'83 Campaigner talk on the issues

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•fighting in the Labour movement for lesbiar Richard Chessum, Labour candidate for Warwick and Leamington Unilateralism is an issue that I'm playing up a great deal, and we're trying to get CND posters side by side with Labour posters.

We find that we're losing quite a bit of the male working class vote on the question of unilateralism. On the other hand, we're picking up some votes on the issue, mainly trom women, and also in middle class areas.

I've got a good response from women during the day, and then when their husbands get in, in the evening, less good "I'm going to vote Labour, my husband says he's going to vote SDP because he thinks we've got to have the Bomb."

It's mainly middle-aged and elderly working class men who are defecting on the issue of unilateralism. The Labour Party here had a big campaign last year against the Task Force going to the Falkeven believe in conventional defence. You were opposed to the Task Force."

The black community is overwhelmingly in favour of us. The president of the local Indian Workers' Association has just joined the party. We immediately made him vice-chairperson of the constituency, and he's been working hard for us; and several others, in other black community organisations, have joined as well.

Even in the working .. class areas, we find people blaming the trade unions for unemployment (though there's been less tacism than I expected). The economic analysis of the Tories seems to have a big hold, even among people who still vote for us.

The way I've tried to counter it is to say, yes we do live in a new age when it's going to be capital intensive industry but we have to use the wealth that's created in capital intensive industry to finance public services and people's needs.

I'd like then to go on and say that the people who have the private ownership of the means of production won't allow us to use their wealth to finance public services, and therefore we'll have to take them over - but it's difficult to argue that one becauseét's not in Labour's programme.

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Labour candidates and activists in the Labour Party and trade unions around the country tol Socialist Organiser of the progress and problems in the campaign.

Lol Duffy, GMBU shop steward and secretary of the Labour Party workplace branch at Cammell Lairds, Merseyside.

We're holding factory gate meetings for as many candidates as possible - we've atready had two fairly successful ones. We're organising teams of people to go to marginals to help leaflet and canvass. We had about 13 out the first time, and more than half of them were new to it.

We've distributed posters round the yard, and there are a lot of people wearing Labour stickers. We're meeting every week up to the election to coordinate the campaign, and weve got the Confed shop stewards' committee calling for a vote for Labour and producing a special issue of the stewards' bulletin.

Jerry Hughes, Hackney North We've done a lot of work with particular groups in the com.. munity, like the black commun ity for example - Ernie Roberts, our candidate, has been quite closely involved with the Colin Roach issue. The black community seems to be determined to vote Labour en masse.

We had a joint event with Hackney South on the day when the fares went down on London Transport. We got an opentopped bus, and drove round the borough with the candidates publicising the GLC fares policy and saying vote Labour in order to Labour Campaign for Gay Rights, c/o 61A Bloom St, Manchester defend cheap public transport. That was followed up with leaf. letting at the main tube stations.

We'll have a rally on unemployment this Friday, with a speaker from the People's March, and on Saturday a meeting with the Turkish community, organised jointly with Islington North.

Martin Willis, Labour candidate Unemployment is a key issue The Liberal campaign is much more on policies this time. But their leaflet still says: "Beware. Tatchell's not the candidate but the party's still the same. Labour is still the same party, still the sams policies, same still the same What are the nrohlems? Inemployment - both getting our message across, and people getting fed up with us telling them how bad unemployment is. Rates -the local rates went up by 25% and people are saying that's too high. Housing - the big issue is people who want to buy their council houses.

On nuclear weapons it's been 50/50 - split between people who are very pro-unilateralism, and people who are very worried that we're not going to have any defence at all.

Unemployment has Inamnlaumant has heen the key issue. We've got public meetfacilities. That does That does strike home to people. Pensioners also seem to be solidly with us. And the most solid section of all is the black population.

On defence, the working class is not with the Labour Party, but a small section of the middle class is.

We've had a lot of reactions in working class areas like, "You're going to leave us defenceless" When we stop and argue and discuss, we can get through, but there's still this fear.

The other problem we've found which we didn't exnect. is THALIVIL TUV MAUIE the Common Market - opposi-

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lands - I organised it - and the general reaction is, "You don't

gay liberation. Campaign for Gay Rights

CUTSI JOHN HARRIS