Councillors must prepare tight on cuts and

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Already a lot of ground- antacto and inevig up Tory work has been laid for such Th effective council's credit; a response to Tory attacks other Labour councils" opposition to cuts and rate in real terms, rate cuts in central government MANY on the left are reluctant to fight on a "no cuts, no rate increase" platform, preferring instead to rally around the simpler "no cuts" slogan.

Unfortunately this stance means that Labour Councils are being increasingly seen as executioners of Tory policy - Tories garbed in Labour talk and sloganising. And sadly, many are just that.

It is time for this kind. of retreat to stop: time that Labour councils put up an effective fight and gave an effective lead against Tory policies of destruction.

Many Labour councils would rather act as administrators and book-keepers than as leaders of any kind of fight against Tory cuts. But we must begin to argue and struggle for a policy of not cuts (indeed, improvement) in jobs or services, the meeting of pay claims from council employees and no rent or rate rises above the average wage settlement (i.e. workers' capacity to pay for an increase).

Rate rises are sometimes argued for as a progressive form of taxation because it is businesses which have to pay larger amounts.

This is true in straight monetary terms (and explains the initiating in Hull of a 'Campaign Against Spendthrift Humberside' started by local Tories after the Labour-controlled Humberside County Council had e County Council had increased rates by 63%). reased rates by 63%). But, in real terms, rate increases hit the poorer working class the hardest.

The worst effect of large and repeated rate increases is felt in low income areas. The poorer households are, the larger the proportion of their income taken by rates - because rates are based on the value of your house, and, poorer households spend a bigger proportion of their income on housing.

The effect is even more marked in old and economically depressed areas where there is a decline in the working population and hence a fall in the number of ratepayers and an increasing demand for public services.

Isolation

If rate rises could be considered in isolation, there might still be a case for seeing them as a roughand-ready form of redistribution. The GLC's plan for cutting London Transport fares would have cost the average household only about 50p a week in rates in return for a saving of £1.50 on fares.

But most of the rate rises levied by the GLC and other Labour councils have gone not to minance umprovements but to meet cuts in central government grant. The 'redistribution' has been from ratepayers to central government.

Massive and continuing rate rises cannot be introduced without having a serious effect on the living standards of working people, and we must therefore work towards an alternative.

How then are we to fight for a policy of "no cuts, no rate rises"?

Firstly, we must recognise that the fight against Tory attacks on local government cannot be left up to a handful of dedicated Labour councillors. We need a huge labour movement response with the involvement of the Labour Party, public sector trade unionists, trades councils, unemployed workers groups, tenants groups and community associations.

Infuse

We have to infuse a new meaning into the term 'local government' • It will produce new methods of debate and decision making within the labour movement - in short, it will necessitate greater democracy and co-operation.

Already a lot of groundwork has been laid for such a response to 'Tory attacks made clear. The origins of surplus value are explained well, as is the difference between relative and absolute surplus, and the means the capitalist uses to further exploit the workforce and maximise profits.

Particularly good are the sections on the need for working class organisation in trade unions and political parties, as a defence against capital, and a means of challenging it. The links are also made between capital and imperialism and the attempts by the capitalist to exploit workers in underdeveloped countries, and use this pool

Dave

on local government: through the NHS dispute, work against the Tebbit law and recent local initiatives to fight cuts and privatisation. We should be aiming to build on this.

This kind of strategy will depend initially on how effective the rank and file of the Labour Party and trade unions are in pressuring local Labour councillors into this kind of action.

Many councillors will be opposed to such a path, because of the implication of greater labour, movement democracy and what they may consider to be an infringement of their domain. This must be fought hard against by the rank and file.

We must argue that the Labour councillors must be representatives of labour. By capitulating on the fight against cuts and rate rises they become merely executioners of Tory policy and have no right to be representing the Labour Party. Whether the rank and file win on this one will determine the whole course of any opposition to Tory cuts.

A motion calling for "a rates and rents freeze, no cuts in jobs or services, and meeting of council workers' pay claims, combined with a strategy for mobilising labour movement resistance to the inevitable Tory attack, and linking up with other Labour councils" tively minor matters. But when the book deals with the key concepts in 'Capital' it is even more confusing and misleading. The authors explain what Marx means by socially required labour, and then embark on his notion of abstract The latter is an absolutely crucial concept for understanding value. The book says that materially unequal forms of useful labour can be 'treated as if they were equal to facilitate exchange in other words, useful labour can be treated as abstract labour"

Now this just isn't good MEALS NUPE SUPE SCHOOL point for the fight.

But it is not resolutions which win fights: it is organisation. And if councillors do not take a lead in mobilising the local labour movement, then rank and file Labour Party members, trade unionists and trades councils must take the initiative in calling public meetings and mobilising the local labour movement - if necessary coming into confrontation with Labour councils.

Confrontation WILl Nantarat.

Labour councils is not what we should be looking for, since it will not lead to the most effective opposition to Tory cuts, even though it may show up the reactionary nature of several Labour councils and councillors.

The most effective opposition to cuts and rate abstract labour is, when Marx himself was not very clear on the subject, but reading 'Capital for Beginners' is more confusing on this point than reading Capital itself.

Similar problems arise when the book deals with capitalist crisis. The glossary or terms dennes economic crisis as 'The inborn tendency of a commodity economy to witness a fall in the rate of profit as a result of the rising organic composition of capital' But as Marx makes clear, the fall in the rate of profit does not automatically result in economic crisis; if RUPE FICHT come through Labour councils refusing to impose cuts and rate rises with the backing of the local labour movement. In cases where the Council is Tory controlled, the lead of Labour councillors in rejecting rate rises and cuts with the backing of the local labour movement will again make opposition more effective.

Assuming local Labour councillors have taken the lead in refusing to impose either cuts or rate rises this will inoritahlur load to WA LEVILANLY ICal direct confrontation with the Government.

This confrontation could come about through any of the following:

•Council officers refusing to implement council decisions;

•Banks cutting council's credit;

The district The district auditor three forms of value' , the somewhat confusing definitions of fetishism and fetishisation; and so on.

What makes this more of a problem is that the sections of the book, which broadly follow the sections of Capital itself, do not give page references to Capital. This means that if a reader MEALs 5EE5R 45815 NUPE.

FICHT FOR MEALS BION 3VSA ordering an 'extraordinary audit' of the Council;

• A Labour council going into opposition;

•Resignation of the Council, with cuts and rate rises as the future election issues.

Whichever form the confrontation takes, it is at this point that the mobilisation of the labour movement is needed. It must have been built for in advance, with commitments to strike action from public sector unions and private sector unions if the local Labour Council comes into such a confrontation with the government.

Ultimately, only the organised working class can defeat the Tory cutbacks, and we should not balk at the task that we face if we are to fight for "no cuts, no rate rises."

DAVE SCOTT DAVE SCOTT exactly to find the corresponding passage in Capital.

This is a shame because although Capital is very long, it is not difficult to understand, with Marx's numerous explanations and illustrations of every point. In any case I think •Marx's Capital for Begunners' should be seen as an