On Thursday, November 17th, Ernest Tate, the Manager of Pioneer Book Service, is reported to have been brutally assaulted outside Caxton Hall, where. the SLL was holding a public meeting on the 10th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution. From eye witnesses I understand that he was thrown to the ground by a group sf young men. His glasses were broken and he was systematically kicked as he lay on the ground, mainly in the strmach and groin. He had been selling two pieces of literature: Healy Reconstructs the Fourth International and International Socialist Review. After receiving treatment at hospital he was allowed home. The incident follows several others in which, as I am personally aware, sellers have been threatened with physical violence, It must be seer. in the light of the recent statement by the Political Committee of the SLL in the Newsletter which stated: ".... Ve shell not hesitate to deal appropriately with the handful of United Secretariat agents who hawk it" (Healy Reconstructs ...) around the feke~left in England es a
I would make the following points:
1. The SLL should repudiate this action and discipline any persons
connected with them who may be found to have taken part in the
incident.
2. The left must ensure that there is no repetition of this incident.
Sellers of literature must be defended.
3. Some people may conclude that it is not without relevance that
the SLL has followed a sectarian path for many years and that
it has, in particular, displayed a virulent attitude towards
other tendencies on the left. If anyone challenges the facts of the incident, they should be the subject of independent enquiry.
eeeesece Geoff Coggan.