A key to Scots conference

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AT THE Scottish Labour Party conference (Perth, 11-13 March) the two crucial motions for the Left on the question of the witch hunt come from Paisley CLP and Kilmarnock CLP.

Paisley calls for the conference to •totally reject the expulsion of any members of the Party who are fighting for implemencation of Clause IV, part 4 of the Constitution" , whilst the Kilmarnock k motion defends the right of CLPs to select their own prospecMINUTES before the last Labour Group, the 29 left wing councillors on Manchester City Council were given a copy of a letter sent from the NEC to the Labour Group secretary.

The letter spelt out the decisions of the NEC. in regard to the inquiry into the disputes within the Group and the Party that was carried out last December bý David Hughes, the national agent, Russell Tuck and John Golding.

"Therefore, those members who it is admitted in the District Party evidence have broken the whip are expelled from membership of the Labour Group: Howthis decision is suspended ever ut impiementation of arna thr imelam-+-1and is only to be put into effect should any one of those members vote in any future council meeting contrary to a democratically taken Group decision.

Council At the full council meetng the next day, 28 of us voted against an 88p a week ent increase in line with the policy on which all 69 abour councillors were lected.

Despite this, the increase vas passed with the votes of he right and the Tories. So, Rates: £5 for three months, £8.75 for six months, and £16 for a ycar..

Bundle of fire sach week: £12 for bute mOME.

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landose £ To: Socialist Organisar, 28 Middle Lane, London N8 8PL.

tive parliamentary candi- Wou dates without interference betw from the NEC. and Leading the attack from them the right is a motion from hand Hamilton: CLP which alist revives the formula for Or leadership elections and nucle PPC selections so beloved 14 m of ex-Labour, now SDP rounı MPs - one person, one both vote. camp Another motion in this term:

section deserving defeat is Labo a Co-op motion calling for do. T state aid for political not b parties. In practice this in ir for the fourth year running council. • house tenants in Manchester will be paying more for less.

As far as the Group leadership and the NEC are concerned, we are now expelled and that's the end of the story.

They can now get on with the business of making cuts without having. the bother of defending their actions in group meetings.

But the left can't afford to leave it at that. There are two vital issues involved.

Firstly, which is the more important, adherence to Party policy and the commitments made in the manitesto, or to a particular vote in the Group.

The right wing got their cuts budget through the Group this year by a majority of two, with less than half the people there voting for it. Yet on that basis we are supposed to forget the policies the Party democratically decided and which the electorate voted us imon.

The City Labour Party aren't prepared to tolerate a situation where we spend Id weaken the links reen the Labour Party the unions, replacing 1 with dependence on louts from the capitstate. › the question of ear disarmanent, the lotions provide a fairly ded set of policies, in terms of immediate ›aigning and also in s of what the next ur government should 'he real fight here will e at the conference but mplementing policies great deal of time in hammering out policies just to see it ignored by a handful of councillors, representing themselves and very little else.

If they are so confident that their views are superior •o hox of the Party, let *and as individuals retleution and see where that gets them.

The other issue involved is just as fundamental - the compete rewriting of the rule book that this present NEC is carrying out in its attack against the left.

To start with none of the 29 councilors have been expelled from anything yet. In my case I haven't even had the interview with the group officers that you normally get before they throw you out. But none of that bothers the NEC. They've decided we're expelled desafterwards.

The third major issue at the conference is a Scottish Assembly. The motions pander to Scottish nationalism, and provide a smokescreen for the failure of the labour movement leadership in Scotland to put up a real fight against the Tories.

The absence of a Scottish Assembly has been used in a succession of industrial not putting up a fight, do you mean, accountability?

pite the fact that up until now it has always been assumed that only Labour Groups could expel their own members.

It is by no means certain that there would be a majority in the Group to expel us, so this gets the right wing neatly round the problem.

Although it doesn't appear in their letter to us, there have been some mutterings from NEC members of the standing of so-called 'official' candidates against those who have had the whip withdrawn.

it is extremely unlikely that this could be done in time for the May clection. But it just goes to show to what lengths some of our opponents will go in their vendetta against the left.

The issucs involved here shouldn't be confined to Manchester. They neca to be ssi especially in the recent Timex dispute. The calls for a Scottish Assembly now ringing out from all quarters - especially middle class ones - should not blind the Scottish working class to the fact that labour Scottish Assembly.

Housing is another particularly important item this year, with 13 motions submitted. Two virtually identical motions from Kelvingrove CLP and Pollok CLP criticise the record of Labour-controlled councils which have administered the Tories' attacks, call for a united campaign in defence of public sector housing involving Labour -Groups/Parties, tenants associaitons and trade unions, and instruct the Scottish Council to organise an all-Scottish conference and demonstration to this end.

A West Edinburgh CLP motion on housing dismisses the policies in the Labour Programme '82" as inadequate to fulfil the fundamertal, needs and rights of decent housing for all" and proposes detailed alternative "socialist housing policy" upon which the Party should campaign, including abolition of public sector housing rents, no sale of public sector housing or land, and immediate cessation of eviction and warrant sales.

International • Affairs contains one of the most controversial motions for conference: a Kinross and West Perthshire CLP resolution on the Falklands war, which whilst seeing the solution to such conflicts in terms of a stronger United Nations, does seek to commit the conference to "completely dissociating itself from the action of the Labour opposition"' and demands an assurance that •'future Labour governments will never react to a similar crisis in such an aggressive fashion"

And a motion from North Edinburgh CLP on Ireland is sure to provoke the usual controversy whenever the demand for British vithdrawal is raised.

It also calls for the Scottish Council to "initiate thorough-going debate in the Scottish labour movement on how best to assist the movement for a united Ireland and to eneourage links between the socialist and labour movements in Scotland and Ireland"

If passed, the motion would pave the way for finally opening up a real debate on Ireland in the Scottish labour movement.

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by Pete Keenlyside

disputes as an excuse by the union leadership for

movement democracy and accountability is key to fighting the Tories, not a