After massive success of 'human chain' Make May 24 a day of strike action against the missiles

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by Mary Corbishley and the (ruise THIS. in i ase you hadn t notired • MISSILES! hs Jo Thaaites PARCO OVER 100,000 people linked up in a 14 mile human chain through Berkshire's nuclear valley on Thursday. Thousands of women blockaded Greenham Common base, and in Scotland 20,000 marched through Glasgow on Saturday.

In Britain the action of a handful of women who set up the peace camp in Greenham Common two years ago has generated a mass movement against nuclear bases in Britain and internationally.

Trade unionists and Labour party members have been inspired by the Greenham Common women to join them in their action.

Cheques from trade union bodies have come pouring in. The women have shown that they can organise and take a lead in the anti-nuclear movement, and they are now asking those unions which have supported them to take action, using their industrial weapon - strike action.

From Greenham over the Easter weekend, the union must now move forward to take up the call for the May 24 International Women's Day for Disarmament.

The struggle must not be taken back into trade union and Labour Party branches to organise action in every locality.

It is a major opportunity to draw the contrast between Tory unemployment and public spending cuts and the massive amounts of money being spent on nuclear weapons.

The link between the Labour movement and the Greenhaminspired women's peace movement will be strengthened by May 24.

Many national unions and the Labour Party have passed_resolutions supporting nuclear disarmament, so there can be no excuse for failing to support May 24, which continues the theme of Greenham Common by asking women to take strike action and to organise with women in the community.

The trade unions are a traditionally male arena, and asking women to come forward and take the lead could give a tremedous boost to the fight to make the labour movement an arena for all members.

The women coming forward are for once asking men to take a secondary supportive role; but by doing so, far from 'dividing the trade i union movement' as some would argue, they are taking a major step towards creating a more equal, united and more powerful movement.

There is not much time between now and May 24, so get organised now.

The plan is for all women everywhere - women working in the home; women in paid employment; unemployed women - to leave their usual occupations for the day and to take creative and imaginative actions to stop the siting of nuclear weapons throughout the world.

There are now women working on May 24 in 25 countries, including India, Yugoslavia; Australasia, the USA, and Europe.

In Britain, local organising committees are getting off the ground. In some areas the plans After sitting - now striking are already well advanced.

In Leicester the Women's Peace Action Group will be moving into an office provided for them by the City Council. pressure from women in the Labour Party, letters and phone calls to Councillors stressing the urgency for office space in Leicester's 'nuclear free zone' to build for the May 24 women's strike has finally forced the Labour Council to put their money where their mouth is.

The group has large office space in the city centre; rent and heating is free, and a phone hs been provided.

The Trades Council Women's Sub-Committee are contacting women shop stewards and trade unionists to develop the May 24 Committee into a trade union liaison committee.

Support from the Trades Council has led to the POEU and CPSA installing the phone in the office immediately.

Twelve smaller groups of women in Leicester are meeting in their localities and estates to plan and prepare for actions on the day.

In Britain 109 district authorities and 27 County Authorities have declared themselves 'nuclear free zones' . Each one should be called on to provide similar office space, support and publicity for May 24 local organising committees. involving working class women, and black and Asian women. Local groups are urged to issue translated material, and to stress this is part of an international women's movement.

The Organising Committee are based at 16, Arundel Road, Brighton. Local groups are asked to contact Laura or Carmel on 0273 553466 to let them know what's happening in their area and to feed in ideas which can then be passed on to other groups.

Paper of the women's campaign Movement Fightback for Women's IT will be no surprise if -whatever the formal policies of their unions - General Secretaries and union officials are hostile to the idea of a strike on May 24.

ur course, tney touunery view 41_ with suspicion strike action arising from the ranks outside their control - and worst of all if the members concerned are women, the most oppressed section of the unions.

But the May 24 strike call faces union leaders with another problem: it is an openly political strike, to demand a radical changi of policy. As such it is illegal under the Tebbit Act and also runs contrary to all the efforts of union leaders to prevent mass action against the Tory government.

And, whatever the illusions of CND leaders and some activists that the fight is not 'party political' it is obvious that on the fight against Cruise and Trident it is necessary to remove the Thatcher government, and then wage a fight for the implementation of Labour conference policy No union leader has so far been prepared to advocate such a policy. Rather, they have attempted to defuse struggles that have broken out.

The fight for strike action on May 24 must therefore be a fight within the unions, for the most part against the official hierarchy There will be some setbacks and some victories in that struggle, but one thing is clear: unless we wage the fight, the union leaders can continue to sound off with speeches and resolutions against nuclear weapons while doing nothing to get rid of them,

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Colleen Mollov Women in struggle