No compromise on the Bomb

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that campaign by some people who tried to discredit the Party's policy on unilateral disarmament.

HELEN JOHN, Greenham Common Peace Camp.

I FEAR that if Neil Kinnock isn't watched, if there isn't tremenlous pressure put on him, he vill actually sell out the people in this country and the Party activists over disarmament.

Neil Kinnock showed an overwhelming desire to have the motion on unilateralism remitted. That's not a hopeful sign. I'm not inspired by this leadership one little bit.

I think the most important thing this conference has shown' is that CND still has a mass following inside the Labour and trade union movement. There are lots of leaflets being given out here for the demonstration on October 22. It's important that there is massive support from trade unions and Labour Parties to give a tremendous boost to all the CND activists. • We must keep the Labour Party pinned into its unilateralist policy. The Labour Party is the major political party opposed to the weapons, and the trade union movement has the power to stop anything that is unacceptable to the people.

It is a question of making the trade unions realise their responsibilities. Many of them have passed unilateralist resolutions, but are not doing anything with them. The trade unions should show they really mean what they say and start taking industrial action.

TONY BANKS, MP for Newham North West.

I THINK there'll be an increasing demand for making the block vote more accountable.

At the moment, the vote isn't being exercise to represent the views of the rank aod file of the particular unions.

The expulsion of the five members of the Militant editorial board is a total diversion from what the Party should be daing - fighting the Tories. The fire have been used as the sacrifices thrown to thể capitalist wolves.

The Left of the Party muss resist the panic that has set in among the Right and some sections of the Left - the idea that all of our policies have to be changed because of what happened on June 9.

The role of the Labour Party is to set out a programme for socialist change and campaign around it — not to keep on adapting it to every movement of electoral opinion. "I THINK everyone is happy" said right-wing MP Donald Dewar after the leadership election result.

We're not. And we suspect a few other people aren't either.

In 1981, 80-odd% of the Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) voted for Tony Benn as deputy leader against Dennis Healey. Neil Kinnock nearly got voted off the CLPs section of the NEC. Ro. Hattersley was a no-hoper for tbe CLPs section.

E 1953. 91.54 of the CLPs SE rotec ite Nell Kinnack and Fins seen Ear be MOS T M: for Kissoc IET as he dad oe de let Imic the witch-buat as be doe But in the leadership elecaos they were swayed by the Thank God It's Not Healey' factor.

In the conference resalutions on policy, too, there was evidence of a defensive mood. The YO right wing are now the ones who argue for radical shifts in policy.

Why? In 1979-81 the Labour Party began to transform itself - away from old practices of talking left and then doing just whatever seems realistic within capitalism, and towards accountability and clear commitment.

But the transformation stalled because the Left left key areas like economic policy almost untouched, and didn't spread the fight for democracy into the trade unions enough.

The half-way transformation meant Labour was not such a corrincing alternative to the Ires - but. just when deter=te mas Dos needed, the itera zarelling.

YE! *case alarmed at the mpocatons of what the Left had achieved, or the prospect of further clashes with the Right.

Compare Michael Meacher's deputy leadership campaign with Tony Benn's.

Meacher went out PHOTOS: JOHN HARRIS to endorse, and present himself as a suitable partner for, Neil Kinnock. The result may paradoxically have been to lose Meacher votes.

Activists convinced by Meacher's line that Kinnock was after all a good left-winger could then imagine they could get the best of all worlds by voting Hattersley for deputy. Kinnock as leader would safeguard left-wing policies; the combination with Hattersley as deputy would safeguard the unity of the Party.

If these same activists had been reminded firmly that Kinnock cannot be relied on to defend any left-wing policy, then they might have seen it as important to elect a left-wing deputy.

"Thank God It's Not Healey' is no basis to build a ręal socialist Roy Hattersley has made it quite plain that he wants to shift Party policy in a direction which would make it an alternative to Thatcher only in a "Thank God secretary, Labour CND ABOUT 3000 people turned out onto the streets of Brighton just before the start of Labour Party conference, to demand that we stand firm on our policy to scrap all nuclear weapons. .. No other issue of this Conference can raise that level of support.

The message of this rally and march was that we will tolerate no compromise on the full programme of unilateral nuclear disarmament, and that includes our commitment to get rid of Polaris.

All the speakers noted the contradictions and weaknesses of the leadership's presentation of Party policy on disarmament at the General Election. The contributions of Healey, Hattersley, and Callaghan, to rubbish Party policy, were attacked.

It was ironic that at the time of the rally the NEC was meeting to discuss their recommendations on the disarmament resolutions. The TGWU resolution which reaffirms Party policy on unilateral nuclear disarmament received only 14 votes to 11 for NEC support.

Kinnock, wanted remission [i.e. the resolution not voted on, but sent to the new NEC for a report-back at next year's conference]. So the fight is still on.

We will go for the full programme, and when we get it again, will our new leaders support and campaign for it? it's not the Tories' sense, and hardly an alternative at all to the Alliance. Neil Kinnock won't be much of a brake on him.

That will bring the new leadership into the conflict with the rank and file — sooner or later.

Both Hattersley and Kinnock have said they will continue the witch-hunt against the left, and there is no reason to disbelieve them on this.

While Kinnock and Hattersley may be satisfied with Alliance-type policies, there is no way that the rank and file of the labour movement will carry on through years of slump and arms race on that basis.

Yes, the working class is groggy and downcast at the moment. But the downturn in industrial struggle won't last forever. And when industrial struggle rises again, and working class confidence with it, it will be radical socialist policies that workers look for.

Let's prepare for now.

The desire to win after a long period in opposition becomes so strong that the policy issues get fudged. Of course it might lead to, winning an electic 1, but then the problems start if the policies aren't straight.

That's why we have to battle very hard now for accountability of the Shadow Cabinet to the Parliamentary Labour Party. It's no good having MPs accountable to their constituency if there is no control of the Cabinet.

We've got to be absolutely clear about our economic policy too. Unless we can get straight the point about who is going to pay for Labour's programme, we open the way for our policies being ripped to shreds in the election campaign. If the Labour Party isn't prepared to tackle the question of control of capital and control of the banks and finance houses then it's quite likely that the skilled working class voters who voted for Thatcher will not come back.

They won't come back if they thing Labour's programme is going to be paid for out of even more taxation.

We have to say that we will use the wealth of the City to rebuild the welfare state. 7 It's important to bear in mind that the CLP delegates here were overwhelmingly in favour of the Heffer-Meacher ticket, but half of them were mandated to vote for Hattersley and over 90% of them for Kinnock. We are now in the quite odd position where there was more support for the hard left from the MPs than the CLPs.

There are valuable lessons here; we have failed to carry the most advanced layer of union activists with us. BRIAN WEST, Labour Campaign for Gay Rights THE LABOUR Campaign for Gay Rights is here to make sure that the Labour Party doesn't backtrack on any of the policies it has managed to form of gay rights over the past few years.

It is also here to make sure that any new policies adopted are not discriminatory against gays and lesbians.

The CLPs have been giving us a good deal of support, especially from the left, where we already have something of a base. We have found that the trade unions are more reactionary, though.

The election of Kinnock is no step forward for gay rights in the Party. He says that the Party should be working to improve the lot of blacks and women, but at no point has he said that the Party should be helping lesbians and gay men.

He builds his whole image on Kinnock the family man - arant about the policies the Labour Party stands for and about the oppression of lesbians and gay men.

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Socialist Organiser no.149 JOAN MAYNARD, MP for Sheffield Brightside Page

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ound the family unit. We've got to persuade him that he's ignor.