Platform of the Expelled Left Faction of IS

SEA AE

Pre Face

The Workers Power Group was formed at the end of 1975 as a result of the expulsion from I.S. of the Left Faction. The publication of "A Workers Answer To The Crisis' in 1975 as a pre-conference document for the 1.5. Conference represented the culmination of a number of positions fought for against the errors of that organisation by the Left Faction. The Faétion had a continuous existence in I.S. from 1972. The position taken by the Cliff leadership over the Aldershot bombing - condemnation of the act-as “individual terrorism" with not a word of support for those fighting British Imperialism - signalled the end to any serious work by ‘I.8. on Ireland, The inability of I.S. to clearly distinguish between the violence of the oppressed and the violence of the oppressor was demonstrated again even more graphically after the Birmingham bombings. when 1.8, ‘placed IRA 'terror' on the same level as British Army terror. Its slogan "Stop the Bombings: Troops Out of Ireland" was a cowardly and evasive response to the wave of enti-Irish chauvinism which swept Britain.

I.5.'sS capitulation on Ireland increasingly revealed to the Left Faction

a. deep-rooted economism which expressed itself in a variety of ways.

Bhe Left Faction took up the fight to build a genuine rank and file movement around a fighting programme as against ISts method of limiting its demands and activities to militant trade unionism whilst at the same time tying them organisationally to IS. We predicted that the IS stranglehold would destroy most of these formations. It has. We also fought against IS’s lack of work amongst women and its reduction of perspectives for: that work to questions of purely economic demands.

‘The Left Faction also fought against IS's totally incorrect approach to. the building of an International - "An International can only be built after the development of strong national groupings". . The practice which -flowed from this, the'collecting' of fraternal organisations internationally without a shred of clear programmatic agreement has likewise ended

in failure, As the list of ISs ex-fraternal organisations (Lutte Ouvriere, Avanguardia Operaia and the PRP (BR)) demonstrates an international tendency for the re~creation of a revolutionary communist international can only: be built around the fight for programmatic clarity. The inability of IS +o develop common principled positions internationally was thus jntegrally linked to the inability to develop a programme outlining strategy

and tactics for the workinz class capable of guiding their practice in the class stmggle in Britain, The Left Faction fought for such clarity based on the method of Trotsky's Transitional Programme.

The absence of any conception of strategy and of the revolutionary party's

_ duty to formulate it led to IS tailing workers struggles. Whilst this

was a matter of tailing the mass upsurge of militancy which characterised the '72 to '74 period IS could maintain the illusion of playing an active revolutionary role. However even during this period they were overtaken

by the mass action of workers during the Pentonville jailings period and failed to raise the call for a General Strike. until long after large numbers of workers were already in action, The post-1975 downturn revealed IS's complete inability to give a political lead,

The advent of the Labour Government and the onset of the most, serious crisis for British and World Capitalism produced the alliance between the Trade Union Bureaucracy and the Government embodied in the wage, job and social service cutting Social Contract. This threw the class backwards, producing confusion and demoralisation amongst the rank and file leadership IS had

tailed and adapted to. In the absence of economic militancy IS Simply turned all its attention to unemployment and The Right To Work Campaign until a new upsurge of economic militancy should come along. IS was of

no use to those militents faced with the political question of how to

fight a Labour Government at a time of serious crisis. The only politics that IS could offer was to baldly counterpose itself as "the alternative" to the Labour Party, The Left Faction argued that the answer wes not stunts and sectarian party building but the use of a transitional programme which related. to the crisis. Thus we produced "The Workers Answer to the Crisis’, :

The IS leadership refused all debate and discussion. The 1975 pre-conference discussion was a farce as was the conference itself. Against the IS leadership's order to dissolve the Faction. we refused and stated our intenttion of continuing to fight for our politics openly in the organisation. This the IS leadership would not tolerate. As we said in one of our documents the organisation had developed “a caricature of democratic centralism"., Political debate and clarity with the necessary accountability that is a vital component of healthy democratic centralism was driven out of IS in a series of witch hunts and expulsions starting in 1972 with the expulsion of the Trotskyist Tendency (Workers Fight) and continuing with the expulsion of the "Right Faction" (now the RCG) the Left. Faction and

the IS Opposition (Workers League). Subsequently several local groupings of IS members have been either expelled or left en bloc finding it impossible to conduct any form of democratic debate inside the organisation.

Tn the first issue of our. magazine ‘Workers Power' published in October 1975 we stressed our commitment to revolutionary regroupment, "around a clear programme - a clear strategy and precise tactics", f@he fusion between ourselves and the Workers Fight grouping was entered into by us on a perfectly principled basis-in December 1975. The two groupings had independently adopted principled positions on questions such as Freland, that separated both organisations from the rest of the revolutionary left. We shared a rejection of the Cliff and Healey traditions of opportunism and sectarianism. We shared the position that no-democratic centralist | international based on a revolutionary programme was in-existence. Tactical aifferences existed on work in the Troops Out Movement .and the relative — importance of a tactical orientation to the mass reformist party. The need was recognised at the time of fusion for a period of political argument and ‘debate, central to which was the. production and discussion of an Action Programme, culminating in a conference which would terminate. all the organisational arrangements made at fusion. No such debate took place,

The debate was sabotaged by the ex-Workers Fight leadership, The main areas of difference were subject to a deliberate clouding and evasion and every atterpt to focus them was considered -as factional or "cliquist™, Clear and open political debate on the orientation and strategy of the ICL was impossible. Slander and manoeuvre culminated in the ex Workers Pight: leaders hijacking the leading bodies of the organisation prior to the ICL conference, With the unconstitutional suspension of all Workers Power members of the ICL political committee their attempt to advertise the conference as that of a ‘fused organisation! was both absurd and dishonest. At a meeting on September 19th 1976 we decided to recognise the break up

of the fusion as complete and to reconstitute ourselves as an independent organisation,

Despite the failure of the fusion with Workers Fight (now I-CL), Workers _Power remains committed to joint work on a principled basis and to sharp, political debate with other tendencies on the international and British left. We believe of key importance is a reassessment of world Trotskyism's failure to come to grips with the realities of: post-war capitalism, %o develop and re-elahorats Trotsky's 1938 Programme. This is no academic

task. It is central to the development of strategy and tactics

today which can take the working class forward to the seizure of power. This is the central task facing the revolutionary movement today. Only honest political argument around these and other issues can provide the basis for meaningful revolutionary regroupment. The re-publication of our 1975 document is intended to contribute to this debate,

It was in the context of IS's failure to fight for a principled

and programmatic way forward for the working class that we undertook the publication of ‘Workers Answer to the Crisis!, We counterposed this to the empirical ‘play it by ear' attitude of IS, IS's (SWP's) continued indifference to strategy, despite its sectarian posturing as 'the party', make this document as relevant today as in 1975.

It also serves to differentiate us from those who would invoke the 1938 Programme as the timeless panacea to all the problems now facing revolutionary socialists, We hold by Trotsky's statement that ‘the proletarian Vanguard needs not a catalogue of truisms but a manual of action’ and it is in the light of this that we made this specific contribution towards developing a strategy for the overthrow of capitalism.

Workers Power, May 1977.

Available from Workers Power, 1a Camberwell Grove, London SE5 8JA, England.

‘A Workers Answer to the Crisis' ~- Factional platform of

the IS left faction for the 1975 conference of the International Socialists. (Now SVP.) 25p plus postage. 'Crisis in ISt - statement from Workers Power on the expulsion from IS. 5p plus postage. 'Treland the National Question and IS' ~ Left Faction

document on ireland, Summer 1974. 25p plus postage.

Issues Nos 1 and 2 of Workers Power ~- November and Dec. 1975.

Issues Nos 3 and 4 of Workers Power - December and March 1977. 35p pus postage,

em,

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INntroduchon

Unprecedented opportunities are offered to revolutionaries by the crisis of capitalism, The crisis of direction within the working class movement opens up en ever larger audience for our politics and strategy. Now is the time when our direction si:ould be clear and our confidence high. The crisis calis for the urmost degree of clarity in our politics and perspectives.

We consider the present leadership of 1.8, has failed to give the organisation that sense of direction and perspective, We think they are wrong to suggest that it is in fact the existence of a relatively new Labour Government that lias caused the present Stagnation of the organisation. We need to look further than this

to find the causes of continued membership turnover, of our failure to grow and of the collapse of many of our factory branches,

it is our view that unless we can offer i.e correct arswers to the crisis of capitalism and of the labour riovement we can only grow in a haphazard and uneven fashion, Ouy answers and policies

will be tested more than ever before by sections of tne class in search of a clear alternative, Unless cur answers «nd programme are correct the organisation will continus to be plagued by a

crisis of direction and orientation,

We think the present leadership has noi just failed t.; give the organisation a clear perspective and lir::, It is offe:ing a way forward to the working class movement which is wrexg on many issues, We attempt to outline here the :nswer we c.asider

L$, should argue for in the working cl..ss movemers. in the coming period, It is a programme for » Workers' -‘aswer to

the Crisis. We consider that the preser: state of the organisation

. bears urgent witness to the need for an alternative perspective,

No such alternative can be infallible. Any alternative for the organisation can only be developed on the basis of fuil debate and discussion, Only such a debate can put our perspective to the test of the real world, We submit tis document to that debate, and challenge.the leadership to openly reply and argue their position before the membership of 1,8, Only ia such a debate can the leadership test its. perspectives and enswers,

The document is in three major parts. Part one contains a characterisation of the present crisis of capitalism and the problems posed to the working class movement. The second section will outline our major criticisms of 1.5, policies and answers, The last section will outline our alternative programme,

the crisis and the response

Periods of economic crisis are built into the capitalist system, The history of capitalism is marked by the tendency to periods of 'boom! - frantic scrambling after new investment - followed by ‘slump’, cut-

: backs and unemployment, To be competitive the capitalist firm has to engage in ever rnore expensive rounds of investment. Capitalism “ cannot keep the productivity of labour (i.¢. ‘the amount of surplus

value extracted from the working class) abreast of these increasingly

huge capital outlays. Compared with these ever more massive sums required for competitive investment the capitalist's proportion of

profit has a tendency to decline, In this situation the boz3es must ‘ attempt to further step up their exploitation of the-working class.

In the twentieth century capitalism has failed to step up the rate of profit extracted from the workers in proportion to its massive capital, In the nineteenth century capitalism raised the productivity of labour at a trernendous rate, Since about 1900 this rate has not kept up with the size of capital investments,

But why should W Europe and America be facing : a serious recession now and why do we think that this will be followed by a return of a boom/siump cycle of increasing violence? Since the second world war the major capitalist economies have felt only mild recessions and have grown in a relatively orderly way. This has been possible because the tendency of the rate of profit to fall has been partially and temporarily off-set in two ways.

Firstly, American imperialism expanded after the war and invested

heavily in high profit yielding areas thus developing new markets and new areas of production, In this way America came to dominate the

world system.

Secondly, state intervention in the economy created guaranteed ; markets and 'siphoned-off' capital, This was particularly true of the arms industry, which provided the military back-up to America's imperialist domination, Thus the 'arms economy' was not a ‘higher stage' of capitalism replacing imperialism. It was itself the product of the rising star of American imperialism, The LS, leadership has repeatedly stated that the arms economy represents a 'new stage’ in capitalist history, We consider it represents the ascendancy of American imperialism. But neither state expenditure in arms nor American expension could provide a permanent solution to the problems of the system. Quite the opposite, They lead, in the long term, to further distortions and difficulties in the world economy.

America, because. of its massive arms budget and capital outflow, began to suffér a chronic balance.of payments deficit. This grew to alarming proportions by the mid-sixties,. At the same time economies such as Japan and.Germany grew undex ‘the shelter of America, When America found herself in difficulties tley became dangerous competitors, Similarly the crisis of the system has created 2. little ‘breathing space'

- for some of the undeveloped economies esulting, for example, in ~ the oil price increases,

The result has been an n accelerating tead<ncy to trede and monetary war, Lastly the system bred an unprecedented rate of inflation, “In part

this was built into the system: the failure to raise the productivity

of labour in proportion to the size of capital investment, But-+the

problem has been heightened recently py shortages and bottle-necks

caused by. the boom of 72/73. By the inflationary pressure of

unproductive government spending, and by monopolies simply

increasing prices to maintain ‘cash flow" and profits, The still central position of banis and finance houses in monopoly capitalism has been

_ revealed by the crisis. Their role as a supplier of capital, and

therefore arbitrator over investment plans has been strengthened, They have contributed to the crisis by progressive raising of interest rates, hitting not only manufacturing industry but also areas like the local -.

government programmes. Furthermore, until recently, the working-

-class has resisted attempts to cut real wages, they have prevented capitalism solving its crisis at their © cpense,

The prospect which this has created for world capitalism is a ‘return to the violent booms and slumps typical:of the pre-war system, The immediate récession which we are entering will be characterised by sharpenic trade and monetary war be:ween different blocs of national capita: (hence the squabbling \rithin the Co: mmon Market).

Production will be cut back and unemp! syment will negin to bite.

This will be felt unevenly, motors and building par:icularly severely ‘hit, but everywhere it will be accompz.ied by raticnalization and productivity drives, 'Inessential' government sper ding (i.e. social services) will be cut back and stagnate,

But the central attack will be an attempt to cut back real wages; the

only real solution capitalism has to curb the decline in the rate of

profit, In every major capitalist country this. means stepping up the use of the state machine to break organisations of the working class,

Within this crisis the British ruling cless finds itself in a weak position to compete, Its capital equipment is often decrepit when compared to, for example, Germany. As a result investment return in Britain is comparatively low and labour productivity is drastically so, This led, in the 1960’s, to British big business abandoning the so-called ‘Commonwealth Strategy' (huge overseas investment) and turn to Europe for a ‘solution’, In addition the British ruling class

faces a major crisis for its domination of Ireland. This crisi. has its roots in the redundant character of much British capital investment in the North cf Ireland, The British ruling class hoped to achieve a:more —— profitable eco! nomic hold over treland as a whole,

There can be no immediate solution for British imperialism in the North of Ireland. The spectre of a Protestant dominated convention threatens

any fragile peace that British imperialism can achieve, The Lrish crisis will remain a central component of the crisis of the British ruling class,

‘This political crisis is further exacerbated by the failure of thc.

previous Tory government to enforce rigid wage control or anti- -trade

union lews. This failure has led to the Tories - the open party of big

business ~ being incapable of taking government, At the moment the

ruling class is having to rely on Labour and the trade union bu: reaucracy.

The ‘Scciai Contract’, although it will have a debilitating effec: on ‘the: * workin: class movement, can only be a short term expedient “or

British capitalism, The British bourgeoisie is, therefore, go? ng to.)

be forced into a series of ever more drastic solutions - none of which can

guaran.ce its success or even survival,

It will ave to seek out further aid and credit, whether from tie Interna*ional Monetary Fund, or the Shah of Persia, The conditions imposed on these loans can only further sharpen the social crisis

of Britih society, Whole sections of the economy will have tc be dismariled or drastically ‘rationalized’, The attempt to shac": le the miners to a productivity deal will be only the first attempt to ¢rive up the iroductivity of British industry. All these mean highe: unemp. yment.

Government cut backs in social services will be complemente:i by concessions to private investment in the hope of an "export le: growth" (the aim of successive governments over the last ten years), Whilst

on the: vvages yront attempts to hold dcwn increases are inevitanle,

The ‘Social Ccntract' cannot achieve this with the speed and eftectiveness which ritish capitalism requires, The Labour government is

becoming increasingly aware of this. Two alternatives are be ng -

posed for the near future:

(i) fi attenipt to incorporate the trade union bureaucracy in some form of wage indexing schemes. Indexing’and threshold!sg schemes aim to cut workers living standards. The wage rises are not intended to compensate for increases in prices. They aim only to take the sting out of wage militancy, It is unlikely that the British government will adopt this solution. Their recent Gutcry against the UPW's meagre threshold agreement shows us that much more drastic methods will be needed to cent workers living standards.

(ii) A firm karsh incomes policy or direct wage ireeze. Such a policy would obviously entail conflict with the trade union burearer acy and even splits within the goverament itself.

Either siterracive will be enforced by growing unemployment eid shorttime working,

All this: wiil £= acccmpanied by en increasingly repressive role for. the sta.: maciine. Ireland will be used bots for experits2ats im socalled ‘jot coutrol’, as an excuse for ‘security’ exercises in working class eveas of Britein and as a xesevoir of » ight-wing reaction should it be vequirert, The-SPG mobilivations and rhe Shr. swsbery case

"and the ‘abo ‘anti-terrorist laws' ave clearly posed the danger for

the wor! ing ciass,.

Not eve: this batter of reaction will ensure victory to tne ruling class but the comiue period will see the imrementation of all cf them. They preser. an unprecedented challenge to the working class movernent. How wei is (ie labour movement prepered to meet this attack?

THE WORKING CLASS RESPON EB

Ane ae: a

The working class, especially 6: rant und file levei, has shown great

resilie. ce and combativity. The re-Civcovery of che flying picier ane the occupation strike bear testimony to this, So dues the smasning of the- Industria! Relaiions Act, the freei.z of rhe Per: onvilic Five, the re-awakening of militancy amongst the miners ana whe s »psequent fall of the Heacn government,

The resilienw: of the working cliss therefore star's as « majo: obstacle to all the ruling clots, ‘solutions; tothe crisis, -Hepeciaily.sa §3.new layers «f the workiug class, like women and blacks are.draws into

the struszgle, However, crucial polit’.al weaknes: 3 co-exist with

this mood,

For tweaty ycars cince the war the le -our moverneot wae fragr ented, Struggles wer © typically short ard local whilst the :ank and file aad little j:::olyeiment iv: politics or ‘cade waion effairs at a nation. level. Comrads Cliff has jointed this »1t many timies, But to sssume that reformi:t ideu: disappeared fro ra the shop vloor is entixely mistaken, They wore in cold storage and i :e clazs batsles of the lent five years have thawed them out. The hol’ of reformism ove: the “ritish working class is ideoicgzical rather than organisation.al, Unless a new leadersiip can be built on a priscipled sociatist programme the class will be jveak wid unprepared om cruciai quections cf the day.

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The Bes ponse of the class *o the ‘Social Cormvract' nas re: vealed | these weaknerses, ‘Vhat is the. Social Con ract'? It is, -‘tirstly , an etempt to draw. ‘he re ide union buzeaucs ats into the state :.achii: e, vol. ntarily acceptiiiz and selliny wage- restraint to theic memrers. Secondly,

it is an attempt to exploit the reservoir of reformist ideas which exists at all levels of the labour movement, ideas like ‘national interest’, ‘we are all in the same boat', ‘whatever its faults Labour still stands

for the working man‘ etc, !t seeks to pull the wool over the eyes of

. the low paid workers (particularly women) with its talk of fairness

and concern for the lower paid.

In this situation women, eitner as one of the weakest sections of the

labour force or as unorganiced housewives, will be facing increasing

dangers of beins menipulated by the ruling class, There will be the ° danger of a a vider split between men and women-on the shop floor,

Because of women's traditicnal conservative position they are far more

. likely to be persuaded by government propaganda,

At its best the-esponce to tue ‘Social Contract! has been fragmented, local and unco-ordinated, fcr example the Scottish strikes. Of course a largé part of the responsibility for this lies with the trade union leaders (including the ‘lefts'). But as 1.5, Journal-pointed out:

"Many, perhaps most, of the actual strikers, regard themsclves as ‘special cases in so far as they think about: the matter in general political terms. 1SJ 74 p.4

. Individual groups of workers have continued to fight hard for improvements to living conditions, Almost without exception they have experienced obstruction and resistance from the trade union leaders, But the response has not been even, At worst the response has been an outbreak of craft differential disputes: (e.g. the NGA)

and even voluntary wage cuts (Leicester Textile Workers). Even such a traditionally strong group as the miners‘have been prepared to . settle for an agreement which increases differentials and fails to

keep the miners abreast of rising living costs.

The failure to tzke up the crallenge of the ‘Social Contract’ is summed up by the actual fall in livir:; standard. over the last year, Even if we take the mislea:'ing figure of a 289, increase in basic wage rates during 1974 it is clear “hat afier tex and short-time working the class has

not been keepin; up with the 20% rate of inflation, This does not represent a sufricient cut in living standards to satisfy the ruling

class, It dces :owever meena a drop in workers’ real wages,

The resistance “o unremploy:nent and the short- ~time working does not yet compare wit: the battles of the 1971 mini-slump. .

The response oF the trade union and Labour ‘lefts' is dangerously

misleading and undermines the urgent necessity for a new, revolutionary

leadership in the class as a strategy to meet the need to restructure

drastically British c apitalism’ s investment structure, Wedgewood-Benn ;

is peddling the dead-end 'so.ution' of workers co-operatives thus wh

involving workers in their own exploitation and encouraging the ditching

of hard won con.litions. This ploy is unfortunately reducing the level

of struggle against redundancy with sections of the class remaining passive in the hope of a hand- “out.

Even the extreme ‘left’ wing bureaucrats like Scargill and McGahey have no political answer for the class as a whole, They have no alternative to sectional economic militancy. When faced with the arguments about ‘community interest’ they desperately reply that they are only interested in the miners and no-one else, Thus they walk into the trap set by inflation: the threat to the Fighting. unity of the class as a whole,

Similarly the 'left' leaders are about to open a campaign to withdraw Britain from the Common Market. Whatever the result their efforts can only strengthen chauvinism by spreading 'anti-foreign’ ideas and myths of a 'sovereign British Farliament’. The growth of protectionist ideas amongst workers in threatened industries and the Jack Jones, Wedgewood-Benn plan: for. import controls will further strengthen

this tendency.

The weakness ofthe political response | of the class is underlined by ' the Shrewsbury case and Ireland. Despite the campaign the pickets are still in jail, No generalised working class movement to withdraw the troops lias déveloped: a situation for which the revolutionary © organisations, especially 1.8, bears a heavy responsibility.

All this is not to'say that the class lacks revolutionary’ poteritial.” does not, But at the moment it lacks organisation and, apecially, political direction, However we do deny the unwarranted optimism which characterises Cliff's book "The Crisis".. He sees only the ' “potential, and none of the political obstacles, thus ignoring and ~ undérestimating the tasks of revolutionaries. instead he relies on the 'spontaneous' battles of the class and the hope that ‘leap-frogging’ wage'claims will put the class back on the right road, ;

The fact is that at the moment the class is on the defensive. The traditional organisations remain intact and resilient, The question for us is how to turn this into an offensive,

One thing that is needed is a force which can unite all the fragmented struggles of the rank and file, This means a rank and file organisation. But more than this is needed, An organisation which only puts militants into contact with one another is not sufficient, We need to win the

class to a revolutionary perspective,

This is not done by on the one hand, simply encouraging trade union struggles and, on the other, preaching the virtues of the planned economy. This is the approach of “The Crisis: Social Contraet or Socialism", 1.5, needs a programme, This document presents the main lines of the programme we need,

“Some comrades ‘in 1S, argue that this’ is not so; that the réal __ movements of the class are worth*e dogen programmés that there are no ‘paper solutions’ and go forth.

‘There: is an element: of truth in this argument, but only a grain, Without ‘a real base in the class struggle a ‘programme’ is worthless, But at’the present moment thé orrosite danger is far greater, © Without e conscious socialist direction the struggles of the rank and ‘filé will bé squéhdered away. To deny the fieed for a progremme is to admit that 1,S, has no real answers to the problems the working class faces, It leaves 1,S, on the side-lines cheering the class along but not even attempting to give a a socialist direction to the Struggle.’

ea : ae

The aigument advanced against a | programime would carry more ‘weight ‘if those who support: ‘it-were not exactly the same people who,’ at the 1973'1.8, ‘conference; argued that ‘a programme was: indispensable. A draft programme was accepted in outline at that conferencé, It re-emerged at the last conference to be accepted as the I,S, programme, Since: then it has remained a dead letter; “Not because a programme

3 / As’ ‘unnecessary but because, it was a thoroughly” bad programmie, A real programme would thot remain’ a‘déad letter, ‘Tt would | sum up the experience of the class so far, outline the main strengths ‘and _ weaknesses of the class and lay down guide-lines for the tasks which “face us; It would be constahtly tested egainst the dernands of the réal class struggle, It would, start with the actual demands of the | “elas, however limited” ‘these’ may.be, and put forward a system, of demands, slogans | and forms of struggle which léad the class inthe direction’ ‘of, a united’ offensive ‘for socialism, This is the kind” Of _. programme we. Argue for’ A gainst this the record and approach ‘of “TSS, “have to be measured,

IS and the CRISIS.

At the time of our greatest tasks and snarpes st tests there is a deep crisis in the organisation, Everywhere we look we see signs of that crisis, Everywhere comrades are feeling a lock cf leadership and direction. [espite last years heated debate about Socialist Worker the paper has changed little. It still dces nct provide the direction and answers: that we need. my

Despite’ last years: ‘heated debates about internal democracy, and despite conference resolutions insisting.on a return to a fully democratic internal life, little has ct hanged. Our internal life is stagnant, discussion remains at a standstill, and leaaership debates remain closed to the majority of the membership.

What is wrong? We don't accept the usual cxpianations, It is not simply a matter of the wrorg <ersonalities Deiag at the top, Neither. is it due to organisational mistakes, We think thet the roots of the problem are to be found in the organisations political answer to the current crisis. Only if our answers are risht can the group develop direction and momentum. At present '1,S. is not consistantly growing, at a time when growth has never been more neces’ ary. We have not solved the problem of a massive regular turnover of membership.

In this situation we have to look at the wey torvard 1.5. is arguing in

the working class movement.

The Leadership has tried to answer th: problem by siving us a book to ‘sell on the subject. This might tempcvarily give the organisation a

- common goal - the realisation and orsmisation of Do0k sales - but it is of little use if the answers of the hook are wrory,

We think I.S, has the wrong answer o.1 thecsy ond practice to many major issues facing the working class movemeiut, We will loox at these mistakes, But for us it is nece:sary to look beyond a few mistakes on single issues. We will argue that these mistak2s nave their roots in 1,8. 's entire approach to building the party. ' We will state simply our disagreements with the major positions adopted by LS. We shall then argue our alternative,

The I.S, position on the wages battle ic 4 simple cne, we call for large 30% wage increases and no restrictions on wage bargain times. In addition we call for equal pay now and for a £25 ay week minimum wage, Our arguments against this position are clear:

(l)

(2)

(3)

(5)

(6)

As a strategy it in no way challenges the traditional sectionalism of the movement, It offers no perspective that would enable strong and advanced sections to lead_.a fight for the entire class. 30%, wage demands does not offer a path for uniting the struggles of the class, for overcoming its divisions by a policy fought for by the class as a whole,

To-whole sections of the class without traditions and strength the demand seems arbitrary and unobtainable, Even where it does win support workers will often be prepared to settle for

less in the bargaining process. The present level of wage

settlements and crisis will strengthen this tendency.

The demand is not related to the two major problems facing - workers - namely roaring inflation and impending bankruptcy in whole sectors of British industry, The call of Cliff's book for workers to battle over profits is of littLe use when a major. crisis of profitability has hit British capitalism,

The demands ignore the fact that the militancy of the class. is not inexhaustible, The call fer more and more rounds of militancy on old sectional lines fails to recognise this. We cannot expect the class to turn to socialism as an alternative to endless rounds of wage battles. Defeats and exhaustion on the industrial front have spelt disaster for the working class movement in the past. As the 1.5, pamphlet on the National Front said of the advent

of Italian fascism:

"It was only when the leaders of an exhausted working class | failed to turn massive industrial struggles and strength into -

a socialist offensive against the state that disaster came,"

Fage 11: .

Inflation threatens the class with demoralisation and disunity, There are signs of strong sections of workers no longer going forward for fear of isolation and lack of support (e.g. the miners last time round), Even more sinister and dangerous is the . spectre of weak sections turning on the well.organised, blaming the big battalions for their plight. In the face of this.Cliff , continues to claim that inflation is a "pressure for unity of the working class". He continues to call for sectional wage battle

in the mistaken confidence that the capitalist crisis will unite.

the class for us.

At a time when crisis and inflation poses sharply the need for: new struggles 1,S, can only offer more of the time worn methods of struggle. This ignores a new and central feature in the . : industrial struggle.

It ignores the question of thresholds: and indexing schemes which will continue to pose themselves sharply to groups of workers with the battle to consolidate thresholds, the projected end of the

“10.

threshold scheme and government and employers flirtatic. with indexing schemes, Last years battles over the threshold: brought whole new sections of workers into’ active struggic, 1.8, applauded and supported that struggle while pointing out the dangers of thresholds in later propaganda. To limit ourselves to the 30% now wage demand is to cut ourselves off from “ne preoccupations of hundreds of thousands of workers, In isany . unions the right wing are proposing hopelessly inadequate . threshold clauses in the hope‘of taking the steam out of wage militancy, The UPW deal is a case in point, In this situution 1,5. must be able to offer a clear alternative both to the cld methods of wage struggle and to wage cutting threshold scnemes We do not think the "30% now" claim poses such an alternative,

“1,8. AND UNEMPLOYMENT So

Escalating unemployment not only threatens the living standarc.3 of the working class, It brings into question traditional attitudes towards property and control. The lveriden ‘co-operative’ and the British Leyland stewards nationalisation proposals are examples of this, As the crisis deepens so ir reasingly groups of workers will look

toward Benn's schemes as a solution,

In order to get our politics across we need a clear and comprenensible alternative to Benn type nationalisation and to co-operative schemes,

' We will not be able to rely on descriptions of Benn's real motives and past record, We will need not only to argue for militant strugg'!e, but also for clear goals and objectives of struggle, We must seek .9 raise - in our agitation and Propaganda 7

(L) The need to place no “reliance on Benn or thé trade union ieaders, (2) That workers must take no responsibility for the capitalist crisis.

(3) That workers must control and supervise all aspects of production that concern them, In this way we raise direcily the question of which class should control, not only in the fac cory but in society as a whole,

. LS, has quite. rightly consistently argued for no reliance on the official leaderships, for militant occupation tactics, It has consistent] argued for Nationalisation with no compensation to bankrupt capitalists, On the question of workers‘ control however it has not offered a clear alternative to current notions of workers incorporation-and par‘icipation in capite:ism's crisis, |

1.8, has two distinct ways of raising the question of workers’ control,

(a) The first argument is simple enough, It sees 'workers' control' as an inoperable slogan raised only for propaganda purposes

Take John Deason (SW 8/2/75) for example: "Workers control of individual factories without workers control of the economic fabric of society is unrealistic. You cannot build islands of socialism in a sea of capitalism.

' Socialists must pose the demand of full nationalisation without compensation for firms threatening-closure, This is a realistic alternative to cash handouts and co-ops."’ (Our emphasis

or Socialist Worker's answer to the British Leyland crisis GW TL/1/75):.

"We know real workers control won't exist this side of the revolution ......... Wecalli for nationalisation as the best policy to defend jobs and fight for the maintenance of pay and conditions, "

In this argument ‘workers control’ is about ‘the future society’, {it is not an issue for he here and now.

{b) The second argument does not rule out the demand. altogether. It equates workers control with "the struggle to encroach on managements rights” (ISJ 73) An editorial in SW 25/11/74 put this position most clearly. "By workers control we.mean shop stewards control over hiring and firing, the pace. of work, satety and other matters affecting working conditions, ' ; a

Workers control is posed as the struggle over manning and conditions, But this is already part of the struggle in all well organised factories by they faced with redundancy: or not. The argument does not see ‘workers control’ as any more than maintenance of strong shop floor organisation,

We will be offering a programme for the fight for a workers veto and workers inspection, We consider that the current 1,5 . position can offer no real alternative except for militant action to: secure government money. it offers no new goals of struggle in the battle over property and control in the factory.

1.5. AND THE LABOUR PARTY: GOVERNMENT AND REFORMISM

If 1.8, is able to offer no real alternative on the two central: industrial ‘questions facing the working class, it has no clearer concrete and immediate answer to the Labour Farty and the hold of reformist ideas.

Cliff's book again points out the old truth that in the 50's and 60's the battle to improve conditions and living standards did not centre on the question of government. But the events of 1970 to 1975 have sharply posed the question of government within the immediate struggle.

Wage freezes, incomes policy and increased state repression have made sure this is so,

- 12 -

However cynical most workers are about the Labour Party it remains the party that the majority of workers turn to when the question of who should be in government is posed. The trade union bureaucracy,

. including its left, and the CP constantly push a Labour government

to the centre of their programme,

‘The programme of Benn, and the likelihood of splits in ‘Labour’ s ranks over wage control, mean that reformism in the coming period will present itself as some kind of answer to. large sections of the class, We will find ourselves competing with other 'socialists' and advocates of workers control on the shop floor. Massive cuts in social services, increased state repression and cries for 'strong government’ mean revolutionaries must be able to offer a recognisable and realisable alternative, It will not be enough for us to-call for ‘socialism’, nor will it be of any use to urge a return to day-to-day shop floor issues,

- We don’t think 1.S, has. such an alternative, It has no clear programme for a.workers answer to the crisis which should enable us to fight

along side reformist workers and break them from their reformist ideas,

This. is demonstrated by 1.8.8 approach to the Labour Party. What is .., that approach?

“L.A tendency to.a crude Twecdledum- -"Tweedledee ‘what does it matter’ approach. . This ignores. the importance large numbers of workers attach to the question of who is in government,

2.... At election times this blase position has collapsed into a ‘vote Labour at all costs' position. As it has been argued in the last two elections this position fails to distinguish us clearly from the reformists. It is of litthe use Socialist Worker. arguing that the Labour Party in power will expose itself for us. It will

’ only be.cxposed if we have won groups of workers who have expectations in.Labour to a clear alternative solution to the crisis, To call for the building of 'the revo.utionavy pariy' or factory branches does not pose a concrete. alternative so such workers,.

If we read Cliff's book on the subject we see a similar shallow approach to the entire subject. He claims reformism is dying on its. feet. As evidence of this he amasses sociological data to. show that the party composition. is changing and that the constituency parties are decaying, (In fact this forgets that the class'has been tied to the Labour Party | through the trade union bureaucracy‘ ‘not through mass attendance. at w:.td and borough meetings.) Cliff argues that a new tradition of do

it yourself reformism is emerging. By ‘do it yourself reformism' he - means.-that tendency to rely on local and sectional trade union struggle to win. improvements in living conditions.

2 ise.

Now he is right to say that industrial muscic is worth a million speeches from the opposition benches, Of course he is right to say that the shop “stewards movement has notoriously ignored national political issues, But you cannot jump from this to suggest that the class does not see the Labour Party as its party, or that in capitalist crisis advanced sections of the class will not in the first place: look to reformist governmental solutions.

Such workers won't be argued with by Cliff's sociology. His claim that Wilson is too respectable to break the law, or that ‘he does not know any power workers or busmen’ does not hit at the roots of the class's ties with the Labour Ferty. The vast majority of workers will not be surprised that "economic and industrial issues are hardiy ever mentioned" in party meetings (Cliff), They.see the trade union branch and the shop stewards committee as tne place for those decisions.

They see politics and government as something seperate.

Cliff thinks that the crisis poses 'do it yourself reformism' as an alternative to Labour's organisational decay. He warmly embraces

‘do it yourself reformism’. He forgets that Labour's political hold will only. be broken by a workers governmental enswer to the crisis, which can be raised. and fought for on Trades Councils, on Shop Stewards Committees - in fact wherever the twin diversions of Labour reformism and ‘do it yourself reformism' raise their head, 1.8. in general, and Cliff's book in particular, have no such alternative. |

‘1,8. AND WOMEN

‘The history of women's work in 1,8. is characterised by a consistant lack of strategy and perspective. But there are reasons for this. I.S, has consistantly failed to link the exploitaticn of women in their workplace to their wider oppression as women. It has always sought to reduce the womens question to a mere qiest ion of particular economic exploitation, Consistant women's work in 1.5, has suffered from the overal failure of the organisation to look be yond the immediate issues of day-to-day struggle in its strategy for building a revolutionary ~ workers party. What are the results of this?

Le -- The characterisation of women as either housewives and therefore “peripheral to the struggle at the point of production or. part of a backward and conservative labour force whose lack Of militancy and political awareness makes it "difficult to recruit them”.

2. A perpetual tendency to reduce. the question of women to the immediate economic struggle. As a result the organisation has tended to see the equal pay struggle and women ‘Ss. a as the centre and sum of the women's issue, . .

-14-

3. This leads of course to an underestimation of the specific problems of sexual oppression, What do we mean by sexual oppression? We mean that you can't just see women as. workers, as some comrades would prefer to do, They are wives, mothers and girlfriends and as such are directly oppressed mainly through the family.

4, Not surprisingly therefore women's work has a history of neglect in I.S, Cliff in his book devotes a short section to women. This

in itself is inadequate, But the piece has little to offer, He outlines a few women's strikes many of which ended in defeat, but offers no real strategy for dealing with this except in terms of offering support, "generalising and making "room" in the wider struggie, Seemingly 'In-a period of inflation we camnot afford these petty prejudices" - Tony Cliff offers no strategy for combatting them.

oe Nearly alt the decisions taken at successive National Conferences

- on women's work have been ignored, The 1973 Equal Pay Campaign came to nothing, Except for a monthly Women’s Voice virtually all of the resolutions of the 1974 Conference

_ have gone unheeded. Some Rank and File papers still have no programme of demands on women, Education notes and pamphiets have not been produced, There have been no

perspectives produced for women's work in the present period. Without perspectives there is little use in our producing a women's newspaper.

This is not just a record of neglect or mistakes. It shows a tho: cough going failure to grasp either the nature or importance of the women's question. As a result the organisation has no way forward for over half of the working class and no strategy for integrating and developing women's work in the present period.

~15 -

1.8; AND IRELAND

Similar errors have led to a series of failures and a disgraceful record on the question of Ireland. Dubbed likewise as ‘peripheral’ the organisation's Irish work has been characterised by mistaken analysis and non~activity. The organisation has never seen the irish crisis as central to our tasks of breaking the British working class from the ideas of the bourgeoisie, This has had three results.

(a)

(b)

{c)

A perpetual tendency to minimise the dimensions of the crisis

in Ireland, By 1972 Cliff was declaring the IRA to be finished, The 1973 Irish Conference stated that the Irish crisis was over due to the Sunningdale-Agreement, Both of these positions have been refuted by the ex-left faction of the time and by events since then,

Ever since the Aldershot bombings posed the problems sharply amongst British workers, the organisation has repeatedly condemned, criticised and distanced ourselves from the armed struggle. The formal positions of ‘unconditional but critical

“support for the IRA’ received less ‘and less support inside SW -as soon as the bombing campaign started in England, There

has been little or no-explanation of our support for the armed struggle against the British army, The organisation refused to acopt the defeatist position "for the [RA against the British Army".

From 1972 until late 1974 the organisations Irish work virtually

~ ceased to exist. Despite our roots, we repeatedly refused to participate in any initiative to build a working class based

movement committed to withdraw British troops. To those in

the organisation who called for such involvement (only the ex-

left faction) the reply was always that "we could do it better ourselves", in fact nothing was done, Annual promises at conference for a better record on Ireland over the coming year came to nothing. At the 1974 conference a similar call for a serious committment to build th: Troops Out Movement was defeated. Comrades who question these criticisms of the groups Irish work should note the resolution passed at the amua! conference of the Socialist Workers Movement, our fratecnal organisation in Ireland. That resolution criticised I.S, jor its lack of Irish work. This was not made known to the i,5S, membership in the report of that conference.

But comrades will say surely things axe getting better, Has not Socialist Worker contained more on [reland recently? Are we not now giving support to the Troops Out Movement? A highly successful filrn tour

has been carried out.

16.

The answer to this is thet the Birmingham bombings made such a position

of neglect and inactivity on Ireland untenable, Now that the issue was

at boiling point within the class Socialist | Worker had to have answers

for I, 8. metiibers, ln os

. “Coverage in Sw has increased considerably. “However the articles _.tend to be mainly horror ‘stories taken from the Irish Timés, with little

_ Or-no analytic content. Our support for the. struggle against British Imperialism is Parely outlined,

1. S, then has never seen the Lrish « crisis as central to the crisis of the British bourgeoisie. This is a result of an economistic approach which downgc edes the national struggle because it does not conform to the pure model of workers versus bosses, Thus for example Cliff's book on the crisis does not even mention Jreland,

Why do we see Ireland as important?

-(a) It is 5 part and parcel of the crisis of our ruling class. it is also _ an area where.the ruling class are perfecting and develsping their solutions to the crisis, The defeat of British military strategy.in Ireland can only make the implementation of such a strategy in Britain more difficult.

(b) The-national struggle in Lreland is of crucial ideological ' importance, The media stokes up chauvinism among workers with its railing against ‘terrorists’ and support for “our boys”. jt was significant that the striking Scottish lorry drivers chose “mot to block supplies for the troops in treland.

The ideological importance of Ulster is not underestimated by the NF or-Powell. Uister can be a a bridgehead for the tailitarist " right wing in British politics. .

(c) © Our attitude to the Irish national struggle is a key test of our

internationalism. An orgenisation committed to a clea: international position on irelend is an organisation that can ‘swim against the stream’ when necessary. oe

. The class struggle in Ireland takes. on an extra dimension, that of the

national question, This will continue to be the case until the irish working class defeats British imperialism. I,S. has consistently failed to understand the nature and depth of this struggle. For instance 1,8. still only raises the slogans of "Troops Out' and.. ‘Repeal the Anti-Terrorist Legislation’, The question of self- -determination for the: ‘irish people being ommitted.,

The result of this mistaken analysis has been a record of inactivity and neglect which no revolutionary organisation could be proud of.

-17-

BUT HOW DO WE EXPLAIN THESE POSITIONS? WE HAVE ARGUED

' . BEFORE THAT WE SEE MORE THAN A SERIES OF MISTS KEN

POS ITIONS.

All have in common a tendency to accommodate towards and tail the immediate economic struggles of the class, We consider this to be a consistent feature of the politics of I.S. ‘The organisation has an -Yeconomistic’ tendency to view with hostility all politics not posed directly within the economic struggle of the class. For this reason I.5. puts forward the wage and unemployment polices that it does, For this reason it considers the question of government, women and Ireland to be diversions.

This means that in a time of escalating capitalist crisis I. s. is let - with no alternative forms of struggle to present to the class. ‘Tt, actually sees no necessity to argue for a clear alternative, We. can see this most clearly if we look at Tony Cliff's book “The Crisis”.

. Cliff's view of the world starts with the tremendous muscle put on by the shop stewards movement in the 1960's, The problem of the shop stewards movement, he argues, is primarily one of organisation,

As he puts it,. the 'igtate of morale and confidence is excellent, but the level of organisation, its structure and staffing are really appalling". For Cliff the vital question is whether. morale will give way or orgenisation will be improved.

Cliff expects the crisis to do much of the organising for. us - "inflation hurts all workers equally and must lead to greater .and greater similarity of response". It is "out of the coming struggles ....... (that) ,...... anew leadership will emerge from below and socialism will come in from the cold",

” The picture is a remarkably clear and simple one, The defeats of the class over the last year, the problem of reformist ideas are not important, Revolutionaries must seek to generalise the struggles of the class, (although Cliff sees the crisis doing much of the generalising for us) and to organise the class through the rank and file movement. The leadership argue that we must also put over our politics in the struggle to build a revolutionary party. But they do not see our politics as a programme, a clear alternative that canbe fought for. In Cliff's book and in Socialist Worker socialism is presented as an abstract description of the future .,. a plentiful planned society free from crisis.

This is a perfect recipe for tailing and: accommodating tothe class in the everyday battles and also for posing ‘socialism’ as an abstract and irrelevant utopia. What we need is a programme: that can offer new struggles to answer ‘the immediate problems of the class. 1.8. is not wrong because it has a few mistaken lines, because it doesn't take women seriously or because it has no.new strategy on the industrial front. It is wrong because its theory of building the

-~18 -

party sees no need to.offer an alternative programme and strate gy, This is the politics of accommodation and vacillation,

The signatories of this document present the following alternative programme not in order to correct a few points, but to seve the organisation from stagnation, introversion and irrelevance.

- 19 - ;

‘ t

our alternative

Any programme which is not to remain a piece-of paper cannot simply come out of the heads of a few party members - whether they are theoreticians, organisers or leading workers, A programme that could be fought for in real class struggles must draw on the resources of a whole organisation. The programme must be developed in a serious debate, not about theoretical abstractions, but about the

key issues of strategy and tactics which the working class is faced with as a result the opening of a prolonged period of capitalist

crisis, The political heart of democratic centralism is the centralisation of an organisation's political understanding and experience in a programme understood by all and carried into action by all in a disciplined fashion,

The leadership if 1.8, says that it recognises the seriousness of the capitalist crisis. Tony Cliff's book sees the struggle f2r socialism as the only way of saving workers’ organisations from demoralisation and defeet. Socialist Worker proclaims nearly every week the need for workers to take up the struggle for power as the only escape from economic decay the crisis will bring; the dramatic fall in living standards and conditions of the whole class.

Two years ago, at the 1973 Conference, Cliff rejected the call for a programme based on a strategy for the class, He said that the struggles were still too fragmented - that what was needed was simply strategies for these fragments, Now Cliff and SW are posing the biggest political questions, "Social Contract or socialism". And still we have no coherent document that outlines the changes in objects and methods of struggle that the class must turn to, nothing which shows the way from the partial, defensive, sectional, economic struggles of today towards united class wide political goals. An organisation which cannot concretely answer the question, "what is

a workers solution to the crisis?” except with the bald word "socialism" will not be turned to by the best militants of the class,

It will hardly hold itself together in the coming storms let alone

be of any use to workers in struggle,

We need a programme to fight the programmes of Benn and the Tribunites which seem so practical to workers facing massive redundancies, We need a programme to present a workers' answer to galloping inflation and combat the Wilson and Healey recipe of a general decline in living standards. We need a programme which poses the question of workers control as a weapon of struggle not as a shackle to the system, We need to raise the question of workers' power of a workers’ government

-20-

“agaitiat't the reformist ‘delusions of the parliamentary. road to socialism. Lest but not ‘least.we have to challenge the ,a- political, “complacent sectionalism - the trade union routinism ‘endemic. in the British labour movement, the narrow national outlook that throws the class’ into the arms of the bosses' secret and open agents on such issues'as * immigration and racialism, the:Irish crisis, the Common Market, protectionism, the oppression and. exploitation of women. .

“It is at this point that, despite the brave. words about the deepening

crisis, the need for socialism etc., our-leadership is suddenly struck

by an unusual modesty, They argue: we are a tiny organisation with

_,ho muscle and cannot affect much in the class, and therefore grand

‘strategies are just not on the cards. Our agitetion will be limited

to immediate, practical tactics, Socialism is a | matter for propaganda, This argument is @ recipe for a reformist: practice ~ simply urging

~ on existing’ stfuggles, ‘pushing for more militancy and believing that

this will in itself generate a political perspective, No one should

~ doubt that: workers both'in sections and a class wide basis can

Spontaheous! ly generate. a massive: political: ‘confrontation , However

to wait for such an event or to base ones actions on it would ‘be the

heigi.: of political folly.

We'do not believe that any. programme is a magic wand to transform ~us from a pumpkin into a glass coach. We do believe that to draw sericus militants into our. ranks we have;to offer a. strategy for’ "fighting today's battles, which help them to unify and politicise the "rank and file and build a mass. movement openly, i.e. consejorely committed wvorkers control, and a workers government,

oWe: ‘therefore present here an outline draft of the elements of such a strategy including’ a series of. immediete, partial and transitional goals of struggle,

“INTERNE TIONAL, BASIS OF: OUR WORK

The crisis of British capitalism is an integral part of a world crisis with deepening social and political dimensions. It. marks the break up of the new imperialist stability gained after the second world war, We are entering a period of sharp trade and economic conflict, a scremble for shrinking markets, international crisis, wars and revolutions, Yet never before has the workers movement been so politically unequipped to deal with such a crisis, The, continued dominance of Stalinism and social democracy is obvious. What

is worse the forces of the revolutionary left are splintered and fragriented, The working class internationally, desperately needs _reyotutionary leadership... fsolated national groupings ere ‘terribly

“ prone to vacillation and to. succumbing to the pressure of the '

_ dominant trends within the local labour movements, Events in

Chile proved this once again.. .Any serious, revolutionary group

‘ must pledge itself to fight for. the. recreation of a revolutionary. international, Fractical limited co-operation is possible now - on issues like the Common Market, Chile, the fight against re-emerging fascist forces, immigrant workers.

- 91 -

A task parallel to this is the forging of links between workers in -. struggle - whether on trade union issues where rank and file link-ups are crucial, or with solidarity work as around opposition to the ‘Chilean junta, or support for Portuguese workers in the > coming period of crisis,

: An inevitable aspect of the world imperialist crisis is the continued and even intensified struggles for national liberation on the part of the most oppressed victims on the system, Support for all these movements is ‘categorical for socialists in the imperialist countries, The South-

_ East Asian, Southern African and Palestinian struggles must be

* supported if workers are to really free themselves from the crippling

“influence of their own bourgeoisie, These struggles also have dramatic effects on the "hore country" as the Vietnam wer had and can still have, in the USA, as an Arab-Israeli war over Palestine

‘would have for the whole economic and political system, and as the

~Mozambizue, Angola, Guinea Bissau colonial revolts had in Portugal.

For us the crucial issue in 1 this field is the Irish situation, Unconditional support for all those fighting against British Imperialism in

Ireland is a position that cannot be questioned by a revolutionary, Strict differentiation bet:veen nationalist movements, their petty-

bourgeois politics and programme, and internationalist proletarian

*movements, is an equally important duty. Likewise for’ the good of

the movement in Ireland and for the political clarification of British

workers, criticism of the tactics of these movements is necessary,

But such criticism must never be ‘allowed to obscure or qualify our :

position on the side of those trying to defeat British imperialist forces

and policy in Ireland, Our programme must therefore be:

(1) For thé defeat of British imperialisny in Ireland, Solidarity - with: all those forces republican and socialist fighting for this end.

(2) Unconditional release of all Irish political prisoners held in Britain and Ireland - immediate end to internment or detention,

(3) Immediate withdrawal of all British troops from ireland.

(4) Immediate repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and similar oppressive legislation.

(5) ‘Self determination for the Trish people,

We must fight wholéhéartedly to take the Irish j issue into the trade unions to fight for an anti-chauvinist movement for the withdrawal of ‘troops, to combat anti-Irish chauvinism, | Using the mistaken politics of the republicans ‘or the acts of agents provocateurs, the ruling class, the right wing labourites,; and the fascist National Front can whip up fantastic waves of hostility and physical harassment towards Irish workers, They can use the popularity gained in such mcvements to

~ 29 -

refurbish their flagging prestige amongst workers, Right wing labourites and National Fronters can use it to cover their capitulation to the bosses on the issues of wages and conditions. Continuous work on Ireland is the only answer. This means the present commitment to building the Troops Out Movement. :

A programme for the fight-back against the developing capitalist crisis; the only effective answer to which is the establishment of workers power cannot be divorced from the fight against the present established leadership in the various working class organisations, The trade unions - the only mass organisation of the working class in Britain are weakened by the existence of a priviledged and undemocratic strata of full time officials who are thoroughly committe< to the preservation of capitalism and betray, fragment or muffle any struggles: of the rank and file which seriously challenge its stability, Politically the workers movement is led by a Labour Party which is politically a bourgeois party. Its connection with the working class in purely organisational terms is week - constituency and ward labour parties are weak and getting weaker, Nevertheless the principal support. andthe factor which makes the Labour Party ‘the © party of the working: man’ zis its ; alliance with. the trade unions,

UNITED FRONT * re oo,

The “official: opposition” within the trade union bureaucracy and the Labour Party: is provided by the unofficial alliance of the Tribunite M.P, 's and left.bureaucrats and the CP.. To fight for a revolutionary programme means to fight these tendencies in the workers movement, As revolutionaries form-a tiny minority in the class compared with the active (and more importantly) passive supporters of these. tendencies our challenge cannot be a bald sectarian counterposing

of ourselves to them. Nor does it mean a sinking back into passive propaganda until events expose them. (After all great events - the 1918/19 revolution in.Germany, the 1924, 1929/31-Labour Governments in Britain, have 'exposed' the Social Democrats - the rise to power:

of Hitler, the Chilean debacle have 'exposed' Stalinism). Revolutionaries should have learned by now that false leaders are only~ exposed to the extent to which they are replaced. This can only be _ done by fighting shoulder to shoulder with sections of workers who are still largely under the influence of the reformists. In a period

of deepening crisis the key tactic is that of the united front.

To pursue this effectively the revolutionary group needs a clear and © comprehensive programme itself. From this programmatic analysis and from its regular political and tactical perspectives it will decide the nature and direction of its intervention. Without an operative ~ party programme united front work would be a shambles,

-The basis of a-united front is an urgent tactical or strategic need facing workers:in which a maximum concentration of forces is necessary, As acall for united action in limited and specific goals”

it includes calls on the reformist leaders as well as appeals to their rank-and file. Given our size, it is unlikely to be achieved in a fuil inter-party agreement form in the immediate future but it may well

be achieved from below in local circumstances, Even if a particular call is unsuccessful it will help convince workers that in a period of crisis, it is the revolutionaries who stand for a real fight on the most basic issues and who stand for unity, And that it is the reformists and bureaucrats: who are-the splitters and wreckers, unwilling to fight

on the Most elementary’ issues,

Should ‘we ‘achieve unity in action with groups of workers led by Labour. Party o- CP members, wé must of course observe discipline in action: + for the agreed ends, We must avoid cheap organisational manoevering,. Nevertheless fighting together does not mean abandoning our right and duty to criticise thé. policies and politics of our allies (e.g. the CP's industrial:and. parliamentary road strategies), Jf and when they seek

to sell short or-abandon the struggle, our position must have been

made clear to their rank and file and supporters. We must be a recognisable alterna itive teadership fora continued fight.

THE C} Isis - THE SOCIAL ‘CONTRACT AND INCOMES POLICY

Following the logie of its ‘capitalist policies the Labour Party will be forced so tighten the, ‘Social contract and even turn it into a formatk,: wage freeze, This. will couse enormous tensions within the Labour: Party and .more importantiy within the bureaucracy. It may well bring - down the I,abour Government of-cause an-early election, The social - contrac: is precarious but its de- stabilisation holds unknown terrors: for all sections of the official leader's of the. labour movement, Hence. their policy of delay. But the longer it is put off the more explosive ~ the conflict will become,

We must stand clearly on. the slogan =" — No Incemes Policy Under Capitatiam. ee Sane ; We' muct call : for soi lidarit 7 and support for ‘all workers’ fighting for.

claims vhich breach the Social Contract.and oppose the special case ; argument. Bo OF roy -

Lastly ve must put forward a:series of.demands which amount to'a

‘workers ‘answor to the crisis - a programme which deals with’ inflation, unemployment. and tie measures a real workers government would take against ' the bosses, oe a .

GOVERNMENT AND THE LABOUR PARTY

The bosses. want: to use ‘the state . the taw,, the police force, and - Parliament to crush the unions and. drive down our living standards: The woikiag class. raust resist this. attack, .The working Class also: need a governraent which will act in their interests, which ‘will tackle -the crisis not at, their’ expense but at the expense of the bosses whose

it

oe

A an pet ee ne at ee ents ee oe eee en es mre oan

system ¢ causes the crisis,, The. workers need'a government which will free the Unions from all legal shackles,: ‘that'will not impose a wage: «: freeze but will seriously, attack the. economic power of the exploiters, .. - which will make the bosses shoulder the cost of unemployment and . >. dnflation,: which will ‘outlaw. recialism, stop the oppression of the

Irish.people and the oppression of women. We need a government which will disarm the bosses, anti-working class: police and military forces,

The Labour'Party, : ‘however, on_all these issues is either pursuing

. disguised or -penly. opposite (i.e. anti-working class) policies. We,

in 1,8, were’in favour of returning a Labour Government, i.e. of workers voting labour because a Tory victory would give them a ‘democratic’ licence to attack the unions. However we:do not believe

~ that the Labour Party will act in the workers’ interest when it

is returned to power, We do not believe that the Labour Party will implement the important measures the working class needs to solve

the crisis. To those workers (a vast majority of the working class) who believe that at least they can he pressurised into it we must offer

a united front to do so,

a On our side we: “myst make it clear that we believe that only a -. revolutionary struggle for workers power (for a workers state)

finally will succeed in solving even these immediate needs of workers for.jobs, houges,' decent wages and security. We must.however be prepared to fight with those workers whc believe’ Labour can be made

to.do them. ‘his is the context in which we put ‘demands on the Labour

Party’. ‘These demands are not just a list of things the iebcur rerty wrem't d. and ‘ieref-re wiil expose itce!, Nor is it a list of things

workers expect Labour. todo, They are immediate actions the working ‘class needs té help it meet the crisis. On the part of thoge workers

..who still have illusions in the Labour: Party and’ whom we can draw

into struggle vith us around ‘these issues ~ we must say ' put the Labour Party to the test in the struggle’, Fight with us for these things. Together we cen build a movement which can (if you reformists are right) force the Labour Party to do them and which if it will not

can be the basis of the working class doing it themselves... The

Progra: mme \ we should put forward’ should be as follows,

" “(ly Workers must not: pay for. capitalism’ s crisis - the Labour

Government must abandon all attempts at controlling wages, No Laco: ‘aes Policy under capitalism.

(2). Workers must not pay for inflation - ~ the Labour Government

must:

(a) enforce a legal minimum 1 wage of £40 per week, with,; automatic cost of living regulator, |

(b) — introduce a fixed sum increase in wages fully compensating for €ach one per. cent increase in the cost of living of -workers ‘and their families.

(c) immediately introduce equal pay for women,

(3)

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Workers must not suffer unemployment - the Labour Government must:

(a),. Nationalise without compensation’ all fitms declaring

redundancies and recognise workers’ control of them.

(b) introduce a legal.35 hour week with no loss of earnings.

(c),-., Make it. legally-obligatory for all employers who cannot - 7 find work for their employees to pay them full trade union rates,

oo (a): Introduce a plan for useful public works under trade union.

(4)

6)

(6)

(7)

(8)

control (hospitals, schools, houses, nurseries, ete. , ins: ’ which all ‘surplus’ labour. could be employed). ve

The Labour Government must tackle the real cause of economic.

' chaos:

(a). It must abolish ‘business secrecy’ and open the records © of all‘;companies: to workers inspection,

(b) It.must nationalise the big banks and finance houses .

+ centr alising them into one state ‘bank subordinate to” workers, + = i (c) In order to restore all cuts in social expenditure it ‘must (i) Cancel the ruinous interest repayments of the local authorities which affect both‘ workers and the lower ' -,middle class; . (ii) .. It must nationalise the building. industry under’ workers* control,

(d) ‘It must nationalise without compens: stion and under workers'

_control the major industrial and trading monopolies.

‘The Labour Government must repeal all remaining anti-trade © union laws (or clauses in laws), fully compensate all trade

unions fined under the Industrial Relations Act, enact ‘legislation clearly protecting, trade-unionists from conspiracy charges and establishing the. right to Picket. a

Disbend the Special Patrol Group and the SAS. and establish the» legal right of the members of the police force and the armed: forces to join trade unions and ‘political organisations, have. free access to their press and the-right to attend meetings etc;:. The immediate repeal of the "anti-terrorist" legislation, and the withdrawal from NATO ‘and ali imperialist alliances,

immediately withdraw all British troops from Northern Ireland and release all political prisoners held there and in Britain,

Repeal the racialist Immigration Act.

These issues we must of course: take: ‘up at times ‘of local or national elections, at political. meetings, in trade union branches, at trades councils etc, Particular elements of this programme can be taken up more thoroughly with those immediately concerned with them or involved in struggle on them.:

It will be an important basis for agitation in the event-of the.

divisions. in the Labour Party: becoming sharper, even leading. to * split (OF. exodus, ofthe right-wing to join the Liberals,

These demands:must ‘be ‘taken up particularly « shen the ‘left' fakers - the Foots, the-Benns, the Hefférs inter'vene-in the class struggle.: Should the left come out in opposition ‘to’ ‘harsh anti-~ working class policies from. Wilson/Gallaghan/Héaley we must fight in every forum they:

.. open, up for, these policies as the ohly serious workers answer to.the crisis, Obviously: we will have to put emphasis, on particular, demands

at particular times, but we must havé a clear idea of the whole

programme and those with whom \ we are fighting should understand our

_ totalanswer, fee "8.

The question of government: and the neéd for government action which is really. jn the. interests: of workers will be raised by the acute financial crisis of the‘local authorities, The rent freezes and rate rebates have covered this up but at the same time heightened the crisis, Enormous sums ere now being mortgaged to the big financiers, Huge rent and rate increases are inevitable. We must be certain that the labour movement does not lose the leadership to petit - hourgeois rate payers.especially as many Labour Councils will, be in the front, line. of resistance-to tenant and rate payer militancy, As wellas | _ organisation - re-creating or revitalising tenants’ associations we must have political slogans. We must demand the cancellation of. debts and, interest repayments of the local authorities andthe .

nat} ionalis: ation of the banks and finance houses, their concentration and control by the trade unions as the only solution to the crisis in local government. ‘All other solutions hit the workers (and. the lower middle class), We must-demand that the Labour Party both at — ‘government and local level: i initiate a programme of house, hospital” and school construction, |

THE COMMON MA RKET

Socialist Worker has taken the position of supporting a ‘No! vote -

in the forthcoming referendum. This.entails' support, however critical, ‘of.the campaign being waged by the ‘left’ bureaucrats like Benn and Jones. The referendum, unlike most political issues, allows only two options: yes or no. However much Socialist Worker criticizes the little- England chauvinism of the ‘left’ leaders it must, in the end, line up on the same side. of the referendum. divide. |

We believe this position to be mistaken, The 'No' campaign, however ‘popular’. it may appear, we believe to bea dangerous diversion for the labour movement. Why? an

Because whether British capitalism is in or out of the market makes no basic difference to the attacks which the working class.faces, ‘In’ or ‘out " these are: the same: unemployment, ‘inflation, declining. social . services, The balance of these attacks may be slightly altered by membership or non-membership: overall the threat remains exactly

the same, The 'No' campaign is a diversion because it contributes exactly nothing to the actual struggle against the capitalist offensive,

Quite the opposite, It allows the ‘left’ bureaucrats (not, to speak of Enoch Powell!) to spread their reformist illusions in a "sovereign British Parliament" and their chauvinistic poison about "foreign interference in Britain's affairs", All this at a time when a-real

fight back aga‘nst the crisis is in order, when British trade-unionists - urgently need to link up with European workers to wage acommon | , fight against ¢ - common enemy.

Any diversion from this basic task must have reactionary conclusions, Socialist Wort: er is aware of. the chauvinism of the "No" ‘campaign, a but has in response adopted an evasive formula, For a 'No' vote, but against chauvinism,. It has trimmed an internationalist position ae to suit the current mood. of the class,

But this will not do, The logic of the referendum will force SW to' abandon its evasive position, Either the ca‘! for an ‘anti’ vote will, become dominant and the internationalist "corrections" muted or support for the left bureaucrats will have to be ended, Either of these or irrelevancy: a compromised and unclear position.

But does this raean we must support the.Market and the right-wing»

Labourites who are campaighing for it. Not at all, We are equally

hostile to the Roy Jenkins of this world, who present an unstable

capitalist alliance as "socialist internationalism” and call upon the

workers to secrifice themselves and their interests to it, But on this

occasion it wculd be entirely. wrong to believe that to support the ~~

‘lefts’ will weaken the right-wing - still less advance the cause of

‘international : ‘ocialism. . Oo,

The referendi:n represeriis not a struggle betwéen the vital. interests ae -of the workers and the needs of British big business. Rather it is a‘: dog-fight between two sections of the ruling class, Big capitalists want membership; small capitalists don't, That is why the referendum has

split both major political parties, Big and small capitalism find

their supperters in both Labour and Tory parties.

To ask the workers to line up behind either side will advance the struggle against the crisis, and for socialism, not one iota,

In or out of th?.Market the vital interests-of the workers lie in the fight back against unemployment and inflation - hand in hand with our European brevners, 1.8. should therefore abstain on the referendum,

But abstention does not mean inactivity. “The carhpaign can be used to agitate for an internationalist cl-ss programme against the crisis, fought for under the following slogans:

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"In or Out the workers have to fight" 'No to the bosses referendum" "Yes to international trade-union links"

1.8. should seek to organise:

_(1) International combine and rank and file link ups and meetings,

(2) A serious conference of all our fraternal organisations tirough~- out Europe to discuss joint work and programmatic differences in the immediate period.

INFLATION

Running at 20% ~er year no one can seriously deny the chronic effects of inflation. We have made it clear that we disagree with the organisations answer of 30% wage claims alone. Against this we propose automatic lump sum increases on the basis of workers cost.of living index, Inflation is the product of capitalism; workers, their families and the old age pensioners should not pay for it. A rising scale of wages

(and welfare benefits and pensions) tied to a monthly workers cost of

living. index is what we should fight for.

It is often objected who will work out the cost of living index - will that not hand us over to the statisticians and bureaucrats? In fact any shop stewards committee calculating the size of their claim already has to work out how far the cost of living has risen and work cut the effects of tax.. Secondly, the Rank and File movement should »e persuaded to set up an ad-hoc index to demonstrate the real increase, in the cost of living, This the government's phoney figures can be exposed, Thirdly, the TUC should be pressurised to set up an index,. calculated openly and subject to rank and file inspection. In the interim the immediate demand for £1 for one per cent increase in the present index with the right of renegotiation on the basis of our index as

_ goon as possible, should be adopted. -

_In leading sectors, miners and engineers particularly, this dc, nand

should be raised for themselves and for the class as.a.whole : 3 well as for pension and welfare receivers, This must be counterp sed to all indexing and thresholds and used to expose them as.swindles

designed to lower real income. It does not replace struggles by big

sections to raise their levels, or of thosé who have fallen beh.ad - it does not replace the fight for equal pay or to erase differentials.

_ A total programme against the onslaught on workers living standards

is as follows: ae

(1) The working class must not pay for inflation, the bosses must pay for the crisis,

“99.

(2) We need a national Rank and File movement based in every union and workplace to fight for the following:- Ave (2) A rising scale of wages (pensions and welfare benefits},

automatic lump sum increases to compensate absolutely for every 1% rise in a workers cost of living index. {(b) For a national minimum wage of £40 a week and the raising of all pensions and welfare benefits to this level - plus cost of living regulator (as above). (c) Immediate actions by workers against firms hoarding ; ' commodities for speculation or raising prices to increase aa profits, _ (dq) The abolition of business secrecy - open the books to the workers and their delegated representatives, My

We fight against

(e) All incomes policy under capitalism, for the right of all workers to pursue their own claims and parity struggles free from all legal shackles,

(f) All threshold and indexing schemes, ‘

None of these demands are a bald alternative to present wage battles,

They must be raised alongside existing claims and demands, they

must be raised in sectional as well as national claims. In particular

they present the basis of a real resistance to thresholds, which

otherwise will seem very attractive to increasingly large s sections of workers,

UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment is a scourge not only to the million and more workers rs and their families who directly feel its effects, Even the prospect of be unemployment on a massive scale is used to propaganda effect by Labour Ministers like Healey and union bureaucrats like Jones. Their aim is to persuade workers to suffer cuts in their real living standards rather than total unemployment, It is a choice of a slow or a quick death, It is a choice workers must refuse to make, The Labour politicians wish to use the threat of unemployment to maintain a 4 voluntary incomes policy and to force up the productivity of each worker, They are prepared to tolerate present (and increasing) rates of unemployment to give this ‘persuasion’ credibility. A large section of bosses are backing this policy. Another considerable grouping of bosses and Tory politicians (Thatcher, Joseph, Powell et al), have no faith that this policy will be successful enough in driving down real — wages and boosting profit rates. They wish to use massive unemployment to weaken the unions to the level of non-resistance, To create a pool of unemployed big enough to intimidate the employed and to set sections of workers one against the other, Both policies spell disaster for the working class, for one will lead on to the other as the crisis deepens. Organisation confused and weakened under Labour policies will be easy meat for the Tories, Therefore any programme against unemployment and redundancies must be linked clogely to the |

general question of a workers answer to the crisis, It must start from

the position. .- unémployment is caused by the anarchy of the bosses

system - the workers, must not pay for it, To'the passive and | ....:

. conservative ‘trade “union slogan “last in, first out” » we. counterpose the demands:- oo . oy

@) 7 No redundancy - work or maintenance at full trade union rates,

(2) 7 ilo productivity deals,"

: (3) T.U, control of overtime, B 35 hour week,

. (4) No closures - - nationalisation with 1 no compensation. Workers control of production, of hiring and firing,.speed and intensity, length ‘of the working day, abolition of business secrecy, all records, boards and committees open to workers inspection,

(6). No differential or unequal treatment of women.or immigrant workers ~ - we must defend the woman 's right to work, and equal pay now, :

(6) A plan of socially useful public works under voreere’ Sheet (7) National minimum wage of £40 aweek. ce ; “

In each and every redundancy struggle, at every attempted closure we must fight to build a movement that can win these. aims, Trade union control of overtime must be organised and overtime banned if -redundancies are announced, ‘Linked to this we must campaign for a minimum national wage’ With cost of living regulator.to lay the basis for,a campaign against overtime. Only this would make a ban possible in industries facing’ massive layoffs. We must argue for the immediate introduction of a 35 hour week with no cut in pay to create more jobs, We must argue for the most effective tactics in this fight - the factory occupation and the sit in ‘strike. Combine committees and local Rank and File committees dre particularly important. We must not ‘neglect’ the task of building solidarity with factory occupations - ‘in the working class community, housing estates etc., . as well as in the Trade Unions, In-the event of a wave of | © occupations we must push for a co-ordinated TU campaign against unemployment. This.campaign must attempt to draw in those. who are already unemployed - to keep then members of the trade unions or re-integrate,them. Young workers, immigrant and women workers must not be lost to the TU movement ‘through unemployment, and allowed to become the victims or "dupes © of the new para-fascist rabble, , 7

Women workers are traditionally the séction of the workforce where unemployment hits first,’ Also this'is seldom realised as many women do not register as‘ unemployed, ~TU's: must defend the right of women to work. “Women workers have been traditionally poorly paid and

badly ozganised, less politically conscious than men, On the other... hand they are sometimes capable of great 'spontaneous' outbursts of. a militency few male workers could be capable of, e.g, the Leeds clothiz_; workers and many of the threshold battles demonstrated this, On the other hand we have cases of women workers returning pay increases or harassing strikers, Because women workers are so weakly organised on a permanent basis they are extremely volatile, Women driven out.of industry with little or no support from the trade unions would be. a force for reaction, To avoid splits in the ranks and to ereare ai new fighting: unity we must reject the ‘solution’ of sacking women workexs first, We must give redoubled energy to the cause of equal pay, pointing out the necessity ‘of the woman's wages to the working class budget. If regracing is used as a weapon to con women into the same old low pay we must fight all such schemes and demand union and shop floor control of job regrading.

‘The cercral issue which massive closures face the workers wita is the continuation of production. It is also raised by redundances on any considerable scale, The factory occupation key tactic raises the questio. of who controls the factory. At least temporarily it vests this coutrol in the hands of the workers direct representatives, the shop stewards. committee or an ad-hoc strike /sccupation committee, It shou: d mobilise the workers in regular mass meetings. This -Si.uation n presents workers with the dilemma of how'to ensure the jobs = #2 individual cases 'bénevolent! businessmen may emerg? offering to re-start production,.the government might step in with a loan or sponso: a 'workers co-operative’. These solutions are possib’e. in ' small companies (and in very small numbers), They are utopien illusior 3 when looked to in a crisis and by workers in massive industries, The only real solution is one which challenges the very basis o Capitalist production | and control,

We mu:t fight for nationalisation of firms and entire industries which declare redundancies, But this is not enough. We must oppos© all attempts to bail out bankrupt exploiters out of taxation, To co:npensate them fer their feilure would be the height of folly, We mist ai gue for ‘full nat:onalisation with no compensation, Moreover we'do not want nationalised industries under the control of a state which runs them for the bosses benefit - as the mines and the railways are at present subordinated to the needs of the profit system. Our demand therefore is:

NATIONALISATION WITHOUT COMPENSATION UNDER WORKERS “CONTROL, _ We must argue forcibly for this against all 'more practical’ solutionslike Bern nationalisation, government hand outs and workers co-operatives, We nust say clearly that these’ are no solution but rec:pes for mary workers losing their jobs and for the weakening and compromising of the shop floor organisation.

- 32 -

Much confusion exists around the term ‘workers ‘control! = a confusion which the proponents of. fake 'workers. participation’ schemes take. “advantage of, “To oppose. these schemes for. involving the workers i in their own exploitation we must be clear what. we mean,

Workers-control means more than slowly encroaching on management ‘rights’ - every good trade unionist tries to do this every day in the defence and furtherance of his members’ pay and conditions, But it

is not something that belongs: only to the socialist future when workers will take over complete management of all aspects of a centrally planned economy, At the moment it is. ‘impossible for workers to immediately take over all technical and specialised jobs in production, Even when the working class has seized power this will not be immediately possible; it will take time to train a new generation of workers for these jobs and break out of the system which treats workers as less than human. a Workers control forms a link between the trade union struggle and workers power, Strong rank and file. trade unions can win. control over different’ aspects of industry: working conditions, speed of working, overtime and the hiring and firing of labour, Workers can supervise and regulate production by winning a workers veto over management decisions, ae ;

Such a situation could not be stable. / nationalised industry would continually raise the question of ‘who rules'? Either the working class would have to extend its control to the whole of society by taking

state power in a revolutionary way or it would have to back down before the bosses,

This is the context in which we should raise this demand. Workers control is a weapon-of struggle, challenging the capitalists right to rule in the factory ~- in the sphere of production it inevitably raises the question of which class rules in society in general, Our task

in the coming period is to popularise this form. of struggle, raising it in every struggle against unemployment and preparing the working class to take power, To do this means forcing an entry into the sacred realm of bourgeois secrecy, At atime of economic crisis

it must be argued that workers in order to defend their jobs, must ‘know their firms. We must raise the demand ‘OPEN THE BOOKS', All business secrets of the bosses must-be placed under regular ‘inspection by workers representatives. We must also deme and

the 2pening of all boards and committees to workers representatives - not to sit on them as directors bound by any-collective responsibility to ‘management’, but a8 workers’ inspectors - to observe, enquire and report back to mass meetings and stewards committees, The secret price fixing between the monopolies, backdoor state handouts, tax evasion, and the many other swindles the bosses practice on working people must be exposed. Our-aim is not to discover excuses for the individual_-bankrupt capitalist - these figures will be made readily available - but rather to discover the secret workings of the profit system which subjects workers lives to the anarchy of competition,

- 33 -

In this situation of massive unemployment we must demand the

resumption of production and its adaptation to socially useful ends, A

plan of useful ~ublic works under workers control - no building workers should be unemployed while there.is a chronic shortage of houses, schools, hospitals and nurseries, .

WOMEN AND THE CRISIS

In order to transform Women's Voice into a campaigning and agitational paper it is necessary that the paper has a clear programme, Only on the basis of the fight. for components of that programme cah we build roots for the paper - for example, Women's Voice groups, We propose the following programme for Women's Voice in the immediate future. fa) | Equal pay and regrading |

(b) ' The rigist for women to work, to, be campaigned for by women and men,

(c) Equal opportunities for apprenticeship and retraining. (d) ° Job and promotion opportunities.

(e)’ The provision of work place creches, only where they can be controlled by the trade unions.

It must also include demands which facilitate the above, when and only when it is clear these are linked to.a class analysis,

(f) Force the unions to take up the minimum wage for all workers includins women.

(g) Unions to embark on a unionisation campaign for women 1 especially in low paid industries,

(h) Women's caucuses in unions, i, > ‘ . . (i) Meetings arranged in unions. at times when women can attend.

'(j) Women io be given the ability and confidence to be shop stewards and take positions on Trade Councils, this requires the encouragement and not discouragement of women's full participation in 7 the unio.is,

_ Added to these demands on the government and the unions, the programme should include demands addressed.to wider problems women in general are faced with:

(k) Educational opportunities and equal opportunities in all spheres of life.

- 34 -

(1) Contraception and abortion on: ‘demand. (cn). 24 hour nurseries, (n) Support for all.those fighting égainst rent and price increases,

(o) » The need for,improved social services, especially those related to the family and women, e.g. the medical profession should take women's problems seriously and recognise women, 's rights to control their own bodies.

We think that'such a programme sould be indispensable to "Womans Voice for. initiating 'campaigns and local ‘action, The organisation must commit - itself to building support for Women's Voice in ell ereas of our work.

We think Women's Voice groups should be built around the paper in particular circumstances, They should not be seen however as a

blueprint for every struggle that occurs. THE RANK AND FILE MOVEMENT’

‘The trade unions are the sole organs for the self de? ‘ence of the class at the moment, ‘They are weakened in their effectiveness by the TU leaders 7 bureaticratic control, by their policy of class collaboration and by their “sabotaging of genuine rank and file’ initiative. The heritage of hostility

__ to ‘politics’ on the shop floor and traditional craft’ and séctional

'. divisions strengthen the grip of the TU bureaucracy.

A three- -fold struggle 1 must be waged for the total independence of the _TUs from the state machine, for a militant political class unifying

“ gtrategy and-for the transformation of the unions into democratic fighting bodies, .-To do this a rank and file movement within the TUs is, necessary, Its tasks will be to win over and link up the shop stewards committees, the combine committees, the district committees, the Trades Councils. In many cases this will require a real transformation of these bodies.

. Such a movement must exist at local, union and national level. No such rank and file movement can be built, ‘There can be no short cut to building a national organisation unless we develop our roots and base

in the particular unions and industries.

Our starting point must be the particular séctional and local rank and file initiatives. We must build caucuses of militants grouped around Rank and File papers in each industry. If these papers are to be more than useful "information’swoppers’ they must be built around a clear and specific programme for the industry or union, The programme must be the banner of the rank and file groups, the demands by which it is known and recognised, The production of national newspapers is ‘meaningless unless it is the result of a solid base of support for our programme, A regular shop stewards committee bulletin can often mean more in reality than a nationally produced papér written by a handful of 1.8. members (the experience of many of the rank and file

- 35 -

papers has taught us this), The building of rank and file groups on a clear platform of union democracy and particular economic demands must be the starting point of any rank and file movement.

But our peispective must go beyond sectional rank and file movements, Our aim is to build a genuine cross industry rank and file leadership, | We are not merely out, as many leading members still suggest, to build a periphery for our own organisation, .

No national-rank and file movement can be built on the basis of centrally directed initiatives alone, It must be built around a clear alternative perspective to that of the trade union bureaucracy on the key issues facing workers, Regular democratic conferences would have to thrash out these positions as any movement which reflects the real movement © will have many differing positions.. It is crucial that CP and LP influenced militants must be brought into the movement. -Only on this basis can the rank and file develop a life of its own. . oes

The national organisation t must fight for:

(1) Generalised economic demands: the minimum wage, “equal pays. work or full pay, support and solidarity action etc,

(2) Demands relating to the role and structure of the national trade. unions ..,.. for democratisation, against collaboration etc,

(3) Key social demands of the class, e.g, housing, welfare, against racial and sexual oppression,

We do not seek to impose a comprehensive revolutionary programme on the rank and file movement We must seek to argue our positions within the movement, which will be composed , both of revolutionary and — reformist workers,

We consider the building of such a movement at local and national level to be a major task at present, The Leyland crisis has seen the shop stewards pushed to the centre of the political arena, Benn's policies of ‘incorporation will strengthen that tendency, The battle for an. independent rank and file leadership becomes more and more urgent.

We do not think the:;history of 1.S, involvement with the rank and file movement has been consistent or clear, ~

(1) There still exists little clarity in the organisation as to the role and purpose of the rank and file movement, Amongst sections of the leadership there is a tendency to see it as a halfway house between the class and the party.

Some see it as a formalised periphery which will merge with i S. at a time of heightened crisis,

(2) This has led to excessive orgenigational 1.8, control of the rank and file movement at the top.” ; (3) ' While the Rank: and File organising | comimittee has produced many ' good ideas and initiatives - Chile, women, racism and safety, for example - these have all been undertaken without an overall perspective for building the rank.and file as an ongoing movement at national and local level; The confused history of our attitude to the LCDTUris an example of the lack of consistent perspective and guidance, At one time we are called on to oppose delegations to the LCDTU, to argue against support. Now we are called on to secure delegations, to argue yet another position in our branches, We consider that the early decision against a national bulletin for the R & F was a mistake, Such positions have led to an inability to generate a genuine existence for the movement between ' conference,

This can only be rectified by a cléar and. open discussion within the organisation, We think the R & F can only be built at local and national level. Experience in these campaigns should be transmitted to all involved groups via a national newsletter,

The National Rank and File must initiate policies and campaigns that can be the basis for sectional and local action, In particular we think the Rank and File should begin to develop its own cost of living index as part of the fight against thresholds and indexing and for a rising scale

of wages, Rank and file groupings could,then use this index as the basis for wage agitation | and organisation, Fo,

To date the R& F has functioned quite successfully as a support organisation for strikes etc, The R & F can only grow if.it can initiate struggles involving broad sections of workers against the ruling class attack, In this context local committees on particular issues must be

‘encouraged, as well, as the formation of combine committees, . These

will take several forins - transformed Treces Councils, Public Sector

"Alliances, Anti-Fascist groups, for éxatnple - but events in Glasgow

highlight their importance, It is crucial that all members see their shop stewards committee or Trades Council as a potential component of the national rank and file movement,

Unless we ‘move to devélop the local and sectional groups of the Rank and: File on the basis of a campaigning offensive there is a danger that the Rank and File will become an ever more remote central organisation more and more divorced from the shop floor - and more and more a

“mere front for 1,5,

Such a policy to activate and develop the Rank and File can only come as the result of an open perspectives discussion within cwn organisation.

- 37 -

The crisis of Capitalism opens up enormous opportunities for revolutionary socialists, But we will not build by tailing the militancy of the class alone, nor by repeatedly calling for socialism, We need a clear alternative both to the crisis of capitalism and to the crisis

of perspective within the labour movement,

This document has sought to present such an alternative, It has

argued the alternatives that revolutionaries should pose to capitalist crisis, and the new forms of struggle that we should argue for, It provides the basis not only of winning workers directly to our politics and organisation, but also of working alongside ever broader numbers of workers: and. ‘proving our politics and ability to lead in practice.

. But no such programme is an alternative to building a base for the

organisation in the work places, factories and unions, The job of

revolutionaries is not to endlessly recite the ‘correct’ alternative, Our base must be built through effective day to day leadership and an

ability to link immediate struggles with our alternative political

programme, —

A programme does however (1). Provide the basis for our political leadership in the factories

and unions. It outlines the answer and perspective which revolutionaries offer to the class, .

(2) Ensure that the organisation marches .as one, : Such situations as the different regional responses to the Birmingham bombings or other regional and sectional differences within the organisation can only be overcome if we have, a clear political line as a national organisation, 7

A clear workers answer to the crisis would inform the activity of the organisation at all levels. It would tie together the perspectives and activity of all work groups. It would provide the basis for the agitation and propaganda of Socialist Worker, weet. 4

No such programme can fall out of the skies. Only the experience of the organisation as a whole could develop such a clear alternative, That is why we submit this document to debate incide the organisation. That is why we call on the leadership to reply to our’ position,

But if 1S, is to develop a clear alternative for the working class movement the nature of our internal life must change, Democratic centralism is not about the circulation of minutes as some formalists claim, It is about a leadership taking its political perspectives

-openly to the membership, It is about the membership testing those perspectives: against experience and struggle. Only on that basis can the line of the organisation be refined and developed.

- 38 +

tc

Such an internal life does not exist in 1.S, at present, If the organis*tion is to meet the tests ahead the coming conference must ensure that 1.5, has a clear alternative programme for the working class movement and that full democratic centralist debate is restored within the organisation, If the conference cannot fulfill those tasks it cannot solve the problems faced by the organisation, :

The undersigned agree with the general political line of this Left Platform, those marked * dissenting on the Common Market section,

Dave Silcock i. aeading Stuart King North Lambeth Steve Pitt Robin Camacho Ros Makin Jenny Norris Rob Watler BLil Ford * Edinburgh Steve MeSwoency Newhan Mike Foley * Dave Hughos Leicester Dave Ward Crawley dulict Ash Hackney Pat Collins Dick Pratt Warley Pat Owen Michelle Ryan John Owen Sue Thomas Janet Richardson Malcolm Woodhall Keith Richardson Dave Stocking Wolverhampton Mike Lee Nottingham . Mary Fraser 6 Steve Cushion Steve Abbot Rachel Needham Stoke Neil Bedford Pete Keenlyside * Cardif? John Yalkinte Maureen O'brien Cricklewood Dave Perkin Bernice McAdam Harrow Janet Geary Brighton

Barry Pavier Ned Chapman Jenny Taylor Leeds Colin Knowles L. Waterman

Arnie Prout

Sybil Knowlcs

The signatories are willing to spenk to I,S,. Branches or Districts on the political perspectives put forward in this document. We invite all those who are in gencral agreement with this left platsorm to sign ond fight for this programme in the organisation. Those wishing to sign, or wanting documents, speakers etc,, should contact

Stuart King Tel. 0O1-735-6550. 56 Offley Road, London SWS OLS,

A national meeting is planned by the supporters of this platform to be held in London in carly May. All IS members who wish to discuss the political positions put forward in this document, whether in agreement or not, are invited to attend, Details from ahove address,

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