Thinking About Greenham Common

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SINCE the arrival of Cruise missiles, the Greenham Common peace camp has been more than ever the vanguard of the fight against nuclear weapons. But how can that vanguard mobilise the power to win?

GERRY BYRNE discusses some ideas.

How do we get to a situation where it's us taking away the missiles, Hease send me.... months' sub, I enclose £ ...

To. Socudist Organiser, 28, Middle Lane, London N8 8PI THERE'S something strangely reminiscent in the diverging responses on the left to Greenham Common. In many ways it parallels the way the emerging women's movement was greeted in the late 1960s.

On the one hand, dismissive revo-speak: it's all a bit of a diversion, the real answer is to smash capitalism. The misguided nature of the protest, the divisiveness of women-only organisation is pointed to. And the final rabbit out of the hat is that it all emanates from middle class women -white women, to boot.

On the other hand there is an "instinctive" response from women. What might be called the "spontaneous" position. the issue is overwhelmingly important, the tactics and methods of struggle feel right, let the politics look after themselves.

What the self-styled revolutionary line" fails to address itself to is that all the truisms about socialism being the only answer count for nothing if they can't be tied to analysis of the forces, struggles and demands which can bring it into existence.

The left really should take to heart the lessons of the many past missed boats before it once again takes a mass movement to task for its irrelevance.

What the "spontaneous" position ignores is that some politics will dominate. There are no political vacuums. The effect on a movement of being dominated by a mish-mash of often un-spelt out and unchallenged ideas - which nevertheless in fact exist and dominate - can be to cripple it or at the very least weaken its effectiveness.

So what are the politics of Greenham? A stress on women's autonomy and on actions rather than words, a linking of militarism with male power, a suspicion of male-dominated, and often even any structured organisation, spontaneity and action now rather than the tedious slog to change structures and formal policies. These positions, prejudices and attitudes are often glued Sloan Ger SOCIALIST door by post!

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Address together with a semi-mystical emphasis on symbolism and a recourse to an idea of some 'essential femaleness' Politically, it's a stew, and very often the response has been to spoon out the more digestible elements and leave the rest to those to whose tastes they appeal - a very liberal live-and-let-live policy.

Which is all very well for harmony. But it doesn't do a lot for developing a political strategy. And, like it or not; the central point of these actions is to change the face of the world, for the better and for everyone. That requires clear direction and clear aims.

Confidence Nevertheless, it's indisputable except perhaps to wooden-headed sectarians, that focusing • on actions which are planned, developed and executed by women. has given a massive boost to women's confidence generally. It is highly improbable that so many women, many without previous political involvement, would have acted in such numbers, so audaciously, if it had been men calling the shots. That, in itself is sufficient justification.

Greenham has reached, and inspired and drawn in huge numbers of women who would not have felt the confidence to act in other set-ups. And once awakened, they have drawn conclusions on an ever-widening scale about the world we live in, the government's priorities, the role of law and order, of the police, of "defence". , etc.

One of the conclusions activists have drawn is that male power and male conditioning feed into militarism. Of course, it's not the whole story, it can be oversimplified and misleading - but it's still an important insight, with many implications. Women don't feel safe to walk the streets at night. yet millions are spent on our "defence"

What women fear is not an Labour Fight the Inside I Cuts Women By Marry Kent's Sloan appeal to ORGANISER each week delivered to £8.50 rather than them taking away the protesters? outside "enemy" but male power - with the armaments industry as its most monstrous expression -exercised in every area of their lives.

The crumbs of power most men exercise in their personal lives enslaves and imprisons them too.

Along with this, arising out of it, goes a suspicion of those organisations which operate along "male" lines - CND, the Labour Party - and especially their leaders.

There are many reasons to suspect the leadership of CND and the Labour Party. Experience has shown each in their own way to be quite prepared to make deals, to sacrifice the integrity of their movement to get-rich. quick popularity, and indeed to opportunistically jump on the Greenham- band wagon when it suits them and distance themselves when the climate is against them.

But all this rather begs the question: are these organisations worth working in, is it worth fighting to defend their policies, should their leaders be called to order?

One of the problems with shrugging one's shoulders in, despair is it leaves the field free for these leaders to fudge and dilute. But the movement has already faced a major set-back with the arrival of cruise - whatever bold proclamations we make about being undefeated. We cannot afford to retreat further nor can we allow support to be dissipated and demoralised. The net result of giving the Kinnocks and Kents a freer rein by absenting ourselves is to weaken. not strengthen. that support.

What then is the solution to this rubik cube of irreconcilable shifting facets of political reality? Is there one?

The truth is the sectarians, in a sense are right. The only solution is a massive industrial mobilisation to stop cruise and other missiles, since this government has shown itself impervious to massive expressions of public opposition. The truth is that the real answer is socialism.

Where the SWP and the like fall down is in being incapable of showing where such a movement for industrial action will be built from and where socialism will come from.

Formally, the vast bulk of the labour movement is for unilateral disarmament, many unions have a specific policy to boycott work on the missiles. But this is all words. One spin-off of the Greenham emphasis on spontaneous Become a supporter of the Socialist Organiser Alliance -. groups are established in most large towns. We ask £1.50 a

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