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Greenwich Labour Party Day conference: Ireland -way forward?

Saturday November 28, 9.31 to 5.30, at Goldsmiths College Students' Union, New Cross, London SE 14. Creche available. Lunch provided. Registration £2.50. Details from Greenwich Labour Party, 32 Woo wich Rd, London SE 10. Sinn Fein Manchester Martyrs commemoration: Sunday November 29, assemble 1.30 at Patrick's Church, Livesey St, off Oldham Road.

Polish Solidarity Campaign. Public meeting: Poland's crisis - is Solidarity to blame? Monday November 30, 7.30, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1. Speakers: Jimmy Reid, Neil Kinnock MP, and Philli Whitehead MP.

SOUTHERN AFRICA Socialist Forum for Southern Africa Solidarity: meeting on Women and the Liberation Struggle in Namibia'. Saturday November 28, 3pm to 6pm, at Caxton House, St Johns Way, London N19.

WOMEN Public meeting on Women's Right to Work demonstration to be called by the National Executive of the Labour Party. Wednesday, December 9, at 7.30, South Hank Poly Students Union, Rotary St, London SE 1. Invited speakers: Лоусе Gould (Labour party women's organiser), Jo Richardson MP, Frances O'Grady, Susan Shell, and a speaker from the trade union movement.

Scottish unemployed conference Saturday November 28, 10.30-5.30, at Cowane Centre, Cowane St, Stirling.

Called by Stirling and Edinburgh Unemploy ed Workers' Associations, and open to all unemployed and employed workers.

Mosley Common to Leigh via Tyldesley and Atherton.

Saturday November 28, assemble 11am outside Mosley Common Labour Club. Eve of march social:

Leigh. Adm. £1.

LEFT All London Labour Lefts meeting called by Lambeth Labour Left, to discuss how to organise against the Heseltine legislation and prepare for the London Labour Party conference on December 12. 7.30, Friday November 27, at County Hall, London SE 1.

London Labour Briefing fringe meeting for London Labour Party conference: 12.30pm, Saturday 12th, at Camden Town Hall. "The Battle for Power': speakers, Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone, JO Richardson. Adm. 50p.

London Labour Briefing social: Saturday Decembe 12, Caxton House, St Johr Way, London N19. Hot food, curries, disco, bar. Adm. £1.

London Workers' Socialist League classes on basic Marxism: a fortnightly series, alternate Fridays fros January 8. For details of registration and venue, writ to PO Box 135, London N1 ODD.

Socialist Organiser meetings and forums LAMBETH: Sundays at 7pm, for venue phone 3071.

Nov.29: State and revol lutio Dec.20: The Russian re volu tion Jan.31: Stalinism Feb.28: The origins of LEICESTER: Sundays at 7.30, at the Leicester Social ist Centre, High St (above Blackthorn Books).

Nov.29: Chile/Bolivia: the role of the military in Latin LEIGH: Sundays at 7.30 at the White Lion, opposite the Market.

Nov.29: Poland, the working class and Stalinism.

Dec. 13: Ireland and the Brit. ish Labour Movement.

OXFORD: Wednesdays at 8pm, at 44b Princes St. Dec 2: The crisis of the Fourth International Dec. 16: The nuclear threat.

ISLINGTON: Socialist Organiser meetings every other Tuesday at the 'Florence'. , Fiorence St, near the Town Hall. Next meeting December 8.

Brighton Socialist Organiser meeting. Thursday 3 Decem ber at 7.30 pm, Sussex University Students Union. Video showing of the Ken Loach documentary, A Question of Leadership. VLADIMIR DERER (SO 61) says that the 'ultra-left' (presumably he includes SO supporters in this term) should ask ourselves why we have been so unsuccessful in achieving anything when CLPD with its much smaller forces' has managed to contribute to major victories.

The majority of us 'ultra lefts' have supported CLPD as its individual members and many more ultra letts have supported its aims in the Party branches and trade unions. But I think Vladimir is deluding himself if he believes that by abstaining from committing itself on political issues CLPD has won any measure of support from right wingers in the Fragmentation The left's weakness lies not in its advocacy of clear socialist policies but in its fragmentation. When we 'ultra lefts' in SO initiated the Rank and File Mobilising Committee, we were able some measure to overcome this fragmentation and achieved a lot for democratic reform in one year.

It is totally false to say that most trade unionists expressed a preference for Denis Healey. Most trade unionists were never consulted.

It is also false to say that support for Healey was because of Benn's policies. The democratically decided policies of most unions are far more in sympathy with the policies of Benn than those of Healey. It would be more logical therefore to say that it was the Left's past failure to take the argument about democratic reforms to In the Campaign for Labour Party • Democracy column this week, Mandy Moore • reports on the CLPD Women's Action Committee conference.

MORE than twenty people came to the annual meeting of the CLPD's Women's Action Committee.

The meeting was opened by Ann Pettifor with a stimulating introduction on the tasks facing Labour women. We had, she said, to learn map-reading and know where we are going; we had to get the engine in working order _ with constitutional changes to give us a functioning organisation, and we had to move into the driving seat.

Her talk was followed by a relaxed discussion, in which the only discordant note was struck by one woman who thought men had more important things to do than make tea, and that an understanding wife knew that working men had to recoup their dignity by being masters in their own home. the unions and the wider movement which cost Tony Benn votes.

Vladimir Derer's disdain for extra Parliamentary activities seems to show a static view of workers' consciousness.

Workers' Several women reported on the problems of órganising when a male-dominated local Labour Party considered that doing anything for Labour women was 'sexist' Much of the discussion centred on the problems of getting more women into parliament. Ann Pettifor had given disturbing figures on the number of women selected so far: out of 170 completed reselections, less than 20 had been women and only seven of those could be counted as safe seats. So the idea of positive discrimination isn't enough: it's still necessary to pin it down constitutionally.

Various suggestions came up for how a women's section could help, such as to raise the money to selves to help her out with any child-minding she might need in order to run for selection.

WAC secretary Heather Gaebler reported in the afternoon on the successes of WAC over the year, does not rise in a straight upward line. It may rise sharply as a result of a particular event (as happened with steel workers during their strike) or in relation to a particular issue (e.g. nuclear disarmament) and then fall again just as sharpnotably winning a reference back at Annual Conference on positive discrimination, and the successful fringe meeting there.

The three resolutions tabled were debated, raising some interesting new points. The main resolution, moved by Mandy Moore for WAC, set out three priorities: abolition of all-male shortlists; election of the NEC women's section by the women's conference; and continued campaigning to enable the women's conference to table five motions to Annual Conference, to be debated as of right in whatever part of the agenda they related to las against a "women's debate""].

Election of the NEC women's section by women's conference raised the controversial question of the block vote. Harriet Harman warned that if we built up support for this demand and looked like winning it, the unions would reply with a demand to have a block vote for their delegates at the women's conference.

continu ly as a result of a defeat, or worse, a refusal by the leaders to fight.

Vladimir's view, in my opinion, is a direct result of years of conditioning and seeing everything in the narrow terms of fighting for limited changes • in the Labour Party-in other words, routinism. It ignores the possibility of rapid and qualitative growth and change in times of sharp class struggle.

Such rapid growth of consciousness does not always flow neatly through the channels of constitutional reform.

This is why Vladimir ignores the big mobilisations outside the Party in the ANL and CND for example. We cannot appeal to such people, he argues tas the Labour's credibility champion of the interests of the working class and other disadvantaged sections of our society' is regained.

But this begs the question, How can this credibility be restored if Labour Party policy (or its interpretation by the leadership) is anti-working class, and how are we to overcome this if we are not prepared to fight here and now for socialist policies to be adopted, and for a leadership prepared to carry them out?

Harriet thought this would badly inhibit the ability of the conference to break new ground, especially as women in the union delegations at women's conference are often dominated by full-timers who instruct them on how to vote.

The discussion was taken up by Mandy Moore, Ann Pettifor and Rachel Lever, who al felt that the block vote should not be opposed in principle, as in theory it represented hundreds of thousands of women workers who we would wish to draw into our political debates. But it was necessary to establish that these rank and file women had control of such a block vote, and not the men in the unions who totally dominate conferences like the TGWU's Biennial.

Another point was the need to make a special point of making contact with and organising the trade union delegates at the women's conference.

We should be turning to mass movements like CND.

pointing out that Labour has a policy of unilateralism and that through the reselection procedure they can ensure it is carried out. We should be turning to the trade unions to ensure that the process of democratisation is extended and that Chapple, Duffy, Basnett and the rest of the right wing mafia cannot overturn the decisions on the electoral college, and reselection.

Lastly, to tone down campaigning for reform and for socialist policies because the right wing accuse us of creating divisions could only appear to most workers as an admission on our part that we were responsible for the divisions in the Party, and for Labour's poor performance. Instead we should argue that much more that it is the right who are the splitters.

It is they who refuse to be bound by democratic decisions; it is they who attack Tony Benn for arguing Labour Party policy in Parliament; it is they who constantly appear on TV attacking party policy as ludicrous; it is they who by refusing to provide a clear alternative to the Tories and by suggesting that the Labour Left want a totalitarian regime are responsible for Labour's lack of support.

At the last election the working class was given a choice between two Tory parties, and many workers chose the real one. If at the next election we give them a choice between two SDPs, they will do the same again.

ARTHUR BOUGH Stoke A motion from Rachel Lever suggested that CLPD should campaign for an extension to the unions of the idea of an extra woman delegate for every so many thousand affiliated women members. This is a little known rule in the Labour Party which allows for extra women delegates to come to Annual Conference, and could be used to get more women in trade union delegations to Annual Conference, without provoking too much paranoia from the men.

The motion was carried, while an amendment to stiffen it by making it mandatory fell.

Ann Pettifor's motion, reaffirming our commitment to the demand for women's conference to elect the National Committee of Labour Women, was also carried.

Mandy Moore, Ann Pettifor, Heather Gaebler and Glenys Thornton were elected from WAC to sit on the main CLPD executive.

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. Socialist Organiser Thursday November 26,1981 A1

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