety at Work Acts.

Pollock's base in the EIS, and the transformation he has brought about, rests in part on his ability to insulate teachers from the redundancies which have taken place in England. This he has achieved in a deal with his labour cronies on the Regional Councils whereby Pollock has accepted substantial worsening of conditions without industrial action, allied to a tacit support of management shifting the burden of cuts onto other unions.

Hence pro-Pollock delegates at the conference threw out motions attacking all public spending cuts in favour of defending only EIS members, and supported an Executive call to oppose industrial action against cuts.

The main divide at conference was thus between Pollock and the head masters. The political left were largely on the side lines as a result of a consistant inability over the last two years to offer any national opposition to Pollock's combination of left wing bravado and appeals to "leave it to John". Yet Pollock's domination at a national level is not without the beginnings of a new, if fragmented, local challenge. The conference marked a new development with many EIS local associations in areas suffering worsening conditions, displaying a definite, if confused, discontent with the bureaucratic machine Pollock is building up An unparalleled number of challenges to the minutes of the Executive and National Council were sent up from local associations, and so delayed proceedings that 27 out of 36 motions were not discussed. There were 14 separate amendments to proposals from the salaries committee.

Here Pollock is on weaker ground. The EIS bureaucracy is very poor in material terms, with many less fulltimers than other unions of the same size. His ability to stymie local opposition currents bureaucratically is limited. Recently, in Edinburgh, the teachers from Firhill School called a meeting in the EIS offices to protest at the ending of tree dinners for teachers. EIS, having blundered by letting the rooms, tried to bar these EIS members from their own union building. The local backlash forced Pollock to retreat and let the meeting go ahead. Little wonder

that Conference voted to tighten up disciplinary procedures against members taking unofficial action.

The reasons tor these developments are not hard to find. The worsening crisis means EIS can no longer hope to let the other unions carry the can. Scottish Socialist has been informed that Pollock's star has waned with the Parliamentary Labour Party, as the Government are forced to carry out more cuts. Even Pollock's delivery of the most abject support for the social contract to come from any union conference will not avoid what is coming. will put wages on the agenda as an issue in the new term. Already the Further Education Section of EIS is calling for an interim pay award in October, a fact expunged from the FE conference report in the EIS journal. Having defeated the headmasters Pollock is preparing to take on the members.

The lesson of the 1977 EIS conference is that the left must sieze hold of this situation while Pollock's bureaucratic grip on the normally libertarian, individualist, teaching profession is still relatively weak. opposition to Pollock must be constructed which opposses all expenditure cuts and all forms of wage restraint. The largest section of the left in EIS is the Rank and File group which is supported by Scottish Socialist. However Rank and File has proved weak in the past year at organising on a national level. For instance, the excellent work done by Rank and File in defence of the Strathclyde janitors was not really turned into a national campaign against Pollock's scabbing. Further Rank and File has not been sufficiently flexible towards joint action with other groups, a necessity in a union where the left is so weak. The call by Rank and File for a campaign to raise the nessary 2,000 signatures for a special general meeting to discuss salaries could be a first step in organising united opposition to Pollock on a national basis in the new term.

Erosion of living standards

5

A left

Bristow's Strike Interview

The Bristow's Helicopter dispute received wide ranging solidarity from other trade unionists. Prominent among the unions involved was the National Union of Seamen. Dave Edmonds interviewed Harry Bygate chief NUS official, North Scotland for Scottish Socialist. DAVE EDMONDS: How did the NUS first take up support for the Bristow pilots? HARRY BYGATE: Well initially we were asked to support them we said yes, the idea at that time being that if we stopped carrying the passengers that Bristow's would normally have carried and stopped the fuel for the helicopters that would have been sufficient. Unfortunately it didn't prove to be the case we stopped our ships and it just wasn't sufficient. Evolving from that we also got in touch with the ITF and asked them if they would put the same embargo on. They agreed, which was the Dutch, the German and Scandinavian ships. But it took them a couple of weeks to become effective in this.

About the 27th of April the decision was taken that this wasn't effective and then we put our blanket of stopping our ships completely to any rig where Bristow's helicopters were running to. continued on Page 6,

[page 6]

come into force and what I can only describe

newsletter" purporting to give an "alternative

There are over one hundred political prisoners in Scottish jails, according to Labour MP Robin Cook. Speaking to a packed meeting called in May by the Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace, Cook dropped this bombshell to "prove" the growing threat of "terrorists" hijacking atomic materials. Ignoring the real danger to mankind of a nuclear war unleashed by the racist regimes in Israel or South Africa, Cook claimed the pretext of "terrorists" to defend his support for the setting up of the para-military Atomic Energy Authority Police who, armed with machine guns, have the right of "hot

SCRAM can be contacted via Rob Edwards, Friends of the Earth, 2 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh.

- LEFT OVERS

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, a body said to be loosely connected with the Christian religion met in Edinburgh last month. A motion from pacifist and socialist George MacLeod, urging unilateral disarmament was rejected. Visiting chairman of the British section of Amnesty International Paul Ostreicher, called on the Assembly to condemn the continued maintenance of a British Army

"The torturer in us and around us is at work", Ostricher said, respectable friends"

By way of proving the point, the Moderator ruled against any questions and the matter was deferred for checking. attempt to get the Assembly to oppose the SFA football match with Chile in the infamous National Stadium at Santiago was

"He has many

An

Na s

We reprint below an article from Forward, the journal of the Independent Labour Party, first published on July 14tl 1934, J & P Coats Ltd., were, of course, the forerunners of the present day Coats- Paton combine.

The firm of J & P Coats Ltd., has increased its profits from £2,259,110 to £2,574,894. Quite a substantial sum during times of trade depression. A Paisley correspondent who noticed this sends us the following: "Apropos the recent large profits declared by J & P Coats Ltd., I had a visit the other evening of a friends who works in one of the thread mills in Paisley and she was telling me of a recent order that has

as the last word in meanness for a firm earning the profits J & P Coats do.

It appears there is a rest room in the mill with a qualified nurse in attendance, and any of the girls who may meet with slight accidents which, while they may be able to continue at work require the wound to be dressed daily at the rest rooms.

Up to recently the girls went to the rest room during working hours daily, or as required and their pay went on just the same, but the order has now gone forth that the girls foreman must take a note of the time she leaves her flat and when she returns, and this time is entered in the book. And when pay day comes round the girls find the time taken to go to the rest room deducted from their pay"

One would have thought that a firm making such handsome profits could have managed to get along with petty economies of this kind.

Jim Sillars' attempts to build a tartan tribune group came unstuck last October when he expelled the SLP's left wing. Paid membership, at best never more than a thousand, is now less than the Scottish wing of the far-left SWP. Desperate for publicity Sillars has issued an to phase three". This consists of stale Tribunite seige economics prefaced with a call for a "climate of goodwill". British capitalism is advised to sell of £12,000 million in foreign assets and bank them to ward off speculation against the pound. Unfortunately, British capitalism lends long term overseas and borrows against these assets in the short term. Liquidating foreign holdings would reduce the credit rating of British capitalism, thus sparking off a fresh round of speculation which would gobble up the £12,000 million in the bank.

BRISTOWS..•

DE: So does that mean that on some rigs they were getting no supplies in? HB: No. One of the problems on the rigs actually is that a rig might be supplied by two or three ships. Two rigs might be supplied by three or four ships. They're not all NUS so others are supplying.

DE: On May 26th there was a mass meeting of aviation workers addressed by Mark Young of BALPA; Clive Jenkins of ASTMS; Les Shorter of the TGWU, chairman of the National Joint Council for Civil Air Transport and James Milne the General Secretary of the STUC. How successful do you think it was?

HB: Well it was successful in getting hold of all the workers. trade union disorganisation - nobody's sure what its all about, nobody's sure what their unions' doing and the other unions are doing. It was very successful in the fact that we got all the workers in the airport, they all understood the situation, what's being done in other parts of the country with the other unions.

DE: How do you find workers on the rigs

HB: As a whole I don't think they realise what issues are at stake. interested in doing an awful lot for an individual trade unionist, a pilot, in a different union. There are, however, quite a few out on the rigs who take an active part or at any rate, an active interest in union affairs and have an awful lot of sympathy but I don't think there's yet enough of this sympathy to get concerted

like to make, as a trade unionist, is that if we had been more successful than we have been up to now in getting the rigs organised this dispute would have been over in a couple

There had been the usual

They're not

The point I would

[page 7]

SNP CONFERENCE: It's Scotland's Queen

When the Queen took over the throne 25 years ago, the Scottish Nationalist movement, led by Wendy Wood, responded by burning post boxes, in protest against her use of the title of Elizabeth II. Today in Jubilee year, the SNP acted quite differently. Loyalty and humility were on the order of the day, and the party's 43rd annual conference went on record as giving overwhelming support for constitutional monarchy.

This question of monarchy arose during the discussion of the SN's proposed Scottish Constitution, where the Queen's role as Head of State was confirmed. Essentially the aim of document was to ensure that all the arthritic features of British bourgeois demoracy would be built into any independent Scotland. British parliamentary sovereignity, with its absense of federalism, its contempt for even the pretence of popular accountability, its cretinist worshiping at the feet of the judiciary - all were encapsulated in the SN's vision of Scotland. The only novelty was the interesting non mention of the national Kirk, which has disappeared from theelectorally conscious SN's program.

Robert McIntyre, the party's President, introduced the Constitution. Mcintyre epitomises all the worst parochialism and Parliamentary cretinism of the SNP, a small town democrat of long standing in the party. However, any notion of personal bias in the party's reformism was removed later that afternoon, when the unofficial leader of the party's radical wing stood up to speak. Stephen Maxwell, ex-press officer for the SNP, and privately worried about the more "vulgar" forms of nationalism inside the SNP, was at the rostrum to motivate the proposal of an initiative referendum. However, Mr. Maxwell's radicalism wasn't really too serious. His model for this referendum proposal, which in his own words "extended the very boundaries of democracy as we know it", was that well known home of radicalism - Switzerland! Beneath the superficial differences in style, there is a political coherence and joint conservatism which unites even the "backward" McIntyre to the "progressive" Maxwell.

Certainly the party seems to have the self confidence and political competence to unite the most diverse strands of dissent. The comparison with its Tory and Labour rivals who met recently in Perth is a striking one. Unlike the contrast between young and old, which is so characteristic of the Labour party for instance, the bulk of the SPs cadre come from the immediate post war generation - the town planners, the teachers,

the media, the skilled scientific workers who prospered in the years of the New Town and the expansion of white collar employment. Naturally enough they are among the most self confident and aggressive section of modern Scottish society, today a natural base for the SNP. The political perspective of the party, its constitutional reformism and its defense of the "mixed" capitalist economy, fits exactly into their concerns and aspirations.

Kilts and Gaelic slogans were still on display and the stalls in the foyers were selling all the junk of nationalism, from ashtrays to platic passport holders for "Alba" citizens. 'However, it is the "new middle class" who are the real driving force in the party. Like the 19th century Victorian ruling class in Britain, self confident in its economic security, much of the SNP sees ideology as irrelevant, demogogy as bad taste, and tartan and tartanary as positively vulgar. Instead the SNP is seen as a vehicle for carefully planning out how modern Scottish Switzerland is to be run.

Ot course with the spoils of Europe's fastest growing political party for the taking, personal tensions break out in the leadership as a matter of course. However, to read into these squabbles, any right versus left contest would be inaccurate. For instance, Margo McDonald's constant appearances on the telly were more important in her election as vice chairman than any views she held on policy.

Beneath this unity there are however, two tendancies at work which may wreak havok in the longer term. The first is that of Douglas Henderson, MP for East Aberdeen, and a particularly nasty right wing populist. At last year's Motherwell conference of the • SNP, he openly denounced the "devolution

is a stepping stone..." argument of the leadership, throwing his hat into any leadership contest in the process. Today, although isolated in the party, he is content like many other Westminster notables to wait in the wings, confident that events will shortly return him to the centre of power.

On the other side of the party, there is the small but frowing band of SNP trade unionists. The party has recently employed its first full time officer for this work in the shape of Steve Butler, a young ex-ASTMS steward from Rolls Royce. rise of the SNP has given its members in probably every factony in Scotland, and Butlers job is to organise them. To that end' the SNP has been active in redundancy fights in West of Scotland plants like Beatties of of Blantyre. Already they have organised caucuses in trades councils all over Scotland, mainly however, outside the trade union big city areas. Obviously it would be wrong to exaggerate this trend, and it is noticeable that at leadership level no campaign is planned against the political levy to the labour movement at all.

As a conference, there three days in Dundee were a non-event. It was carefully stage managed. The question of the Devolution Bill its fate (and future) was not even mentioned. However, as a milestone in the development of the SP, it had its importance, confirming yet again that the danger of the nationalists to the labour movement does not lie in their supposed flag waving hysteria. In fact the opposite is true, for it is the constitutionalism, the atomised electoralism and the fierce hostility to any collective action which may yet prove the force which drives the wedge between working people and the labour movement in Scotland.

[page 8]

and against Scotland's inclusion are based mainly on reaction, unsubstantiated "facts"

The first is that local authorities will be unable to evict non-paying or misbehaving tenants, and therefore rent arrears or "anti-social" behaviour will increase. It has long been the argument of numerous organisations, not to mention the government's own Morris Committee, that eviction for any reason should literally be a last resort. Arrears can be dealt with in any number of ways without depriving a tenant and his family of their house: intensive social work social work and budgetary involvement, wage arrestment and other standard debt procedures. And maybe then at least 20% of tenants threatened with eviction who are not claiming their rightful state benefits will be helped in future, with back benefit due credited against arrears. In Edinburgh recently a Shelter report showed that something near a half of the tenants due to be evicted were not getting all their rent and rates rebates, and/or family income supplement. The adoption of a thorough and humane approach to tenants' financial problems would be a major spin-off from

As for the "anti-social" tenants so often kicked about by politicians, again local authorities would retain the ultimate sanction of eviction, but they could no longer turn their backs on those they put onto the

THE HOUSING GAME CATH PRESLAND, GLASGOW SHELTER

In Scotland over 60% of all housing is publicly owned. In England it is less than half. The stock of privately rented housing here is so small as to be non-existent for most families in need. This means that families are very much at the mercy of the local authorities, the New Town Development Corporations and the S.S.H.A. And all of these bodies are substantially excluded from the Rent Acts, thus reducing protection from viction still further.

At present the literally homeless (i.e. on thestreets) must turn to the Regional authority-Scoial Work to fulfil their accommodation needs. Not only does Social Work not have a statutory duty toward any but families completely without a roof over their heads (in fact the duty in law is only for the children at risk), but within Strathclyde for example, there are virtually as many different policies towards the homeless as there are area offices. These range from keeping families together, to taking children into Care, (this is frequently used as a deterrent to requests for help), to insisting that housing problems are not their responsibility, In practice this latter policy means sendin families in circles around bureaucratic machinery, and would be a fine principle only if accompanied by an all-out campaign by social workers to make Housing responsible. This is not to say that Social Work Departments operate from malice: in many areas they are forced by understaffing and lack of facilities and finance to adopt deterrent attitudes, or simply take children into care. At best the family accommodation

offered is decent Bed and Breakfat, at worst, stigmatising/ed hostels, Homeless Family units, or B & Bs that make parents) and children walk the streets all day.

Because some Housing departments are far too eager to evict tenants in difficulties (notably Edinburgh and Glasgow: elsewhere figures are extremely encouraging), Social Work departments have been left picking up the pieces and the tab. The amount paid out in Strathclyde last year was considerably more than the rent owed by the families. Those not helped by Social Work - those who abscond ("moonlight flits") or just don't want that sort of help or relatives, where they add to Scotland's appalling overcrowding statistics: four times the rate of England and Wales for both. public and owner-occupied houses.

Liberal M.P. Stephen Ross's Housing (Homeless Persons) Bill is shortly to start the standing committee stage of its passage through parliament. Its acceptance by the government is one of the conditions imposed by the Liberals in the current "pact" Basically, it is trying to take the responsibility for accommodating the homeless away from the Social Work Acts and place it within the Housing Acts and thus into the hands of Housing departments - where it belongs.

The arguments for this duty, and the need to back it up with statute and not by useless and frankly unfair government circular (some local authorities implement, some do not), are many. The opposition to the Bill

- must go to friends

8

and myths.

the Bill.

streets.

Featune

[page 9]

69 ACCOMMODATION WANTED AN APPROVED TENANT var ant TUE WIT crete landoros 031 556 355 TEEDEV H1. BUSINESS GENTLEMAN wafarnt hed fornished What about the cost of implementation? If the Charities' recommendations get through, Housing departments will have, where possible, to provide permanent accommodation, at tolerable standard, or provide it as soon as possible. There is no doubt that this will cost money, apart from in cities like Glasgow which have a growing surplus of housing stock. Once again, though, weighing the cost of emergency social work help, and the effect of homelessness on children, against the outlay required to provide adequate housing, the balance tips in favour of the homeless - in social, even where not in financial terms.

And the single homeless? The Charities recommend that Authorities take responsibility for single people who are vulnerable for any reason. A homeless person on his or her own is no less homeless for being single, and too often Housing managements have sadly underprovided for this substantial group.

So, Glasgow Corporation, if you will forgive the anachronism, is to demolish the Blackhill housing "scheme". A certain similarity comes to mind with American disenchantment over strategic hamlets in Vietnam. For this scorched-earth policy has nothing to do with the architectural soundness of Blackhill's housing stock. It is a purely political move; a cynical calculation that the explosive social problems festering in the post-war housing schemes can be papered over by razing the houses and dispersing the population.

I spent the years between five and twenty in a Glasgow scheme: Drumchapel. The schemes were a post-war phenomenon. Frightened by the massive swing to Labour in the 1945 election, the British ruling class and their Labour lieutenants doled out reform. The Glasgow slums would be demolished. In their place rose the "schemes": Drumchapel, Easterhouse, Blackhill, Castlemilk.

These schemes were to prove a doubleedged reform. Inside toilets were traded for a dispersal of the closely-knit working class communities of Clydeside. The working class families were dispatched to isolated brick hamlets where they were easier to contain, while Labour councillors grew corrupt on the building contracts. In other places the "schemes" would have been called for what they were: ghettos.

From Drumchapel it took an hour's bus

provided bed-sitte DUI

The Homeless Persons Bill is not just about the 2,000-plus families evicted or the 3,000-plus who abscond from Scotland's public housing.

If the priority groups already being discussed, and in addition the amendments from English and Scottish Charities, are enacted, the following groups will be included.

Those homeless or threatened with homelessness (private or public), anyone needing to move because of violence or the threat of violence from a member of the household (the Charities are trying to extend this to threats outwith the houshold. e.g. battered wives, people being vandalised or threatened by neighbours or others, etc.), people vulnerable due to old age, handicap, or pregnancy (from the time it is medically confirmed, which is a departure from previous eleventh hour rehousing practice, the single homeless (charities amendment); and anyone who is homeless will be housed with all those people normally expected to reside with him.

Thir Bill it passed would certainly be a major step on the way to realising the aspirations and long term campaigns of

was the School.

dross.

atur numerous bodies. After years of anomalies in England, where this responsibility was taken on voluntarily and therefore unevenly by local authorities, statute seems the only way really to begin the fight for decent, permanent housing for all those who need it; in itself the Bill doesn't alleviate homelessness except — if implemented properly the most blatant and immediate kind.

There are still hazards and pitfalls on the parliamentary road, for instance over when the Bill if enacted will commence, and over enforcement procedures. As the Bill stands, without amendment it would be extremely difficult to force a Scottish authority to act, and any appeal against a decision would be far too complex and lengthy for an ordinary person to undertake. Both Tory and Labour M.P.'s have put in amendments, the majority of which would weaken or emasculate the Bill.

The homeless have no direct voice. Only the very brief time left in the life of this Bill will tell whether groups and individuals acting on their behalf have been successful in achieving this step toward better conditions, and better control over public authorities ability to act as they please with their present and prospective tenants.

Drummy Boy

ride to reach the comparative civilisation of the city centre; a long way to go after a day's work. Drumchapel had no pubs, cinema, bingo hall or restaurant in all the fifteen years I grew up in it. ten years, they did build one cafe and a swimming pool, shared between 60,000 people. All this had an effect if not a purpose: to create a rootless, atomised workforce. And where failing capitalism cannot provide jobs, a lumpen proletariat.

Into the schemes were introduced instruments designed to ensure the working class did not reunite. Chief among these

My teachers compared unfavourably with U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in South Vietnamese villages. They were alien, middle class and only too anxious to leave the scheme at 4 o'clock. Their philosophy was to "help the cream"; pupils were streamed according to imputed academic ability, and attention lavished on those designated the most able. I was informed by my teachers that the majority of the 1500 school students were already a lost cause and fit for nothing but facotry fodder. I remember repeated warnings never to go into teaching; I would only end up having to waste time on the

The factory fodder were kept at their desks by means of that infamous Scottish institution, the belt. I was subsequently to learn, years later, that much of the power of the right wing in the E.I.S., the major

After the first

9

teachers' union, rests on their terrorising the average class teacher into believing that without the belt the schools in the schemes will be like those in New York!

In gratitude for championing this "defence" against the pupils, the right wing is constantly re-elected. As in Vietnam, democracy and civil rights have to be "suspended" to counter the supposed meance. and, not surprisingly, the masses reply in kind. I myself was belted on a number of occasions. In the Calvinist ethic pain is conducive to good learning.

The repressive violence just beneath the surface was manifested in another permanent feature of the scheme, the Glasgow police. They patrolled constantly in twos and threes in gaunt-looking Land Rovers, peering out inscrutably through the wire mesh on the windows. Only years later, in the Catholic ghettos of Belfast watching the R.U.C., did I realise that middle-class housing estates are not patrolled day in, day out, by cop cars endlessly cruising at five miles per hour.

The job of the scheme and the school was well done. I was "streamed". I went to university, where I met the middle class of my own age for the first time. They asked where I cam from. I told them. course", they would reply, "you mean the Old Village... not that scheme?" I told them all to fuck off. I hope the people of Blackhill do the same.

GEORGE KEREVAN

"But of

[page 10]

depend on Scotland's dwindling marufacturing sector. Encouraging consumer spending by cutting income tax and doubling pensions will suck in foreign imports, creating a balance of payments deficit, and drive up the prices of the limited local produce. Domestic inflation means exports cost more. nightmare loss of competitiveness and profits for local capitalists. MacKay has a simple answer of oil revenues should initially be invested abroad"

a substantial proportion

The result is a

breaking the unions in order to allow the launching of Scottish oil imperialism and domestic profit. Thus the subtle shift in blame for Scotland's economic woes from the failed Scottish capitalists to the trade unions. Here MacKay exposes the myth of "economics" as a neutral "science" rather than what it is, capitalist ideology. Unemployment is not caused by the trade unions, rather they are a weapon against it, given proper leadership. Unemployment in Scotland has been persistently higher than in the UK since the 1930s, long before wages reached parity with UK levels. Unemployment in Scotland has created labour mobility on a vast scale, driving more than 20 million Scots abroad in search of work. Those who stayed were not put on the dole because they were unwilling to leave their place in the queue for a council house both Wales and the North of England have a higher proportion of home owners but equally catastrophic unemployment.

Unemployment will remain in an independent capitalist Scotland as a result of the vagaries of the unplanned world economy. The contrast between Scotland's oil shieks and the unemployed, coupled with the aspirations opened up by independence, could unleash a fresh surge of the class war.

This leaves the intelligent bourgeois with two options. Firstly, to abandon the idea of independence. There are signs that this is happening in some quarters - witness the Scotland is British Campaign. It is significant that the myopic writers of Scotland 1980 forget entirely about the brooding presence of the multi-national companies and what they might have to say about the torces unleashed by independence.

The second option is a gamble: to use the oil money to buy off the class consciousness of the Scottish working class. This is the choice of sections of the ruling class who back the SNP. Their hope is to kill the unions with kindness by integrating them into the machinery for doling out the oil revenues. Then when the economy is ruptured by inflation the semi-state unions will be the policemen for a rapid austerity programme in the interests of national unity. Just like Sweden.

In this context, it is interesting that the tailpiece to Scotland 1980 is an essay by Gavin Kennedy on "defence" advocates Scotland joining NATO and spending more per head of population on "defence" than Spain, Yugoslavia or Romania. Mr. Kennedy was once a member of the Trotskyist SLL. "radical" in the SNP. This opportunist transformation has been accompanied by the rationale that nationalism is a more potent ideology than class. Clearly Messrs. Kennedy and MacKay reserve the right to a little insurance just in case the unemployed Scottish workers don't feel the same way, circa 1980.

Scotland 1980: the economics of self government. Q Press. Edinburgh. £5.95 £2.40 paper. Ayailable at all good bookshops or by post from Q Press. 58 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 3NS. 25p extra for post and packaging.

He is now a leading

Kennedy

cased,

SCOTLAND 1984?

Question - What is the intelligent economist's notion of an independent capitalist Scotland? Answer Sweden with oil.

This none too surprising view emerges from the pages of Scotland 1980, a series of essays by a number of prominent Scottishbased economists under the editorship of Professor Donald MacKay. Published in May amid a ballyhoo of publicity which included five TV programmes, Scotland 1980 is a logical continution of the debate in ruling class academic circles concerning the problems of independence begun in The Red Papers (1975) and The Radical Approach (1976). MacKay's contribution is the poorest to date, and verges on the banal as regards the political economy of independence.

The originality of Scotland 1980 lies in another direction: its advocacy of a particular political option for an independent capitalist Scotland based on a sophisticated rationalisation of Scottish economic problems. For MacKay and his contributors Scottish unemployment and low productivity stem from the attitudes of the Scottish trade unions. towards equality of incomes and trade union resistance to technological progress and to occupational mobility, have been among the principal constraints upon economic progress", writes SNP David Simpson. National wage bargaining has led the unions to win wages equal to UK levels with only 95% of the productivity, thus putting over-priced Scottish workers out of a job. be twice as high as in the UK, writes Charles Mulvey, but vacancies are also higher, proving Scots workers are voluntarily unemployed because they will not move out of their council houses to find work.

Though MacKay and his fellow economists plead professional neutrality towards independence, it is clear they view self government as creating "a climate of opinion which is amenable to institutional change" where a capitalist government "may more casily be able to assert the primacy of national over sectional interests." Such institutional changes directed against the "sectional interests" of the unions and the working class include the end of subsidised council housing to promote labour mobility. Also, a Swedish-style National Labour Market Board which would integrate the union leaderships into the state machinery. These moves are coupled with an industrial policy geared to tax incentives for industry, pioneered in Sweden, to promote local capitalism.

How does MacKay see North Sea oil revenues fitting into this scenario? Here lies a problem for a capitalist Scotland in 1980. The SNP have stirred up working , class expectations by promising a bonanza spending spree. But capitalist profits

Scottish unemployment may

"Popular attitudes

SCOTTISH ECONOMIC DIARY

There lies the political message of Scotland 1980: the pro-independence sections of the ruling class have no intention of creating an oil-rich paradise for the workers, nor have they any stomach for state capitalism. Thus oil wealth is an embarassment. All it enables the Scottish capitalist class to do is avoid a balance of payments problem by providing massive reserves. This frees the capitalist government! from domestic constraints on growth and profit. MacKay says in black and white what we all suspected: the workers in oilrich Scotland will fare no better than the average Arab worker.

This catch-22 of North Sea oil is no more than the contradiction of maintaining a capitalist economy, an assumption which the pop economics of Scotland 1980 never challenges. Implicit in MacKay's scenario is therefore an attempt to square the circle by 10

[page 11]

200 Scots crossed to Ireland to help lan

with the other side"

of those groups.

worst of a bad lot.

harassment.

murder.

organisation".

G. LATO

International LOYALIST VIOLENCE GROWS

Paisley with his general strike. They were led by Roddy MacDonald self styled Supreme Commander of the UDA in Scotland. Mr. MacDonald told the press: "If there is any violence the fault will lie However that may be, 600 catholics have been assasinated by loyalist paramilitary groups since 1972. The UDA is the largest

In 1920 John Maclean wrote a pamphlet titled "The Irish Tragedy: Scotland's Disgrace". Those words are just as applicable today. Scotland's contribution to the sufferings of the people of Northern Ireland does not only come from the cowboy antics of Mr. MacDonald and his friends. In a British army, hated and feared by the Nationalist population of Norther Ireland Scots regiments are particularly notorious. It is common opinion that they are the

An indication of what the army is there for, can be found in the story of the death of Danny McCooey. On May 1st, Danny and a friend left a Belfast social club. They had the misfortune to bump into an army patrol. While Danny was attempting to drag away his friend who was shouting, he

was attacked by the soldiers. He was then taken for "questioning" at British military headquarters. When he was finally taken to hospital his stomach had collapsed and there was a hole at the base of his lung. On May 20th he died of his injuries.

And yet while Paisley's strike was on and while the UDA bullyboys were doing their stuff the army did practically nothing. Three people were killed and 50 injured in gun and bomb attacks during the strike. Yet the worst any of the loyalists suffered from the crown was lan Paisley's two hour visit to a police station.

The press in Britain has been claiming a victory for Roy Mason and the Royal Ulster Constabulary with the ending of the strike. Certainly Paisley and the UDA failed in one of their objectives. They wanted the old loyalist Stormont parliament restored. They didn't get it and they weren't likely to. The British government knows full well that there can be no return to the old pre-1968 days. Its commercial interests depend on its ability to maintain control in the north and to keep the friendship of the Southern government. Stormont proved unable to hold down the minority in the north and they don't want it back.

But what the press has tended to overlook is that the other demand of the strikers has

been achieved. Mason has promised to step up the campaign against the IRA. An infantry Brigade has been added to the strength of the British Army in Ireland Paisley has persuaded the British to screw their courage to the sticking place and in all probability has opened the doors to the worst violence since 1972. And that must be accounted a loyalist victory.

The people who will be on the receiving end of the threatened pogrom are the ordinary people of the catholic ghettoes innocent bystanders like Danny McCoocy. The only force that will defend them is the Provisional IRA. That is the reality whatever the press may say.

Socialists in Britain - and Scottish socialists in particular - have more to do than sit back and hope for the best A solidarity movement in Britain is long overdue. Militants the length and breadth of the labour movement should start campaigning now so that the cry from that movement becomes. BRITAIN OUT OF IRELAND FREE.ALL IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS THE IRISH PEOPLE TO DECIDE THEIR OWN FUTURE SOLIDARITY WITH THE RESISTANCE.

MATT MONTGOMER Y

PROTEST ACROSS POLAND

The Polish Worker's Defence Committee (KOR) was founded in September 1976 following the sacking and jailing of workers who struck and protested against food price rises in June of that year. The price increases were estimated to be in the region of 70% by the Morning Star. Since then the KOR has been the target of continued government This campaign has been stepped up in recent weeks. Firstly Stanislaw Pyjas, a student member of the KOR was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs in Krakow. The official explanation that he had fallen to his death while drunk was rejected by his fellow students who took to the streets during the crucial "Juvenalia' student festival, demonstrating against his

Following this, three other members of the KOR - Jan Jozef Lipski, Adam Michnit, and Jacek Kuron - were arrested on the way to his funeral. Five other supporters of the committee were then also arrested, while a further two fell victim to a "road accident". The arrested oppositionists face charges of "colusion with a foreign

These measures have been greeted with a wave of protest, including a week long hunger strike by 14 dissidents in St. Martin's church in Warsaw, and a storm of protests,

demonstrations and solidarity hunger strikes throughout Europe.

In the face of these protests the Polish press and radio have mounted a counter campaign, supporting the official explanation of Pyias death, and attacking the defence committee. The Warsaw daily Zycie Warszawy has been in the forefront of this with the publication last week of 20 letters on the recent events. The letters - signed but carrying no addresses - call for the arrest of all members and supporters of the KOR and attack the church for permitting the "use of the House of God for anti-state excesses". In order to prevent any scepties from assuming that these letters were forged Zycie Warszawy also printed the text of a letter which calimed that Pyjas murder was at the hands of "pad thugs, aided by the police". "the ravings of a mad man" by the editors.

The attempt to crush popular support for the KOR seems doomed to failure. The oppositionists themselves have no intention of being silenced. In a letter from prison entitled / will go on shouting, printed in the Hamburg weekly Der Spiegel, Adam Michnit insists that the campaign of opposition will go on until the attainment of "National sovereignty, Socialist democracy and constitutional legality". Michnit continues: "We must fight for these ceaselessly, even if

This letter was described as

11

we put our personal freedom and safety at risk by doing so".

At present the strength of the opposition is impossible to measure. However, Jacek Kuron, interviewed by the French Trotskyist daily Rouge gives some indication: "We have so far distributed nearly three million zlotys (about 3,000 months average wage). The greater part of this money came tens of thousands of different people. There are petitions with nearly 3,000 signatures including the letter from 1,100 Ursus wo.kers demanding the reinstatement of those who have been sacked".

The dilemma facing the Polish bureaucracy is a serious one. It can only attempt to defeat the opposition by repression, yet by doing so it not only strengthens their resolve but, as the death of Pyjas showed, also strengthens the oppositions support among the population as a whole. Yet it cannot afford to ignore the opposition or try to grant them a few concessions for unlike the disturbances of the past, this opposition is politically consolidated and organised. In addition to the KOR the Krakow students announced their intention to form their own organisation, in opposition to the official students union. To allow these elements of self organisation to develop would be to court disaster and this the bureaucracy is aware of.

[page 12]

Scottish Socialist is anxious to provide a regular platform for all those struggling against capitalist oppression. For this issue, we have invited a leading

NASY

militant in the women's movement in

for women's liberation ties in with the fight against capitalism.

C

Free listings for all Labour Movement events. Other notices and small ads: £1 for up to 20 words plus 3p for each additional word. Deadline for next issue: May 19 period covered: June 1 - July 18th. Scottish Socialist, Top Floor, 64 Queen St., Glasgow.

SATURDAY JUNE 25: Campaign for Democracy in the Labour Movement conference in Stirling. Contact S. MacLennan 18 Carrington St., Glasgow. 041-332 8728. SATURDAY JUNE 18 - SATURDAY JUNE 19: Socialism and dependency - a conference on the transition to socialism, the question of external dependency and the implications for Scotland. Speakers include ANDRE' GUNDER FRANK, ERNESTO LACLAV, JOHN GITTINGS. In the St. Ann's Centre, Edinburgh. Details from Scottish International Institute, 58 Queen St., Edinburgh (031-226 4668). FRIDAY AUGUST 12: Conference to mark 85th birthday of HUGH MACDIARMID, Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh. Speakers include David Daiches, Hamish Henderson, Tom Nairn. Followed by a concert on Saturday 13th, with 7:84 Theatre Company. Conference organised by Akros publications and the Scottish International Institute, 8 Queen Street, Edinburgh.

"SOCIALIST CHALLENGE" SCOTTISH TOUR to launch new revolutionary paper.

Monday June 20th: HAMILTON. 7.30 p.m. The Royal Hotel, The New Cross, Hamilton. Tuesday June 21st: GLASGOW. 7.30 p.m. MacLellan Galleries, Sauchiehall Street. Wednesday June 22nd: EDINBURGH 7.30 p.m. Trades Council Picardy Place. Thursday June 24th: ABERDEEN 8.00 p.m. The Music Hall, Union Street. Friday June 25th: FALKIRK. 7.00 p.m. The Sitting Room, Temperance Cafe, Lints Riggs. Speakers: Rich Palser, "Socialist Challenge" trade union correspondent. Plus local labour movement figures.

New Scottish Women's Liberation Journal: Issue 1 now out. Articles on: Socialism and Feminism; Abortion; Feminist Poetry; News; Reviews, Available price 40p (inc. postage) or £1.50 for 4 issues (inc. postage) from: Sally Henry, 23 Marchmont Crescent, Edinburgh.

Socialist Challenge

SCARLET WOMAN

At the Women's Liberation Movement's conference in Newcastle last year it was agreed to establish a regional network for the "socialist current" in the movement. Many socialist women felt a need for the opportunity to engage. in political discussion in relation to their involvement as feminists, while trying to avoid the sectarianism into which past "Women and Socialism" conferences had degenerated, often forcing splits within the movement. Regional contact lists were compiled, and in many areas there have been workshops on feminist-socialist practice. The newsletter "Scarlet Woman" was established to co-ordinate the various discussions and maintain à contact between the regional groups. This has encouraged the reformation os socialist women's groups, marxist study groups, and so forth in many towns. The purpose of an organised socialist network is to strengthen the position of socialists in the movement by providing the opportunity for theoretical discussion in areas of work, thus improving the level of political understanding, and also to give support to feminists active in trade unions and mixed organisations.

Discussions in the regional workshops and in the newsletter have covered many topies — unemployment, and women working; abortion and other aspects involved in demanding a woman's right to choose; sexuality; the role of women in Northern Ireland; and at a recent Scottish meeting held in Edinburgh women were very aware of the need for a more concrete theoretical position on the socialization of housework,

in response to the potentially reactionary demand for "Wages for Housework". While the papaers have been varied in quality and approach, many women have found immensely valuable the chance for serious discussion from a feminist basis. Plans are now underway for a national "Women and Socialism" conference, probably in January.

There is an urgent need for all socialists to examine the nature and causes of women's oppression. Capitalism creates a web of ideology which keeps it together and makes it's absurdly unjust system appear natural and unavoidable. If we look at the six demands of the movement, we see that they are not just for equality in the present system, but raise a challenge to the entire organisation of society through division of all kinds sex, colour, skill, class, etc. The demands are not the substance of the movement, but its unifying factor - the autonomy of separate groups has always been a prime strength of the movement making it a melting pot of ideas from the grass roots. Feminism questions all institutions. Being a feminist means making an absolute commitment to women and to the selforganisation of women in the struggle against our oppression, and in collective attempts to redefine ourselves against the distortions enforced on us in order to maintain the current system. Socialists should recognise the revolutionary potential of feminism, and participate in attempts to work out a clearer socialist analysis of women's oppression as part of the way towards the liberation of women.

12

[page 13]

Dear Comrades, Socialist Challenge will commence regular publication from 9th June. This letter is to ask your support for the new sixteen-page paper.

Our aim is ambitious. We want it to become a paper which can serve as the voice of tens of thousands of non-aligned militants in the trade unions, in the women's movement and in the universities, polytechnics and schools. It is a conscious attempt to halt the fragmentation and disunity which characterises the socialist left at the present moment. The reasons for this are obvious: the right wing is on the offensive, fascists are increasing their strength, Labour's policies are demoralising its own supporters and we, the left, unable to respond in a unified fashion because of splits and sectarianism.

Socialist Challenge will naturally reflect in its editorial and its news, coverage the views of the IMG, but we are proposing a number of important inovations:

We are going to invite non-aligned (1) militants and women's groups, gay groups, shop-stewards committees, tenants or squatters organisations and others with no regular means of communication to utilise our new 'Open Forum' space in the paper every week. This will be in addition to a regular letters column. We are giving over a page in every (2) issue to guest columnists holding a wide range of views to comment on differing themes: the monarchy, the army, the church, the police, soccer violence, punk rock, Marxism and art, etc. This column will be a regular feature under the rubric 'Surplus Value and will in general relate to issues usually ignored by the organised left. We will be devoting increasing (3) attention to cultural events and again will attept to vary the coverage from week to week.

Readers who would like more detailed information about this should obtain the recent pamphlet, "Chilo's Secret Prisoners" from the Chile Committee for Human Rights: 1 Cambridge Terrace, London NWI.

I would like to pay particular attention to an example of the second category of prisoner, so that your readers can judge how much credence to put on the Juntas Human Rights stance. In March this year eight young Chilian workers arrested in Santiago. Their names are, Fernando Espinosa E, Ulises Galardo A, Eliseo Atally C, Eugenio Bizama C, Luis Quilodran M, Roberto Vazquez D, Raul Jimenex R and Mario Victor Leivo Castro. They were handed over to the DINA and savagely tortured.

As your paper has had a much more consistant position on defending Human Rights than many papers with many times your resources we hope that you will once again give practical assistance in publishing the names of these eight young men. Hackney Branch of the National Union of Public Employees has acted swiftly in attempting to gain further information as to their treatment. We hope all your readers in the Labour Movement will, through their Trade Unions, Political Parties, Student Union or Solidarity Committees where they exist, will publish these names so that the Junta will know that the outside world is aware of their barberism, and that one day they must account account for their erimes in full.

Dear Comrades, Could you please print an appeal for any information on the origins and present practices of the Orange Lodges in Scotland in the next issue of Scottish Socialist.

Responses to this letter should be addressed to the Scottish Socialist Offices, 64 Queen St. Glasgow.

Fraternally, Dave F.

Yours NICK BEETON

Give and take

(4)

We will make efforts to ensure that our news-reports provide information which is of interest to a far wider public than the membership of left groups. In other words we will attempt to publish material deliberately blacked out by the capitalist press. That is why we are appealing to sympathetic journalists, media workers, cartoonists, and others, to bring us the material they want to publish but cannot do so in their own publications.

(5)

In order to facilitate the above tasks we will be holding open editorial board meetings every Friday lunch time. That is they will be open to all those sympathetic to our project who are anxious to be involved in changing the face of the newspaper. We will also have regional meetings of correspondents which-you can be informed about. We hope that you will help us achieve these tasks and agree to sponsor the paper by sending it a message of support today and we urge you to match your support by a financial commitment to get the paper off on a firm footing.

Dear Comrades, Most of your readers will be aware of the terrible repression unleashed by the Chilean Military Junta since their right-wing military coup that toppled the government of Salvador Allende Gossens on Sept. 11th, 1973. Thousands were shot torture routine at the hands of the different branches of military intelligence. Also many met their deaths in concentration camps.

1976 saw a shift in the Junta's tactics of reptession thanks to international solidarity actions which exposed the regime's barbarism, and some of the Junta's friends became increasingly embarrassed, notably the President of the United States. Thus in January 1976 the Junta passed a "protecting human rights"; they decree, received its reward in May of that year when US treasury secretary Simon granted it 90 million dollars economic aid, further indirect aid was received through US financial institutions making a grand total of 1.8 billion dollars. From then on, the Junta developed a tendency towards a two-pronged method of repression: first. secret prisoners, and second prisoners on trumped up charges of being common criminals, thus reducing the official statistics for political prisoners.

Yours sincerely, Tariq Ali, Editor, Socialist Challenge, 328/9 Upper Street, London N1.

13

[page 14]

Theatre

the Scottish Office.

play.

Music

CUTURE

A play with a soft centre

Apart from the similarity in names, one would not expect any confusion between the plays of fiery socialist John McGrath, best known for his association with the 7:84 Theatre Company, and those of Tom McGrath, whose most popular work to date. is about Laurel and Hardy. Yet it is Tom McGrath's expose of Scottish prison's *-e Hard Man premiered in May at the Edinburgh Traverse which has brought covert threats of political censorship from The Hard Man is McGrath's investigation of violence in Scottish society presented in the form of a thinly disguised biography of Glasgow gangster Jimmy Boyle, jailed for life on a murder charge in 1967. The centrepiece of the play involves an on-stage reconstruction of the notorious "cages" at Portersfield prison, Inverness, where prisoners were confined - naked.

The real Boyle had a further six years added to his sentence for his part in the Portersfield prison rising which resulted in these cages being put in cold storage. Little wonder the Scottish Office were sensitive about such techniques coming to light. Fortunately a well orchestrated press campaign seems to have frightened off a rumoured high court injunction banning the

However, beyond the agitprop, MeGrath's play fails to make an adequate statement about the unique aspects of institutionalised violence in Scotland. It does not tell us why Scotland puts more people in prison per head of population than any other country in Europe, nor why Scottish teachers still daily perpetrate common assault on children with a leather belt. In some senses the Boyle character is in fact divorced from important aspects of violence in Scotland - for instance his disaproval of religious sectarianism. As a general comment on the violence - provoking alienation of capitalist society, The Hard Man has something to say but little new to add.

McGrath's failure lies in his unfailing liberalism. The dramatic heart of his play is not the altogether too sensationalist use of the "cage" but a speech by the warder Paisley. This character is portrayed as a sadistir screw, tolerated and protected by the majority of warders because his violence ensures the safety of his colleagues. At a crucial point Paisley faces the audience and poses the liberals dilemma: if you have sympathy for the Boyle - character because "society made him what he is" then you must also sympathise with Paisley as he is equally a product of the same system.

major political parties. This feeling can only be ignored by the left at its peril. The National Front have already approached the Sex Pistols.

The thing that will work most in the left's favour is the relationship between punk rock and black culture. I'm not saying that the music is the same, though the Clash do the odd reggae number. More it is a case of white kids being just as unemployed as blacks without the culture, solidarity or identity. So what they have created is an identity with its own music, dancing and style of dress. In its clearest form it is expressed by The Class, who in White Riot long for the chance to fight back in the same way as the blacks in Notting Hill last August. Of course this solidarity can work the wrong way. The swastika worn by so many punks and songs such as I Wanna Be In The Nazi Party are danger signs. Though bands like the Clash totally abhor them.

How often do you get a Left/Right split in rock music?

Unfortunately you don't get revolution from rock and roll. Most punk bands will end up back on the dole while a couple of the more acceptable ones will be assimilated by the rock music industry. In the meantime more people will hear the Clash and the Sex Pistols than will read anything produced by the left.

14

We beg to disagree. Violence is not neutral: for socialists it is a question of distinguishing between the violence of the oppressed, and the violence of the oppressor.

Because it does not make this distinction but honourably acquits both screw and con, The Hard Man ends on a weak note dramatically. For though McGrath's liberal conscience leads him to wish to condemn the prison system he is robbed of a climaz because he ultimately accepts it as society' garbage disposal unit. To contrive an ending McGrath is forced into having the Boyle character smear himself with his own excrement to fend off Paisley. Showing presumably that the individual will triumph. Crap indeed. It was the mass of prisoners who triumphed when their collective rising broke the system at Porterfield.

The director and cast of The Hard Man make a brave try at overcoming the play's weaknesses. Praise must also go to Traverse director Chris Parr for standing up to intimidation. Parr has lately been denounced for "nationalism" and "commercialism" at the Traverse. In a Morningside accent, that means any attempt to say something relevant about Scottish society in a way people still understand.

covering Scotland. Send £3 for one year (inland or sea mail overseas) to: Scottish SocialiSt, 64 Queen Street, Glasgow. Please specify if you want your sub backdated to the first issue (October 1876) or to start with current issue.

aspects

PUNK

The recent tour of the Clash has brought the new wave of punk rock to Scotland. Scottish Socialist asked NICK CLAYTON, rock correspondent for the Edinburgh University student newspaper, and a socialist. to comment.

You may wonder what an article on punk rock is doing here. But if you look at it this way, anything which incurs the wrath of the entire mass media, Mary Whitehouse and tells Bill Grundie to "sod off" must have something in its favour.

Punk is political. For most bands this stance is simply nihilist, anti-American, antifashion and totally anti-establishment. They are also completely disillusioned with the

[page 15]

(38pp, Published for the British Council by

politically, it would be difficult to overemphasise Hugh MacDiarmid's position as a figure of universal significance. It is all the more irritating, therefore, when one finds people who ought to know better (usually the presenters of English arts programmes) MacDiarmid's personality - his Anglophobia, for instance, or the oft-suggested contradiction (which isn't really a contradiction at all,

Communism and his Nationalism. Such things don't matter at all when considered next to the concerns of his creative work yet, all too ogten, MacDiarmid is discussed

Such a charge could not possibly be made of this book. With an economy which verges on the brilliant, Professor Morgan has provided the newcomer to MacDiarmid with one of the most comprehensive and satisfying essays on the subject to have appeared so far. Taking the whole corpus of MacDiarmid's work into account, Professor Morgan very skilfully selects passages from every period of MacDiarmid's career, and, by examining these passages in some detail, charts Mac- Diarmid's development with a high degree

This is perhaps the most important thing about this book - it goes some way towards putting MacDiarmid into perspective, thereby making clear to the reading public the true nature of MacDiarmid's considerable genius. This does not simply involve pointing to

MacDiarmid's failures are often of more significance than other men's successes -

enormous achievement of A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, we must realise the failed intention of To Circumjack Cencrastus. In that particular case, and a number of others, Professor Morgan does not stint his

artistic approach.

potential.

forgotten that, although he is internationally known as a poet, MacDiarmid's first book was, in fact, a prose work Five Senses. It often seems a pity that MacDiarmid didn't spend more time on creative prose - so much of his prose work seems rushed, careless, rambling, disfigured by the need to get the thing finished - but. there is a sense in which even his discursive prose is creative. which much of this work was written created a style which, at its best, makes for dynamic and invigorating reading. As with the poetry, Professor Morgan gently but firmly separates the wheat from the chaff says what is good about the best of the books and doesn't waste any time with the slighter productions, a number of which were never intended to have any lasting significance.

The book is completed by a very comprehensive biography of MacDiarmid's publications and publications about Mac- Diarmid. I'm not at all sure of the purpose of including such a list — unless it is to draw attention to out-of-print volumes - but it's handy to have, historically interesting, and gives a finishing touch to what is, I repeat, one of the most comprehensive and satisfying essays on MacDiarmid to have appeared so far

Donald Campbell is the author of the "Jesuit" and has just completed a play on the Scottish Rising of 1820.

The conditions under

Books

Edwin Morgan on Hugh MacDiarmid the Longman Group, 40p)

Artistically, historically, socially and

dwelling on the peripheral trivia of

when you come to think of it) of his

in these terms.

of clarity.

MacDiarmid's successes - it involves pointing to his failures too. Of course,

but, if we are to fully appreciate the

critical duty.

UTUre

What emerges very clearly from this is the nature of MacDiarmid's commitment. "We have to remember", Professor Morgan reminds us "that he is a poet who is also a citizen rather than a citizen who is also a poet." In other words, MacDiarmid does not write Socialist verse because he is a Socialist (although, of couse, he is) but because he is a poet. His concern with the 'interdependencies of life' flows from his concern for art - MacDiarmid would argue that there is no area of life with which art should not be concerned - and his political philosophy is the logical extension of his

This, it seems to me, is what lies at the very core of MacDiarmid's achievement and what makes him such an important writer for our time. In considering some of the so-called Socialist leaders of the Labour Movement, it often seems that they have a vested interest in deprivation and mediocrity; a need to keep a large section of the community in an under-privileged and ignorant state, so that they can build careers on the foundation of mass inadequacy. MacDiarmid has never been less than an uncompromising enemy of such false prophets - but perhaps the fire of his opposition has tended to obscure the brighter flame of his belief that every man is a 'quart that's squeezed into a pint'. In a literary career that has spanned over half a century, MacDiarmid has never deviated from the basic premise that every man has a capability - if not a duty - to fulfil his own This comes across very strongly in Professor Morgan's book.

As well as dealing with MacDiarmid's poetry, Professor Morgan also devotes some space to a survey of his prose. It is often 15

[page 16]

LAIRD PORTCH, ONLY A BEGINNING

For six weeks 450 workers mainly women, were on strike for equal pay at the Laird Portch clothing factory at East Kilbride. They decided to take industrial action after 18 months of negotiation had achieved nothing. Since December 1975, management had refused to do anything about the shop stewards claim that the wage structure was discrimantory. Unskilled men in the work force were earning nearly £20 a week more than the rest of the skilled workforce, who

The women did not have any claim under the Equal Pay Act, because a job evaluation scheme had not been carried out in the factory (which clearly show the limitations of the equal pay legislation). Management had promised to carry out a job evaluation, then refused. They were aware of the implications of awarding equal pay in one the clothing industry was lactory traditionally had an appalling record of low wages and bad conditions, for a predominantly female work force. So they used various excuses. They claimed that they could not afford to give equal pay: and anyway as stated in a letter sent to the strikers on 18th May, "It would be impossible to give equal pay increases to hundreds of women simply by comparing their jobs with one or two individual men."

The firm which "cannot afford" to give its female workforce an adequate living wage is the multi-national Coats Paton. This Group owns and controls large sections of the British garment industry including brand name like Jaeger, Ladybird and Chilprufe. They have investments in South Africa, Asia and North and South America. Last year profits more than doubled, increasing from £33 million to £78 million. applied for exemption from the government dividend controls use government wage controls, the Social Contract, as an excuse to refuse equal pay.

The strikers received absolutely no support from their union, the National Union of Tailor and Garment Workers (NUTGW) in their fight against management. The union rule book states a commitment to fight for equal pay for women. But they refused to recognise the strike, because another section of the rule book states that before a strike can be official a secret ballot must be carried out at the workplace with a two thirds majority supporting the strike call. This would have given management time to remove the valuable stocks of cloth from the factory. The NUTGW has consistently failed to do anything to improve womens conditions in the clothing industry, and the women at Laird Portch had no illusions about the role that the union would play. Published by Scottish Socialist, 64 Queen Street, Glasgow. Printed and typeset by Trade Uniot Labour.

They recently

but are still prepared to

They knew they would have to rely on their own strength.

From the beginning of the strike the women organised themselves - no union officials came near the picket line. Despite a lack of experience of industrial action the women, organising through a strike committee and mass meetings, ran a 24 hour picket line, and began to take their demands and campaign into the trade union movement. At first, only the stewards were prepared to speak publicly but soon other women were prepared to do the same, and they became more militant. Many of the women had serious financial problems, and collection of money became a priority.

Support grew very rapidly - trade union branches, trades councils, the women's movement, the Socialist Worker's Party and the Scottish Socialist League helped : financially and practically. The strikers realised how their struggle was related to other sections of the working class, who have suffered a severe decline in living standards under the social contract - sections which are now beginning to fight back, as at Heathrow and Port Talbot. Workers at the Kilmarnock Coates Paton factory and the Alloa Jaeger warehouses also took strike action, and other factories took blacking action.

On Friday June 3rd, a settlement was

THE Scottish

Socialist

ECUAL PAY NOW!

reached between NUTGW officials and the management nationally; without any

dation of the shop stewards committee the women voted to return to work. They had achieved a partial victory - management had agreed to carry out a job grading at a national level. In future the shop stewards will attend all negotiations and ensure full report back to the workforce. The Laird Portéh shop stewards have also issued a call for a national meeting of all Jaeger/Coates

The strike was only a beginning. Ellen Nicklin the strike convenor and a shop steward stressed the importance of building on the strength developed during the strike. More of the workforce are prepared strike action when required in the future. Within the factory a strike levy will be set up — and other plants will be encouraged to do the same. Pressure will be put on the union, to make it take up women's rights.

The workers have also realised the necessity of support and solidarity with other sections fighting for equal pay, and against low pay and further wage restraint. The women at Laird Portch have agreed to take part in the Scottish CDLM conference on "Wage Control and Labour Movement

the political intervention

ANN HENDERSON

WHAT IS THE SSL

League was March of this year by socialists who had been expelled from the Scot-setting up of Socialist tish Labour Party by its Challenge as a step on the reformist leadership. It road to creating a class was founded as a revolu- struggle opposition to the tionary Marxist organisa- Labour Government and tion committed to fight its for the united all-British revolutionary party and the uni- We will be submitting -fication of those organi- regular coverage of develsations of the far left in opments in Britain divided by ques-from industrial struggles phone 041-221 7481. tions of than principle.

set up

creation of

tactics

in

The SSL welcomes theNational Secretary, SSL.

anti-working a policies.

rather to the rise of Scottish nationalism.

of our organisation. STEVE KENNEDY

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE class ABOUT THE SSL?

We nave branches or supporters in! Glasgo:, Edinburgh, Dune 2e Stirling, Falkirk, Paisley and Ayr- Hamilton, if you want to know more, a view to possible member- Scotland, Queen St., Glasgow or ialist,

Printed by Buncle Print, Arbroath

[page 1]

Notices

Scottish Socialist

THE FAR RIGHT IN SCOTLAND donald campbell on HUGH MacDIARMID

ISSUE NUMBER SIX PRICE 15p (shops 20p) JUNE-JULY 1977

sing

EUNBIRCH

[page 2]

scottish socialist editorial FOR REVOLUTIONARY UNITY The weakness of the Left in Scotland, never mind Britain as a whole, is a tendency to equate political struggles with trades union struggles. This is a mistake one makes at one's peril. There may be a new rise of worker's struggles, and the Devolution Bill might be dead, but the National Question is still very much with us. The May District Council elections were a timely reminder of this truth. The election results emphasise what everyone knew already: the right-wing course of the Labour Government, and the corruption in Labour-controlled Councils, are driving working class voters into the hands of the ruling class parties especially the SWP.

Those parties to the left of the Communist Party which claim to offer a socialist alternative to the Labour Government were conspicuous by their absence during the elections. Yet in Aberdeen - where a supporter of Scottish Socialist was the only opposition to Labour - a vote of 17% was recorded for revolutionary socialist policies. In Birmingham, a member of the far-left Asian Socialist League beat both the National Front and the Liberal. The reflex on the factory floor against the Social Contract can be channelled in a socialist as well as a nationalist direction.

However, the canny Scottish voter, while he might admire the SWP of Scottish Socialist supporter in his shop stewards committee, is looking for a general solution to the capitalist crisis. Apart from the small size of the far left, which is not confidence inspiring in itself, the average worker is not likely to be impressed by the knowledge that there are, at last count, twenty four different Trotskyist coverage of Southern Africa. The view expressed was that the Angolian and Zin- • babwean guerrillas were rapists and cannibals. Most of the material was culled from official Rhodesian government publications. There was also an extract (the article was published in full in the September 1976 issue) from an article first published in Spearhead. Spearhead is the journal of the National Front - the British fascist organisation.

In addition to this we must call attention to the support for paramilitary organisations that exists in Orange circles. When self styled UDA commander Roddy MacDonald admitted on television that he was engaged in running guns to the loyalists in Northern Ireland there was an attempt to have him: removed from the Loyal Orange Lodge. The move was overwhelmingly rejected by the membership. In recent weeks lan Paisley MP - who is closely associated with the UDA was able to address a substantial and friendly meeting in Glasgow. The sense of priorities felt by these people was expressed at the time of the MacDonald affair by - Pastor Glass. The Pastor explicitly dissoclates himself from and condemns paramilitary groups, but he goes on in an editorial in Scottish Protestant View to say:

ints

2

groups in Britain. The tactical differences between these groups is often obscure even to the participants. Faced with an SWP candidate and a Scottish Socialist candidate standing in the same seat, the vote will be tempted to treat the far left as a bad joke and give his vote to the SWP.

We do not pretend this disunity can be overcome easily. In some cases a great deal of debate and common experience will be necessary. What is possible immediately, and is a vital necessity, is co-operation in elections. The May National Committee of the Scottish Socialist League took the decision to stand three candidates at the General Election, in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Scottish Socialist invites all other parties of the far left and other organisations opposed to the Social Contract such as cuts committees, anti-racist committees and tenants committees, to discuss with us both to avoid a clash of candidates and to explore the possibilities of a joint campaign. Elections are too important to be abandoned te the Nationalists.

As a further contribution to unity of the far left, the SSL National Committee agreed to give support to the new SOCIALIST CHALLENGE newspaper being launched by the IMG and other political and workers groups in England. SOCIALIST CHALLENGE will be committed to the fight for unity of the far left and serve as an open platform for ideas on how this unity can be achieved. SOCIALIST CHALLENGE will not overcome the divisions on the left overnight, but it will be another modest step in the right direction.

"Is it not rather smug and self righteous of the Orange hierarchy to dondemn the UDA and other paramilitary groups while they endorse sunday opening of their own social clubg, to put it another way, shooting Tims is not as bad as having a half on a Sunday.

The authorities, to say the least, do not hinder the growth of sectarianism. No police action has ever been taken against Roddy MacDonald for his gun-running activities though countless Irish militants over here have been deported without trial under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Not long after the Rutherglen bomb attack the Irish Defence League, a group calling for the withdrawal of British troops from Ireland and advocating the right of the Irish to self determination, asked police permission for a march in Glasgow. They were turned down. This incident alone makes it plain what the political stakes are for the authorities.

Sectarianism is the forgotten issue of Scottish politics. Scottish Socialist aims to make it a major concern for all Scottish militants. In future issues we will carry more material on this topic MARTIN O'LEARY

[page 3]

1,000 National Front assembled in London on 23 April. Over 3,000 young people turned out to demonstrate against the NF's racist and fascist policies. (Photo: Andrew Wiard - Report.)

CHRIS BAMBERY

[page 5]

[page 6]

"industrial

pursuit"

torture unit.

thrown out.

see the dispute?

action from the rigs.

of days.

[page 7]

Drumchapel, Weirs of Yoker and Rolls Royce

NEIL WILLIAMSON (in Dundee)

The dramatic

[page 12]

Scotland, to explain how she sees the fight

[page 15]

DONALD CAMPBELL

Annals of the

[page 16]

C

consultation at all with the strikers and their shop stewards. However, on the recommen-

Paton shop stewards.

to fight. The final mass meeting voted to take

Democracy".

Aberdeen, Caith-