Bans ANL
Socialist Organiser1981 1981-09-17Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 12 →
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welcome a reform of it.
Reform Comrade Derer seems to favour a position of reform by balancing the weight of the unions' vote with that of the constituencies. In the short term this would be an advance, but our ultimate goal must be to replace the electoral college by the supremacy of conference. At conference vote (as opposed to a college one) MPs would only be able to vote if elected as delegates by their CLP or trade union.
Democracy and Party discipline can only exist on the basis of a programme. One cannot separate the two. The bulk of Labour's Left see democracy and accountability as .: being necessary to see through the programme which includes import controls, planning agreements with capitalists, worker directors and a more vigorous National Enterprise Board.
We must see democracy as a means to a different end, ie. the development of real socialist policies, coupled with the turning of people (both male and AS A participant in the Fulham anti-fascist contingent I would like to raise several points in relation to 'Ban weakens anti-nazi demo' (SO S1):
Firstly the article explains the poor turn-out by the ANL as being due to the Home Office ban on marches.
However the real reason is the obvious weakness of the ANL, and the fact that it no longer represents the serious anti-fascists. The counter-rally was more like a 'liberals with a conscience' picnic, than an assembly of militants prepared for street fighting.
Many people had brought children, and others just lay about sunbathing, hardly anything of a force to frighten tough racist skins.
Violence The anti-fascist turn out was also weakened by the now normal high level of racist violence. Many youth who did not attend expressed the sentiment that we've got enough trouble on our estate, without going looking for it' The left generally, and the labour movement as a whole, must shake itself and realise that the nazis can now operate and march virtually unopposed by the organised workers' movement.
Unless the left realises the pacifism and diversionary nature of the proven misleaders, of the one-issue ANL, it will suffer serious defeats. Those who call for rebuilding the ANL to its previous strength' are misleading and wrong.
The ANL has proven that limiting the struggle to popular frontist apolitical pacifism won't work.