Rally Celebrate Major Fusion

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long enough: there were so brenng led on the work-' workshops organised by many things to see and shop of Labour Councils Women's Fightback and Steve Longshaw spoke from the Laurence Seott occupation "WE'VE BEEN on strike for 28 weeks, and we've shown the working class can fight back" , were the opening words from the opening speaker at the Workers Socialist League's rally in Birmingham last Saturday, 10th - Steve Longshaw from Laurence Scotts, Manchester.

The rally followed a day of workshops, films, exhibitions, discussions, covering a whole range of fronts of working class struggle and forms of the fightback. In the final session itself, Steve Longshaw was followed by Barbara Brown from the National H-Block/Armagh Committee in Ireland, a speaker from the Mumtaz Kiani defence committee in Bradford, Dogan Tarkan, Wictor Moszczynski (representing Solidarnosc), Jette Jorgensen of the Danish Trotskyist Workers' League, Mick Liggins of the National Left Wing Youth Movement, and Rachel Lever from Women's Fightback.

Crowded Socialist Organiser did a crowded workshop on 'Organising the Labour Left'. and we had a platform speaker, too - except that time was so tight at the end that John O'Mahony of Socialist Organiser waived his speaking time.

Alan Thornett of the WSL Executive was the the WL sees the many different threads of struggle being drawn together in a socialist strategy. Time forced him * abbreviate the speech, but Alan Thornett has provided Socialist Organiser with the full text for publication see facing page).

Talking to people trom the 400-odd attendance afterwards, they were all enthusiastic. •Next time the WL organises an event like this, we'll be able to get a lot more along" If they had a complaint, it was that the event was not JOHN HARRIS hear and take part in, in such rapid succession or simultaneously, that you were bound to miss a lot.

Work with But it was impressive indeed in showing the WSL's willingness and ability to work with other campaigns and movements while still arguing its own Trotskyist ideas. Graham Bash of London Labour т.: -C:.. 1-1 - CS 21.and the cuts, which produced a lively discussion on the tactie of 'majority opposition' (majority Labour groups going into opposition and systematically voting down all Tory budgets).

There were stalls from Provisional Sinn Fein, the El Salvador Solidarity Campaign, and Palestine solidarity: exhibitions from hospital occupations at St Mary's and Longworth; and the National Left Wing Youth Movement, as well as displays from the International-Communist League and the old Workers' Socialist League, the two Trotskyist organisa. tions which fused this July to form the new WSL.

High points

High points, perhaps, were the showing of Ken Loach's film on the steel strike, 'A Question of Leadership', followed by a disçussion with Ken Loach and Alan Thornett and Ray Davies, two of the work- ist ers who took part in the film: and the workshop session where Jette Jorgensen reported on the time she recently spent at the Solidarnose congress.

Going places

A collection was taken for the WSL's special fund for a new press and premises. 22,600 was announced as the total, but the WSL Treasurer tells us that large amounts were counted twice, and the true total was £1870! So, even when that's added to the £2,000 already collected, the WSL has a good way to go towards its f10,000 target. But it was a good response from an attendance which clearly p included a lot of Unemployed towspaid workers.

From Saturday's evidence, the WSL and I-CL have not only fused themselves together, but are rapidly going places.

MARTIN THOMAS

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Socialist Organiser, Thursday 15 October 1981 Page 11

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