"We need a Marxist voice"

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Send, with £2.50 Registration fee (£1.50 unfor credentials, Phone.... 01-607-5268 41 Ellington St., London N7 to: THREE women speakers formed the platform of a successful Socialist Organiser fringe meeting on the Thursday evening.

To an audience of over 50 delegates and visitors they spelled out Socialist Organiser's orientation towards the struggles of the most militant, oppressed and exploited workers, and the fight against the bureaucratic leaders of the labour movement who wield the block votes in favour of right-wing policies. CoHSE militant Andrea Campbell, who dealt with the NHS pay struggle, showed this well:

«Take the example of waged) and s.a.e. Alex Kitson today, answering those who complained about the NEC staying in the Imperial Hotel.

He said delegates have a 'free choice' about whether to stay there. But you have a free choice only if you have money. What about the unemployed, the low paid, and the homeless?

These bureaucrats have lost any links with the rank and file"

This separation is particularly acute as far as women are concerned.

In Andrea's own union, 77% of the membership are women, yet there is only one woman on the NEC. And while General Secretary after General Secretary had got up to condemn Militant as undemocratic, "I'd like to say that my General Secretary cast votes in the NEC elections without even consulting the CoHSE delegation"

Winnie Murphy from the textile and garment union NUTGW showed how Socialist Organiser sets out to offer workers "a paper they can talk to and express their problems". What is needed is an alternative to the politics of reformism. 1L a malitina ef rafarmiem "Bureaucrats don't just wake up in the morning saying 'we'll betray this bunch of workers today'. As reformists they believe they can win concessions bit by bit. But that doesn't work any more.

They separate union work from political work. Yet the answer to workers' problems is political".

The fight back must involve the working class. The block vote is designed to exclude the rank and file:

"Even if it was controlled by the left, the block vote would still be wrong, because it would be leaders taking decisions for people instead of convincing them"

Gerry Byrne, from the Socialist Organiser editorial board, pointed to the paper's origins in the struggles against the betravals of the last Labour trayals of the government:

'Our campaign began against those Labour leaders taking their policies not from the rank and file but from international bankers.

We have a perspective of transforming the labour movement, wiping out the backwardness which bureaucrats rely on - racialism, sexism and gradualism.

The huge crisis creates huge opportunities. It is necessary to have a clear Marxist voice pointing the way forward".

Floor contributions included a comrade from the Labour Campaign for Gay Rights, and Ernie Roberts MP, who pressed for a campaign for control of the block vote.

Harry

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Labowr wormen November 27th 1982