[ON March 10 London Transport workers are striking…]

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ON March 10 London Transport workers are striking for one day against the fare rise and cuts imposed by the Law Lords. 'Fare Fight' is campaigning hard Up to now the London Labour Party and GLC left has played a big role in this struggle. Left-wing councillors led by Valerie Wise and John McDonnell have fought for Labour to vote against the fare rise at And the monthly London Labour Briefing has been a voice for the campaign. (In December it carried a joint statement with Socialist Organiser).

But an editorial in the March Briefing signals a shift towards Ken Livingstone's line of 'protest against the fare rise, but vote for it' JOHN BLOXAM and JOHN O'MAHONY address an open letter to Valerie Wise and Chris Knight who majority of Londoners to allowing your policy to be conclude that their real decided for you by those enemies are the forces which who are - however reluctare ostensibly and legally in antly - trapped in local charge: "socialism', "politic- government administration.

elections! You talk about doing Look at the lessons of better next time, in a differBecause the major forces GLC left will not fight for cillors who chose to try to Comrades, the class struggle be administrators rather than is always now. The struggle militants, they gave up the and training a serious left Against your own bette Urgamuser. present policy is seriously wrong. As people who value the collaboration of London Labour Briefing in such enterprises as the forthcoming conference on trade union democracy, we think it especially important to discuss this with you.

Your editorial is strange mixture of lucid condemnation of what the GLC majority decided to do (and you now justify) and other bits expressing a mood of depression and defeat.

Pose clearly

You pose the questions clearly:

'If ... we are in office without power, are we not, perhaps, doing more harm than good... allowing ourselves to be used as instruments of the Tories and the capitalist state - forced to do their dirty work for them, because our opponents would rather not face the anger of the people in their own name.

"Is this what is happening? To some extent no doubt it is. And to the extent that this is so, we are actually preventing the working class of London from being able to see the class enemy clearly exposed, stripped of the figleaves....

'Are we not clinging to the trappings of office as real power drains steadily from our hands? Is this not the pattern of all past Labour governments played out on a smaller scale within our own ranks?...

"And if our experience as a left wing GLC is to prefigure the future of the next Labour government, shouldn't we be doing better than this?"

Sharp and true

Every word is sharp and true, and inexorably points to this conclusion: those who are determined not to allow a re-run of the experience of past Labour governments must refuse to accommodate-now in local government, or accommodate to those who accommodate.

Instead, the mood of depression and defeat leads you to this conclusion:

"The task is stay in office and add to our power by winning, first, the borough elections...

But you know and state the serious left wing case against this, too. You say: «We are almost forcing the among LT users.

every stage. wrote the editorial.

NOTICE:

REDUCED SERTILES Des ians, the electoral process, the Labour Party..."

That is not how to win left.

the rate rise policy.

themselves to Labour counchance to organise tenants and workers to fight back. When the rate rise policy collapsed, there was nothing.

It is not a matter of calling Ken Livingstone 'traitor' - which he is not. But a line must be drawn between the local government administraors and those who focus on a rank and file fightback now, in whatever way possible and with whatever weapons are to hand.

Has London Labour Briefing learned nothing from the rate rise fiasco?

Against your own better judgment, you are now again This is no way to build and sustain a serious Labour ent fight later. But if the maneste now is decisive for organising ınat can secuie ne sudidust ranure the enrialict future.

Pass up that strugele, strike your flag in deference to the established leaders who are refusing to give à militant lead, contine yourselves now to talk of what you will do in another fight in the future, and unavoidably you contribute to perpetuating the vacuum of militant political kadership in the labour movement.

We hope you will reply in the columns of Socialist We're offering bundles of five each week for £1 post free, and bundles of 10 for £1.75 post free. That's £12 for three months for bundles of 5, and £21 for bundles of ten.

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