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Mitterrand's policy boiled down to more science while not questioning the direction of research.

Reactors Mitterrand has possibly been even worse than Giscard. For example he cancelled the Plogoff reactor in Brittany (opposed by a local mass movement) but announced several more reactors in areas where opposition would be less likely. He also overcame the boycott of radioactive waste imports by Cherbourg dockers by shifting the imports to naval dockyards! All this underlined the dangers of leaving science policy in the hands of rightwing reformists.

A speaker from the West German Green Party reported how they had forced changed to nuclear power policies, while also encouraging alternative (renewable) energy sources that would make nuciear power unnecessary (such as Biogas generators in farms): He claimed that German workers were starting to look to the Greens to defend their interests.

Could it be that given the policies of German Social Democracy and the police state regime inside the SPD and trade unions that the best way for Marxists to get through to the working class is to work with the Greens, campaigning against nuclear power, for safety at work, for community control of technology and challenging the centralisation of the state?

The Dutch speaker talked about the "Science Shops" set up by universities, but in fact serving working class interests. One example given was of the Dutch foodworkers trade union which asked one science shop to find out the effects of pouring milk into rivers.

Pollution It turned out that whenever milk workers struck, employers poured away the milk and accused the workers of causing pollution. The science shop found that this was quite harmful to the environment, but that milk poured onto grasslands was actually quite beneficial. This provided the workers with quite a good defence.

Perhaps we should be pushing for Labour councils to set up science shops here. (I can't see British universities doing it!)

Apart from a few Socialist Organiser readers 1 met, it was noticeable how few of the participants wère involved in the "organised" left. This indicates a serious weakness in both the left and the radical science movement. This could quite possibly lead to situation where the Labour Party has a paper left policy on all issues except science.

Postscript.

Four new members have gone onto the Labour Party Science and Technology Study Group from the NEC - Ken Cure of the AUEW (new chair of the STSG), Betty Boothroyd, Anne Davis and Denis Healey!!

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Socialist organiser no. 111, December 2. 1 -enin and the Russian workers' Revolution In this Andrew Hornung John O'Mahony take up the story from misdaine 8. Page forced to make a retreat, giving massive territorial concessions to the Germans in the forced treaty of Brest Litovsk, signed in February 1918. This was the first of many retreats the Bolsheviks were forced to make in their isolation. The revolution in Europe still had not broken out. The Bolshevik Party experienced the sharpest factional division on this question. The majority around